Ethan was among the top 100, and as expected, most of the students' adrenaline wore off, and they were now running at a slower pace compared to before.
Luckily for Ethan, he didn't use much speed, so he was able to keep up with the rest.
The forest was quite spacious with fallen green and brown leaves. Some fallen trees and logs lay randomly on the ground. The sound of footsteps as the student ran, making creaking and shuffles.
The students jumped over the falling trees and branches, but the slippery wet ground made it a lot harder for the students to run.
Ethan was determined, so he overcame all these difficulties. When he felt he was getting tired, he distracted his mind by inhaling the wet, damp scent of the pine trees. Ethan was naturally good at multi-tasking, so even his brain worked like that, which enabled him to also keep his focus on the race as well.
While running, he jumped closer to a tree branch, which was closer to the ground a little, and grabbed a lizard. After grabbing the lizard, he smirked. "No one said we couldn't use tricks to outperform our competitors," he said as he hauled the lizard towards the student in front of him.
The lizard leapt into the air and perched on the student's neck. "Ah!" the student screamed, and the lizard mistakenly fell inside his uniform. Feeling the wiggling in his back, the student swiftly pulled his shirt.
"Huh, it is just a lizard, but how?There are no trees here, so a lizard is not supposed to leap this high, or wait, did someone..."
During his confusion, Ethan zoomed past him, but not without whispering thanks.
"Wait. what?"
Ethan was now on the top 99; he went further and passed some more students, and, of course, it was with underhanded tactics and also fairly.
Currently, Ethan is now in the top 50. The dragon race naturally put their goal first before anything else; it was like second nature to them. Ethan had this trait too, and he was subconsciously putting his goal first; it was just one of their evil traits.
When he got closer to the top 40, he was surprised to see Ileus. Seeing him, Ethan quickly ran over to his side.
It took a while before he got closer to him as the distance was a little big.
"Hey, we didn't see you at the dorm room today; are you OK?" He said, but he didn't get an answer; he was about to ask again before Ileus turned his head.
Ethan flinched a little. Why are your eyes glowing red? Wait, don't tell me.."
"I am using my powers," Ileus said bluntly.
"But how?" Ethan asked.
Ileus still kept his gaze at the front, and he said, "They can seal my other abilities, but not my original vampire abilities."
"And that is blood, right?"
Ileus smiled after hearing him.
"Hahaha! and here I was thinking I was the only one using underhand tactics," Ethan laughed.
"Are you sure?" Ileus said.
"What do you mean?" Ethan raised an eyebrow.
"You don't notice, right? Look around; everyone is using underhanded tactics. "
"Wow! I didn't notice; I was so focused on being in the top 20 that I missed what was going on, "Ethan said while looking at the students who were all using underhand tactics to pass their opponents. He even saw a student hauling a snake at a fellow student, and here he was using a lizard because he didn't want to harm anyone.
"But, wait, aren't vampires supposed to have super speed or something like that? And isn't that supposed to be your original ability as well? " Ethan asked after a while.
"wrong. Speed is just part of my agility, so my agility also halves along with my other attributes." Ileus voiced out.
While running through, they could feel the forest becoming cooler than before, but it didn't trouble them much.
Although humans now have powers or abilities, they are still like normal humans, with the only difference being their abilities and enhanced strength. Except for that, they were like normal humans. After running for a while, Ethan suggested, "Hey, why don't we take out the next guy?" Ethan said as he picked up a stone. Then he looked at Ileus and said, "Ready."
Ileus nodded, and Ethan hauled the rock; at the same time, Ileus made a blood niddle from his fingertip and sent it out. The rock hit the student, and the middle penetrated his butt.
The student moved only a few steps before falling on his stomach.
"Oh, shit! I hope he is still alive," Ethan panicked after seeing the state of the student.
" He is still alive. The niddle would just paralyze him for a few seconds," Ileus explained.
"Phew, that was a relief; I wouldn't want the military to be on my tail, at least not now," Ethan said, cleaning his invisible sweat.
"Do you think they care if he dies? They won't give a fuck because the military practices what is called "survival of the fittest," Ileus said in an annoyed tone, as if he was angry with the military.
"So that's another name for filtering the weak ones and leaving only the strongest," Ethan said, but it wasn't surprising to him because the Draconian empire used a similar method as well.
After some time, they entered the top 29. Ethan and Ileus continued running until they got to 22. If they wanted to join the top 20, they would have to take out two more students. Ethan soon saw a glimpse of the purebloods after running for a while, and all of them were occupying spots.
When they got closer to their next targets, Ileus fired another blood needle again, making them fall. They quickly passed the fallen students, and they took their spots in the top 20.
When they got closer, their eyes suddenly widened as they saw the number one spot, and the rest of the purebloods behind him.
"My eyes are not deceiving me, right? Is that Noah?"
****