82: Chapter 82 Battle Royale

Just as Byron was stunned, the students who had teleported with him appeared one after another in the primeval forest outside the academy.

Although they were in the same forest as the academy, these people were dozens or even hundreds of kilometers away from it, unable to see even a shadow of the academy.

Among these students, hundreds were the most unfortunate.

The moment they landed, seeing themselves in the forest instead of the academy square, they were still in a state of confusion when members of the Family found them and launched the first wave of slaughter.

In the first minute, a dozen or even dozens of students died every second.

Among these deceased students, the largest proportion consisted of those who had only been in the academy for a short year.

They didn't even have time to resist before they were dead.

In an instant, every part of this forest was stained with a layer of scarlet blood.

However, after subconsciously dodging the first wave of attacks, these ambushed students quickly reacted, either fleeing rapidly or starting to resist on the spot.

A few students even managed to pull off extreme counter-kills by catching the attackers off guard.

Regardless of whether they had killed their targets, these Family members continued to search for other targets immediately after acting.

They intended to expand their gains during the period when the students had just arrived.

But their calculations were a bit too wishful.

Although the first wave of attacks had perfectly harvested those who hadn't reacted, one must not forget that no matter how fast they acted, it still consumed some time.

It was precisely this short period that was enough for the other students who had just arrived and hadn't been attacked to react.

Do not forget, they had just left the Ghost Marrow Crystal Nest Plane, and their nerves had not yet relaxed.

After realizing the situation, although they didn't know what was going on, they didn't stay in place; they started running and hiding in the forest.

Moreover, because they didn't understand the situation, most of these Wizard Apprentices kept silent, even if they had various means to contact others.

As a result, a silent Battle Royale began in this forest—truly a real dark forest.

Of course, nothing is absolute; there were exceptions.

Such as Colin and Elena.

Perhaps because they were relatively close, or for other reasons, the two were not too far apart and easily met up.

While hiding themselves, they ran quickly through the forest, looking for a safe place.

Watching the trees receding rapidly in her field of vision, Elena frowned: "Colin, we can't keep running like this. We must find a place that is sufficiently hidden."

Colin also nodded: "That's true. Otherwise, we might really run headfirst into danger, and that would be terrible."

Although Colin usually appeared funny and carefree, at a time like this, there was none of that; he had become very mature and steady.

But come to think of it, Colin was not a freshman who had just enrolled, but an old hand who had been in the academy for six years, having experienced several mandatory missions, both big and small.

If he had acted in that carefree manner no matter the situation, he wouldn't have lived this long, let alone become a Third-Rank Wizard Apprentice.

After a while, the two finally found a hidden underground cave; it would be impossible to discover without carefully searching with Mental Energy.

After hiding in the underground cave, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After catching his breath, Colin paced back and forth, looking anxious.

"Something is wrong, very wrong. We clearly stepped into the teleportation array to return to the academy, so why were we teleported here?!"

"Someone must be playing tricks here, and perhaps even the academy has been deceived by them, otherwise..."

Elena interrupted him at this moment: "Colin, you have also entered the academy to perform quite a few missions; haven't you recognized it yet?"

Hearing this, Colin was stunned, not knowing what Elena meant.

But he wasn't confused for long; he quickly realized, a look of horror appearing on his face, in disbelief.

"Elena, are you saying that this was the work of those Dark Wizards?!"

"Are they crazy? By doing this and trying to wipe out the academy's students in one fell swoop, aren't they worried about completely enraging our academy and being hunted down by us forever?"

"Even if our academy is located in a remote area and our sweeps against them are insufficient, and the pressure on them isn't as great as in those prosperous regions, there are still three academies here, with at least hundreds of Official Wizards!"

"If necessary, each academy has its own teleportation array, capable of calling for reinforcements at any time, so..."

Elena waved her hand, interrupting him: "Colin, thinking about this is useless right now. What we should be considering is whether we can survive."

"If we die here, whatever happens afterward will have absolutely nothing to do with us."

Colin nodded upon hearing this and said nothing more.

Seeing this, Elena said again: "Since they have made such a big commotion, I assume the academy will be able to react before long."

"And we just need to hold out during this period."

Colin replied: "But the other side understands this logic too, so in the coming time, we will inevitably be under immense pressure."

"With such a big setup, I wouldn't even be surprised if Official Wizards took action."

Speaking of this, Colin smiled self-deprecatingly.

Elena: "Colin, you are right. In this case, to increase our chances of survival, we must unite."

Colin frowned slightly; he understood what Elena meant, and it was precisely because he understood that he knew the risks involved.

"Elena, have you thought about this? While having more people increases our ability to resist risks, it will undoubtedly also increase our chances of being discovered."

"In an even worse scenario, there might even be people from the other side among those we gather, which would only make the situation worse."

Upon hearing this, Elena also fell silent, knowing in her heart that what Colin said made sense.

As a result, both of them fell silent, pondering what to do next to increase their chances of survival without incurring those risks.

This matter concerned their own lives, so they couldn't afford to be careless.

Not long after, Colin suddenly looked up at Elena: "Elena, we definitely need to look for others, but we must also avoid attracting the other side's attention as much as possible."

Elena rolled her eyes in annoyance: "Aren't you just stating the obvious? Didn't we already talk about that?"

Colin waved his hands excitedly: "No, I mean, we should try to find people we are familiar with. That way, we can minimize the risks—for example, the President, Byron, and the others. What do you think?!"

Upon hearing this, Elena's eyes lit up, and she excitedly patted Colin's shoulder, making him stagger.

"Colin, not bad! I didn't expect you to actually have some brains to come up with such a solution. This way, not only can we stick together, but we can also avoid some unnecessary trouble."

"Not bad, not bad. It seems I underestimated you before."

With a solution to the problem, Elena returned to her true self.