Hannah was appalled to see all of their offense being countered by them a bit too easily.

She couldn't take her eyes off the two players especially.

A ruby eyed man and a blond hair girl. These two were absolutely a nightmare for her. Any spells they had cast would be either repelled by them or would be evaded in a manner that it appeared as if they weren't even taking it as a threat.

For the first time, she understood the true profoundness of skills a player had.

The way those two had been using their skills in this battle had opened her eyes as she finally thought back to the speech given by the vice principal of this academy. The void really was full of surprises. In this rainforest where their spells had been amplified because of the mana attributes these two were still not disadvantaged but they were overpowering the order.

Not to mention, the other players were also holding on their own with no way to determine the advantage against them. It was a weird stalemate on that part but those two players had become a threatening variable that was quickly tilting the situation in a dangerous manner. If this continued there was a high chance that they might have to retreat.

Her order’s leader had also seen the urgency so the mages subtly increased the targeted spells to those two players while only keeping the other eight stalled for a while. She also thought that this would turn the situation around but she again was proven wrong.

Those two changed their tactics and now broke free from the battle formation to head towards them.

Some other players also followed along to provide cover while those with long range capability only moved enough to not be entirely separated from the new deployment. The players now had left the glade and entered the forest.

This put significant pressure on the mages as they were all wary of being confronted in close combat. Mages typically preferred engaging in mid to long range while very rare few would be undaunted when it becomes a close range combat. Unfortunately, the Autumn Leaf were in the former category thus they kept retreating while casting spells constantly.

The surrounding trees, vines, beasts and birds had all been implicated as the wood attribute spells along with those that harnessed the advantage of this rainforest were hurled at the players.

That ruby eyed man had managed to put her leader George into a close combat situation. At first that player was throwing some kind of invisible object at them and using some kind of barrier type skill, which even did sound attacks within, mages were constantly harassed.

Hannah noticed that he had suddenly erupted with more strength. The attacks and skill effects were visibly more powerful than what was earlier shown to them.

George could only keep using defensive and movement spells to increase the distance while occasionally counterattacking. The situation was not looking good for him.

Other mages soon got into a somewhat similar situation as him and the first casualty appeared. That blond-haired girl appeared out of nowhere and attacked at the precise moment when the defensive spell was dispelled by a gunshot from a thin looking player.

Her attack was fatal to the mage thus the teleportation took place before the dagger made contact with the skin.

Hannah was alarmed at the sudden shift in the battle. Though previously they were being forced to retreat, she was still thinking that maybe they could regroup in a different place before launching another attack but now she realized how wrong she was.

As if to further prove her realization, leader George was impaled by that hidden weapon and the blood coated arrows that were directed at that player all of a sudden teleported just before hitting the target and pierced him instead.

That was the final hit which eliminated him.

Hannah was very anxious as she kept witnessing more and more of her order members falling after the sudden departure of George. She was engaging with a player for a while and her situation was also not looking good.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

The more mages were eliminated the further her pressure increased before she finally succumbed under the attack of that blond haired girl that appeared out of nowhere to end her. She tried to frantically cast a defensive spell but that girl’s speed and precision was too good.

She was filled with regret for even considering targeting them.

Any student who could get an emerald block this early was obviously very strong if they hadn't got it in a fluke. The Autumn Leaf should have just retreated after having probed them but they instead were too confident. They actually were rightfully so as their spells were boosted in this biome.

If her order's leader were more prudent to judge the situation unfavorable after having their scouting spells detected so easily then after the first few exchanges to gauge the other side he should have stepped back but no, he still stubbornly kept fighting with no intention to retreat.

Look at them now!

The entire Autumn Leaf was eliminated and the competition had just started earlier. Wouldn't they be a great joke after this event ends. Hannah was filled with resentment at his incompetence and also she hated this player party from the core. Especially those two humans.

Damn it! It was all because of those two!!

Other players were still manageable but those two were just too strong!

Were they really the same first year batch as them!? She suspected that those two were top prodigies with extremely high class levels. She was aware of class levels of players that indicated their prowess and capability in their path. As a mage her path's specific was obviously different but such general knowledge about the other domain was already taught at the tower.

This made her wonder why there were two top prodigies present at a single player party.

Usually, no one of the same caliber as them would prefer to be grouped together and they would rather form their own group where they lead with no worries of disobedience from other members.

Her tangent might seem long but it was just a few moments in time before she found herself back at the same floating platform where they gathered for the competition.

She also found her entire order members standing at a distance while being rebuked by the teachers who had come with them in this academy. She was the last mage to be eliminated and now that she had arrived those teachers' expressions grew even more livid as the highlight screen announced Autumn Leaf's full elimination.

Thus she joined her fellow members to receive reprimand together.

°°°°

Gregory observed the young mages who wore gloomy expressions after being eliminated so early.

He had seen the battle and he could only say that their luck was very bad to confront that party. After all, both the first ranked and the second ranked students were there. How could they be expected to keep themselves from being eliminated when there was a Third Skill Unlocking stage player present?

The average quality of those mages were about the same as young prodigies and top prodigies while that young man was being trained especially to become an outlier. There was no question as to why their mage order was so thoroughly beaten down.

“That being said, the entire Azure Sun party is very excellent. Student Luna is also very powerful among her peers and it seems she had further improved in this month. Her characteristic also seems to be excellent from that sub quest. Her second rank is well deserved.”

He pondered aloud and his granddaughter added from the side,

“Ever since the first monthly evaluation she had shown good potential. In my opinion the first year batch of this time is filled with individuals of great providence and destiny. As it would have it, student Blue and Luna are both in a relationship after that previous incident. How about we also recruit her alongside him?”

Gregory was indeed tempted for a moment. He could see that this young girl had a great potential that wasn't much behind student Blue. Not to mention, both of them were in a relationship and two people with such prospects was like a “buy one get one free” deal.

However he still was conservative and only the likes of student Blue could truly move him to make an exception. So he decided,

“There's no rush. We should observe for now.”

His answer seemed to be predicted by her as she nodded somewhat absentmindedly.

Gregory glanced at her and noticed that she hadn't taken her eyes off the screen that showed Azure Sun’s highlighted performance since the start of this competition.

“What?”

She asked after noticing his glance but he said nothing in reply instead frowned a bit.

Her manners seemed to be lacking. It might be time he should consider sending her back to the Inner Area. Maybe being away from noble society for too long was diminishing her regal bearings.

The grandfather couldn't help but be concerned.