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It was changed in the previous chapter and Dark Dell didn't reveal her identity as female.
“After all, we're all women. We know what the others are thinking.” = “They are all women. I know what they are thinking.”
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“What do we do? We seem to have lost them??” After Winnie and Shikondell left, the two students attempted to keep following them, continuing their efforts to steal kills and annoy them. But for some unknown reason, they who previously stuck to the pair like stinking dog feces suddenly couldn't find their way anymore, as if they'd gotten lost in the forest.
“Tch, what's there to fear? They can't just vanish in the forest, can they? Keep going, we'll definitely find them. Don't forget my Soul armament is specifically for tracking,” said one of the students, raising his crossbow enhanced by his soul armament, its frame wrapped with several massive beast claws.
Yet after circling several more times, they still couldn't locate Winnie and the others.
“Strange... How did those two grown men just disappear in the forest??” They argued in confusion. “Why can't my Soul-Tracking Crossbow detect them anymore??”
“Could they have used some concealment magic?”
“I don't know, but I believe they can't hide from us. Keep searching.”
“Wait, there's another spider-ape over there!”
“Oh? Perfect. Before we catch up to them, let's deal with this one first and gain some points.” With that, the two joined forces to attack the relatively small spider-ape.
“Die!” As the spider-ape was injured, one student raised his crossbow for the final blow, when suddenly, an emerald-green seed floated above their heads. Immediately, a massive floral vine shot out from it, lashing towards the wounded ape.
The two vines delivered the finishing blow cleanly, piercing through the spider-ape, which collapsed lifelessly to the ground.
“Huh??” The two students stared at each other, instinctively looking up at their own heads. The green seed that had just appeared had already disappeared, and the vine had retracted.
“Did you see that? What just happened?” After a moment of silence, one student asked the other.
“How should I know? It looked like grass sprouted from your head?”
“Get out of here! Grass grew from your head, not mine!” The other student rolled his eyes.
“No, seriously, I saw grass sprout from your head!”
“I'm serious too, I saw a vine emerge from your head and impale that ape.”
“No, wait, we both had an emerald seed on our heads! The vine it produced killed the spider-ape.”
“So?” They both realized the same thing, points. Did they get any?
Since this test was conducted in teams, it didn't matter which of them landed the killing blow; points would be shared either way.
As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. The main reason they paired up was because their Soul armament types were similar, both excelled at stealing kills.
But when they checked their magic tablets, their scores hadn't changed. It remained exactly the same as when they'd killed the first two beasts.
In other words, that mysterious vine's kill wouldn't count toward their score.
“What the hell was that thing just now?!” one of the students gaped in shock.
“Still don't get it? We've been tricked!” The other student snapped. “Earlier, that moon elf boy sprinkled seeds on us, that was a curse! That curse steals our kills!”
“Damn, what a vicious spell! We need to report this to the instructors!”
“Report? How? It's not an attack spell! The rules clearly state only attacks on other students count.”
“Then what do we do now??” The student recalled Shikondell's earlier ultimatum and felt a chill. “It's barely started, and we can't even capture a single prey. Our scores are going to look awful.”
"Why panic? Are you just going to believe everything that moon elf says? I refuse to believe this random curse can actually steal kills right out of our hands!" The student clenched his teeth. “Come on, let's keep hunting, and find Winnie and the others. We must find them!”
“But what good is finding them? They won't remove the curse for us, will they?”
“Don't worry about that now! Just find them! Worst case, we'll all fight for the same kill, let's see who's faster!” The student gritted his teeth.
“Look, there's a three-tailed deer over there!”
“I refuse to believe it!” The two students stubbornly bit their lips and attacked simultaneously. As they did, the emerald-green seed on each of their heads activated as well.
In the end, the final blow was once again stolen by the seeds on their heads.
“Arghhh!” The students nearly exploded with rage. They were furious, they had finally realized how infuriating and mentally devastating it was to have kills stolen. Stealing others' kills had always been fun and satisfying, especially snatching Winnie's, but now that it was happening to them, the pain was overwhelming.
“No way! This damn seed! Let's wait until it appears, then attack each other's seeds!” One student suggested.
“Fine!” So they found another beast and attacked together. Sure enough, as they launched their assault, the seeds on their heads emerged once more, joining the fight.
At the same time, they seized the opportunity and fired spells at each other's seeds. But their magic passed straight through the seeds without effect.
“What?!” Both were stunned.
Why couldn't they hit the damn seed?!
But battles don't pause. The deer-like beast, wreathed in flames, seeing their aggression, went berserk and charged at them.
“Damn it! Forget the seed, we need to deal with this fire deer first!” They began attacking the massive fiery deer with arrows.
But their magical bolts never reached it, intercepted by a molten flame barrier rising around the beast.
“What?!” The two, hoping for a quick victory, broadened their eyes in shock. Only now did they notice the deer's eyes burning with fire, and the surrounding magical energy was intensely potent.
They immediately sensed trouble, had they stumbled upon a powerful opponent?
This hunting exam did include many powerful beasts. Although the area designated for first-years was supposed to have very few of them, rare didn't mean nonexistent.
Even with beginner's luck, sometimes you drew a 'jackpot'.
After several effective attacks, the two students began to panic.
They both wielded bow-and-crossbow Soul armaments. If their magical projectiles were ineffective, they'd have little chance against the fiery deer's assault.
Just as expected, the flaming giant deer charged through relentlessly. Seeing this, the two turned pale and fled in disarray, forgetting to retaliate.
If not for the seeds appearing above their heads, launching a few attacks that slowed the deer down, they might've already been gored and sent flying.
The fire deer was truly formidable, leaving a trail of scorched earth with each stomp.
“Arghhh!!” They screamed as they fled, one after the other.
“Hey, hey! Buddy, looks like that moon elf kid wasn't lying after all. This seed magic is actually a blessing, not a curse or some spell. Should we thank him? If not for the seeds he planted on us, we'd probably be eliminated by now!” One student suddenly said.
“You really have no sense of timing! Is this really the moment to talk about that?! Besides, aren't we in this mess because of him in the first place??”
Meanwhile, unaware of what had transpired, Winnie and Shikondell walked through the woods. Winnie suddenly noticed a new string of points on his magic tablet.
“Huh??” Winnie stared in surprise at the score. “Weird... it actually increased.”
“So, Dell, what kind of magic was that, exactly?” Winnie asked.
“A protective spell of the moon elves, I already told you,” Shikondell replied, arms crossed, raising an eyebrow. “It continuously extends floral vines to attack hostile targets near the bearer. I just adjusted the spell's sequence so its attack frequency slows down, only increasing when prey is about to fall.”
"That way, they'll barely get any points. Every beast they hunt will count as our kill."
“That's pretty harsh,” Winnie couldn't help but say.
“What? Feeling sorry for them?” Shikondell shot him with a sidelong glance.
“No, not at all. Don't misunderstand. Please, don't let them off. Keep going.”
“Heh, as if I needed you to tell me that?” Shikondell sneered. “I'll make those two humans regret their actions today.”
“So... you came out specifically to avenge the other Dell because you saw ‘him’ being bullied?” Winnie asked.
“It's not just that.”
“Not just that?”
“They bullied my chosen 'prey', they must pay the price.” Shikondell fixed Winnie with that aggressive intense gaze once more.
“Cough... Dell, stop it,” Winnie shivered, instinctively stepping back.
"What? You dare reject me?" Shikondell didn't back down, forcefully closing the distance. Every step Winnie took back, she advanced one more.
“No, no, I didn't reject you.”
“Don't move. Don't pull away again, got it?” Shikondell grabbed Winnie's wrist with an authoritative tone.
“Uh... Dell, don't do this. We're not exactly acting like we're on a hunt anymore, holding hands and pulling each other around. What kind of example is this?”
“Oh? Since you know that, stop resisting, understand? Human?” Shikondell firmly grasped Winnie's hand, her voice leaving no room for argument.
“Look, Dell, I just want to say, I've been having some issues lately. I can't use magic right now, so we should stay alert. What if a beast attacks us?”
“Oh, is that all? No problem. You don't need to exert yourself, just stay behind me,” Shikondell raised her eyebrow.
“I think we should at least respect, ”
“Dell, never mind that. There's a beast ahead, it's charging at us!”
Ahead, three three-tailed deer suddenly appeared, charging straight towards them. But Shikondell didn't even glance at them. She stomped her foot, and three thick floral vines burst from the ground, impaling the ferocious spirit deer from below.
[Thousand Buds Moon Laurel Vine]
Winnie blinked, then watched as his magic tablet's score updated.
“Tch, stupid things, what made you think you could interrupt us??” Shikondell tilted her head up.
As always, an aggressive powerful spell.
Winnie had never seen the original Shikondell use such a devastatingly violent spell before.
But then again, these were probably all spells Shikondell knew, like summoning vines, but due to her personality, he'd never seen her use them. He couldn't even imagine her using such spells until now.
From then on, it became a one-woman rampage, Shikondell hunting while casually strolling with Winnie.
One couldn't help but marvel, Dark Shikondell's combat talent truly was immense. Many elven magics that weren't originally meant for direct attacks, under her unique understanding, were transformed into terrifying offensive spells.
Indeed, without exceptional mastery in certain areas, one truly couldn't qualify as a fated heroine.
When Winnie learned that this hunting points match was conducted by dorm teams, he thought they'd surely suffer a crushing defeat.
Fine, he couldn't use his Soul armament or magic, but his teammate was Shikondell, an harmless, non-aggressive mascot. This match was essentially forfeited.
But unexpectedly, their team's performance was outstanding. All the way through, Shikondell dominated the first-year division with her devastatingly powerful, modified elven magics.
Winnie barely lifted a finger, mostly just cheering from the side, providing emotional support to Dark Shikondell.
Huh. Who would've thought? Could he really ride coattails even when teamed with Shikondell?
He didn't expect it either.
But
The hunt ended, but the matter didn't seem to be over.
Because,
“Cough... um, Dark Dell... Dell hasn't woken up yet?” Looking at Dark Shikondell, who still remained in 'online' mode as they stepped out of the forest, Winnie couldn't help but ask.