Conquering The Novel

Erina stood at the top of the castle, her eyes scanning the Iron Fortress Academy's stronghold ahead. The distance between their castle and the opponent's seemed to be around 60-70 meters. She knew that they needed to move fast before the other academies started attacking them.

"Alright, everyone," Erina called out to her team. "We need to split into two groups. One group will stay here and defend our castle, while the other will go on the offensive and capture other teams' crowns.

Mia, Penelope, and Evan, you'll be on defense duty. The rest of us will go on the offensive." Erina informed.

Mia, Penelope, and Evan immediately moved toward their assigned position, ready to defend their castle at any cost. The rest of the team gathered around Erina, waiting for their instructions.

"Lucas, you'll take the lead," Erina said, looking at him firmly. "We need to move fast and take down the opponents. We cannot let them get ahead of us."

Lucas gripped his spear tightly, his eyes shining with determination. "Got it. Let's do this, guys!"

The rest of the team nodded in agreement, ready to take on the challenge ahead. They split into two groups and started their mission, one to defend their castle and the other to attack their opponents.

Lucas charged forward with his spear in hand, the rest of his team following closely behind. The Iron Fortress Academy's castle loomed in front of them, with the enemy already prepared for their attack.

Nate's sharp eyes scanned the Iron Fortress Teams castle, spotting a group of archers preparing to fire a barrage of arrows toward their team. "Arrows incoming!" he shouted, alerting his fellow archers.

With practiced ease, they responded quickly, drawing their bows and unleashing a hail of arrows toward the enemy. The air was filled with the sound of metal clashing against metal and arrows whizzing through the air.

Suddenly, a barrage of fireballs, the size of meteors, fell from the sky toward Lucas and his team.

"Haha, this is what happens when they give us so much mana to spare," Sofia said with a nervous chuckle as she readied her bow to counter the incoming fireballs while the rest of the team did the same.

However, Lucas had a different plan in mind.

He gathered his mana into his spear, and it ignited into flames that flickered like stars. The rest of the team stared in awe as Lucas yelled out his attack name.

"Flaming Spear!"

The spear shot forward like a bolt of lightning, leaving a trail of smoke behind it. It weaved past the incoming fireballs, which dissipated into thin air at the spear's touch.

Swoosh—

The flaming spear was now moving toward the Iron Fortress Academy's castle at lightning speed. The enemy was caught off guard, and they scrambled to react.

"Ah, shit...!" The Iron Fortress team representative yelled, realizing the danger.

But it was too late. The spear hit him with a fierce impact, and encircled him in flames, eliminating him instantly.

"ARGG!"

However, the spear didn't stop there and continued on its path, slicing through the air until it hit one of the castle's pillars with a resounding boom.

BOOM!—

The ground shook as the pillar crumbled, and debris rained down on the enemy team, scattering them in all directions. For a moment, there was stunned silence on both sides.

The team led by Lucas watched in shock as the spear hit the Iron Fortress Academy's castle with tremendous force. They couldn't believe the power of Lucas's attack, and they wondered if the restrictions had failed to work on him.

Meanwhile, Erina had a smirk on her face as she assessed the situation and came up with a new plan. She saw that the Iron Fortress Academy's team was in a state of panic, and their defenses were weakening.

"Lucas, fall back! We'll try to flank them from the side!" Erina ordered through the team's voice chat.

Lucas nodded in agreement. Blindly rushing the enemy now would only result in casualties. As the saying goes, discretion is the better part of valor, and he didn't have his spear to defend himself either. He signaled to the team to retreat. They regrouped at their own castle and decided to take a different path toward the Iron Fortress Academy's castle.

As they approached, Erina observed that the enemy team was huddling on the castle's front side in a defensive formation, leaving the other sides less protected. They appeared uneasy about the potential for a counterattack now that their representative had been eliminated.

However, Erina swiftly devised a plan to take advantage of the enemy's defensive formation.

"Listen up," she said, turning to address the team. "We'll divide into two groups: Mia, Penelope, Ziona, and Kevin, you'll take the right side and create a diversion. Meanwhile, archers Nate and Lio will stand by for support. Lucas, Evan, Sofia, and I will flank the enemy on the left side and launch a surprise attack. Let's make it quick and coordinated."

The team nodded, and they split up into two groups. Mia, Penelope, Ziona, and Kevin ran toward the right side of the castle, drawing the enemy team's attention away from the left side.

Meanwhile, Erina and the rest of the team moved swiftly toward the left side of the castle, where the defenses were weaker.

With a quick boost from Evan's shield, Erina managed to climb up to the top of the wall. She signaled Sofia to follow her, and they jumped down into the castle courtyard.

While Lucas and Evan moved to grab Lucas's spear back, Erina and Sofia quickly made their way to the unprotected crown room.

Without many hindrances, they found the Iron Fortress team's crown.

"Got it!" Erina said triumphantly as she held the crown in her hand.

Meanwhile, Lucas and Evan quickly retrieved Lucas's spear and were making their way to Erina's position.

[We have the Crown, let's take them down stealthily.] Erina ordered through the voice chat.

"Roger that!" Lucas and Evan replied, but before they could make a move, they were spotted by a member of the Iron Fortress team.

"T-They have infiltrated the castle! The students in the front are just distractions!" he shouted, alerting his team.

Lucas shook his head. "Of course, things couldn't be that easy," he muttered.

The Iron Fortress team's attention turned to Lucas and Evan as they prepared to engage in battle.

"Erina, we have company," Lucas said through the voice chat, twirling his spear in his hand as he readied himself for the fight. Meanwhile, Evan stood at the ready with his shield, prepared to block any incoming attacks.

[...Get out of there!] Erina's voice crackled through the team's communication channel.

"Huh?" Lucas and Evan looked at each other, puzzled.

[Now!] Erina shouted urgently.

Swoosh— Swoosh

Suddenly, the sky was filled with arrows and spells raining down from the Soreh Academy team, catching the Iron Fortress team off guard.

"...."

"What the-!?" Lucas exclaimed, twirling his spear in hand.

"Aiyo, Lucas, we gotta scram before we get friendly fired!" Evan panicked, holding up his shield.

Lucas nodded in agreement, a sheepish grin on his face as they scrambled to retreat.

Just in the nick of time, they leaped out of the Iron Fortress team's castle, narrowly avoiding the barrage of arrows and spells that struck the structure, sending it shaking and quaking.

BOOM— BOOM—

"Wow, talk about a close call!" Evan exclaimed, catching his breath.

Lucas let out a nervous laugh, "Yeah, let's not make a habit of that."