Even as they felt the panic suffuse them from the unknown that haunted them, their minds were alert and cautious.
"Team Four, follow me and check what it is," Deltan said.
The team of five reapplied their stealth magic and walked to the area where the alert had sounded. They couldn't use any light spells to illuminate the surroundings in order to avoid alerting whatever was there.
Lucien spread out his magic and detected a small, feline-shaped creature. He sent a voice transmission to the rest of his team, informing them of this. Silently, they made their way there quickly and efficiently.
The creature seemed like it lived in the darkness, as its body seemed like it was made of fog instead of something solid. On its body, there was a pattern that blended into the dark material of its body, seeming like it was alive and material. It possessed an innate darkness element. Two red eyes glowed in the darkness. Shockingly, the creature was a Third Tier Magic Beast.
Eden stopped himself from sucking in a breath. Luckily, they had the foresight to put up alert runes. To think that something had tried to sneak in so quickly! While it wouldn't have been disastrous, had this stealthy creature snuck in through the darkness he was sure that a few people would have retained heavy injuries.
Although their Teacher was probably keeping an eye on them, he had a feeling that unless they were in life-threatening danger, he wouldn't help. Injuries were on par with training.
Without wasting any time, Aciel used a Second Circle spell, Ice Slip to coat the area around the Magic Beast.
The beast howled, enraged that its opponents dared to try go up against it. It was mighty Third Tiered Magic Beast! Whip quick, it struck out, catching Aciel off guard as she didn't move back in time, slightly delayed after casting her spell.
Brooke instantly launched a Water Lance at the beast, giving Aciel time to retreat.
In this way, the group of five started a battle of attrition as the beast disregarded the ice on the floor. Unfortunately, the ice didn't affect it as it was able to materialize and hover above the ground.
This was the most annoying type of opponent. The five took turns and worked in sync to corner and kill the Magic Beast, depleting much of their magic in the process. With a last howl, it collapsed on the ground as its true appearance was revealed.
Panting harshly, Eden collapsed on the ground again as the fatigue took its toll. Constantly using and depleting magic after it had just recovered was harsh on the body. While it was the quickest way to grow as a Mage, most didn't do this because of how intense and strenuous the process was.
By forcing the group of students into the forest without provisions and stable shelter, Nine was forcing them to go through this process to refine and hone themselves. It was gruelling and backbreaking work, and one wouldn't know how painful it was until they had to go through it themselves.
Nine herself had been going through this process every day, constantly depleting and refilling her magic every waking moment. Without this, it was impossible for her to have grown that much in such a short amount of time.
Struggling himself, Brooke pulled himself together and picked up Eden from the floor. "You have to help me, bro. I can't carry you myself!"
Eden groaned and struggled to his feet, heavily leaning on Brooke. The two of them staggered back to the camp with their teammates in tow.
The moment they reached back to the campsite, the rest of the students bullied them into going to sleep whilst they did the rest of the work. Too tired to argue, the group of five lay on a soft pile of leaves and were immediately knocked out. Even Lucien, who had better fitness than the rest was feeling the fatigue, so you could imagine how tired Deltan and the rest were.
The three teams took turns to keep night watch while Team Four didn't stir at all, not even moving an inch.
The next morning, the five awoke one by one as their bellies roared with hunger as the smell of roasting meat aroused them from their sleep.
Ravenously, they devoured the meat to fill their stomachs. It was the result of constantly depleting their magic. One had to eat to refill the body's vitality and energy.
Teams One, Two and Three quickly collected more twigs and water before heading out on their own to hunt some Magic Beasts that was part of their assignment from Nine. They left behind Team Four after being assured that they would be fine. They seemed like they had fully recovered from the drain of magic the previous day after a good night's sleep.
After devouring the rest of the meat, Team Four finally felt satisfied as their stomachs protested any more. Brooke lay on the ground and groaned, having too enthusiastically eaten more than his fill. He'd never eaten so much in one go before!
Lucien and Aciel's lips quirked as they watched him roll on the ground like he couldn't get up while Eden outright laughed at him. Deltan just huffed coolly at his display, and scoffed, his eyes cold.
Brooke narrowed his eyes and glared at Deltan. "What's your problem?" he asked, wondering if Deltan was acting so haughty just because he was nobility while he was a lowly commoner. He hadn't thought that he would be like this as well with how he had worked with the team yesterday.
Deltan's lips pulled into a sneer. "Don't think I forgot that you haven't apologised to my Fourth Imperial Brother even after offending him so badly. You didn't even give him a chance before you burst out and judged him."
Brooke's face turned red as he shot up off the ground. It wasn't known if it was because of anger or embarrassment. "Shut up!" he said, glaring at Deltan. He only dared to speak like this because first and foremost, as long as Deltan was part of the class, then he was to be treated the same as everyone else. "As the Eldest Prince, haven't you always made things difficult for your younger brothers? Yet here you are now, acting all hypocritical. Have you even apologised to Teacher before?"
Deltan snarled as all cordiality between the two of them broke. He didn't know why that struck such a cord inside him, but it had hurt. Even if he felt somewhat ashamed of everything he'd done over the years, he didn't think this outsider had any say in it!
The two of them exchanged glares that contained flames, almost on the verge of breaking out into a fist fight.
Lucien interrupted them, pushing his glasses up his face. He radiated a sense of serenity. "Now, now. Don't argue, you two. Don't you know that Teacher is probably still watching us?"
Deltan and Brooked gaped at him as his words registered. All anger melted off their face as a heated feeling crept up their cheeks. They had actually forgotten that Nine was probably still in the vicinity watching them.
How fucking embarrassing!
They struggled to contain their embarrassment as they looked away from each other, scowling. They'd continue this some other time, when they weren't depending on each other for survival.
"Time to go, boys," Aciel said, checking the position of the sun. "We have to get working and hunt more Magic Beasts if we want to complete our assignment on time. Not to mention, judging by how tired we were yesterday and how much we just ate, it's likely that everyone else will be experiencing the same thing as us."
Deltan and Brooke put away their disagreements for the time being as the group of five made their way out of the space.
Behind Lucien, Aciel and Eden's backs, they still exchanged glares from time to time, causing the other three to hide their laughs.
These two matched really well!