Leonel's breathing held steady. Ever since his magic and body became interconnected, it wasn't just his speed that gained a great boost, but also his recoverability. This was only to be expected. After all, his Light Elemental Force had awakened its Healing Branch and now it was one with his body.
Even though his current Healing Branch was almost like a glass canon, providing one massive heal in exchange for months of dormancy, it had gained a somewhat passive state as well thanks to Camelot's magic system.
The only shame was that Leonel had been so busy recently that he hadn't had the time to research more of this magic system. He felt that he definitely had to find this time in the future.
Leonel had already simulated the best path for him, and he felt that that was fusing his magic and spearmanship into one. As things stood now, he always either used one or the other, but that was almost like crippling himself. He would definitely have to do some more experiments.
'It'll be night soon.' Leonel sighed.
Nearer to dusk, the pace of the group had slowed considerably. This wasn't just due to the poor lighting, but also because of Leonel's orders.
In the afternoon, they had focused on speed, killing every beast they came across while dodging large dens. However, when the lights began to dim, Leonel became more cautious.
Every time a beast was killed, they would go out of their way to clean the scene and move the corpse elsewhere to throw the Oryx off course. In fact, Leonel had even gotten a few freshman with ice abilities to chill the corpses ahead of time as well so they would be even more difficult for the Oryx to find.
All of this caution led to their pace slowing down even further.
Though many understood why Leonel had chosen to do this, there were other anxious individuals who would have much rather focused on their speed. If they had, they might have already been half way there and just another four or five hours away.
But, Leonel had chosen to take the opposite approach, something Jaelis was greatly unsatisfied with.
Logically, this was the best approach to limit casualties and help the most people survive. But, why should he care about the survival of some mere freshmen?
The darker the skies grew, the more antsy Jaelis became. He really began weighing his options for whether he should split off on his own or not.
What he was more surprised about, though, was that he had already tried to sway the group's opinion earlier in the day. He had thought that with his white belt status, many would listen to him. And in truth, a few did.
Among them, there was no surprise that the silent Senior Lu had also taken his side.
But, to their surprise, the vast majority still took Leonel's side. They weren't fools. If they could come to Valiant Heart, they definitely had some intelligence of their own.
Though Leonel's approach was a bit overly cautious, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with it.
Like this, Jaelis' small stint at rebellion had fallen flat.
He looked toward Leonel's back at that moment, only to find that the latter didn't seem to be paying attention to him in the slightest. He didn't seem to realize that Leonel's Internal Sight was observing every single one of his actions from start to finish.
But how could he? As far as Jaelis knew, Internal Sight was easily detectable. When had he ever run into one as subtly controlled as Leonel's?
'I guess it's about time.' Leonel thought.
"Alright, everyone. There should be a mine network up ahead. As long as we have metals interfering with their sight, it will be even more difficult for the Oryx to find us. We can hide away here until the morning."
When Leonel's voice silently reached all their ears, everyone perked up.
So it seemed that Leonel really did have a plan. This was great!
Of course, if they all knew that the mine network Leonel was speaking of was one from the map he had memorized on the day he launched an attack at the Ores Market… Who knew how they would react?
Aina looked toward Leonel's side profile.
'He's getting more and more bad everyday.' Her lip couldn't help but curl.
This had been Leonel's plan from the beginning. He knew they couldn't make it so he had laid a map of their progress atop of a map of Sarrieth's mind network within his Dream World. Then, he picked out a suitable location they would reach just before the sun officially set.
Soon, the group found a small rock field. Sparse grass sputtered through every so often, but the minor 20 or so meter wide space were mostly made of greys.
Near its center, a cave mouth hung open, dipping into the ground quite quickly. But, what was especially eye catching was the fact that there were four white belted seniors playing a game of cards by the cave entrance.
The four sat at a table together, taking swings of what looked like liquor and happily laughing amongst themselves. It was clear that they had no idea of the looming threat hanging over their heads.
At that moment, the four suddenly went on high alert, their eyes widening when they saw a group that now numbered over a hundred walking toward them.
Had they really been so out of it? How had they not sensed these people approaching?
Of course, they had no idea that Leonel had set up several sound blockades around the large group.
"Who are you?! This is the territory of King of Ores faction! Turn away unless you want trouble!"
The moment the four saw that this was nothing more than a group of freshmen, they relaxed.
When had the fresh meat become so trash? They completed such simple missions in groups of a hundred now? How pathetic could they get?
Leonel's lip inwardly curled. 'Well isn't this just perfect?'
Raylion had no idea that Leonel's trap was slowly closing in on him.
Clearing his throat, Leonel stepped forward.
"Respected seniors, we're here to ask for shelter. Our group has run in to evidence of Oryx activity. It's too dangerous to stay in the forest after the sun sets. We only want to hide within the mines until morning comes."
Leonel's expression looked sincere, but he already knew what the response to him would be.
'Come on, King of Ores Faction.. Don't disappoint me now.'