chapter 38
Lilian looked toward the magic crystal floating above the forest, displaying the teams' progress and time.
Ophelia snorted.
"Looks like all talk. He didn't even consider giving Lilian the team leader position, and now look at him. An hour has passed and still no result."
Valier slowly smirked and consoled her.
"Well, it's good he didn't take her seriously. Thanks to that we are able to progress smoothly under an amazing team leader."
He looked at the collection bag and his eyes filled with anticipation.
They had already collected two magic crystals and five monster hides.
Their team was displayed as No. 1 on the magic screen, while Azek's team was at the bottom with no results so far to speak of.
Second was Crown Prince Daniel, and third was Callisto's team. That was expected, but nobody would even dare imagine Lilian's team getting the top position.
He giggled.
Lilian flicked her wrist and a large shield was cast.
She was feeling a lot better after reuniting with her friends.
Since the first encounter she didn't like Azek's friends very much. She was always welcomed everywhere she went, people paying attention to her words and naturally giving her importance.
But that dorkhead Mathew always managed to brush her off in all sorts of ways.
And while Azek was polite, the utter disregard for her was also palpably visible in his attitude.
This was the first time she had encountered such a situation.
Although she belonged to a baron family, even high-class noble families were respectful while dealing with them.
But for the first time in her life, her charming personality and the natural attention it warranted wasn't granted to her.
And it made her uncomfortable.
Her temper became short of manners in a matter of seconds.
She shook her head and stopped her train of thought.
This wasn't the time to dilly-dally.
Others would say it was her amazing strategy, but she knew they had simply been lucky to find two easy targets.
Ahead of them was the actual challenge.
....
"...Azek?"
"…Azek?"
"Hmmm?"
Azek looked towards Mathew questioningly.
"I don't mean to be rude, but until when are we going to scout?"
He looked ahead and didn't reply.
Mathew could only watch in frustration.
It had been an hour.
They were currently sitting on a branch on a very large tree.
All they had done since the start was scout the area—and only that.
"Azek, I am sensing a huge wave ahead."
Rebecca tapped into the stone shard and a large frequency of mana rebounded back.
"What is the position?"
"Up north ahead, 400 meters. There are at least twenty monsters guarding a crystal."
"Edrin."
"Almost done."
Edrin was finally done marking out location.
Suddenly a loud scream pierced through the air.
"Hide."
Edrin immediately commanded mana and large vines enveloped them completely, camouflaging them into the tree.
Battle sounds with spells and intermixed shouts came from not far ahead.
There was an intense confrontation going on.
After a few minutes a group of students came into view in a miserable state.
They ran at full speed without looking behind.
Monsters chased after them in a drove.
Mathew broke into cold sweat.
After they had passed, Azek asked Rebecca to check again.
She shook her head after a minute.
"The base is empty. The monsters that chased earlier were likely the group I picked up with my spell.But there is also a small signal but I am not sure about it."
"Alright, let's move now. This is an opportunity."
Azek said and jumped down the tree.
All four came down with practiced ease since they had been doing it since the start of the exam. Azek had explained his plan of action in detail and made them practice strategic formations he used throughout their endeavour.
They had become used to it by now.
They ran at full speed and in a few seconds a white flag became visible.
But to their shock there were two flags 100 meters apart.
Rebecca had likely picked up the second mana crystal with her spell.
Without wasting even a second Azek shouted:
"Mathew, go right with Rebecca!"
Mathew took a sharp turn and ran ahead towards the flag with Rebecca closlely following behind.
The two mana crystals were already in the bag by the time a monster had returned.
Damn it. He cursed internally.
Azek's plan was to bag the flags as quickly as possible and run out of monster range but that option wasn't possible now.
He scanned the surroundings.
The monsters chasing the earlier group were likely coming back, their numbers increasing with every passing minute.
They were currently on a small hill surrounded by bushes with no cover.
He could only come up with a simple strategy.
"Get in battle formation!"
He shouted and immediately moved to the front of the group.