Chapter 205: Witch Academy Temporarily Ranks First
If there are any disturbances in the Ancient Battlefield, the only thing I can think of is that monsters will be summoned to invade the surrounding lands.
At this moment, other academies are somewhat envious of the Sea Tribe academies, as their ocean territories will not be eroded by the former phantoms of the Ancient Battlefield.
Of course, the Witch Academy will not be either, but we will enjoy the spectacle.
How could this happen at this time…
It seems that now is not the time to save magic power; after all, there are currently no additional means to recover magic, and excessive consumption will lead to a sharp decline in my combat power.
However, now I must face a concentrated siege, and this is also their last opportunity to destroy the Witch Academy’s ceremony.
“It’s come to this point; isn’t it unfair for you all to continue forcing me?” I said, although delaying for time is meaningless, but who knows, maybe things will turn around?
If all else fails, then let’s go down together—I’m not joking about the volcano behind me.
“Who do you think you are? Do you really think you can take on so many of us at once? When has the Witch Academy been so arrogant!”
“Right now is the last chance. If you let the Witch Academy score even one point, then we need at least two points to overtake!”
Facing my remarks, they certainly do not see this as a favor they would grant, and instead feel as though I am the one who is afraid.
But mobilizing the crowd’s emotions? Who can’t do that? As long as their self-interests are threatened, they won’t risk their lives or contribute a single effort.
“Do you think you’re putting too much weight on this one point? If you surround and attack me, I’ll just blow up the volcano behind me. Remember the disturbance in the Ancient Battlefield just now? The ancient phantoms inside will also come out. I can fly and naturally escape; and what about you? Where will you run to?” At this moment, I rode on my broomstick and pulled in some distance to ensure they could all hear me.
These guys are all led by the Dragon bl**d Academy’s students, along with affiliates and other students who came for various reasons.
“Don’t forget, those guys from the Dragon bl**d Academy can also fly. If you don’t run now, and listen to them, you’ll d*e, while they’ll laugh. Understand?”
“Don’t listen to the witch! We won’t take long to destroy her ceremony! Besides, she definitely won’t dare to blow up the volcano right away to protect her ceremony!” At this moment, the students of the Dragon bl**d Academy quickly responded, mainly aiming to stabilize their fragile alliance.
But they aren’t fools; they know what the phantoms of the Ancient Battlefield are. They are absolute d*ath machines, a massacre tool, and they will swallow territories until the entire competition arena becomes a terrifying environment like the Ancient Battlefield.
They do not want to stay here and guard the volcano for the Dragon bl**d Academy; they have their own places to protect.
“Eh heh～ you’re mistaken, we at the Witch Academy will conserve what we can during our first ceremony, after all, we hold the ceremony to unite, scoring is secondary, but if I can reduce the scoring base for everyone present by one, guess how I would choose!”
This time I was making an outright threat, mainly aimed at those from the Dragon bl**d Academy.
“And you guys from the Dragon bl**d Academy, I’ve already taken out quite a few of you, you don’t want to end up with just one life left after such a short exchange competition, right? Let me be clear, once the encirclement against me begins, I’ll prioritize killing the guys from the Dragon bl**d Academy, or do you feel this is unfair and want to drag other academies down with you? That’s fine too.”
While I was threatening them, I watched the movements below; it seemed that a few words had indeed shaken the foundation of their alliance.
Honestly, at this moment, I could harvest a lot of heads or escape with Su Ningmu, or do other things. I believe I could manage alone without any problems, but balancing everything, especially the Witch Tea Party ceremony, would be quite difficult.
As for breaking the deadlock, I still placed my greatest hope on Tan Han. It’s not that if Tan Han comes we can wipe them all out, but with the presence of two people, the degree of deterrence would be greater, and the limitations brought by the Witch Tea Party would also be reduced.
I realized that in this exchange competition my reputation may not be effective, but as soon as Tan Han’s name is mentioned, almost everyone on the other side knows her.
After a deadlock, some actually chose to run away without getting involved. This beginning can be said to be quite good for unfolding.
However, the Dragon bl**d Academy remained stubborn; I had told them my stakes, but they just wouldn’t listen.
Many of them had already lost a life to me, and if it came to a mutually destructive situation, I would only leave them with one life. Although I didn’t know where the killed ones were teleported to, they might not have returned by now, but in a deadlock, naturally, it had to be exaggerated.
If most of them died, they would likely lose control over their area around the volcano. Thus, their ceremony would be severely restricted.
Yet amongst them, there were still those seeking revenge; how were they so smart when stirring the crowd earlier, but now their minds have been clouded by brawn?
The situation has reached a stalemate; Su Ningmu certainly wouldn’t just stand idly by. At this moment, I had retreated to the location of the Witch Tea Party, and the battle had already begun—if you touch my tea party, I’ll touch your volcano; no one will have it easy.
The main issue was that they had too many people, and I couldn’t manage all of them; the main attackers were still those from the Dragon bl**d Academy, while the other academies mainly remained on standby to observe developments, with some choosing to run away entirely.
The reason those people stayed still was naturally due to my threat, which was that anyone who helped the Dragon bl**d Academy would see me visiting them directly after the ceremony to give them a lesson.
I couldn’t threaten everyone, but a few here and there I could manage.
“Ah～ it seems Lady Luck is on my side again?”
I changed my battle strategy, deploying energy shields, bolstering my defenses, and even conjured the rarely used Solid Shield spell.
As I spotted a rapidly approaching figure in the distance riding a broomstick, I wagered it was Tan Han; even if it wasn’t, I could make the other side think it was.
That’s how Illusionary Clones work—Tan Han’s name and image serve as a great deterrent.
“Tan Han, I’ve held down the tea party for you; the remaining heads are for you.”
With my high call, all were stunned by my voice.
Especially my mention of “Tan Han” made them instinctively search for keywords, looking subconsciously toward the distance.
Indeed, a witch was coming!
“If it was mutually destructive just now, I might have let you escape, but if you force me now, none of you will escape, understand?”
With my statement, the Dragon bl**d Academy members instinctively distanced themselves from me.
They had heard of Tan Han’s name. If the reputation of the goddess of learning is already a thing of the past, the resource allocation from the Witch Academy towards Tan Han is undoubtedly terrifying; even before witnessing her abilities, they had assumed that Tan Han was the strongest force from the Witch Academy.
After all, they had only spent a few days living in the Witch Academy and had no other means to access the academy’s network, thus obtaining less information.
As the figure drew nearer, I figured it really was Tan Han, looks like I won the bet.
Even if I lost the bet, it’s no big deal; I still have Illusionary Clone as a backup if needed, and I can stall a little longer.
Tan Han would definitely rush back at the first opportunity once she saw that the ceremony of the Witch Academy was completed.
After Tan Han returned and showcased her impressive abilities, it seemed to save me quite a bit of effort.
However, Tan Han’s frequent high-consumption spellbook usage shows that she has no concern for magic power, and precisely because of this, her combat strength becomes terrifyingly overwhelming.
At this moment, the Dragon bl**d Academy members could only retreat unwillingly; even if the volcano was their territory, now they had to retreat because of the Witch Tea Party, which made them begrudge it.
Yet they began suffering losses; after resurrecting they had no idea where they were, and they no longer dared to expend magic, understanding now what is not worth it in the face of the Witch Academy.
Otherwise, if the Dragon bl**d Academy was the first to be eliminated, upon returning, they wouldn’t receive applause from their whole academy but rather contempt and could even face punishment—despite being contestants representing the academy, they could still face penalties.
At this moment, I was taking care of the witch named Heddy, who was also a contestant in this competition. Her injuries weren’t many since she had come along with Tan Han.
She was one of the few preparatory witches who didn’t have a flying broomstick. Her sense of direction wasn’t very good, and her balance wasn’t great, so she ultimately did not choose to ride a broom but rather “rented” an alchemical item per her advisor’s recommendation.
Tan Han found her while passing the edge of the Ancient Battlefield and brought her along.
“By the way, Heddy, do you have the invitation for the tea party?” At that moment, I suddenly remembered to ask.
“Invitation? What invitation?” Heddy didn’t react at first, “No, I only received the notification of the Witch Academy’s ceremony preparation, and without an invitation, can I not attend the tea party?”
“Oh, no, it’s not that. Just asking if you were nearby at that time?”
“About that, I was on the edge of the Ancient Battlefield and could see the volcano here, but I knew this was the territory of the Dragon bl**d Academy, so I didn’t dare to go too deep. I was originally planning to head to the Forging Ancient City, planning to go through the woods by the Beast Academy.”
“Is this invitation you mentioned referring to what Tan Han just brought over?” At that moment, Tan Han came over and handed over an invitation.
“Huh? Tan Han? Shouldn’t you be considered the host of the tea party? How did you… wait, how far away did you get this from?”
I was initially puzzled, but quickly realized that this invitation might indeed have been issued to qualified witches.
“You… oh, I understand what you mean now; having an invitation means being a qualified witch to attend the tea party, and turning up counts as the ceremony officially starting, right?” Tan Han looked at me and then turned to Su Ningmu.
“That’s pretty much it.”
“So, I rushed here with great difficulty, but I actually don’t have the qualification to attend the tea party?” Heddy commented from the side.
“Even without qualification, there’s still cake for you,” I said, walking to the table and handing a piece of cake to her.
“Alright, I won’t be polite then!” Heddy no longer nitpicked and took the cake to her mouth.
At this moment, the Witch Tea Party had changed from the initial two participants to four, giving it a somewhat tea party-like atmosphere.
Tan Han also consciously moved aside to brew us some black tea; perhaps she felt my previous brew was not quite satisfactory.
“Thank you, to be honest, I don’t know much about tea etiquette; thank you for the black tea,” I said with a smile as I took the teacup handed to me by Tan Han.
The tea party had begun. Although the four of us gathered here was still somewhat awkward, we still roughly shared what we had experienced.
“So what’s next? Do we have any plans?”
“None, the original plan was completely disrupted, so we can only take it step by step,” I shrugged and smiled.
Initially, the plan was to hold the ceremony at the Forging Ancient City, and the sudden change of location said a lot.
“One academy has some so-called waiting time after holding a ceremony; we can use this opportunity to search for the next location for the Witch Tea Party and ideally prevent other academies from holding their next ceremonies to maintain an advantage.”
“Are we going to act collectively or dispersively?”
“Let’s disperse, but we can try to form teams as well; this way, there’s also mutual support. Acting collectively will face the issue that the ceremony conditions can’t be met. So the best way is to split up: one group selects an appropriate location to hold the ceremony, while the other group promptly heads over after ensuring they’ve got the invitations.”
“Um, so if we do form teams, let’s go in two groups to different directions.”
“By the way, what do you all think about acting against the Wizard Academy after the ceremony is over?” I proposed.
“The Wizard Academy? They are one of the top three academies, with strange and unpredictable means. Isn’t it too early to point our arrows at them?” Su Ningmu voiced her concerns; she had personally experienced their terror.
Just now, she also shared her experiences and expressed her situation, thus giving everyone a deeper impression of the Wizard Academy.
“But they have the advantage of being able to communicate with each other through witch weapons. This gives them a substantial edge. If you give them time to develop, they can obtain much more terrifying means through the Wizard Tower. You only encountered that guy in the early stages and were already hunted down; how will it go from there?”
“This…”
“We can spread this matter around and target the Wizard Academy; it doesn’t necessarily mean we have to be the main attackers.”
“That’s indeed a plan.”
“Also, the wizard who chased after us earlier seemed to have transmitted some information; they might have found an opportunity for holding the ceremony but intentionally avoided the recent wave of ceremony failures. Once our ceremony ends, their ceremony might very well light up immediately.”
“Then perhaps one group could head over to the Wizard Academy; if they were the first to hold the ceremony, they would also have to deal with interruptions from nearby academies.”
“Perfect, once a larger crowd gathers there, we can spread the threat information; even if we can’t turn the tides to disrupt the Wizard Academy’s ceremony, we can still cause them quite a bit of trouble.”
“Let’s not forget they need to manage both the Wizard Tower and the ceremony, which will spread their focus.”
“That does seem to make sense; by utilizing the Wizard Tower to develop stronger power, the Wizard Tower will also become their burden.”
As our discussions progressed, our ceremony was finally complete.
The beam of light enveloping our ceremony gathered, resembling a celestial phenomenon, as if celebrating the completion of our ceremony.
And regarding our academy standing, the Witch Academy was no longer at 0 but at 1, dominating the top of the rankings.
“The ceremony is over! By the way, have you summarized the patterns for the end of the tea party ceremony?”
“The end of the tea party ceremony is obviously when the gathering ends; the issues we raised have been resolved~ It seems our ceremony conclusion is still quite troublesome.”
“Then let’s split up; speaking of which, don’t the phantoms of the Ancient Battlefield have to be coming? The Dragon bl**d Academy should be helping to hold them back for us, otherwise, their Dragon bl**d Nest volcano group might just be swallowed by the Ancient Battlefield.”
“That’s quite the trouble.”
Everyone appeared to enjoy the spectacle, and this is something the Witch Academy wouldn’t need to worry about. The witches can be considered the most free academy in the exchange competition, and of course, one of the most challenging ones; the locations for holding ceremonies are basically “borrowed.”
“Wait, what is this?”
Just as we were about to leave, Heddy discovered something on the tea party table.
“This… is a qualification for the designated resource drop location.”
“Wait? Designated? Aren’t resource drops in the exchange competition random?”
“Could be a hidden rule? A hidden rule triggered after the ceremony is successfully held.”
“You almost made me forget; indeed, the rules mentioned hidden rules. It would make sense that a successful ceremony triggers them.”
“Then we can directly seize the initiative; can we summon directly? At that point, resources would be equally distributed… uh… okay, I was just saying.”
“This is also an opportunity; perhaps this could be a chance to focus fire on the Wizard Academy.”
“Exactly. Once the Wizard Academy prepares their ceremony and after they complete their ceremony preparation, after destroying other academies’ ceremonies, summoning this could maximally enable the Wizard Academy to be focused down by the surrounding academies.”
Just as we were planning, a figure appeared in our line of sight from a distance.
“Hey! I’m here! Look at this～”
With that shout, all our gazes turned that way.
“It’s Minian; looks like she also made it.”
“But it’s a bit late.”
With Minian’s arrival, the students from the Witch Academy had already gathered halfway, leaving five who had not shown up until now.
“Ah? Uh… am I late?”
“No need to hesitate, you are indeed late; there’s no cake or black tea left for you.”
I had originally planned to make more, but there was no time; plus, the consumption at the tea party was quite high, and what I had planned to make for the next ceremony has clearly turned out to be just wishful thinking.
“Ah… well, it seems I’m not lucky enough. But why are you guys holding the Witch Tea Party here, and… adding me, how come there are only five?”
“Things are more complicated than you think… huh? There’s a ceremony already? That direction…”
“It’s the Wizard Academy over there.” I said, looking at the pillar of light shooting straight up into the sky.
“It seems like we need to act quickly.”
“Alright then, let’s quickly split up—how convenient, you four can pair up, and I’ll be alone.” I stated.
“Eh? Wait, Xiaohan, isn’t this a bit off? This…”
“Is it because the distribution of combat power is off? Then how about I pair with Tan Han and the three of you pair up?” I asked once more.
“Huh? Why does the group keep getting weirder? I meant wouldn’t having you alone be too dangerous?”
“What are you worried about? I’m worried about your safety in the three of you pairing up, and you’re concerned I’m in danger alone?”
“Um… even if I admit you’re strong…”
“Alright, Minian, if Xiaohan insists, I won’t oppose; her strength, I acknowledge,” Tan Han chimed in at this moment.
“Eh? Little Tan, you…”
“Let’s hurry up; time waits for no one. And… Su Ningmu, it’s the last chance, do you want to deal with those things? You’ve already lost one life.” I sighed and asked again.
I certainly don’t want the Witch Academy to lose members so quickly.
“I’ll handle Su Ningmu’s problem; I have many types of spells so I don’t need to use your methods,” Tan Han spoke up.
“Okay, leave it to the professional then,” I shrugged and smiled, just in time to save my magic power.
“Then I’ll see you later, I’m going to scout around for potential locations and I look forward to you guys sending me an invitation from the Wizard Academy.”
“Mm, be careful.”
After bidding them farewell, I took off on my broomstick, leaving them behind.
From a high vantage point, the crowd gathered around the volcano reminded me of a phrase, “a rabble.”
Gathering numbers was the most valuable way I could think of to describe them.
At this moment, I also saw the phantoms from the Ancient Battlefield charging forward, shocking and terrifying.
But the individuals of the phantoms lack strength; the students of the Dragon bl**d Academy can mostly hold them off, but I remember that the phantoms grow stronger every time until this place completely becomes an Ancient Battlefield, which in some ways indeed counts as a battle royale.
