Chapter 217: Ominous Development

(House Argent Castle, Mary’s POV)

Mary departed House Argent’s castle at once after being directed by Cedric, although she wasn’t particularly happy about the manner in which her House Lord had addressed her.

’What do you mean, "Hey, you girl?" My name is Mary.

Just because I’m not a noble, you don’t even bother learning my name?’

Mary wondered bitterly, as being pointed at and ordered around like some nameless tool instead of an actual person had irritated her considerably more than she cared to admit.

However, despite not being in the best of moods, she still intended to carry out the duty assigned to her, especially since dozens of Argent students could potentially be surrounded if nobody warned them about the sudden three-House alliance.

Hence, shortly after leaving the safety of Argent-controlled territory, Mary activated [Aether Pulse] and began running towards enemy lands, hoping to encounter the forward assault divisions and bring as many of them home as possible.

[Aether Pulse] worked differently from most detection spells, as instead of improving Mary’s natural senses, it periodically released faint waves of Aether from her body that spread through the surrounding area before returning to her.

Whenever those pulses encountered something containing Aether, Mary could sense its approximate location, while repeated pulses gradually formed a rough map inside her mind of everything moving within her effective range.

People were particularly easy to notice.

She could sense their direction, approximate distance and movement, while larger concentrations of Aether sometimes allowed her to distinguish whether someone was actively preparing an ability or simply moving through the area.

However, the spell was far from foolproof.

Mary’s reliable range had improved to roughly fifty meters, which sounded impressive inside a training ground, although fifty meters suddenly felt considerably smaller when she was running through territory occupied by dozens of potentially hostile students.

Someone beyond her range could still see her approaching.

Archers could attack from farther away.

A student positioned on higher ground might spot her long before [Aether Pulse] detected them, while someone moving quickly could close the distance surprisingly fast once they noticed her.

Because of that, Mary never relied upon the spell alone.

She moved behind trees whenever possible, crossed open stretches only after checking them carefully and used walls, buildings and natural obstacles to conceal herself while repeatedly releasing [Aether Pulse] ahead.

Whenever unfamiliar Aether signatures appeared within her mental map, she changed direction before getting close enough to discover which House they belonged to.

For the first several minutes, that strategy worked perfectly.

Mary encountered two small groups moving through the distance, although [Aether Pulse] warned her early enough that she could remain behind cover until their uniforms became visible, revealing them to be from Sable and Viridian rather than Argent, while another pulse detected several stationary Aureate students occupying a pathway ahead and prompted her to circle around them entirely.

She continued searching for Argent students along the routes Cedric’s assault divisions were most likely to have taken, although with every passing minute, she found herself moving farther north.

Then, almost inevitably, her thoughts drifted towards one particular assault team.

’I wonder where Riven and his crew are....’

Mary thought, as her expression unconsciously tightened.

Of all the Argent First Years Cedric had sent into the forward assault division, Riven and those five idiots surrounding him were probably among the students most likely to have pushed dangerously deep into enemy territory.

And if Aureate, Sable and Viridian truly were cooperating against Argent, then remaining outside alone for too long was becoming more dangerous by the minute.

Mary released another [Aether Pulse] before slipping between two trees and continuing north.

She had no idea where Riven was.

However, without realizing it, the direction she had chosen was gradually taking her closer to him.

—---------

(Meanwhile, Northern Forest)

Randy, Batista and Flair began making their way back towards the entrance of the Northern Forest with seven bound Aureate students walking ahead of them, although their return journey was considerably slower than their initial charge deeper into the woods.

Part of that was because of their injuries, while the greater problem came from escorting seven prisoners whose wrists and feet had been bound and connected together, forcing the entire group to move at roughly the same pace.

However, despite wanting nothing more than to return to House Argent, the three remained alert for the few Aureate students Henry claimed had stopped somewhere within the forest after being injured by Circuit’s traps.

They deliberately retraced sections of the route the original pursuit group had taken, checking several areas where someone might have stopped to recover, although they found nobody waiting for them.

Eventually, Randy noticed disturbed leaves near one of the trees, alongside a small strip of cloth stained with blood that had apparently been used as makeshift bandaging.

"They were here," Randy muttered, as he crouched briefly and examined the ground. "Or somebody injured was, at least."

Batista looked around suspiciously.

"So where the fuck did they go?"

"Could’ve gone anywhere," Flair replied, as he glanced between the surrounding trees. "Maybe they recovered enough to keep moving. Maybe they went back towards the entrance."

"Or maybe they’re hiding somewhere and waiting for us," Batista suggested.

Randy stood again.

"Then let them hide. We’ve got seven prisoners tied together, Flair looks like somebody used his face to practice punching, you’re bleeding from three different places, and I’m half fucking dead myself.

I’m not wandering around this entire forest looking for three injured students who could be anywhere by now. We find Riven and the others, then we get the hell out of here."

Neither Batista nor Flair argued.

They continued towards the forest entrance until the sound of approaching footsteps eventually reached them, causing all three to immediately tense.

Batista stepped forward.

Randy prepared [Shadow Slip].

Flair raised one hand as flames began gathering around his palm.

Then several figures appeared between the trees ahead.

Riven emerged first.

Jeff and Matt followed behind him.

And walking between them were five bound Aureate students.

For several seconds, both Argent groups simply stared at one another.

Then Batista’s eyes moved over Riven, Jeff and Matt.

None of them had swollen faces, nor were they limping.

There wasn’t even much blood on their clothes.

"Yo... why the fuck do you three look perfectly fine?" Batista asked, as genuine offense appeared across his battered face.

Jeff’s attention immediately shifted towards Batista’s bloody nose and split lip before moving towards Randy and Flair.

"And you look like shit. The fuck happened to you?"

"Seven people happened to us," Batista replied proudly, as he gestured towards their prisoners.

"No," Randy corrected immediately. "Batista happened to us."

"Fuck you."

Riven chuckled, although his attention soon moved towards the prisoners both groups had brought with them.

The reaction amongst the Aureate students was considerably less cheerful.

The five who had turned back towards the forest entrance stared at the seven who had continued deeper after Riven, while those seven stared silently back at them.

For several uncomfortable seconds, nobody said anything.

The five who retreated had abandoned the pursuit to seek reinforcements.

The seven who pushed forward had continued chasing their targets.

Apparently, neither decision had worked particularly well.

Several prisoners lowered their gazes almost simultaneously, while Henry quietly turned his head away as though refusing to acknowledge that this reunion was happening at all.

Riven smiled briefly at the sight before counting their numbers, as his smile turned into a frown.

"Where are the others?" Riven asked, as he looked towards Randy. "There were at least three more that I counted chasing us when we entered the forest."

"Yeah, these idiots told us about them too," Batista replied, as he nodded towards the seven prisoners behind him. "Apparently, a few got injured by the traps and stopped somewhere along the way to rest before deciding what to do.

We looked for them while coming back, but they’re gone. We found a little blood and some cloth where they probably stopped, although there was nobody there by the time we arrived.

They could be anywhere inside the forest by now, and we didn’t think it was wise to waste time looking for them."

CLICK.

Riven clicked his tongue.

"Not good...."

Three missing students weren’t much compared to the twelve they had already captured, although Riven didn’t like having enemies wandering around whose locations he couldn’t account for.

They could have retreated.

They could have continued deeper.

Or they could still be somewhere nearby watching them. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

Whatever the answer was, the forest was large enough that searching blindly could take hours.

"We can’t go after them," Randy said, as though reading his concern. "We don’t know which direction they went, we’ve got twelve prisoners to transport now, and the three of us aren’t exactly in good condition for another prolonged fight."

Riven remained silent for a moment before reluctantly nodding.

Randy was right.

Their original objective had already been accomplished far more successfully than Riven could have reasonably expected.

Twelve Aureate students had been captured, everyone from his group was still standing, and Circuit’s traps had turned what began as a pursuit against them into an overwhelming victory.

Searching an entire forest for three missing enemies while dragging twelve prisoners behind them was an unnecessary risk.

"Forget them," Riven decided, as he expanded Sky-Cleaver slightly and rested it against his shoulder. "We’re heading back to House Argent.

Keep the prisoners together, stay alert, and don’t assume we’re safe just because we dealt with the people chasing us.

We still have to make it home."

The others nodded before combining their prisoners into a single group and beginning their march towards the forest entrance.

However while their spirits remained high, what none of them still understood was the situation developing outside the Northern Forest, as unbeknownst to them, they were walking out of the forest, and straight into an ambush.