Chapter 31：Against the other half (2/2)

”The defence team at the main base is eliminated and we are the only ones left in the team. The senior team is coming to attack our main base. We are going to take a stand here and are going to defend and survive as long as we can. We have to drag as many people as we can with us.”

”Yes” All the freshmen shouted and started moving to take their positions. After a few minutes the senior team came. There are about 35 people in the team. Right now, the senior team has assembled all the team members on this side of the river crossing. Only ten people are left on other side and all are part of the team 2 scouts. The team 1 is of 10 people and team 2 is of twenty people. The people of team 2 are responsible for information transfer. Now, all are assembled.

The battle at main base of the freshmen started and is completely one sided. Even though there are more people on the freshmen team, they are completely overpowered due to their inferiority of their cultivation base and soon all of them are eliminated and the senior team had to pay a price of five people.

Senior team took some rest and all of them stayed silent. Nobody, is happy as they lost a total of sixty people and this is a clear humiliation and all of this is due to four freshmen. In fact, it could be said that it is all due to one person. He only with the help of three others took out more than half of the team. This only made their mood gloomier.

After a few hours. The sun is already high up in the sky and there is still more than 12 hours to the finish of the competition. Due to the fact that Harry destroyed the sphere, there are only two ways to win the competition. First one is to eliminate all the candidates from the opposite team and second one is to eliminate a greater number of people than the other team before the time limit is up. That is the reason, Mason declined the idea of Carl leading a team to eliminate Sam and his companions. He doesn't want any mishaps to happen. If Carl and the team he led got eliminated, he would surely regret it.

Mason and the rest of the team are currently at the river crossing, they probed and further confirming that the river gators are gone, they crossed the river and then started walking towards their main base, On the way the rest of the team also joined and the remaining forty people of the senior team slowly and cautiously travelled until they came to the narrow path leading to the open grounds before their main base cave.

A team of ten people cautiously travelled through the narrow route and came out from the other side. When they saw that there are no traps like the pits they saw earlier, they started checking the flow of energy for any presence of the formations. After confirming that everything was clear, they immediately signalled the rest of the group to come.

Soon the group slowly made their way to the cave and cautiously entered it. On their way, they clearly saw the tracks of the wolves. But to their luck the wolves already returned to their lair after they became conscious. When they finally entered the cave and confirmed there are no traps, they heaved a sigh of relief and relaxed a bit. But Mason has a gloomy expression and was in deep thought.

At the viewing platforms, the spectators all observing the scene without batting an eyelid. Because, Sam and his companions right now are on a small hill top near the cave and are looking towards the cave.

Sam was watching the scene of the Seniors' team entering the cave cautiously as if they were walking on the egg shells. He has a cold smirk on his face as he looked at their looks of concentration and vigilant expressions. The remaining three are all looked at Sam waiting for his next move.

Sam looked at the cave which is not far but not near either. He then took out a weapon out a black metal bow and nocked a ranked arrow. He then pulled the string to its limit and injected his golden flame energy ready to fire at any moment. He then said to the other three.

”Get ready we are going to have a melee combat with them after the initial attack. So, as soon as they get out of the cave hit them with your best long- range attacks. Move now and inform me when you are ready.” As soon as he finished the remaining three immediately moved. After a few moments the signal came and Sam immediately released the arrow.

The arrow tore through the air and entered a hole which is previously created by Sam and entered the cave and hit the ground in the middle with a loud explosion and a crashing sound of glass could be heard as a red vapour immediately filled the cave.

Mason immediately felt that something is not right and shouted. ”IT'S A TRAP GET OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!!!!”. But it was already too late. Some of the people in the cave already fell unconscious and the rest of them ran outside. Just as they were trying to catch their breath, suddenly they felt a sense of danger. Mason immediately looked around and out of blue he felt an acute pain in his leg. He looked down and saw an arrow pierced through it and then he looked towards the direction where it came from. He saw a figure clad in black as his outer cloth swaying slightly wind. That man has a bow in his hand as he shot arrow after arrow at the senior team, with a speed so high that he can't even see his movements.

He came out of his daze and turned towards his teammates to give orders to hide, but he saw they were all being attacked by various long- range attacks. Some people are struck in soil and some people are being attacked by some flying daggers, some water spheres could also be seen. He shouted. ”Be careful. Defend yourself.” He shouted again as he took shelter behind a think rock.

Soon the seniors came to their senses and started defending themselves, By the time they took shelter and the commotion died, they saw only fifteen members of the team are still conscious. There are around ten people who fell unconscious on the ground and the morale of the senior team died down.

”Don't worry, they are not yet eliminated. As long as we can take them down and not let them break the tokens of our team members, we can save them.” Mason shouted to his team members as he tried to boost their morale. All the seniors looked at their friends and then exchanged glances. Soon, someone spoke.

”Yo, kids. Is that all you got? Are these little tricks the only thing you know? If you have guts come and fight me?”

”Yes, what is the name of your leader again? Sam, right? I heard you are so great in close combat and are not afraid of anyone. Why don't you come out and let us see for ourselves?”

”How come you guys are not coming out?”

”Come on, let us fight hand to hand instead of these cheap tricks.”

Everyone started to provoke Sam and others as they continued to spout endless nonsense.

Not far away Sam and the other three are also hiding behind a rock. Now that the seniors are on guard against them, it is almost impossible to attack long range. Sam is hearing the provocations with an amused smile. Suddenly, he heard Shawn shouting from beside.

”All of you call yourselves seniors. We are four and you are more than ten and some of you guys even have cultivation above us. And you have gall to ask us to fight head on.” he scoffed loudly. Immediately all the provocations died down. Suddenly, another voice came from the seniors' side.

”Sam, you despicable piece of shit. Come out if you are really a man. If I don't make you regret living today, I won't call myself Carl again.” Hearing this all the seniors looked puzzled and dumbfounded. Then another shout came.

”You country bumpkin, come out and accept your fate.”

”You piece of trash come on if you have balls.”

All the noble family students in the senior team are insulting Sam. The other seniors felt quite confused.

”Sam has a feud with all the noble families except for the Evergreen family. Due to that feud he deliberately targeted all the other candidates from the noble families and eliminated them very early in the second round. Now only Harry and the candidates from the Evergreen family are the only students belonging to the noble families in the freshmen.” Dorman explained to the remaining seniors and realisation dawned on to them. They felt this Sam is crazy to have a feud with the noble families and eliminate the juniors of the family making them fail in the admission. 'No wonder, this Carl and others are all angry.' Everyone thought. Then Dorman continued.

”Carl has an extra reason. He lost a bet with Philip and five thousand Spirit stones are gone because Sam beat his cousin in second round.” Everybody looked at Carl with a weird look. 'Why bother betting and why bother taking it on someone who didn't even know you lost because of him? Damn, so much for being a noble. You might as well blame the tree, since the bird pooped on you has a nest on it.' All the seniors who are a little broad-minded have thoughts like these.

Carl glared at Dorman and then he felt the gazes of all the other seniors he felt incredibly ashamed and shouted. ”SAM, I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU TODAY.”

Meanwhile Melisa and others all looked at Sam, whose expression got colder and colder as they heard all the insults hurled at him. Sam suddenly stood up and took out a staff. This is not the black staff he used yesterday. Instead, it is golden in colour and is shining brightly under the sun. The staff has smooth surface and there is a symbol of 'Double S' (Cover) near one end of the staff and there are some engravings near it. Sam looked at the three and said.

”Cover me from afar. You don't have to directly attack anyone. All you have to do is distract them if anyone tries to sneak up on me from behind.” Sam said and started walking.

”Sam. Its dangerous.” Melisa said from behind. But all he got in reply is a cold stare which seemed to say. 'Do what I say'. He then left without turning back.

As soon as seniors saw someone walking towards them, they looked at him and saw Sam walking towards them with a golden staff in his hand. His face was as cold as ice and the aura around him is completely chilly and evil. Sam's expression is now completely sinister as he stopped a few meters away from them. He then held the staff on one end and kept the other end on his shoulder and said in an emotionless voice.

”Those who called me can come and say all the shit to my face. Of course, the context his that you have balls to say that.” His voice is soft but cold. He didn't even glace at them when talking and looking to the side as if it was beneath him to look at them and treated them as thin air. The seniors looked at his arrogant demeanour and felt like they were humiliated. But none of them made a move and looked at the seniors who called out Sam and waited. Soon, around seven members came out of their hiding spots as they looked at Sam with angry eyes. They were instructed by the family. 'Kill him, if chance arrives.' Even though they know that Sam can escape as soon as he broke the token, they still had to try their luck.

The seven surrounded Sam. There are three who are at late stage Acolytes and all of them are seventh stage. Carl is one of them and is the only mage warrior. The remaining four are all middle stage Acolytes. Out of which three are at fifth stage and the last one is at sixth stage. Sam looked at them nonchalantly as if he doesn't have any pressure. This made them even more infuriated and one of the guys in middle stage made a move. He is a warrior and swung his sabre at Sam with a ferocious aura. But just as he was about to hit, his target vanished and appeared behind another one of the middle stage Acolyte, who didn't make any move.

Before anyone could understand how Sam escaped, they saw Sam swinging his staff in an extreme speed. All they saw is a golden blur and flash of a golden flame sphere at the point of contact between the staff and the person. That's it. Before they realised, a golden flame explosion occurred and by the time, the flames are gone, they saw the senior who got hit lying there unconscious with his body scorched black.

They all looked at the place where Sam stood and before they could make sense of the situation, they saw another blur and another guy also got scorched black as if he was grilled on fire. This time Sam didn't move and stood there. He placed a foot on face of the guy and placed the staff on his shoulder and looked at all the seniors who came out of their hiding and scanned them with his cold gaze.

Then all the people there heard Sam saying. ”Tch, TCh. What a shame they fainted.” Then he looked at Carl and said. ”You are right to call me trash. They are still breathing after all.”