Seeing the incoming group of people, Emery and the others couldn't believe their eyes. The people in that group were all elite acolytes and there were 10 of them. Looking at the weapons in their hands, the same thought ran through everyone's mind. Did Ronan and the others get defeated?
Seeing the pure shock on Emery and the others' face, a bald young man with a striking red mark on his forehead flashed a smirk, "This is the end of you, regular class rookies. It's time to get out of the game."
Emery, Julian and the others swiftly rose up brandishing their weapons. Meanwhile, Chumo sneakily approached Emery from behind and whispered, "Should we run or should we fight?"
Facing this important question, Emery quickly re-checked the symbol in his hand.
[Regular acolytes: 78/320]
[Elite acolytes: 23/50]
In the last two hours since Emery, from the previous 150 acolytes, there were now only 101 still remaining in the game.
But then, Emery's expression suddenly changed, as he noticed an abnormality in the statistic itself. The numbers didn't add up. If Roran's team really was defeated, the number of acolytes decreasing would be much more.
Julian, who noticed Emery's expression, quickly asked, "What happened?"
"Be careful, something is wrong.." whispered Emery to Julian
Actually, Julian was thinking to fight this group of elite acolytes. Sure, it would be a difficult fight, but if they managed to do it, the result would be wonderful for them. After all, they still had bigger numbers than the group and Julian still liked the odds.
Alas, Julian's ambitious thought quickly dashed away as what Emery worried about showed up.
From behind the elite acolytes, another group of acolytes walked out and stood beside them. There were 30 acolytes all regular acolytes with familiar faces. The Roran's group.
Julian was shocked when he saw him, and he couldn't help but shout, "What is this, Roran? What does this mean?"
Hearing Julian's shout, Roran's expression didn't change, as he calmly said, "I am sorry, I have to do this. But I... we need to do whatever it takes to be in the elite class!"
When Emery and the others heard the words spoken by Roran, they finally understood they were being backstabbed. It was clear Roran didn't just make an alliance with the regular acolytes, but also with the elite acolytes. It might also be possible he had already done it even before the creation of regular acolytes' alliance.
Actually, one could really say Roran's plan was quite brilliant. With this, he would have three groups under his hand: his own personal group of thirty, the elite group, and the cannon fodder group, Julian's group. Now with the elite group he can dominate the last battle especially with Emery's group now in such a poor condition.
Julian couldn't hold himself from laughing and giving the young man a big applause for his ingenious plan. Thanks to Roran's scheme, they all now had successfully come under his trap.
Dopa seemed to finally understand the situation where the fight could suddenly turn into a 40 against 20 situation. He couldn't help to point his finger and shouted, "What about the soul contract? Was it a fake one? There's no way that is the case!"
Glancing at Dopa with a gaze saying 'Are you stupid?', Julian said, "Essentially, if its the elites group who attacked us, that means the contract isn't broken."
"Wow! That is so slick!" Klea quipped loudly, clearly dissatisfied.
Roran's face kept his calm facade, clearly showing his high-level of shamelessness.
"Why must you do this?" Emery asked calmly, as he truly wanted to know the reason he betrayed them.
Casting his gaze towards Emery, Roran flashed a faint smile, "Emery, this opportunity is very important for me. I might have the connection and resources my family had. Unfortunately, I don't have the talent to enter the elite class. Therefore, I'm truly resolute in this matter and will do anything for it."
"So, the words that you said, the thing about making history by winning against the elite acolytes is all a lie?" Emery said calmly, but if one observed him closely they would notice a glint in Emery's eyes.
"No, no, it's all true Emery, but we can't possibly defeat All of them. Please be assured with the help of these elites, the regular acolyte in my group will all be in the top 50, we will break the record and all regular acolytes will receive the rewards. But again, there's just not enough room for all of us in this game"
"Why can't you guys do it fairly?" Someone asked, gritting his teeth.
As if he had heard the most ridiculous joke in the world, Roran laughed derisively, "Fair?! There is nothing fair about this competition!"
Turning his head towards the one who spoke, Roran continued, "Can't you see it? There are more than 300 of us and 50 of them in this game. So mostly the game is actually about hunting regular acolytes, and as they can receive 2000 instead of 1000 points, that's mean It's much easier for them to get points! Can't you all see the reality? From the start, the rules were in favor of the elites!"
Seeing there was no hope for negotiation, Emery whispered to Julian, "There's only a few minutes left until the last hour of the game. It will be impossible to fight them when the soul contract has ended"
Julian seemed to be more emotional than Emery when he heard that. Well, his reaction was to be expected. After all, he really did his best for the alliance's cause. Hence, the betrayal truly brought him an unnecessary amount of indignation.
Emery tried to make the best of the situation and asked "Roran! At least let us go.. you can take the center and do whatever you want"
"Unfortunately Emery, killing you all was part of the deal with the elites. They do need the points as well"
Seeing that the group before them wouldn't let them go, Julian shouted, "We are retreating!"
They really needed to leave now. If they waited until the soul contract time came, it would be a much more troublesome fight, as there would not only be 10 elites who would fight them, but also the 30 regular acolytes..
The standoff finally broke as the elites began to advance towards Julian's group, who were retreating. To their surprise, Julian suddenly turned around and proceeded to place both of his hands on the ground.
In a split second, the ground in the center area suddenly cracked apart and collapsed, as if it was hit by a devastating earthquake. Most of the elite acolytes who were chasing fell into the several meter deep hole and covered by dust and soil, while the rest stopped in their tracks.
Seeing the unbelievable spectacle before him, Roran roared, "How is this possible?!! You are a mere rank 6 acolyte and Earthquake is a rank 8 unique spell!"
"Retreat!!!" Shouted Julian, clearly ignoring Roran's question.
Roran and the others could only watch from behind the gaping hole, as Julian and the rest retreated to the woods. They couldn't attack Julian's group as the soul contract would be broken if they did so.
All surrounding acolytes were both surprised and amazed seeing what Julian had done.
The hole was not the result of a rank 8 [Earthquake] spell like what Roran said. Instead, it was only a clever application of low-tier earth element spell [Softening].
In fact, the hole was prepared beforehand using the spell to soften the ground beneath the center area, Julian would only need to destroy the ground above, thus revealing the hollow part beneath it.
It was a trap Julian prepared in case the group lost the fight and had to run away into the center building. Who would have thought it would be used the other way around.
When the group was about to enter into the woods, unfortunately another group of elite acolytes came out from the forest, blocking their path. One of the elite acolytes who just showed up quickly casted a spell. Immediately after, a metal wall as high as the trees emerged from the ground, covering all access to the forest behind them.