Elite Mages' Academy

The date for the semi finals were quickly decided. It was a weekend half a month later. For the sake of fairness, the semi finals would be arranged in a mutual location. This time, Dawn Academy’s semi finals were to be held in a graveyard over a hundred kilometers away from their colonies territories.

Under the student union’s efficient workings, various documents of information regarding the graveyard were quickly sent to Xiao Lin and the other participants. The graveyard was a site left behind by the war between Dawn Academy and the orcs. Back then, the orcs had used it for weapon storage, and stored large amounts of weapons and armor there. After that, Dawn Academy had sent an elite squad over for a sneak attack, but stumbled upon the main shamanic force of the orcs. The two sides spent many days in intense battle, and Dawn Academy finally won.

After the battle, due to how far away the location was to Dawn Academy, as well as how desolate the surroundings were – as they were devoid of any natural resources – it was quickly abandoned. The souls of the orcs who died there remained, and due to some special reasons, the death energy there was exceptionally thick. Normal folk had no way of entering, so after a long time, the entire place became a wasteland.

“Basically, this place is very dangerous, but to us, the danger is limited.” In the meeting room, Xiao Lin gave his analysis.

“Based on my understanding, there will be quite a few undead spirits around, but there should not be too many, and their level should not be that high. It will be an annoyance to us, but that is the limit of it. Honestly, this place is quite suited for the semi finals.” Cheng Ming voiced his thoughts.

“The undead spirits are probably NPC-like existences, but you might be able to use them against the British,” the gaming addict Chen Dao said.

“Use the spirits? Do you know necromancy?” Han Manman said with some scorn. The woman never liked Chen Dao, nor did she really like anybody.

“Hey, I’m just giving an example,” Chen Dao retorted.

Xiao Lin motioned for them to stop. As the leader, he stopped any conflicts that might escalate, and made sure they focused the discussion on the tournament. Ever since he assumed the position of leader, he was slowly understanding how to lead.

“How about information on the British?”

“Regretfully, it’s quite lacking. The British were quite good with concealing their information, and our Intelligence Department failed to get much.”

“The British are one of the core colonial territories, so they should be very strong.”

“They should have S-ranks.”

“Definitely.”

…

The preparations for the match went on in full swing. All of them knew that the Royal British Academy would not be at the level of any of their opponents in the group stages. They might even be able to rival the American Judge Academy. None of them dared to underestimate the British.

Xiao Lin and the others headed to Dawn City around two days before the match. After that, they sat in comfortable unicorn carriages, and were sent to the graveyard with special escorts.

Based on the rules, uninvolved personnel could only be stationed outside a certain area. However, both academies had arranged for some guards with very strong perception skills to be stationed nearby. If any incidents did happen, they would decide if interference was necessary. Just like Xiao Lin had said, the graveyard might be a troublesome place, but the undead spirits were not particularly strong. Dealing with them would not be too hard.

“Then, the match will officially start!”

It was different from the group stages. The two sides did not get a chance to meet each other before the match started. Both the academies were arranged to enter from two completely different entrances. After that, the participants would have to rely on themselves. Dawn Academy’s roster was Xiao Lin, Gu Xiaoyue, Chen Dao, Cheng Ming, and An Luo; it was considered their strongest formation.

The fully armored party entered from the East. Chen Dao shot out a few fire spells, lighting up everyone’s torches. However, the smell of rot in the graveyard was very hard for everyone to bear, but thankfully Xiao Lin had prepared for it. He quickly passed everyone a bottle of Holy Light potion. Recently, Xiao Lin had spent some effort in creating potions as well, and his level when it came to that improved by quite a bit.

Fights quickly broke out.

Those orc spirits had rotting bodies, and empty holes for eyes. They waved weapons around that were full of rust and rushed at Xiao Lin and the others.

“Careful, their weapons are all poisoned! Attack from a distance!” Xiao Lin ordered decisively. Other than Cheng Ming, this time, the rest of them were all long-ranged attackers. It was done in consideration of the fact that long-ranged attacks would be safer in a place like a graveyard.

Under the intense firepower of the team, the spirits seemed incredibly weak.

The team continued to venture in. They all brought maps of the graveyard with them, but the maps were all from decades ago. After half an hour, other than the unending number of spirits and zombies, they did not encounter anyone from the Royal British Academy.

Xiao Lin started to get suspicious. He had seen the map before, and the graveyard was not that large. Based on their rate of advancement, unless the British did not move at all from the start, they would definitely have met.

Was it a trap by the British?

…

Seemingly at the same time, a few kilometers away from the graveyard, a few Caucasians were conversing with those from Dawn City in broken Mandarin.

“The tournament needs to stop! All of you should feel it as well. Our students’ auras disappeared half an hour ago!”

“NO! NO! NO! Don’t talk to me about some bullsh*t tournament rules. They can go to hell! The auras that disappeared don’t belong to your students!”

“You should be able to feel it as well right now. A terrifying aura is rapidly heading this way!”

“Damn!”

“What kind of fog is this!”

“Everyone, retreat!”

…

After an intense argument and a lot of panic, Dawn Academy and Royal Academy’s people started to rapidly retreat. They only stopped after reaching a few dozen kilometers away. In front of their eyes, the whole graveyard had been completely enveloped in a fog that had mysteriously appeared. The fog contained an unbelievable amount of death energy. As strong as they were, even they did not dare to casually walk inside.

All of their expressions sank because it was not the first time they had seen that kind of fog. Back then, in Wildfire Town, Xiao Lin and Lilith had also been trapped in a fog like that. They had also found out that it was Asabanor’s doing, so the one behind this was quite obvious.

“The tournament is over! Everyone, save the students!”

The two academies finally reached a consensus, but the fog was expanding faster than they expected. High-level spirits started to appear from the fog, obstructing the advance of the rescue team.

Yet, Xiao Lin and the others inside did not know what was happening at all.