The cerberus stood panting at the far end of the grove, bloodied and burnt marks on its body, each of its three heads snarling intermittently as its crimson eyes shifted warily between the students and Arthur.
Vivian turned toward the others, her expression tight. "We can't subdue the beast. Not without incurring some losses."
"But…" one of the team leaders started.
She cut him off. "No. We've done what we can, and at least we got the fruits. If we stay any longer, we'll only risk more casualties."
There were murmurs of agreement between the students this time. Even Jonathan, though clearly frustrated, kept his mouth shut.
Vivian looked back toward Arthur, "We'll leave," she said softly. Then she bowed slightly again and added, "Thank you, Arthur. I hope we meet again."
Arthur gave a simple nod.
Vivian gestured, and the five teams began retreating from the grove, slowly and carefully. One by one, the students disappeared beyond the magical barrier around the grove, their boots crunching over broken twigs and scorched earth, never once turning their backs to the beast.
The cerberus didn't move. It watched in silence, as its attackers were leaving the place. But it decided to not pursue them because something far more dangerous stood between it and its prey.
Once the last student vanished into the underbrush, Arthur stood alone with the beast in the grove.
He took a few steps forward.
The Cerberus immediately dropped into a low stance, baring its fangs, as it let out a slow, guttural growl.
Arthur didn't stop.
He walked forward at a calm and measured pace. When he reached a few meters from the beast, he lifted his left hand and pressed it downward in the air, the beast immediately felt a terrifying force pressing down on its body.
Thump.
The cerberus's body crashed into the ground, slammed down by an invisible force. Dust kicked up around its paws as it let out a sharp yelp, its limbs twitching. It tried desperately to rise, only to be pressed down again by the sheer telekinetic pressure pressing it into the forest floor.
It let out a pitiful growl, low and weak, its three heads twitching under the strain.
Arthur simply walked forward until he stood directly over the beast's body.
He then pulled out his token, and pressed it against the glowing sigil etched into the creature's shoulder.
The sigil pulsed for a few seconds and then vanished.
+100 Points.
The numbers on the token flickered faintly, confirming the additional points to his team's total.
Arthur raised an eyebrow, while looking at the token. "Oh… so an early C-Rank gives ten times more points than what a peak D-Rank does. That's nice."
He then looked down at the beast, watching it breathe heavily. All three heads were lowered now. It didn't snarl anymore but was whimpering in a low voice and maybe… submission.
Arthur exhaled, pulled out one of the purple fruits from his dimensional storage, and casually tossed it in front of the cerberus's snout, as he lifted his telekinetic hold placed on the beast.
The fruit landed with a soft thud in front of the beast.
The beast, seeing the pressure on it disappear, hesitated only for half a second, then it leapt at the fruit with surprising speed, snatching it up in one gulp.
But what happened afterward surprised Arthur, the beast's wounds, still raw and bleeding just moments ago, began to knit themselves shut. Skin and fur regenerated over the scorched patches on its body.
"Huh…" Arthur murmured. "That's… impressive."
He'd seen high-grade healing potions that could boost regeneration. But a fruit that could trigger such fast regeneration, that was a first for Arthur.
The Cerberus slowly rose to its feet, all three of its heads turned toward Arthur.
It backed away, slowly, inch by inch, never taking its gaze off of him as it moved toward the grove's center, then positioned itself protectively between the trees.
Arthur tilted his head.
"Don't worry," he muttered, "I got what I came for."
Then, without another glance, he turned away.
He pulled up his 'Map' mid-stride, scanning the terrain for any remaining cluster of life signatures.
There were no beasts nearby, they probably fled due to the sound of fighting, but he noticed some signatures near the edge of his map.
Arthur's lips curled into a faint grin.
"Let's go say hi."
And with that, he vanished into the forest once more, the leaves rustling softly in his wake.
…
While Arthur moved deeper into the forest, hunting stronger beasts and accumulating points, his team was caught in an entirely different kind of conflict, one that came not from the beasts of the forest, but from human malice.
Near the base of a moss-covered ridge, Leon, Eva, Finn, Natalya, Sophia, and the others stood back-to-back in a tight circle. A group of unfamiliar students surrounded them, eight of them clearly combatants, and two of them hanging back with calculating expressions.
The opposing uniforms marked them from another academy.
Eva's eyes narrowed. "They've been trailing us," she whispered.
"I noticed," Leon muttered, his gaze scanning each face around them. "They've been watching us for a while..."
Finn tapped his knuckles together. "Are they targeting us?" His words were confirmed when the leader of the group surrounding them stepped forward.
A tall boy with narrow eyes and slicked-back dark hair stepped through the ring of attackers. His posture screamed arrogance, but his dense mana made it clear, he was a 3rd Circle mage, no doubt about it.
"Finally found you guys," the boy said, stretching his neck with a loud crack. "Really, it was not easy at all."
Sophia frowned. "What…? Why are you targeting us? We don't even know you."
The boy chuckled and raised a hand toward them. "You're right. We have no enmity towards you." His eyes turned icy. "Blame your seniors… for what's about to happen."
Then, casually, as if ordering lunch, he dropped his hand and said, "Attack."
Leon, Eva and the others also got ready to defend themselves, the attacking team have three 3rd Circle mages and all the others are in the 2nd Circle. And they have only two who are at the 3rd Circle, so they need to fight cautiously.
…
A few seconds ago, as they were surrounded by an unfamiliar group.
Leon whispered to Finn and the others, "Guys close your eyes on my signal, and only open them when I say so." Finn understood what Leon was going to do and nodded, although the others were confused as to why Leon said so when they were in an imminent fight, they decided to trust Leon.
And just as the leader of the attacking group signaled the attack, Leon raised his hands and shouted, "Now!"
All his teammates did as Leon asked, their opponents were confused at why everyone was closing their eyes, the leader of the attacking group felt something wrong and quickly closed his eyes, but before he could warn his team, a burst of blinding white light erupted from Leon's outstretched hand, flooding the clearing.
"WHOOSH!!"
The intense light blinded most of the attackers, their opponents screamed as they felt their eyes burn from the intense light.
"MY EYES!"
"WHAT THE…?!"
The forest echoed with chaos as several of the opposing mages staggered back, clutching their faces, their spells fizzling away after just a second or two. Leaves and debris were kicked up as the blinded students flailed in confusion and pain.
Leon shouted, "Attack! Now!" and all of them started to attack their opponents.
Finn burst forward, wind launching him into the nearest blinded opponent. His fist slammed into the boy's gut with enough force to knock the wind out of him, and probably crack a rib or two.
Eva's vines erupted from the ground, wrapping around the legs and arms of two students, yanking them off balance and into the dirt.
Natalya's voice rang as she summoned a freezing spell, locking down the movements of another mage in ice up to his waist.
But while the chaos unfolded, the opposing team's leader who had closed his eyes at the last second, feeling the shift in mana just in time, opened his eyes quickly and grimaced at the state of his teammates. "Tch… amateurs."
He raised a hand, magic swirling into a soft green glow as he began chanting a healing spell to get his team back on their feet.
Leon, seeing the leader not blinded and casting a spell, was already moving towards him with 'Light Step' to interrupt him.
With a flick of his hand, a glowing lance of light appeared above his palm and he hurled it toward the opposing leader.
The boy's head snapped towards Leon, he cursed under his breath and withdrew the healing spell he was casting, seeing an attack coming towards his direction. He formed a shield to defend against the attack.
CLANG!
The spear struck the shield at the center, cracking it a bit, but was unable to break it completely.
However, Leon didn't give him time to cast another spell, and was already closing the gap.
The moment his opponent dropped the healing spell to focus on defense, Leon arrived in front of him. He punched with his fist reinforced by mana, aimed at the boy's ribs.
His opponent staggered back, blocking with his forearm, but Leon pressed in.
A barrage of fast, close-range strikes followed, elbows, knees, palm strikes, each of his movements were precise.
…
The enemy leader grit his teeth and tried to hold his ground. Wind coiled around his arms and legs like armor, reacting with speed-enhancing bursts to every incoming strike.
Leon's elbow shot toward his opponent's jaw,
WHAM!
The wind mage ducked, a gust spiraling around his body to reduce Leon's impact. He retaliated with a spinning kick enhanced by wind pressure, a sharp whoosh slicing the air.
Leon leaned back just in time, the wind slicing across his cheek and drawing a line of blood.
"You're annoying," the wind mage growled.
He extended his palm. "Wind Cage!"
A spiraling cyclone burst forth to trap Leon in a twisting prison of air blades.
But Leon didn't flinch.
He raised both palms and muttered, "Light Pulse."
A thick beam of searing light exploded outward from his outstretched hands, dissipating the cyclone with a crackling hiss.
Before the enemy mage could recover, Leon dashed forward again.
"Light Step!"
He zig-zagged through the battlefield, reappearing behind the wind mage mid-spin.
"Got you."
Leon swept his leg across the ground in a low kick. The wind mage was caught mid-stance and stumbled forward.
Leon followed up instantly, raising a hand overhead as a short blade of light materialized in his grip.
Slash!
The blade carved across the enemy's wind armor, cracking it open.
The wind mage staggered back and roared, unleashing a wide burst of concussive air in desperation. "Typhoon Wave!"
Leon crossed his arms in front of him, bracing as the wave of wind slammed into him, pushing him back a few feet, but not breaking his stance.
His boots dug into the earth, the golden aura surrounding him intensified.
"Radiant Strike!"
He lunged forward, punching with his light-clad fist, and the energy exploded on impact.
BOOM!
The wind mage's shield cracked like glass, shattering under the blow. He flew backward, tumbling across the forest floor before slamming into a tree with a loud crack.
He slumped down, groaning, blood trailing from the corner of his mouth.
Leon conjured another lance mid-motion as he appeared before the leader and pinned the tip to his throat.
"Still think this was a good idea?" Leon asked, with a sharp undertone in his voice.
The boy looked up at him, still trying to be defiant.
"Flare Bind." Seeing the leader still not speaking he first bound him with 'Flare Bind' and turned to check on the others, only to see Eva slam a vine-clad pillar into an enemy, and Natalya freeze another in ice. While Finn and the others were restraining the already passed out opponents.
***
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