Chapter 265 Stealing The Flag From Anner Light
<strong>Lightning Habitat, Training grounds-1;</strong>
Mia, Annabel, and Anner decided to start searching with the flame habitat. It is a ground filled with fire crystals embedded in it, increasing the temperature in the surroundings. Coupled with the potholes that keep spewing out flames at regular intervals for all the times, the average temperature within the habitat is over 40C. In summer, its peak will even reach as high as 56C, definitely isn't a place for civilians and Arcana masters below rank-2.
Thankfully, it is April and Anner was just a step from the Upper Privileged realm (rank-3), so, her body was able to handle it even without the protection of soul energy, although she would be sweating very much.
In one glance, there's no flag found on the ground. Mia spoke, "let's spread and look for the flag within the potholes." She then warned the little girl, "Anner, do you know how to use energy armor?"
The little granddaughter of Aegis nodded her head, "yes, but I can't maintain it indefinitely."
"For how long?" Annabel asked her with a hint of surprise on her face, not expecting a fourth grader to know such an advanced technique. But then, she remembered her identity and felt it might not be strange.
Anner answered by raising three fingers. "Three minutes at best. After that, the soul energy will slip up from my body."
"Three minutes are more than enough." Mia calmly replied while staring at the field before them. It was only 40 meters by 25 meters filled with over 50 potholes that were spewing out flames. Considering they are three, how much time can it get to search them? Definitely not as long as three minutes. So, she was cool about it and told them to start their search.
One after another, the three girls began their searching. Anner was very careful while approaching the potholes. Once the flames were gone, she was taking a look inside before leaving quickly as the interval between the bursts of flames is only four seconds.
Within a minute, Mia not only finished her quota but also started to check the potholes under Anner's. Overall, more than half of the field was covered.
All of a sudden, Anner let out a squeal of delight, attracting the attention of the other two.
"Senior, here…" She pointed to the pothole before her.
"Wait for me," Mia told her not to take the flag as she was worried that Anner will get her hands burned. She proceeded to rush towards the place.
It was just then, without warning, a large skeletal wolf appeared in the midst of the field, blocking Mia's path and scaring the hell out of Anner and Annabel.
"Undead? Azrael?" Mia's face changed to that of a frown as she realized Azzy sent a spy after her team. "When did that guy turn this sly? Unbelievable. But, it doesn't matter. He's a competitor now."
*Grrr*
The wolf bared its skeletal fangs against Mia, who decided to finish the beast that's in the way.
But, before she even made her move, the skeletal wolf opened its mouth and released a tremendous amount of chilly thick fog, blinding her vision completely, and then, it turned out to make a leap towards Anner.
"Kyaaa…" Anner screamed as she was pinned to the ground with one of the paws. The snow wolf only used a little force, so, she wasn't injured in the least.
Ignoring the flames, the skeletal snow wolf put its mouth inside the pothole and grabbed the flag that was placed at the bottom.
Upon finishing the job, it didn't wait any longer and started to rush towards the rocky habitat where its master is sitting in a cross-legged position on top of a rock, closing his eyes and completely focused on giving instructions to Vajra and the Hydra who were moving in an invisible state in other habitats.
Erasure is a unique skill card that allows the applied object or person to be in the state of invisibility until the user dismisses the effect. Those who were affected by the card will also completely mask their presence from every Arcana master and evade their senses. Just by theory alone, it is indeed a formidable skill card.
However, it has its own limitations. One is that the affected person cannot use any kind of energy, which dispels the invisibility effect. And the other limitation is that the effect can only evade the senses of Arcana Masters of the same or lower realm.
For example, Azzy had used the five-star Erasure skill card on his summons. So, while they were invisible to everyone, the Upper Elite realm experts within the school could still sense their presence. But, once Azzy goes into a higher realm, the effect also becomes stronger too.
This was the card Azzy got as the reward after winning the Champions League. WAMO had given him a choice of choosing one of the seven they presented but Azzy only had chosen the knowledge transfer of invisibility card over attack or defend type skill cards.
The main reason for his decision lies in using the death scythe or the hourglass in the future. He can use the card on his exclusive soul weapons before using them.
This way, even if the higher realm experts would be able to sense the weapon in his hands, they can't see what they look like. Of course, he should be careful when dealing with Supreme Realm experts as well as the geniuses with special eyes.
Azzy originally wanted to use this card at Camelot so that they can get to Arcana world without any issues in the middle of the night but Leah was already prepared with the suppressing cloaks. So, he didn't get the opportunity to use them. Now that he finally got one, Azzy tested it.
And just like he thought, his experiment turned out to be a tremendous success. Despite its large size, not only did the skeletal wolf stalk Mia and her two mentees closely without letting them have any idea about it but it also managed to bring back the flag to Azzy while Mia chased after the beast. Upon acquiring the flag, Azzy just dismissed the summons and rushed back to the entrance of the forest habitat where the instructor was waiting.
Peak-rank-7 expert, Arley Blood, who kept his eyes on everyone using Satellite card, saw what Azzy did and it seemed like he was actually impressed with his actions.
As he was returning, Azzy also spotted Estella and Claire is locked in a battle. Neither of them is using any Arcana or skill cards or even soul energy for that matter. They were just in the midst of close combat, depending completely on their fists and kicks. And it looked like neither of them is gaining an advantage over the other.
"Here," Azzy reached the instructor and planted the blue flag into the ground.
"Good job." Arley gave a nod and then, praised him, "Unlike these over enthusiastic fools, you used brains instead of just using force and get into fight unnecessarily. I heard that you were scouted into WAMO?"
"Yes," Azzy confirmed it before turning his attention towards the battle happening on the lightning habitat, which is located not far away from where he was standing. Compared to the last year, the habitat seemed more impressive as it was upgraded by Barton during the holidays.
Previously, the ground used to be filled only with lightning crystals and its function is only for improving the training speed of a lightning attribute user.
But, now, several seals were placed all over the ground and the yellow crystals were emitting sparks, which will give a shock to anyone that gets contact with them. Depending on their soul power, the numbness from the shock might vary.
So, for the girls who were in the midst of an intense duel, not only did they have to pay attention to their opponent's movements, but also have to see the positioning of lightning crystals.
Seeing his attention was on the two girls, Arley continued his conversation with a suitable topic, "who do you think will win?"
"Claire is a sword user while Estella on the other hand is an archer," Azzy calmly gave a statement in response.
He didn't give any clear explanation but his answer his clear to Arley. Azzy was betting on Claire.
"Correction. She isn't an archer, Azrael. She only prefers the bow."
As soon as Arley's words ended, all of a sudden, Estella changed her stance and gave a sidekick to Claire's abdomen.
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