(3rd Person Pov)
Most of the students ran towards the forest trying to gain as much distance as possible from others.
They wanted to fish out the weaker students and get their wristbands while the other stayed behind in the field.
According to them, they were the strongest and no one could force them to run, their ego was clouding their judgment. They were so-called "young masters," who believed they were better than Noah.
Noah and his team decided to lay low for a while. They ran towards the west side of the forest and vanished into the trees.
Luke and his team were standing right at the entrance of the jungle ready to beat every team that came their way.
"Protect me from any ambush, I'll take care of the rest." Luke ordered Jake and Mira (his two teammates).
Jake was ranked 12th among the first years while Mira was 55th. Their team was not as strong as Noah's; but they still had the proper balance.
Luke was a melee fighter as well as mage while Jake was a tanker. Mira on the other hand was an archer, this ensured that they weren't lacking in any aspects.
"Seems like the time is up," muttered Zephyr and shot another bullet in the air. This signaled the end of the grace period and now the students were free to wreak havoc.
"Get ready, they are coming," said Luke while taking out his daggers. They were sleek, black, with a swirled handle.
Two teams came towards Luke simultaneously. Together, they were trying to take out the second rank of the first years.
This was the reason Noah decided to lay low at the beginning, he didn't want any unnecessary attention. If he didn't do so they'd have a target on their back.
Luke on the other hand wasn't afraid of being a target. He was confident in what he could do, and wanted to test the limit of his abilities.
His father had once told him that people will follow him if he puts himself forward and leads them as their beacon of hope. Luke had followed his father's advice since then.
"What are you busy thinking about?" shouted a guy while throwing a punch towards Luke, pulling him out of his thoughts.
Luke didn't reply. Instead he smoothly side stepped, giving the guy a right jab. The guy wasn't able to handle the force and passed out on the spot.
The other five opponents got shocked by this and started to panic. This allowed Luke to gain advantage as he disappeared from his spot and appeared right beside the tank of the team.
With a quick chop on the neck, the tank had also been knocked out. Even Luke's teammates were shocked by his power.
At this point, the remaining four had already lost all hope and started to run.
"Where do you think you're going?" Luke said, in a cold tone.
"Running won't do us any good. If we attack him all at once, we might have a chance to win." Said the guy in the middle, being annoyed at what Luke had said.
It was clear that they couldn't run. The archer of Luke's team was ready to shoot them down as soon as they did. Their best course of action would be acting all at once.
Upon hearing what he said, the other three nodded in agreement. Their leader had thought that they could take out Luke easily so he ordered them to attack.
He said that he was stronger than Luke and the only reason Luke was ranked second was because of his family background. To their own dismay, the leader was first to get knocked out.
All the four students scattered, surrounding Luke in all four directions. Unfazed at the sight, Luke stood at his spot calmly.
"Who do you think will win?" asked Mina to Jake while watching the scene unfold.
"Luke is strong. He's stronger than I thought he'd be. But fighting all four of them at once is a bit of a stretch, since all of them are in the top two hundred." Jake said, assessing the situation.
Two out of the four students were damage dealers while one of them was a melee fighter. The last remaining member of the four looked like the strategist as he was the one who instructed the team to attack together.
The strategist summoned a crow and sent it into the air while the other three ran towards Luke to attack. Two of them were using their fist coated in mana while the last one was using a sword to attack.
"Randon go from the right while you two from the left," instructed the strategist.
Hearing the orders, the students did as instructed.
"You guys look more coordinated now. Especially you," said Luke while looking at the strategist.
"Why did you follow that dumb guy's orders earlier? You should have known that fighting me would be asking for death himself. Gangur, come out," questioned Luke while summoning a shadow wolf.
"I don't have the luxury of freedom," replied the strategist while looking at the wolf.
The wolf emerged from Luke's shadows and looked at the three students. His body features were hardly visible since he was made out of shadow.
He had red eyes, silky fur and saliva running out from his mouth.
'Take care of the guy at the back while I deal with these pests,' ordered Luke to Gangur telepathically.
Gangur nodded while looking at Luke and ran towards the strategist.
Within a span of seconds he was before the strategist. He swung his claws at him leaving a wound in his chest. The strategist had no actual battle prowess and passed out due to blood loss.
"It's time for me now," muttered Luke and appeared before the first student. Putting his daggers in an upright position, he slashed his shoulder horizontally.
After that, he picked the boy up by his neck and threw him at the other.
The other boy wasn't able to evade him and fell on the ground. The last remaining opponent saw this and tried to run but was knocked out by an arrow of Mina.
"He might be stronger than Noah," muttered Jack as he saw Luke sitting on a boulder while his hands were drenched in blood.
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How was the chapter? Hope you guys like it.