Evan's eyes blazed with fury at the sight of Rudy.

Rudy had appeared out of nowhere, provoking Evan, and now seemed to be taunting him as he fled.

Rudy continuously evaded without even trading blows, always retreating.

Despite the multitude of tree trunks targeting him, Rudy nimbly dodged them, moving swiftly in every direction.

It appeared as though Evan could catch him, but Rudy always managed to escape by a hair's breadth.

This frustrating cycle of near-captures and escapes gradually fueled Evan's anger.

Rational thought gave way to rage.

"Damn it, Rudy Astria... Fight me fair and square!"

Rudy turned towards Evan upon hearing these words, his lips curling in a mocking sneer.

"Rudy Astria!!!"

Evan gritted his teeth in frustration.

He exerted more mana to manipulate the trees, but Rudy, unyielding, broke through the branches and evaded capture.

Evan realized something as he watched Rudy's retreating figure.

'Just chasing him won't end this.'

He shifted his mana, aiming to immobilize Rudy.

The surrounding trees responded to Evan's mana.

'Time for a grand move... targeting the legs.'

Green light radiated from the trees, converging on Evan's sword.

This was Evan's nature magic*, a spell that harnessed the power of nearby trees as a substitute for mana.

He planned to use a spell of immense scale to target Rudy's legs.

As the mana gathered from the trees, a wind blew.

"Huh?"

A sudden breeze, unexpected in the densely wooded mountain.

Even if there was wind, it would only lightly affect the nearby trees.

It was an unnatural wind.

"What's this?"

He doubted Rudy Astria would have cast a spell while fleeing.

Just to be sure, Evan extended his sword into the wind.

If it were magic, his sword should have dissipated it.

But the wind blowing towards Evan persisted.

"It's not magic?"

The wind felt too purposeful to be a natural occurrence, especially since it was blowing solely towards him.

Evan's brow furrowed in confusion.

Rudy was growing more distant, and a strange phenomenon was unfolding before him.

Now wasn't the time to ponder this peculiar breeze.

Evan refocused, attempting to draw energy from the surrounding trees once more.

As the green lights converged towards him, a small red light approached from afar.

It wasn't the green light Evan was gathering, but a red one, tiny in size and moving towards him with an unnatural, undulating motion.

Evan suddenly realized something.

The breeze that kept blowing towards him was carrying a flickering light.

He instinctively knew he shouldn't let this light come closer.

But it was too tiny to interact with using his sword.

As he pondered alone, the undulating red light grew increasingly brighter.

Evan's eyes widened at the sight.

It's going to explode.

He knew it instantly.

He stopped his actions and lifted his sword to shield himself.

The small light intensified in color, its form blurring.

And then, in an instant...

Boom!

It expanded rapidly and exploded.

Strong winds and flames erupted.

"Argh..."

Evan managed to control the extent of the explosion with his sword, a fortunate outcome.

However, the wind caused by the explosion shattered rocks and trees, sending fragments flying.

These fragments pierced Evan's body.

"Argh..."

Evan winced in pain as small stones embedded themselves all over his body.

But he couldn't afford to stay still.

Several more red lights, carried by the wind, approached him.

He had to avoid them.

They were too small to be sliced with his sword.

Moreover, even if he could control the flames of the explosion, he couldn't control the resultant wind.

'What kind of technique is this?'

Evan was bewildered.

He had always believed he could control anything with his sword.

But now, he couldn't block these with his sword.

Lack of experience.

Evan, having not encountered such situations before, couldn't understand what was happening.

He decided that he first needed to dodge the incoming wind.

As he prepared to move away from the wind...

Hiss...

The wind caught fire.

It was as if someone had lit the fuse of a bomb, the wind itself ignited.

"Ah."

And then.

Boom!!!

The wind resulted in a tremendous explosion.

A loud explosion resonated.

'Rudy...!'

Yuni realized it came from the direction Rudy had gone.

Her legs were weak, yet she pushed herself to run as fast as she could.

Finding Rudy and Evan was difficult; they were nowhere in sight.

Driven by an unwavering determination to find Rudy, Yuni ran forward, not even sure of her direction.

Her breath was heavy, almost suffocating her.

Her mind and body screamed for her to stop.

Her mind argued that going there wouldnt make any difference to Rudy, and her legs felt like they couldnt run any further.

Yet, she continued to move forward, regardless of her internal protests.

She had intended to surpass Rudy and prevent him from meeting Rie.

She had been so focused on defeating him.

However, Rudy had been supporting her since the individual assessment, even coming to her before the assessment to boost her morale.

Even now, his support was evident.

She realized how close she had been to failing, and her actions filled her with shame and regret.

She felt she owed it to Rudy to help him, especially now that he might be injured.

The thought of Rudy facing Evan while hurt, and possibly failing the assessment, was too much for her to bear.

'I have to do something, even if I fail...'

"Yuni."

She heard a voice just as she was determined to continue forward.

Someone called her, urging caution.

"Going any further is dangerous."

Yuni stopped and turned around, questioning.

"...Sister?"

It was Rie, holding a staff radiating bright light.

"Rudy is safe. Don't go any further,"

Rie said with a comforting smile.

Seeing her sister like this brought tears to Yuni's eyes.

"Why are you here...? Is Rudy in danger...?"

Yuni looked around, confused and concerned.

Rie gently placed a hand on Yuni's head.

"Rudy is drawing Evan away and will be back soon."

Yuni's face showed confusion at this explanation.

"So he lured him away... Was this planned?"

"It wasn't fully planned, more like improvised."

Yuni, tears in her eyes, looked puzzled.

Rie smiled at her reassuringly.

"Why are you about to cry? Its nothing serious."

"No, it's just... Senior... I mean..."

Rie embraced Yuni warmly.

"It's okay."

"...I won't cry."

Yuni wiped away her tears and hugged Rie tightly.

"That was a close call."

I watched the forest burning from the explosion Rie had caused.

Such devastation would surely prevent Evan from continuing the fight.

I never planned to engage Evan in combat from the start.

I was originally searching for shelter when I heard a loud noise nearby and decided to investigate.

There, I witnessed Diark and Evan fighting.

I observed the battle to understand the situation.

It was a one-sided affair.

Diark tried to create openings to escape, but Evan aggressively pursued him, intent on killing him despite Diarks evident reluctance and weaker strength.

Evan cornered Diark all the way to a nearby valley where Yuni and Emily were.

Evan even attacked Yuni and Emily, choosing them over more profitable monster hunting.

He wasn't interested in dialogue.

I almost rushed in when I saw this, but I paused to think carefully.

I needed a strategy to handle Evan.

In this environment, I was at a severe disadvantage.

The trees around us were a source of Evan's strength.

The forest, surrounded by trees, was the perfect battleground for Evan.

Facing Evan in my current state, having used much of my mana, was almost certainly impossible.

Defeat was inevitable.

My agility was insufficient for luring Evan away and then evading him.

I could move short distances quickly but lacked the stamina for sustained running.

I needed a different plan.

-What are you doing?

That's when Rie contacted me.

More precisely, it was Sylph, Ries spirit, who came to me.

Rie had also heard the commotion of Diark and Evans fight and had come to scout.

Together, we devised a plan.

I would lead Evan as far as possible while Rie would launch a powerful attack using her new ability.

Trusting her word, we put the plan into action.

'What kind of technique did she use?'

I pondered, looking at the flames.

An attack delivered without revealing herself, and it was more powerful than her usual.

I shrugged.

I could just ask her later.

I smiled.

Then, as I was about to move on, I looked back towards the burning area.

"Evan, we'll meet again later."

Now wasn't the right time to fight.

I needed to create the right environment.

Establish conditions where victory was possible.

I would return then.

*I was watching my friend play runescape and realized eco-magic should actually be called nature magic... sorry took me looking at a nature rune to realize there was a better term available...

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