Conquering The Novel

As they examined the points table, their eyes widened in shock and their mouths hung open. They had never thought that Team Soreh Academy had managed to get so many kills.

"How is this possible?!" one of the students from Martial Star Academy exclaimed in disbelief.

The four teams had teamed up against Soreh Academy to prevent them from scoring more points in this match, but it seemed to have backfired. Even though they were able to seize Soreh Academy's crown, they had unwittingly given them the opportunity to rack up a large number of kill points.

As the saying goes, a cornered rat will bite.

In this case, the cornered Team Soreh Academy had managed to get as many kills as they could before getting eliminated.

"W-Wait! The kill count doesn't make sense here," one of the Shadow Academy students suddenly protested.

"What are you talking about?" Maya asked, giving the student a disdainful look.

"Team Martial Star, tell me how many Soreh academy students you have eliminated?" the Shadow Academy student turned to them and asked.

"We eliminated 9 students from Team Cherry Blossom and 2 from Soreh Academy," one of the Martial Star Academy team members replied.

"Ok, so you guys got 2 kills from Team Soreh Academy, and we got 1 kill from them," he said and paused for a moment, turning towards Glacier Peak Academy and Blitzeirg Academy. "And what about you guys?" he inquired.

"The single kill we have is from the Soreh Academy," one of the team members of Blitzeirg Academy said.

"We didn't get any kills from Team Soreh Academy. Our 5 kills came from The Royal Knight Academy," one of the students from Glacier Peak Academy responded.

"See? Then what happened to the remaining 6 kills?" the Shadow Academy student turned and asked Maya.

Maya struggled to control her laughter but eventually burst out laughing, leaving everyone else confused by her reaction.

Pftt, heheheh~

"Let me tell you where those 6 kills went," she finally said, managing to stifle her giggles.

"One of the Soreh Academy's stupid teammates fell for an obvious trap set by a student from Iron Fortress Academy and got eliminated. The muscleheads from Martial Star Academy decided to spare that Hero guy for who knows what stupid reason.

As for the remaining four students, student Penelope blasted herself along with her team members to prevent others from getting their kill points. It was a smart move, if I say so myself," Maya explained, turning towards Penelope and giving her a thumbs-up.

Penelope smiled awkwardly as the other teams' gaze fell on her.

"...."

'What? Something like that was possible as well?'

The students were all shocked by the revelation, except for the elven woman who had previously attempted a similar strategy but to eliminate her opponents not her own teammates.

"Interesting tactic," she muttered to herself with a small smile.

"Let's not dwell on that now. We should focus on the overall points table after match 3," Maya announced, diverting their attention to the screen where the updated points table was displayed.

The students eagerly examined the table, their eyes darting back and forth as they tried to calculate their current standings. It was clear that the results of this match had significantly affected the rankings, and tensions were running high as the teams realized the stakes were getting higher with each passing match.

[POINTS TABLE!]

#1 SOREH ACADEMY — 56 Points: Wins×1↔️

#2 SHADOW ACADEMY — 51 Points ↔️

#3 MARTIAL STAR ACADEMY — 50 Points: Wins×1 ⬆️

#4 GLACIER PEAK ACADEMY — 44 Points ⬆️

#5 THE BLITZEIRG ACADEMY — 37 Points ⬆️

#6 CHERRY BLOSSOM ACADEMY — 29 Points: Wins×1 ⬇️

#7 THE ROYAL KNIGHT ACADEMY — 16 Points ⬇️

#8 THE IRON FORTRESS ACADEMY — 8 Points↔️

***

"Tsk, it looks like even after teaming up, you guys still weren't able to knock them down from the top spot," Maya chuckled, noticing the disappointment on the faces of the other teams.

Silence followed as everyone examined the updated points table. Soreh Academy still held the top spot with 56 points, and the other teams had only managed to reduce the gap to five points between them and the second-place Shadow Academy, which now had 51 points.

Despite this, they had successfully brought down Soreh Academy's assumed ally, Cherry Blossom Academy, from third to sixth place, with a gap of eight points between them and fifth-place Blitzeirg Academy, which had climbed from seventh to fifth place after this match.

Iron Fortress Academy remained at the bottom of the table at eighth place, and the next match would likely be do or die for them.

"Anyway, congratulations to Team Soreh Academy for still maintaining the top spot. And also, congratulations to the star player of match 3: Ziona Madlock," Maya announced, appearing immediately in front of Ziona.

She lifted Ziona's face by the chin and held it, "Don't be disappointed, you did great! If it weren't for your HP being dropped by that suicidal explosion attack of that elf, you would have given that barbarian a run for his money," Maya remarked with an unusually warm smile.

Hercules's face twisted when he heard Maya call him a barbarian, and Ziona's next words were like salt in his wounds.

"No," Ziona shook her head, moving Maya's hand from her face.

!?

Suddenly, a huge grin crept on her face, showing her beastly teeth, "...I would have been able to destroy him completely even with half of my HP if that coward bastard didn't resort to a surprise attack," Ziona declared, showing Hercules middle finger.

"...."

Ziona firmly believes in the saying, "everything is fair in love and war." She also realizes that she cannot blame Hercules for launching a surprise attack on her, in fact, she would have done the same if she were in his shoes.

She would have accepted her defeat with a warrior's heart, but she couldn't let it slide if some bastard on steroids was showing off after defeating her by flinging her head like a ball.

To her, this was a declaration of war, she was ready to face any challenge that came her way, even if it meant fighting the whole academy.

"You Bitch!" Hercules' face contorted in anger as he lunged at her, ready to attack.

"Bring it on, you barbarian bastard!" Ziona grinned as she charged at him in response.

But before they could exchange blows, Maya appeared in between them in an instant, stopping both of them by holding their hands with hers.

Thump—

"Hmm? Are you guys taking me as a joke—" Maya said in an irritated tone. However, before she could complete her sentence, with a swish, someone appeared in an instant from the side and hit Hercules in his guts, sending him flying and crashing into the wall with a resounding thud.

Thud—

Weblike cracks appeared from the impact, and Hercules groaned in pain as he lifted his head to see who the attacker was.

!?

"I was wondering why you guys still haven't arrived back. I was waiting for you in our meeting room, you know?" Ares said with a grin.

"Your surprise attack was not cool, Ares! You should have hit him on his face instead, like swoosh, and he would go like a boom or something," Diana said as she arrived behind him, adding sound effects.

"...No, he should beat him repeatedly until he's mashed potato," Livia added shaking her head continually.

"...."

"Ares?"

***