NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 174 - Training Exercise 22
On the third day of Phantom Team’s entry into the desert, they encountered two instances of desert beasts lying in ambush.
Since these desert beasts only remained hidden and did not attack directly after being discovered and avoided, they did not leap out to attack after failing to remain concealed.
As a result, Phantom Team didn’t engage in any combat that day, focusing entirely on their journey instead.
By the time they stopped to rest in the evening, everyone was excited when they saw their progress for the day because they had managed to travel nearly 300 kilometers.
They even considered this to be their easiest day so far.
The first shift of night watch was once again assigned to Zhuang Huaiya and Wang Yiyi. Two nights ago and yesterday, due to chaos and fatigue, the night watch was handled by Mai Dongzi and Yu Guangxi.
Tonight, they had returned to the regular rotation for everyone.
Whether by coincidence or some other reason, shortly after everyone fell asleep, the desert beasts attacked them once again.
This time, the desert beasts were the same type they had encountered on the first night they entered the desert—the ones Zhuang Huaiya and Wang Yiyi had come across during their shift, which resembled large insects.
Under Mai Dongzi’s guidance, Zhuang Huaiya had made significant progress in just three days. When the desert beasts attacked this time, Zhuang Huaiya heard something unusual as the desert beasts approached their surroundings.
Desert beasts inevitably made some noise while crawling through the sand dunes. As long as the sentinels were focused and attentive to the surrounding sounds, they could detect anything out of the ordinary.
Unlike the hesitation he had shown the previous day, Zhuang Huaiya immediately woke everyone up when he noticed something unusual.
The number of desert beasts this time was roughly the same as the group that had attacked them earlier, but Phantom Team was much more composed as they stood on the large rocks to face them.
Although the battle didn’t end any quicker, none of them were bitten, and they weren’t as exhausted as they had been after the last battle.
Since the battle took place at night, their rest time was extended by half an hour, and they didn’t set off until the sky was fully light.
Phantom Team had only just begun their journey when Mai Dongzi suddenly turned around and grabbed onto Yu Lan, urgently calling out, “Follow me and run, quickly!”
Her voice was filled with urgency. Without waiting, she grabbed Yu Lan and ran in the direction to the right.
Zhuang Huaiya reacted the quickest; he immediately grabbed Wang Yiyi’s hand, pulling her forward, and Yu Guangxi and Durant were only half a second behind.
Under Mai Dongzi’s lead, Phantom Team ran desperately in one direction.
On the flying car, Instructor Shan’s expression was clearly tense as he closely watched the distance between the desert beasts and Phantom Team.
Likewise, the two instructors on the flying car had noticed the desert beasts first. The desert beasts had keen sensory abilities, and when they were about five to six kilometers away from Phantom Team, the leader of the beasts seemed to sense something. It raised its head and seemed to be trying to pinpoint the location of the prey based on its senses.
Fortunately, at that moment, Mai Dongzi also realized something was wrong and quickly grabbed her team to run in the opposite direction.
The desert beast leader continued to sense the air for a while. Perhaps because Phantom Team had escaped beyond its sensory range, the leader couldn’t detect the presence of its prey anymore. It relaxed and resumed its slow, unhurried pace, showing no intention of chasing.
After confirming that Phantom Team had escaped the danger, Instructor Shan finally sighed in relief.
“Classmate Xi’s mental sensing range is as far as six kilometers, which is why they were able to avoid being detected by this group of desert beasts,” Instructor Li said. Then he added, “The level of these desert beasts is too high. Any team that encounters them would be completely wiped out. We need to report this and see if we need to handle them.”
Based on the movements of these desert beasts, it was very likely that they would find the ability system’s team in three hours.
Instructor Shan fully agreed with Instructor Li’s suggestion. He knew that despite their differences with the head instructor of the ability system, Instructor Li had no issues with the students in that team. He didn’t want to see these kids simply get eliminated.
Mai Dongzi led Phantom Team in a fast pace for an hour, making sure they had completely shaken off the group of desert beasts before stopping.
Although she slowed her pace once she confirmed everyone was out of danger, Yu Lan and the others were still struggling to keep up, especially the level 4 warriors, who were exhausted.
“Captain, what did you find?” Yu Guangxi asked.
He was in the best condition aside from Mai Dongzi, not just because his cultivation level was higher than the others, but also because his teammate Tony had good stamina and didn’t slow him down too much.
“I found a group of desert beasts. The leader is at the peak of level 7, and there’s another at the early stage of level 7. There are also over a dozen level 6 beasts in the group,” Mai Dongzi said with a wry smile.
Mai Dongzi wasn’t incapable of dealing with this group of beasts, but doing so would surely expose her mental energy level.
Her experience in the central forest of the Imperial Capital Star had made her reluctant to reveal her true cultivation level.
Hearing the captain’s description, the Phantom Team collectively gasped. After the captain pulled them to flee, they had guessed that they were facing an enemy they couldn’t deal with, but they hadn’t imagined it would be so terrifying. No wonder the captain didn’t say a word and just pulled them to run.
Yu Guangxi looked a bit strange, and Durant nudged his elbow: “Do you know something? Tell us.”
“We came to Liva Star for training. The school wouldn’t send us to face dangers beyond our ability. As per usual, before we land on this planet, the military clears out any high-level beasts within our operational area,” Yu Guangxi explained.
“According to our cultivation levels, the beasts we should encounter should be below level 7,” Yu Guangxi added.
“But this isn’t the first time we’ve encountered level 7 beasts,” Mai Dongzi said.
Back in the hill region, they had killed a level 7 beast.
“If it’s not the information I’ve received that has changed, then something must have gone wrong,” Yu Guangxi said with a serious expression.
Mai Dongzi thought for a moment, then said, “If I’m not mistaken, that group of beasts might not be desert beasts at all, but foreign creatures that have entered the desert.”
She said this for two reasons: first, based on the appearance of the beasts, and second, because they had encountered this species of beast before in the hill region.
While the Phantom Team was discussing the situation—trying to figure out what could have caused level 7 beasts to appear in an area where they shouldn’t—they received a message from Instructor Li and Instructor Shan, who had just received an order from the vice-principal.
The order was given to all the instructors guarding the student teams: if any level 7 beasts were discovered near a student team, they were to be dealt with immediately.