When Qiu Meng found Cadera, an extremely blinding burst of light erupted from the other end of the forest.
Qiu Meng instinctively raised her arm to shield her face.
But the next moment, a shockwave slammed into her.
The force knocked her back two steps, her boot soles dragging two shallow grooves through the muddy ground. The old wound on her chest throbbed with a dull ache, nearly making her cough out loud.
“……!”
Cadera gripped a tree trunk, her face pale as she stared toward where the pillar of light had risen.
“What’s going on?”
Qiu Meng gritted her teeth.
She hadn’t been that close to the area, yet she could still feel the surging mana interference churning from that region.
{Wait… that direction is where Mili and the others are!}
Qiu Meng looked up at where the light had fallen, her heart sinking.
She wanted to go.
But her reason told her that if she went now, she’d more than likely just become a burden someone else would have to rescue.
Cadera grabbed Qiu Meng’s arm, speaking with exhaustion:
“Let’s go… don’t worry about me.”
Qiu Meng turned around.
She stared hard into Cadera’s eyes.
“……Say that again!!”
Cadera froze.
Qiu Meng walked up to her. The usual hesitation was gone from her face—she looked at Cadera with the eyes of a warrior.
“Back at the lake, you were the one who grabbed my hand first. Now you’re telling me not to worry about you?”
Then her voice lowered gradually.
“Cadera… I don’t have the energy to argue, and I don’t have time to lecture you. But if you say something like that again——”
She reached out her hand.
“I’ll drag you along myself!”
But just as the words left her mouth, another shockwave struck from afar.
Qiu Meng staggered, her shoulder swaying as she nearly lost her balance. She bit down and steadied herself, though her eyes were slightly reddening.
Cadera stared at that hand.
A few seconds later, she lifted her own hand with difficulty and grasped Qiu Meng’s.
“Honestly…”
She slowly stood up, a hint of helplessness in her voice.
“You’re barely standing yourself… and you’re still saying things like that…”
“That’s why we have to survive together. I’m not about to abandon you!”
“You’re pretty foolish too, aren’t you~”
Cadera let out a quiet laugh.
“Then stay alive a little longer with this fool!”
The two were about to leave when footsteps came from deep in the forest ahead. The sound didn’t resemble a demon beast’s steps—it was more like a person’s.
Two students emerged from behind the tree shadows.
Both wore the training uniforms of first-year Physical Department students, but their clothes were already a mess of mud and blood.
One held a short-handled axe, the blade edge carved with earth-attribute incantations. He looked like someone well-versed in earth magic.
The other carried a round shield on his back and had another axe hanging at his waist, though that axe bore no runes at all.
{One uses earth magic… the other I can’t confirm… troublesome…}
They stood one in front of the other.
The front one blocked the path, faint light already radiating from his body, while the other leaned against a tree, using the thick trunk as cover to observe Qiu Meng and the other girl.
Those two didn’t look like they were acting on impulse… this was premeditated.
{Damn…!}
She and Cadera were both badly wounded. A forced fight would be extremely difficult.
But she was standing in a low-lying muddy area surrounded by plenty of shrubs.
She then looked to the right and saw the path there was already blocked by fallen trees, while the left side was a slope tangled with roots. If she recklessly went up that slope, there was no telling who else might be there.
If Qiu Meng weren’t this badly injured, she might have been able to strengthen her blade with the wind mana stone and force a breakthrough.
The two students studied Qiu Meng’s condition and seemed to understand something. Then they spoke:
“Hand over your points quietly, and we’ll spare your lives.”
The axe-wielding student grinned, already lowering his body into an attack stance.
Qiu Meng grabbed her sword hilt and stared at them coldly.
“The teacher stated the rules earlier—conflicts that directly endanger lives aren’t allowed! If the two of you kill someone, you’ll be punished!”
The other student sneered.
“Doesn’t matter~”
The one behind the tree began enchanting his weapon.
“If I just cut off your hands, that doesn’t endanger your life, does it?”
Cadera’s eyes turned cold.
But Qiu Meng didn’t strike immediately.
She knew very well that a head-on fight wasn’t worth it now.
“We’re injured. We can give you the point box.”
She steadied her breathing, forcing her voice to remain calm.
“But if we die here, the academy’s surveillance spells will record everything. Stealing points is one thing, but maiming people of the Temple… think carefully about the consequences!”
Then Qiu Meng took out the black magic box and tossed it forward.
The box rolled to the axe-wielding student’s feet. He picked it up and glanced at it.
“Good…”
But the next second, his smile turned greedier.
“But this little bit… isn’t enough. And you’ve got those blood-red points on you too, right? If we let you go and you end up killing us, what then?”
Qiu Meng’s fingers tightened slightly.
She remembered that demihuman with the spiral horns she’d killed earlier—the blood-stained points that had burst out from it.
{Just as I thought… this thing brings trouble.}
Qiu Meng slowly drew her rapier.
A faint line of cyan light ran along the blade from the wind mana stone.
The axe-wielding student showed no expression and didn’t wait for Qiu Meng’s reply. He simply charged without hesitation.
The axe came down with heavy force.
Qiu Meng saw the incoming axe and tried to dodge, but the wound on her abdomen—only hastily treated earlier—split open from the motion.
The pain in her stomach prevented her from evading, and the student slashed her directly.
The axe blade grazed past her shoulder, cutting through her sleeve and skin. Blood sprayed down her arm.
“Tch…!”
Qiu Meng retreated two steps.
At the same time, the other student moved too, targeting Qiu Meng’s head.
Cadera quickly drew the syringe-like rapier hanging at her waist and thrust it forward to block the axe.
Clang!
The sound of metal clashing exploded through the air.
Cadera was already wounded. Her arm visibly trembled, and though she was being pushed into a disadvantage, she didn’t retreat.
A faint light flickered in her eyes as she activated some kind of magic. Then the transparent药剂 tube at the middle of her rapier began to glow with an eerie purple.
The next instant, she reversed into a thrust.
The other student blocked with his axe handle.
But purple liquid sprayed out from the gaps of the blade.
The moment that liquid touched the student, his arm began to blacken, blister, and rot.
He let out a heart-rending scream and stumbled back two steps.
Cadera didn’t give him any time to recover. She thrust straight into his chest, driving him all the way back into the depths of the forest.
Soon after, the sounds of trees snapping and a body crashing came from the distance.
The remaining student’s face changed.
“You damn…!!!”
He gritted his teeth and hurled his short axe with all his strength.
Qiu Meng immediately sidestepped. The axe grazed past her hair and slammed into the tree trunk behind her.
While the student was stunned, she activated the wind mana stone on her blade.
Cyan mana flowed along the sword’s spine, propelling her body forward in a sudden surge.
She didn’t aim for his throat. She didn’t target his head. Instead, she aimed for the spot below his left chest.
That was the joint connecting his ribs and shoulder.
This move—she hadn’t learned it at the academy.
It was a sword technique her father had used when fighting the ice magister.
{If this lands, I can cripple his entire arm!}
The powerful strike shattered his ribs. Qiu Meng heard the crack of bone breaking with perfect clarity.
At the same time, the student spat out a mouthful of blood as the sheer force drove him back several steps.
As Qiu Meng watched his face twist in shock, she said in a low voice:
“Now you know what it feels like… to have your flesh cut open!”
She clenched the sword hilt with all her might, and the wind mana stone erupted with even greater power.
Accompanied by the sickening sound of cracking bone, his two ribs and left arm were severed together.
Blood and bone fragments sprayed through the air, staining the morning mist around them red.
The student collapsed to his knees, his eyes filled with disbelief.
“This… how is this possible…”
Qiu Meng spun her blade and pressed the tip against his neck.
“Anything else you want to say?”
The blade tip pressed slightly into his skin, drawing a thin trickle of blood.
“If you kill me… you won’t get away with——”
Bang!
A gunshot rang out from the distance.
The next second, the student’s head exploded.
Blood and fragments of brain tissue splattered all over Qiu Meng.
She stood frozen, staring at the headless corpse.
When she snapped back to her senses, she staggered backward, her face pale as she looked at the flesh stuck to her hands.
“Pff! Pff pff pff! Disgusting…!”
She immediately shook the blood and flesh off her hands, then raised her head toward the direction of the gunshot.
A silver-haired man stepped out from the tree shadows.
He wore a pure white military uniform, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, and held a shotgun in his hand.
“Allow me to introduce myself.”
The man gave a slight bow as he spoke to her:
“I am Seraphiel.”
Qiu Meng immediately raised her sword.
“Don’t come near me.”
Seraphiel’s smile didn’t waver. He simply walked forward slowly.
“No need to worry. I know Cadera, and I have no intention of being your enemy.”
He studied Qiu Meng as he walked.
“It seems… you’re Qiu Meng, correct?”
“I’m Qiu Meng. What do you want?”
“Nothing much… just wondering if you’d be willing to tell me something?”
Seraphiel’s glasses reflected the morning light. He squinted as he leaned close to Qiu Meng’s ear.
“What is No. 37?”
Qiu Meng’s pupils contracted.
She shoved Seraphiel away and retreated a few steps in fear.
“I… I don’t know what No. 37 is!”
“And regardless of whether you know Cadera or not, first prove to me that you’re on ‘our’ side.”
Seraphiel opened those eyes that had been narrowed all along.
In that instant, Qiu Meng felt a chill run down her spine.
The way he looked at her was like he was looking at a corpse.
“Proof? If I were on the opposite side, you’d already be dead.”
“I wouldn’t rule out you having a cat-and-mouse fetish!”
“In the state you’re in now, how far do you think you can struggle?”
But while they were locked in their standoff, a rustling sound came from the side. The two looked over and saw Cadera walking out from the forest, clutching her wound.
Her face was pale, her sleeves splattered with purple-black药液 and blood, and she held a magic box in her hand.
“You’re here…?”
She looked at Seraphiel.
Seraphiel nodded.
“Yeah, you did well. Holding out that long.”
Then, he examined Qiu Meng and Cadera again.
“But you two are pretty banged up. Want to come back to the Temple with us?”
Cadera frowned.
“Are you kidding? The school test isn’t finished yet!”
Qiu Meng was silent for a moment, then nodded.
“…Cadera’s right. The test isn’t done. We can’t go with you.”
She paused before continuing:
“But you’re also right. We’re barely able to move in this state. If you really want to help, do you have any healing medicine?”
“Medicine? I have some.”
Seraphiel pointed deeper into the woods.
“Our tent is over there.”
“May we… rest at your tent for a bit?”
“Of course, I don’t mind.”
Qiu Meng let out a sigh of relief, then said cautiously:
“But… Alisia…”
Seraphiel tilted his head.
“Who’s Alisia?”
“She’s me and Qiu Meng’s teammate.” Cadera answered.
Seraphiel thought for a moment, then looked at Qiu Meng with complete calm.
“Ah, is she dead? My condolences.”
The way Seraphiel said it carried an unmistakable note of contempt.
Qiu Meng snapped her head up, glaring at him.
Seraphiel seemed completely unaware of what he’d said wrong.
“Is something the matter?”
“Tch…”
Qiu Meng looked away.
Cadera reminded her quietly:
“Don’t mind him. People from the Inquisition are just like that.”
Qiu Meng didn’t look at Seraphiel again.
Instead, she turned and picked up the magic box she’d tossed earlier, along with the dead student’s magic box.
After that, the three of them pushed through the bushes and headed southwest.
With every stretch of distance, Qiu Meng felt like her arm was about to fall off.
Cadera beside her was moving on pure willpower. If Seraphiel hadn’t occasionally slowed his pace, they probably wouldn’t have been able to keep up at all.