Affinity:Chaos

"This is ours, we can't let them have it"

A youth said persistently.

The sneaking Grey looked at the youth and couldn't help but feel their decision to fight wasn't the best one. From the time he had been watching the battle till now, they were on the losing side. There didn't even seem to be any hope of them being able to turn the tide, yet they still chose to stubbornly hang on. Maybe they had a trump card, he wasn't really sure. It's not cowardly to admit defeat when you know there's no hope of winning. Although there are times in life when even though you know there's no way for you to win, you just shouldn't admit defeat, Grey felt this wasn't the time.

They were in a trial land, a land where treasures were supposedly numerous. There was no way they wouldn't be able to find another treasure, why the hell would they want to give up their lives just because of one? Well, thanks to their stubbornness, he had the opportunity to be the person benefiting.

If the group had given up, there was no way he would have had the thought of stealing the treasure. He wouldn't even be here as he would have immediately left the place the moment he sees the group from the Qilin empire. The thought of stealing the box only came to his head when he realized what was going on, he saw an opportunity when the other group decided to fight resolutely.

But he admired their bravery though, although he felt their choice wasn't a wise one. He even felt his current choice of action was impulsive since if he were to be caught, it wouldn't be great.

The group from the Qilin empire would definitely not let him off. He was already lucky they didn't attack him the first time, stealing the treasure is no different from slapping them in the face. Well, that was on the premise that he was caught. If he could successfully steal the treasure and leave the place with no one noticing it, then it would be perfectly okay.

Boom!

An attack that was dodged by a student from the Starlight Academy landed close to Grey.

'Shit! What the hell!'

Grey almost screamed out loud. Luckily, he was able to quickly regain his composure.

The attack landed just five meters away from him. If he were hit by it, it would have been a painful experience.

There were a bunch of things in the hall he could easily hide behind as he was making his way towards the box.

He would stop and look at the battle to confirm if he should still continue with his plan. It wouldn't be funny if just as he stepped out to take the box, the battle ends and both groups stared in his direction.

Attacks were flying left and right in the battle and the group from the Qilin empire were gaining more advantage against their opponents. If it continues like this, the battle would end in at most ten minutes. Well, that was enough time for him to take the box and make a run for it.

The distance from the door to the other side of the hall was almost five hundred meters, this showed just how big the hall was. Currently, Grey had already gone over one hundred meters.

There was the corpse of one of the dead beasts about sixty meters away from him. This would also be one of the things he would use to hide from the fighting group.

"Arghh"

One of the youths screamed out in pain.

On hearing the shout, the others from his group all looked towards the direction. They saw one of their comrades was seriously injured by his opponent.

"Ah! You animals!"

Another youth shouted in anger and increased the fierceness of his attacks, he was not the only one, his comrades also did the same.

The youth from the Qilin empire furrowed his brow since this was not the result he expected. According to his speculations, after seeing their comrade seriously injured, they'll decide to retreat since their hopes of victory would also be diminished due to the injury. But unexpectedly, they all attacked with renewed vigor. It was like seeing their comrade injured was a form of motivation for them.

"Hmph! Fools who don't know what's good for them"

The youth snorted coldly before he resumed his attacks.

Grey looked at them all and was quite surprised, these people were really passionate.

'Well, the more they fight, the better for me'

Grey thought as he silently moved towards the body of the dead beast.

On getting there, he squatted by the side of the beast. Given its size, there was no problem for it to hide Grey's body even though it was lying on the ground. At the time Grey battled with the beast, he estimated they were at least six meters tall.

Grey who once again focused his attention on the battle, failed to notice that the beast which had its eyes closed previously, was currently staring at him. He even placed his hand on the head of the beast as he stayed in the squatting position.

'Strange, what's this foul smell? I didn't perceive it a moment ago'.

The beast which currently had its mouth open was breathing slowly. The stench which came from the mouth of the beast quickly enveloped Grey's nose.

Trying to sniff out where the stench was coming from, Grey's head uncontrollably turned in the direction of the beast. In fact, his head was right in front of its mouth.

Grey's heart nearly jumped through his throat as he unconsciously retreated. After carefully observing the beast, he breathed a sigh of relief.

'*Sigh* It nearly scared me to death'

Although the beast was still breathing, it was no different from its dead friends around the hall, it couldn't move due to the injuries it had sustained.

Grey looked around to check if his sudden movements alerted anyone, but he was relieved when he saw they were still fighting their battles fervently.

"It's time to join your friends"

Grey murmured as he pierced one of his blades through the eyes of the beast. The blade quickly traveled from the eyes and reached the brain of the beast. The beast twitched when the blade made contact with its eyes, but the twitching stopped the moment the blade reached its brain.

After killing the beast, he checked on the group once more. Seeing they didn't notice anything, he continued sneaking steadily towards the box.

Two minutes later…

'Got it'

Grey thought excited as he broke the array. It wasn't as easy as he thought it would be, the array was much more complex. Looking at it from afar, he could already tell it wasn't on the same level as the ones he had worked with. But when he tried breaking it, he had to reevaluate it. At first, he thought the difference wouldn't be too much, but on getting in touch with it, he noticed just how big the difference was.

This little contact he had with this array almost felt like he was introduced to a new world of infinite possibilities. And he wanted to explore more, but now was not the time to think about arrays.

He slowly picked the box from the erected stone, and once again starting sneaking quietly towards the door.

'Hehe, before they'll realize what happened, I'll already be long gone'

Grey snickered in his mind as he carefully sneaked towards the door so he could escape.

Bang!

A sound echoed in the room, it was different from when attacks had been landing on the walls of the hall, it sounded like someone hitting a wall. Looking closer, Grey realized it was a youth from the Qilin empire. Seeing where he landed, Grey broke out in cold sweat.

The youth was sent flying, and he smashed into a wall close to where the box was supposed to be. When he managed to stand, he realized the stone he used in supporting himself looked familiar.

He was quite shocked by the sense of familiarity he got from the stone, but he shrugged it off when he couldn't figure out the reason. He couldn't be blamed for not realizing the stone was where the box was placed since he only looked at it the first time they entered the place. The rest of his time had been focused on fighting with the other group.

Just as he was about to get back into the fight, he suddenly jolted and looked back at the stone.

"Where's the box?"

He yelled out loud.

At this time, Grey was already fifty meters away from the door.

'Damn! Why did they have to knock him in that direction?'

Grey swore as he immediately dashed towards the door.

Currently, there was nothing he could hide behind and since they had already noticed the box is missing, they will definitely search the entire place. They might even block the door until they were sure the person is no longer in the building. Staying here, wasn't a wise option for him.

The fighting stopped instantly when they heard the youth. How can they still continue fighting, when what they were fighting for was gone?

"Where's it?"

The prince asked with a cold face.

'There is no one else in the hall, or could it be…'

He quickly looked in the direction of the door but only saw the back of the fleeing Grey.

"There!"

The prince dashed towards the door.

When the others saw this, they immediately followed behind him.