Chapter 702: Flawless Defence - 1

[Mountain Aura Dome]!

Leo put forward a small version of the skill that looked more like a shield, with all four punches landing and stopping after hitting the hexagonal sections of the turtle shell.

As Leo expected, the 4th punch was more like something phantom; though it had striking power, there was no person behind it.

The three of them immediately backed up.

"A-a human!"

"He is Leo! I know him!"

"The 1st ranker of Aurelius Beast Academy... shit, we are done."

They suddenly lost all energy to fight and simply stood there.

"Oh, come on now," Leo said.

"I didn't reveal myself just to chat. I want to see how you people fight. I've never fought people who purely rely on soul arts, techniques, and mantras."

"Heh, what's the use when we can't even scratch you even with our strongest attacks." one of them said with a bitter smile.

"You could at least try, no?"

"We did just now."

Leo was disappointed. He really wanted to see how they fought.

"Well, at least say what happened to the other students," Leo said, looking around to see if anything had slipped past his senses.

The three of them looked at each other, knowing their defeat was almost guaranteed, so they chose to talk. Leo, surprisingly, seemed easy to talk to, and they could at least be content knowing that they had somewhat helped their fellow humans by getting defeated—that was, having their elimination points go to a human academy.

"It was the dragons. Four of them came flying from the central region, and while we were busy trying to form a base in a cave, they attacked and defeated almost everybody instantly. We three somehow managed to escape through a natural tunnel and our concealment techniques."

Leo nodded.

"As we expected. So you might be one of the academies with 0 points, right?" Leo asked.

They nodded, though they looked a bit embarrassed.

At that time, Kaelion contacted Leo.

"Leo, some dragons have started to trail us, though they seem to be far behind, and we are actually returning to the stronghold after a detour, I think they used some kind of tracking magic. Return fast. Oh, and before we could reach the 0-point beacon, it was destroyed by somebody... Most probably a dragon academy because the 1st-ranked academy's points shot up by 10 points."

"Alright, I will be back soon. Tell Lily to use intense wind pressure to keep them back in case I am late."

Saying that, he cut the communication channel.

At that time, the dragons in the distance around him entered his sensory range, and he moved.

"Alright, I won't hurt you if you don't block my path to destroy your beacon."

The three simply nodded and stepped to the side, opening a straight path to the beacon.

"You are strangely compliant," Leo said, amazed.

What he didn't know was that they had joined the competition knowing they would lose. Because, except for the top 3 academies, almost every other academy was filled with people who were either not good enough to join the top 3 or those who wanted fame by being called the 'rankers' of an academy despite having only average strength.

And of course, certain academies like Soul Astra Academy had specific criteriaseats and took students with high soul ranks but no talents—choosing a specific kind who would not be the best but had potential in different areas when other paths were closed.

The Human Emperor did this deliberately so they could get the maximum manpower. No potential was going to waste to a great degree.

As a matter of fact, seniors in Soul Astra Academy were actually better on average than seniors of other academies between ranks 6 and 4.

This was because soul technique and soul art users gradually learned and stacked up their skills and abilities, making them considerably stronger at later stages than these freshmen who had just trained for barely 5 months.

Their academy ranked 7th because their average performance among freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors was lower than that of other academies where people with talent went.

Leo simply fired a wind blade at the beacon's location, destroying it in an instant while also cutting the tree cleanly.

The three students' eyes widened, but they soon disappeared in white particles.

Back in the Aurelius Beast Academy stronghold, the number shifted.

Congratulations on eliminating another academy!

10 points awarded.

3. -> 2. Aurelius Beast Academy - 20 Points -> 30 Points

Others were immediately fired up upon seeing the number go up.

"Nice! Looks like Leo managed to destroy a beacon!"

The ranking board also displayed that the last 2 academies had disappeared, leaving only 12 academies.

Leo immediately went into stealth and actually covered a bit of distance on foot so the incoming dragons wouldn't spot him. One fight was already imminent, so he shouldn't try to bring in new trouble when he didn't know how difficult the battle would turn out.

Back in the territory, Lily had already made the stormy winds blow strongly because the dragons had come and were steadily closing in on the stronghold.

There were actually 5 dragons!

All from the same academy—Azirith Grand Academy.

It was the 2nd-ranked academy in the Dragon Empire, which mainly housed the Red-Flame Dragon variants.

And it was clear that among the 5 dragons were Ignivorax and Pyrotrax.

"HAHAHAHA! It's that human's academy! Found him!" Pyrotrax said loudly while making his way through the opposing wind.

"Where is he?! Already hiding!" Ignivorax shouted.

In dragon form, they didn't have clothes, but they wore black metallic plates on their heads, between their slick, black horns, with a crest of raised dragons breathing red flames.

"Oi, oi, isn't this the same academy that dares to have a dragon head as their symbol? Who's going to teach them their place?" one of the remaining 3 dragons pointed out.

But suddenly, the wind grew fiercer, and they remained almost stationary as they struggled to glide through the pressure.

"Tsk! Land on the ground and convert. We are going to raze their stronghold like this!"

But suddenly—

Crackle—Crack!

The sky lit up, and black lightning crashed down onto their location, making them scatter.

"This..." They suddenly realised something.

"Is this an artificial storm?"

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A/N: Game Begins!