Following his plan, Aaron proposed a plan of renting the horse wagons to travel from Emerald City citing the reasons like the long waiting time on a weekend and the crowd in the central city.
Furthermore, as flying is prohibited in the central city, they would have to take the road route but it will be very difficult to find six horse-wagons to travel either while traveling on foot is just humiliating.
But, how could they travel more than 3000km in horse wagons and reach in just four hours of time?
Hence, Aaron convinced the principal by stating that Arc Company will dispatch an expert to the Central City. That said expert has already set up a portal located outside of the city.
They can just go into the portal and end up on the outskirts of the central city. This works the same way as the teleportation formation at the portal point and doesn't have any long lines either.
The principal was forced to believe Aaron's words as he never suspected him, and arranged this mode of travel.
The wagons picked by the principal were the best of the best in Emerald City. They could travel at the speeds of 90-100 km/hr with ease, although with heavy weight in the back, their speed is reduced to 50-60 kmph, but still, it is good enough to reach the teleportation point within no time as it was located just about 35km away.
Under Aaron's lead, the representatives of the Emerald Academy crossed the city walls and ventured into the wild zone.
Within no time, they reached the spot and teleported directly to the Central City. Or so, they hoped but in reality, they ended up in the wild zone, located atleast 75km away from the city.
Thinking that it is just another couple of hours of travel, Aaron told the coachmen to get going.
After traveling for an hour, they reached halfway and Aaron instructed everyone to stop and take a 15-minute break by the lake, which looked like a tourist spot, although for some reason, there are no people around.
Azzy and his flying group also landed on the ground to join the others.
"Be careful students. Monsters are hiding in the lake. So, it is best if don't go too near." Aaron warned them as a vice principal.
A teacher named Hannah served coffee and snacks to her colleagues as they sat together and talk about the Arcana festival.
Azzy joined them but didn't speak a thing until he was specifically asked something. He didn't even chat with Snivy or Flora and kept his entire attention on the surroundings.
Roughly around seven minutes into the break, Azzy finally saw eight strangers with his aura sensing. The strongest of them is in the 9-star realm, two were in the 8-star realm and the remaining five were in the 7-star realm.
Since they didn't bother to mask their presence, the teachers also sensed their presence. At once, their expressions changed and Aaron felt like cursing them for flaunting their soul realms like this.
Snivy got up on her feet and spoke, "Did you also sense them?"
The others also nodded and a teacher named Caleb tried to ease up the tension, "C'mon, this is the capital city of this world. Experts of such caliber were often seen around. It is not something that we should be concerned about."
"Not if they were moving toward us," commented Azzy as he too stood on his feet.
The history teacher named Matthew waved his hand, "Why would they come at us? They must be passing by."
"Not us, me," replied Azzy.
Aaron and everyone's expression became serious once again as Azzy went on to order them, "Now, gather the students and get ready to leave. Don't blame me if you guys will be caught in the crossfire."
"Coming for you? What are you talking about?" Flora was stunned and then became concerned.
Azzy didn't explain anything more and flew toward the center of the lake and floated above it.
A giant fish suddenly leaped up from the lake and attacked him with its sharp jaws.
Azzy raised his hand. Natural energy surrounded his hand in the form of a sharp blade before he swung at it.
The fish's head was severed with a clean cut and the two pieces fell into the lake and drowned.
"What is he doing?" wondered Raydon upon witnessing this scene from the shores of the lake.
However, the students and their teachers didn't have the time to ponder on his actions as the eight experts had already reached the spots one after another.
One of them appeared before Azzy while the remaining appeared before the other teachers, surrounding them.
"Who are you guys? What do you want?" Aaron questioned them as a part of his act.
One of the two legendary realm experts responded by taking out a list. "We have some names here. Handover them over to us and we will leave in peace. Resist and there will be bloodshed."
"Tell that to someone afraid of a battle." Snivy reacted before the others by summoning her Arcana.
Following her, Flora also summoned her Yeti too, intending to battle them upon realizing that they weren't here for Azzy but for the students.
As the two 8-star realm Arcana Masters frowned at their actions, Aaron tried to talk them out of it, "Ladies, please calm down. The lives of 60 students are at stake here. We cannot defeat them even in normal situations."
His words might be directed at Snivy and Flora but he was indirectly giving instructions to his comrades.
Upon understanding the hidden meaning, the deputy leader of the enemy gang nodded, "Very wise. As he said, you have a great baggage. So, pipe down your ego and stay quiet. Most of their lives are meaningless to us but are quite important to you. So, sit down there and…"
*Swoosh*
A figure blow past between the deputy leader and Aaron, interrupting their conversation all of a sudden.
They turned their head to see Elizabeth Bathory crashing onto the ground before picking herself up and staring at the figure floating above the lake. His eyes were glowing in translucent color.
Everyone's gazes also shifted toward Azzy with Aaron going into a daze, wondering whether it was real or it is a dream.
Azzy has a layer of natural energy around his body. And he was making a tight fist with a look of indifference on his face. "Not fast enough. I guess I overestimate you quite a bit."
The devilish beauty turned serious as she stomped the ground in rage and flew toward Azzy.
Everyone became a spectator, forgetting about other things.
Bathory reached him in a fraction of a second and threw a punch at his face. Azzy appeared to be even faster than her. He tilted his head and counterattacked her with a punch to her wrist.
As her hand moved away while she was feeling extreme pain, feeling as if her bone is broken, Azzy followed up with a left hook to her cheek.
She spat out a mouthful of blood as she flew a few meters before falling toward the water.
"That is a fuc*ing supreme being. Where the heck this ba*tard came from?" Aaron's jaw dropped in shock. "Please tell me I'm dreaming." He quickly removed his blindfold and observed Azzy.
It was then Bathory slowly rise from the water, covered by scarlet energy and a spear in her hand.
"Hmm?" Azzy raised his eyebrows in suspicion as he realized that the spear is an Arcana spirit.
"Shouldn't Bathory possess the Arcana of blood just like her ancestors? Did she perhaps awaken a second Arcana spirit?" thought Azzy.
Meanwhile, Aaron narrowed his eyes and observed her a bit more. As his eyes glowed, a frown appeared on his face. "This…"
He hurriedly took out a message item card and sent a word message to someone.
Bathory swirled around her spear for a couple of seconds before raising it above her head and swinging it down at her enemy. The spear turned flexible like a whip and extended toward its target.
In response, Azzy closed his eyes as he raised his hand. A knight shield with a brown-colored stone embedded in its center has appeared in his hand.
The shield blocked the attack.
Azzy then raised his other hand. Natural energy gushed out of his spirit core.
The energy was then pushed out of his body, forming a translucent saber in his hand.
"Now, it's my turn." Azzy flew forward like lightning. Bathory hurriedly waved the flexible spear but he evaded them with ease and counterattacked with piercing her neck.
He was expecting her to dodge but surprisingly, she couldn't. A huge hole made out of her neck and the blood started gushing out like a river.
Instead of trying to heal with her soul energy, she surprised Azzy once again by taking out a healing card in a hurry.
He thought that she was panicking and took the opportunity to slash at her neck horizontally.
Her head was separated from her body and became a corpse just like the fish.
Staring coldly at her body that was about to drown, Azzy commented, "Elizabeth Bathory aka the Blood Countess. Your strength doesn't match your reputation."
Just as he finished his comment, he caught a glimpse at Bathory's face just before it drowned. It changed to someone else.
Azzy hurriedly grabbed the severed head before it gets drowned in the lake. "It's not her. Who is this person?"
It was then a scarlet-colored portal opened out of nowhere and Elizabeth Bathory stepped outside.
The students and the teachers who were rejoicing were stunned at once.
Meanwhile, the newcomer's eyes fell on Azzy and her eyes widened in surprise. "Aelius?"
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