Lorthon shoot out a ring of fire around him as a protection. Anyone and anything that will get past this ring will be attacked by the burning flames.
He stood in the middle while trying to calm his mind and observed his surroundings.
I need to calm down. First, where is Liam and sister Dianne?
Bang-!
He just calm down his chaotic mind when a bullet shoot straight to him, the ring of fire instantly burned it.
His eyes widened in shock. "Water shield!"
Boom!
The bullet that was touched by fire exploded right in his face. he ring of fire was instantly cancelled as he activated a water shield. The small explosion didn't affect him in any way.
But he had waste mana because of sudden activation and switch of element. He actually can't used similar element at the same time, yet. His mastery of the skill and his rank were both low.
Bang-!
Another bullet shot to his direction but the water absorbed the shock of the bullet. This time. it didn't explode.
So the bullet only explode when touched by fire.
Lorthon cancelled the water shield as it consume mana. The water and bullet fell down, wetting the ground.
Splaaashh-
He immediately used the wind to fly in the air, creating swooshing sounds.
From above, Lorthon look around the surroundings. He noticed a fog covering an area. Since sister Dianne was send flying from them, Liam must be in that place!
However, before he can move towards Liam's direction. Another bullet shot towards him.
Bang-!
The wind surrounding him cut the bullet into pieces before it can even reach him. The bullet didn't explode once again.
Where is he? Lorthon wasn't sure where the person who kept shooting him is. The bullet was shot from different locations.
Either that person can move really fast...
...or there are more than one people attacking him.
Lorthon's guess was correct.
There are five people hiding in different locations shooting him with mana bullets. The mana bullets doesn't have enough power to kill a person and neither have element nor attribute.
But this doesn't mean that it's not dangerous. The bullets were enough to cause major injuries from a critical hit.
"Wow! Isn't that Lorthon Wayne?" one of them exclaimed in excitement.
"Dumbass! Quiet down." the man glanced at Lorthon who have a serious expression in his childish face.
Only 13-years old.
But look at him. He's much powerful than any of them here.
He clicked his tongue. He hate prodigies the most. His eyes darkening, a scorn appeared in his face.
Those people wouldn't know the struggle people like him who have no talent have to faced in daily life.
The frustration from not improving and being inferior no matter how much they train. The fake smiles they need to show to those with higher rank. How they need to be slaves to those people just because they'd been given more talent than them.
It's horrible.
"Continue doing that. Just don't forget to change positions here and then." he ordered.
""Yes.""
For me, I need to go to leader.
***
Liam slashed to his side, cutting the fog away.
His sword managed to grazed something.
The woman hiding in the fog clicked her tongue before once again fading in the fog. Her presence disappearing.
However, Liam can still see the woman. His skill
Liam observed the fog, he took a step forward before slashing horizontally. The fog was once again slashed away.
"Ugh!"
The woman was revealed to him. She's wearing a gray robe, to properly camouflage in the fog.
He can't see her face but he's sure that she was getting frustrated by the continous harassment from Liam. When it should be her attacking.
Liam was right. She was starting to get annoyed. In the duration of their fight, she had never landed a blow. Forget attacking, she can't even touch a single strand of his hair.
But that's not the case for this bastard. She had been slashed multiple times. She was able to dodge in time due to her high agility but this time her chest received a deep cut.
Her grey robe was dyed red from blood.
As a person who have never been hurt before due to her escaping skills, this deep cut was the buggest injury she had ever received.
"How dare you!" she instantly retreated as she immediately took out a healing potion to heal her wounds.
The fog was slowly disappearing.
There was no use for the fog! The woman gritted her teeth.
The plan was to slowly put shallow cuts in his body like usual. The damage in his body is minimal but it was mostly to torture his mind. In the first place, she doesn't have the enough strength to finish him. After destroying his will to fight, her partner would finish him off.
However, that bastard seemed to have eyes everywhere! He won't defend himself but actively attack him. Her location would always be expose.
It's like he can see through the fog! But the fog is not a simple fog, it's made from her skill. It can disrupt people's sense of direction and can conceal her presence against enemies.
But it seem to be useless against him.
His attack power is also much higher than her, although she's faster.
I need to retreat first then I'll go back with Renz-
However, this little plan of her need to be cut off as an arrow stab right to her heel.
"Ack!" the woman fell down, her hands placed against the ground. She groan when her knee hit a sharp stone.
"Ave!" she heard Renz called her name from a a far.
An arrow? Don't tell me that bastard have a long-range skill? No, he's clearly using a sword.
She panicked when she can't move her foot as the arrow stabbed right to the ground.
Ave tried to remove her bloodied knee that was pressing against the stone but a sharp pain from her foot stopped her.
She tried to calm down by breathing heavily. I'll wait here for Renz and ask him to remove the arrow. Then--
Her eyes widen when she felt the arrow vibrating. Ave have an ominous feeling.
The vibration became faster causing her to go crazy from the pain.
"Aaaahhhh!" she was screaming from the top of her lungs.
"Ave!" she can hear Renz's voice coming closer but she doesn't have the luxury to pay attention to him.
Boom-!
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" her foot exploded.
Click-
Following a soft click, the badge inside her robe broke and a circular dome-like shield enveloped her whole body.
The pain instantly disappeared as her foot that was destroyed was being regenerated.
"Eh...?" she was confused by what happened until she heard a mechanical voice speak.
[Due to heavy injuries, you are deemed unable to fight and will be remove from the test.]
Her eyes widen and her mouth parted in shock.
She was disqualified!
***
"Thanks." Liam uttered her thanks to Dianne.
"No problem." she replied with a shrug.
The arrow was of course, sent by Dianne. Liam seriously ponder if he underestimate d Dianne.
That skill was deadly. If that hit her head instead... Hmm... How ruthless.
"Let's go help Lorthon?"
He was snapped back from her thoughts when he heard Dianne's question. "Sure."
The two of them run towards Lorthon which is not far from them.
They were met with Lorthon sending wind blades against their direction.
Liam ducked over while Dianne jumped high to dodge the incoming attack.
"Ahhh!" the wind balde hit the enemy behind them, almost cutting it into two. However, the same shield covered the person.
He was soon transfered away.
The badge actually is actually a protevtive device. When it deemed that thebincoming attack can heavily damage or kill an examinee, it will activate. In return, that examinee will be disqualified.
Of course there is also many heroes around the forest. They were observing each examinee and grading them personally. Each examinee have a hero protecting them. The hero is obviously a professor of the academy.
In case they lost their badge, these teachers will be the one to save their ass.
"Liam? Sister Dianne?" Lorthon's voice made him look away from the examinee who just disappeared.
"Lorthon..." Liam called back. He stood up as Dianne jumped back to his side. She came from one of the trees near them.
"I'm so happy but I have no time right now. I've already got rid of three people but two people escaped." he explained the situation.
So he was fighting five people on his own? Wow, as expected of him.
"I realized they'd get teleported away whenever I send an attack that can kill them. So I've been attavking them with all my might. That's how I got rid of them." he observed the surroundings.
The three of them stay alert with their guard up while they speak with each other.
"I fought with someone, Dianne git rid of her for me but there seem to be another one."
"What the hell? Were they discriminating against me? They send a single person to me and he's weak as fuck."
Lorthon and Liam was speechless. They have no idea how to comfort the Dianne who seemed to be in disbelief.
However, footsteps can be heard coming closer to them.
Liam activated [Gifted Eye] and saw through the dense forest covering their enemies.
There are five of them. The strongest is the one in the middle.
He flinched when their eyes met. What? Huh?
His eyes widened when he confirmed that the man was staring right at him. His gaze was deep and he seemed to be mysterious.
This guy... is he seriously looking at me right now?!
***