A Snake Prepares to Strike

With Stallesso Forolan gone, the military couldn't hold out for long. The storm became their biggest ally by stopping the True Order in its tracks. Several of the smaller enemy camps were directly destroyed. Anything unprotected was either sucked up by the storm, obliterated by hail or torn apart by vicious winds.

As the barrier over the city began to flicker, the commander realized that it wouldn't last for the entire storm. Most of the civilians had left the city. Those who remained were evacuated into the underground shelters. They absolutely refused to or couldn't leave their home towns.

He decided to abandon the walls and most of the city. Nothing should be left for the enemy, anyways. After one final meeting, the military made a grim decision. Most of their forces had been saved by the storm or the barrier. The officers couldn't let all of their soldiers die here.

Chinebar needed their help. Forest Waypoint would be abandoned, and so would all of the civilians that still refused to leave. Only the few who had trouble fleeing yet wanted to requested military aid. The military only helped them. The rest were on their own.

Several hours later, the storm began to collapse. The military gathered its strength for one last assault to flee down south. The remaining Halcyon Guards and Nafriton professors would leave towards the east to find the students.

After wishing each other good luck, they pushed through the collapsed walls and charged towards the enemy. Another city fell to the True Order that day.

**********

Violent winds banged against the shut earthen doors. For eight hours the storm had continued to rage. Urgent repairs had to be carried out on the front parts of the cave many times. Aside from those keeping watch, most students had already fallen asleep from exhaustion.

Corrine laid on her side facing the door. She checked her watch and frowned. They should have been here by now. Everyone was at their most vulnerable. The others would start waking up soon. The noise outside had begun to die down. After the storm fizzled out completely, the group would leave.

Her ring's broadcast could only extend out so far. The True Order camps were almost out of range. If they stopped their pursuit, then her allies probably won't be able to find her group. Why weren't they coming? The magical beasts had clearly pursued them for a while.

Something happened farther up in the group. Then the beasts became confused. Corrine bit her already bleeding lip. Curses. Whatever the plan was, it must have worked. She cracked her eyes open and looked towards the door.

Despite the wind's best protests, it stayed firmly shut. The wind whistled and banged outside, but there were no footsteps or shouts. In fact, there were no signs of people or magical beasts at all. Corrine closed her eyes. She accepted the fact that no one was coming.

First, Corrine needed to learn what had confused the magical beasts. Then she needed to stop the group from fleeing. There was still a bit more privacy while the rest were still asleep. Corrine stretched her arms like she just woke up and rubbed her eyes.

Carefully avoiding the sleeping students, Corrine tiptoed over to the firepit where they cooked the group cooked their last meal. She carefully prepared some simple breakfasts. When no one was looking, she took a small vial out of a hidden pocket and dripped a tiny amount into the food.

With a cheerful smile, Corrine handed over the warm food to the extremely grateful watchers.

"Thank you~ for standing guard, seniors. Please take these simple meals~ and warm up~!"

"Keeping watch is our job. There's no need for thanks."

"Making sure that everyone stays safe benefits us as well."

"We weren't the only shift to stand guard, but I definitely appreciate your offering."

Her smile deepened as the watchers became chattier as their tongues loosened. They started to ramble on about various things while Corrine kept refilling their plates.

"You all worked so~ hard yesterday! It must have been difficult~ keeping the thousands of students safe when we all fled together."

"Yeah. Honestly, I thought that we were done for when the magical beasts caught on to us, though."

"Definitely. The alarms just suddenly went off. We must have missed a scout or alarm."

"It's a good think that the Disciplinary Chair had a trick up his sleeve."

"Eh~? Really~? That's so amazing! No wonder he's in the Student Council. Um, what did he do though~?"

Corrine widened her eyes and tilted her head with her hand on her cheek. If she wanted to, Corrine could look absolutely adorable in an extremely innocent way, like a bunny or a naïve child. Vanessa Landrienne hated this questioning look when she was alive.

"He dropped back into the middle of the group and cast some sort of spell. It was really subtle. Whatever he did, it's not a part of Nafriton's curriculum."

"No, no. I was near the back and saw part of it. The Disciplinary Chair didn't cast the spell himself. Christopher Vear, you know the guy who sticks with Sir Forolan, dropped back into the group to speak with this girl. They started yelling about something then the Disciplinary Chair dropped back."

"Oh right! I saw that too. The girl jumped onto Sir Vear's horse and the mana around them just disappeared. It was so bizarre. Then Sir Vear and the Disciplinary Chair talked. I think he gave his permission to continue. The girl just clutched onto Sir Vear's back while the spell's range increased."

"Then that girl is the really amazing one~? Wow! Finally! It's nice to have a good lady role model! She must be a powerful senior~ with a spell like that and friends like Sir Vear~."

"Maybe. I couldn't really tell who she was. She was probably a first year since she was in the center of the group. I'm not that familiar with the first years, and my vision was really bad between night and the weather."

A sneaking suspicion formed in Corrine's mind. The True Order had managed to pass her some information. For example, what happened during the raid at Nafriton. A certain duo managed to sneak around while avoiding detection and blow the True Order's plan to pieces.

Then a certain young lady disappeared with Sir Vear though a certain group from Halcyon claimed they were with them the entire night. Coincidentally, Sir Vear mysteriously took the place of Sir Forolan at an unknown time. Sir Forolan managed to escape with an unknown lady's help.

Corrine sweetened her smile as she giggled.

"Um~ if it's not a bother could you tell me more about what you felt and saw~? It sounds amazing!" A blush crept up her cheeks. "I – I'm not that good at horse riding so I fell into the back of the group and didn't really get a chance to see that amazing spell."

The watchers foolishly nodded and happily spilled whatever they knew. Corrine slipped another potion into their food when she finished their chat. They would slowly forget this little conversation. After cleaning up their plates, no one would be any wiser.

Her smile faded as she washed the plates in a corner of the cave. That spell completely absorbed the surrounding mana. Though mana inside their bodies or spells kept close to them would be safe, any mana that went farther than that would be consumed.

The emergency signal must have been blocked. She remembered the bracelets on Miss Glowery's wrists. The lady already had one artifact that could change forms. Corrine always assumed that the black one must have been a fashion statement. It was probably an artifact, and the spell must have come from it.

The silver bangle had too much complexity already due to its shape change magic. Meanwhile, Miss Glowery was known for having a medical condition which harmed her magical foundation. An artifact was the only answer, and that black bracelet was the only option.

Still, Miss Glowery couldn't be confirmed as the spell caster. None of the witnesses got a good look. Corrine glanced over the crowd to find Miss Glowery. She was peacefully sleeping in a corner near Sir Vear, Sir Forolan and the Vice President.

In any case, she would take her chances and get rid of Miss Glowery. Corrine could not risk that spell getting in her way again. Better to kill a hundred innocents than let a criminal go free. What method should she use? Poison? No, something more natural or 'accidental' would be better. Magical beasts? Magic mishap?

Corrine cheerfully helped prepare breakfast for the other students while coldly watching her prey from the side. Sir Vear and the Vice President were keeping Miss Glowery and Sir Forolan under a tight watch. When she delivered breakfast, Sir Vear even checked it for a variety of poisons.

She did her best to stick close to the group. Corrine's priority was still to secure the Forolan heir. If she could get rid of or secure another powerful wizard in training, then all the better.