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Chapter 76: Ambush and Chaos

Near noon, all the students rested at the first checkpoint marked on their badge maps.

As the team pressed deeper into the forest, the trees grew denser, the air seemed more stifling, and the insects multiplied; the more delicate girl Magicians complained endlessly in high-pitched voices.

The six Instructors nearby watched the students’ miserable state with silent smiles and gave no orders or guidance.

Once upon a time, they had walked this same road when they were young.

Now, however, their smiles held a hint of mischief.

All the students sat on the ground, eating and drinking to replenish their strength while chatting about the novelty of entering Beast Forest for the first time.

Ashura did not sit down immediately; instead, he stood there and looked around for a while.

Clara, who was in front of him, finally spoke to Ashura: “Why are you standing there like an idiot? Hurry up and rest!”

Ashura smiled slightly, sat down, and muttered to himself, “This spot is not suitable for camping; the woods are too thick, and we can’t see what’s around us at all.”

He bumped Lan Yu’s shoulder and said, “Shouldn’t someone from your Warrior class assign students to stand guard?”

Ashura’s remark made Lan Yu pause, and Magina and Clara, who also heard his murmuring, were taken aback.

Although the three of them were class monitors of their respective classes, they had never considered whether the campsite itself was appropriate.

Nor had they thought about posting sentries during rest, even though Beast Forest was teeming with danger.

They simply followed the points on the badge map; the school told them to camp here, so they did, and nobody questioned it… only Ashura did.

The three young ladies were worldly nobles; after a brief thought, their expressions turned grave, and they sprang to their feet and began scanning the surroundings just as Ashura had.

Sitting on the ground, Ashura looked up at the three beauties and treated his eyes to a feast.

Magina and Lan Yu exchanged a glance, then each found the strongest students in their class and assigned them to guard the left and right flanks.

Although the Warrior class elites found the monitors’ orders a bit baffling, they still stood up and moved to the perimeter to keep watch.

The Instructors at the rear nodded in mild surprise when they saw this.

Yet before the Warrior students could leave the formation, several beastly howls of “Awooo” rang out from the surrounding jungle; the students froze, and several girls screamed on the spot.

A few students sitting on the outside jumped up and dashed toward the center; seeing them run, more people followed in panic.

The formation plunged into chaos, and several gray Beast shadows charged at the students.

Only Magina, Lan Yu, and a handful of outstanding Warrior students rose to meet those Beasts head-on.

Ashura, however, immediately pulled the eager Clara up the trunk of the thickest tree, dangled his legs, and watched the turmoil below with great interest.

Clara had wanted to break free and help, but once she saw the Beasts charging through the crowd from her lofty perch, she calmed down, glancing alternately at the chaotic scene below and the gloating Ashura beside her.

The chaos did not last long before several students at the front shouted everyone into order; Magina held aloft the corpse of a dead Beast and glared angrily at the camp’s stampeding crowd.

Only then did the students suppress their fear; they stared blankly at the Beast in Magina’s hand and then lowered their heads in deep shame.

It turned out that Magina was holding the body of a Tier Beast, an ashen wolf, and the other Beasts slain by the students were also ashen wolves… creatures any one of them could have dispatched with ease.

In reality, though, those few animals had chased them into a wild scramble, and several girls had even fallen and scraped themselves.

Before the students could recover from their self-reproach, Instructor Enge mocked in his booming voice, “So these are the elites of Saint Gobban Academy… a hundred-strong team driven into a rout by 7 or 8 Tier-2 ashen wolves!”

Every student blushed scarlet; the very first incident of the assessment had shattered their pride.

Instructor Enge continued, “What surprises me is that not all of you are fools; some smart ones realized you needed sentries, and some brave ones stepped forward to fight… I can see your potential.”

“This assessment is simple, but it is not the picnic you imagine; this is Beast Forest, a place rife with danger. Last year several students lost their lives during this very test, so take it seriously!”

“We Instructors won’t tell you much; everything depends on you. We will intervene only when you face a threat you cannot handle. The next crisis may not be this easy!”

The students looked at one another and, having lost the mood to rest, tidied the formation and prepared to move out.

Kyle of Magic Class 13 had taken a nasty spill while dodging a Beast and was still covered in dirt, a far cry from his noble image.

When he looked up and saw Ashura jumping down from the tree, his confidence returned at once, and he taunted loudly, “Ashura, you coward, you actually climbed a tree to hide from a Beast… that’s hilarious! Ha-ha!”

Yet before he could regain his swagger, he saw Clara jump down after Ashura, and Kyle fell instantly silent as though someone had gripped his throat.

Clara glared at Kyle, then cast Ashura a complicated look.

She knew this scoundrel was the only one who had spotted the problem and solved it, which showed he was better than the others, yet why was his performance at the Academy always so mediocre?

The group marched deeper into Beast Forest, and the leadership skills of Magina, Lan Yu, and Clara soon showed; they arranged both formation and perimeter guards with admirable order.

Magina and Lan Yu left Ashura’s side, taking the lead front and rear, while Clara directed operations from the center.

Beasts now appeared frequently along the road, most of them Tier-1 or Tier-2, though the team also spotted a few Tier Beasts.

The students regained their usual confidence and competed to kill every Beast they encountered.

These low-tier Beasts were generally worthless, and no one bothered with the carcasses.

Ashura, however, stored the body of a Tier-3 Beast, a greenwood savage bull, in his storage belt.

This action drew mocking looks from the surrounding students, who thought Ashura was being cheap by taking a Tier-3 Beast corpse.

Led by Kyle, a group of noble scions pointed at Ashura, muttering words like “yokel” and “pauper” under their breath.

Ashura remained utterly indifferent, though Clara felt aggrieved on his behalf.

Later she realized she could not detect the slightest ripple of emotion in Ashura’s eyes; it was as though those mocking students had never existed.

After several starts and stops, the team reached the nighttime campsite marked on the map: a lakeside spot with several towering trees, open sight lines, and level ground… an ideal place to camp.

The three beautiful class monitors were very satisfied with the site.

After discussing the camping details, they each organized their class to set up for the night.

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