George saw the green light that suddenly lit up in the sky.

He made a gesture for his order to follow the new direction pointed by that light. He was a mage of druidic school of magic, thus this rainforest was literally his home. Here he increasingly felt more confident in his spells.

He was also the leader of the mage order Autumn Leaf that was made of those mages similar to his magic field. That's why in this biome all of the ten mages were very confident to dominate those players.

The competition had just begun and till now they only encountered hostile wildlife with no sign of any sub quest or other player parties in sight. This forest was huge so all of them had thought that it was better to find a good place to make a base first.

Their reconnaissance had led them towards the same direction of that green light that was now glaringly visible in the sky. It seems they were about to encounter students who had gotten an emerald block already.

Druid George was determined to clash with them and snatch it for his order if the other side turned out to be a player party. After all, fellow mages are in the same faction in this competition and rules prevent them from stealing or harming each other.

After arriving at the place they quickly found a hidden cave behind the waterfall. They used some spells to gauge the inside of the cave without entering as they feared an ambush there. A dark cave was excellent for those players to lure them in and then attack to eliminate them from the competition in this early stage where everyone was still getting used to the place.

Though Autumn Leaf feared none in this biome, it was better to be cautious.

However, it turned out that after obtaining the block they had fled from the cave. George got the mages to use some tracking spells to tail them swiftly. One of the mages found some success and with that the order set off for the hunt.

“It seems they are players. They did try to cover their tracks but I can see mana had been used in a way that is distinct from spell casting. We should hurry. Others would also arrive here.”

The mage who had found the track spoke up to confirm the students identity.

The mage's name was Hannah and she had studied plant nature magic. A plant mage with mastery over plant magic spells. She had four green beady eyes, two lush green horns and one tail made of leafs. Her race was of woodtreader commonly seen in the Illuminator's Domain.

George, on the other hand, was the same as those of awakened humans at the first glance but there was a subtle difference. His skin was ghastly pale and his eyes had dark crimson pupils. He had two small and sharp fangs coming out from his upper teeth. He had long pointy nails of about four centimeters long and one centimeter thick which had a sharp glean akin to a needle.

He was of the vampire race renowned in the domain for their blood magic.

George, however, had very high potential and also a keen interest in druidic spells so he had deviated from the norm. However, as a vampire, an evolved branch race of mortal humans, he had made full use of his inherent blood magic aptitude to combine the druidic magic with blood magic thus becoming a top prodigy within the tower.

The Autumn Leaf followed plant mage Hannah’s lead now as they tracked the traces. Along the way they did encounter more wildlife but they swiftly dealt with it through the vast amount of spells that had been further boosted in this lush environment.

George was constantly synching his vision with that of a small bird he had caught earlier. He used a druidic spell to make this bird his very own scouting drone within this forest. The order's speed on tailing those players was exceptionally fast thanks to them having learned spells that favored this type of biome.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Unlike those who found their mobility restricted in this green overgrowth Autumn Leaf had been walking in such a manner that all the impeding vines and plants would move on their own to make a path for them.

The difference was palpable and George was sure that those players' skills wouldn't be as convenient as their spells in this place so they were bound to not be able to hide for long.

His conjecture turned out to be true as the little bird saw the figures of those players in a spacious clearing. There was also a log house in the distance. Their base perhaps? All of a sudden—

Paak!

—He heard the sound through the little bird which then saw dark in its eyes and George who was synching with it felt a backlash from having the connection forcibly severed. He threw out a mouth full of blood and his fellow mages halted in their steps.

“I was found out. They seemed to be expecting us there. Be careful of traps!”

He cautioned everyone as the last scene that bird saw played on his head. A blond human girl casually threw a mana infused stone at it which was fast enough for the bird to not be able to react.

Right after he had cautioned everyone, many other mages also similarly coughed out blood or felt dizzy as those who were using somewhat similar spells like him had also been found out.

He became very apprehensive because of this as he had earlier assumed that his druidic spell would go unnoticed since they were unfamiliar with magic.

It seems he had underestimated them!

“Get into the battle formation. We will engage cautiously. We will go with our strongest spells and if any more player party arrives later we shall retreat. If a mage order arrives then we will cooperate with them. As for who will get the emerald block later we will decide after a discussion. Let's be swift so we don't even have to ponder about it.”

He relayed his orders and the mages followed obediently.

In their eyes, though their scouting spells were surprisingly detected it was just a small accident. In this rainforest Autumn Leaf held a strong advantage and as young prodigies there was no way they would back off from a challenge.

Thus the fight began to snatch the block.

George used a spell to craft wood attribute puppets made of leafs, vines and such. He then infused some blood from a bottle in his storage pouch and used blood magic to reinforce the puppets with a bloody sword and shield. Some even held a bloody bow and quiver of plant arrows.

He then sent these puppets towards the players with the command to attack.

Hannah had used her plant magic to shoot sharp thick branches with thorns on it while many vines from all over the forest crazily rushed in that direction to attack the enemy.

Other mages also used their spells.

Wooden birds, insect swarms, burrowing rats, snakes and more all rushed at the direction. While a dense barrier made up of plant life had surrounded the entire glade to block off the path of exit for those players.

With a myriad of spells amalgamation hurling towards those players Autumn Leaf was even more assured of their eventual victory. It wasn't that they were expecting to deal with all of them at the first casting but it was bound to set the foundation for their pressing advantage in this place.

Wood attribute spells were very effective in this forest and not to mention the Autumn Leaf's members were mostly of those who had studied such a similar school of magic. Take for example George's spells that had been cast earlier.

It had the combination of blood magic and druidic magic. Here, the druidic magic would see an increase in effect because of the natural amplification of mana present in the rainforest. It was filled with wood attribute mana with water attribute being the second highest in presence. The downpour now was only adding to it.

Unsurprisingly, lightning attribute was also in higher quantity because of the thunderclouds that hurled lightning bolts at this forest without much pause. Because of the presence of trees all over the place where Autumn Leaf stood at the distance it was subjected to this occasional lightning bolt which was a great hindrance to their battle.

Fortunately, they all had learned their own defensive spells and were quite familiar with such a biome so this wouldn't be too big of an issue for them as long as they kept an eye out on the signs of lightning attribute mana's quantity around them. A glaring increase usually foretold an incoming lightning nearby.

The player party had gotten lucky to be in a glade during this fight as the chance of being struck was significantly less than them. However, this also had put a clear target on themselves as they were in the open view while the mages were still hiding behind the trees around the glade.

This battle was in mages’ favor from the very start.