To Cast Spells that can auto-track a target in a certain range, you either need an extremely talented mage or several mages to work together.
(Of course, people at Rank S or above can cast it without any problems.)
'They most likely don't have A-ranked mages... that warrior Orc and that guy Xagok, only those two might have been A-rankers in their team...' (Rio)
While looking at the massive amount of lava pouring down from the sky, Rio thought:
'hmm, which one do I use now… thunder spread?' (Rio)
Rio certainly can defend against precise and strong strikes, but when it comes to liquidized attacks like 'lava' etc. It's quite difficult to do so.
[Divine Spirit's Blessing: Divine ascent!]
Just when Rio was contemplating about which technique to use, a massive pillar of silver light pierced through the falling lava and caused the lava to be swept away by the wind pressure created by the silver pillar of light.
The lava got scattered and wasn't able to hit the target anymore as Lia's attack directly broke the magic circle in the sky, thus destroying the auto-aim ability of the spell.
'Ah, yes… I didn't need to worry about her safety; she could do that herself.' (Rio)
Rio shook his head and stopped worrying about the banner they were protecting.
[North-east, 500meters…] (Ellie)
'Hmm, so Liam tracked them down with mana detection already... he is using Ellie's telepathy to send information to others. (Rio)
After getting the exact location, Rio was just about to dash in the direction of the other team's mage and archers, but he stopped because a notification rang out from his wristwatch.
[Congratulations! Your team has defeated a team successfully!]
[Time Left: 11 hours, 16 minutes]
'They already surrendered?' (Rio)
'It must be because they saw their ultimate attack fail so easily.' (Rio)
Rio shook his head and went back to the team.
…
VVIP Area.
Ashtel nodded his head as he said in an approving tone:
"Indeed, they made the right decision, the main attack had failed and the main attack force of the team had already collapsed, the decision to surrender was indeed good." (Ashtel)
Even Ryul nodded his head at Ashtel's words.
"Well, of course, if this was a real battle, then it's always good to retreat when the main force has collapsed so fast; you can always fight again, but pointless deaths are unnecessary." (Ryul)
Gradba just shook his head at his team's defeat.
"Sigh… I was thinking that they would at least make it to the individual phase, but it seems they ended up following their heart in the end. they challenged the one team they shouldn't have and ended up with a thorough defeat. (Gradba)
Gradba then looked at the golden-haired girl in team Astra and said:
"I thought that only the boys of your team were strong... but I didn't expect that even the girls were this strong… that girl destroyed the spell fired by four B-ranked mages in one attack. (Gradba)
Jin nodded his head at Gradba's words and said in a proud tone:
"Well, of course she is strong! She is a descendant of Tomar, 'The Silver Dawn'; she has inherited 'Divine Spirit's general' as her familiar. (Jin)
Gradba nodded his head at Jin's words; he finally understood just how ridiculous the lineup of Team Astra was.
'Even the members who look weaker than others are strong... it seems that there will be many monsters in the human race in the near future. (Gradba)
Other SS-rankers were also impressed when they heard about Lia's background; after all, nearly all of them knew about 'How Tomar wandered all over the continent to eat dragons.'
"But still, I was thinking that Xagok would be able to last quite long; who would have thought that you guys were hiding such a hidden gem... that sword intent... it was already at the level where it could hurt even an S-ranker." (Gradba)
The only time Rio's real abilities were leaked to the world was when his fight with Link and the others got leaked to the media during the group survival test.
But at that time, Rio's sword intent wasn't this strong yet; Rio was only at rank B around that time, and now that he is an A-ranker, his sword intent has been strengthened by a lot.
That's why anyone who has only seen his sword intent from the group survival test will be taken aback by the progress he has made in this short time.
"Ah, that kid, Rio... he's always been like that; he hides quite deep, even though we don't know about all of his skills. (Jin)
With his intuition of an SS-ranker, Jin could feel that Rio definitely had many tricks up his sleeve which even Link and the others didn't know about.
Link and the others have only seen Rio use 'soul splitting' once, and even at that time, Rio's attack was disguised as a normal attack so even they don't know about the ins and outs of that skill.
The skill that Rio uses on almost every occasion is 'sword intent', and with this skill alone, he has been able to dominate his opponents until now.
(Fun Fact: Rio won't use soul splitting on enemies unless he sees no hope of winning with sword intent.)
…
East Line Forest, Southern Area.
Standing on a gigantic tree, Vanya glanced at a nearby elf girl who was looking in a certain direction and asked:
"So, how did it go?" (Vanya)
"They easily won... the Orc team didn't even stand a chance against them… Furthermore, we might have to be more cautious with that black-haired boy. his control over Sword intent is not something to be taken lightly.
Vanya nodded her head and replied,
"Good, your observation and detection skills are as good as always." (Vanya)
The elf girl shook her head and said in a calm tone:
"You praise me too much, princess; I am just doing my work."
"Haha, you don't have to be that modest, you know." (Vanya)
The Elf girl continued to observe team Astra for a while and suddenly a smile appeared on her face:
"Princess, I see a chance for us."
An amused look appeared on Vanya's face as she heard those words.
"Ho… tell me about it then." (Vanya)
At Vanya's words, the Elf girl pointed towards a small lake near the southern area.
"They have started to move and are heading towards that small lake... this might be our chance."
"We already know that two teams are hiding there; they will definitely have a fight with those two teams."
"We shall ambush them there after they get tired enough."
A smile appeared on Vanya's and the other elf's faces as they understood what the elf girl was hinting at.
"Of course, we will ambush them there... after all, it's easier to deal with a tired enemy." (Vanya)
…
Unaware of the dangers and traps ahead of them, Team Astra started to walk forward in order to look for more enemies.
"Hmm, it's quite odd; we aren't encountering any teams at all... it's as if others are deliberately avoiding us." (Lia)
"Well, of course, they are avoiding us; we are not the only people who are capable of using detection-type skills, and other teams might have them too." (Liam)
"People likely noticed that we trounced the Orc team." (Rio)
"Ugh… I should have held back after all." (Link)
"Hah! If not for you rich bast*rds! I would have defeated them easily!" (Fade)
"Oh, wait, what were you doing during the fight, by the way?" (Liam)
Liam glanced at Fade in confusion, as he didn't see Fade do anything at all during the whole fight; even Kira was holding a barrier to protect the banner, but Fade wasn't.
Fade confidently puffed up his chest and said,
"Well, of course, I was looking out for potential attacks!" (Fade)
Just when Liam was about to scold Fade on the spot, Rio suddenly placed his hand on Liam's shoulder and said in his usual emotionless tone.
"I have an idea, actually... we can use him as an enemy-finding magnet." (Rio)
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" (Liam)
In the confused eyes of Liam and the others, Rio directly dragged Fade with him and made him stand in the leading position.
"Okay, now choose any random direction to go; we will follow you from behind." (Rio)
Although Fade was confused by that, he dared not refute Rio's words and started to walk in a random direction.
"Uh, will this really work?" (Link)
Rio nodded his head at Link and said,
"Just wait and see." (Rio)
'With Fade's ridiculous Luck and disaster-attracting abilities, he can certainly find us enemies much faster.' (Rio)
Although others were quite doubtful about this approach, they didn't object to it either.
They all think that Rio is a sensible guy who does everything after thorough planning and as they have all been together for a while now, none of them doubted Rio's decisions too much at that moment.
Yeah, the reason they are now heading towards that lake where two teams are already waiting in ambush is because Fade is leading the way. (It seems even Fade has some worth after all.)
Rio's words turned out to be one hundred percent right; after about half an hour of walk, they easily attracted the enemies using Fade as a compass.
…
…
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here!
Rio really knows how the protagonist halo works and even knows how to take advantage of this thing; perhaps seeing Fade's bullsh*t for too long has made him able to see through all these things.
Question of the day:.
Would you dare to use Fade as a disaster magnet too?
1. Yes. (We can tie him on a tree and enemies will come flocking over to look for him immediately.)
2. Yeah (Plot armor goes brrrrr~)
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.