Chapter 26 - The Hunt

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nAt the viewing platforms

nThe spectators are not any less disappointed by the fight between Sam and the duo. They still didn't see how strong Sam really is. They could only wait in silence.

nTime passed slowly. More and more people were being eliminated. And slowly approached dusk. Sam is currently slowly advancing forward as he slowly took care of beasts. His pace is slow and steady. But the difference between him and the second place is still a lot. Right now, the candidate from the city lord mansion dropped to fourth place as Shawn and Jack took second and third place respectively. They are with 64 and 63 points respectively and they are hunting together.

nSam stopped his advance and looked at the sky. Seeing as the dusk has arrived, Sam started looking for the tracks of people instead of tracks of the beasts. Sam just started following the candidate's tracks. He followed them with a rapid pace. When he finally encountered the first group of people, that is the group of three people. They were fighting a 'Earthen Bear'. This type of bear like beast is a lot difficult to defeat as it has an amazing defence. Sam didn't stay there for a while as he made his move without disturbing them.

nWhen the spectators at the viewing platform saw this, they were quite confused as why Sam didn't eliminate them directly. They felt the same confusion when he left Shawn and Jack. Because he didn't even hesitate to take down the noble groups for even a second.

nAfter leaving the first group of three, Sam encountered another two groups of people and they are all candidates from different villages and commoners. He just left them be. Sam continued on his journey in search of candidates but he left all the commoners alone. Finally, he encountered a group of three people. There is a familiar face in the group. This guy is none other than Raymond. Two other people from the Greyhound family are with him.

nRaymond and others sensed a presence near them with the bronze tokens and are in their guard against them. Seeing them, Sam didn't even bother to hide as he saw the group and made his appearance. As he stood in front of three with a smile, Raymond became surprised for a moment then he gave a wicked laugh.

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"Bahahaha, I wished that I could find you, but who knew that you would come to me on your own violation. Seems like even heavens are not on your side as they sent you directly to me. This is your karma for humiliating me like that. Now if you don't want to be eliminated right now, you better kneel down and apologize, otherwise, even if you beg me after I made my move, you won't get away.

" Raymond said to Sam coldly.

nSam didn't even bother to reply as Raymond blabbered. Seeing that Sam is just standing there smiling and didn't even bother to reply, Raymond got angry and just ordered his subordinates.

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"Beat him up, until he begs for forgiveness.

" As soon as he finished, the subordinates immediately made his move. Both of them are at Level 2 Acolyte warriors and immediately formed a pincer attack as they wielded their swords from both sides. Sam didn't even bother with their as he immediately disappeared from the spot and immediately punched Raymond in his guts. Raymond was immediately sent flying. As soon as landed he spat out a mouthful of blood.

nThe spectators at the viewing platforms are all looking at him surprised. They didn't understand why Sam completely left all the people he encountered alone and attacked the candidates from Greyhound family. Particularly, the people from the greyhound family are all anxious for Raymond. As Raymond is a direct line descendant of the family, him being in the academy is important for his growth. But when they saw Sam fighting Raymond, they clearly understood that chances if Raymond being making the cut is almost Nil.

nSam slowly walked towards Raymond. The two lackeys immediately attacked him from behind. But they missed again and by the time they came out of the shock of missing on landing an attack from behind they saw Sam kicking Raymond who is already on the ground in the stomach and sent flying again. Then both of them stopped moving. They understood one thing, if they made a move, then Raymond has to bear the price. Sam then slowly walked towards Raymond who just sat up painfully. He squatted down and locked his eyes with Raymond and said.

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"You and your guys better quit right now. Otherwise, I won't even hesitate to kill you.

" He enunciated every word as he released enormous amount of killing intent. Raymond almost peed in his pants. He picked his last bits of courage and spoke from his gritting teeth.

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"Do you know what you are doing? The Greyhound family will not leave you and definitely get revenge.

" As soon as did, he regretted the very next moment.

nAs soon as Raymond finished speaking Sam immediately moved. He held Raymond by neck as he lifted him up from the ground. Raymond has difficulty breathing as Sam increased the pressure on his neck. Sam then turned towards the lackeys and said.

"You better not do anything funny. Both of you be obedient and get lost from here. Otherwise, don't blame from taking your dear young master's life.

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nThe two lackeys immediately reacted and broke their bronze tokens. Then Sam turned towards Raymond and just smiled without saying anything.

nAt the spectator's area the head of the grey hound family rose to his feet and his aura increased as he saw Sam holding Raymond's neck. All other people just looked at him without saying anything. The Grey hound family head also quite helpless as he couldn't do anything to help his son and this made him only more furious. Leonard just stayed silent as he already predicted this outcome. From Sam's status, his father can't do anything to take revenge. And only him and the people from the Artisan tower and Sam's friends know of this.

nSam didn't know how furious he made the Greyhound family head and even if he knew, he wouldn't care. Now Raymond is panicking in his hands. Sam didn't say anything as he just increased the pressure on Raymond's neck. Raymond finally gave in and immediately took out his token and just when he was about to break the token, Sam took out a token and shoved into Raymond's clothes and said.

"Bring it to your father.

" Then he let go of Raymond and just looked at him as Raymond broke his token and vanished.

nWhen Raymond came out of the formation. He took deep breaths as he looked around. When he saw the ranking screen, he felt quite disappointed. There is still a bit more people to enter the top 100. They are currently over 120 people inside the testing grounds. He slowly made his way to his furious father and handed the letter Sam gave him. When the family head read his letter, he involuntarily released his aura. Leonard became more anxious as he saw his father's reactions and became more worried of the consequences. There is another person, who is more anxious than Leonard. It is none other than the village head of the Lava rock village.

nHe clearly knew that the enmity between Sam and Oliver is not a small one. He is afraid that Oliver would be dead if he got into Sam's hands. All he could do was pray that Oliver won't encounter, Sam.

nAs time passed, the sky is getting darker and it became increasingly difficult as they are reduced. But the members in the testing ground just kept on decreasing slowly and steadily. Because Sam is on hunt as he eliminated the noble candidates one by one. After Raymond there are 10 candidates who got eliminated. And out of 10, six are from the noble families who got eliminated by Sam. They are from the heart field family and Grey hound family. Now all the noble families are eliminated except for the candidates from the Evergreen family. All the noble families became extremely furious as they stared daggers at the evergreen family head.

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"Marcus. Did you plan all this?

" The crimson flame family head asked as he looked at Marcus.

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"Don't blame me for this. You are the people who made a move against him the very night of the auction. Do you really expect him to take that lying down? You guys are reaping what you sowed. I just left him alone that night and he just left my candidates alone. It is that simple.

" Marcus Evergreen said with a smile. All the family heads snorted. The city lord listened to this and finally understood who this guy is and why is he targeting the noble families? He heaved a sigh as he felt lucky that all the candidates from the city lord mansion didn't encounter Sam. But his sigh froze in the middle as he looked at the projection.

nSam changed his direction as he felt a large presence from his bronze token. This seemed to be a big group. When he arrived at the group, he hid himself and looked. The group is the biggest he encountered. When he saw who the people are, he immediately smiled. This is the group he was searching for. This the biggest prey as they are the people from the city lord mansion and there are other people in the common clothes also. The people are none other than candidates from the other representing the village heads under the city lord mansion. He felt so because Oliver is also present in the group. He smiled coldly as climbed a tree nearby and took out his bow and aimed.

nThe people in the group are looking around vigilantly as they are afraid of the sneak attacks.

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"Who is it that is hiding? Come out now.

" The person who seemed to be the in charge spoke. Sam didn't reply and just released the arrow. The arrow tore through the air as it pierced into Oliver's hand.

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"Ahhh

" Oliver gave an ear-piercing scream as he looked at his hand. The crowd looked around and they made their move towards the central figure who spoke earlier. Just before the guy in the centre gave another warning another arrow pierced Oliver's another hand, making him unable to move them at all. Then Sam came down from the tree as he made his way forward and stood a few meters away from the crowd and stood there with a smile.

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"Who are you? I am Harry from the city lord mansion. You better leave before I make a move on you. Or you won't be able to escape even if you want later.

" The man in charge said to Sam.

nThe city lord became quite anxious at the viewing platforms. Even though he thought that probability of Sam winning against 10 people is low. He still felt quite anxious. He looked at the screen and noticed that there are only 6 extra people left in the testing ground. If by any chance Harry gets eliminated before. He would lose a lot of face.

nSam didn't reply to Harry's question. Instead he took out a black coloured metallic rod which is a bit over six feet long. This rod is one inch in diameter. This is also one of the things he forged in the private forging room.

nHarry and the others all became vigilant. Just as they were about to make the first move, Sam beat them to it and moved towards them head on. He spun his staff as he moved towards the crowd.

nWhen Sam swung his staff towards the first person in the group. the black staff has a golden glow as a golden sphere of flames formed at the tip of the staff. When Sam hit the person, an explosion occurred as the staff made contact with his body. The man was sent flying as he became unconscious and his skin scorched black. Before the crowd could react, Sam made his move and sent another person flying with another swing.

nHarry immediately turned his tail and began to flee. He felt afraid of getting hit by Sam's attack. He only has one thing in his mind. To flee. Sam didn't bother with him. As soon as he dealt with the rest of the people from the city lord mansion, the people from the various village heads already broke their tokens and fled.

nWhen the city lord saw the number on the screen, he sighed in relief. Even though he felt a bit ashamed from the fact that his descendant is fleeing, he didn't really care as long as he survived. Sam slowly walked towards Oliver.

nJust as he stood in front of Oliver, a loud voice reverberated from all directions.

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"Only hundred people left. All the people left in the testing grounds are now eligible for joining the Starwood academy.

" Sam heard the notice and didn't react. He just looked at Oliver coldly.

nOliver also didn't feel happy as he heard the notice. He just felt his legs shaking as he stared at Sam. He wanted to break his token and flee desperately, but his hands are in no moving condition. Sam punched Oliver in his Guts and made him sit down.

nOliver who fell on his butt looked at Sam who squatted with fear apparent in his eyes. He felt that he is jus staring at a devil rather than a human. Sam just had an evil smile as he stared coldly at Oliver.

nSam kept his staff away as he slowly took Oliver's hand into his hands and started stroking his fingers.

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"Sam, please I beg you. Just leave me now. I won't ever interfere in your life ever again.

" Oliver pleaded in a shaking voice.

n*Crack*

"Ahhhhhhhhh..

" Sam didn't even bother to reply as he broke one of Oliver's fingers.

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"Oliver, have you ever thought this day would come?

" Sam said as he further twisted the broken finger as some shards of bones protruded outside. Sam slowly moved for another finger and again broke it. In the woods with the absolute silence, only sounds of cracking and screaming could be heard.

nAt the viewing platforms. The Village head of the Lava rock village stood up as he looked at his son pitifully screaming as he got tortured by Sam. All the people from the noble families felt lucky as they felt lucky for not going overboard on scheming against Sam. They looked at Oliver with pity as they wondered what kind of enmity they had. After sometime Oliver disappeared as Sam broke his token after taking away is spatial ring.

nThe Village head didn't say a word and just looked at the scene. Oliver's name has been placed in 100th position. But he didn't feel the slightest bit happy.

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Chapter end