Chapter 238

Floating above the tree canopy, Gabby leaned forward, accelerating on her [Floating Disk], making her hair flutter in the wind. Feeling the pressure of her party members’ gaze, she knew that the time for action was now. The longer she prolonged the battle, the steeper her chances of winning fell.

Running through all the possible options she could think of, only one stuck out. Although she wasn’t sure it was possible to pull off, especially with her Mana tank burning quickly, Gabby decided it was her only choice. However, she would be taking a considerable risk if she went through with this idea.

Opening her eyes and looking over to the bleachers, where Cynrik and Benny stood, she made eye contact with them both and saw the two boys nod at her. Next, she looked at Selene, who had recovered from Cynrik’s scolding and held her clasped hands to her chest.

Last, her eyes met Brance’s. Seeing the mixture of concern and comfort he seemed to emit was enough to solidify what needed to be done, so taking a deep breath, Gabby willed the Mana in her Codex to split into two even portions, half Psychic and half Chloro.

Next, she drew her Crossbow from the holster on her back and pulled the string, locking it on the trigger mechanism before setting a bolt in place. The plan was both simple and complex, so every step needed to be executed perfectly, or else she would find herself out in the open without any MP left.

With her Crossbow locked and loaded, Gabby hopped off the disk and entered a freefall towards the leaves of the nearest tree. Just before she breached the canopy, the branches all moved and formed a soft cushion of leaves, making it easier for her to land uninjured. Soon she was nestled within the protection they provided, hidden from the eyes of not only the students, but even the Headmaster, Professor, and Referee lost sight of her.

The only two people who had their eyes locked on the girl were Cynrik and Brance, and this was only because of their [Mana Sight].

Noticing Gabby had made up her mind, Cynrik tilted his head to the side and popped his neck loudly before speaking.

“She’s going for it, and in typical Gabby fashion, she came up with some wild idea, making options one and two seem silly in comparison.” Then, noticing her movements and the Psychic Mana swirling around her body, Cynrik said loud enough for his party and Headmaster Rivia to hear.

“Her Mana expenditure is already through the roof. But, unlike the two options you and Student Benjamin came up with, Gabriella is going full throttle, not leaving herself any contingency plan to fall back on.” Then, calmly walking up and joining the members of MyrkLys, Headmaster Rivia stated his observations.

“Technically, this is the first time she has ever fought alone. However, the eval before the Academy Selections don’t really count since it took place in her home’s training room, with her family present.” Brance replied, his eyes ignoring the four replicas and watching Gabby’s every movement.

“Normally, she would have logistical support from either myself or Big Bro Ivar. However, this time she is completely alone out there, and although she can’t come up with the same style of strategies as the two of us, she definitely isn’t stupid. While she gives off the appearance of a ditzy and immature little girl, in reality, her intellect is only second to Ivar, making her one of the smartest of us.” Benny said, following the attack transpiring against Instructor Alistar.

Ever since the redwoods appeared, he hadn’t been given a chance to stop moving, and with sweat pouring down his face, Alistar once again narrowly avoided disaster by diving through a cluster of branches aiming for his head.

“Gabby secretly works the hardest out of all five of us in the party. Living with her the last week has shown me that much. From the time she wakes up to late at night when she finally falls asleep, she tries her hardest to keep up with the two crazy monsters named Ivar and Björn. I don’t know if you guys know or not, but she has hundreds of notebooks filled with everything you guys ever taught her, and she constantly references them to be sure she isn’t doing anything wrong.” Selene added before watching the reactions from Cynrik and Brance.

“I know you two aren’t happy about us hiding her Chloro Affinity, but this was something she wanted. The little girl never asks for anything and for once tried to give you both a surprise that would make you both praise her. So if you want to be mad at someone, you can be mad at me for enabling her.”

Posted up, sitting with her back against a redwood, Gabby monitored Instructor Alistar and slowly guided him without his knowledge. There was a specific path she wanted him to take; the target location was deep in the center of the battlefield, where the trees had grown closest together.

Taking a deep breath, Gabby navigated the terrain with her replicants, seeing through their eyes while controlling the trees to attack, which was something that would even give Cynrik a headache. It would have been extremely difficult to split one’s attention between up to eight different targets in the past. However, after reaching 500 points in the MIND stat, Gabby gained access to a new passive skill, [Parallel Thought Processing]. Through the use of this skill, Gabby effectively brought up imaginary screens, each linked to one target, up to 10.

Diverting her attention to the four replicas of herself, Gabby had them jumping from branch to branch, covering the distance to surround Instructor Alistar. It didn’t take long for them to make their way and split up, flanking him from all four cardinal directions and beginning to follow him while staying out of sight.

“The first part of her plan has been secured; im guessing next, she will start pushing the Instructor towards what she has determined to be the choke point in her little forest. Then she will finally make her last stand.” Cynrik stated aloud before deactivating his [Mana Sight] and observing Alistar.

“She’s a clever girl; your training must have been pretty comprehensive, Student Ivar; I wouldn’t mind having a long chat about it with you sometime.” Professor Dennis soon joined the small group of people and did not offer to sit down and discuss what Cynrik had put the group through over the years.

“Un, no problem, Professor Dennis; however, I must warn you; I get a pretty big appetite when talking about my training sessions, so have plenty of snacks ready when we decide to sit down together and trade experiences.” Wearing a smug grin, Cynrik gave a passive answer with his cost, in the form of a good meal.

“She is on the move.” As Cynrik and Dennis were distracted with their conversation, Brance pulled everyone’s attention as his eyes never left Gabby.

Once Instructor Alistar crossed a certain point, Gabby opened her eyes and took off in his direction; in less than two minutes, she arrived high above where the man was desperately fighting off a myriad of branches threatening to injure him significantly.

By this point, Alistar was panting so heavily that his throat was making a wheezing sound. Not only that but he was utterly drenched in sweat. Thanks to their high VIT, constantly staying active on defense was something Warriors or Tanks could do. Yet, Instructor Alistar, whose build was heavy on DEX and AGI, found it extremely difficult to keep up with the constant attacks and had even been struck several times due to his exhaustion. However, he never gave up and rapidly fired arrows at the branches while staying on the move. The only issue was these trees were acting like a Hydra; for every branch he destroyed, two more would replace it.

This left him not only tired but running dangerously low on arrows. Alistar had unknowingly fallen into Gabby’s trap, unable to take note of his surroundings thanks to the high level of pressure being applied to him from the redwood attacks. Firing off another volley of arrows and swapping to knocking away the attacks with his bow, Alistar’s ears twitched as he heard the familiar sound of a bolt leaving its housing.

SHOOM

A cluster of branches caught his legs just as he was about to move out of the way of the bolt, preventing him from defending himself. That was when his left arm was struck for the second time.

Like the first time, the bolt knocked into his forearm in the same spot, halfway up his arm below the elbow, making the previously mosquito-sized marking grow three times as big.

“SHIT, from where?” Whipping his head around, looking for where Gabby had appeared, he soon found the girl standing above with her Crossbow loaded and ready to fire. Running on instinct and in survival mode, Alistar nocked his bow and fired, aiming at her heart and head with two arrows.

However, just as his arrows connected and Alistar felt his excitement rising, he heard another bolt fire, but this time from his right, the opposite of the girl he had just shot. With eyes wide open, he saw the replica of Gabby turn into amethyst mist as the bolt struck him in the right knee.

Seeing Gabby standing behind him, Instructor Alistar bent backward and fired off two more shots. But just as the arrows left his bowstring, he felt two bolts bite into his right knee. This was followed by intense pins and needles leading to numbness, causing him to fall to the ground.

“Damn it, where the fuck is she?” Feeling frustrated and helpless, Instructor Alistar watched as the girl once again broke apart into mist. Then, whipping his head in every direction with an arrow nocked, he cursed loudly.

But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t find the girl anywhere. This was because, like a jungle cat, Gabby was bouncing from one replica to the next, never stopping and firing along the way. Each time she pulled the trigger, the replica would step into view and act as a distraction, giving her enough time to make it to the next replica unhindered.

“It’s over; Gabby has him in checkmate,” Cynrik said calmly, causing the Headmaster to give him a strange look with his left eyebrow raised.

“Really?” Professor Dennis asked questioningly. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe Cynrik, but there was still clearly plenty of fight left in Instructor Alistar, who was a combat veteran with a wealth of experience.

“Two bolts, one from the replicas position at 12 o’clock and 9 o’clock, the first will hit Instructor Alistar’s arm, sealing it, and the second will be a head shot.” Then, chewing on the inside of his cheek, Cynrik used his foresight and predicted the precise direction of Gabby’s attacks and their intended target.

SHOOM

Less than a second after speaking the words, just as Cynrik predicted, Gabby arrived at the replica standing at the 12 o’clock position in relation to Alistar and fired off a bolt, quickly smacking the same spot on his forearm as the previous two times, triggering the numbing effect and making the man drop his bow.

Geralt, Dennis, and Selene turned and looked at Cynrik as if he was a freak of nature until they heard the second bolt release.

SHOOM!

Like a shot heard round the world, everyone’s pupils dilated and watched in shock as the bolt connected with the side of the Instructor’s head, rocking him to the right and sealing her victory.

“REGISTERED HEADSHOT! WINNER GABRIELLA SANFORD!”

While the students cheered and chanted in the bleachers, Selene, the Headmaster, and Professor Dennis stared incredulously at Cynrik’s calm and expressionless face, wanting to know how it was possible for him to know exactly how the battle would end.

“What are you three looking at? Do you forget it was ME who trained her? Of course, I would know how it would end. Hell, Benny probably could have told you as well; it’s just he’s a bit shy. Right Benny-Boi?” Cynrik rolled his eyes and deflected the attention to Benny, who stood straight and confirmed.

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