At the entrance to the Dragon's Tomb, students from the Bai Yueguang class are gathered here. However, they are not preparing to enter, instead, one of the sword and shield knights is leading a group surrounding Ascot.
"Ascot, take off your armor and return to the academy, we won't trouble you."
The one speaking is the sword and shield knight, Ocaso, one of the many students who entered as commoners.
"Ocaso, what do you mean?"
On the other hand, Ascot appears quite relaxed, showing no emotional response at all, as if nothing had happened.
"Don't think you can be so arrogant just because your family holds the title of a duke. Everyone knows that your ancestors haven't achieved anything significant since your great-grandfather's generation, and the family contributions are diminishing each year. Do you have the nerve to enjoy the privileges of a duke's descendant?"
As a commoner, Ocaso often faces "attention" from other high-ranking nobles, so he harbors no goodwill towards any aristocrats. The treatment Ocaso referred to is the special metal armor on Ascot, a very unique piece that can adhere to the body with just a thought and won't easily come off unless the user is mentally exhausted or deceased. The armor on Ascot is currently the only one of its kind on the entire continent, still in the prototype stage.
If Dale and Lanya were to see this armor, they would definitely be very interested. Knowing their nature, if they got hold of that armor, it would become a mass-produced item in no time. Fortunately, it was spared since it was just recently developed.
"If you are referring to this cumbersome attire, here, have it," Ascot said as the custom-made armor on him automatically fell off. However, Ocaso seemed very angry, realizing that what he cherished as an artifact in his heart was seen as a burden by the other.
"Do you nobles always look down on commoners like this?!"
After speaking, Ocaso drew his knight sword and slashed it against the ground.
"Ultimate · Earthsplit Slash · Burst!"
This was a mid-range skill among the knight's sword techniques, infusing combat aura into the sword, causing it to slash along the ground. Wherever the aura passed, explosions occurred, with the range of the explosions increasing the further it went.
"With your temperament, you think you can still be a knight? I think you are more suited to be a berserker."
Watching the shockwaves generated by the combat aura getting closer, Ascot drew his sword.
"Ultimate · Illusionary Sword · Triple Flash."
After speaking, three sword energies flew towards the shockwave. The first two sword energies precisely neutralized the explosions, while the third one headed straight towards Ocaso. Ocaso instinctively raised his shield to defend against the third sword energy, but at that moment, Ascot had already appeared behind Ocaso.
"I have never felt any difference between myself and the commoners, nor do I have any privileges. That piece of armor was simply given to me by a professor for testing. If you want it, it's yours."
Since Ascot shifted to practicing swordsmanship, metallic armor like this was simply a burden to him.
Speaking of the current situation, it was quite peculiar. Although Ascot initially led the team, many noble students gave up halfway and returned to the camp, leaving only Ascot and these commoner students.
The students with numerical advantage wanted to regain their lost face, but unfortunately, they had picked the wrong opponent. Other nobles might not be much, but Ascot is different. Even though he is an aristocrat from the founding family of the country, he found Bai Yueguang's sword technique interesting and went to learn it. The guy Bai Yueguang found it troublesome and simply threw the skill at him through the mentorship system before running off on his own, leaving Ascot to ponder.
Thus, encountering a scene of fighting, Asuka may not seem very excited on the surface, but in fact, he is quite happy. After all, someone is giving him a chance to practice swordplay. The purpose of his participation in the event was to hone the new skills he had learned. To him, fighting people was no different from fighting monsters, as long as he didn't kill anyone.
In just a few minutes, besides the students lying on the ground around Asuka, there were only others standing nearby. "Ugh, what a hassle," Asuka muttered as he pulled a distress firework from the unconscious Okaso on the ground and lit it up in a flash. Then, he looked towards the cave entrance. "Since we're here, might as well take a look," he said before venturing into the cave alone.
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"Die!" At the same time, at the foot of the mountain, Aliyah swiftly rushed into the air from the tree trunk, transforming into a red wolf shadow and pounced towards the massive snowman. The snowman, despite its huge appearance, moved swiftly and swiped its giant palm towards Aliyah.
"Great ultimate · Metal Cutting Storm!!" Aliyah shouted loudly as the flames on her body intensified, her fanged mouth exaggeratedly curling upwards, accompanied by the piercing sound of the magical saw rotating, she directly charged towards the snowman's palm like a god of death.
Like a bullet, Aliyah pierced straight through the snowman's body, causing it to collapse instantly. Simultaneously, a blue figure flew up from the snowman's shoulder, landing above Aliyah still in the air. "Hmm? You don't seem like a real werewolf, but rather a human who obtained werewolf blood through some means. Interesting, I never expected that a few hundred years later, humans would develop such a thing," spoke a female voice to Aliyah's surprise.
But the next second, Aliyah felt as if her back had been hit by a truck, causing her to crash down onto the ground before she could react. "What the heck!" Aliyah, not backing down in the slightest, somersaulted out of the cave and gazed up at the sky. Upon seeing the blue-haired, white-dressed woman floating in the air with wings spread out behind her, Aliyah frowned even more deeply.
In this world, only two types of creatures possessed wings like these: demons and dragons. The title and name above the woman's head confirmed to Aliyah that this person was indeed a dragon. "Looks like there's no need to search anymore, you, the dragon, were here all along," Aliyah said with a smile, though feeling anything but joyous inside.
Initially, Aliyah had assumed that a dragon would at most be stronger; however, upon seeing this individual's level, Aliyah couldn't believe it. Level 134! Are you kidding me? If Aliyah, at level 134, were to face off against someone in their 40s, wouldn't it just be a matter of killing them with one hit? Meaning, the opponent had held back in their previous interaction.
"Hmm? Are you looking for me? I just arrived today as well," the woman asked with a puzzled smile on her face. But after a moment, she showed a look of understanding.
"Ah, I see now. So that's how it is. It seems you have the wrong person, you should be looking for my cousin."
"Your cousin?"
"With such a big commotion you're causing, it seems like the worst-case scenario. Could I speak to your leader? I really don't want to resort to violence, after all, if I do, those angels up there will come after me with everything they've got."
As she spoke, she pointed to a cloud in the sky.
Aliyah pondered for a moment, thinking, 'This has nothing to do with me, why am I even bothered?' So she pointed towards the camp.
"You can find our director over at that camp, you can ask him."
"Is that so... Alright then, thank you. I'll catch up with you later~ Other people see me and run away, but you're surprisingly composed under Dragon's Might, that's quite impressive."
With that said, the other person flapped their wings and flew towards the camp.
Aliyah chuckled inwardly, thinking, 'Who wouldn't run away from someone like that, who flies around with wings? And Dragon's Might...'
Glancing at her status bar, she read:
Dragon's Might (debuff): Reduces self-attack power damage based on the level difference with the opponent, decreasing by three percent every 5 levels.
Sorry, I can't feel it myself.
Looking around, she saw that her classmates had already disappeared, cursing those heartless guys. Aliyah headed towards the camp.
Joking aside, how could she miss out on such an interesting situation?
