Miss Witch, even if we're poor, we can't sell ourselves!

After picking the flowers, Miya ran to the edge of the shallow lake, squatted down, and cupped a handful of water in her hands to her lips.

The water was cool and had a sweet, refreshing mountain spring flavor.

She took a few sips, then splashed some water on her face, finally feeling a refreshing sensation on her skin, which had been covered in rain and mud for half a day.

The lake is not large, surrounded by a circle of ancient trees. The water is as calm as a mirror, reflecting the sky through the gaps in the tree canopy.

Several glowing flying insects lightly touched the surface of the water, leaving behind tiny ripples.

Just as she bent down to scoop up another handful of water, a flash of icy blue light appeared in the reflection of the water.

Mi Ye's pupils suddenly contracted, and her body moved faster than her mind. She kicked off the gravel by the lake with both feet, and her whole body was thrown to the right half a body length as if she had been launched by a slingshot.

A blade wrapped in icy blue magic grazed her left shoulder, but its momentum didn't diminish after it missed, and it struck the rock where she had just been crouching.

The stone split in two with a snap, the broken surface covered with a thin layer of frost, which emitted white steam in the air.

Miya rolled half a circle on the gravel ground, then knelt on one knee, supporting herself with her left hand. With a flick of her right hand, two tentacles shot out from her sleeve, and dark red petals suddenly opened in the air, protecting her side.

She looked up and saw the attacker.

Short black hair, neatly trimmed bangs, dark gray eyes, and a gaze as cold as the glint of a knife.

She held a katana almost as tall as herself in both hands. The blade was wrapped with icy blue magical patterns. The tip of the blade pointed towards the ground. A drop of lake water slid off the blade and froze into a tiny ice bead before hitting the ground.

Asase.

"You dodged it?"

Asase's voice carried a hint of surprise, but her expression remained unchanged.

With a flick of her wrist, the katana spun halfway through the air, and the ice-blue patterns on the blade suddenly lit up, causing the surrounding air temperature to drop several degrees in an instant.

"Your reaction time is faster than I expected, but—"

She didn't finish her sentence because the blade was already slashing down again.

Asase moved with incredible speed, as if gliding on water. The instant her toes touched the ground, her body had already cut into Miya's left side, precisely finding the weakest point in the tentacle's defenses.

She calculated that Miya had just used her tentacles to protect her front, and her flanks wouldn't have time to defend.

The icy blue blade drew an arc in the air, slicing upwards, leaving a trail of white frost in the air as the ice element attached to the blade clung to it.

Miya's tentacles didn't have time to fully defend, but her agility was not just for show.

She had been chased by the Nightblade Jackal so many times in the back mountain, and had been struck by more than a dozen lightning bolts in the torrential rain. The muddy ground and the gravel ground under her feet were all the same to her.

Her legs instinctively gripped the ground, her knees slightly bent, her body leaning back, the tip of the knife grazing her chin, less than a finger's width from her throat.

The chill brought by the blade left a faint white mark on her neck.

Asase missed his attack and didn't stop. Using the momentum of the strike, he spun half a circle, changing the direction of the blade in mid-air from a diagonal slash to a horizontal slash, directly blocking Miya's retreat space.

Miya slapped the ground with both hands and somersaulted backward. The katana swept across her head, severing a few strands of pale golden hair.

The strands of hair, as they drifted through the air, were frozen into tiny ice needles by the cold air emanating from the blade, which jingled and fell onto the gravel ground.

"Is all you can do to hide?"

Asase straightened up, holding his katana horizontally in front of him, the tip pointing at Miya, the icy blue patterns flowing faster and faster on the blade.

Her breathing remained steady; the two consecutive strikes had almost no effect on her physical strength.

Miye crouched on the ground, her two tentacles readjusting their defensive angles, one guarding the front and the other flanking the side.

She didn't answer Asase's question, but stared at the tip of the other's knife, quickly assessing the situation in her mind.

This guy is different from all the other candidates we've met. He's not the type who just stands there making missiles, nor is he a skill-based player like Xiaoye who wins by using underhanded tricks.

Asase is a pure warrior; every step he takes and every swing of his sword is precisely calculated.

Just then, a sharp whooshing sound came from above.

Mi Ye looked up and saw a meteorite burning with dark red flames hurtling towards her.

The meteorite was about four times the size of a night sky, its surface covered with cracks, from which flowed a crimson light like magma, and it fell straight down, trailing a thick black smoke trail.

【Starfall】

Before Miya could think, she slammed her tentacles on the ground to propel herself toward the lake.

The meteorite struck the spot where she had just been crouching, sending debris flying everywhere. The shockwave propelled her several meters across the water before she regained her balance.

The lake water submerged her shoes, and a cool sensation spread from the soles of her feet.

But it's not over yet.

A second sound came from another direction: three slender conical flasks, their mouths plugged with burning strips of cloth, containing some kind of dark green liquid that was boiling violently.

Alchemy Bomb

Mi Ye crossed her tentacles in front of her, and the dark red petals instantly hardened.

The bomb exploded less than a meter in front of her, the dark green flames and the pungent smell of sulfur swirling around her. Hardened tentacles blocked the shrapnel and shockwave, but the blast still pushed her back to the rocky shore by the lake.

Miya rolled over and stood up on the gravel ground, quickly glancing around.

It wasn't just Asase.

Two figures emerged one after another from the shadow of the ancient tree by the lake.

A witch dressed in a deep red robe and holding a magic wand stood under the tree canopy.

There was also a little witch with empty potion bottles hanging from her waist, pulling out a new bomb from her bag; another was gathering magic missiles; and yet another was hiding behind a tree, only half her face showing.

They were all candidates who had survived to this day. They probably heard the fighting and rushed over, hoping to pick off the missing people in the chaos.

Asase frowned.

She clearly disliked anyone interfering in a duel that was supposed to be between the two of them, but she didn't say anything to the new examinees. She simply took a half step back, switched the katana to her left hand, and quickly formed a hand seal in the air with her right hand.

A visible chill emanated from beneath her feet, instantly enveloping the entire lakeside.

A thick white fog instantly rose into the air, engulfing the entire lake shore within seconds.

【Mist Formation】

Asase disappeared into the thick fog, and even her magical fluctuations were interfered with by the ice elements permeating the fog, making it impossible to lock onto her.

The remaining little witches also began to move around in the fog. Some retreated to find cover, while others took advantage of the chaos to throw another alchemical bomb. The green flames of the explosion were particularly dazzling in the white fog, but the explosion was far away from Miya, so the other party obviously couldn't see her position.

Miya stood in the center of the mist, her tentacles gathering around her sides to tightly protect her body.

Her eyesight was almost completely impaired in this level of visibility, so she could only rely on her hearing to detect the sounds around her.

There was the sound of pebbles being stepped on to the left front, and the faint sound of ripples spreading across the lake behind me. Something seemed to be flying directly above.

None of them were precise locations; every sound was distorted in direction and distance by the fog, like listening to people talking on the shore underwater.

Miya tried her best to sense everything around her.

Then she smelled blood.

Unlock new [Flash].

……

[Pursuit] Lv1

【Effect】:

You can smell the pervasive stench of blood to pinpoint enemy locations and gain a massive movement speed boost when near the source of the stench.

……

The instant the flash exploded in her consciousness, she felt her senses being recalibrated, and the whole world before her transformed into a map with smell as its coordinates.

The smell of blood is the brightest mark on this map.

About ten steps to the left front, her vague sense of direction instantly became precise after smelling the blood. She could feel the warm life form moving; it must be the examinee who had been cut by the blade before Asase released the mist array.

The moment she pinpointed the source of the bloody smell, a light force surged into her legs, as if something had pushed her from behind, instantly increasing her speed from zero to a sprint.

Gravel and moss rushed past her feet, and the mist was stretched into white streaks around her ears.

She covered a distance of ten steps in just one and a half steps.

The examinee had just vaguely seen a figure rushing towards him from the mist, and before he could even raise his wand, two dark red tentacles burst forth from the mist.

One arm wrapped around her wrist holding the wand, and the other around her waist, and with a gentle pull, she was lifted off the ground.

The suction cups on the inside of the tentacles pressed tightly against the skin, and the magic was instantly drained away like water being poured from a burst dam.

The Empty Lice was spat out by Miya, its soft, pinkish-white body wrapping up the little witch's ankles, like wrapping a frightened kitten in a blanket.

The paralysis effect spread throughout the captured little witch's body within seconds. Her eyes changed from terror to confusion, and then she slowly closed them before being teleported out of the examination hall by the beam of light.

Kill count incremented by one.

Several tense shouts came from the fog, the alchemical bomb exploded in a certain direction, creating a burst of green fire, and meteorites fell again, but they were all far away from her.

Miya squatted beside a rock by the lake, her tentacles retracting to her side. Empty lice floated back onto her shoulder, and the two little creatures seemed to have learned her habit, quietly nestling on her shoulder without making any more popping sounds.

She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing.

The smell of blood was still there; Asase had slashed more than one person.