CHAPTER 158
HELL HATH NO FURY AS MINE (3)
"This is Eugene, Prince. Can you hear me?" A voice resonated inside Hans's head, startling him and almost causing him to collide with a tall tree. "Yeah, I can hear," he replied. He had expected this to happen eventually but found it rather creepy. "Haa...this scared me! What’s happening to me.” Hans calmed his beating heart.
“Prince Hans, akhm…” Eugene cleared his throat, "we only need twelve more hearts. Tomorrow is the last day, and we might finish by noon. The proctors tried to block us, but we managed somehow."
"Nice," Hans breathed a sigh of relief and instructed, "Now, rest up and start early tomorrow before dawn. Finish the task as quickly as possible and head straight back to Delimira and Chris.”
“I understand” Eugene acknowledged, but a doubt arose in his mind, “Won’t proctors of outer rings stop us from reaching the checkpoint.”
“NO. THEY ARE NOT YOUR CONCERN ANYMORE.”
"Okay, I trust you on that. But the ones monitoring us are more powerful. They couldn't openly attack us here, as it's a sensitive area. However, once we leave this place, they'll follow us. We might reach your friends, but the journey to the checkpoint won't be easy.”
“You let me worry about it. When you reach them, signal me instantly, understand?”
“Yes, I got it.”
“Good luck.”
“You too, take care of yourself, prince.”
“Oh, you do not have to worry about me. I’m having the time of my life… found ya, bastards. DISCONNECT” Hans came to a halt, the Knight Association team now in his sights. “Not the mage tower… He is the one with Dispellium.” Hans clenched his fists, finding the knight captain who fought Chris and apologised like nothing. Hans clenched his fists, spotting the Knight captain who had fought Chris and then nonchalantly apologized. To Hans, he was nothing but the source of his anger, and it was time for him to face the consequences.
However, these weren't just run-of-the-mill chumps. Hans might have startled the elite proctors by using the Hydra and their looking down on Hans might have played the role in their demise, but he didn’t have the luxury to use that here. Without the Hydra golem, Hans’s power was fractioned severely.
He scanned them, they might have used underhanded tactics, but these youngsters were trained from birth, all due to being born into prestigious families. And to prove that point, the tracker of the team wasted no effort and alerted everyone. “There is a rat following us.” He shouted, throwing a sharp dagger imbued with his aura, almost missing Hans’s face by hair. “If these jackasses were this good… they should’ve come to us directly…I don’t mind being ambushed…cause it would’ve been my fault for ignoring it…But Dispellium is another thing you bastards—”
"If you've got what it takes, then come on! Let's have a face-off," another knight taunted, shouting toward the spot where the dagger had been thrown. But there was no response. He tried to provoke further, "Ho! So the Mage Tower harbours cowards
“I'm not from the tower, idiot.” Hans whispered to himself, “But there is no benefit in coming clean…a story of the knight association ran into a mishap during… No, I can't cover this up.” He shook his head, “I’m not being the classist, but these brats are from noble families. I already have my plate full with the dying proctors.”
Hans turned away. Thankfully, his rationality had returned after venting on the Proctors, but a sudden thought struck him: "That doesn't mean they should go away scot-free, right?”
Hans hatched a plan, commanding all his vines to slither around them, making noises and making them anxious. As he wanted, in no time, the quick senses of the tracker started working against the knight team. Recalling a past lesson, he mumbled, “I learned it well Professor Aredhel, turning your opponent’s greatest strength into weakness.”
Soon the anxious members closed their backs against each other, all turning into maximum defence. But Hans was not just cornering them. Unbeknownst to them, his nearly invisible, hair-like vines were inching closer, avoiding detection because they were all busy observing loud movements. “Yes… "Now, let's see what you fear the most…"
~SchizoMania~
The hair-like vines delivered a small seed to them, which sprouted into inconspicuous flowers. The transformation was subtle and hard to detect, but as the flowers matured, they began releasing tiny pores containing the substance from which Hans's hallucinogenic vines were derived. This was the very substance that rendered the proctors powerless.
"I told you," Hans muttered, "A prepared me is a dangerous thing." It had taken time and patience to cultivate these plants, and the conditions had to be just right for this tactic to work effectively. Hans sped away from the scene, leaving the Knights association team to cry, shriek, beat each other up and weep for a long time.
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After some time, leaping through the trees like an agile primate, Hans was reducing the distance to his hideout. He wanted to pull his weight and catch the remaining second class on his own but on his journey back, he never caught a single glance of any beast at all, not knowing that the tower captain went on a killing spree, even after reaching his quota just to make sure there would be nothing for Catch in the outer ring of BeastZone.
"Damn it, there's nothing for miles," Hans muttered, gazing up at the dark, starry sky. He calculated that there were approximately two hours left until dawn.
“Prince…Prince…we did it…we've collected a hundred hearts, but those Alliance bastards are tailing us. We're about to reach your friends, but I doubt we can shake them off.” Eugene’s voice rang in Hans’s ears in panic, “They almost grabbed our space pouch… hasten up you idiot, do you want to be their hostage…my apologies… where are you?”
“Shit, I can’t reach them in time.” Hans pulled out a shiny stone from his pocket, “I also need a reason to take out the rest of the bastards… Thank you, sis. You are the best.” He kissed the stone and replied to Eugene, "Ask for me when you get to the others and stay close to everyone. I'll send help.”
"Understood," Eugene responded without questioning the details, placing his trust in Hans. His trust wasn't based on Hans's known abilities, as Eugene had never seen him in combat. It stemmed from the reverence and belief in Hans's last name, as his bloodline was practically worshipped by the citizens of their nation.
It took them roughly thirty minutes to reach the cavern where Chris and Delimira were hiding. The commotion outside had already alerted the two, and as a result, all nineteen of them found themselves surrounded by masked strangers.
"Leave the bag behind if you don't want to get hurt," one of the masked figures demanded.
Eugene gasping out of breath, shouted, “Prince. We are here — Zhum…” He wasn’t done saying, that the proctors in the mask weren’t prepared, and the Parvians as well as the Concordia team were wondering how they would overcome this. But at the very moment, with a defining sound a bright pillar of light fell on them, sucking them up and they disappeared from Proctor’s sight leaving them baffled.
Only two people there knew what had just happened: Delimira, who had previously experienced travelling through this and Eugene who dreamed of having this privilege added to his list. , and Eugene, who had always dreamt of being granted this privilege. The term "INGRESS" escaped both of their lips simultaneously, their eyes locking onto each other with understanding. Meanwhile, Hans had just finished selecting the destination – the Eastern Checkpoint – and, in an instant, all nineteen of them materialized before the checkpoint, leaving the SpaceDoor operators baffled.
Since Eugene was aware that Hans wanted to maintain his anonymity, he confidently stepped forward. "It's a divine blessing from our god. Now, let's submit the loot before any more trouble shows up." He urged Cassady to act, but then he hesitated, recalling Hans's request. "Wait, I almost forgot. Your captain wanted me to relay a message: ‘Forget'—"
“Forget about the dispellium and the Proctors trying to stop us, right?" Delimira finished the sentence, leaving Eugene bewildered. "How did you know?" He inquired, still perplexed, but received no reply. Delimira was deep in thought, well aware of what awaited the Proctors once they were alone with Hans. It was evident to her what was about to happen. "Damn it," she muttered, moving away from Cherrina, who was supporting her. "We need to inform the deans. Hurry, there's no time."
Meanwhile, Hans chuckled as he closed the Command Centre, gazing at the stone in his hand with a sinister sneer. “I really have a good head on my shoulders.” He laughed like a maniac, then retrieved another object from his pocket, a communication orb this time. The only way for the proctors to inform the outside world of what is happening here. Picked from the first victim of Hydra. It also served as the location pointer and the very reason he proficiently hunted the outer ring Proctors. Since they cost a fortune and there was nothing dangerous in the outer ring, they were given only one and it was already in Hans’s hands. Looking deeply into it, Hans asked, “Mirror mirror in my hand, tell me where those bastards stand.”
GRIMGAR COLOSSEUM
The SpaceDoor, which had transported them to Heat Riddance, gleamed as the Parvian team and Concordia exited. On the other side, they were met with scrutinizing and observant gazes. An announcement echoed through the area: "Concordia qualifies, Parv forfeited." However, the announcement didn't concern everyone, especially not Aredhel and Sierra. The Dean of Mages was primarily focused on Delimira, who couldn't even stand on her own. She rushed to Delimira's side, along with Aredhel. The spells were cast one another, her focus was Delimira, but others were just healing in the presence of divine mana.
The space travel had reopened the grave wound on her, but it soon closed under the focused efforts of Sierra and Delimira spoke, whispering, “Teacher… Hans..he —”
“Let's talk inside.” Sierra offered her support and took a brief look at the other students, ensuring no one required more immediate attention. Chris was still bandaged but it was not that she shared a soft spot for the child so another healer tended his wounds, and she took off with Delimira. But they couldn’t shoo away the uninvited guests who barged in, - Arat and Norwin, both with different reasons. Sierra asked her healing student to continue but Delimira was hesitating, speaking before Norwin, and when it became apparent that he was not leaving. She started speaking, leaving crude details behind, “Hans, he was left behind.”
“What do you mean left behind,” Rudolf inserted himself, agitated and seemingly ready to charge into Heat Riddance. But Norwin stepped in, saying, "My men won't let him die, Rudolf.”
Rudolf's anger flared, and he retorted, "Do you think you can stop me, Norwin?"
Norwin responded calmly, "No, nor do I want to. But the moment you step in, that child's year's worth of preparation will turn to dust. Do you want that? Be my guest.” Norwin sneered, continuing, “You know the rules. If a guardian intervenes, even if the team qualifies, the individual needing rescue will be barred from entering the main event.”
Rudolf clenched his fist, compelled. He knew how much Hans wanted to be in Glory Wars. Understanding her husband’s turmoils, she asked Delimira, “Does he need saving —”
“No,” Delimira interjected. “It's not him who needs saving, Teacher. Just get this Alliance head away. How can I say, in front of him, that his men would be as good as six feet under right now.”
While she was struggling with how much to disclose, Hans was facing an odd situation. In the middle of the battle, a baffling thing was happening. “Now, what? Is it pouting at me!”
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