Leslie checked her equipment for the third time and then took a look around.
In a large waiting room was the entire hero academy, including the ‘extra’ tournament group.
Andrés, Jaxon, Vanessa, and the slightly nervous Taqiyya.
They were now waiting for the showdown to begin.
They were given the first quarterfinal matchup and their opponent was none other than Paladin Academy, who got a position with their 180 points.
There was a big difference with the 240 points of the Hero Academy, but it was impossible to deny that the Paladin Academy were worthy opponents.
They were true ‘heavyweights’ and that was because of their full body armor, which made them look like ancient knights.
They had strong physical as well as magical endurance and the biggest flaw was the lack of ranged skill users, which they made up for with the toughness and endurance of the students.
Perhaps the academy was not as unbalanced as the Russian Academy, but the paladins were focused on defense and close combat.
“Nervous?” Érica asked, wearing her combat outfit, only this time she was carrying some extra wands at her waist, ready for when her magical energy was depleted.
She was ready for battle.
“Of course, I’m nervous. Where will we go? What kind of combat will it be? How much time will we have?” Leslie hesitated in a serious tone.
She had no need to hide her nervousness that more about the battle was about the scenario and the development of the combat.
Érica smiled as she listened to her give her doubts confidently.
“I too have the same questions. The tournament authorities truly know how to push our nerves to the limit,” Érica murmured honestly.
In this match, they knew nothing at all.
The authorities told them that it was an all-out bout and only mentioned to them who their opponents were, revealing the opponents of the other academies as well.
They would face the Paladin Academy and whoever won would move on to the semifinal, where they would face their opponent, who would be between the Cernunnos Academy or the Druid Academy.
Then one of those semi-finalists would go on to the final.
On the other side, Merlin Academy faced Aetherium Academy, which could be said to be weakened by the absence of Xu Long, who was withdrawn from the tournament.
Although the wounds were still healing, that individual withdrew of his own free will and returned to China.
On the other side was Zerzura Academy, which could be considered the ‘dark horse’ of the tournament and would face Elementalists Academy.
However, it had only been reported that they would be all-out bouts, and that was it.
“I hope our plans work out. We spent quite a bit of time theorizing how it would be,” Leslie muttered in a sincerely nervous tone.
Edward had taken command yesterday and had prepared for every plausible scenario.
From combat in the water, underground, and in the sky... Various plans had been prepared by putting different students as cores.
They had weak links and links that were specialized in other things, like Jaxon, Taqiyya, and Vanessa, so they had to plan with them.
They did not know the reason why they did an all-out combat by adding non-combatant members and, while they would find out, eventually it was necessary to protect their members.
The victory condition was to defeat all their opponents.
“Let’s get started,” Edward reported in a serious tone, and looking at each student, he stated. “I won’t tell you any motivational speeches, but I will warn you that Daniel communicated to me that Cernunnos Academy will defeat their opponent and face us.”
He was sending them a challenge and Leslie hesitated, thinking it was Daniel because he was always serious, but when she thought about the thundering gorillas and the other students, she realized it made sense.
“There are a lot of students of theirs who want to take on their former allies. I guess we want the same thing too, right?” Edward asked, giving a provocative smile.
“A challenge? Sure!” Marc exclaimed, clenching his fists.
“There are a lot of cool opponents at Cernunnos Academy. I can’t wait to test my skills,” Nicole said, smiling excitedly.
The others began to give their comments in front of their former allies, getting everyone excited for the battle.
They needed to win today to face their former allies!
Leslie was also excited and, realizing Nicole was one of the most excited, she gave a look to Érica who was seeing the same thing.
“We’ve already lost her,” Leslie muttered, causing Érica to giggle in amusement.
Nicole, having recently moved up, couldn’t test her skills fully and since Aurora had been out, she could only get in with Venali and other S-ranks, none of which left her satisfied.
That was the spirit of a true fighter!
Seeing that everything was in order, the authorities approached and made everyone enter a magic teleportation circle.
At no time did they give directions, nor did they warn about anything and only guided them to move.
This was the danger of going to the confrontations first.
Today, the four confrontations would take place to define the semifinalists, but at the same time, the first ones would suffer from the lack of information.
It was very certain that all the other scenarios would change, preventing the following from being fully prepared, however, being first was always problematic.
“Good luck!” said the tournament authorities and Leslie’s vision changed, becoming blurry and before she knew it, she was in the middle of a forest.
She was in the middle of a forest, with tall trees whose canopies covered the sun, while the vegetation and humidity were high.
Leslie, as she scanned her surroundings, noticed another person and that individual saw her.
She had not been alone, but neither could it be said that she had allies.
Looking at that student’s metal armor and identifying him as a B-Rank student, Leslie immediately drew her rifle and pulled the trigger without aiming.
*Bang*
The bullet flew towards its target and while there were a few misfires; the bullet regulated its direction.
“Shit!”
With an exclamation, the swordsman jumped and took cover in a tree, managing to knock the bullet down that tree.
They had encountered an enemy at the same instant they entered!
******
Nicole, feeling a labored breath at her back, turned her head to the young woman who was following her.
“Are you okay?” Nicole asked, looking at the young lady.
Short in stature, delicate and pretty, but quite shy.
The shyness only added to her charm and Nicole was sure she would have many admirers if she let go of her shy side... No, it was quite possible that because of the craft tournament, she already had admirers.
“Yes,” Taqiyya muttered with a heavy breath, and seeing Nicole’s attentive gaze, she added. “I’m sorry... I’m not good at this.”
She wasn’t being sincere, but was using a tone that carried inferiority.
“I’m just a blacksmith,” Taqiyya muttered under her breath.
It was a mumble to herself and expressed both confidence in her craft and a lack of ability to be in this kind of battle.
“Yeah, you’re just a blacksmith and I’m a fighter,” Nicole said, and seeing that Taqiyya was looking at her, she stated. “You don’t have to worry about battles. I will take care of protecting you.”
It was a sincere statement that only affirmed their positions and, with it, also their responsibilities.
They had appeared together in a very complicated area.
Tall trees with too many leaves, vines, branches, spider webs of magical beasts that made it impossible for anyone to fly.
For such a reason, they had to walk and while there was the possibility of flying through the sky, being in plain sight, they could be found immediately and would become a target in an instant.
“Let’s go a little more,” Nicole urged and looking at Taqiyya, who was nodding, she pointed. “If you want, I can carry you like a princess. I have a lot of strength now and can do it with ease.”
Her question carried an amused and teasing tone, getting Taqiyya to shake her head with her flushed cheeks, and the biggest reason was that Nicole wasn’t joking.
She had given that comment to lower Taqiyya’s tension, but at the same time, she was being sincere with the proposal.
Nicole made a path through the leaves and all the brush on the ground, and they both continued until their holographic watches vibrated.
“Okay, someone activated the network,” Nicole muttered, and looked at her holographic watch.
The internet signals were completely cut off, as was all communication, and while it was unexpected because this was the first time that had happened, it wasn’t the end for them.
That was because they had planned to create a network of their own, all to provide security against the other side’s computer students.
It was likely that the Paladin Academy would do the same.
Going through the basic safeguards of that network, Nicole logged on and, as she began to read the information, her expression changed subtly.
The fighting had started and some of the students were running away or chasing their opponents, while others, like Alice or Edward, were causing quite a stir.
Nicole had heard some thunder in the distance but hadn’t encouraged herself to look because of the situation.
Although she didn’t have a map of the surroundings, the net itself could serve as a kind of locator.
“There are quite a few dangers. Keep your barrier active,” Nicole reported calmly.
Information was still coming in and organizing everything to bring certainty to the situation took time.
“For now, let’s go to Leslie’s command point,” Nicole said after careful thought.
That place was closer and even though it was an A-Rank and could be considered a trump card, Nicole wanted to get Taqiyya to safety.
Sending her report and target perfunctorily, Nicole moved forward with Taqiyya behind her back.
Leslie created this network using a state-of-the-art drone and while it had security systems, they could not fully trust it.
There were computer science students on both sides, and that meant their command centers could be compromised without them realizing it.
They moved forward for several minutes and began to hear more thunder rumbling in the distance.
When they emerged from that wooded and overgrown area that had become annoying, they came to an area with tall, thick trees spaced far apart.
This area gave the illusion of a magical, peaceful forest, but Nicole had a sense of danger.
“What’s that glowing?” Taqiyya hesitated, pointing to a light rising at the foot of a large tree.
Although the light wasn’t bright enough to see it from far away, it was bright enough to attract anyone at a first glance.
Because they had been walking earlier, they had only now noticed it and Nicole hesitated as she concentrated to get a better look.
“Isn’t that a scepter?” Nicole asked the expert.
Her tone sounded very doubtful and she couldn’t help it when inside the glowing light at the base of the tree was floating, what she identified as some kind of magical scepter.
“It is. It’s damaged and in need of repair, but yes, it is a magic scepter,” Taqiyya replied, narrowing her eyes.
Was that the reason why the students of the crafting tournament were involved in all this?
Nicole hesitated at that question and in the end, looking at Taqiyya, they both nodded.
“Hide here and keep your barriers active. Any danger don’t hesitate to use your artifacts,” Nicole ordered with a serious tone.
She sensed something strange around that forest and knew it could be dangerous.
Taqiyya was very well armed and even though she was not a fighter, she used various artifacts to protect herself and attack.
The tournament authorities were considerate of external artifacts in this kind of all-out combat.
Nicole advanced, deactivating her stealth, and walked through the large trees, looking around cautiously.
As she was about to reach the scepter, she noticed that one tree was slightly deformed.
It was somewhat minuscule, as if that tree in the center was slightly fatter than normal.
As soon as she had that thought, she could see a tongue being flung towards her.
Nicole’s combat aura spread out from her body, serving as a translucent armor and, without hesitation, she caught the tongue swiftly.
“...”
The Killer Chameleon was stunned by Nicole’s reflexes and quick reaction, but the most surprising thing was that she was only pushed a little into the ground.
The killer chameleon was a Rank A creature six meters long and three meters tall and now revealed itself in front of Nicole’s eyes.
The scales changed color, mimicking the tree trunk and the surroundings.
This creature used its tongue as a weapon and unlike the ‘sword toad,’ this tongue was not sharp but hardened into a club that struck with force.
All these thoughts came to Nicole’s mind as she withstood the blow, reducing the force of impact by the translucent combat aura that served as armor and, at the last instant, caught the tongue.
Her reflexes were no longer what they once were, and now she smiled.
“Gotcha,” Nicole muttered, and grabbing the tongue tightly, she grabbed it, and as if it was some kind of baton, she lifted the chameleon up and slammed it into a tree.
*BOOM*
The blow was strong enough to break part of the tree, and at the same time, it was so fast that the chameleon could not react.
Suffering the impact of the blow, the chameleon instinctively retracted its tongue as it fell to the ground and Nicole pounced on it.
Taking advantage of the daze and pain caused by the strong shock, Nicole quickly ran over and punched the stomach of the chameleon that was about to get up.
*BOOM*
Her blow produced a pop and, to Nicole’s surprise, the blow was strong enough to break the chameleon’s scales, and her leg sank into the chameleon’s body.
“...”
The chameleon died immediately, and she fell silent.
She knew that despite being an A-Rank, the chameleon’s advantage was the concealment ability that some said was on par with illusion magic and its tongue that attacked fast and lethal.
A blow could break a few bones and if the victim was weaker, the blow could go through an average human, still, she didn’t expect its strength to be so high.
Looking at the dead creature and then at her bloody fists, for a moment Nicole hesitated how to react.
Controlling her strength and choosing how she struck was a vital part of a fighter’s training.
Some created bursts of force that broke everything in front of them, others, instead of creating bursts of force in area effects, made penetrating blows that sought to break the barriers and body of their target.
In her case, she threw a punch to create a burst that she would use to keep the creature stunned and allow her to finish it off, but seeing the creature’s current state, she was surprised.
She hadn’t expected the blow that was thrown by another target to be so terrifying and such a fact showed her that she had a serious force control problem that she needed to fix.
Her only relief was that even in this confrontation, the barrier was active to protect the other students and nothing would happen.
Pushing away her bad thoughts about the situation, she picked up the scepter and held it out to Taqiyya, who was hiding.
“This is a weapon with the ability to cast an S-Rank spell,” Taqiyya muttered, checking it immediately as her eyes glittered and looking at Nicole, she reported. “If you give me some time, I’ll fix it for you.”
Her tone and confidence were much different from before and now one could tell she had found her reason for being in this confrontation.
******
At the top of a gigantic tree covered in holographic drones that obscured the view of anyone was a young man.
He was sitting on a large branch while several drones projected different screens.
Around the tree were glued the drones that kept the holographic image to hide and also were glued other drones that served to attack or defend, along with several drones.
The latter were smaller round drones, each designed with the latest technology, and these were Andrés’ new toys.
He had made quite a bit of money on the mission they had carried out in Africa and the next mission carried out in Japan.
Adding his job, even though he did not do serious work and did not lead a team, taking care of small tasks for others, his pay was quite high.
So he had bought new drones by asking Liam for advice as an expert.
He may not have wanted a field job, but having drones to defend himself was vital and, better yet, these drones were quite special.
Each was support drones with AI that allowed him to create a small command network to maintain some basic tasks.
Andrés was now using it in a rather curious way.
Practically, he was using his personal AI as a hub and intertwining them with the AIs of the other drones, increasing the overall processing power of his main AI.
If Liam was employing one AI to control all his drones, Andrés took the similar idea, only he was using one AI to control all the others and increase the capacity.
*BOOM*
Diverting his attention from his work, Andrés looked at the lightning that was beginning to strike through the trees, as if chasing someone.
“Apparently Edward has engaged in combat with the Paladin Academy’s capital, Elliott,” Andrés surmised quietly.
The overall combat was quite striking, as not only did it spread students from both academies across an entire area, but monsters and dangerous like poison areas were also present.
Also, strangely, there were weapons scattered all over the battlefield and while there seemed to be no time limit, in reality, Andrés could see a huge barrier covering this place.
That barrier was moving every so often and getting smaller.
“I feel like I’m in a game,” Andrés muttered, and checking the battlefield by connecting with Leslie’s camera drones, he could see another section.
Leslie was the main rally point and with her, there was already Vanessa, Nicole, Taqiyya, and several of the other students, including Gregorio and Rachael, as defense.
The other students were not lost, but were waiting for him.
Leslie had activated a drone that created a network of several hundred meters, but it was Andrés who was in charge of organizing it and extending it even further to cover the entire battlefield.
Once that happened, the chaotic battle gained some order and organization, but the Paladin Academy also prepared in the same way.
And now the two primary groups were facing each other, while the two S-Ranks were facing each other.
Paladin Academy just like them did not put all their students together and there were other groups scattered around the area looking for weapons and items to use, but at the same time, starting skirmishes.
“Are you sure it’s this way? We need to hurry. The glutton hasn’t shown up yet.”
Andrés heard a voice and subtly looked down, identifying a group of Paladin Academy searching the surrounding area.
“The main signal from their network says it’s nearby... But I don’t know...” a student muttered and looking around the surroundings, he commented. “Let’s just keep searching. We need to take down their network first to stand a chance.”
Andrés let out a smile as he heard those words, not bothering to be discovered, relying on the drones that prevented the sound from leaving their surroundings.
Stopping the network on which the command center was located was a good plan.
It would cut off communication completely and that meant the academy would be at a disadvantage because of the lack of communication.
If the Paladin Academy moved well, then it was possible that they would eventually manage to take them down bit by bit, until only the strongest were left to be taken down with the power of numbers.
A good move, but Andrés was also preparing.
Turning his concentration back to the screen, he kept moving his hands while supporting his AI to focus on defending his net.
The AI was defending, and he was attacking... No, rather than attacking, he was actually infiltrating.
First, he infiltrated the holographic clock of a student Alice had trapped and couldn’t warn his classmates, then from that point as a base, he established a connection to the Paladin Academy network.
They had an encrypted password, and as if that wasn’t enough, they also checked that the holographic watch was on the student’s wristband.
Once it passed through the network firewall in a legal way, it extended its control and sent several hidden viruses in the form of accurate information.
He was progressively and carefully extending his control, allowing him to increase his control of the network and obtain information that his academy needed.
He was moving very fast, but the battle continued around him and casualties were beginning to occur on both sides.
An all-out, chaotic war could be dangerous, the students understood as they engaged in group combat.
Adding that on this battlefield were weapons and artifacts that looked like consumables from a game, things could turn ugly if the situation was not controlled.
Watching as the battle plan and orders, along with the location of the Paladin Academy students, arrived on his holographic watch, Andrés smiled.
A perfect infiltration that even the computer student from the rival academy didn’t notice.
Adjusting that information on the map and locating the positions of the rival students, Andrés’ smile only grew.
“It’s time to get started.”
Leslie checked her equipment for the third time and then took a look around.
In a large waiting room was the entire hero academy, including the ‘extra’ tournament group.
Andrés, Jaxon, Vanessa, and the slightly nervous Taqiyya.
They were now waiting for the showdown to begin.
They were given the first quarterfinal matchup and their opponent was none other than Paladin Academy, who got a position with their 180 points.
There was a big difference with the 240 points of the Hero Academy, but it was impossible to deny that the Paladin Academy were worthy opponents.
They were true ‘heavyweights’ and that was because of their full body armor, which made them look like ancient knights.
They had strong physical as well as magical endurance and the biggest flaw was the lack of ranged skill users, which they made up for with the toughness and endurance of the students.
Perhaps the academy was not as unbalanced as the Russian Academy, but the paladins were focused on defense and close combat.
“Nervous?” Érica asked, wearing her combat outfit, only this time she was carrying some extra wands at her waist, ready for when her magical energy was depleted.
She was ready for battle.
“Of course, I’m nervous. Where will we go? What kind of combat will it be? How much time will we have?” Leslie hesitated in a serious tone.
She had no need to hide her nervousness that more about the battle was about the scenario and the development of the combat.
Érica smiled as she listened to her give her doubts confidently.
“I too have the same questions. The tournament authorities truly know how to push our nerves to the limit,” Érica murmured honestly.
In this match, they knew nothing at all.
The authorities told them that it was an all-out bout and only mentioned to them who their opponents were, revealing the opponents of the other academies as well.
They would face the Paladin Academy and whoever won would move on to the semifinal, where they would face their opponent, who would be between the Cernunnos Academy or the Druid Academy.
Then one of those semi-finalists would go on to the final.
On the other side, Merlin Academy faced Aetherium Academy, which could be said to be weakened by the absence of Xu Long, who was withdrawn from the tournament.
Although the wounds were still healing, that individual withdrew of his own free will and returned to China.
On the other side was Zerzura Academy, which could be considered the ‘dark horse’ of the tournament and would face Elementalists Academy.
However, it had only been reported that they would be all-out bouts, and that was it.
“I hope our plans work out. We spent quite a bit of time theorizing how it would be,” Leslie muttered in a sincerely nervous tone.
Edward had taken command yesterday and had prepared for every plausible scenario.
From combat in the water, underground, and in the sky... Various plans had been prepared by putting different students as cores.
They had weak links and links that were specialized in other things, like Jaxon, Taqiyya, and Vanessa, so they had to plan with them.
They did not know the reason why they did an all-out combat by adding non-combatant members and, while they would find out, eventually it was necessary to protect their members.
The victory condition was to defeat all their opponents.
“Let’s get started,” Edward reported in a serious tone, and looking at each student, he stated. “I won’t tell you any motivational speeches, but I will warn you that Daniel communicated to me that Cernunnos Academy will defeat their opponent and face us.”
He was sending them a challenge and Leslie hesitated, thinking it was Daniel because he was always serious, but when she thought about the thundering gorillas and the other students, she realized it made sense.
“There are a lot of students of theirs who want to take on their former allies. I guess we want the same thing too, right?” Edward asked, giving a provocative smile.
“A challenge? Sure!” Marc exclaimed, clenching his fists.
“There are a lot of cool opponents at Cernunnos Academy. I can’t wait to test my skills,” Nicole said, smiling excitedly.
The others began to give their comments in front of their former allies, getting everyone excited for the battle.
They needed to win today to face their former allies!
Leslie was also excited and, realizing Nicole was one of the most excited, she gave a look to Érica who was seeing the same thing.
“We’ve already lost her,” Leslie muttered, causing Érica to giggle in amusement.
Nicole, having recently moved up, couldn’t test her skills fully and since Aurora had been out, she could only get in with Venali and other S-ranks, none of which left her satisfied.
That was the spirit of a true fighter!
Seeing that everything was in order, the authorities approached and made everyone enter a magic teleportation circle.
At no time did they give directions, nor did they warn about anything and only guided them to move.
This was the danger of going to the confrontations first.
Today, the four confrontations would take place to define the semifinalists, but at the same time, the first ones would suffer from the lack of information.
It was very certain that all the other scenarios would change, preventing the following from being fully prepared, however, being first was always problematic.
“Good luck!” said the tournament authorities and Leslie’s vision changed, becoming blurry and before she knew it, she was in the middle of a forest.
She was in the middle of a forest, with tall trees whose canopies covered the sun, while the vegetation and humidity were high.
Leslie, as she scanned her surroundings, noticed another person and that individual saw her.
She had not been alone, but neither could it be said that she had allies.
Looking at that student’s metal armor and identifying him as a B-Rank student, Leslie immediately drew her rifle and pulled the trigger without aiming.
*Bang*
The bullet flew towards its target and while there were a few misfires; the bullet regulated its direction.
“Shit!”
With an exclamation, the swordsman jumped and took cover in a tree, managing to knock the bullet down that tree.
They had encountered an enemy at the same instant they entered!
******
Nicole, feeling a labored breath at her back, turned her head to the young woman who was following her.
“Are you okay?” Nicole asked, looking at the young lady.
Short in stature, delicate and pretty, but quite shy.
The shyness only added to her charm and Nicole was sure she would have many admirers if she let go of her shy side... No, it was quite possible that because of the craft tournament, she already had admirers.
“Yes,” Taqiyya muttered with a heavy breath, and seeing Nicole’s attentive gaze, she added. “I’m sorry... I’m not good at this.”
She wasn’t being sincere, but was using a tone that carried inferiority.
“I’m just a blacksmith,” Taqiyya muttered under her breath.
It was a mumble to herself and expressed both confidence in her craft and a lack of ability to be in this kind of battle.
“Yeah, you’re just a blacksmith and I’m a fighter,” Nicole said, and seeing that Taqiyya was looking at her, she stated. “You don’t have to worry about battles. I will take care of protecting you.”
It was a sincere statement that only affirmed their positions and, with it, also their responsibilities.
They had appeared together in a very complicated area.
Tall trees with too many leaves, vines, branches, spider webs of magical beasts that made it impossible for anyone to fly.
For such a reason, they had to walk and while there was the possibility of flying through the sky, being in plain sight, they could be found immediately and would become a target in an instant.
“Let’s go a little more,” Nicole urged and looking at Taqiyya, who was nodding, she pointed. “If you want, I can carry you like a princess. I have a lot of strength now and can do it with ease.”
Her question carried an amused and teasing tone, getting Taqiyya to shake her head with her flushed cheeks, and the biggest reason was that Nicole wasn’t joking.
She had given that comment to lower Taqiyya’s tension, but at the same time, she was being sincere with the proposal.
Nicole made a path through the leaves and all the brush on the ground, and they both continued until their holographic watches vibrated.
“Okay, someone activated the network,” Nicole muttered, and looked at her holographic watch.
The internet signals were completely cut off, as was all communication, and while it was unexpected because this was the first time that had happened, it wasn’t the end for them.
That was because they had planned to create a network of their own, all to provide security against the other side’s computer students.
It was likely that the Paladin Academy would do the same.
Going through the basic safeguards of that network, Nicole logged on and, as she began to read the information, her expression changed subtly.
The fighting had started and some of the students were running away or chasing their opponents, while others, like Alice or Edward, were causing quite a stir.
Nicole had heard some thunder in the distance but hadn’t encouraged herself to look because of the situation.
Although she didn’t have a map of the surroundings, the net itself could serve as a kind of locator.
“There are quite a few dangers. Keep your barrier active,” Nicole reported calmly.
Information was still coming in and organizing everything to bring certainty to the situation took time.
“For now, let’s go to Leslie’s command point,” Nicole said after careful thought.
That place was closer and even though it was an A-Rank and could be considered a trump card, Nicole wanted to get Taqiyya to safety.
Sending her report and target perfunctorily, Nicole moved forward with Taqiyya behind her back.
Leslie created this network using a state-of-the-art drone and while it had security systems, they could not fully trust it.
There were computer science students on both sides, and that meant their command centers could be compromised without them realizing it.
They moved forward for several minutes and began to hear more thunder rumbling in the distance.
When they emerged from that wooded and overgrown area that had become annoying, they came to an area with tall, thick trees spaced far apart.
This area gave the illusion of a magical, peaceful forest, but Nicole had a sense of danger.
“What’s that glowing?” Taqiyya hesitated, pointing to a light rising at the foot of a large tree.
Although the light wasn’t bright enough to see it from far away, it was bright enough to attract anyone at a first glance.
Because they had been walking earlier, they had only now noticed it and Nicole hesitated as she concentrated to get a better look.
“Isn’t that a scepter?” Nicole asked the expert.
Her tone sounded very doubtful and she couldn’t help it when inside the glowing light at the base of the tree was floating, what she identified as some kind of magical scepter.
“It is. It’s damaged and in need of repair, but yes, it is a magic scepter,” Taqiyya replied, narrowing her eyes.
Was that the reason why the students of the crafting tournament were involved in all this?
Nicole hesitated at that question and in the end, looking at Taqiyya, they both nodded.
“Hide here and keep your barriers active. Any danger don’t hesitate to use your artifacts,” Nicole ordered with a serious tone.
She sensed something strange around that forest and knew it could be dangerous.
Taqiyya was very well armed and even though she was not a fighter, she used various artifacts to protect herself and attack.
The tournament authorities were considerate of external artifacts in this kind of all-out combat.
Nicole advanced, deactivating her stealth, and walked through the large trees, looking around cautiously.
As she was about to reach the scepter, she noticed that one tree was slightly deformed.
It was somewhat minuscule, as if that tree in the center was slightly fatter than normal.
As soon as she had that thought, she could see a tongue being flung towards her.
Nicole’s combat aura spread out from her body, serving as a translucent armor and, without hesitation, she caught the tongue swiftly.
“...”
The Killer Chameleon was stunned by Nicole’s reflexes and quick reaction, but the most surprising thing was that she was only pushed a little into the ground.
The killer chameleon was a Rank A creature six meters long and three meters tall and now revealed itself in front of Nicole’s eyes.
The scales changed color, mimicking the tree trunk and the surroundings.
This creature used its tongue as a weapon and unlike the ‘sword toad,’ this tongue was not sharp but hardened into a club that struck with force.
All these thoughts came to Nicole’s mind as she withstood the blow, reducing the force of impact by the translucent combat aura that served as armor and, at the last instant, caught the tongue.
Her reflexes were no longer what they once were, and now she smiled.
“Gotcha,” Nicole muttered, and grabbing the tongue tightly, she grabbed it, and as if it was some kind of baton, she lifted the chameleon up and slammed it into a tree.
*BOOM*
The blow was strong enough to break part of the tree, and at the same time, it was so fast that the chameleon could not react.
Suffering the impact of the blow, the chameleon instinctively retracted its tongue as it fell to the ground and Nicole pounced on it.
Taking advantage of the daze and pain caused by the strong shock, Nicole quickly ran over and punched the stomach of the chameleon that was about to get up.
*BOOM*
Her blow produced a pop and, to Nicole’s surprise, the blow was strong enough to break the chameleon’s scales, and her leg sank into the chameleon’s body.
“...”
The chameleon died immediately, and she fell silent.
She knew that despite being an A-Rank, the chameleon’s advantage was the concealment ability that some said was on par with illusion magic and its tongue that attacked fast and lethal.
A blow could break a few bones and if the victim was weaker, the blow could go through an average human, still, she didn’t expect its strength to be so high.
Looking at the dead creature and then at her bloody fists, for a moment Nicole hesitated how to react.
Controlling her strength and choosing how she struck was a vital part of a fighter’s training.
Some created bursts of force that broke everything in front of them, others, instead of creating bursts of force in area effects, made penetrating blows that sought to break the barriers and body of their target.
In her case, she threw a punch to create a burst that she would use to keep the creature stunned and allow her to finish it off, but seeing the creature’s current state, she was surprised.
She hadn’t expected the blow that was thrown by another target to be so terrifying and such a fact showed her that she had a serious force control problem that she needed to fix.
Her only relief was that even in this confrontation, the barrier was active to protect the other students and nothing would happen.
Pushing away her bad thoughts about the situation, she picked up the scepter and held it out to Taqiyya, who was hiding.
“This is a weapon with the ability to cast an S-Rank spell,” Taqiyya muttered, checking it immediately as her eyes glittered and looking at Nicole, she reported. “If you give me some time, I’ll fix it for you.”
Her tone and confidence were much different from before and now one could tell she had found her reason for being in this confrontation.
******
At the top of a gigantic tree covered in holographic drones that obscured the view of anyone was a young man.
He was sitting on a large branch while several drones projected different screens.
Around the tree were glued the drones that kept the holographic image to hide and also were glued other drones that served to attack or defend, along with several drones.
The latter were smaller round drones, each designed with the latest technology, and these were Andrés’ new toys.
He had made quite a bit of money on the mission they had carried out in Africa and the next mission carried out in Japan.
Adding his job, even though he did not do serious work and did not lead a team, taking care of small tasks for others, his pay was quite high.
So he had bought new drones by asking Liam for advice as an expert.
He may not have wanted a field job, but having drones to defend himself was vital and, better yet, these drones were quite special.
Each was support drones with AI that allowed him to create a small command network to maintain some basic tasks.
Andrés was now using it in a rather curious way.
Practically, he was using his personal AI as a hub and intertwining them with the AIs of the other drones, increasing the overall processing power of his main AI.
If Liam was employing one AI to control all his drones, Andrés took the similar idea, only he was using one AI to control all the others and increase the capacity.
*BOOM*
Diverting his attention from his work, Andrés looked at the lightning that was beginning to strike through the trees, as if chasing someone.
“Apparently Edward has engaged in combat with the Paladin Academy’s capital, Elliott,” Andrés surmised quietly.
The overall combat was quite striking, as not only did it spread students from both academies across an entire area, but monsters and dangerous like poison areas were also present.
Also, strangely, there were weapons scattered all over the battlefield and while there seemed to be no time limit, in reality, Andrés could see a huge barrier covering this place.
That barrier was moving every so often and getting smaller.
“I feel like I’m in a game,” Andrés muttered, and checking the battlefield by connecting with Leslie’s camera drones, he could see another section.
Leslie was the main rally point and with her, there was already Vanessa, Nicole, Taqiyya, and several of the other students, including Gregorio and Rachael, as defense.
The other students were not lost, but were waiting for him.
Leslie had activated a drone that created a network of several hundred meters, but it was Andrés who was in charge of organizing it and extending it even further to cover the entire battlefield.
Once that happened, the chaotic battle gained some order and organization, but the Paladin Academy also prepared in the same way.
And now the two primary groups were facing each other, while the two S-Ranks were facing each other.
Paladin Academy just like them did not put all their students together and there were other groups scattered around the area looking for weapons and items to use, but at the same time, starting skirmishes.
“Are you sure it’s this way? We need to hurry. The glutton hasn’t shown up yet.”
Andrés heard a voice and subtly looked down, identifying a group of Paladin Academy searching the surrounding area.
“The main signal from their network says it’s nearby... But I don’t know...” a student muttered and looking around the surroundings, he commented. “Let’s just keep searching. We need to take down their network first to stand a chance.”
Andrés let out a smile as he heard those words, not bothering to be discovered, relying on the drones that prevented the sound from leaving their surroundings.
Stopping the network on which the command center was located was a good plan.
It would cut off communication completely and that meant the academy would be at a disadvantage because of the lack of communication.
If the Paladin Academy moved well, then it was possible that they would eventually manage to take them down bit by bit, until only the strongest were left to be taken down with the power of numbers.
A good move, but Andrés was also preparing.
Turning his concentration back to the screen, he kept moving his hands while supporting his AI to focus on defending his net.
The AI was defending, and he was attacking... No, rather than attacking, he was actually infiltrating.
First, he infiltrated the holographic clock of a student Alice had trapped and couldn’t warn his classmates, then from that point as a base, he established a connection to the Paladin Academy network.
They had an encrypted password, and as if that wasn’t enough, they also checked that the holographic watch was on the student’s wristband.
Once it passed through the network firewall in a legal way, it extended its control and sent several hidden viruses in the form of accurate information.
He was progressively and carefully extending his control, allowing him to increase his control of the network and obtain information that his academy needed.
He was moving very fast, but the battle continued around him and casualties were beginning to occur on both sides.
An all-out, chaotic war could be dangerous, the students understood as they engaged in group combat.
Adding that on this battlefield were weapons and artifacts that looked like consumables from a game, things could turn ugly if the situation was not controlled.
Watching as the battle plan and orders, along with the location of the Paladin Academy students, arrived on his holographic watch, Andrés smiled.
A perfect infiltration that even the computer student from the rival academy didn’t notice.
Adjusting that information on the map and locating the positions of the rival students, Andrés’ smile only grew.
“It’s time to get started.”
