Chapter 187: Chapter 170 : Ralf Plays

The Dreadfall Forest of zone 11 was an enormous domain, known for its unique makeup, unnatural curves, and abundance of tall lush trees.

Under the Hunter Academy’s control, the once plain and plain-like forest had been thoroughly transformed. It was artificially and artfully altered by countless skilled hands to serve as an optimal training ground and host for various events. Right now, a five-kilometre in diameter section of this forest was cordoned off to play host to the upcoming Paintball Royal.

[[You sure?]]

[[I am,]] Ray said, not a shadow of uncertainty in his voice. His other self had offered to switch places so that he could compete in the first Event. Ray though, had no interest. [[If it was a Psi battle, it might be interesting, but this…nope. Have fun stomping ants. I have work to do.]] Saying all this, Ray snapped the Mental Link.

Ralf sighed, causing the nearby Assistant to gulp nervously in response. The Transmigrator ignored the sound and moved to counter his rising bitterness. He reached into his coat and brought out a lollipop, which quickly found itself in his maw. Savouring it, his previous concerns dissolved before the overflowing sweetness.

“Ahm, it should be five more minutes at most, please be patient,” the Assistant’s voice rang out.

“Oh, no worries. I wasn’t sighing because of this, but something else,” Ralf said, correcting the misunderstanding. “This box is a must after all. Otherwise, it would be too easy.”

Just like Nazo had informed them, the students were transported to the Dreadfall Forest in chunks. To prevent the earlier batches of students from learning the locations of the later batches, the Academy had to employ special measures.

At the student hotel, several Telekinetic Assistants were assigned to each student. The Assistants then encased the student in a large vanta cube, and like this, transported the student to the Dreadfall forest. The spots were decided at random and were always at least 50 metres away from any other student.

In the vanta box, the student would be in the dark, both figuratively and literally. One Assistant always stayed inside the cube with the student to address any needs or concerns they had. Usually, the student and said Assistant would trade words to pass the time, but not always.

To Ralf’s attempts at conversation, the Assistant had clammed up; the young man seemed to be quite fearful. Ralf guessed that it was the darkness and confined space’s doing, and that definitely played a part, but they were minor things compared to the real cause, the Transmigrator himself.

“I-I see,” the Assistant stuttered from the corner of the box, before falling back into a tense silence.

Ralf shrugged at the display and then reacquainted himself with the lollipop’s taste. He shut his eyes and waited for the clock to run its course.

Finally…

Two minutes later, the black box came undone, shattering and then scattering with the passing wind before leaving the material world entirely. Hair ruffled by the breeze and face kissed by the sunlight, Ralf’s now unbound senses rushed outwards in every direction.

Two students appeared on his radar not a second later, one north of him and the other south, both over a hundred metres away. He couldn’t see them thanks to the trees and slopes but his enhanced hearing pinpointed their location with ease. Though, their exclamations and grumbling helped greatly.

Ralf shook his head at their behaviour and readied a stern lecture for both of them. As he was mentally rehearsing his lines, a telepathic link latched onto his and the other students’ minds.

[Good day young ones, my name is Cole Brown, the first-year Event Coordinator or EC for short. I understand that everyone’s raring to go, so I’ll run through everything as quickly as possible. Paintball Royal is as simple as it gets. It is a battle royal involving paintball guns. There are no teams; it is every man and woman for themselves. There is no hard and fast rule about cooperation but know not to push it or you’ll be disqualified. Each one of you should have a paintball gun near you already. Take hold of it and get familiar with its weight and feel.]

The students moved as instructed, Ralf too. He grabbed the black pistol-like paintball gun that was floating beside him and brought it close. It looked no different from a real gun, though its lightness instantly gave it away. The Transmigrator examined it thoroughly as Cole’s voice continued echoing in his mind.

[...as you can see, the magazine holds ten spherical rounds. Not much, and certainly not enough to kill all your opponents. Still, there’s no need to worry about running out of ammo. We’ve littered the place with many supply points. Just look around, you should see one around you at the very least.]

Students looked around as suggested, and true to the EC’s words, a simple ammo depot was noted in their surroundings.

[About these supply points, you can’t damage or move them. Also, you can only take one magazine from these places at a time, so no hoarding. Now about the guns. They aren’t uniquely yours. If you eliminate a competitor, you may take their gun, and collect as many guns as you want. The same goes for their gathered ammo. Importantly, shooting your opponent with a paintball bullet is the only way to eliminate them…however, other methods of attack aren’t forbidden. You can tackle, punch, kick…as long as you don’t use any Psi, and you don’t try to kill or main your fellow student, such attacks are permissible. Still…]

Cole’s voice lowered as he got to this point. [...don’t go overboard. Maliciousness will receive harsh punishment. As you can see, hundreds of psionics are stationed in the surrounding trees. Everything is being recorded, so nothing will go unnoticed. Be mindful.]

Ralf needn’t look around to confirm the fact. His Psi Sense picked up dozens of Assistants in the area. They were all spaced out and positioned in such a way as to capture as many angles as possible. The Assistants that had transported him had also taken their assigned branch. They were all telepathically connected, with most of them being used as ‘cameras’. And they weren’t just in the trees.

Glancing up, Ralf noted a few dozen hot air balloons in the sky. From them, many Second Sights could be felt, looking down, scanning the forest and taking long shots.

[Okay, back to the basics,] Cole continued, his voice returning to its usual friendliness. [If you’re hit anywhere, be it exposed skin or clothes, you’re out. Once you’re out, you are to play dead to the best of your ability. Should you attempt to attack after dying, the nearby Assistants will intervene and subdue you, so keep that in mind. As for those you kill, you’re allowed to take their gun and ammo, but nothing else. Inappropriate actions will be dealt with swiftly.]

The Event Coordinator paused, letting the topic fully sink into the students’ minds. Humiliating acts after defeat had caused a lot of problems in the past, and the Academy wanted to avoid them.

[Now, moving on to the rewards. While this is battle royal, everyone can technically earn points. Every elimination you get nets you 10 credits for a ten kill count and below. Above that, it’s 20 credits, and above 20 kills, 30 credits and so forth and so on. The winner, the last person standing will earn 500 credits…at the very least. All their kills will be added to this amount, so a single student could potentially earn quite a sum.]

At the words, many licked their lips, eager to earn more points.

Cole continued. [The last things to mention are the restrictions. This Event lasts sixty minutes. If a winner has not been decided by then, not only will you get nothing but everyone will lose all their current credits. To prevent this possibility, this Event has several stages. Once we hit the thirty-minute mark, a beacon will appear in the sky above each student, so hiding won’t be possible.]

Ralf and many other students breathed a sigh of relief at the words. He had excellent senses but even he would be hard-pressed to locate someone purposely hiding in this massive domain.

[The timer will be put up once the Event begins, so give it a glance every now and then. Another thing you should pay attention to is the student counter. It should be on display about now…okay, there it is. 101, everyone should be able to see it from where they are. This will be updated in real-time and allow you to know how many of your competitors are still in the running.]

Ralf glanced skyward and captured the three-digit number in his sights. It was truly massive, being a product of several dozen Telekinetic Assistants working in tandem.

[Okay, that concludes my rundown. Fight hard students, I’ll be watching with keen eyes. The countdown starts now.] A giant illusory countdown appeared in the sky and began counting down from ten.

[...five four three two one…start!]

Following the announcement, the forest came alive as trees cheered on the dashing students. Now free from the telepathic links, the students went wild.

‘Oh, one two three, whoa they’re dropping like flies.’ Ralf watched the student counter fall from his rock, nonchalant…at least at first.

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A sliver of excitement passed through his heart, which was then joined by a sliver of mischievousness. The two emotions played off each other, each becoming more substantial with every passing moment. Once they took root, several ideas began swirling through his head and a playful smile rose to his face.

He pushed off the rock and rolled his arm before setting his sights up ahead, where he noted the greatest volume of sounds.

‘Foolish Ray, you don’t stomp on ants…you play with them. Now, let’s get to it.’

Declaring this, Ralf sunk low and blasted off, eager to terrorise his fellow students with his ploys.

***

The Event was new to most students, and as such, most had no clue what to do once the clock hit zero. Most chose to run about without a plan, looking for other students to hunt. The student counter’s initial freefall was a result of this ignorance. After a minute or so of chaos, the students began screwing their heads on tighter and started thinking and acting more cautiously.

Yuki wasn’t part of this ‘most’. From the start, she had been skulking through the forest, quietly and cautiously as possible. She knew her strengths and weaknesses well, and this Challenge, which relied on physical prowess and combat skill, definitely wasn’t her forte. If she was to win, it would be from the shadows.

And she did want to win the Event - no, she didn’t mind losing as long as…

‘As long as Ralf loses, we win,’ Yuki thought, remembering the impassioned words of Charlotte. Before they left, the Onic Master had them all swear to try their best to eliminate Ralf if they came across him, even doing an ‘all hands in’ ceremony over it.

Yuki was, of course, fully on board with the proposal. Charlotte’s words were redundant to her. After suffering at his hands, Yuki and the others - well, not so much Lane - were eager to see the expression Ralf made when things went awry.

With that being the case, Yuki was doing her best to win Paintball Royal. Bending her knees slightly, she shifted from tree to tree, all the while, her gaze darted from side to side, searching for any would-be opponent. Hearing something, she slid down the tree and held her breath.

‘Just the wind again,’ she exhaled in relief after ten seconds of tense silence. ‘This is pretty stressful.’

Staying a few seconds more, she separated her backside from the tree and continued on her way. Yuki, just like most others, had taken Nazo’s advice to heart and changed into something more combat-appropriate.

The ice Mimic’s new outfit was similar to Elena's usual get-up; she wore a black tank top, military-style pants, black boots and visor-like glasses to protect her eyes. Drifting along like this, her thoughts moved to her victory strategy.

‘First, I have to leave the centre and make my way to the edge. I’ll find a good spot there and hide. Then, while everyone is competing, I’ll make traps or something. When the marker becomes visible and people come, they’ll be hit by them and then I’ll easily finish them off…okay, acceabl-’

“Yo Snowball, what’s up?”

At the sudden question, Yuki’s entire being froze. Even without looking, she could easily imagine the cheeky smile on the other’s face. The image unthawed her being. At the same time, she was suddenly shadowed. Hearing the rushing winds, she put two-to-two together in an instant.

She snapped into action, moving with an efficiency that didn’t match her life experience or training. Her body remained idle save for her right hand, which snapped upward. Gun aimed up at the descending target, she immediately squeezed the trigger.

Blop! Blop!

Initially happy at hearing the sounds of collision, her mind quickly found the oddity.

‘Behind!’

Realising a moment later, she swung herself and her gun around to meet and eliminate her crafty foe, but before she could…

*Grab*

“Gotcha,” Ralf said with a smile, holding her gun-wielding wrist with his left hand while his right hand held his gun against Yuki’s stomach at point-blank range.

After greeting her from the tree branch, Ralf had tossed his coat down, which subsequently tanked two of Yuki’s bullets. The coat was used as both a shield and a distraction. Leaping down after it, he made his landing with a roll before closing in with a dash.

‘So damn fast.’

Understanding the sequence and facing his smug smile, Yuki’s face twisted up in a scowl.

She didn’t give up though. Unable to escape his grasp, she did the second-best thing. She unclenched her grip and let the gun enter free fall. She hoped to catch it with her left hand and open fire…but again, she was too slow. Ralf pulled back, snatched her gun out of the air and then pulled his own trigger, all in one motion.

The edge of the ice Mimic’s boot was stained red, eliminating her from the running. Similarly red in the aftermath was Yuki’s face. Having failed again, her face transformed into a wicked duo-level pout.

‘Aha, how adorable,’ Ralf thought humorously on the opposite end. He was allowed to enjoy her expression a second more before his falling coat robbed him of the experience. Still, when the heavens closed one door, they opened another. The sight of her under the mismatched coat was delightful in its own right.

“A good showing, but not good enough, Yuki,” Ralf said as he spun Yuki’s gun in his hand. “Still, while not good enough to win, it’s good enough for a reward. There’s candy in the coat’s inner pockets; you can help yourself to them. Okay, Snowball, I’m off~”

Saying merrily, the Transmigrator took off with some speed, leaving a gust and an incredulous Yuki in his wake. The ice Mimic stood unmoving for the next ten seconds, head still spinning from the tornado that was Ralf

“That…idiot,” she said, removing the mismatched coat from her person. She looked toward the direction he vanished in with a sour expression. ‘Ralf….I’ll get him back for sure…’ Eyeing the coat in her hand, an idea sprang to mind. ‘...and since you offered, I’ll gobble up everything.’

In an act of petty revenge, she would spend the next few minutes running through Ralf’s pockets and devouring all of his candies.

The Ice Mimic’s serious face faltered numerous times before the sweets’ injections of delight and at several points, her cheeks were no different than a greedy chipmunk; it was a sight both comical and adorable. Completing her sweet revenge, she wore a triumphant expression, inducing both chuckles and swoons from the recording Assistants.

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