novelraw Chapter 217: The Catalyst Of Rivalry
Chapter 217: The Catalyst Of Rivalry
[Southern Region.]
Deep in a think eerie forest, the suffocating canopy blocked out the southern sun, trapping the humid, energy-dense air below. The ancient trees here possessed bark as hard as iron, their twisted roots forming a treacherous maze. Ten figures landed on tree branches with silent, trained precision, staring at the Captain standing ahead of them. The ambient shadows clung to their academy uniforms.
Jessica moved her gaze ahead, her sensory skills piercing through the thick foliage, staring at the dark silhouettes moving in the forest ahead:
"There are Lv200 monsters ahead of us, and the Boss is a Lv300." She said, hugging her white legendary class sword, her expression emotionless. The pristine scabbard of her weapon seemed to repel the forest’s gloom, radiating a faint, purifying aura that marked it as an item of high value.
"That’s nothing! Captain killed a Lv300 Boss a while back with a single slash, she can easily take down this Boss." Ethan said with a smile, a legendary class broadsword on his back. The massive weapon looked heavy enough to crush a boulder, reflecting his blind confidence in the established hierarchy of their team’s raw power.
"Should we take down the remaining monsters? I want to fight." Andrew asked, holding a legendary class spear in his hand, the blade surrounded by flames. The intense heat distorted the air around the tip.
"Calm down, Andrew. We must wait for the Captain’s order." Nirvana said In a soft tone, her green hair moving in the wind, on her wrists were two glowing golden bangles, both Legendary class weapons.
"Quiet down all of you." Honky snapped. As a knight, his voice was naturally amplified by his class’s command aura; his voice resounded all over the space, startling a few low-level avian mobs into the sky, silencing the three.
The remaining five looked at one another, not saying anything. The gap between them was an unspoken law. The five before them were the Sword Academy’s Invincible Five, prodigies spoon-fed with the empire’s best resources, each possessing a Legendary class weapon, while they were just using Epic class. They were there as logistical support, entirely eclipsed by the vanguard’s blinding light.
Jessica exhaled a deep breath, her simple action drawing everyone’s attention. The absolute stillness of her posture shifted:
"The Monsters ahead of us are Head Cutters." She said, her words stunning the group into silence.
"What the? Head Cutters are two feet tall humanoid black skin creatures, each of them are armed with double curve blades which are best for cutting off heads... Although their defenses are weak, they are extremely fast, a Lv100 Head Cutter is even faster than a Lv200 Assassin. This is crazy." Andrew muttered in shock, reciting the academy’s bestiary data verbatim, his words sending chills down the spines of the five behind them. The speed scaling of the Head Cutters meant that even a minor lapse in concentration resulted in instant decapitation.
"Not bad..." A smirk suddenly appeared on his face, the vanguard’s thrill overriding his logical fear: "I have been itching for a fight." He said.
"They are 20 of them, all moving in circles one hundred miles ahead of us, not only that... They seem to be circling their Leader. This is strange." Nirvana added, her golden bangles humming as she expanded her tracking skill meter. The pack behavior of mobs usually involved random pathing; circling a boss indicated a defensive ritual. She turned to Jessica:
"Captain, should we attack? Killing these things will definitely earn us a lot of points." She pointed out, a small smile on her face, analyzing the tournament’s raw point-yield.
"Not necessary." Jessica answered with a calm tone, not even bothered looking at them. Her gaze remained fixed on the invisible horizon.
’I know she is the Master Teacher’s first disciple, but the air around her just made me irritated.’ Nirvana thought, feeling the sting of Jessica’s casual dismissal, but a small, perfectly polite smile remained on her face.
[DING!!]
[Competition World Announcement: Dragon Academy’s Team Captured Their flag.]
"...?!!!"
The ten were stunned, listening as the golden text echo across the sky in absolute shock. They looked at one another, their minds failing to process the impossible mathematics of the event. Even with the map and their high agility stats, it took them more than 30 minutes to reach their current location, and they haven’t even covered half the distance... But the Dragon Empire already reached their flag and even captured it.
"Fufufufu..."
"....?!"
They all turned to Jessica who started giggling. The sound was completely alien to her usually stoic, ice-cold persona.
"She... Is laughing?" They were all dumbfounded, feeling a deep, instinctual dread at the sound.
"Oh Mirabella, always trying to be the first... Too bad." She said. Her killing intent, usually kept locked behind her academy discipline, violently leaked into the environment as her sword flew out from the sheath, hovering above her, humming with a catastrophic amount of spirit energy.
"Everyone! Move back!!" Honky exclaimed. And without wasting any time, the five leaped backward, abandoning their formation and landing on different tree beaches, some distance from Jessica.
"She is actually going to use that skill." Honky said in disbelief, his heavy armor clanking as he braced himself against the trunk of a massive tree.
"What skill is that?" Ethan asked, utterly lost, his broadsword suddenly feeling very inadequate.
"The tree souls dividing sword technique." Honky muttered, his voice trembling as he recalled the sheer horror of the ability.
"What is this technique?" They all yelled at the Knight in confusion, demanding data on a skill that could make their impenetrable tank sweat.
"Some days ago, I encountered Miss Jessica in a dungeon. And standing before her was a powerful Lv400 Boss, when she used this skill, everything in the way got slash into so many pieces that I can’t even recognize it." Honky recounted, his eyes wide.
"Then how did you survive?" Andrew asked with a slight frown, finding a massive logical gap in the story.
"I ran away." Honky answered flatly, without a bit of shame. In Galaxy Fall, a Knight’s greatest asset was knowing when an attack bypassed all defensive parameters entirely.
"Oh, that’s understandable." Ethan nodded his head, completely accepting the logic, as everyone turned to Jessica.
’Mirabella... I promised myself I will surpass you, and one day... I will be the one to take your life. So, how can I let you win so easily?’ Jessica thought. The rivalry, the endless comparisons to Mirabella, twisted her energy into a sharp, vindictive blade. She refused to be a mere footnote in Mirabella’s legend.
Her Legendary class ascended into the air, piercing through the thick canopy and leaving the forest depths, bathing in the sunlight, and started spinning clockwise, creating afterimages that warped the spatial fabric around it.
"Three souls dividing sword, descend!!"
BOOOOM!!!!
The sky shattered. The sword divided into three colossal, ethereal blades made of pure, hyper-compressed energy, and shot down from the sky with devastating force, aiming precisely one hundred miles ahead to obliterate the entire Head Cutter pack and their boss in a single, map-altering strike.
BOOOOM!!!