Credit to the disciples of Rei, they didn't immediately collapsed. By the time Anastasia and I had dealt with Rei, there were still ten left standing. My friends, on the other hand, were on the verge of collapse. They were running low on mana, and were basically on their last legs. The numerical superiority of the a.s.sa.s.sins were winning out in the end.

I didn't blame them. I had spent quite a bit of mana myself, summoning my big guns such as Cetus and Hydra. Which, by the way, were still around. With the shadowy gargantuan multi-headed serpent gone, after its spellcaster was slain, Hydra could slither toward my friends to back them up. Cetus, though wounded, was still able to soar onward and envelop the entire place in a freezing field. Two a.s.sa.s.sins were frozen solid before they even realized what was happening. The rest scattered, only to be seized by Hydra.

The snapping serpentine jaws closed in on another couple of them, crus.h.i.+ng them. They struggled, their physical reinforcement spells allowing them to endure the destructive attacks for a few more seconds, and their comrades immediately counterattacked, as per their training.

However, my friends were not out of the fight.

"!!!"

Craig and Sheila's spears stabbed through two a.s.sa.s.sins, bringing them down before they realized what was happening. A fifth a.s.sa.s.siin jumped away, only to have his head caved in by Theodore's thunder hammer. The remaining a.s.sa.s.sins found themselves surrounded by Yue Chu and Bu Fan's flames, and Lily rushed through them to run her sword through one of them, while Cody snuck up on another and cut his throat while the guy was still distracted by the surrounding flames. Between Harrison, Yue Chu and Bu Fan, they distracted the surviving a.s.sa.s.sins long enough either for Hydra to pulverize them, or for their teammates to deliver the killing blows with their weapons.

The last a.s.sa.s.sin managed to break away and escape, fleeing into the woods. However, Anastasia stood before him.

"!!"

He skidded to a stop, and knowing that he couldn't possibly defeat Anastasia, dove to the side. However, a poisoned dagger found its way into his shoulder. Yanking it out, the a.s.sa.s.sin continued to run.

Unfortunately, he toppled over a few seconds later, his complexion ghastly and his mouth foaming as the venom took effect.

"Are you guys all right?" I asked as I approached my heavily breathing teammates while dismissing Cetus and Hydra. They nodded.

"Thanks for the backup," Harrison told me.

"I can't believe you actually took care of their boss." Craig stared at me in amazement. "I know he was just one guy, but he was on a completely different level. It's impressive that you could defeat him, never mind survive!"

"I had help." I nodded in Anastasia's direction. She was returning to our position after ensuring that the guy she killed was down for good.

"Who is that person?" Pearl wondered with a glance at Ana, even as she rejoined us to begin casting healing spells on our wounded members. Not a single one of us had escaped unscathed from the battle. We really needed medical treatment as soon as possible. "I don't think I've seen her before. Is she a student from another school?"

"No," I told her. "She's my friend."

"I'm more than just a friend," Anastasia teased as she wrapped her hands around my arm and leaned close. "h.e.l.lo, everyone, I'm Anastasia. I'm a member of the Silver Wolves. I'm pretty close to Richard too, and we've worked on a couple of missions together in the past."

"The Silver Wolves? Instructor Feng Hai's mercenary group?" Harrison instantly recognized the name. You had to understand. Unlike me, my friends rarely had dealings with the Silver Wolves. I was the guy who took missions related to the Silver Wolves, after all. Harrison, fortunately, was on top of the game. "What are you doing here?"

"To take care of you students, of course." Anastasia paused for a moment, and then smiled. "The Federation hired us mercenaries to watch over you guys, especially when we received intelligence that the Dark Church might make their move. So we were essentially taking care of you guys."

"Huh…you mentioned 'us', but you're the only one here." Bu Fan c.o.c.ked his head suspiciously. Ana shrugged.

"Well, there are five hundred schools, and the Silver Wolves could only spare a couple of dozen high-level mercenaries. For obvious reasons, we can't just send our rank-and-file soldiers against highly trained operatives from the a.s.sa.s.sins Guild. That would be sending them to their deaths. Even though the Federation managed to hire a few mercenary guilds, the truth is that we're pretty much stretched thin, trying to keep an eye on all of you guys. Besides, thanks to a certain higher-up, your group has been chosen to bait out the a.s.sa.s.sins and Dark Church agents, so we couldn't afford to give the game away by escorting you with too many mercenaries."

"What about the students from Edgar Pole Academy? Was there anyone watching over them?" I asked. I remembered how the a.s.sa.s.sins bragged about eliminating the poor students from Edgar Pole Academy first. But if there was a high-level, skilled mercenary watching over them, then they might not have to die.

"Oh, that guy was exaggerating. They did try to ambush and annihilate the other students from Edgar Pole Academy, but when they claimed they eliminated them, they were only partially telling the truth." Anastasia looked thoroughly amused. "They weren't exactly lying – thanks to the injuries they suffered, the team from Edgar Pole Academy have forfeited and been eliminated from the qualifiers. But they are still all alive."

"Really?" Lily sounded relieved. All of us, except Bu Fan – who honestly couldn't care less what happened to other people as long as they weren't his father or sister – felt similarly. It was always a terrible thing when something terrible occurred to other peope.

"Captain Brent took care of them personally." Anastasia nodded toward me, and I smiled when I heard the name. Brent was someone I was familiar with, having worked under his command during the expedition to the tomb. He was definitely someone who was extremely competent. "He managed to intervene when the a.s.sa.s.sins launched their attacks. Even so, he was unable to prevent casualties. Fortunately, the students of Edgar Pole Academy are well trained, and they responded appropriately, and thus were able to prevent any deaths."

"That's good to hear." Sheila sighed in relief, raising a hand to her chest and nodding.

"As of now, they are being evacuated by tournament staff, who flew a hovercraft over to take them out of the forest." Ana smiled. "Don't worry…even though it may not seem like it, but we are watching over you to ensure nothing untoward happens. It'll be stupid to allow deaths in something like a tournament."

Yeah, the whole "strong eat the weak" and "realistic training" was absolute bulls.h.i.+t. n.o.body was born already able to fight. What was the point of training if you killed people during training? There was a reason why training was called "training" and not considered the same as an actual battle. You were supposed to teach people how to survive in an actual battle, not throw them straight into an actual battle. That was the point of training – to teach, not to make things as realistic as possible. Most people couldn't possibly succeed or survive the first time, and consistent training was supposed to increase the odds of survival, not weed out the unfit or the "weak" until you end up handicapping your own army when you realize how little soldiers you had when compared to the enemy. Otherwise you might as well not bother with training. Even in the military, we had something called "conditioning" where we allowed trainees to slowly acclimatize and build up their fitness. You trained soldiers on how to fire their guns at range, and teach them fire and movement with blank rounds instead of throwing them straight into live-firing. n.o.body was stupid or delusional enough to buy that bullc.r.a.p about "making training realistic" or "the enemies won't be firing blanks at you" or whatever nonsense. Those writers who spouted such bulls.h.i.+t clearly had not trained in the military before.

I could tell you that if we were to implement such awful training practices, you would lose 90% of your recruits within the first six months. It simply was not a sustainable training method if you kill off most of your recruits before you even got to war.

"All right, best if you guys don't waste any more time on these guys and continue your journey. You still have about…ten days left? Nine?"

"She's right, you know." For some reason, I was reminded of Morgan Freeman even though Harrison was the one speaking. "We should get a move on, once Pearl is done with her treatment."

"Yes, Captain!"

"Bye~" Anastasia waved as she hopped back a couple of steps, smiling mischievously. "I'm only here to deal with outside threats…such as the Dark Church and a.s.sa.s.sins. I am not allowed to intervene or a.s.sist you in tournament stuff. So you're on your own, unless you get attacked by the Dark Church or a.s.sa.s.sins again."

"So we'll have to deal with monsters and the weather on our own." Theodore nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense."

"That's right. So…good luck!" Ana gave me a wink. "I'll be watching you from the shadows, but I'd appreciate it if you treat me as if I'm not there! Don't worry, I'm not the only one watching over you, so if anything happens, you're in good hands."

Right. The tournament staff and the Federation were probably keeping their eyes on the students partic.i.p.ating in it. Of course they had to. We were the best and brightest of our generation, and it would be a waste to just leave us to die in the wilderness. Safety first, and all that. Even almost a thousand years ago, during the military, we had safety officers watching over the soldiers who were out on exercises in forests, deserts and other "real" environments. With magic and technology that was slightly more advanced, the Federation should have an easier time monitoring the students running through the qualifiers.

Even more so, I believed that segments of the qualifers were being broadcasted and streamed online, for people to watch as entertainment. Apparently a lot of Federation citizens viewed the tournaments as a kind of sport, and watched videos of it for fun.

Then Ana was gone, disappearing into the shadows of the forest. Even with my hi-tech gla.s.ses, I was aware that I wouldn't be able to find her no matter how hard I looked, so I didn't bother trying. Instead, I turned my attention back to my friends.

"We'll rest for about an hour," Harrison was suggesting. "Heal up our wounds, take stock of our current condition, and then we'll move out."

"You should rest too," Pearl ordered when she saw him conjuring a holographic map to plan for our next route. "Your injuries are no less worse than the others."

"Don't worry, I'm just looking at the map. I won't be doing anything strenuous or physical." Harrison offered the worried Pearl a rea.s.suring smile. I was suddenly reminded of rumors that the two of them dated in the past. The two of them had some history, and seeing their interaction right now I could tell that it was somewhat true.

"I'll keep watch."

"No, you rest too!"

Pearl seized me by the collar and dragged me to a log where the others were sitting, just before I could walk to the edge of the clearing and keep an eye out.

"You spent quite a bit of mana, and you have a few injuries. They may be shallow, but I'll treat them later."

"Prioritize the others first," I told her. She nodded, already moving on to Craig and the others. They certainly seemed to be in worse shape than me. That was why they needed healing magic a lot more than I did.

Harrison exchanged a look with me, and I nodded before approaching and taking a seat next to him. He conjured a holographic screen, which conveniently showed a green icon that marked out our position.

"This battle has delayed us for a bit," he said with a sigh. Using a gloved finger, he traced a blue path through the snowy terrain. "Fortunately, we have quite a buffer, and nine days left, so I'm not concerned about our pace. I think we'll still make it. But what I'm worried about is this…."

I raised an eyebrow when I saw the blue path cross over a place marked out as a red zone. That was one of the dangerous areas.

"Doesn't this cut across the Den of Dragons?" I frowned when I saw the name labeling the valley. Harrison nodded.

"I honestly would prefer avoiding this place, but if we skirt across the Den of Dragons, it'll take us another day or two of trekking." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "We'll be cutting it close, especially if we take into account today's delay."

"Safety first," I told him. "Pa.s.sing the qualifiers is just the second priority. Our first priority is to ensure everyone makes it back safe and sound."

"Yeah." Harrison nodded. He glanced at the gray sky thoughtfully. "If anything happens to me, Richard, you have to take over the team and lead them safely. Don't worry about me. Since the Federation is keeping an eye on us, they'll dispatch a team to rescue me. You are to ensure everyone reaches Olympus City safely."

"Gotcha. Same. If anything happens to me, don't worry about me. I'll survive somehow. Just bring the team back to the city." I grinned. "I'll just nuke the Den of Dragons to oblivion if I have to."

Harrison laughed out loud at that, drawing a couple of stares from the others. "Yeah, that certainly sounds like what you would do." He then turned serious. "Regardless, don't do anything too reckless. The dragons there…they are not to be underestimated."

"You too. Don't go raising a flag in the middle of a journey." For some reason, I was getting some sort of premonition. "Everyone is depending on you to lead them to safety…and victory. Don't get yourself killed."

"You're one to talk!" Harrison chuckled. I shrugged.

"Well, I have plot armor, so nothing will happen to me unless the author gets sick of writing the story and decides to end it abruptly."

"There you go with that kind of incomprehensible talk again." Harrison shook his head. "Well, I certainly hope nothing untoward will happen." He glanced at the trees again. "It's also possible that those a.s.sa.s.sins or Dark Church agents aren't the only ones in the Aurora City district. We need to stay vigilant for them."

"Agreed."

"What should we do about those bodies?" Yue Chu asked as he stumbled over, still feeling the effects of Pearl's healing spells. He c.o.c.ked his head toward the corpses of the a.s.sa.s.sins, and the Dark Church agents above the ridge.

"Leave them," Harrison replied coldly. "Let the beasts of the forests have them."

I smiled at the thought of the monsters having a feast tonight, long after we left this G.o.dforsaken place. "Knowing the Dark Church, I think they'll be pretty happy and honored to continue serving their beloved monsters after death...as food."