Chapter 359: Another one

After an hour, Ned arrived at a place where candidates were being overwhelmed by magical beasts: goblins, and water wargs.

But there was more to it. Ned could sense vibration below the ground.

"The Guild made sure to fill this island with beasts," Ned said as he ducked and examined the candidates below him. It's a good thing he got to learn the Zephyr spell, if not, his travel would be difficult and energy-consuming. Ned got 750 points of Mana stored inside his Storing orb.

Currently, if Ned wanted to reach a thousand points, he could if he wanted to by simply stealing the orbs of the candidates below him.

Judging from their movements, there seemed to be three groups battling the magical beasts surrounding them. A pair of warriors: a pair of females and a male. In another group, there were six of them in mixes of mostly mages and arches, with a single knight. And another team, three of them all having a bow for their weapons.

Arrows swooshed and irons hummed, the candidates were slowly pushed in the center. While the beasts were flanking them. For some reason, the magical beasts weren't killing candidates instantly as they wanted to torture them first as though they were programmed to behave that way.

Ned sighted the candidates, most of their orbs were hidden but Ned saw a pair of the warriors' orbs measly tucked inside their pouches and were left hanging on their waist.

The candidates were shouting and Ned could barely understand their native tongues.

Ned was preparing for a moment where the warrior would let down their guards, or make the wrong move.

Judging from the pair of warriors, they seemed to be veterans but their first time to join the Hunter Exam.

Ned was waiting, and while he was, he was also formulating plans for a smooth escape.

Although difficult to see for a human eyes under the darkness, Ned was able to notice the sharp edges of the hills rose over the horizon to his right. While to his left was a thick forest with the trees' shadows barely noticeable under the moonlight.

Up to the hill then, Ned thought.

That way he's got a higher chance to immediately lose the candidates trailing him after he reached the top of the hill first. Then from there, he could find a good spot to hide and wait for more opportunities to gather points. But it will depend on what was on the other side of the hill.

From his line of sight, Ned could predict how long the time to travel from his current situation to the hill. And he judged it would take him 10 minutes, or so. Which ICE also agreed. This means for Ned that he needed at least 10 minutes to maneuver the tall grasses, and boulders to reach the hill.

And so Ned got into action after the pair of warriors broke the overall formation and decided to rush forward. Killing more magical beasts along the way but also losing track of their surroundings.

Ned had to move swiftly. If it was possible for him not to be noticed by the rest of the candidates, it would be much better. Way better, since he got less to deal with.

Ned was sure that the candidates would survive even with a dozen goblins and wargs surrounding them. But Ned wasn't sure how to react to the vibration below them.

Ned used the skill Detect, but the movements were too fast that the skill wasn't able to detect it on time.

Ned threw himself off the tree, free-falling until he reached a couple of meters above the ground. Ned then flipped and landed before the pair of warriors, in the center of the team, and the middle of the magical beast being flanked in different directions.

Ned couldn't use Overclock, his body wasn't able to with every fiber of his muscles in pain. But his speed was still fast enough even from the other candidates.

Ned grabbed the leather pouches off the pair of warrior's waists, he then vanished before their eyes, all they could see was a blur.

Mid-air, Ned pouched the pair of orbs with the shocked faces of the warrior.

And just as Ned was about to conjure a pair of Zephyr chains, a rigid set of teeth exploded off the ground and tried to attack Ned mid-air.

It was a worm-like creature with rapid appendages, and only tiny, pointy teeth were visible on its face. It was as big as Ned, but Ned couldn't determine what was its actual length as it bore underground.

The creature leaped off the ground, almost catching Ned. Ned flipped midair and withdrew the Krisalix off its scabbard then slashed the worm-like creature.

His surprise hit nothing but air and Ned landed on the ground with the orbs he absorbed off the Storing orb.

After he successfully transferred the Mana in the orbs, Ned threw them on the ground. Before the worm-like creature reacts, another worm came off the ground. But this time, it took half of the candidate in the middle then half more of the magical beast. The new worm-like creature was bigger than the first one by almost two levels, and much longer.

But Ned saw something very familiar, which caught him off guard.

Goblins and wargs scattered after the new creature showed itself. It was also a worm-like creature, but with fury skin along with its tough shells that covered its body. It has a pair of pincers jittering at the side of its mouth, eyes like purple marble under the moonlight.

There was one thing that caught Ned's attention. Under its appendages, just below its mouth was a lump of meat beating furiously, much bigger than the one that guulvorg had. It was beating so hard, its vibration even reached Ned. Its marble eyes turned furious red as he stared at the candidates and beasts alike under it. As it went enraged, countless pairs of limbs grew on its sides, then it shook its body as though it was against its will to go enraged.