Chapter 39: Supply Drop

"Let’s not wait any longer." Merency spoke, already sprinting forward, ready to jump down the cliff.

Steven was barely able to catch her wrist, holding her back. "Wait." He wanted to stop her, but watching her pleading eyes, he just couldn’t.

"Never mind, but be cautious." As he let go of her, just for her to jump down headfirst, Steven took a deep breath and followed her down.

Falling with immense speed, the floor came only closer each second. As roughly a hundred meters from the ground, Merency stopped in midair.

Having activated her flying spell, the alarm system went off immediately as a loud sound echoed through the air.

Steven followed her lead, also stepping on the air to stop his fall; with the alarm still ringing, they both descended to the floor.

Only after his feet touched the ground did the alarm stop, but Steven was already paying attention to his surroundings.

It hadn’t been activated for longer than a few moments, but if anyone had been close by, they for sure would’ve noticed them.

Wanting to feel the mana around him, he couldn’t sense anything, not even Merency. His senses were still broken, so he had to use his sight instead.

But except for trees, there was nothing noteworthy around him, and Merency also didn’t seem to notice anything wrong.

"I think we are safe for the moment." He whispered to her, still cautious of any movement.

It felt weird having one sense less than usual, as if he were blind all of the sudden.

Merency nodded at his statement, "Let’s just hope it stays that way." Even with all the excitement, Steven could feel her cautiousness; she was a trained royal, after all.

Even if she didn’t like living in trash in the woods, who could blame her if you had only the best in your life until now?

They didn’t waste much time as Steven picked out the closest of the new supply drops not much further away than a few minutes.

And if they tried, they could reach it even faster before it would even land.

"We shouldn’t rush there after all the people that stay beyond it are the easiest targets." She spoke calmly, already predicting when the right time would be.

"Are you sure? If they start fighting, what gets dropped down might be destroyed in the chaos." She spoke of something he hadn’t even thought of.

"Still, it would be better to just observe the start; if something goes wrong, we can intercept them." As he watched her unwillingly agree with him, they made their way forward.

Each step felt wrong to Steven as he didn’t know what was hiding a head of him not perceivably by the human eye.

It could be students or even some monsters; his only hope was to trust in Merency’s sense instead.

As he jumped over the roots of a tree, they suddenly moved, trying to grab his leg, but his barrier was quicker.

With the roots only being redirected bis his barrier Steven instantly ignited them with a Topaz grade flame spell.

"What the fuck was this?" He yelled at himself, jumping away another step.

Merency just shook her head and walked over to the burned roots, picking them up. "Just some low-level trap spell." As they stared at the other that had been nearly turned to charcoal by his overreaction.

"You seem to be a bit on edge; is everything ok?" She asked softly, trying to step closer.

But Steven just turned away. "Am I on edge? That’s just your imagination playing you." He spoke while stepping on another root, which this time didn’t move, but he still jumped off it.

He could see her watch his weird movements but continue to stay quiet. "Let’s just focus on the way; we don’t want to let the drop be collected by someone else, right?"

Trying to force their conversation into a different topic, as he already tried to gain distance on her by initiating a sprint.

She followed close by, still remaining silent; just a few minutes later, Merency, who had taken the lead, suddenly stopped, still a bit away from the group.

"What’s wrong?" Steven asked, his gaze wandering around his surroundings.

"There is a group ahead, and one of them seems to be of the sapphire class." She whispered to him; her gaze looked onto something in the distance. "What do we do?"

Steven wasn’t sure either. "Is there a way to avoid them?" He asked, watching the drop only lower more and more each second.

"Not without him sensing me." She answered, her voice dark and analytical.

"Well, we don’t have any other choice than to try." He was more than confident in beating them even without blowing his cover.

He was worried more of the mana reserves a Bright should have, and Merency also wouldn’t be able to fight for days long.

"Wait, they are moving away." Merency’s voice suddenly sounded excited again as she started sprinting again.

Steven wanted to stop her, but it was already too late.

As they walked past the last line of trees, they entered an open field with only ancient towering stone pillars placed in a perfect circle.

Walking behind Merency, he could see some leaves move on a tree nearby in a weird direction.

Also, the sunlight seemed to be slightly reflected by something on one of the pillars.

But Merency still continued her way until they stood just in the middle of the circle where the drop would land exactly.

But Steven wasn’t looking up; instead, he only noticed more abnormality around him.

No, their amount only seemed to grow.

Even without his magic sense, he knew something was wrong.

They had stepped into some kind of trap.

And there didn’t seem to be any escape.

He grabbed Merency’s hand, pulling her close into a hug, which she happily agreed to.

"Steven, we can’t here, not right now." She stuttered, already turning red.

But Steven only whispered in her ear.

"We are are surrounded."

Giving her only a second to react until he turned away yelling.

"Aren’t I right?"