Dravin collapsed to his knees, panting heavily.
However his eyes was bright as he stared at the Geo-Essence Spring, the battle had been exhilarating and the reward even more.
It was as he was sharing the spoils with the little thief that he heard it. Faintly, in the distance, were the unmistakable sounds of battle. Not the roar of a beast, but the clash of weapons, the explosion of techniques, and the desperate, human cry of pain.
Although he was curious, he ignored it. It wasn't his business.
His only goal was to win this competition, and getting involved in the squabbles of other students was a distraction and it would waste his precious time.
He and the little thief had just finished bottling the Geo-Essence when the sounds grew closer, more frantic.
A young woman, her academy uniform torn and stained with blood, suddenly burst through the curtain of the waterfall, stumbling into the grotto. Her face was pale with terror. "Help! Please, help me!" she cried, her eyes locking onto Dravin.
Before Dravin could even respond, two figures, cloaked in jet-black robes that seemed to swallow the light, appeared behind her.
They moved with a silent, unnatural grace, their faces obscured by deep hoods. One of them casually backhanded the girl, sending her crashing to the ground, unconscious.
Their heads, shrouded in shadow, slowly turned to face Dravin.
He couldn't see their faces, but he could feel their aura. It was incredibly icy, dead, and utterly different from normal humans not even beasts.
He frowned when he realized they weren't students but he had no idea who they were.
Of course these were dark cultivators, members of the infamous Ancient Ground of Dark Matter, a cult of unorthodox practitioners who used forbidden, blood-soaked methods from super soldiers to grow stronger. They were heretics, loyal servants who had sided with the dimensional beasts in the ancient wars.
They had somehow infiltrated the entrance examination, their goal obvious: to eliminate the most talented individuals of the Chaotic Star-War Academy before they could ever become a threat.
The cloaking devices they wore, were not just hiding their faces; they were disrupting the feed to the outside world, rendering them invisible to the surveillance of the Academy!
The two cloaked figures stood over the unconscious girl, their hooded heads slowly turning to face Dravin. He couldn't see their faces, but he could feel their aura—an icy, dead presence that was utterly different from that of any normal human or even a dimensional beast.
As if on cue, they let their cloaks fall to the ground, revealing their altered forms.
The first, a burly, powerfully built man, saw his skin ripple and transform. Thick, interlocking, crocodilian scales, the color of dark jade, erupted across his body.
A long, muscular tail, powerful enough to shatter stone, sprouted from the base of his spine and slammed against the ground with a heavy thud.
The second was leaner, more predatory. His transformation was a symphony of sickening cracks and pops as his bones reshaped themselves. Vicious, black claws extended from his fingertips, his teeth elongated into sharp fangs, and his legs bent backwards into the powerful hind legs of a wolf.
His eyes, now glowing with a malevolent yellow light, were unmistakably those of a Dark Dire-wolf. It was as though they had forcibly merged their own genes with the DNA of dimensional monsters, creating a horrific, powerful hybrid.
Their dead, cold eyes swept over the grotto, completely ignoring Dravin for a moment. Their gazes landed on the half-empty Geo-Essence Spring, then on the freshly harvested Moonlit Jade Orchid roots Dravin held.
"Natural Treasures!"
Greed instantly enveloped them and their killing intent sighed as though wanting to drown Dravin in his own blood.
"It seems our mission to kill these little geniuses has yielded an unexpected harvest," the crocodile-man grinned, his voice a low. "Kill the boy, take the treasures. The boss will be pleased."
They were both Rank 7 Super Soldiers. The power gap between Rank 6 and Rank 7 was not a simple, linear progression; it was massive. A newly advanced Rank 7 possessed, at minimum, double the raw physical strength and speed of a peak Rank 6.
This was not a battle of equals. It was certain death and they too know it. No matter how much of a genius one was, crossing ranks to battle is very rare and Dravin wasn't even amongst be list of people they were supposed to kill. Therefore he wasn't even worthy to be a threat. However they needed him to keep quiet and a dead man is the most silent.
They moved simultaneously.
"Boom!"
The wolf-man vanished, becoming a grey blur that shot around the edge of the grotto, seeking an opening.
The crocodile-man charged straight ahead, like a massive tank made of scales and muscle, his powerful tail sweeping low in an attempt to shatter Dravin's legs.
Dravin's eyes flashed.
His muscles trembled and he activated Level 8 of his `Basic Cleaver Technique`, the 75% boost in power flooding his limbs as he reacted speedily.
"Boom!"
The ground shattered underneath his fear as he leapt over the sweeping tail, his cleaver blazed from insane intensity as it turned a deep shade of orange, blazing with intense flames as it descending in a fiery arc from his `Inferno Slash` to meet the crocodile-man's armored fist.
"BOOM!"
The impact was like a meteor strike. An explosive shockwave erupted from the point of contact, and Dravin was sent sliding backwards across the stone floor, his boots carving deep grooves into the rock.
A sharp, jarring pain shot up his arm, and the cleaver in his hand trembled violently.
He had barely blocked the attack, his superior technique the only thing that had prevented his arm from shattering.
Before he could recover, a streak of grey death appeared towards him. The wolf-man appeared at his side, his black claws slashing in a vicious, five-pronged attack aimed at his throat.
Dravin stomped his left leg and twisted his body, his cleaver moving in a desperate, last-second parry.
"SCREEECH!"
The sound of claws grinding against high-grade alloy was deafening.
He deflected the attack, but three deep gouges were carved into the blade of his weapon. The overwhelming force behind the blow sent him stumbling sideways.
They were too strong, and also too fast! Faster than anyone he had ever faught! However, if one looked closely one would notice a slight smile on his lips.
They thought he was just trying to hold on, to desperately buy time while waiting for help.
The crocodile-man sneered, his reptilian lips curling. "Don't bother looking for an escape, boy. No one is coming to save you."
"That's right," the wolf-man added, his voice a predatory snarl as he circled Dravin. "We possess a Type I Relic called the 'Veil of Shadows.' It completely isolates this area from the academy's surveillance. As far as they can see, this grotto is completely empty. Your death will be a quiet and no one would even know how you died!."
"Hehehehe!"
They laughed as they expected to see despair on his face and savor his fear before they tore him apart.
Instead, they saw the most strangest thing they had ever witnessed. Dravin, who had been panting heavily, his face grim with concentration, suddenly stopped. He looked up, and a slow, wide, genuinely chilling smile spread across his face making him look weird.
"Really?" he asked, his voice filled with an eager, almost joyful excitement. "No one can see us?"
The two dark cultivators froze, their instincts nagginb that something was wrong.