Lith, Dennis, and the cow were flying over the sand dunes of the desert region of the Blue Haze World and were headed towards Dark Mist Mountain Range. They were almost there now and would reach that place within a few minutes.

“There really is a dark mist all around the mountain range, Your Highness!” Dennis said loudly from the side. They were flying and he thought speaking normally wouldn’t work and Lith won’t be able to hear him.

“Yes.” Lith replied in a normal tone but was loud enough for Dennis and the cow to hear.

“Should we rest before we go into the mountain range?” Dennis said loudly.

“No. We’ve only been flying for half a day, there’s no need for rest.” Lith replied calmly.

“Okay, Your Highness!” Dennis replied loudly.

A few minutes passed and they descended down on the ground. They had arrived at the edge of the Dark Mist Mountain Range and flying amidst the thick mist wasn’t a good option, so they chose to walk.

Two vampires and a cow made their way into the mountain range and walked in a moderately fast pace. The three had their guards up as they walked through the mist covered mountain range. Their vision couldn’t see past a few meters but they kept traveling by following the map.

Fifteen minutes passed as they traveled and they suddenly heard faint hissing noises of some snakes.

“Your Highness, there seems to be snakes around, I think.” Dennis whispered. He thought that talking loudly may create disturbance and they could end up attracting the snakes.

“Yes, there are. Not only snakes but…” Lith squatted down and placed his hand on the ground and tried to feel what was going on in the direction of the noises.

In the next instant, his eyes opened wide. He got up and said hurriedly, “Ralph is in trouble. Let’s go!”

Dennis had no idea why Lith said something like this so suddenly but looking at Lith flying hurriedly in a certain direction, Dennis extended his wings and followed him while holding the cow via it’s belly.

When Lith touched the ground, he saw snakes, a lot of snakes, and they weren’t ordinary Tier 1 snakes but some were Tier 5 and Tier 6 too. They were attacking Ralph and he was desperately fighting them mid-air. He obviously couldn’t stay on the ground and fight them, that was straight up suicide.

Thankfully, the Tier 4, 5 and 6 snakes weren’t attacking currently and were only sending out the low rank Tier 1, 2 and 3 snakes.

But, what Lith couldn’t understand was why Ralph was fighting them and why he didn’t run away. Whatever the case, their friend was in danger and if he was late, he would die today.

Meanwhile…

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Ralph was slashing his sword at the snakes that kept jumping from the ground towards him to attack and it was mostly one slash, one kill for Tier 2 and below snakes. The Tier 3 ones would fall down when given a cut and would jump back up, they were the most annoying ones.

It has been half an hour since Ralph was fighting and he didn’t know how long will he have to continue this. The worst part was, the Tier 4, 5 and 6 snakes hadn’t made their move yet and were only roaming down the ground and watching him. Their stares through they deep black eyes made all of Ralph’s hair stand and always kept him on guard.

He knew that one bite from the Tier 6 would mean death for him and he would die at any moment’s notice. Ralph, however, still preserved and fought them. There was no other way. If he stopped fighting, he would get killed by these low level snakes.

“RALPH!”

Ralph heard a familiar voice and before he could turn his head to look at the source of the voice…

HISSSSS!

A Tier 5 snake, feeling a threat coming from the intruder, hissed loudly and attacked the intruder.

Fuuuusssshhhhh

BOOOOOM!

The Tier 5 snake’s body got stabbed with a fiery spear and after hitting the ground, it exploded, causing the death of many Tier 1 and 2 snakes as well as severely damaging Tier 3 and 4 snakes with just some light injuries on Tier 5 and Tier 6 snakes.

Ralph couldn’t see who it was that called him out due to the explosion lighting up the entire surrounding. He then felt someone tap on his shoulder and turning behind, he saw the familiar silver hair and purple eyes of his friend.

But, instead of rejoicing that help had arrived, Ralph frowned and said, “why are you here?”

Swish!

Lith cut a snake that tried to attack them with his sword and said, “I was just passing by.”

Swish!

Ralph cut a snake with his blade and said, “if you were passing by, you should’ve noticed this place being a nest of snakes. Why not bypass it?”

Swish!

Lith cut another snake. “I felt that you were in a pickle, so I decided to come help.” Lith smiled.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Ralph cut all three snakes that tried to attack him. “Indeed, I am in a pickle. But now that you have arrived, the situation… It hasn’t gotten any better. We are both going to die due to those Tier 6 beasts. Look, they’re there.”

Ralph pointed at 4 black snakes that were the biggest in size and crawling around while staring at the two.

“Scary, indeed. But you worry too much. We can get out of here.” Lith smiled and replied.

Swish!

Ralph cut another snake. “Oh? How so?”

“RALPH! YOUR HIGHNESS!”

“MOO!”

Before Lith could answer, Dennis came flying while holding the cow towards them in the no mist zone.

HISSSS!

Noticing another pair of intruders, the Tier 5 beasts hissed and jumped to attack them.

Fuuuusssshhhhh

BOOOOOM!

“OH SHIT!”

“MOO!”

Dennis and the cow yelled in shock as they saw two black snakes who tried to jump and attack them get stabbed with a single fiery spear and explode after crashing down on the ground.

Dennis’s grip of the cow loosened due to him panicking a bit. He saw two snakes jump at him and then a spear come out of nowhere, he was bound to panic a little. The cow mooed in alarm as it noticed the grip loosening and Dennis got alerted by it and held it tighter.

Dennis quickly flew close to Lith after this small incident and stood beside him, holding the cow. “Your Highness, what was–”

RUMBLE! RUMBLE!

The three heard a loud rumbling in the sky above them. They turned their heads up to look at what it was but in the next instant…

BOOOOOOOM!

A golden streak of light descended down from the sky and created a loud explosion, thereby lighting up the entire dark region.

Lith, Ralph, Dennis, and the cow were blinded by the bright light and couldn’t see clearly. They had their eyes shut as the light was too blinding and a few seconds later, they heard a gentle and familiar voice.

“Are you all okay?”

Hearing the voice, they tried to open their eyes but everything around them was still very bright and they couldn’t properly see who it was that was asking this. A few more seconds passed and the brightness dimmed down and they all could see a blurry figure standing in front of them.

A few more seconds later, they saw a blonde-haired, blue-eyed lady standing in front of them with concern visible on her beautiful face.

It was Emilia, their new teacher and also the principal of the academy.

“Are you all okay?” Emilia asked again.

“Yes, teacher, we are okay.” Dennis replied from the side.

Lith, Ralph and the cow nodded their heads in agreement.

“Is anyone injured?” Emilia asked.

“No, teacher. We are all fine.” Dennis replied to Emilia once again to which the other three nodded their heads once again.

They then looked around to see what was the aftermath of the explosion and as they looked down, they were all surprised.

There was no sign of any snake below them and all they could see was a large crater. They then turned their heads back to look at Emilia. Her face seemed so innocent, so much so that she looked like someone who wouldn’t even hurt an ant. But this innocent and beautiful lady in front of them was the culprit who just wiped away an entire nest of snakes that had beasts upto Tier 6.

Her actions and her look formed a huge contrast among them and the four were at a loss on what reaction they should have for this.

Emilia had no idea why the four in front of her were staring blankly at her. Thinking that there may be some problems, she once again asked, “children, is there really no problem?”

They snapped out of their daze as they heard her gentle voice again.

Lith looked at Emilia and said smiling, “no, teacher. There really aren’t. But, can you tell us why you are here?”

This was a survival tournament, it made no sense for her to come rescue them like this. Sure the level of the beasts was high and they may even die from it, but such a thing could happen in real life too. Helping them made no sense to Lith and he wondered why she was here.

Emilia, hearing Lith’s question, sighed in helplessness. Was she supposed to tell them the truth or was she supposed to hide it? How could she say that the academy had messed up and the tournament had somehow gotten rigged?

Thinking for a few seconds, Emilia got her answer. It was better to tell the truth. There was no harm in doing so and they were her own students. It was okay to do it. She looked at Lith and said seriously,

“Someone has rigged the tournament.”

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