Under the harsh cold climate, Brandon's body heated up all over like bathing in molten lava.
Sweat beaded from his forehead, and unable to bear it any longer, Brandon removed coat, revealing his long sleeved buttoned shirt.
"Haaa…. H-haaa…."
Rolling up his sleeves, he fixed his collar and continued taking deep heavy breaths.
The pain continued growing more and more intense in each passing minute. Brandon could honestly admit he had regretted taking the pill.
Yeah, he was used to pain.
But not to this extent.
It may have been less intense than when his mana core was unstable due to the Sovereign's Will integration, but it was still unbearable.
"Fuck…!"
Thwack! Thwack!
To mitigate the pain sohow, Brandon continuously smacked the ground with his fist.
His chest tightened further, and he couldn't help but clench his chest tightly with his bleeding hand.
"Shit…!"
To his horror, he sensed several mana signatures coming from sowhere. The threads attached to him vibrated.
Cold moisture seeped all over his skin, but Brandon remained unbothered. He should've been shivering at the mont as his hand scattered the snow below him.
However, due to rushing heat inside his body, sweat continued dripping down. As if protecting him from the permafrost.
The entire ordeal may have been taken into account. However, he didn't expect to be immobile.
"I think I sense soone over there."
"The mana signature is intense…."
Cautious voices rang from sowhere.
With no other way to defend himself, Brandon had no other choice.
He hadn't perfected the technique yet. However, it was worth a try—considering the adrenaline coursing in his veins.
With no ti to waste, he hoarsely whispered.
"Pha—ntasm….."
At that mont, the entire vicinity was gradually subrged in a layer of swirling mist.
Gritting his teeth, Brandon poured in as much mana as he could. The mist thickened in a matter of seconds, obscuring his vision.
"What's going on?"
"Is a snowstorm coming?"
They seed to have misunderstood the sudden turn of events—and while the mist did indeed contain mana, it seed to have blended in with the sporadic atmosphere.
Clenching his fist and gnashing his teeth, Brandon closed his eyes and sharpened his focus.
"Huu…."
***
Three cadets from class C had ford a group. After all, they had no chance against the other classes unless they tead up.
In the first place, this entire set up was unfair.
How could they even compete with the other classes?
It felt as if this entire training camp was designed for cadets outside class A to fail.
However, they didn't voice out their complaints. It's not as if they were focused on competing with the other class.
They should solely focus on their own class, and their rivals.
Of course, wary of their rivals, they ford a group outside of the previous group they had ford.
Their main objective was to help each other out in taking out their respective rivals.
"Should we…. retreat?"
One of the cadets asked. A woman with pink hair.
"Not yet, we might uncover sothing here."
The cadet acting as the leader responded to her question. A man with brown hair.
"I've got a bad feeling, Morgan."
The third mber spoke to the acting leader nad Morgan. A man with dark green hair.
Morgan quickly dismissed his worries as he walked forward, acting as the vanguard.
"If we want to beco as strong as the upper classes, we must face challenges head on."
"I guess so."
As they continued traversing the mist, they soon halted in their steps as the woman whispered with caution, pointing her finger ahead.
"T-There's a person….."
Morgan squinted his eyes, focusing his vision on where the woman was pointing.
Indeed, there was a person. However, it was nothing but a silhouette of a man standing still in the middle of the mist.
It felt rather uncanny, making them feel a sense of discomfort.
For that reason, they raised their guards up. Magic power surged within them as they extended their hands forward.
Shortly after, Morgan's voice echoed.
"Reveal yourself!"
However, he was t with no response. The silhouette stood still as if it hadn't heard Morgan.
"Last warning, we won't hesitate to attack you. Reveal yourself!"
And yet again, his warning was blatantly ignored. The silhouette stood unbothered.
"Don't bla us for what happens next."
Morgan narrowed his eyes.
Magic circles materialized around them and sparks of magic flew towards the silhouette's direction. The mist scattered slightly as the air rippled.
"Okay, that's enough."
Morgan gestured with his hand to the side, signaling to halt their attacks.
The other two nodded their hands in response and scanned ahead.
Despite the onrush of their attacks, the mist thickened once again, obscuring their vision.
"He's gone…."
"Did we get him?"
"Or…. killed him?"
"Shit. She's right Morgan, we might get expelled for this!"
But despite their exclamations, Morgan shook his head dismissively.
"Ridiculous. We've alerted him of our presence. Any cadet would imdiately defend themselves from that attack. Especially knowing what the current session entailed."
"So he just…. dodged, right?"
The woman asked.
"Exactly, keep your guards up. He might attack soon."
And Morgan was right. In a matter of seconds, a silhouette appeared right in front of them.
"Hieee—!"
"....!"
The woman scread while the two n swallowed in horror.
Swoosh—!
Water bullets abruptly shot out from the woman's magic circle. However, the silhouette dispersed and the bullets phased through.
"...."
They found themselves perplexed by the entire situation.
Clearly, it was nothing but a silhouette with no solid structure beneath it.
As if the entire mist was an illusion of so sort.
"Wha—"
"....!"
But in the next second, sothing entirely different happened.
Silhouettes appeared from all sides, encircling them.
No, as Morgan focused his attention, the single silhouette moved fast enough, giving the illusion that there were a lot.
Morgan had a bad feeling.
"Get out of here."
A whisper brushed past Morgan's ear. Imdiately, they turned around to the source of the sound, only to find a silhouette standing right in front of them.
A look of horror spread across their features, and shortly after….
Bang!
"Ukh…!"
Sothing impacted Morgan's back as skidded away several ters.
"No second chance."
The whisper brushed past their ears. His mbers stood frozen in horror, as if their legs were locked in place.
"Go, now!"
Morgan cried out, snapping them out of a daze.
There was no ti to think.
The misty area was a hazard. Thankfully, they were offered a chance to live and Morgan imdiately took the opportunity.
Massaging his side, Morgan got up and exclaid.
"Run!"
The other two imdiately rushed towards Morgan and he too ran ahead.
Just like that, they left the misty area.
***
Brandon stumbled and imdiately plumted down—face first—after returning to the boulder.
He had only wanted to scare them off with the silhouettes. However, it seed like they steeled their resolve and tried to fight back.
For that reason, Brandon had to grab the pathway, instantly traversing through the fog.
He didn't want to reveal himself. For that reason, he distracted them with a silhouette and blended his voice amidst the fog, forcing them to turn around.
Seizing that opportunity, Brandon poured in the little amount of strength he had left and struck the man with brown hair's back.
"Haaa…. Haaa….."
Brandon clutched his chest as he turned around, staring at the grayscale sky.
His body ached all over, and it took all the strength he had just to achieve that feat.
He wanted to close his eyes. However, the pain didn't allow him to sleep as much as he liked.
"Kh…!"
But as the pain continued to intensify even further, Brandon found himself grinning.
"It worked…. Haaa…."
He was able to distort the mist, creating an illusion, even blending his voice within the mist.
But that happiness had only been brief as his body continued heating up.
Since his mana was quite abundant, Brandon had no plans of lifting the mist even further.
The entire vicinity was his domain, and with no way to defend himself, he could only rely on the mist to scare off any unwanted visitors.
"Fuck—Kh! When is this going to end….?"
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