Chapter 699: A Not-So-Failed Encirclement Hunt
“I’m really sorry, Sister Xiao Han, but our positions are different now. If I say some friendly words, I might be the one in trouble, right?” Annie had a helpless expression, but she showed no intent to argue.
After all, everyone who could come here was not a coincidence; they all wanted my life. If Annie said anything in defense, it would just be a hypocritical beginning.
But she didn’t.
“Alright, alright! I’m starting to appreciate you, Annie. I wonder how much you’ve grown since we last met?”
“This isn’t a place for you to reminisce.”
At that moment, someone next to us furrowed their brows and shouted sternly.
“You showed up just to hold me back until your main force arrives, didn’t you? Annie is stalling for time with emotional appeals, and what are you doing, waste?” I shot a glare at the girl who interrupted my conversation with Annie, letting it all out.
Especially that last word “waste,” which seemed to hit a nerve, causing her to jump up in anger.
“Who are you calling a waste, you!” she yelled.
“Whoever can’t see the situation is a waste. Here’s a fireball for you.”
I fired a Fireball Spell directly at her, and of course, she dodged, but still managed to stumble a bit.
“Your physical fitness isn’t great, huh? After this joint exam hunt ends, how about coming to White Teacher’s Body Cultivation class for some practice?”
“I don’t want to attend your body cultivation class; those things are pure nonsense! Witches should use magic… Ah!”
She hadn’t finished speaking when I threw my Box of Books straight at her face. This was already a controlled throw; otherwise, facing these “delicate” students, that hit would have resulted in a serious injury.
“With just this level, you dare to challenge the teaching assistant? You might not even be able to beat me, let alone them?” I quickly moved in front of her, securely catching the Box of Books.
I stood there, clearly provoking her.
“You!”
She instinctively stepped back, wanting to draw her bow, but I swatted the bow away with the Box of Books.
In her moment of uncertainty, she drew a dagger from her waist, but I swatted that away again with the book.
“Is that all you’ve got? Look at you, a student from the Witch Academy, choosing to be an elf ranger? You don’t even know how to maintain distance as an archer, and you can’t even hold a dagger steady.”
I provocatively tapped her cheek with the Box of Books, and she swung a punch at me, but the result was worse for her. I didn’t need to make a big motion; her forearm crashed into the spine of my book, causing her obvious pain as she instinctively bent over, clutching her arm.
In that brief moment of close-range force, even if her forearm wasn’t broken, it was at least strained. Without Undying lower-year students wanting to die and resurrect to recover from injuries, they could only rely on healing potions.
But all those materials needed to be purchased with points.
However… she seemed to be quite well-equipped now; it seemed she had spent all her initial points on gear.
“Did you all see? In this joint exam hunt, the so-called professions and skill trees are supposed to be played according to the rules, meant solely for candidates who hunt mutated beasts step by step. You don’t even know what kind of group you’re going up against, and you just come here like a clueless fool, seeking death?”
I glanced at the disarmed ranger and then took a couple of steps toward the others, my gaze landing on Annie, with my previous words now carrying an educational tone, as if I were teaching them something.
“I know you chose to come hunt me because you think I’m your age, and my strength comes solely from my spellbooks. Now that I’m like you, you think you can do it too; who gave you that illusion?”
“I don’t mind educating you a little about how terrifying teaching assistants can be. For example… aside from the Magic Source and Spellbooks, what do teaching assistants still have?”
“Teaching assistants have far richer combat experience, vast reserves of knowledge, broader perspectives, superior physical fitness, and a higher level of life…”
Just as I was about to warn them not to blindly seek out the teaching assistants for death, a Fireball Spell suddenly flew toward me.
“Looks like a big force is coming in~ Since I took the time to explain information to you, how can you show no gratitude?” I barely dodged the Fireball Spell and then saw the crowd rushing toward me, causing me to gasp in surprise.
The numbers… far exceeded my expectations.
“Tsk… are you all a mob? So many of you rushing in, do you think my life points are enough for all of you?”
“Hmph! That’s none of your business! Either way, you’re dead today!”
“Dead? Not necessarily,” I retorted.
Although I admit that the arrival of so many people was indeed troublesome, I couldn’t kill them all at once. If each of them cast a Fireball Spell at me, they could definitely crush me under the combined firepower; not even Ice Shield Spell would save me.
But though I couldn’t fight, I could run—a third Gale Spell was already unlocked for me.
This was a spell that used Wind Element to enhance my body, making it lighter, and of course, increasing my speed in escape. The purpose of the third skill slot was mobility.
“Don’t let her escape! Hurry and catch her!”
At this moment, it seemed the reinforcements from behind had given them courage, even the rangers became bold.
I looked at the approaching crowd… with such clumsy, overpowering numbers, they were indeed trying to eliminate me.
Once I calmed myself and planned what to do next, I felt relatively relaxed. Even if it turned out poorly, I still had an escape route.
Even though I wouldn’t gain much from this, I had tested something.
That was to verify how many people could be attracted for an assault under the teaching assistant’s wanted order; I already had a rough estimate in my mind.
As it stood, the number of people drawn in had already reached the triple digits and was still rising. This figure was somewhat terrifying, especially with my powers limited; I absolutely could not survive amid such a crowd.
Not to mention launching an overwhelming attack in such large numbers.
It felt… with so many people, it would be fitting to throw a Fireball Spell from a distance and see how many unlucky ones it could catch.
Faced with these rangers who had already begun to attack me, I had no choice but to raise Ice Shield Spell to defend against the incoming arrows.
The rangers’ precise charged shots were truly torturous at this moment. Not only were they powerful under the special elven magic enhancement, but they were also quiet and highly stealthy.
Under the combination of arrow speed and extraordinary power, they were frighteningly deceptive.
So to withstand this kind of attack, I could not wait until after their attack was completed; I had to predict and defend beforehand.
Thus, although arrows didn’t have the explosive damage of Fireball Spells, they were more insidious due to their other advantages.
Since that was the case, I wouldn’t hold back any longer; I used Ice Shield Spell directly. Anyway, it was just a second skill. Any candidate choosing the same mage profession as me could guess what other methods I had with their eyes closed.
“Knife in hand! Follow me!”
“Kill the teaching assistant! Steal points!”
At a distance, the front line of melee profession students, I don’t know who shouted the phrase, igniting everyone’s primitive desire to cause trouble.
“That’s quite a smooth slogan…”
While dodging the concentrated attacks, I couldn’t help but toss a sarcastic remark, then moved to the other side.
“Sisters, charge! Let’s kill that little Xiao Han over there!”
“Xiao Han, don’t run!”
“Hehehe~ Now it’s our turn to chase Xiao Han!”
Voices echoing from afar gradually came in, mixed with many strange comments.
Sure enough, those who came looking for me at the start of the scene had some abnormal thoughts in their heads.
After silently mocking them, I took the opportunity to return fire with a few Fireballs, but unfortunately, I didn’t score any kills.
“Xiao Han, there’s no escape for you! You don’t think it’s only us coming from this side to encircle you, right? At least my teammates are sending them around to the other side to trap you.” It was Annie who said this, and I naturally believed she could accomplish it.
So I hadn’t run a few steps before I saw figures circling from the distance.
“Looks like you guys are sure of me?” I approached the teaching assistant I had previously tied to a tree, “So have you all thought about how to distribute the points?”
As soon as I finished speaking, I tossed her to the front of one of the small teams closing in.
“She’s also a teaching assistant. Will you choose to fight over this defenseless person or hunt me down?”
As that figure arced through the air, the unique health bar of a teaching assistant lit up, immediately stunning the crowd who had rushed over unaware of the situation.
Where did this teaching assistant come from?
And she’s nearly dead!
“Don’t fall for it! Capture Xiao Han first!” Annie was the first to react, shouting at her teammates.
But sometimes, things don’t develop according to the broader awareness.
Because the crowd saw a defenseless “100 points” drop right in front of a team, and such a massive point count was so tempting!
Even knowing it couldn’t be monopolized, the mere thought that it might be was enough to drive everyone into instinctive reactions.
“Stop her! Hurry, stop her!”
At this moment, some rational individuals among them raised their voices to shout out what they should be doing, but even so, it was too late.
With my deliberate charge Fireball, they had created an opening for me to escape.
Actually, that shot was meant to see if I could kill a few people, but since I didn’t succeed, it was most important to run quickly now. Although I could use my physical strength to take out a few, what would the consequences be?
The consequences would be me being surrounded and attacked by those who reacted.
I couldn’t afford those consequences, and even if there were some things I could do, I shouldn’t do them; that’s what I learned under the current fair rules of power.
Or perhaps, this is just the most basic issue of trade-offs for a person?
“Chase!”
“She’s running so fast; is the difference in physical fitness this big?”
“It’s the spell; the third skill of the mage profession is Gale Spell. Damn, she’s already unlocked her third skill?”
“With more than five hours left on her wanted notice… it’s not surprising she could have unlocked the third skill.”
“It’s fine; she can’t keep running forever. With the wanted notice being that long, we can know her whereabouts at any time.”
The crowd could only reassure themselves in this way.
However… although they had let that little Xiao Han get away, they had captured another teaching assistant!
So they immediately fell into discussions about the distribution of points for this teaching assistant, but this process wasn’t pleasant.
And the reinforcements who arrived soon began to complain about the wasted opportunity until they heard that they had taken down another teaching assistant…
Then they got “happy” and joined in the scramble for the distribution of points.
Perhaps in the end, with so many people fighting over it, they might only end up with one or two points each, but they weren’t bothered by the scarcity; they’d just feel it was just right.
Otherwise, it’s better than having one person flaunting the entire hundred points in front of them!
Watching others take so many points was more infuriating than seeing their own scores slip into the negatives! It’s a group effort; such a person must not be allowed to exist!
Even though this encirclement hunt had failed, some were still unwilling to give chase since they believed they had the other’s location and weren’t afraid of losing track, so they recklessly rushed out.
However, those present earlier understood very well there was no need to chase them down. Even if they caught up, going solo was simply seeking death!
That was not only a disparity in combat experience but also a mismatch in personal physical fitness on all levels.
So it’s better to plan ahead for the next hunt, a bit more realistically.
And at this moment, in the outside world.
The live stream was playing in various academies, including the Witch Academy.
“Aww~ Even Xiao Han was encircled this time and had to run away?”
“No other choice; if Xiao Han fully unleashed herself, fighting them would be like hitting children.”
“What does that even mean? Which teaching assistant in the Expanding Realm couldn’t accomplish this?”
“I’m talking about Xiao Han’s special abilities! What would those assistants have left once they took away the spellbooks?”
“I’d say the Xiao Han you mentioned only relies on the Great Spellbook! The Great Spellbook! How could anyone fly without such a powerful thing?”
“Xiao Han is still strong without the Great Spellbook!”
“I’m saying, why are you defending Xiao Han so much? Are you in the support team? In the entire Witch Academy, is Xiao Han your sky? Always praising her like this must feel like putting gold on her face?”
“Are you out of your mind? I am part of the support team! You think we act like our identity gives us an edge? What are you dissatisfied with?”
“I just can’t stand you guys! Come on!”
At this moment, two more individuals who disagreed during the chat began fighting.
But even more people were paying attention to this special joint exam hunt.
And in the Expanding Realm testing ground, the students and teaching assistants were not very clear about some rankings in the outside world that were also drawing plenty of attention.
However, the points of focus for this attention were different.
Currently, there are two rankings: one for the students’ scoring and another for the teaching assistants’ death counts/total wanted durations.
“Flip to the end! Let me see how many negatives the one at the bottom scored!”
“Scoring is so dull, right? The students’ nicknames are outrageous! I’ve already seen two called ‘Xiao Han Steps on Me’ and an outrageous ‘I Am Xiao Han’s✓.'”
“Haha, what ridiculous names; are they so eager to be kicked out of the academy? And… can you even use punctuation in names?”
“I guess the next big test will change this; let’s cherish these names while we still can.”
“Hey hey~ Come look at this name; it’s also outrageous!”
“What’s it called?”
“Street of Elegance No. 56 Technician.”
“Hahaha! It seems the academy’s biggest regret now is not having set sensitive words for nicknames and their length.”
“Why not give it a try? See how the technician at 56 does!”
“Sounds like a marketing genius; I’ll visit once the joint exam is over!”
