The next morning, Nox woke up to the principal’s voice ringing out over the battlefield.

  “Team A is eliminated.”

  The back pain from yesterday had completely vanished, leaving only Lina’s warm mana in place.

  “Only us and Team B remain now,” she whispered, lying beneath him.

  “I guess that’s good… is there food somewhere?” Nox asked, his stomach growling.

  “I think we have some bread in the main hall,” Regea replied.

  He stood up and put on the academy’s magical armour.

  “I think our team wants to have a meeting there,” Beatrice said.

  As the four entered the main hall, around fifty students were already waiting. Lina grabbed a piece of bread and sat on a table.

  “Are you okay with eating just bread?” Nox asked.

  “I’m not that fragile just because I’m a princess!”

  While they were eating, a blond man in his early twenties stepped onto a small platform in front of the eating students.

  “Hello everyone.”

  “Now that everyone’s here, we will discuss our tactic moving forward. Yesterday, our base was attacked by a single group, and more than half of our defense team was wiped out,” he said.

  Nervous murmurs went through the crowd.

  “They specifically targeted the strong ones. Only our team remains from the fourth years. Could someone from the raid team please inform us of the losses on their side?” His eyes scanned the crowd.

  “Where is Alma?” Nox whispered.

  “I don’t think she returned. You should go,” Lina replied, pushing him to the front. She gave him an encouraging nod before he reluctantly stepped forward.

  “Uhm… yesterday we were able to destroy the flag of Team D. Just as we were about to leave, the Pros group stopped us,” Nox said. “Alma and the other raid members fought them, but they didn’t return.”

  “Impossible! The whole raid squad was wiped out by a single group?” someone shouted.

  “Well, it’s the Pros group after all,” another answered. Fear and reluctance mirrored in everyone’s expression.

  “Relax, guys. Team B and D were defeated, which means the Unstoppable group and the Pros group are out,” the blonde-haired man said.

  The crowd breathed out, trying to relief their pent-up stress.

  “We’re under attack!” someone screamed from outside.

  “The strong groups Team A has, are Bombaclats and Sunrise. The remaining raid team and our group will attack their base. Everyone else shall protect the flag,” the man shouted, raising his arm.

  The students quickly rushed out outside, onto the castle walls.

  About one hundred meters into the forest, seventy people positioned themselves and put up thick steel walls.

  “There’s the Sunrise group!” someone shouted.

  “Analus is there too, unfortunately,” Nox thought, locking eyes with him. They were clearly outnumbered, but their castle had been built on a rock formation, giving them a height advancement.

  “They’re waiting for us to make a move,” Nox thought.

  “Yeah… probably,” Lina said.

  “Did you just read my thoughts?

  “I don’t know. I just felt that you wanted to say something like that.”

  Nox frowned, stealing a glance at her calm expression.

  “It’s getting creepy.”

  “You’re the raid team, right?” the blonde man from before said. He came over, five students standing behind him.

  “Yes.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Marco, and these are members of my group, Nessy.”

  “We’re only in the fourth year’s Class C, but we have some useful stigmas that can help us out.”

  After everyone introduced themselves, they stepped toward the right side of the castle.

  “We should be able to bypass the enemies if we go here,” Marco said, pointing at a long canyon lying behind the rock formation.

  They left the castle and carefully trailed along its edge.

  “Their base shouldn’t be heavily guarded right now,” Nox said.

  “You don’t actually believe that do you?” Lina replied, looking around attentively.

  They picked up the pace and after half an hour, they spotted the enemy’s base.

  “What is that?”

  A single giant pillar held up a small base in the middle of the canyon. It was only accessible by a short, narrow bridge.

  The base itself wasn’t special. It was a round arena surrounded by a tall iron wall.

  “There are four students!” Nox said, quickly hiding behind a rock.

  “I think they’re the Bombaclats group. We might win if we surprise them,” Marco added. They had finished fifth in the last ranking, but four against ten was still a big difference.

  “We’re lucky that we have someone with the invisibility stigma.”

  A short man stepped forward and raised his hands. Air particles seemed to form before his palms, summoning an invisible curtain around them.

  “Alright, let’s go.”

  The team carefully marched forward, trying to be as quiet as possible.

  The four enemies were now ten meters away, excitedly looking at a small black device.

  “Why aren’t they guarding properly?” Nox thought, waiting for Marco to give the signal.

  However, just as he was about to fix his stance, a strange feeling overcame him.

  Danger.

  “Get down!” he shouted, throwing Lina to the floor.

  In the blink of an eye, a wind strike blasted over their heads.

  Beep, beep.

  Two students who reacted too late were sent flying.

  “Pahaha, you only hit two of them,” one of the enemies murmured.

  “I’m telling you, that detection device is ass.”

  “No, it’s not,” another said, turning to Nox, who was now visible. “Looks like they have some useful fighters on their side too.”

  “Shit, they spotted us thanks to that device. What should we do?” Regea asked.

  “You and Nox should go with him,” Marco whispered, pointing at a muscular man standing beneath them.

  Whilst fighting, the man stole jealous glances at Regea’s muscles as if comparing them to his.

  “He has the teleportation stigma. We will distract them, and you can teleport in.”

  “I’m only able to teleport within a fifteen-meter radius, so we’ll have to be as close to the bridge as possible,” the man said.

  “Are you done talking now?” one of the enemies shouted, launching another wind strike at them.

  Nox quickly grew an ice crystal, blocking the attack. The sheer power made his hand vibrate, ice shards scraping over his legs.

  “That’s not sustainable. We should go,” Nox said

  “Wait, you can’t just leave like that,” Lina replied, putting her hand on his shoulder.

  He could feel her mana flowing into his body, brushing off all the accumulated fatigue.

  -You have received Light’s Blessing (+27% stats)

  “Just be careful, okay?” she whispered.

  “You should be too.” Nox, Regea and the man ran toward the enemies, the bridge lying twenty metres before them.

  “Do you really think you’ll get through?”

  A flame arrow came flying at them, barely missing Regea’s head.

  He raised his hand, and five golems emerged from the stone floor.

  Even with their steel armour, they stood no chance against the intense heat.

  Meanwhile, Beatrice and the others fired countless attacks, but even her blue flames were immediately extinguished.

  Her hands shook as she aimed her spells, the magical energy flickering uncontrollably. Regea’s jaw clenched as he steadied himself against another wind strike, his armour on the verge of breaking.

  Nox’s mind raced as he scanned the area.

  “The bridge is narrow… if I misstep, the teleportation radius won’t be enough. And the wind striker is faster than I expected. I’m lucky the others are distracted.”

  “But this should work. I haven’t used that skill in a while,” he thought, stepping forward.

  Snow started forming on the ground, immediately beginning to circulate, growing bigger with each second.

  The flakes swirled violently, glittering under the faint sunlight. Each landing made a soft crunch, masking the distant shouts and explosions.

  “I need more.”

  More snowballs started forming, building a thick, rolling wall.

  As they started to move, the ground trembled. Everything in their path was turned into snow as well.

  “We don’t have much time. Run!” Nox shouted, calculating the trajectory of each ball.

  Two of the enemies turned around and bombarded the snowballs with all sorts of spells. One exploded, leaving only a puddle of water.

  “They’re quite durable, but you forgot about one thing!”

  One of the enemies pressed his palms into the ground, feeling the frost crawling over his skin. A sharp hum filled the air as a swirling tornado lifted the snow off the ground, twirling them like marionettes.

  The air roared past Nox’s ears, carrying the scent of scorched stone and wet earth. His armour rattled slightly with the gust as the snowballs were launched back in their direction.

  A loud bang echoed when all the missiles fell onto the three, leaving a thick cloud of water vapor.

  “Hah, looks like three are down,” he shouted, launching a wind strike into the cloud.

  When the smoke cleared, his eyes widened in surprise.

  “They had a teleporter with them!” one said, turning toward the bridge.

  They saw the three turning around the corner before they vanished in the base.

  “Wait, let’s farm those juicy points in front of us. They won’t be able to touch the flag anyway,” another replied, smirking devilishly.

  They turned back to Beatrice and the others, rubbing their hands in excitement.

  “Huh, that was close.” Nox let out a deep sigh.

  They stepped into the small arena.

  “Look over there,” the muscular man said. On a small podium stood a yellow flag. It radiated faint mana, as if calling them.

  “I wouldn’t just go there,” Regea said, glancing around. He tapped his fingers together nervously; afraid the floor might break apart and swallow them whole.

  However, the man walked straight toward the podium. Greed mirrored in his eyes, as he mustered the flag.

  “Don’t worry, the enemies are outside after-”

  Before he could finish his sentence, an invisible force lifted him into the air.

  The man desperately tried to free himself, screaming like a maniac.

  However, it was as if he was fighting air. Unable to do anything, he was thrown across the arena and slammed against the steel wall.

  “My, my… I just wanted to relax.”

  A small boy emerged from the shadows.