Chapter 76 – Desert Encounter

“Divine Child, Mage—don’t give up! I’ll get you both out of here safe and sound!”

I lifted the Divine Child from the ground and gave the gasping Mage some encouragement. At this point, I, Laini, had taken on the burden of this team’s survival, carrying it on my shoulders alone.

“I—I can’t… I can’t go any further! I really can’t run anymore!” The physically frail Mage was completely out of breath, face flushed red, drenched in sweat. He looked like if he kept running, his lungs would burst right out of his chest.

These pampered types, used to a life of ease, couldn’t even lift a few catties of cotton. How could they possibly endure a long-distance run like this?

Ironically, it was the Divine Child and the Mage who had become the burdens here. I had to play both mom and dad, tending to these two pampered saints while retreating them to safety.

Once I confirmed that Teresa hadn’t pursued us, I finally let out a sigh of relief. Just as Teresa had anticipated, without the ability to fight back, my Divine Authority was like a turtle’s shell—buying the team time until it wore off. After that, we’d lose completely. Thankfully, for whatever reason, Teresa chose not to chase us.

I helped the two resting figures—huddled against a rock—to their feet again. Whether or not they’d start to see me differently after this didn’t matter. What was undeniable was that thanks to me, we’d escaped a deadly crisis. Even if they were dense as rocks, now was not the time to throw attitude.

Regardless, Teresa had left me an opening to prove myself. The rest was up to me now.

***

After that brief interlude, Teresa resumed her journey toward the northern canyon. The purple dot on the map hadn’t changed position, meaning the Crown Jewel was still quite a ways off.

She performed an internal check on her current state.

She had three charges of [Verdant Fragrance] left. The Divine Authority’s cost wasn’t exactly light, but not heavy either.

Before reaching this point, Teresa had conjured several light arrows, used [Sacred Oblivion] to forge blades a few times, and cast [Verdant Fragrance] thrice.

Being in a forest had allowed her to restore her Divine Authority, so she now had around four-fifths remaining.

But looking at the boundless wasteland ahead, Teresa could no longer count on forest terrain.

Most likely, the rest of her remaining power would have to carry her through the entire match.

Outside the forest, an elf’s senses were heavily dulled. But compared to humans, hers were still exceptionally sharp.

Due to the high level of her [Divine Appraisal], keeping it active constantly drained her mental focus. Teresa couldn’t afford to keep it on all the time to guard against ambushes. Instead, she relied on her keen sight, hearing, and perception to compensate for this gap.

The scenery shifted from grassland to desert—the road ahead was becoming more desolate by the minute.

Teresa switched from carrying her bow to holding it at the ready. It was time to enter combat mode.

The wasteland was disadvantageous to elves in many ways—for example, she couldn’t use the ambush-style sneak attacks she excelled at in the forest.

Out here, with no cover whatsoever, neither she nor her enemies could hide.

Though she hadn’t yet arrived at the northern canyon, she was already on the path. To put it simply, the canyon was both a fated zone and a loot drop hotspot—it had stacked countless buffs.

Since earlier, the broadcast had been going off nonstop, reporting which teams had been eliminated by which others—likely due to the chaos erupting in the canyon.

Two names in particular stood out: Astrid and Felicia.

No surprise there.

While this year’s freshman class at Coleman wasn’t lacking in talent, Teresa didn’t pay much attention to campus gossip and had no idea who else might be considered famous.

Had these standout figures been born in another year, they might’ve snagged the freshman crown and become the next generation of leaders. Too bad they were up against these two walking hacks—reduced to little more than green leaves accenting blooming flowers.

Teresa remembered Felicia’s Divine Authority domain was LV17, and Astrid’s was LV19. Even among second-years, they were untouchable. Dropping them into the Freshman Crown Tournament was downright bullying—like gods stomping toddlers.

Teresa glanced at her own Divine Authority and domain levels again.

[Sanctuary of Sacred Wood] (LV1)

[Destruction and Creation: Sacred Oblivion] (LV1)

[Verdant Fragrance] (LV2)

[Sovereignty of All Forests] (No Level)

Apart from [Verdant Fragrance] mysteriously leveling up at some point, the rest were all still stuck at level one. [Sovereignty of All Forests] had no level at all, which intrigued Teresa. She’d never seen a Divine Authority in books that couldn’t be leveled.

Having only recently awakened, her abilities were still pretty weak. Competing on level wasn’t an option—she’d have to rely on numbers instead.

Teresa remembered that Astrid, like her, had more than one Divine Authority. But so far, she hadn’t seen what Astrid’s other ability was.

“Hm?” Teresa suddenly felt something underfoot. Thinking it was just another animal bone, she crouched down and brushed away the sandy surface—revealing a broken scroll.

Barely legible spellscript was still visible on it—written in Common Tongue. Teresa activated [Divine Appraisal] to analyze it and found it was a standard low-grade fireball scroll. Interestingly, it hadn’t been here long.

But the scroll hadn’t been used. A fire-type scroll, once activated, would burn to ashes. A lightning-type would burst into thunder. This one was perfectly intact—meaning its caster never got the chance to use it.

Teresa reconstructed the scene in her mind: a team had passed through here and been ambushed. A Mage, caught off guard, tried to use the scroll—but before the spell activated, he was torn apart.

There were enemies nearby.

Her sharp senses picked up a tremor in the ground. Teresa quickly snapped out of her thoughts and sprang into the air using agile footwork.

Boom!

The ground split open into a crater as a figure lunged out. Missing its target, the figure shook off clumps of dirt and squinted up at the blonde girl who had landed gracefully.

“Well, well? Dodged Bolton’s ambush, did you? Let’s see which lucky little chick got separated from her team—huh? And a real cutie, too.”

Three men slowly emerged from the nearby sand dunes. Their eyes lit up the moment they got a good look at Teresa.

“Damn, it’s been a while since I’ve seen such a juicy piece. Wonder what kind of sweet screams she’ll make when I peel that skin off,” leered the short, balding man with steel claws, who had leapt out earlier. He licked his weapon, smacking his lips.

The man was scrawny, with a pointy chin, rat-like features, and a long, twitchy nose—his appearance was downright disgusting.

“You know, mister uncle who doesn’t deserve any respect, it’s really rude to attack people with weapons covered in your spit,” Teresa raised her gaze slightly.

“U-Uncle?!” The bald man’s eyes bulged. “Blondie, who are you calling uncle?!”

“No offense meant.” She bowed politely, but her gaze never wavered from the man.

“Hahaha!” The others burst into laughter.

“Stop laughing! Don’t laugh!! I’m only sixteen! I’m in my prime youth, dammit!” That pushed the rat-faced man over the edge, and he started yelling furiously.

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