"This is too much!"
Seething, Li Fei dove toward the dense forest.
Those dogs!
They were all stranded on the island together, fellow students of the Magic Academy. Instead of joining forces against the monsters, they were racking their brains to sabotage each other!
Hide underground, and the place was crawling with summoned creatures and spell traps.
Take to the sky, and she got a knife in the back!
The sprites' search parties had driven her into a pit. The pit had ambushed her with a spell trap, and she'd fled wounded, losing a good three pounds of blood. When she finally ran out of options and fled on her Flying Broom, every last one of them was lurking in the dark taking sneak shots at her!
Even a cornered rabbit bites. Seeing that she couldn't escape, Li Fei flew into a rage, bellowed at the top of her lungs, and went all in, as if she meant to take everyone down with her. She slammed straight at the nearest ambusher.
True, she had thrown herself into summoning sprites to screw over other people, and she'd even flung a fireball that missed when she saw someone rise into the air. But that didn't matter anymore.
If Miss Top Courtesan was having a miserable time, then nobody was going to have a good one!
Li Fei ground her teeth, and malice seeped endlessly up from the depths of her black soul.
These genius mages could muffle the sound of their casting, sure, but the flash of spell glow that came and went was glaringly obvious in the dark. Which direction each shot had come from, Li Fei saw perfectly clearly.
The night wind cut like a knife against her sweat-soaked face, and even her smile looked chillingly cold.
The young mage who'd been loosing magic bolts from the shadows went pale with terror. He stared at the Spell Encyclopedia Lady astride her broom, bearing down on him like a hurricane.
And at the dark swarm of monsters behind her.
He hurriedly picked up his pace to flee, but the faster he moved, the less he could hide his footsteps.
With a soft crunch, a few dry leaves snapped underfoot. The young mage froze on the spot as if struck by a Petrification spell, sweat pouring down his body.
A hideous black shape arrived right on schedule. One swipe of its palm sent him flying sideways a long way, coughing blood without end.
The young mage instinctively raised a spell shield and frantically poured out spells to hit back. But he clearly didn't have Li Fei's ability to hold off and kill a few monsters. Brilliant mana burst outward, yet the monsters were only slowed, with a few tears opening in their hides.
A few more black shapes pounced. Their ape-like arms swung out and smashed the shield apart in an instant, followed by a dense chorus of cracking bones.
Fortunately, he hadn't lost his wits entirely. Before his last breath, he crushed his badge, and his bloodied body vanished.
"Tsk. Not so tough after all."
Li Fei sneered and swung her sword. Riding the momentum of her high-speed flight, the deep-red magic flame tore through a monster blocking her path.
Then the Flying Broom abruptly disappeared. Li Fei rolled to the ground and, following her memory, charged without pause toward the hiding place of the next ambusher.
When you didn't dare make a sound, a nimble warrior or assassin might still move fast. But how far could a mage lord get?
A half-orc mage creeping along on tiptoe heard the commotion and turned. His mouth fell open, and sweat beaded on his forehead.
He shook his head frantically and waved his staff about, gesturing for Li Fei to go away.
As if Li Fei would care about that.
"Good evening, Classmate Half-Orc."
She greeted him in a loud, cheerful voice.
The half-orc mage wore the smile of someone who had lost the will to live. He didn't even put up a token struggle, just slumped and crushed his badge.
Li Fei's smile grew even brighter, and the irritation in her chest vanished.
Her white fangs showed and her eyes curved like crescent moons, sparkling with life. Even her steps were stronger, nothing like the exhausted, furious beaten dog of a moment ago.
You all like hurting each other so much, don't you?
Then come on.
Go ahead and make a mess of it.
This young lady is flipping the board. Let's see whose pieces hit the floor first.
Brimming with glee, the Spell Encyclopedia Lady swung her muzzle around without delay and charged at her next victim.
…
Deep in the silent, shadowy forest, a beauty in distress, her skirt-robe torn and her whole body smeared with blood, ran on. Her black stockings, soaked a dark red, were riddled with holes.
Yet on that blood-spattered little face was a sweet, radiant smile. She pinched up her ragged hem with her fingertips as it streamed backward, and her long, straight legs strode on, leaving exquisite scarlet footprints as she ran eagerly, unflinchingly toward the person in her sights. She was a princess escaped from a monster's den in a fairy tale, a flower blooming at the edge of the abyss, fruit rotting forever in an oil painting. Vivid yet bleak, sweet to the point of bitterness, innocent and sickly all at once.
"That magic punch just now was really accurate! Could I ask you for some casting tips?"
She asked in a lively, friendly voice.
"…"
The girl mage's smile was uglier than tears.
From the first moment she'd laid eyes on Li Fei, she had imagined this very scene: the Spell Encyclopedia Lady laughing as she threw herself into her arms.
But in every one of those daydreams, the scene was romantic, warm, and lovely, not with a tidal wave of monsters trailing behind her.
She twitched the corners of her mouth into the weary smile of a shattered dream and took off running.
"Why won't you talk to me?"
Li Fei called out.
The girl had light-yellow bobbed hair and a sweet, innocent apple face with a bright, energetic smile. Her big orange eyes were clear and shining, and she radiated such sunny kindness that she looked like the sort of good kid who'd help old folks cross the street and feed stray cats.
She wasn't tall, but unlike Qiao'er she wasn't slim and delicate either. The collar of her wine-red jacket was stretched taut, and the gold brooch gleamed even in the dark. Beneath her gray skirt, her thighs were shapely and full, her smooth, firm skin bursting with youthful vitality. Gray knee-high socks hugged her calves with just the right amount of squeeze.
She turned a deaf ear to Li Fei's calls, and she was surprisingly agile. She sprang like a cat into the bushes, her fluttering skirt and retreating back looking light and lovely, full of dazzling youth.
When she emerged again, her body had turned transparent, and even her presence was concealed.
"You can use Stealth too? Amazing!"
Li Fei marveled.
The short-haired girl said nothing and ran with her head down.
Clearly, [Stealth] worked on monsters. She was fast, yet she made no sound at all and drew no monsters to her.
If she hadn't provoked Li Fei, she could have easily lurked in some corner and waited for the altar to form before fighting for it outright.
But as the saying goes, one wrong step leads to another. Just as Li Fei had slipped and could never climb back onto the straight and narrow, the short-haired girl had no road back.
With the [True Sight Gem] in hand, Li Fei could see the girl's every movement as plainly as a fire in front of her. She cleaved through a monster blocking her way, stuck right behind the girl, and said with a dazzling smile:
"Why won't you talk to me?"
The short-haired girl shuddered and sped up again, only to find she couldn't shake Li Fei at all. The distance between them kept shrinking.
Her Stealth was no use, and she wasn't faster either.
Once the two were within arm's reach, the girl read the situation and made a very sensible choice.
She turned her head and, still running, begged pitifully:
"I'm sorry, please forgive me."
"If saying sorry earned forgiveness, what would we need constables for?"
Li Fei grinned and clamped a hand on her shoulder. Her snow-soft fingers slowly tightened, intending to crush the girl's shoulder bone and toss her to the monsters, to see whether that would buy her some time to slip away.
"Actually, we could help each other."
The short-haired girl squeezed out a pure, kindly smile. "I can help you shake off the monsters chasing you."
"Oh my, we've only just met. I'd hate to trouble you so much."
Li Fei exchanged pleasantries, but her movement changed. She linked arms with the girl and held on tight, looking like the best of sisters.
The short-haired girl understood perfectly well that discretion is the better part of valor. She gripped the crook of Li Fei's arm in return and murmured:
"hayat degistirilebilir."
In a surge of rich magical radiance, the girl carried Li Fei in a light hop forward, two meters away.
After they landed, a special layer of mana settled over them and erased their body heat, scent, sound, and every trace of presence, turning their figures transparent. Most of the remaining mana took shape as several illusions identical to the two of them and scattered in all directions.
The girl pressed a slender finger to her lips, pursed her soft pink mouth, and made a "shh" gesture.
Li Fei turned and watched the monsters chase the illusions away. The forest fell silent again.
Safe. For now…
She let out a breath and, without a word, started dressing the wound at her waist.
The short-haired girl stretched out a leg and, toes touching the ground, quietly traced a circle about three feet across around the two of them. She tossed down a few materials with a flick of her hand, then activated a simple ritual array with mana.
Only after the ritual lit up did she dare speak.
"I've set up a silence ward."
The short-haired girl wore an ingratiating smile. Her head tilted slightly down, and she looked up at Li Fei from below with watery big eyes, the very picture of harmless fragility. "About before… I'm sorry, I was wrong. I shouldn't have attacked you first."
Trying The Art of Tea on a top courtesan? Sister, at a moment like this you should look timid and remorseful, not fawning and ingratiating. It's way too obvious. You're not ready.
At the Golden Tangerine Tavern, this level wouldn't be the bottom of the pile, but at best you'd bring in average numbers.
Li Fei smiled without a word.
That deep, half-smiling gaze weighed on the girl with unmatched pressure, as though every scheme in her heart had been seen through.
This is bad…
Normally this was all it took. No matter what mistake I made, the seniors and juniors, boys and girls alike, would forgive me. Why isn't it working now…
The girl wailed inwardly. Fighting down the foolish urge to bolt, she pleaded in a small, soft voice: "Since I'm making up for it, could you please forgive me just this once? I promise I'll never dare again. I'm sorry!"
"Classmate Naomi."
Li Fei said her name outright, lips curling. "There's an old saying in the East: 'No friendship without a fight.'"
"So far we've both been competing fairly. What's there to forgive?"
Having gone through the files of all twenty-eight Gold-rank students, Li Fei naturally recognized the girl with the gold brooch.
Naomi. According to the publicly available intel, she was a second-year in the Great Bell Branch, on the paths of Order and Scouting, and especially skilled in illusion spells. Since she'd entered the trial in Folded Space B-01, she must be quietly studying a second piece of Extraordinary knowledge too, this brightest jewel of the Great Bell Branch.
Naomi breathed a sigh of relief, her smile growing more sincere, and nodded hard.
"Yes, yes. Miss Li Fei is right."
"But…"
Li Fei stepped half a pace forward, planting her foot between the girl's feet, and gently drew the girl's supple, springy waist against her, closing the gap between them.
Pressed heart to heart, the clear, vivid thump of a heartbeat, carried through a far better-nourished chest, made the girl's breath catch.
"Since there's no personal grudge between us, should I be eliminating a competitor right now?"
Li Fei whispered unhurriedly, her warm breath brushing past the girl's ear.
"Um, I…"
Naomi's heart lurched. Her smile froze on her face and she shook her head over and over.
Under that teasing gaze looking down at her, the pleasure of snuggling up close tangled with nervous tension, leaving the girl flustered and a little incoherent.
"I'm kidding. I'm not the sort to kick away the ladder once I've crossed."
Li Fei blinked and gave her another sweet date. Her breath carried a scent like fine tea. "In fact, what you said just now, 'help each other,' gave me an idea. We could keep working together… Oh right, which school's altar are you aiming for?"
Held in Miss Top Courtesan's grip, Naomi's emotions rose and fell within moments. The tea fragrance streaming into her nose and the warm, pressed-close body left her mind a bit hazy, and she answered without thinking:
"The life school."
Looks like I really don't need to kick away the ladder.
Li Fei snapped her fingers and said pleasantly, "Miss Naomi, with your abilities, as long as nothing unexpected happens, you can easily make it safely through three days and nights to the moment the altar forms."
"But you're not the only one with Stealth."
"On top of that, as more students get eliminated, the density of summoned units roaming the island will drop sharply. That means that as time goes on, students will be eliminated more and more slowly, and a handful of lucky ones will always last to the end."
"So in the final showdown over who gets the altar, you'll probably be facing dozens of powerful, Innate Talent-blessed opponents."
"But I can help us clear the obstacles."
Li Fei's five fingers slowly closed into a fist. "Drive our rivals out ahead of time!"
There was no moon in the sky above Black Magic Death Island, but the light in Li Fei's eyes was brighter than moonlight.
Inside the cramped silence ward, Naomi drew a deep breath of tea-scented air and gazed at the face so close to hers. She was tempted, truly.
Both by the dangerously alluring proposal, and by the person making it.
"How do you plan for us to work together?"
Naomi asked.
"Redirect the disaster."
Li Fei said calmly, "I make noise on purpose and draw the monsters in. Then I lead them to the other competitors and send them off!"
"Without a doubt, wherever I pass, no genius mage and no scion of a high-Sequence being will escape."
"The sprites I summon are clumsy and rigid in the end. However many there are, plenty slip through. But if we search together, efficiency will shoot up."
"Of course, my stamina is limited, so every half hour you'll need to get me out of the fight so I can recover. Besides that, since you have Scouting abilities, you can help me find where the other rivals are hiding."
"You point, and I'll charge the monsters wherever you say."
"If we split the work properly and cooperate wholeheartedly, we might completely dominate the island's outer ring by tomorrow night!"
Her calm, confident voice knocked on the girl's heart and awakened an emotion called trust. Her gaze drifted down, full of tender warmth, weaving an invisible net that quietly caught its prey.
Brilliant!
Naomi opened her mouth, stunned by this vicious, devious plan that nonetheless sounded entirely workable.
She herself could easily shake off pursuing monsters, but she wasn't strong in close combat and never dared to lure them. It would be like dancing on a knife's edge. One slip and a single swipe could kill her, knock her out, or snap her arm, and she might not even get the chance to crush her badge. Far too risky.
Li Fei, on the other hand, had the confidence to dance around monsters for a short while, could even kill a few, and could cut a bloody path out when surrounded. The only problem was that once they locked onto her, she couldn't get away and would be worn down to death.
But if Li Fei drew the monsters and, when her stamina was nearly spent, Naomi pulled her out… In theory, as long as neither of them slipped, they really could swagger across the outer ring!
"How did you come up with this idea?"
Naomi looked deeply at that face, split by the ward's glow into one half bright and pale, one half dark and deep. She found herself recalling the parts of the intel about the "Philanthropist" and the "Angel of the Solitary Isle," and the question slipped out.
"I handle some charity work, so I can't avoid dealing with all kinds of people, good and bad."
Li Fei winked her right eye, sly. "You can only deal with them and protect fairness, justice, and order by being craftier than the bad ones, right?"
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