Late that night, at Jiamen's suggestion, the five of them abandoned the idea of resting separately and shared a single room, assigning people to take turns keeping watch through the night.
The other side was clearly doing the same.
"They've left!" Leilin, who had been monitoring the rival apprentices through his Chip, suddenly spoke up to alert the others.
At his words, the four apprentices who had been dozing on the sofas and chairs all opened their eyes at once.
"I heard their departing footsteps, and they're heading straight for the entrance to the Moon Lute Mountains!" Leilin added.
"Choosing to fight at night, are they? Let's follow them!!!"
Jiamen said with some excitement.
As survivors of the Blood Battle, Jiamen and the others all had the blood of rival apprentices on their hands. Rather than feeling the fear that ordinary apprentices might, they felt something that could only be described as anticipation.
Without opening their parcels, leaving them aside, Leilin and the others quickly slung their packs over their shoulders and left the inn.
One after another, ten dark silhouettes vanished into the small town under the faint starlight.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!!
Several dark shapes, barely visible to the naked eye, hurtled forward at tremendous speed, crossing over the small town and entering the mouth of the Moon Lute Mountains.
"They're not naive enough to think they can shake us off. The only reason to do this is if they want to choose their own battlefield!"
Leilin's eyes glinted as he guessed something of their thinking.
But he was full of confidence in his team!
His side were all third-rank apprentices, and they even had four Magical Items. Among the opposing apprentices, his Chip hadn't detected the fluctuation of a single Magical Item!
Moreover, the other team still had two Second-rank Apprentices among them.
In Leilin's eyes, these were nothing but weaknesses and liabilities!
Crack!!! A branch blocking the path was snapped clean through as Leilin charged through it, his speed unaffected.
The mana that apprentices obtained through Meditation radiated through their bodies, greatly enhancing their physical attributes. For third-rank apprentices, the physical boost from increased Spiritual Power alone could push their constitution above 2.5, comparable to a full-fledged Knight!
Furthermore, third-rank apprentices could undergo various bodily modification experiments, gaining formidable physical capabilities.
The pitch-black night and the crisscrossing branches and vines were no obstacle at all to Leilin and the others.
"They've stopped!"
Leilin halted and looked around.
Towering treetops stretched straight up to the sky, and the dense foliage completely blocked out the starlight, letting through only the faintest glimmers.
But it was enough for the apprentices to see in the dark.
"At this distance, we're far enough from the town that even if there are any spell fluctuations, they won't detect them!" Jiamen pinned a green badge to his chest.
"Pulling out your Magical Items now, just to deal with a few useless people?" Bosain smirked, tucking his hands into his wide sleeves.
Reading the detection prompt from his Chip, Leilin was somewhat speechless.
Under the Chip's scan, Bosain was also gripping his own Magical Item, poised and ready to activate it at any moment.
This kind of say-one-thing-do-another behavior from Bosain was something Leilin and Jiamen had gotten used to.
On the other side, Shaya and Ross were also making their own preparations.
As apprentices who had survived the Blood Battle, they both understood one thing clearly: even a lion must use its full strength against a rabbit!!! No matter how weak an enemy might appear, you could not afford even a moment of carelessness, for what you stood to lose might be your own life!!!
"Let's go! Finish them off!" Jiamen grinned ferociously and took the lead.
"Phew..."
After passing through a dark coniferous tree, Leilin found himself looking at a swatch of dark green marshland.
The surface of the swamp was littered with dead branches, fallen leaves, and the carcasses of various animals.
On the far side of the swamp, the five apprentices they had seen before stood there in silence.
In contrast to before, badges representing their academy were now pinned to the chest of their cloaks.
"Gothic Sage's Cottage?" Jiamen said coldly.
"Black Bone Forest Academy apprentices!" The rival leader had clearly already guessed their identities.
It looks like some people are going to have to die. Leilin sighed silently to himself. As two sides that had just ended a war, Black Bone Forest Academy and Gothic Sage's Cottage could currently be described as mortal enemies.
Although a ceasefire had been signed under the mediation of the Nightwatch Lighthouse, that agreement at most had some binding power over full-fledged Wizards. For apprentices, once they crossed paths, it could only end with one side dying!
After exchanging words, the two sides stared at each other in silence. For a moment, even the air seemed to congeal.
"Actually... we don't have to..."
The rival leader was silent for a moment, then spoke.
Ssss!!!
The instant the rival leader opened his mouth, killing intent flashed across Jiamen's face. The badge on his chest emitted a hazy green glow.
Countless dark green barbed vines erupted from the ground, converging on the five opponents!
When it came to combat experience, Jiamen was clearly far more seasoned than the other side. Moreover, Jiamen carried the blood debt of Torexas — he was the one among them least willing to let the others go.
Otherwise, if the other side managed to relay even a bit of information, no amount of cover from Jiamen would save him from being hunted down by their full-fledged Wizards!
"Despicable!!!" "Run!" "Aaah!!!"
The five opposing apprentices clearly hadn't expected Jiamen to be so ruthless and decisive, attacking without so much as a word of warning.
In that instant, two of the apprentices summoned a whirlwind of green around themselves, dramatically increasing their speed and escaping the range of the vines.
Another apprentice conjured a ring of orange-red flames around himself. The flames formed into long whips that lashed out in every direction, burning back the incoming vines.
As for the last two Second-rank Apprentices, their fate was far more miserable. They were wrapped into balls by countless vines, and as the vines tightened, bright red blood dripped steadily from within.
"Kill them all!"
The instant Jiamen attacked, Bosain and Leilin and the other three lunged forward as well.
"I can say for certain now — they're nothing but greenhouse-bred apprentices. They've never seen real carnage, and in front of true powerhouses, they're as weak as lambs!"
Leilin watched the few remaining apprentices across from him, a trace of pity in his eyes.
He guessed that several of these apprentices might not have even participated in the last Blood Battle, their minds still stuck in the sheltered days of the academy.
But this was exactly the kind of opponent he liked best — they required minimal effort and yielded the greatest reward.
As he ran, Leilin rapidly murmured a few broken syllables from the corner of his mouth.
A pitch-black hand shot out from the shadows and seized the ankle of one of the opposing third-rank apprentices.
"Shadow Hand!"
Sizzle!!! The corrosive hand melted a circle into the apprentice's foot. Chunks of flesh and blood fell away continuously.
"Ah... someone save me!"
The apprentice collapsed to the ground, his wailing cutting through the silent forest and rising to the heavens.
"Kid! Your mommy's not coming to save you!" Shaya sneered, flicking her hand. Several streaks of silver light shot from her palm, piercing straight through the fallen apprentice's skull.
Crack!!! The apprentice's head shattered like a melon, brains and blood splattering everywhere.
Under the first wave of attacks from Leilin and the others, three of the opponents were already dead!
"Damn it! Monte!"
Two third-rank apprentices retreated through gritted teeth. One of them pulled a silver whistle from his pocket and blew into it.
Twweeet! Tchirrrp!!!
The piercing whistle cut through the air. Not far away, a beast's low roar rumbled forth — deep and bloodthirsty — seeming to come from midair.
"Audio recorded. Cross-referencing database... Estimated identity:
The Chip's notification chimed in Leilin's ear.
"Moonlight Mayfly?" Leilin started. "No wonder they chose the swamp as their battlefield!"
He immediately shouted, "Watch out! They have a contracted creature! It's a Moonlight Mayfly — get away from the swamp!"
ROAR!!!
The roar had barely faded when a massive dark shadow crushed through the treetops and appeared above the swamp.
It was a colossal monster radiating a purple-black aura. Roughly the size of a horse, it had bat-like wings on either side, each ending in a pair of curved claws. Its mouth was narrow and pointed, lined with razor-sharp white fangs, and its pair of bright yellow eyes burned like flames in the darkness.
"Chip! Scan that creature!" Leilin commanded silently.
*Ding! Moonlight Mayfly. Strength: 5.2. Agility: 8.9. Constitution: 7.5. Spirit: 3.8. Talents: 1. Levitation — the Moonlight Mayfly's massive wings can sustain flight over medium to short distances! 2. Swamp Fury — as a favored child of the swamp, the Moonlight Mayfly can unleash the swamp's wrath, using the swamp itself to attack enemies. Power: 7–9 degrees!* Hisss!!! No sooner had Leilin finished his warning than the Moonlight Mayfly hovering in midair let out an earsplitting roar.
As the sound waves rippled outward, the previously still surface of the swamp suddenly churned with ripples.
The ripples grew larger and larger, eventually forming waves over ten meters high that came crashing down toward Leilin and the others.
Dark green swamp water, thick with debris — dead branches and beast carcasses swept up together — surged across the sky, threatening to blot it out entirely.
"Well done, baby!"
The apprentice with the whistle screamed excitedly, "Kill them for me!"
"Damn it! Kill us with this little bug?"
Leilin and the others burst out of the swamp's range. The Swamp Fury's attack seemed to only be effective within the swamp itself and stopped pursuing — but Bosain had been left behind.
Facing the oncoming tidal wave, Bosain wore an expression of being deeply insulted.
Boom!!! The massive wave crashed down, but on Bosain's surface, a huge silver metal shield materialized on its own.
The shield was over ten centimeters thick, its surface inscribed with a ring of mysterious, intricate patterns. It looked incredibly sturdy.
The tremendous Swamp Fury slammed into the shield with a deafening crash.