Chapter 401 Hunting Grounds Part 1
Watching Silvia buff the team while Lyrica dashed towards the boss, Shiro couldn't help but notice her clear increase in speed and body control. While she ran, she kept her posture steady so that she could react better in any situation.
'Hou… not bad.' Shiro thought with a smile.
She couldn't help but also notice a few of the more talented individuals. There were some that would flicker continuously while slash marks would suddenly appear on the boss's body.
Whenever they're about to get hit, Silvia's barrier would block them from danger.
"Yo missy, your reaction's pretty on point, why don't you work with me from now on? I can guarantee that you'll get a good wage every week." The man grinned while deflecting one of the boss's fists.
"No thanks, I'm fine with the team that I have right now." Silvia declined with a smile.
"Ah such a shame. Though if you ever want to discuss it, I'm more than happy to give you my contact details after the event." The man laughed.
"I'll keep that in mind then Mr Yorak." Silvia chuckled.
Glancing over at the party, Lyrica narrowed her eyes since it seemed like she'd have to reveal some of her strength in order to get a passing grade.
"Fuu…." Breathing out softly, she tightened her grip around her sword.
'Heavenly Sword Arts First Step- Clarity.' Lyrica thought to herself as light glimmered from the blade of her sword.
*PUCHI!!
Suddenly, the arm of the boss was separated from the shoulder as blood poured out relentlessly.
*Whistle~
'Damn, her attack power has soared huh? Can't wait to see it for myself in the later rounds. Wouldn't that be quite interesting.' Shiro mused to herself.
{Indeed. I wonder if she has improved more than Lisandra. Both Keiko and Keomi have admitted that Lisandra was talented to the point where she could be called a genius.} Nimue nodded her head.
'I'm not too sure about that but regardless, it's good for the party. Speaking of which, I wonder how Aarim is doing.'
Looking over at Aarim's team, Shiro was instantly surprised at how much the boss was being pushed back.
Their team had three vanguards, Aarim, Chen Yu and one other who had their name hidden. With the three of them, they had forced the boss into a state of constant retreat. Should the boss try to attack them by surprise, Aarim would teleport them all behind the boss and land more hits.
'Her spells have become more diverse as well. However, I know that she's got more to show later in the rounds. Damn, all this watching has made me itch for some action myself.' Shiro chuckled since she couldn't wait to fight with them all and test out their power for herself.
{Look at you being a battle maniac.} Nimue rolled her eyes.
{Oh I think it's quite cute though is it not? Shiro cares deeply for them so she wants to train with them to understand them better and help them.} Iziuel smiled.
{Iziuel, you're too pure ah! There's a 100% chance that Shiro wanted to fight them for fun and maybe give them guidance if she can. If anything, she'll probably disguise her one sided beatings as 'training' to fuel her sadistic desires.}
'*Cough!* That's quite harsh Nimue, I feel wronged.'
{As if, we both know that you're sadistic at heart.} Nimue retorted as Shiro feigned ignorance.
She was quite spot on as she wasn't exactly the best trainer.
If anything, she can only help them improve through some improvisation and constant fighting practice. It's worked so far so she was fine with it.
As she continued to observe the participants, Shiro made sure to mark down those that had potential in her mind so that she could deal with them later. There were moments where Shiro saw that both her and the other slayer observed the same fight but with the slayer hiding most of his features, she couldn't tell what he/she was thinking.
Eventually, the fight ended with everyone on the party passing with rather impressive spots.
Lyrica managed to get rank 9 on the team while Silvia achieved rank 5. That was after they've held back quite a bit of their power as well. Chen Yu achieved 3rd place on his team with Aarim following behind at spot number 4. As for Yin, well she managed to achieve 2nd with the person Chen Yu was worried about being in first place.
Lisandra was also on Yin's team and she had managed to reach 3rd place without making herself obvious to Yin.
As the weakest 10 of each team were eliminated, 47 participants remained with Shiro and the other slayer in the mix.
Everyone was sent towards the fourth floor as Shiro regrouped with Lisandra and waited for the fourth trial.
[Stage 4: Hunting Ground. In this stage, all of you will be sent into a forest. There are five types of beasts/monsters within the forest and with each beast you slay, you'll gain a certain amount of points. This stage will run for 1 hour and at the end of the hour, only the top 20 will remain in the event.]
[As for how the points are distributed, the first stage beast will grant 1 point. Second stage beast will grant 5, third grade beast 10, fourth grade beast will reward 20 and the strongest fifth grade beast will reward an astounding 50. Be warned, there are only 3 fifth grade beasts that will appear at a random moment and only the person who lands the final hit will be rewarded with the points. You can track how many points everyone has through the leaderboard displayed via hologram in the stage. Goodluck!]
Each of the beasts had an image next to them. The first grade beast looked like a wolf, second is a bear, third is a giant serpent and the fourth grade beast is a chimera of sorts. As for the fifth beast, it was hidden behind a silhouette making it so that no one could tell what it was.
Reading the description, Shiro raised her eyebrows.
"Chizu, let's reveal a bit more of our power this round. Since this round will eliminate more than half of us, it's best for us to go serious." Shiro whispered over.
"Mn, got it. But wouldn't the other's get suspicious?" Lisandra asked since she had to be extra careful in the last round since she was in a team with Yin. Thankfully, she wasn't exactly the 'smartest' as she is more focused on food than on people.
"We'll have to be a bit more careful and fight away from them. Plus, I want them to go into the next round so we don't want to be stealing their points." Shiro nodded.
Waiting for the teleport circle to the next floor, Shiro glanced towards the other teams and noticed the other slayer looking towards her party.
'Why does it seem like he's interested in the other girls? Could he be a guy that wants to be in a relationship with them?' Shiro wondered to herself. Despite not being able to tell their gender, she couldn't help but become curious as to what they had planned.
As the teleport circle appeared, everyone rushed towards it since the faster they reached the next floor, the more of a head start they could get.
Teleporting to the next floor, Shiro saw that they were in the centre of a huge mountain range with large beasts in the distance roaming around.
"Take this, we'll communicate with each other and share the bounty." Shiro gave Lisandra an earpiece before jumping up the mountain for a good vantage point.
Jumping in her rift that was disguised by her Fae Illusions, Shiro eventually arrived at the peak.
"Hmm… My skill Analysis isn't enough since there are still a few things that are too far away." She furrowed her brows before 'taking' out a ring that had the skill [Hawkeye +] embedded into it.
Activating Hawkeye, she could now focus on long distance targets with great clarity.
"Now then, as the name suggests, this shall become my hunting ground." She muttered with a grin.
Drawing back on her bow, fire flared around her as she let go of the strings without charging up too much mana.
*BOOM!!!
Letting off a shockwave, the arrow flew through the air before piercing a third grade serpent right through the skull and caused it to crash through several trees.
"Daughter of mine, two bears to your left, around 300 meters." Shiro called into the earpiece since she could get a grasp on where everyone was.
-Got it mum.- Lisandra replied with a chuckle since she could tell that Shiro was having a bit of fun sniping beasts from the mountains.
While Lisandra went to kill the bears, Shiro had an idea.
"Just for a fun nostalgia trip, I think I'll have to trouble the bears a little." She said with a smile.
{Wait what do you mean by nostalgia trip?} Nimue raised an eyebrow.
'Oh you know, the first time I killed a bear in this life was through the ass.' Shiro grinned as she targeted a bear far into the distance.
Readying up her bow, she made sure that she wrapped it with her mana so that it will fly straight into the targeted area.
*BANG!
Suddenly feeling danger loom over its body, the bear raised its head in caution but at that point, it was already too late.
*PUCHI!