Chapter 92: Strategist

I kept staring at Vienna a moment longer before turning my attention towards the rest.

“On our way, we had encountered no monsters.”

Vienna had a look of disbelief on her face as I ignored her.

“That might have been due to the fact that the area was near the teleportation passage. Don’t space out, and be careful of your surroundings. In a desert like this the thing we have to be most cautious about—”

Before I could finish my sentence, the ground below us began sinking deeper.

“Move!”

Noticing the abnormality, along with my shout, seemed to have knocked some sense into my teammates as they jumped out of the pit.

I took out the sword from my storage before jumping high up in the air.

In a fraction of a second, a mouth appeared at the place we were standing moments prior.

Before anyone could process it, a huge centipede jumped out from the ground, its jaw directly below me.

Tensing my muscles, I spun mid-air before positioning myself just at the side of the centipede’s mouth.

Spurt!

With a quick slash, its mouth detached from the body, leaving the creature dead.

“…”

“…”

“…”

As I landed on the ground, I could see the clear look of astonishment on my teammates’ faces.

“There’s no need to stare at me. As I said, maintain your focus in areas like this desert. The main predators here are these centipedes, as they could attack you anytime, depending upon the rhythm that your footsteps create.”

“And how did you even notice that monster before the ground even shook?”

Extro asked in disbelief.

“The centipedes follow the vibrations that your movement creates in the sand below. So to identify them, you have to do the same thing, just in a reverse mechanism. Feel for the vibrations in the ground below from time to time. You can even use mana sense—”

“You know how to use mana sense?”

This time it was Diana who asked quietly.

Though I could feel the surprise in her voice, she did a good job at hiding it.

“Yes.”

“…”

“And there’s no need to fret if you can’t use it. Just physically feeling the vibrations is enough, along with the hollow cavity that’s created in the sand once the centipede approaches closer to the surface.”

“What’s there to fret about? Mana sense isn’t something that Silver cores can use. Tsk, trying to flex…”

I could hear Vienna pouting in the corner in a barely audible voice.

Was she trying to pick a fight?

Though she wasn’t entirely wrong. One could only use mana sense after becoming a Platinum ranker.

I forgot that not everyone had the same level of mana control as me.

“Is that clear?”

“Yes!”

Seeing everyone nod, I placed the sword back in my storage.

As the centipede was of Bronze rank, I had received two points for the kill.

The bracelet also showed individual score rankings along with the group ranking.

My kill must have been the first one, as my name appeared on the scoreboard with a score of two points, as did the name of our group in the overall rankings.

For the group name, all our names were mentioned in a compact space.

Sensing Diana’s gaze on me, I turned to look at her.

“Yes?”

“Why did you withdraw your weapon? Don’t we have to kill more?”

Her face had a light frown.

Though her relations with me, or the past me, weren’t the best, she must have decided to keep the past separate from the present.

At least that was my analysis.

Maybe for the group ranking, she was curbing her desire to question me about anything related to the past?

Or if she had any questions at all, though I guessed she did want to talk, from the brief glances that she kept giving me occasionally.

They weren’t provocative, so I had decided to let the matter rest.

Still, I had to form a natural positive, or at the least a neutral, impression before her, so as to make her feel more comfortable with me.

But I wasn’t going to do that by sacrificing my dignity… So this measured approach was the best—for now.

“The one thing I hate the most is people leeching off me. So I won’t interfere in the battles from now on. You are on your own if you want to get a good ranking in the year.”

Well, that was a half truth.

I would be participating, as each student was going to be evaluated individually along with their group.

“What?! Do you think we are some parasites that need you to babysit us?!”

Vienna was the first one to raise her voice.

“Maybe.”

My answer was short yet effective, as could be seen from her expression.

“Huh?”

Vienna began to move in my direction before being stopped by Diana midway.

“Let’s just focus on the practical, okay? And it’s not like we are dependent on him, so why the worry?”

Though Diana had said it to de-escalate the situation, why did I feel like the question was more of a taunt for me?

“Still, I can’t completely leave you to your own devices, as I don’t like to be placed anywhere lower than first rank. So I would be instructing you in your fights… a sort of strategist.”

“Who needs—”

“Alright! We will follow your lead, Kael.”

Extro interrupted before Vienna could speak again.

I glanced at him, only for the boy to stumble back.

“Sir, I mean.”

Hm?

Did he think I was offended? But finding no reason to correct him, I nodded my head in acknowledgment.

I mean, it’s not like I hate being respected or… feared.

“So what are you waiting for? Take your weapons out.”

“…”

“…”

Shink!

Seeing that everyone had their weapons out, I allowed my mana sense to spread outward, searching for more monsters.

There it was.

“Follow me.”

Within a radius of fifty meters, I could feel the centipede searching for the lost vibrations of our footsteps.

But this time, it was us who approached it.

“Anyone with Earth affinity, soften the sand in the radius of two meters around us.”

“Okay!”

Surprisingly, it was the big guy who answered first.

Without waiting for anyone, I willed my mana to control the mana particles in the air around us.

As the sand had been softened, more air entered the ground through the pores.

“Be ready.”

With a shallow breath, I willed all the air in the softened sand to mix with the surroundings, resulting in an immediate collapse of the land around us.

“Now!”

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