Chapter 708: Flag Capture

From a distance, Leo could see the difference in the landscape at the location of the bright beam.

Others also noticed it.

"Whoa? Leon and Uraan never informed us about this ice-covered region," Ronan said while gazing towards the location.

"They also never informed us about a man-made structure..." Leo added, pointing at the small hut through which the beam shot up into the sky. The hut seemed to be made entirely of stone, with a simple grey texture.

"Hmm, I think this might have appeared alongside this flag," Cecil, the only girl in the group, pointed out. Since the Emperor was a spatial expert, it was more than possible.

Cecil had black hair, unlike Ronan's red hair, even though both were flame-element users. This was due to the fact that Cecil was the first person with a flame-element tame in her family.

It might be that as she grew stronger, her hair would take on a red shade in case the flame truly integrated with her body. If not, it would only be after the next generation, which would be her kids, that the red hair would start appearing.

"Even the area in which it seems to have appeared looks abnormal; it's like a patch of white in a region covered with tall green trees."

As they got closer, they realised Cecil was right.

The tall trees abruptly disappeared the moment the white patch started.

The patch was a circular region with a diameter of 5 kilometres. It was completely flat, like a cold desert, except for the stone hut sitting right at the centre.

Leo and Agnivar flew around the area while Leo repeatedly used his scanning skills.

"Strange... I don't find anything..." Leo muttered.

"Me too," Ronan replied. Apparently, he could also use [Spiritual Sense].

Cecil looked a bit envious since she didn't have a good professor to learn the soul techniques.

They even landed on the edge of the snowfield, and Leo used [Geo-Resonance Sense] in case something was hiding below the ground, but still found nothing.

Since they couldn't find anything, they slowly started walking towards the hut in the centre while maintaining a defensive formation to immediately respond to any attack.

Thankfully, the Evergrove Academy didn't seem to be around here. In other words, they could focus on this task.

As they walked towards the centre with Leo leading them, he was suddenly contacted through the talisman crafted by Tavian. At the same time, a screen appeared on top of the stone structure.

"Leo!" It was Tavian.

"The private screen suddenly appeared on its own, and it says our academy has stepped into a flag region and that at least 1 person needs to be present in that region for 6 hours for the flag to be considered captured and to receive the rewards from the structure in the centre."

"Yes, we stepped into a snowfield just now, and it seems the same information appeared here too," Leo responded.

"Oh, nice! I don't know what the structure there is, but good luck!" Tavian encouraged him before cutting the call in case it was distracting him.

Leo squinted his eyes to read whatever the screen said.

There was a 6-hour counter that had already begun, along with some additional information.

1. To keep the capture process going, at least 1 person from any group needs to be present in the flag region for the entire duration. If the region is left empty for even a second, time resets.

2. The timer will stop if two academies are in one region. It resumes once again when the arriving academy is driven out.

3. In case some other academy drives out an already capturing academy, the timer resets, and the new academy will start from scratch.

4. After the flag has been captured, there's no need to stay here and defend; the capturing team may retrieve their rewards from the structure in the centre and depart.

5. It's possible to snatch away the retrieved rewards, and they cannot truly belong to an academy stronghold unless the rewards are brought near the spirit beam of the stronghold beacon.

5:59:21

5:59:20

The timer had already started as Leo and the others began their discussion.

"Is there no other threat other than some other academy?" Ronan asked with a frown, not exactly getting the right feeling.

"Most probably not... There should be some other hurdle, if I may say so myself," Leo responded, scanning the area again, but found nothing.

He turned towards Thalvyr.

"Thalvyr, walk at the back and repel any surprise attacks." Then he looked up at Agnivar.

"Provide aerial support through breath attacks whenever necessary, and also keep an eye on the scout that we left out to check on the surroundings!"

Agnivar nodded.

Ronan also summoned his humanoid beast—Moltenbrand Sentinel (High 3-star)—though its normal 6-meter height had been reduced to around 3 meters, making it a bittaller than Thalvyr. It walked parallel to the group on the side, ready to defend against any attacks.

Cecil, not wanting to be left behind, also summoned her half-spirit horse beast—Flamehoof Vanguard (Mid 3-star)—to walk on the other side of the group. This way, Ronan, Cecil, and Plato walked in the centre, creating a good formation for defending the physically weaker ones.

The Flamehoof Vanguard was a 6-meter-tall horse completely covered in flames. And due to being a half-spirit, its flames weren't being dimmed by the cold atmosphere.

But the Sentinel's outer lava-covered body had already started to form a rock-hard crust.

And that wasn't bad, because the crust would act like tough natural body armour. This humanoid beast seemed quite adaptable: in hot regions, its crust broke or melted away to free its movements, increasing agility; in colder environments, the thick armour that formed as the lava cooled and crusted provided high defence.

While walking, Leo just started an idle chat to loosen the tense mood.

"Oh? Ronan's Sentinel might be able to ride Cecil's half-spirit horse."

Both concerned individuals also noted the fact. If the Sentinel wielded a giant sword, he might really become a Horse-Riding Knight.

"Shit! Should have taken a sword for Sentinel too from the armoury!" Ronan suddenly realised that he had missed a critical chance and grimaced.

And just like that, 1 hour passed.

04:59:59

Suddenly—

A strong gust of wind took everybody by surprise, released from the stone at the centre. The surrounding snow immediately blew into a cloud, blocking all sight.

And it was also at that moment that Leo suddenly felt a dangerous presence out of nowhere.

SHRRAKKKHHH--!!

A dangerously hissing sound rang out, and what welcomed them after the snow settled was a serpent.

Ice-Viper (Peak 4-star) - Noble Bloodline (9-tail variant)

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*Moltenbrand Sentinel Image*

*Flamehoof Vanguard Image*

*Nine-Tailed Ice Viper Image*