Is it the calmest water surface that is the most terrifying...?

Standing by the floor-to-ceiling window in the office of the dean of the top floor of the Ivory Tower, Lucius silently pondered this sentence as he looked out through the crystal glass at the bustling academy city.

The Martial Arts Festival had reached its fourth day, nearing the end of the individual competitions. After a one-day break and two more days of team battles, this year's academy festival would come to a successful conclusion.

Everything had been going smoothly, apart from a few suspected dark elves that were caught initially and the mysterious death of one dark elf. No other signs of intruders were found.

However, Lucius's intuition told him that a certain crisis was brewing under the current peace. Their enemies were definitely not just the dark elves who attacked them that night.

A wave of exhaustion washed over his brain. Lucius shook his head and walked over to the nearby sofa, half-sitting down, intending to take a short nap.

Just a second before his consciousness sank into dreams, the sound of boots tapping on the ground reached Lucius's ears, approaching the office with a fast pace.

"Ugh..." Despite his body being extremely unwilling, Lucius made an effort to sit up and slapped his cheeks a few times to wake himself up a bit.

At that moment, the owner of the footsteps entered the office, staring at Lucius who was still not fully awake, sounding a bit disdainful, "Hey, is this how you handle your duties as the acting dean?"

"Feilin? Why are you here?"

It took a moment for Lucius to recognize Feilin. As far as he remembered, she didn't participate in the representative team for Milt, but because of her exceptional strength, she was assigned to patrol the academy city along with other Watchers transferred from elsewhere.

"Of course I found something, or do you think I'm the type of person who would say 'ah, it's been so long since I've seen my elder brother, I can't stand it anymore' and come find you?"

"I wish it could be like that, if possible..." Lucius muttered under his breath.

"Huh?!"

"Nothing, forget it." Lucius coughed twice to change the subject. "What did you find?"

"Suspected base of the dark elves. It was clearly daytime, but the concentration of dark elements was unusually high. However, there were only me and another Watcher present when we discovered it, so we didn't get close to investigate directly."

"Where is it?"

Feilin turned around and flicked a small spark, accurately landing on a certain point on the academy city map hanging on the wall, leaving a light black mark.

Lucius stroked his chin, his gaze gradually brightening. He temporarily cast aside his fatigue from earlier. "You go meet up with the others from all directions and surround the location. I'll join you later."

"You sure know how to give orders, Headmaster. Leave it to me."

Feilin crossed her arms in front of her and hummed as she leisurely left the office. "Oh, and don't forget what you promised before. After the Martial Arts Festival ends, come back home with me, big brother."

A title hammered into Lucius's heart, as if touching an electric current, giving him a momentary feeling of heart paralysis. What followed was a surge of warmth.

"Ah, of course."

...

After listening to Lucius's explanation, Tiran leaned against the wall, staring at Lucius while tapping his foot on the ground incessantly.

"So, are you here to show off how good your sibling relationship is?"

How did you come to that conclusion?! Lucius almost dropped his glasses to the ground, he supported his glasses that had slipped down to his nose and shook his head, "Your Highness Tiran, you're overthinking this."

"Why are you emphasizing the last part?" Tiran rolled his eyes.

"Well..."

The headmaster suddenly felt tired. Ciella was one thing, but now there was another Silver War Maiden! Couldn't they just have a normal conversation?

"Alright, alright, no more jokes. Continue, what do you want to do?"

Tiran smiled and waved his hand, leaving Lucius on the verge of spitting out blood.

"It's like this." Despite having endured similar torture from Ciella before, Lucius struggled to contain his impulse to go berserk.

"Because it's a rare opportunity for real combat, I plan to have the students from the representative team join as well."

"Huh?! Us?"

Listening to Tiran and Lucius talking, the few people behind them had different reactions, but they were all somewhat surprised.

"Director, aren't you afraid that one of us might make a mistake and not be able to participate in the team battle later?" Melen sighed, his face full of frustration.

"Stop complaining. If I say you can go, go. Treat it as a warm-up before the tournament." Lucius glanced at him.

It wouldn't hurt to have more practice, especially since these few people were absolute elites even in Milt. Their individual strength was at least level seven or above, and their teamwork was also solid. If they couldn't handle the black Elves like this... there was no need to participate in the team matches, they should just surrender.

"But we still need to prepare for the team matches..." Melen yawned lazily, his face full of unwillingness.

After staring at him for half a second, Lucius swiftly moved and kicked Melen's buttocks. "If you want to slack off, just say so! Everyone, follow me. Don't dawdle!"

The group rushed downstairs, leaving Tiran, Aya, and little Angel in the chaotic training room.

"Lucius seems to be irritable lately, is he not in a good mood... Aunt Flo?" Tiran earnestly pondered, pinching his chin and turning to Aya.

"What on earth are you seriously thinking about!" Aya slapped her face in exasperation. No wonder it was Tiran, his train of thought was always peculiar.

"Just saying casually, but when we go to attack the black Elves... Aya, let's join in the fun too?"

"Aren't you afraid of getting caught in another unexpected situation? I don't want another thrilling experience."

"Fear nothing, after all, you will protect me, right, Aya?" Tiran reached out and pinched Aya's cheek. Hmm, the sensation was really smooth, just like Aya's skin always is.

"What if I couldn't protect you?" Aya looked bewildered.

Tiran blinked, then turned around and pounced on little Angel, who had been silently observing the situation. He buried his head in her chest and made a muffled sound, "Then I'll have to rely on little Feifei."

"What are you doing, you rascal! Only Lady Elder can touch my body!" Little Angel exclaimed in shock.

"Well, that's easy. Just call me Lady Elder too, then. Come on, Lady Elder, hurry up and call~" Princess, showing a street rogue expression, urged (σ°∀°)σ.

"Huh? Huh huh? Don't come near me! Aya, help, help me!"

...

The system known as Watcher was a famous symbol of Milt. Over the years, it had developed into a complete system. Although it was not as large as the Adventurer's Guild, the missions it undertook ranged from the most ordinary to the extermination of monsters that posed a threat to a region. Its efficiency and coordination were extremely formidable.

And in the stronghold of Milt City, it goes without saying that the twelve Watchers recalled in haste, along with Lucius and his team of students, had blocked all possible evacuation routes around the target location. They were just waiting for the final moment to act.

"This place is really suitable for a base. If it were me, I would hide here too."

On the roofs of two rows of houses, Mellen stood with one foot on a piece of brick, and the other hand holding his short spear, gazing at the abandoned warehouse not far away.

"It's a remote area, and big enough to accommodate a large number of people. We should have discovered this place earlier."

Standing beside him was Toria, a swordsman in their team who was taciturn.

In fact, Lucius had said that they should also participate in the mission, but it was more for the sake of the team tournament the day after tomorrow, so in reality, they were only assigned to guard duty, which leaned more towards internship rather than actual combat for the students who had not yet graduated.

The main attack was completely undertaken by the seniors who had already graduated. The only task for the juniors was to prevent the enemies from escaping and to protect the ordinary people from harm.

"Report, surveillance team."

The communication magic circle on their collars glowed slightly, and Lucius' voice came through.

"Don't worry, nothing has happened here."

"Team Joshua, everything is normal."

"Um, this is Nancy, Director. Everything is normal here."

The student teams monitored the three main routes around the warehouse respectively, but Lucius was still the one who controlled the overall situation. His psychic power, surpassing that of the great Magic Masters, covered the entire area, grasping every slight movement.

The only thing his psychic power couldn't penetrate was the central building, seemingly isolated by some force. This discovery made Lucius even more certain that he had found the target.

"Alright, let's begin."

"Understood."

They saw a Watcher approaching the door of the warehouse and giving it a strong knock.

"Open up! We're here to check the water meter!"

Silence filled the warehouse.

"Just as I thought, we need a direct assault. Set up a barrier and prepare for the assault." The captain of the task force in the communication channel clicked his tongue lightly, showing obvious reluctance. The several students listening to him couldn't help but facepalm.

Damn, only a genius would fall for such a trick!

Almost simultaneously, there were violent explosions from all sides of the warehouse, and the already weak walls were directly blown open in several places.

A wave of air swept out, toppling the low vegetation on the ground around the warehouse. In the smoke produced by the explosions, several figures charged in against the pressure.

"It has begun." On the other roof, Ruel, carrying a tower shield, also gazed. "That explosion... seems a bit strange. It's not ordinary magic, right?"

"Yeah, the elemental distribution in the surrounding area has been completely disrupted. It should be the 'Magic-prohibition Bomb' developed by the technology department."

Joshua nodded. Being a mage, he was more sensitive to elements and quickly identified what had happened around the warehouse.

It had become a general consensus that the Elf race were dual practitioners of magic and martial arts, so it was certainly right to seal off the use of magic first. After all, the assaulting Watchers were all melee professionals and would not be affected at all.

"Guess how long it'll take to finish? Wanna make a bet?" Ruel suddenly became interested.

"Sure, what do you want to wager?" Joshua glanced at him.

"How about that magitech device I got as a reward at the end of last semester?"

"Deal," Joshua pushed his glasses. "If you win, I'll pay for a piece of alchemy equipment for you. I bet it will be over within ten minutes. Fair?"

After a brief mental calculation, Ruel nodded in agreement.

However, one minute later...

"Report, targets have been eliminated."

On the public communication channel of the magic circle, the captain of Watcher's task force reported.

"..."

Ruel and Yoshiya stared at each other in disbelief.