Joint Assault

"So, who will take the first step?" Asher suddenly asked.

Wendel remained quiet, same went for the other individuals present. Even Aurora didn't say a word. She only narrowed her eyes at the question.

All six teams remained silent with none showing any signs of movement. No matter how confident they were in themselves, the event from before just showed that the cave held a certain degree of danger; more than enough to kill them. For this reason, none of them was ready to take the first step forward.

"In that case, allow me." Asher smirked and began walking forward.

Noah and James hesitated for only a moment but eventually followed Asher. Although they were a bit nervous, the duo owed Asher a lot and had sworn long ago to follow him through thick and thin. Melissa joined them too but laced within her eyes weren't only anxiety but also worry.

Luna and Owen were the only ones left but Luna eventually followed the others despite being a bit unwilling. This was because a majority of them had left including the person who brought her into the team and her only friend here, Melissa.

As for Owen, his eyes flickered, his thoughts unknown, but in the end, he joined the group. Hence, of Asher's five teammates, none of them retreated in the face of such threats and risks.

Asher looked unbothered by this as if he had expected it, but deep down, he smiled inwardly. He originally expected Luna to step back and even had some suspicions regarding James and Noah. The only ones he expected to follow were Owen and Melissa; the former being extremely confident in his strength whereas the latter was for her emotions as well as personality. But in the end, it turned out that he was probably thinking too much. Even Luna, whom Asher had the least faith in, had followed them.

Leading his team forward, Asher walked towards the entrance of the cave as if he hadn't witnessed the disturbing scene that had occurred a few minutes ago. The others may have been shaken by the events, but he wasn't.

As Asher approached the entrance with his team, the expressions of some of the spectators flickered. Their eyes gleamed and their limbs trembled albeit so slightly that it was almost unnoticeable. If Asher hadn't spread out his mental senses long ago, even he would have failed to notice it.

'I see. So they're preparing to charge in right after.' Asher's eyes flashed with understanding.

Although the students didn't seem to make any move because of their fear of the cave, the fact that they remained behind meant that their interest had not faded. Letting Asher go in first was because they intended to have him serve as a scout to test out the dangers of the cave and whether it was truly safe to go in.

The various teams' greed and interest were still there so this meant that once the entrance and the area within were proven safe to transverse, they would all rush in in a bid to be the first to lay their hands on whatever treasures may be inside. This meant that Asher and his team stood at risk of being attacked by all once the interior was proven to be safe.

'But not like I'm scared of that. If anything, let them attack. I'm still in need of a few more tokens.' Asher grinned but with his back now facing everyone else, no one noticed it.

He has already planned for contingencies and to further make sure no one was harmed, even informing his teammates to be careful of any surprise attacks right before they made their moves.

10 metres, 7 metres, 5 metres...

Asher led his group as they proceeded slowly, seemingly cautious of any dangers within the cave. No one on the outside found this strange as they too would have done the same if they were in their shoes.

A few seconds later, Asher finally stepped into the cave. Right as he did so, everyone held their breaths to see what would result.

Seeing Asher still standing tall and unharmed, his teammates sighed with relief while the others immediately geared up to move. Some of them even began to slowly creep toward the cave.

Asher had now walked seven metres into the cave along with his teammates when one of the team leaders outside lost his patience.

"In!"

Without a second to wait, he roared out his command and charged into the cave along with his teammates. This team was one of the incomplete ones, the team with only four members.

Seeing them make their move, another team, one of the more complete ones, began losing their patience too. The team leader also gave the order and his group dashed in. The other incomplete team with only three members also followed suit.

In the end, only three teams had yet to make their move: Wendel's team, Aurora's team, and the other complete team. All three teams had cautious team leaders which led to them avoiding any losses the first time.

Even though the cave's entrance looked safe, they were reluctant to get any closer until they felt completely sure of it. There was already a forerunner up ahead so they saw no reason to take the position away. At the same time, even if Asher's team was to lay their hands on the treasures first, getting them first didn't mean they could leave with them. Also, they believed that it was impossible for Asher's team to be able to hog away all the treasures.

As the first team behind Asher charged forward, the team leader's mind was suddenly taken over by greed. Since the cave had been proven safe to some extent, he felt no need for Asher's 'scouting' services. If anything, the presence of Asher's team implied that there would be one more competitor for the treasures and this was something he didn't like.

'He has his back turned. Dimwit!'

The original distance between his team and Asher's was seventeen metres. For an ordinary human being, a seventeen metres gap couldn't be called big and would take only a few seconds to cover. For a second stage Guardian -one of the early rank- this was even easier, after all, their bodies have been nourished by mana and their physiques strengthened and improved.

There was also the fact that while his team could run without a care since the path was already proven to be safe, Asher's team couldn't do the same as they were the ones exploring. Added to the abruptness of the team's actions, this led to a situation where Asher's team was slowly moving in front, unaware of the charging danger behind.

No matter how anyone looked at it, they would fail to react in time.

"Haha. Attack!" The team leader yelled when his team was only five metres away from Asher's.

His teammates' eyes flickered but it only took them a second to understand. Even as they were treasure-hunting, none of them forgot the fact that the test was still ongoing, and technically speaking, every other student was an enemy.

Ferocious eyes stared at the backs of Asher's teammates as attacks were suddenly made. As for the leader of the team, he had gone for Asher instead.

He didn't know of Asher's true strength as the previous teams who had faced Asher, which were Aurora's team and the alliance of Guan's team and the other two teams, didn't let the news leak. Although some had spilled the beans to their friends in other teams, those students either refused to believe or held the information to themselves. As such, it didn't leak to everyone.

Unluckily for the young boy who led this team, he was among the figures left in the dark about Asher's true strength otherwise, he would never have commandeered such an act.

Surprisingly, one of the teams behind, the complete one with seven members, had also decided to carry out the same move. Asher's team was made up of six individuals with one being a top 10 student, which meant that even with an ambush from behind, a team of four would not be able to take them down swiftly. The team leader of this group realized that and wanted to capitalize on that fact to take some tokens from Asher's teammates in the midst of the battle.

As a result, Asher's team was not under assault by a team of four alone, but by a combined force of eleven students. Even in an open area, such a force would be deadly to any regular team much less when utilizing an ambush from behind. No matter how one looked at it, this would be the end of the line for Asher's team.

Although they won't die, they would be heavily injured at the very least and would be unable to go through with the rest of the test, and so, forced to quit. Even the other two teams sighed at Asher and his teammates' fate.

As for the remaining two teams, Aurora smirked viciously whereas Wendel kept an observing glance, wanting to witness for himself the strength of the figure who defeated Aurora's team and held her back by himself.