Chapter 722: Becoming The First Ranked Academy And An Attack - 1

They had been just trailing behind Zyrak when, as he was about to reach the stronghold, multiple arrows were shot towards him from a distance.

The dragon didn't even bother to dodge because the power behind them was too weak.

Like any other base, this one was built on an elevated platform, but the stronghold's quality wasn't that great. Only the walls, which seemed to have been personally built by someone with the Earth element, seemed good. Everything else was lacklustre.

Leo also spotted a few people on the walls who were firing arrows and had a wolf crest on their dresses.

"That's… Valencrest Royal Academy?" Leo muttered in confusion.

"What happened to them?"

Leo said that because there was no way in hell this lacking and weak-looking stronghold could have been built by Valencrest Royal Academy, which was also the 1st-ranked academy in the Human Empire.

"Maybe they got attacked by some other academies during the base-building phase?" Lily suggested.

Leo nodded.

"That seems to be the most probable cause. And looking at the walls, Dale seems to have survived the initial assault and built those…"

At that moment, Lily suddenly recalled something.

"NO!" she exclaimed.

"That bitch belonged to Valencrest Royal Academy!" She held her hair as if some unbearable pain had assaulted her.

"I lost my opportunity to teach her a lesson."

Outside in the stadium, everybody heard Lily's words. But the operators had been clever enough to cut the specific part where Lily called Evelyn a bitch.

This was because it might create a bad reputation for Lily, especially when it would later be revealed that Evelyn was the Emperor's daughter.

In fact, there was a 10-minute delay in the stream, so the operators could cut parts where the students showed real hostility toward each other.

This was because the students were future powerhouses who would represent their race in the future, and there would be many people looking up to them. And in case they saw their idols hating some individual, they would first begin to hate that individual and then slowly, the people who idolised that individual.

Not only did this have a great chance of widening the rift between two races, but it could also cause different groups of people within the same race to hate each other, leading to unnecessary fighting and even civil war.

And no, they weren't doing this out of speculation. This had already happened many times in the Human Empire, where people would view their local rulers as almighty beings or even gods because of the unfathomable power they wielded in comparison to the common masses in a literal sense, and would wage war against any other community that didn't have the same views or when their ruler disliked some other ruler of the same category.

And right now, where Leo and Lily were being set up for the grand stage, showing their hostility towards fellow humans was not at all good.

But of course, hiding it from the masses was different from hiding it from the people who were the subject of the hate.

Evelyn ground her teeth in frustration at Lily's words, completely aware of what Lily might have called her in the cut section. Apparently, still being in the infirmary, they couldn't see the ranking boards with the academy names on them.

"Fuck off! I just got unlucky with my stronghold placement, or else I would have personally taught you a lesson!" she snarled, already annoyed that they had been beaten 3 times, and all by the dragons.

The first time was indeed during the base-building phase, where they eliminated a low-ranked dragon academy, but the damage was substantial, and they lost most of their important forces that would have been necessary for building a good base and doing basic work.

The 2nd and 3rd were flag-capturing events, and now they would finally be out.

Dale was already sighing in the distance, internally thinking about how much luck one needed to have to escape from Lily's clutches.

Oh wait, I am among them… I guess.

Dale was still not sure whether Lily had forgiven him or not.

Inside the secret realm, Zyrak had already begun razing the Valencrest Academy Stronghold. The moment he was about to land and dig out the beacon, Leo removed the stealth.

Zyrak immediately straightened and created a bit of distance.

"Wh—!"

All of a sudden, something heavy slammed into his back, and he was sent crashing down onto the ground.

Again.

Midfall, Leo struck him once again with a critical punch that fractured and cracked several scales around the point of impact and even exposed the red, soft skin beneath.

"WHICH BASTARD—!"

His eyes widened when he saw a pink-haired girl already near the stronghold beacon, swiftly using Earth Manipulation to dig through the ground.

"THIEVES!" Zyrak cursed.

THAM!

He crashed on the ground, only to find a huge black feline beast with violet markings charging swiftly through the shadows, where spotting it was almost impossible. At the same time, multiple vines generated from the ground and pinned Zyrak to the ground, even covering his mouth so he couldn't breathe out fire.

Leo made him face the direction where Lily had finished destroying the stronghold beacon, then proceeded to beat him up thoroughly.

He had to commend the dragon's toughness. Even after multiple strikes, Zyrak somehow remained intact. Only after Leo hammered his skull did he get teleported away.

"Sir Leo, the 7th-ranked academy with 15 points disappeared, and our academy points increased. Now we are 1st!" Fruder immediately contacted Leo and shared the news enthusiastically.

Leo's face formed a satisfied smile, and they immediately headed for Azirith Academy's stronghold in the south of the central mountain to destroy it and end Phase 2 as quickly as possible.

When they reached the location, they were rather disappointed by the stronghold's structure.

Though it sat around the peak of the mountain, where they could see the tall, huge realm gate in the distance, the beacon seemed to be kept inside a large cave dug into the mountain.

Leo could faintly sense some weak draconic presence inside the cave—likely the last remaining students of the Azirith Grand Academy, along with those brought as 'extras' to handle menial tasks.

Without further ado, they walked in.