Just as Aernest was going to start bickering with her, he paused and reached for Eugene's shoulder instinctively.
Eugene turned to the side and met a completely serious Aernest.
"Three enemies in front."
"Three enemies?" Eugene furrowed her eyebrows. 'That will make 9 people who they have encountered. Two who were with Ron, and three who tried to get rid of Aernest however failed. Which means… eleven are left from the enemy's team.'
"That doesn't make sense…" She mumbled with a frown on her face as her eyes glanced towards the direction Aernest pointed. 'This means that the enemy team will only have one attack team left as at least two people are needed in the defense team.'
Aernest took note of Eugene's expression and was just about to ask her what was wrong when his ears twitched. His darkening expression made Eugene stop thinking and she asked, "What's wrong?"
"According to the people upfront, D1, D3, and D4 flags have been taken."
Eugene's eyes flashed and she immediately rushed out with Aernest. Luckily they were already headed to D2, hence there was no time delay. With a snap of Eugene's finger's Aernest quickly climbed on top of a tree whilst Eugene acted as a decoy to have the enemies upfront focus on only her alone.
The three knights turned to her almost instantaneously. One smiled and with a taunting voice, raised his palms, "Hey there Young Miss. Was Young Miss's time spent well with Master Ron?"
Eugene's expression twisted ugly and picked up her speed to attack the knight who spoke. His face twitched as he didn't think he would hit a nerve, however, he was prepared and began to engage in full-on combat with Eugene. Eugene was -cough- 160cm -cough-. This was neither tall nor short. It gave her a big advantage to relentlessly attack the knight from the bottom without giving him an advantage. She was taking advantage of her average height. She gave him no time to rest at all as she hit him in spots that hurt.
Not willing to be on the losing side, the knight became very alert and raised his legs to kick Eugene at the critical moment. She naturally noticed this from the corner of her eyes, hence quickly stepped to the side and with one move closed the gap between them.
Using her elbows, she kneeled the man's inner thighs, very close to his private area, and when he hunched over from pain, she pounced on his head, rotated 160 degrees, and locked his head with her thighs.
If she was someone without any strength, knocking out a trained knight using this method would be very difficult, but because her strength was very well developed, it only took 10 seconds before the knight fell over completely due to the sudden cut of oxygen.
Eugene jumped down before he touched the ground and turned to the knights whose eyes were shaking with nervousness. She raised her hand and motioned for the two to come to her. In the knight's eyes, she was provoking them, however, in reality, she was asking them to move away from her flag.
At this moment, the wind was blowing from all sides, lifting dead leaves off the ground and blocking some of Eugene's vision. It brought over the smell of humidity making Eugene stop inhaling oxygen. Just then, a punch came from her left which she intercepted. Just as she was about to take a step forward, a kick came to her right, which she could only intercept with her right hand. The hit she took was hard, however, she did not allow the two knights to attack the second time.
Eugene's eyes were on the knight who had kicked her, however with a small move, she squeezed her way out and hit the neck of the knight who punched her. Using his falling body, she jumped up high and kicked the chin of the knight who was unable to react. Her kick was incredibly hard, immediately causing him to feel light-headed and fall paralyzed on spot.
She did not bother with the knight whom she kicked and rolled to the front to avoid the punch of the knight who got back up. Giving him no time, she dashed towards him, grabbed his sleeves, and threw him over her shoulders expertly.
While tucking her loose hair behind her, Aernest jumped down from above and rushed towards the man who was just thrown over by Eugene. As if it wasn't enough, Aernest kicked him, successfully knocking him out.
Eugene stretched her palms and half-ran half-walked to her defense team ally who was knocked out on the ground. There was no hesitation in her action as she slapped the soldier awake, "Did you admit to forfeiting?" She asked once their consciousness was back, albeit not fully.
The soldier grabbed his cheeks that were aching severely but shook his head. Though he was knocked out by the knights, he did not admit to forfeiting which means he was still in the match.
The corner of Eugene's lips curved and she nodded, "Good."
The soldier who was suddenly praised blushed from head to toe however nodded to accept her compliment. It was rare that she gave out praises, and it felt incredibly good to be given one! From now on, he shall never give up. Ever!
"Alright." Eugene got up and turned her back. 'Aernest wasn't captured which means they were safe from any atta-' Just before she could finish her thoughts, her ears twitched. But before she was able to react, Aernest had already grabbed her out of the way and protected her using his body. Together they rolled on the ground, being able to barely dodge the net that was thrown over to them.
"!?" Eugene raised her head to five enemies who appeared from nowhere. Her eyes shook slightly as her face blanked out. 'Five?' Her hands twitched as her eyes examined the enemies carefully.
'This means that only one person is defending each flag from the enemy team.'
"No wonder they managed to capture D1, D3, and D4 very quickly!" Spat Aernest as he glared at the enemy team. His eyes lowered to the net which caught him and Eugene by a complete surprise.
The first half of the simulation training does not involve weapons. However, there are no rules that state that you are not allowed to make weapons after the operation begins. Even Eugene and Aernest have made bows and arrows in previous operations. This was a life skill that was unfortunately taught to them by the deceased ex-commander of Zene.
"He was relentless in trying to delay me," Eugene muttered through her gritted teeth. Ron had delayed both herself and Con by so much that the situation was completely out of control! There were not 8 people defending, but 5! Which meant 15 people attacking! Not to mention, Ron's trap on top of even more traps!
The situation left Eugene with a completely bitter taste as her fists clenched tight from her stupidity. If she had realized earlier on, this situation would have never turned out the way it did! Well, it wouldn't work as well as the way it did! Knowing Ron, he must've made his team practice making nets so that they could assemble them quickly in the forest.
That scheming piece of poop!
"You have done well to survive this long, Paladin Veria." One knight stepped up as he smiled in victory at Eugene and Aernest. His lips slowly curved into a smirk as he glanced at the soldier Eugene woke up and saved. How unfortunate that he was caught in the net before being able to do anything.
Eugene smiled in sarcasm and didn't respond.
The knight frowned at her confident demeanor, and before he could say anything, a puff of green smoke could be seen shooting into the air. The five knights exchanged expressions that were filled with shock and surprise as they looked at each other. They had assumed that they would win no matter what, especially since they had already captured D1, D3, and D4… but...
"Do you know why you have lost?" Eugene's voice flowed into the ears of the knights who jolted. Some turned red from embarrassment, and some turned green from unwillingness.
".... Why is that… Ma'am."
Eugene's lips curved into a smirk, "Because our plans are similar."
If only she and Con were sent on a special operation, they would have probably lost. Though Eugene could've fought five people at once, it would've been extremely difficult, not to mention, she was not in her prime condition. She had run 4km in 13 minutes and had already engaged in fights with 6 enemies. Though she still had the strength, it would have been insufficient if 5 men came attacking at once.
Eugene's words shocked the five knights tremendously.
Flashback…
"Sergeant Con, asking for permission to speak." A bass voice spoke out just as Instructor T.E turned his back on everyone. Everyone glanced at Con, surprised that they were going to hear Con speak for the first time today.
Instructor T.E glanced to the side before nodding his head for Con to speak. He stepped back into the tent while using his hand to narrow the gap of the tent's opening.
"We should send Sergeant Dea and Private Comp out as a team." His words surprised Dea and Comp who turned towards each other and stared at each other in shock. Eugene turned to Con with her eyes narrowed before shrugging. The idea… wasn't bad at all.. If they can shorten the fight for the flags, they would have a bigger chance of winning.