With Zachary still stuck in the ice and far from Raymond now. He cancelled his fleet footed spell and slowed down to a light jog.
Looking around, he admired the peaceful forest as he jogged.
Although it was all probably made with magic, seeing how the same exact layout of trees seemed to repeat every hundred meters or so. Whoever was in charge of arena design really did a good job.
Sending out a pulse of mana in a wave, he stood still and cautiously waited for the feedback.
A handy trick he had learned after some inspiration from Earths radar systems.
Feeling a few mana signatures somewhere to his right, he proceeded towards them.
One of the mana signatures had significantly more mana, a clear sign of a mage since the highest ranked candidates right now were G+ rank.
Raymond felt uncomfortable using his hand incantations, he missed his staff badly.
While he could probably just look for some chests. There was always a better option.
After all why do the hard work when there were so many people willing to do it for you?
Stumbling upon a group of three people he could see two warriors. One held a wooden sword similar to what Zachary held. The other simply held his fists out in a stance.
Both of them were trying (and failing) to eliminate a poor mage girl.
Strolling into sight of the three of them. He put his arms on his waist and loudly yelled.
"HEY!"
Instantly faces turned. The two warriors especially scrunched their faces in confusion as they stared at Raymond.
After a while, one of them finally asked.
"You wanna team up or something?"
Raymond chuckled, teaming up? That was for losers who were weak.
Conveniently ignoring the fact he was supposed to team up with Ellen later. He pointed his finger at the two of them.
"Why are two warriors ganging up on a poor defenseless mage? As a mage myself i feel like we need to stick up for each other you know?"
Winking at her, he pointed at the wand she was holding in her hand.
"I also just so happen to have a need for a wand right now."
"So lets just do this. The two of you give up and walk away, and you give me your wand or else i eliminate you all we good?"
The two warriors burst into laughter hearing what Raymond had said, seeing how they didn't recognize him. They were probably at the other end of the hall away from where Raymond was.
"I'd rather just eliminate you both."
Raymond sighed. This was the problem with warriors. Unlike noble and elegant mages, warriors always just liked to solve every problem with their muscles.
Raising his right hand at them, he drew upon his mana.
Instantly a ray of frost shot out at the sword wielding warrior. Who held out his sword to try and block it.
'Why would you try to block magic with a wooden sword?'
At least it kind of worked. His forearms were covered in ice and he was shivering but he had blocked the brunt of the attack.
Sending another beam of ice to finish him off, Raymond turned his attention to the other warrior.
"Wait! Lets reconsider this! Please! My mom has cancer!"
Ignoring his obvious lies, Raymond drew upon his mana again.
His teammate pleaded with Raymond his hands clasped like he was begging, upon seeing Raymond point his palm at him. He already knew he had failed.
Rushing towards the mage, he grabbed her while she was still stunned-probably from Raymond's amazing magic-and held her in a hostage position.
"I'll eliminate her if you don-
Thump
A small ice pillar shot up from the ground, smashing directly into him and sending him flying. As she dropped onto her knees, she looked up at him with gratefulness in her eyes.
What an angel!
"T-thank you for saving me."
Raymond walked towards her and held his hand out with a gentle smile on his face. He politely demanded what was now rightfully his.
"Give me that wand."
Seeing her confused expression, he politely repeated himself again.
"Give me that wand."
"I thought you said mages have to look out for one another!"
Her face flushed with disbelief, both her hands gripping tightly onto the wooden wand. Angel my *ss!
"Well i protected you didn't I? And besides I'm looking out for you right now! Other mages would probably target you for your wand, but only i wouldn't eliminate you."
His logic was impeccable. He mentally gave himself a pat on the back, he truly was just too kind for his own good.
Likely muttering some profanities underneath her breath, she handed him the wand.
Feeling the short wooden wand in his hands for a bit, he channeled his mana into it to get a feel for how good it was.
It was bad. Maybe because they were still in the outskirts and the better stuff was closer to the center?
Practicing swinging and pointing the wand a little bit, he nodded. It may have been bad but it was serviceable for now.
Turning around, he swiftly returned on his journey to meet up with Ellen.
"Wait! You're just going to leave me here?!"
She shouted at his retreating figure, Raymond turned to look at her. Seeing her still on the ground.
"You have legs don't you? Just walk!"
Turning back again, he checked his memory to make sure he was going in the correct direction and slightly adjusted his direction.
"Bastard."
He was too far away now for him to hear her. Yet as she stood up from the forest floor, she couldn't help but think of his gentle smile paired with his handsome appearance.
Her heart was beating fast, not from the adrenaline of the earlier fight. It wasn't a rush, just a warmth—steady, growing, quietly hopeful.
Grasping her own face, she could feel her cheeks blush hotly.
...
'Hmmmmm.'
Raymond didn't know why, but ever since he saved that girl he had gotten an increasingly bad feeling.
Humming a popular song that had recently gone viral, he looked up slightly. The skies were as clear as Raymond's conscience, the sun was nowhere to be seen and the tall pine trees provided shade for Raymond.
If it weren't an arena made so that 500 something 15 year olds could fight each other until there was only one left, it would have made for a good vacation spot.
There were no wildlife, no random piles of animal dung that Raymond might step on. No loud crickets or annoying insects.
Just pure silence, nothing but the sound of Raymond walking and humming.
He could sense the occasional fight happening here and there. But none of that had anything to do with Raymond.
Besides, they were fighting so hard. Raymond might feel a bit bad for them if he third partied and eliminated everyone there.
Not because he was lazy or anything!
Finally, he walked past the boundary of the forest. Revealing a massive perfect circle with the flat headed mountain in the middle.
Looking around, he couldn't see Ellen yet. Likely still making her way towards the center or maybe she was on the other side of the mountain.
He turned and froze in place for a bit.
'Damn! Why are you here!'
It was Zachary again, next to him was Thomas Incane. Both of them were wielding a long sword, now made of metal.
Both of them looked a bit battered but were ultimately still in good condition. The previous ice that Raymond was sure would hold Zachary in place for at least an hour was now gone.
He locked eyes with Zachary, who locked eyes with him. His eyes widened as he recognized Raymond.
"RAYMOND!"
"...I don't know who you're talking about."
"Don't lie you coward! If it weren't for Thomas freeing me i would have been eliminated from being out of bounds!"
Right... Raymond had forgotten about that part of the battle royale. He had set it up so Zachary would have been freed within an hour but looking back, he would have been eliminated way earlier from being out of bounds.
"I don't know you and my names not Raymond."
He persisted in his blatant deception tactics. Looking at the new swords Zachary and Thomas wielded, he could see signs of battle on them.
Simulating a fight between Raymond against the two of them. He checked his own mana reserves and looked at the two of them.
With his almost full mana reserves, against the two of them who looked a bit tired. Raymond decided to throw all pretense out the window.
"Alright fine my name is Raymond but how do you even know that! I didn't tell you my name when we met!"
He gestured to Thomas next to him.
"He told me your name after i described you."
"Well then why the hell do you know my name and what i look like?"
"You caused such a ruckus when your potential score was being measured. I naturally memorized your appearance."
Raymond cursed at himself, if only he had hid his own potential score! Now all sorts of trouble was showing up!
Flourishing the wand in his hands, he calculated the time spent in the battle royale so far.
It had been around an hour and a half so maybe enough people had been eliminated so far?
Thomas's background as an angel was already known by the academy so his entry into the special class was already guaranteed.
His only worry was eliminating Zachary too early!
"Dude, i told you man. I don't wanna eliminate you too early."
"And i told you i don't care. Lets fight! WE want to fight!"
Thomas's face turned from blank to confused upon hearing the last part. He turned at stared at Zachary for a while before turning and making eye contact with Raymond.
Staring at Raymond's light blue eyes. He turned back towards Zachary and slightly backed off. Sheathing his metal longsword into a scabbard, he raised his hands as a peace treaty.
"Zachary you're on your own man. I don't want to be eliminated too early."
Finally! Someone with common sense!
"He's right man, its not good to tire yourself out at the start. "
Zachary seemed dumbfounded at Thomas's betrayal. His jaw dropped, pointing a finger at Thomas.
"I thought we had something going on man!"
"That was that and this is this."
Seeing Thomas's determination to not join him. Zachary gritted his teeth before turning back to Raymond.
"Fine then. I'll fight you by myself."
Did this guy even listen to a word that Raymond had said?