Chapter 5

Squirrel (2)

    “Why don’t let the seniors intercept them in the forest?” the elderly man asked, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

    “It’s too dangerous. The forest isn’t thoroughly scouted yet, and some creatures are too dangerous to confront,” the woman replied calmly, her gaze fixed on the ongoing battle. “What are you thinking, Director, allowing the first-year students to enter the forest?”

    “It would be interesting, wouldn’t it? If someone could reach the heart of the forest and return before time runs out, it’s worth the risk,” the Director speculated with a glint of expectation in his eyes. “If they go in the right direction, they won’t encounter any major threats. Those creatures don’t appear at this time anyway. The forest has its timings.”

    “No way...”

    Boom!!!

    An explosion from the forest, with thousands of books flying over the green land and striking fiercely, turned the sky from dark to red with flames within the vast forest instantly. The sound of destruction continued unabated.

    “What spell is that? I’ve never seen it before,” the council president exclaimed, surprised, reaching for her sword at the sight before her.

    “Crying Destiny, huh? Haven’t seen that in a while,” the elderly man reminisced, recalling old times when he took over from the previous director. It was a hassle to cram something into a small room indeed, especially when thousands died in the process.

    "Lucky, we have the magic barrier."

    As soon as the Director finished speaking, something flew towards him at high speed!

    A bullet.

    Whoosh! The lead bullet, flying in, was intercepted by the elderly man's magical power, freezing in mid-air with smoke emanating before turning into letters in the language of the old world. Instead of anger, he smiled in amusement at the opposition's greeting.

    FUCK YOU

    'Quite a greeting for being free, isn't it?'

    "What does that mean, Director? Who would send such a rude message to the Director?" Reiko raised her voice, visibly annoyed. Of course, those who had been with her long enough could tell it was feigned.

    "An old friend, don't worry about it; she can't do anything to him," the elderly man's voice slipped out, barely containing his joy. "The one who cast that forest-destruction spell."

    Indeed, if she were to fully recover, he himself might not match up to her.

    'Very interesting.'

    Suddenly, a murderous intent surged from the elderly man, startling the council president woman and the surrounding students. Some fainted, and others were shocked to death on the spot.

    "Oops, sorry, really didn't mean to," he apologized to the students around him, who looked at him apprehensively.

    'This old man really is out of touch,' thought Reiko Sazaki, sheathing her sword.

    "Arrgh!!"

    A howl and claws lunged at the council president. She glanced back just in time to dodge swiftly, causing the unfortunate werewolf to crash to the ground easily. It tried to get up aggressively and charged again.

    A single calm gunshot rang out, sending a bullet crashing through the werewolf's skull, flipping it onto its back. The Miko girl holstered her smoking revolver at her back, her jet-black hair concealing the silver long-range assassin's weapon completely.

    As midnight approached, less than one-third of the first-year students remained from the start. After most of the seniors had their fill of fighting, they turned to officially welcoming the newcomers in full swing. Many considered using large-scale spells but feared the remaining few wouldn't provide enough entertainment; hence, the idea was scrapped. The poor first-years didn't realize that stepping into the building area was akin to entering the gates of hell.

    "None of our snipers have died yet?" murmured a young man in white knight armor, lowering his scoped rifle, looking somewhat disappointed before speaking into his walkie-talkie, "How's it on your side?"

    "Just like yours. Target... dead silent. This year's juniors are useless. After all this time, they should've suspected there'd be a sniper. Our year deliberately let us play this out," replied the person on the other end, seemingly just as frustrated.

    Crack...Beep...

    Suddenly, his conversation partner went silent, followed by the sound of a walkie talkie hitting the ground.

    “Looks like we have visitors,” said Target Chariat, signaling with his hand into the darkness, alerting his nearby allies. However, no response came back.

    The young knight checked the traps near the rooftop door again before moving back to his hideout, adrenaline rushing, creating a mix of excitement and pressure. Almost all the snipers had disappeared without a trace, indicating that there were still skilled individuals among the first-years.

    ‘Either they’re insane, or they have a lot of confidence in themselves.’

    He peered through the scope, trying to figure out what was happening.

    Suddenly, a strange noise pierced his ears, followed by a searing pain shooting from his eye socket. A scalpel flew through his scope, embedding deeply into his head in a horrifying manner. Before he could react, another scalpel precisely stabbed through his back. The figure in the white gown approached, easily taking his rifle. The glasses reflected the moonlight, obscuring the assassin’s eyes.

    So, a doctor, huh? That was the last thought he had before his spirit left his body.

    The assassin looked down at the body coldly. He quietly took out his walkie talkie and tuned it to a new frequency.

    Crackle…Whoosh

    "Can you hear me?" came a teasing voice over the walkie talkie. “We've cleared the remaining snipers on the building altogether. Good thing there wasn't much resistance on the balconies... Tony, don't go eating the corpses. that’s not cute."

    A soft growl and the sound of something being torn followed.

    "They never listen," the man commented.

    "Building one, all clear," chimed in the cheerful voices of two women simultaneously. "There were so few that we hardly had to do anything”.

    "Building two... uh," sighed a witch from the other end of the conversation, surveying the destruction before her. She didn't dare say it had been demolished to its foundations, along with everyone inside. Wiz simply replied, “It's all burned down now.”

    "The research building is wiped out," the voice of the red-haired sorcerer, Bryan Sixx, came through relaxedly. "Probably overdid the curse a bit."

    Whoosh...Boom!

    A bit of chaos erupted on the other end of the communication device, but it soon quieted down, followed by a monotone yet chilling voice, "The cafeteria has just been cleared."

    "The administration building is done as well," a young man spoke through the communicator before turning down its volume.

    'Fighting unprepared people is truly boring.'

    He thought as he lowered the scope he was using as a makeshift binocular. The plan to infiltrate and eliminate the snipers, as advised by the group's witch, indeed worked perfectly. Another stroke of luck was finding a surviving engineering student, which greatly helped in analyzing the university's layout.

    Joshua Healer looked over at the remaining buildings. His comrades were signaling from within the buildings, some on the rooftops. Their surprise attacks had indeed managed to clear everything thoroughly.

    "Be careful of reinforcements. It might be time to withdraw," the young witch suggested softly.

    "Copied."

    Boom!~

    The rooftop door was kicked open violently. The grim doctor turned to find seniors ready to welcome him. Their faces seemed almost too happy to have found their desired prey, making the young man slowly shake his head.

    A Gun, a sword, a staff, a magic wand, and grenades held by the newcomers were slowly raised.

    "Sorry, seniors. I've got orders and must withdraw—"

    Bang!!!

    Before Joshua could finish, a gunshot sounded, and he vanished from the adversaries' line of sight. They chased after him, thinking they knew where he had disappeared to, only to find his body on the fence on the other side of the building. All weapons were quickly aimed at him again.

    "Bye-bye," the young man smiled, waving from atop the fence before jumping off the building.

    Many ran to look but found no body. Any thought of pursuing him vanished once they realized what kind of psychic power the hunting doctor possessed.

    "A teleporter, wasn’t it? Surviving a fall from a building is nothing special," the same gunman spoke evenly, pulling back the slide of his automatic pistol. " Medical department, huh? We'll definitely meet."

Smiles appeared on the faces of those standing there, anticipating their next encounter.