Chapter 484: The Number Deterrent of the Witch Academy
After Li Feiya and I returned to the initial island of the Witch Academy, the first thing we sensed was not just one, but multiple powerful auras. It was a manifestation of a life level, carrying a faint sense of vigilance that was enough to attract attention from a distance.
This time, the aura of life did not intimidate everyone with pressure; instead, it served as a reminder that they were always present.
I didn’t expect that such levels could be used in this way. This behavior was reminiscent of a beast marking its territory, warding off threats and signaling that this space was occupied.
Once we got closer, we discovered that our island had been “occupied” by two unfamiliar individuals!
Of course, they weren’t the kind of invaders from the examination; rather, they were teaching assistants conducting an inspection. At that moment, they stood on the highest peak of the island, looking down at everything below.
“What’s going on? Has our home been invaded? Why didn’t Lin Yi and Aidalin notify us?” Li Feiya, the first to notice the anomaly, blurted out with anger.
“Calm down. It’s normal for teaching assistants from other academies to be here; perhaps… they are just here to prevent us from cheating,” I speculated.
As we approached, we recognized the standoff: Lin Yi stood alone on a side peak, while the two on the opposite side were easily identifiable as the Holy Angels, one with a bird-like appearance, and the other shrouded in black mist, which caused me to pause—could it be a Wizard?
After all, the only ones qualified to stand beside the Holy Angel were either the Aphhemia Forest Elves or Wizards. Wizards had peculiar methods, and their strength often aligned with their odd Witch Weapons. The tattered outfits adorned with various strange ornaments emitted extraordinary fluctuations, indicating that these were likely different types of Witch Weapons.
“Are you two here to stir trouble at our Witch Academy?” Before Li Feiya could finish her words, they sensed our presence and turned their gazes toward us.
Feeling the pressure of our numbers, their expressions turned serious.
“We wouldn’t dare stir trouble. We’re just fulfilling our duty to monitor any violations or cheating during the joint examination,” replied the Holy Angel, addressing Li Feiya’s provocation with a tone of inevitability.
“Then may I ask you to leave?” At this moment, I stepped forward, putting an arm around Li Feiya.
“Don’t joke; you have no authority to make us leave.” They glanced at me, sensing no aura or oppressive presence emanating from me, and then spoke with an unhurried tone.
“Oh really? We just returned from the Holy Angel’s territory where we were firmly told to leave because two of them were enough. Now that we have three here at the Witch Academy, isn’t it sufficient?”
“Leaving is your choice. I believe my companions will follow the rules and won’t forcibly expel you. As for the rest… you need to understand, our actions are entirely within the rules.” The Holy Angel coldly brushed off any blame, distancing themselves from any wrongdoing.
“Well then~ I did leave a teleportation mark back there. If you’re saying this, I can record it and take it back, right? I remember… heh heh~ they are currently in a crucial stage of capturing the main island. Even if they have established a temporary foothold, the losses are considerable, and they could be pushed back to shore at any moment. Hmm… I also remember seeing the Sea Tribe lurking nearby; I wonder if my arrival will deliver a fatal blow to the Holy Angel Academy?” I toyed with my phone, playing the previous recording loudly, which repeated their belief that their companions wouldn’t forcibly expel me, causing their holy and pretentious facade to crack.
My threat was clear: I portrayed the Holy Angel Academy as being in a very dangerous situation. Although they had the upper hand in their first attack on the main island, they were the first to take risks facing the fiercest wave of monsters that were bound to emerge from the main island. Their plan hinged on timing, aiming to leverage intelligence advantages to firmly establish themselves before expanding.
As for the Sea Tribe, they might not believe it, but could they gamble on the uncertainty of the information?
With the main island’s monster forces as a block in front and the Sea Tribe cutting off the rear, if I stirred the pot further, the grim situation I painted caused even the Holy Angel’s composed demeanor to falter.
“Did you Angels occupy the main island overnight?” The Wizard beside them spoke in a cold tone, glancing sideways at the bird-like individual.
“We Missionary Angels won’t interfere with the actions of the Holy Angel Academy’s examinees.” Feeling the Wizard’s suspicion, the Holy Angel knew that without any explanation, their temporary alliance against the Witches would likely collapse.
The worst result would be an alliance between Wizards and Witches targeting the Holy Angel Academy!
That was what gave him a headache.
“Really? Your students from the Holy Angel Academy are impressive~ Instead of going directly to your coastal territory on the main island, you chose to take such a long detour to attack the monsters at their weakest point, and after capturing it, you also fortuitously occupied a resource point. If we hadn’t arrived in time, you might have succeeded.”
“You! Don’t confuse the concepts!”
“This isn’t confusion; I don’t care if you had good luck or if those bird people acted out of line. The fact is, you bird people occupied the main island and found a resource point—that’s an unfortunate coincidence. You’ve become the target of everyone; good luck can attract disaster.”
“Hmph…” The Holy Angel snorted coldly, his inner unease reaching its peak, as if he no longer had a reason to remain here.
“Are you leaving? Why the rush? You can only watch without taking any actions, or else it counts as a violation. What’s the use in going back?”
“That’s none of your concern.” He said this while taking flight, his figure turning into a flicker of light as he headed back in the direction we came, right into the rising sun.
“Hey, hey~ Are the Holy Angels that easy to deceive?” I gently tapped Li Feiya’s arm, asking in a soft voice.
“I don’t know; maybe he’s not that bright.”
“I heard that! Are you deceiving that bird person?” At that moment, the Wizard left behind in embarrassment chimed in.
“There’s a bit of deception, but they really did occupy the main island and establish a foothold, and found a resource point with fresh water.” I shrugged, surprised that he had such sharp hearing. However, looking at his cloak covering his entire body, I noticed the Witch Weapons faintly shimmering with dark magical light—likely effects from Witch Weapons and spells.
“So how much of what I told you is a lie?”
“The Witch Academy hasn’t interacted with you Wizards yet, so I haven’t lied at all~”
“Is that so? Well then, this farce should end, and I should leave.” He said this as his figure disappeared into the black mist.
But that black mist could block ordinary vision, yet it couldn’t obstruct my Spirit Vision. This was a spatial teleportation spell—a remarkably powerful technique.
“Did he really believe that and just leave?” Li Feiya seemed incredulous.
“Should I keep him here for breakfast? And I certainly didn’t lie,” I replied, as Li Feiya and I approached Lin Yi, exchanging simple pleasantries before starting to understand the situation. She quickly summarized the events concisely, giving us a general understanding.
Li Feiya immediately complained that such a significant event hadn’t been communicated to us in the group chat.
I didn’t mind much; after all, Lin Yi had managed to hold her ground against two top academy teaching assistants alone, and she likely had no chance to send a text notification.
As for Aidalin’s whereabouts, I only learned from Lin Yi that she had gone out, but she didn’t specify where.
After understanding the situation here, we briefly shared the intelligence we obtained, such as what Li Feiya had been doing with the elves and what she saw at the Holy Angel Academy. It felt like Li Feiya was engaged in high-stakes scenarios, confronting two top academies right away.
I also recounted the situation at the Beast Academy and the tragic fate of the Sea Tribe, which elicited laughter from Li Feiya.
After all, what fun isn’t built upon the suffering of others?
While conversing with them, I also took charge of the Knowledge Shadow on the other side, simply relaying this information to Tan Han.
It was evident that Tan Han felt a twinge of anxiety at the Holy Angel Academy’s early occupation of the main island, as everything that had transpired indicated that the Witches had fallen significantly behind. If we didn’t suppress them, they would snowball in strength.
During my conversation with Lin Yi, I also learned about the number of participants in this joint examination.
This time, the Witch Academy held a significant numerical advantage, and Lin Yi had talked to the others to find out… that this joint examination was treated as a final exam for the entire grade only by our Witch Academy. Other academies didn’t seem to share the same perspective, as none of the weaker students in those schools were qualified to participate in this joint examination.
This led to an overly bloated candidate pool for the Witch Academy…
Having a large number of candidates wasn’t necessarily a good thing; at times, it was indeed a hassle, leading to vast consumption of food and water. Even those possessing water-type spellbooks would find it cumbersome.
The attack and creation of water through water-type spells were two different concepts; one was about the spell effects at the level of extraordinary energy and would dissipate, while the other was about gathering water to create drinkable resources.
For the preparatory Witches who relied on spellbooks to cast spells, managing to use spells in such a casual manner was beyond their capabilities.
At this moment, having received the current state and intelligence regarding the entire Bobapop Islands, Tan Han directly overturned the previous layout. Initially, she had thought of conservatively landing on the main island and pushing outward, but the Holy Angel’s frantic actions forced her to choose a different plan.
“We may need to alter our operational plan temporarily, abandoning the originally planned landing point, and instead, making an incursion from here.”
“What? Isn’t that seeking distance instead of closeness?” Someone questioned, puzzled, as it was soon to be dawn, and such a last-minute change of scheme, especially a major alteration, was indeed unexpected.
“Yes, the original plan was indeed good, but we were too presumptuous. We don’t know if any academy suddenly logged in to the main island last night. If so, the most suspicious would be the Holy Angel Academy; they have a significant innate advantage.” Tan Han remained resolute and didn’t waver at the doubt of others, just presenting the most convincing plan in the face of the outcome.
“Our Witch Academy cannot remain complacent; we must also think ahead. By cutting in from here, we reach the beach, and further in is the residential area, allowing us to acquire abundant supplies. You must understand that our Witch Academy has far too many people, and the demand for resources is equally immense. Occupying this side of the residential area would allow most to be temporarily settled.”
“And more crucially, this main road leads to the highest peak of the main island, the dormant volcano scenic area. Holding this would allow us to occupy the high ground of the entire main island in the most convenient way.”
Of course, Tan Han had many things she didn’t say or couldn’t say. The route here appeared winding, but connected several resource supply points.
The supplies from resource points weren’t solely food and water; after occupying the resources they found, they discovered many potions—restorative potions, enhancement potions, and powerful alchemical items, among others. She also learned from Xiao Han that these precious resources at the supply points could be replenished, depending on the supply from their teaching assistants, and would necessitate the assistants from each academy to compete for them.
As long as they had a continuous supply of resources, even if the Holy Angels seized the opportunity from their innate advantage, she had confidence to resist them.
Moreover, she learned about the position occupied by the Holy Angels on the main island. If they dared launch a large-scale assault to seize the high ground, they would certainly be attacked by flying monsters in the air. They wouldn’t toil so hard and gain nothing.
Although these monsters were designed as food supplies, their offensive capabilities were incredibly formidable, and the monsters on the main island were even more terrifying, with significantly increased attack power, and there could even be large-sized monsters.
Tan Han promptly finalized the operational plan. Although many still had doubts, as the absolute core at this moment, her plan, once determined, could only be met with suggestions—even if objections arose.
Moreover, as the individual in charge of the most personnel in the Witch Academy, she indeed set an example. Her plan also required the cooperation of other forces, such as Ninglan Qiuyue or Luxien. As fellow Child of Fortune of the Witch Academy, they wielded considerable power.
Of course, there was also a very special small group—Xiao Han’s staunch supporters…
This time, while the Witch Academy’s numbers were bloated, if used well, it could similarly spread out the Witch Academy’s formation, occupy more resource points, and sweep away more monsters to gain points.
Because of the Witch Academy’s initial numerical advantage, it attracted teaching assistants from three major top academies to come and inspect the situation one after another, quickly alerting one another when something seemed off. The Holy Angel Academy left without hesitation because they had already landed and secured their initial advantage. The Wizard Academy dared not stand alone against three teaching assistants from the Witch Academy, just like the Aphhemia Forest Elf who had arrived first.
The essence of this matter was that they truly feared the Witch Academy rushing to take action immediately and quickly establishing their superiority on the main island, creating significant obstacles and deterrence to their landing.
After all, the dangers in the sea were not to be underestimated.
Moreover, now that they had all left, they also sent the current information back.
Today, they needed to avoid the limelight of the Witch Academy, not only because of their formal offensive but also because they noted that nearly every examinee from the Witch Academy was armed with disposable large-scale destructive alchemical items. This was somewhat daunting for them. So if anyone were headstrong enough to confront them, they would unavoidably suffer the consequences first.
They could only wait for the Witch Academy’s resources to be near depleted and their overall strength weakened before engaging in conflict, which would then be more acceptable; the advantage might even shift to them.
After all, even though the Witch Academy had many individuals, the numerical superiority also brought about uneven strength, allowing students who weren’t very powerful to enter the examination, providing them the chance to pick them off one by one; after all, who wouldn’t know how to pick ripe fruit?
