Steel-Winged Eagle

"Avoid this route," said Anastasia while running through the woods, dodging one obstacle after another. "Unit 7 of 1-C-8 had set up a trap here."

Thanks to the reconnaissance search she did earlier, she was now aware of most of the enemy's position.

They knew which routes to avoid and not fall into traps, and which Unit would be their competition for the Steel Winged Eagle hunt.

Although cadets couldn't directly hurt other cadets, that didn't stop them from setting up traps and stuff to slow others down.

"How big is this forest anyway?" panting like a dog out of breath while following behind Anastasia, Kent asked.

"760 acres," Nero replied from right next to him. "And that's just the outer forest's area."

"I'll die."

They could practically see Kent's soul leaving his body after he got his answer but no one cared for him. Both Amelia and Nero were able to keep up with Anastasia without breaking a sweat.

They were currently heading towards the northeastern part of the outer forest, as indicated on the map they received. The Steel Winged Eagle, an evolved eagle with mana-hardened steel wings and a large wingspan, was located there.

Although it is known for its speed and sharp wings that can cut a grown man's neck, it does not possess any other extraordinary abilities.

"There!"

Anastasia yelled as they found their target. An eagle with black plumage, slightly larger than average, possessing a pair of enormous gleaming blue wings, circled through the sky as if it were the ruler of the winds.

And from the looks of it, they were the first Unit to arrive here.

There were two ways of winning a spot in the top 5. Either kill as many normal mana beasts as possible or kill one of the four instructed mana beasts.

It was no surprise that many of the Units chose the first option since it was safer and easier.

"Careful not to let it touch you with its wings," Nero stated the obvious. "You'll be cut before you even notice it."

"Yes," nodded Anastasia. "I can see a great amount of mana circulating in its wings."

As Anastasia pointed out, Its wings were glowing in an azure-blue hue clearly indicating the gathering of mana.

 "Okay, what's our plan of attack?" asked Amelia.

"Shoot and bring it down, what else?" Nero said. "Fire at it from all directions and when it'll have nowhere to go, I'll jump at it and kill it with my sword."

"You can jump that high?" Kent asked in amazement.

"I can jump higher," Nero grinned.

Without wasting any time, Amelia and Anastasia took out their bow and quiver full of arrows from the smart bracelet on their wrist.

Amelia climbed a tree and prepared herself while Anastasia dashed away from the Unit, drawing an arrow and readying her bow while aiming at the same target as Amelia.

"Now!" Anastasia yelled.

As if waiting for that cue, Amelia let go of her bowstring and released the arrow.

Swoosh—! 

Amelia's arrow erupted in a brilliant blue light and hurtled toward the eagle at breakneck speed.

"Siiiiiii!"

The Steel Winged Eagle let out a harsh, high-pitched whistle as it noticed their attempt to hunt it down.

Fwooo—!

Effortlessly dodging their attacks, the eagle, instead of going higher in the sky, dived down, intending to take them out at close range.

"Incoming!" Anastasia yelled.

"It'll try to use its wings to attack us!" Nero shouted back.

"If only that guy was here then it would have been much easier," Amelia complained as drew back her bowstring and readied the arrow.

"Well, there is nothing we can do about it now," Anastasia chimed in as she too got into position. She had already been briefed on the situation regarding Lucas beforehand and although she found it strange she didn't show much of a reaction to it when compared to Amelia.

Swoosh—!!

Swooosh—!!

Amelia shot multiple arrows to which the Steel Winged Eagle expertly maneuvered through the air and dodged all of them.

 However, they were all just a distraction to make the eagle follow the intended path that Amelia planned for. Amelia launched one final arrow that seemed to appear in front of it out of nowhere.

However, the eagle was not defeated yet. It crossed its wings in front of its body and used them as a shield, successfully blocking Amelia's arrow from piercing through.

After blocking Amelia's arrow, the Steel Winged Eagle expanded its wings and charged toward them from the sky once again.

"Fuck!" cursed Amelia. "It registered no damage!"

"Don't worry!" but right then, Nero barked and drew his sword from his smart bracelet. "I got it!"

The sword in his hand was surrounded by a bright azure blue glow as he coated it with a thick layer of mana.

Stomping his foot harder on the ground, Nero prepared to launch himself toward the approaching eagle.

Crevices formed where he was standing, and in a sudden burst, his figure disappeared from their view and reappeared in front of the eagle in mid-air.

"Skiiiii!"

As Nero displayed his unmatched speed, the eagle let out a confused scream. Without hesitation, the boy mercilessly swung his sword, executing an upward diagonal slash.

Fwoosh—!

But before Nero's sword could connect, a huge boulder came flying at him.

Widening his eyes, Nero called off his attack and created a mana barrier around him.

Thwaash—!

Fortunately, Anastasia reacted quickly and shot an arrow infused with mana at the boulder and shattered it into pieces.

Tak—!

Landing back on the ground, Nero and everyone else looked in the direction where the boulder was thrown from.

"Nice reflexes, pretty girl."

From the shadowy covers of the forest, a tall young man with muscles that were too ripped for his jersey to hide appeared.

"If it weren't for you, this boy would've been crushed like an insect."

It was none other than Alberto

"Are you crazy?" Amelia exclaimed, her eyes filled with anger. "You could have seriously hurt him!"

"I'm going to report this to the instructors," Anastasia added with an irritated expression.

"Oh, you'll report? And say what?" with a smirk, Alberto mockingly cocked his head to the side. "He is not injured anywhere, is he? I was just trying to hunt that eagle like you guys."

Even after being humiliated that day in the cafeteria, Alberto was still targeting Nero. One has to praise him for his persistence in continuously picking a fight with others. 

"You–"

Before Amelia could start her rant, Nero walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, signaling her to calm down.

"Tsk," she clicked her tongue and held her words.

"Let's go guys," Nero said and started walking away.

The Steel Winged Eagle had escaped.

Since the academy had put a tracker on it beforehand to make it distinct from other Steel Winged Eagles in the area, they merely had to open the maps application on their smart bracelets to know its location.

*****

"This should be enough right?"

In a place not far from his Unit Lucas stood in the middle of the forest. But unlike other areas which were occupied by only trees and bushes, Lucas was surrounded by multiple corpses, and the entire area was covered in bloodshed.

All the corpses belonged to the monsters which were not the designated targets that Lucas had hunted.

Although monsters instinctively avoided Lucas it doesn't mean that he was incapable of hunting them.

Lucas's current strength was a far cry compared to his prime but was still enough to be ranked at the top in today's world. He can easily catch a few monsters with his speed no matter how hard they try to avoid him.

In fact, this characteristic of his resulted in all monsters being grouped in a single area making his task much more easier. 

"Well, if this is not enough then I can kill one of those designated monsters later."

Lucas stored all the corpses in his smart bracelet and climbed on a nearby tree to take a nap. He was now recovering from the sleep time he had sacrificed to reach the exam venue on time.