Kale changed the direction of his advance and ran towards the waterfall, the group of students followed him from behind without showing any intention of stopping.
As they chased him, many strong people took short breaks to skillfully dug out blood-red round beads from the heart of the Enlightened Mortal-Rank dead foxes.
There were also those who hastily dug out their sharp teeth and fangs when they couldn't get the beast core and continued their chase behind Kale.
Although many were chasing him, there were also exceptions, students who instead focused on other injured foxes Kale failed to kill in one shot, to reap the free benefits.
Kale didn't stop to chase the injured foxes he failed to kill, in his eyes it was a waste of time, the time it would take to chase down and kill that injured fox while dealing with the crowd, is more than enough to find and kill a few new foxes.
The group of students saw Kale rushing towards the waterfall which was also the entrance of the foxes hideout, they hesitated, they looked at each other in the eyes but no one spoke, their pace slowed down but no one stopped.
When Kale was just a few meters away from the waterfall, he turned to them without stopping and snickered "Cowards," He muttered in a low tone, but everyone heard it.
Kale didn't stop to see their reaction and rushed into the falling waterfall.
"What did he just say?" A girl said with rising fury in her eyes.
"That Little Shit…" A big built boy cracked his knuckles.
"If he stops running, I will let him know who is a coward," Another angry voice was raised in the crowd.
Everyone was shouting at Kale but their speed was slow, their body showed signs of hesitation when entering the cave, they were outside because here it was easy to hunt them and retreat if the need arrives but they won't have such luxury inside.
"Just Shut Up, will ya?" A loud shout made all of them quiet down.
A blonde boy, who looked like around 17 or 18 years old, came from the side. The students in the crowd were dissatisfied with him shouting at them but when they saw his face they immediately quieted down. They recognized him, he was another Prince from Necron Family just like Misha, Aristocrats can't use their power in the academy but what about later on? What if he becomes the next king? That's why they need to show respect and give face.
"You saw how he can take care of those foxes easily without even using his Battle Qi, and you still say you can handle him easily," He scolded them while looking at the boy who had just shouted.
The boy quietly shrunk back his neck.
The blonde boy then continued "We all want to have a big contribution but the main task is for the whole class, I believe if we fight here then it will be a battle of attrition and can young humans fight a battle of attrition with beasts?
Although there was no information about what would be the penalty if the mission failed and the strong foxes escaped but I know that our batch will become the laughing stock of the Academy for failing our first whole batch test. Most of you here are their candidates for the prestigious Aristocratic families so if the news of you fearing to enter a small fox nest goes out what face would you have to show to others?
That boy is making way for us, so why don't we go and help him raid the foxes' nest? We will also earn contribution in the process, you don't believe he alone can hunt all the foxes, right? We all have the wrist bands Instructor Simon gave us so if the need arrives then escaping won't be a problem for us," He said.
The others looked at each other, few of them could already guess where the conversation was going but pointing it out would be offending someone of the Necron Family.
The boy looked at their solemn expressions and said "Seems like you understand the severity of the situation, so I ask, would you all follow me, Kent Necron to advance and subjugate this fox group,"
Few students in the group sighed, as raised heirs, they had a sixth sense towards politics, the second Kent spoke, they knew that they will become the supporting characters to work for him.
They still had some hope that they can make excuses but how could an unorganized newly formed group like them would be aware of the word unity?
A boy stepped forward and spoke "As expected of Prince Kent, you can see more than us, you have opened my eyes. I Kim Foul will gladly support your advance,"
With that, the chain reaction started.
Another one took a step showing his inborn bootlicking skills "Looks like the rumors about Prince Kent's bravery and wisdom were true, I from Artican Family wish to support Prince Kent,"
"I Glen from Waren Family also wish to support the kind intentions of Prince Kent."
"I Varen from Moher also..."
Several other students took the opportunity to announce their family names and gain his favour.
Kent waved his hand, he smiled and spoke "No need to be so polite, I am not a Prince right now, I am just your fellow student. Let's leave that aside for now, we should advance, all the tankers come in front," He said and started to quickly arrange them in a formation.
On the other side…
Kale came out on the other side of the waterfall and found himself at the entrance of a tunnel. He took out his torch to check his surroundings more clearly.
The tunnel was wide and tall enough for an elephant to fit in. The ground was not so solid, Kale realized that his shoes were sunk in a puddle of water on the ground.
'No wonder, the water foxes choose this place to make a nest but it doesn't seem like it was wholly made by them, it's more like they transformed the previous into this,' Kale thought,
He then looked at the entrance of the tunnel which was blocked by falling water 'In the current situation, the group outside can make two possible choices. In the first choice, they will wait for several minutes before deciding to enter the nest and slowly advance because I will be like a cannon fodder scout for them.
In the second choice, they won't enter the cave but just stay outside it and hunt foxes while waiting for me to come out and reap some benefits. Whether they make first choice or second, I will achieve my motive, if I got in some danger or a big group of foxes chases me, I can just retreat to them and share the pain, it's way better then throwing the immature Layla in danger with me,'
Kale took out a sealing tap from his bag and pasted the torch at his shoulder area, he had brought this sealing tap to seal the wounds in case he receives some serious injury. In a way, it can stop the bleeding, a Health Potion would be a better choice but they are expensive, sealing tap wasn't made to seal the wounds but it looked cheap to him and Kale could just go to the hospital later to take care of the sealed wound which is also cheaper… It's almost free to be precise because he has health insurance.
Kale always had natural health insurance since birth, it's a benefit he gets for being the son of a Doctor working in GHO.
He carefully advanced in the tunnel. As he moved deeper, he realized that the tunnel was leading him to the underground area.
..Splash…Splash…
With every step he took, his feet made splashing water sounds because of the muddy puddles on the ground.
After walking for around 50 meters, he arrived at a place where the tunnel was divided into 5 sides. The tunnel in the front was big while the ones on the sides were smaller in size.
At a closer look, he saw an astonishing sight.
Several dead foxes were lying at the junction of the tunnels. The tunnel hid their wounds using darkness, blood traces using muddy water, smell using the wet soil but it failed to hide the dead bodies.
'Someone entered before me?' Kale thought. He started walking faster.
After walking for 10 minutes, he saw light coming out from the other side of the tunnel.
He was surprised.
Just when he took another step, he saw two water foxes dashing from the other side of the tunnel.
Kale held the chain in one hand and the knife in another, he swung it two times to build the force then released it striking the first fox's head. Kale expected it to dodge the first attack but surprisingly the fox charged into the knife blindly and got killed.
He gave a jolt and retracted the knife, Kale caught it in his right hand, swirled the chain on his arm, and cast ‹Wooden Thorn›.
The second fox didn't try to dodge the attack either and got killed in one shot.
'They are under a spell?' Kale concluded.
Beasts have sharp instincts, even if the first fox failed to dodge the attack, the second fox should have still tried to dodge or panic after the first one got killed but it didn't react in any way.
Kale hastened towards the light on the other side, he knew that if he got late then the benefits will be gone and all his effort would be for naught.
When he passed through the end of the tunnel, a new sight greeted him.
He was still underground but the place was different from before, it was a big hemispherical hall made by nature, in the center of the place was a pond, the water in the pond was very clear, one could see the stones at the bottom.
Several shining stones were lying inside the pond, the luster from them was lighting the whole place.
Kale narrowed his eyes, he saw that three white lotus blooming in the center of the pond, they had three broad purple leaves each. He didn't recognize them, although he had memories of a lot of plant species from the internet, this world just had too much to offer.
Kale didn't recognize them but from their disposition and the luster emitted from the petals of the while lots he was sure that they weren't normal and are worth a fortune.
He didn't care much about the light-emitting stones as he already knew about them, they were called Shining Stones, they absorb origin energy in water to give off light, they are a very common thing in places like Dungeons. Although they had fair worth but he could only make a good profit if he takes them in bulk and he couldn't carry so many stones back to the academy at such a time.
He then turned towards the battling sound that was bothering him.
Kale saw one student fighting a big blue furred fox.
The boy was tall, he looked like he was about 16 years old, he had slate-grey shoulder-length hair. His clothes were torn at many places, there was some blood on them but no visible wounds were present on his body.
As for why? It was obvious when Kale saw several empty glass bottles of Health Potions lying on the ground.
Aside from the potions, more than 20 dead water foxes were lying around in the vicinity.
Only the Aqua Fox was left alive, but it was also the biggest hurdle.
It was an Enlightened Mortal-Rank Rare-Grade Beast who had learned to use his core.
The blue fox was twice as big as other foxes, moreover, he wasn't as idiotic as other foxes, his two ferocious eyes contained wisdom, the fox took every step carefully while staring into the eyes of the boy in front of him.