"Seagulls?" Zachary muttered.

He turned to Heather whose lips twitched from trying to suppress her amusement.

"Seagulls. What a coincidence," She said.

Jean-Pierre laughed, "Interesting, this should be a good show. I wonder how many of them are still left. I hope there will be enough to go around."

Around them, the reactions to the captain's challenge were mixed. All of the survivors were well aware of the danger of giant seagulls. Many had fallen prey to those beasts throughout the year.

After waiting a few breaths, Captain Willis continued, "For keeping score, all novice rank seagulls are worth one point. Adept rank seagulls at the first to fourth soul paths are worth six points. Those at the upper half of the adept rank are worth eight points. Collect their anima crystals and hand them in at the end. Otherwise, your score will not be counted. If you have the capability, you can also capture them for double the points. Of course, you will also have to hand those in as well."

She looked around at them slowly, as if daring someone to protest. Hearing none, she thinly smiled, "The top sixteen with the most points will move on to the final round. Any ties will be resolved with summoner's duels. The rest of you useless people can just stay here forever. That is all."

She tapped the giant eagle and gave it an inaudible command. With a flap of those massive wings, the pair turned and headed back to the ship.

"Alright, time to fight." Heather said, sliding back into her habit as the leader, "Top sixteen is tough but enough for us to work with. Given the odds, the competition will be fierce. We should do our best but we don't have to reveal our full strength, just enough so that you guys can make the top sixteen."

Heather turned to Zachary and Jean-Pierre, "Let's work together one last time."

"Sure," Zachary replied.

"You're the boss!" Jean-Pierre said cheerfully.

Following this, Heather went over some finer details, focusing on which summons would be best against the seagulls and which ones should be held in reserve to deal with other prisoners if need be. They had many enemies among the survivors. As a group, they could watch each other's backs. They had survived for a whole year after countless struggles. It would be a pity to lose it all at the very end.

Zachary only listened with half an ear while still watching the navy ship anchored in the distance. The captain landed on the deck but remained on her eagle. She shouted commands at the various sailors and marines, gesturing here and there. After a while, she flew up and returned to the beach, this time followed by scores of marines, each riding a smaller armored eagle. There had to be at least a hundred of them, perhaps up to two hundred.

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While the captain circled overhead, the flying troops landed along the length of the rocky beach. They summoned a number of common Ensouled from the Old World including tri-horn oxen, mules, ducks, and even a few hairless pigs. These would be the bait for the hungry seagulls. They were all at the novice rank and not worth much. Few people besides farmers bothered to keep them as summons.

"Ohh, pigs!" Onkie squealed upon seeing new arrivals, "They are so pink and fat! So strange!"

"Haha, yes they are," Zachary said, neglecting to mention that they were raised as food.

Onkie probably wouldn't appreciate that.

Once the bait was set, half of the marines hid amidst the large rock formations that lined the coast, taking up ambush positions. The other half took to the skies again and formed up around their captain. Together, they soared eastward to lure the seagull hordes out of their nests.

Zachary turned to Heather as he thought of an idea, "Heather, let's set our own bait."

"Oh? What do you have in mind?" She asked with great interest.

"I'll use Dream. I need to clear out some trees, enough to dig a small pond and for us to fight the seagulls."

"Got it, Toby!" She called to her overgrown mantis, "Start chopping!"

Jean-Pierre also joined in the action, bringing out his mantis. More summons followed including treants from Shuhua and Carlos. They had already done this many times before at the quintessence mine. Their teamwork was seamless. A small section of the sparse jungle at the edge of the cliffs was cleared out in no time at all.

Meanwhile, Onkie finished digging a circular pond using her earth-attribute ability. Blue followed by filling the pond with water using its drizzle ability. It was a good thing the pond was shallow or else Blue would have taken a while. Once that was done, he summoned Dream into the pond which was just enough for it to swim around in circles and leap out of the water occasionally.

Zachary also summoned Doro and Voodoo. Doro slid into the ground to hide out of sight while Voodoo remained at his side. He still only had four adept rank summons but Wander more than made up for it.

As for the rest, Heather had Toby. The mantis was her all-purpose summon. Fast, flexible, and smart; it could fight many different types of opponents including seagulls. She also summoned her adept rank treant Roger for extra muscle as well as her gray wolf Max to act as her bodyguard.

Nellie brought out a giant pill bug for defense and a crowned caterpillar for long-range attacks. The chubby worm didn’t actually have a crown but a circular tuft of golden hair around his head, hence the name. Its special ability was shooting sticky strings capable of immobilizing its prey.

Shuhua summoned three adept ranks; a yellow flower demon named Rosie, a bright red mushroom demon named Porcini, and a treant named Magnolia. Carlos also summoned three; a giant pill bug named Maniac, a treant named Dummy, and a muddy bullfrog named Broody that could spit mud balls that were akin to toxic glue.

Lastly, Jean-Pierre still relied on his shadowless cloud owl Cirril and his nameless mantis. He surely owned other powerful summons but he had yet to reveal any of them.

With their team assembled, they didn’t have to wait too long. The cry of eagles and the squawks of angry seagulls started faint but grew louder and louder until the noise became deafening. Large shadows swooped overhead. The first few belonged to summoners riding their armored eagled, some wearing panicked expressions. More eagles flashed past, some battling with giant seagulls and their distinctive double pairs of wings. The rest were only giant seagulls, so many that it was all anyone could see through the gaps in the trees.