Chapter 36: Princess on the field

Merency was standing just behind him with a friendly smile as he barely held himself back from cutting her down out of reflex.

His spell instead loudly collided with one of the trees to his side, cutting it in half; the loud impact instantly caught the attention of the group below them.

As he stared at Merency confused, the first attack was already coming their way, cutting the branch they were standing on and letting them fall to the ground.

Steven landed on the hard forest floor headfirst, while Merency somehow was able to land on him perfectly, only doubling the pain from the fall.

As she bounced away from his barrier and landed beside him, another wave of attacks was already coming their way.

Using an emerald-class spell, a giant wall of ice formed to protect them.

As Steven rose, he felt a strong urge to hit Merency for her foolish actions, but he realized there wasn’t any time to do so. Instead, he helped her rise as well.

"Next time you scare me, I won’t miss." He spoke, already creating a flaming dagger in his hands.

"I just wanted to surprise you; didn’t think you wouldn’t detect me.’’ She answered, sounding sad at his sudden harshness.

Sighing, Steven watched the ice wall crumble into pieces. ’’We will talk about this after we finish here.’’

Dodging an ice shard, he let Merency attack first as she moved the floor below them, sending rocks against their enemies.

Sending one of them to the ground, Steven navigated himself around one of the ice walls, throwing the knife without looking into somebody’s leg, as he could hear somebody scream.

As the ice pillar got shattered, taking away his defense. But with two of them already down, their firepower had decreased dramatically.

"Don’t stop; if we beat them, we gain more than enough points to join the diamond class.’’ One of them yelled but got instantly hit with a stone after.

Merency just continued to send small stones flying as she blocked any incoming attack with minimal energy needs, as she just used nature as her shield.

Steven had enough of the standoff and decided to close the distance as he took a leap forward, landing exactly in front of one of his enemies.

The person tried to cast a wind slash, but he was just slightly faster as Steven kicked against his arm, sending the slash away and, with a precise hit, sending him flying to the ground.

With only two enemies remaining, their formation was in ruins, and with another kick and stone from Steven and Merency, the fight concluded.

As expected, they weren’t a real match for them, as Steven turned around searching for the last man from the first group he had seen, but he seemed to have disappeared completely.

’’Seems like our bet won’t be concluded today.’’ He spoke as he slowly turned towards Merency, who was already cleaning her clothes from any dirt.

As she noticed him staring, her pose changed immediately as she stood more confident, nearly posing for him.

"Ah yes, our bet. Well, we can’t change that anymore." She spoke, sounding nervous and embarrassed at the same time. ’’Sorry about scaring you earlier.’’

"It’s fine," Steven answered, still in thought. ’’But how did you even manage to get so close to me without me realizing?’’ He asked, feeling a bit dumb.

’’I didn’t do anything; I just felt you hiding up there and decided to say hello.’’ She spoke truthfully, confusing Steven.

Since when was his detection so bad even when he had paid attention to something else?

"Ah well, it doesn’t matter," he answered, already thinking about what happened but not wanting to stress her about what happened.

But she seemed to notice his weird answer as she stepped closer to him. "Yes, exactly. We should find a place to stay first before worrying about anything else."

Steven could only agree; after all, the only important part was staying in the event for at least two days if he didn’t want to drop classes.

"You’re right. Have you already found a fitting place yet?" He asked, not wanting to stay at the center for too long, as the attention on them would only increase.

She only nodded. "Not exactly a place, but I saw some small cliffs pretty far away from here."

’’Then let’s not wait for more people to show up.’’ Steven spoke as Merency started leading him away from the forest.

As they walked past a dozen more small groups, they avoided each one of them, because fighting only drained their energy and wouldn’t gain them anything.

Stepping over a small hill, Steven spoke. ’’I am surprised how fast you adapted to this event.’’

Watching her smile only grow, he quickly got an answer. ’’What do you mean? I just did some basic preparation.’’

Already feeling that she just wanted to be praised, Steven still spoke. ’’Using your magic so efficiently is something not many people would do in a fight.’’

"I spoke to some friends from higher years, and they told me a few tricks and tips. For example, every few hours a so-called ’Manadrop’ will fall from the sky with food and useful equipment."

A drop with loot? Something like that was useful, Steven thought, but he also already realized its danger. "It will probably be flooded with people, right?"

Merency nodded, as he felt disappointment grow in his chest; anything useful in this event always came at a price.

Merency suddenly stopped just in front of him, and he could barely avoid running into her.

’’What’s wrong?’’ He asked, trying to find the reason for her sudden stop.

"Look ahead; we are nearly there," she answered.

As Steven stared into the distance, a towering cliff was barely visible.

And it must’ve been as tall as a mountain.

If that were small for her, he didn’t want to know what she considered tall.