Chapter 44: Thief
When dawn finally broke, the cold morning breeze continued to flow through the cave entrance, carrying with it the promise of another day filled with challenges and opportunities. Draco opened his eyes and glanced toward Amy, who was still sleeping soundly in her position against the cave wall.
Time to get moving. The real competition begins today.
Rather than waking her up, Draco quietly gathered his equipment and made his way toward the cave entrance. He had no particular obligation to coordinate his movements with a temporary shelter-mate, and maintaining his independence would serve him better.
After stepping outside into the crisp morning air, Draco deliberately created a loud disturbance to signal his departure. He channelled a small amount of his strength into a strike against a nearby dead tree.
BOOM!
The sound of splintering wood echoed clearly through the morning silence, loud enough to wake anyone within a reasonable distance without seeming like a deliberate alarm.
Inside the cave, Amy jolted awake at the sudden noise, her eyes immediately scanning the space around her. The realization that Draco was no longer present hit her like a cold splash of water.
I fell asleep! Completely asleep! What was I thinking?
She felt like a complete fool for allowing herself to become so vulnerable in front of a competitor. The fact that nothing had happened to her during her unguarded state only emphasized how lucky she had been, and how much more consideration Draco had shown.
He could have taken everything I had while I was unconscious. Instead, he just... left quietly.
The unexpected honour he had demonstrated only added to her growing confusion about his true character versus his reputation.
...
Draco proceeded back toward the open area he had identified the previous day, leaving the cave and Amy behind without any backward glances. The morning air was crisp and energizing, perfect conditions for the aggressive hunting strategy he planned to implement during the examination’s final day.
[Master, are we going to hunt more seriously now? (◕‿◕)] Zephyr asked from his perch on Draco’s shoulder, sensing the change in his master’s demeanor.
"Absolutely. Yesterday was reconnaissance and preparation. Today is about accumulating as many points as possible."
After walking for several hours through varied terrain, Draco spotted something that immediately caught his attention.
A massive lake that stretched for what appeared to be one or two miles in each direction. The body of water was pristine and clear, reflecting the sky like a giant mirror embedded in the landscape.
Water sources attract all forms of life. This should be an excellent hunting ground.
Near the lake’s shoreline, where the terrain branched off into two different directional paths, Draco spotted exactly what he had hoped to find, active combat involving multiple participants.
A group of students was already engaged in battle with two large Midnight Bears, their coordinated efforts suggesting they had been working together since the examination began. The sounds of combat echoed across the water, with shouted instructions and the clash of weapons creating a chaotic but organized engagement.
Perfect opportunity. Time to stop playing it safe and start accumulating serious points.
Draco approached the combat zone, his enhanced speed allowing him to close the distance while the other students remained focused on their challenging opponents. The bears were putting up fierce resistance, forcing the team to work hard.
The D-Class students were clearly struggling with the coordination required for effective team combat. Their shouts filled the air as they tried to manage positioning and timing against two powerful opponents.
"Marcus, flank left while I draw its attention!"
"Sarah, use your wind magic to confuse the second bear!"
"Watch out for its claws! These things are stronger than the ones we fought yesterday!"
"I’m running low on mana! Someone else needs to take the lead!"
Before the students could fully process what was happening, a small hummingbird and a blurred figure entered their combat zone with explosive speed.
Draco activated both Hyper-Sonic and Nano-Vision simultaneously, his enhanced speed making him appear as little more than a moving blur to the surprised onlookers. Zephyr coordinated perfectly with his master’s assault, targeting vulnerable areas while Draco’s sword work ended both encounters with ease.
The first bear, already weakened by the prolonged fight with the student team, fell to a perfectly placed thrust that pierced its heart. The second bear barely had time to register the new threat before Zephyr’s claws blinded it and Draco’s follow-up strike severed its spine.
[You have killed a common-rank beast, Midnight Bear]
[You have killed a common-rank beast, Midnight Bear]
The entire engagement lasted less than ten seconds from Draco’s perspective, though the shocked students watching probably experienced it as an incomprehensible blur of movement followed by two dead bears.
Without ceremony or acknowledgment of the other students’ presence, Draco calmly extracted both beast cores and stored them in his examination ring. His movements and body language showed no concern for the stunned group watching his every action.
Seventeen cores now. The aggressive approach is definitely more efficient.
The D-Class students gradually emerged from their stunned state, processing what they had just witnessed. Despite the overwhelming display of speed and skill they had observed, their initial shock was giving way to indignation rather than respect.
He was only able to do that because we weakened the bears first, the team leader rationalized to himself. Those creatures were already injured and exhausted from fighting us. Anyone could have finished them off at that point.
"Hey! What do you think you are doing? Those were our kills!" the leader shouted angrily, his voice carrying clearly across the lake’s shoreline.
His teammates nodded in agreement, their own frustration building as they convinced themselves that Draco had simply swooped in to steal credit for their hard work.
"We spent five minutes wearing those bears down!" Sarah added, her wind magic still swirling around her hands. "You can’t just steal our rewards like that! We still need to divide the cores accordingly!"
The way they operated was based on a queue, they would all fight together and each person would get a core when their time came, and unfortunately this turn was her cores!