Chapter Sixty-Eight: Collapse-Transcendent Sorcerer(The grass is slowly turning green.)

Everyone looked into Hughes’s backpack with a hint of disappointment; the stamina potions were far inferior to the natural potions in their effects. Still, something was better than nothing. Each person drank a bottle of stamina potion; it did little for their wounds, but their faces looked noticeably improved.

On Oni’s side, two people had each lost an arm, and though their bleeding had been staunched by some unknown method, they were barely able to move. Anke’s group wasn’t in much better shape; seeing Hughes bring out the potions made their expressions even darker.

“Anke! A lot of people are coming this way!” Just as Anke hesitated about whether to continue, someone beside him handed him the badge.

Taking it, Anke saw numerous points of light moving toward them. “Damn!” The urge to leave grew within Anke; the matter here was unresolved, and now more people would soon arrive.

“Should we leave first?” someone nearby began to waver, considering retreat.

“Leave? Are you saying everything we fought for was for nothing?” Anke was furious. After finally finding an opportunity to drive Oni into such a desperate state, only to end up wounded himself, now someone suggested leaving—it was a joke.

“Should we leave?” Milan also saw on her badge that people were drawing near.

“It’s probably going to be difficult to escape now!” Oni glanced at the two unconscious wounded teammates. He wasn’t the type to abandon his comrades, not even now.

“Look!” Milan exclaimed in alarm, staring at her badge.

Hughes took out his own badge and discovered that all the points of light in the forest were converging on his group.

“This is trouble. We couldn’t leave even if we wanted to,” Oni said, his face turning pale once more as he looked at the badge.

“They’re probably coming because there are so many lights here!” Hughes guessed.

Indeed, as Hughes said, many remaining teams, after dealing with their foes, saw the cluster of lights around Hughes’s group and began to converge as well.

It could be said that Hughes and his companions were now surrounded by everyone. Even if they wanted to leave, it was impossible. Across from them, Anke saw the situation on his badge too, and was furious—if not for Hughes’s sudden appearance, they would have taken care of Oni long ago.

Anke’s gaze toward Hughes was filled with resentment; Hughes met his eyes without flinching, knowing that their rivalry was now set.

Sure enough, soon the forest around Hughes echoed with approaching noises.

Wave after wave of teams arrived. Eventually, Hughes saw through his badge that everyone still holding a badge in the assessment had gathered here.

Every team in the forest had come; Hughes counted, and there were only three people left on the field.

It was clear that none of the teams were in good shape; all bore wounds, as if they’d just survived fierce battles.

After gathering, the teams looked at each other, none making the first move. Their eyes measured up the competition, weighing their options.

Hughes spotted a familiar face among the crowd: Dani, who had taken two vials of natural potion from him earlier.

Dani noticed Hughes’s gaze and nodded to him. Hughes looked over Dani’s team; only four remained, and Hughes noted Dani bore almost no wounds, making him curious about her abilities.

The atmosphere was tense. Hughes checked the time—seven o’clock in the morning, two hours left until the assessment ended. Nearly half the participants were still here, and everyone’s scores were close, differing by only one or two points.

No one moved; the mood was heavy. Occasional birdsong from the forest sounded unusually clear.

In the distance, the vortex gate still shimmered, and the sun hung at the horizon.

But no one cared for such things now; all were wholly focused on the field, alert for any sign of danger.

“Does anyone else feel something shaking?” asked someone in Oni’s group, his expression odd.

“Carson, are you scared silly? There’s nothing shaking here,” teased another, showing their close relationship.

“Maybe I’m mistaken,” Carson laughed, embarrassed when no one else felt anything.

The others paid it no mind, treating it as a distraction.

“Beep! Energy reaction occurring beneath host’s feet. Please be alert!”

The chip’s voice sounded in Hughes’s mind, repeating the warning three times, making him tense.

Hughes trusted the chip’s scans implicitly; since it alerted him, he had to be cautious.

“Beneath our feet!” Hughes recalled the apprentice’s earlier words, suspecting he hadn’t been mistaken—something truly was happening.

“Everyone, get ready!” Hughes’s words startled both Oni’s group and many others, drawing their attention.

“What’s wrong, Hughes?” Milan came beside him, guessing Hughes had noticed something.

“I’m not sure yet, but I have a bad feeling,” Hughes said, gathering all his belongings.

Milan hesitated, unsure whether to trust Hughes’s intuition.

Others, hearing Hughes and seeing him take up his things, assumed his group was about to make a move and readied themselves to respond.

Oni, seeing Hughes’s actions, said nothing, still wavering.

“Beep! Host alert: Massive energy reaction beneath your feet!” This time, the chip used red font to warn Hughes, deepening his anxiety.

Hughes watched the ground carefully, fearing something might happen and catch him off guard.

“No, I really feel the ground shaking!” Carson said, more convinced this time.

Others’ expressions shifted; Carson was, after all, an earth element apprentice—his senses couldn’t be doubted.

Boom! The ground began to shake violently. Many people, still unsure what was happening, nearly lost their footing.

“What’s going on! Why is this assessment so chaotic?” Oni genuinely regretted coming—this assessment forced them into deadly fights, yet forbade killing. If Oni had another chance, he probably wouldn’t come.

But now wasn’t the time for complaints. People were still processing what was happening when numerous stone pillars erupted from the earth.

Hughes glanced at them—each pillar was about thirty centimeters in diameter, topped with a flat hexagon. Though the pillars themselves weren’t deadly, being struck by one at speed could easily shatter bones.

The ground trembled more fiercely; the pillars multiplied, bursting from every angle, impossible to defend against.

They rose swiftly, reaching heights of over ten meters before retracting into the soil, as if searching for targets.

Oni’s group dodged frantically, then remembered their two unconscious, armless teammates. Oni called to Milan, deciding to rescue them.

The stone pillars looked powerful; the wounded pair, already unconscious, would not survive another blow.