Inside the SSA
Hearing the loud thunder noise, Link looked towards the west direction with a frown on his face, although others may not recognize that strong aura Link can recognize it even in his dreams. With a confused look on his blood-covered face Link said:
"The h*ck is this guy trying to do…. Don't tell me he is showing off his strength in front of the newbies…" (Link)
But knowing Rio's personality, Link thought that it was very unlikely for him to show off, perhaps his hand slipped a bit, otherwise, why would he use such a strong attack in this place, there aren't even A-rank monsters in this place, only B-rank or below. Perhaps only the central area might have an A-rank monster though.
All the other three members of group 1 also heard the loud sound of thunder but of course, they couldn't distinguish who carried out that attack, so they were a little panicked:
"Link-sempai, what was that loud sound of thunder just now!? Was that an attack from another Senpai of the second year!?" (Lenn)
After hearing Lenn's question, Link replied with a casual tone:
"Well, that was the result of a sword strike from the rank no. 2 of last year's students." (Link)
Hearing Link, Leo said nervously:
"What!? Suck strong aura was from a single attack!? I-I thought it was from m-many attacks!?" (Leo)
Ars had a dignified look on his face, he could feel from that aura that it was in no way weaker than what Link had shown in the past few days to them, thus he said:
"That guy must be strong, perhaps as strong as you Link Senpai" (Ars)
"Hahaha, what are you saying? Obviously no one is as strong as me! The great berserk warrior Link, hahaha, I can beat him in a single punch!" (Link)
"Yeah! You are the best Link Senpai! Let's go and beat that guy up, let's show them that they can't cause a commotion in your noble presence!" (Lenn)
Hearing Lenn asking him to confront Rio, Link was startled, he hurriedly said:
"hmm, cough, cough, let's do that some other time…. Cough cough our main purpose is to reach the central area right now… let's go!" (Link)
Looking at Link rushing deep into the forest, all three of them also followed behind him, but Ars was able to read between the lines easily.
'This guy is bragging! He definitely can't defeat the other person in one attack! I don't remember the name of the second ranker but he must be a strong person from Link's reaction, just now….' (Ars)
…
…
Lia's group
Lia looked in the west direction and thought:
'Hmm, so Rio is in that direction and Link should be in the east direction. Also, Riya went straight ahead while entering the area, thus she must be nearby my group somewhere….' (Lia)
Although Lia did sense the strong aura, she was totally unfazed by it, instead, it increased her morale, feeling that strong and familiar aura, Lia clenched her small and cute fist, and determination flashed in her beautiful eyes:
'He has become even stronger than the last time, I must also work harder, so as not to be left behind by him too much. He might start despising me if I am too weak compared to him…' (Lia)
(What Lia didn't know was that even if she was as weak as a snail, Rio would still not abandon her, but since this gives her motivation then perhaps it's fine, I guess.)
The members of Lia's squad also sensed that immense aura and said:
"What was that!? Such a strong aura!"
In order to calm the newbies, Lia replied:
"Nothing just a stinky arrogant guy, trying to show off himself…. As if someone would be impressed by him that easily, hmph idiot…." (Lia)
The other three students looked at Lia with complex looks on their faces, they wanted to say something but in the end, didn't say anything, After these past few days they had developed a deep fear for Lia, they couldn't even look in her in the eyes properly now.
One time Lia, ripped apart a monster heart and placed it in their hands, when they asked what she was doing, she said that they should eat it, so as to get used to its horrible taste. According to her, this will train them in eating whatever they can find, so as to improve their survival capabilities in case of surviving in a forest during a future battle.
While explaining all this her face was totally expressionless as if what she was saying was normal and they were the ones that were weird for not understanding such a simple thing.
Of course, the academy also teaches what to eat in such circumstances but even they don't make students eat a monster's heart which was still dripping with green colored blood.
Seeing the three of them get silent, Lia tilted her head in confusion but didn't say anything.
Ignoring the three of them averting their gazes from her, Lia didn't waste too much time thinking, she immediately ordered:
"Let's rush to the central area we are just about to reach it, only a few more hours and we will be there…. I wonder how strong the main boss would be in the central area….. will it be an A-rank monster perhaps?" (Lia)
Hearing about the A-rank monster the three newbies panicked:
"Wh-what! A-rank monster! H-how will we fight that!? We will die if fight such a strong monster!"
"Yeah, Senpai, you should reconsider!"
Listening to the newbies being nervous, Lia smiled a little and said:
"Well, we would not be fighting it alone and there are those two stinky guys to make the way there's no need for us to worry too much about it… We just need to assist them…." (Lia)
Lia shook her head and started to hurry towards the central area, seeing her leaving the three of them also hurriedly followed behind her, after all, this area is full of strong monsters they couldn't afford to be separated from her, otherwise, they would definitely be able to survive the next ten minutes.
…
After a few minutes of walking Lia suddenly heard a familiar sound nearby, she suddenly changed her path and went towards the place. And as expected she found a familiar figure sitting on a tree with three other newbies, all of them curled up in a ball hugging each other tightly and shivering in fear.
…
"S-senpai! What do we do, this huge lion isn't going anywhere at all, it's been pursuing us for more than three hours and now it's even squatting below the tree, it this goes on we will all die of starvation!"
"Y-yeah Riya Senpai, you should have listened to your friends and should have teamed up with them instead of rushing here alone… now we are all going to die!"
Not surprisingly Riya and her group members were stuck on this tree and a huge lion-type monster was lying down comfortably at the base of that huge tree.
Obviously, the academy would not ask the healer-type individuals to lead a group alone, they were asked to team up with Lia's group after all Riya being a healer had no fighting capabilities she couldn't protect the students in this area alone.
But Riya being a stubborn girl as ever rushed ahead with her group with a confident look on her face. Lia has been trying to find her for a while, due to which they have been delayed and have yet to reach the central area, if Lia was alone, with her strength as a 'B-' Ranker she could have already reached the central area by now. (Similarly, Link was busy slaughtering the monsters too much thus he was also delayed.)
[Silver Lion swordsmanship: Obliterate!]
With a single attack, Lia quickly killed the sleeping lion instantly without giving it any time to even react, her attack made the tree on which Riya was sitting crumble down too, which caused the four of them to fall down too, but fortunately, Riya landed on the other girl thus not suffering any damage and since the other girl was a martial artist she didn't suffer much either, just her face was covered in dirt.
Once Riya saw Lia's face she immediately jumped and hugged her, tears fell from her big eyes like a waterfall:
"Lia! Thank god! You are here! Sob sob…. I-I thought I was going to die… thank you for saving me… otherwise some other girl might have taken my Link away if I had died! sob sob" (Riya)
While Riya was crying like a spoiled child in Lia's arms, the newbies were too stunned to speak, thus they remained silent as Lia comforted her by patting her head for a while.
Lia shook her head in disappointment and said:
"Seriously, what would you do without me, you better not rush ahead on your own again…. Otherwise forget about Link, even your favorite candies will be eaten by someone else you know…" (Lia)
Hearing Lia mention her candies, Riya suddenly stopped crying, determination flashed in her big cute eyes:
"No I can't let others eat my candies at all costs!" (Riya)
"Then follow me properly from now on, let's go now, we are running out of time…" (Lia)
"Yeah!" (Riya)
….
Author's notes
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.