90 Chapter 90: Attempted Ambush (2/2)

The Crimson Spear Society was a small society like Ultimate Outcast, with about twenty members. As such, they only had one slot. Honestly, Ultimate Outcast would only have one slot too, but we stole one from poor Lin Zhan Long and Holy Saints, which was the only reason why we had two members in the training camp.

And so we continued to run for the next few hours. Before we knew it, the sun had risen to its zenith, signaling that it had reached noon. I glanced up and shielded my eyes as I studied the sky, grimacing at the increasing heat. Even with the trees by the side of the track affording us some shelter, it was still pretty hot.

At the edges of my peripheral vision, I could see dark shapes darting around the foliage of the forest, or creatures lurking just beyond view. From the nervous expressions of my fellow students, I could tell that they caught sight of the monsters too.

”I really want to fight them,” Craig muttered as he fidgeted restlessly. Dong Fang Yue Chu rolled his eyes.

”Sure. Go ahead. We'll leave you behind.”

”Why can't you join me?”

”Not all of us have the stamina to fight and run,” Alicia explained, her eyes still forward. ”I would prefer if we all stay as a group and move together. That way, we can protect and look out for each other.”

Craig grumbled something under his breath, but he didn't break off. Instead, he continued running with us.

Just a few hundred meters ahead of us, Adam and Terence had slowed down slightly, unable to keep up with Harrison's punishing pace. They couldn't even keep up with the agile Cody and steady Lily. It wasn't as if they weren't fit or lacked the stamina. They could still run without pause, but they were the slow types, having built their bodies up with muscles for physical power over speed. They became aware that we were going to catch up with them.

”Whoa! It's actually the rest of them!” Adam exclaimed nervously as he glanced over his shoulder. ”This is bad! If they overtake us, won't we be the last!?”

”How is that possible?!” Terence counted, and to his dismay, he realized that Adam was correct. ”There should be stragglers behind. We can't possibly be the slowest in the training camp!”

To be honest, they weren't. There were a few students who were slower than the pair of them, but the both of them had slacked off slightly to take several breaks, allowing us to catch up eventually. If they didn't pause to sit about, they would have stayed far ahead. They had gotten complacent when they calculated that they would reach the training camp well before dark, and were taking any chance they could get to slack.

Consequently, they found us hot on their heels.

”Hmm…this is an obstacle course, isn't it?” Adam began to smirk as an idea occurred to him. ”What if we create our own obstacles?”

”Huh? Isn't that against the rules? If we get caught…”

”Don't worry. Do you think Instructor Feng Hai cares about this trivial detail? He'll probably praise us and tell the others that everyone still has to remain vigilant even during training.” Adam was grinning evilly.

The two of them veered off to the side and jumped into the forest. They made sure the area was clear and empty of monsters before they settled down behind a bush. Each of them took a rock in hand and got ready to throw it.

The ambush was simple. They hoped to take at least a couple of us by surprise by throwing rocks at us. That might cause us to accidentally use magic to defend ourselves and thus we would end up getting disqualified from this training. If we didn't counter with magic spells, then we would possibly be knocked out.

Adam, in particular, was trying to resolve a grudge for his vice-president, Lin Zhan Long. If his vice-president heard about this, he would definitely be delighted. Adam would receive a reward and climb in status within Holy Saints.

Both Terence and Adam were Lin Zhan Long's cronies. Even though Lin Zhan Long was barred from the training camp, he was still able to pull some strings to ensure that the both of them could participate in his place. As such, the both of them were extremely grateful to their boss. They were aware of his resentment against Ultimate Outcast, especially since we were the one who ended up eliminating Lin Zhan Long and taking his slot, and thus looked for any opportunity to repay the debt.

Thus they had already selected their targets from the beginning, and aimed at both me and Dong Fang Yue Chu.

”!!!”

Thanks to my training from my dad, I was sensitive to such surprise attacks. I had grown up over the last five years trying to escape kidnappers and professional mercenaries from criminal organizations and those bearing a grudge against my father. Thanks to that, I was able to sniff out a threat from a mile away.

”Get down!” I told Dong Fang Yue Chu. Scraping my foot on the ground, I whirled around and whipped my leg out, kicking both rocks.

Wham!

The rocks were flung back at where they came from, and two miserable screams echoed through the forest as Terence and Adam crashed back, clutching their faces. Blood streamed through their fingers as they groaned and rolled about helplessly on the ground.

”Richard? What happened?!” Alicia called out from the front, looking back in concern.

”Nothing,” I replied, but Craig cut in with a chuckle.

”A couple of…uh, monsters, ambushed us. But their attacks couldn't get through the barrier, so they threw rocks at us instead. Richard just tossed them back at them.”

”Monsters, huh?” Theodore muttered with a snicker.

”Those are definitely not monsters!” Dong Fang Yue Chu growled angrily. ”They are…!”

”It doesn't matter who they are,” I interrupted him. ”They won't be coming after us for a while.”

Glancing up, I exchanged a smirk with Craig and Theodore as the group carried on with our run without pause.