Chapter 403: Luring Out the Enemies

"So, it’s time... to get rid of all these people." Auric’s expression turned grim. The worst part of his decision was to deal with all the spies. After all, he would put himself as bait to lure them out.

And the first rat had been lured out.

Lindwurm squinted to see who had attacked them earlier. "Auric! It looks like Madam Shelly was the one who attacked you."

Auric had expected this, considering Katarina had checked her background. It looked like she had slipped away as soon as she found an opportunity.

Madam Shelly, on the other hand, gritted her teeth. ’What is that? My attack was deflected? There was someone strong enough to stop my attack? Even if it was from a distance, that attack should have been more than enough to handle a Rank 4 human...’

Madam Shelly glared at the masked woman standing by Auric’s side.

Looking at the situation, Madam Shelly gathered her power again.

Stella immediately warned Auric. "That person is going to attack again. We need to leave."

"Don’t worry."

"Auric!" Stella was worried, wondering why Auric didn’t want to leave. This was extremely dangerous for them.

Auric simply said, "Someone will deal with her."

"Some—!" Stella turned around and saw another surge of power coming directly for that woman. She finally understood what Auric was talking about.

Madam Shelly was about to attack Auric again, but she suddenly felt an enormous power coming from the right. It was moving so fast that she instinctively turned around and fired her power in that direction.

Bam!

Bam!

Bam!

The blast destroyed everything in a straight line. Buildings started crumbling, but the person in question broke through the dust cloud and punched her in the chest.

The energy in his fist started to distort her own energy.

"!!!" Madam Shelly widened her eyes in shock, recognizing who was actually coming for her. "Greenfell!"

That was right. Mr. Green actually came all the way here because of a certain instruction.

...

A few minutes ago.

"I want you to do me a favor."

"What is it?" Timothy frowned.

"Once I leave, I want you to find my teacher. You know her, right? Just tell her that I’ll lure them out now."

Timothy was confused at first, but he understood that there was a conspiracy going on. So, it looked like Auric was talking about that. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah."

"Got it."

Timothy immediately informed Maya thereafter, and Maya would definitely tell the other two about this matter. They knew that the spies would be coming, so they sneaked out to handle the problem.

...

Mr. Green looked at Madam Shelly with eyes full of killing intent.

"Greenfell! What are you doing?!" Madam Shelly acted as if she didn’t know anything.

"Oh! It’s actually you, Shelly! I thought you were a beast. I noticed a powerful energy fluctuation, so I came to check. You were attacking the building?" Mr. Green asked with an innocent face.

"There was a beast in that building, a powerful one. I suspected that the beast was controlling the other beasts in this city."

"I see! Sorry, sorry! I didn’t know you were doing all that." Mr. Green scratched the back of his head while walking toward her. He extended his hand toward her, offering to help her up.

’Heh. You old fool.’ Madam Shelly smiled inwardly. As soon as Mr. Green stopped before her, she immediately extended her hand, trying to pierce his heart.

"Hahahaha! You old fool." Madam Shelly laughed as soon as she saw blood splattered.

However, the next second, she felt a sharp pain coming from her arm. The blood didn’t come from Mr. Green. It came from her severed hand.

"!!!" Madam Shelly widened her eyes in shock. Mr. Green actually severed her arm with one swift motion, stopping his fist right in front of her chest.

"You third-rate traitor. I don’t even know how you can reach Tier 6 when you’re actually this foolish." Mr. Green shook his head helplessly.

Madam Shelly turned pale. "Wai—Gah!"

Mr. Green didn’t want to hear anything coming from her mouth anymore. He channeled his energy into his fist and smashed her.

The punch was so powerful that it created a crack 50 meters in diameter.

Madam Shelly wasn’t the one fooling Mr. Green. Mr. Green was simply playing along with her act and used it to lower her guard.

Still, even though she was a fool, Madam Shelly’s power was a real deal. Even when she was in such a position, she actually managed to preserve her life.

"Haaaa!" Madam Shelly roared and released all her energy upward, trying to knock Mr. Green away.

Mr. Green leaped into the air and pointed his palm toward her. Suddenly, the energy spread from his body to his surroundings.

Pieces of buildings that had been destroyed started floating and flying toward Madam Shelly. This was the same technique he taught Katarina, but he used it on a whole different level.

...

Stella dropped her jaw. "That’s... What kind of power is that?"

"It’s just his control. It’s not even a battle technique." Auric shook his head.

"That’s just pure control?" Stella gasped. She thought it would be something like telekinesis. Then again, she wasn’t adept at control, so she couldn’t imagine what it looked like to have perfect control.

Auric suddenly widened his eyes as Lindwurm also warned him.

"Auric, jump!"

Auric suddenly grabbed Stella’s waist and leaped off the building.

"Auric?!" Stella was startled, but there was a reason Auric chose to jump.

Suddenly, a burst of energy surged upward and destroyed the top part of the building.

There was actually another person coming to kill him. That person was already so close to them. If they hadn’t jumped at the last moment, they would have been devoured by that energy.

A person suddenly emerged from the building. This person had covered himself with thick clothes, making sure that no one recognized him.

However, Auric could easily recognize him. It was quite easy because of his element and the fact that he only had one arm and still had the massive wound in his chest after being struck by Mr. Green.

"Heh?! I guess that demotion is not enough, Head Instructor Ryan? I mean, former head instructor." Auric smirked.

The mysterious man looked surprised, but he simply continued, trying to kill Auric.

Stella thrust her spear, all her energy discharged at the tip.

Stella noticed something. It must be because of the wound that he couldn’t utilize his true power. It might not be the full power of a Rank 6 human, but it was definitely higher than any Rank 5 human’s power.

She gritted her teeth, trying to withstand the attack.

Auric released his gray energy. This time, he didn’t just use one element. He used two. The first one was the chaos element.

By utilizing the attribute of the chaos element, he tried to break down Head Instructor Ryan’s power.

At the same time, he used the second element, Enhancement. This was an element he got from the last batch of unique element users, alongside Vector and Illusion.

He applied this ’Enhancement’ to Stella.

"!!!" Stella was startled. She suddenly felt that it became much easier to withstand this attack.

Still, even though her strength had been boosted and her opponent’s attack had been weakened, the gap between them wasn’t easy to bridge.

The punch still came toward her and hit her. Auric was right behind her, so he also got hit by it.

In the end, both of them were blasted toward the ground.

Auric used his wind element to lessen the impact.

"Kh..." Stella gritted her teeth. She hurriedly got off Auric and stood up, not letting the enemy hurt Auric any further.

Head Instructor Ryan landed not far from them.

"This can be counted as a declaration of war, right?" Auric smirked.

"Auric Elfe. You are charged with protecting a fugitive from Dermania, Gloria Schaff. Now, you’re going to die because you’re protecting a fugitive!"

The killing intent soared as though he had been waiting for this moment the whole time.

Stella clenched her spear tight. "Leave! I will stop him!"

Auric smiled. "You are still the same. You are so full of yourself that you think I’m the one trapped here... not you."

"!!!" Head Instructor Ryan glanced to the side and swung his fist.

Suddenly, a woman flew toward him and struck his fist. Her hand was covered in flame-like dark energy, making her hand look like a demonic hand.

The clash between their energies pushed Auric and Stella away and destroyed the nearby building.

"What do you think you’re doing to my student?"

Yes, the woman who came was none other than Maya.

Unfortunately, Maya was still Rank 5. Even if her opponent was injured, there was still a gap between them.

Despite taking all that momentum, Head Instructor Ryan managed to gain a firm foothold and launched her back, causing Maya to crash into a building.

"Useles—" Head Instructor Ryan couldn’t finish his word because blood suddenly spurted from all over his arm. The energy from Maya was never meant for a frontal confrontation.

She directed her energy to inflict maximum damage despite their strength difference.

Maya came out of the rubble and cracked her fingers. "To think I would get the chance to kill a Rank 6 human from Dermania. No, to think I can use your corpse to actually cause trouble for an entire country. Isn’t this a record?"

Auric nonchalantly added, "Teacher! Even though he’s injured and can’t use his full strength, he’s still Rank 6, you know?"

"Let’s see if you can still speak that way after your face is smashed by my fist!" Head Instructor Ryan summoned his avatar and fused with it. Scales began covering his body, and a snake’s tail formed on his back. "I will show you the true power of a Rank 6 human."

This was his biggest advantage. As a Rank 5 human, Maya couldn’t fuse with her avatar yet. She could only manifest her avatar.

However, Maya didn’t back down from the challenge.

Head Instructor Ryan suddenly felt an enormous pressure coming from above. When he looked up, the sky was slit as a pair of hands sneaked out and ripped it apart.

A pair of bloodshot eyes appeared from the dark void. A massive figure emerged from the hole. This black figure had a lot of white dots as if it had been sprinkled all over its body, but they were shining as if those white dots were stars in the sky.

Maya released her full strength. A black coat formed from her power as she put her hand in front of her mouth, using her power to form a mask.

"The true power of a Rank 6 human, huh?" Maya turned both her feet and arms into demonic feet and arms. "In that case, I shall use my Rank 5 power to slay a Rank 6 human today."