Elite Mages’ Academy (Web Novel)
chapter-244

Chapter 244: The First Day of Defending the Fortress Comes to An End

Xiao Lin’s injury was considered one of the more serious among those who suffered heavy injuries. The healers diagnosed it as severe burns after a simple glance. Though it would be difficult to treat on Earth, they were on Planet Norma.

Xiao Lin did not even use the healing potion he carried with him, since it was way too precious. He did his best not to drink it that afternoon after considering that the battle had just begun.

In the end, the healer sprayed a kind of ultracold water on his hands. It had a faint fragrance and was somewhat sticky to the touch. His hands were then wrapped with a bandage and he was told that it would take two days to heal fully. In the meantime, he should not be holding any weapons.

A temporary camp for the wounded battalion was set up on the training ground, but since everyone’s injuries were not very serious, they chatted casually with each other while waiting for the healers’ busy treating. Most of them were bragging about how brave they were in battle, how they were seriously injured but continued to draw their bow and shoot arrows, or how many orcs they killed.

Someone immediately expressed skepticism and said, “How do you know how many orcs you killed? Did you still have time to count when there were enemies all over the hill at that moment?”

The person who had just boasted about his achievements immediately raised a small book. After opening it, one could see that the word ‘strike’ had been written countless times. He proclaimed proudly, “I make a record whenever an enemy is confirmed dead.”

“If you’ve saved that bit of energy from making that record, you might have been able to kill more orcs,” Xiao Lin’s ears picked up on the conversation and he interjected helplessly.

“Aren’t you Class Seven’s monitor?” The young guy who had been called out chuckled awkwardly and was immediately able to guess Xiao Lin’s identity after realizing that the latter’s face was somewhat familiar.

Xiao Lin probably had not realized that he was actually a small-time celebrity. Many people got to know about him before the monthly exam. Xiao Lin’s reputation among the freshmen was not that good initially. His impression was defined by everyone as ‘the loser acting monitor of Class Seven.’ In addition to his short absence, everyone gradually began forgetting his existence.

Cheng Ming’s talkativeness ensured that the details of Xiao Lin’s injury spread gradually within the fortress. The fact that Xiao Lin took the initiative to walk out of the fortress at the beginning and ascend the defense tower made everyone admire him all the more.

The body count of that afternoon’s battle was also complete. Since the orcs would not take the initiative to attack at night, the monitors from the temporary headquarters took advantage of the orcs retreat and organized some people to head out for the purposes of cleaning the battlefield.

Flames continued to burn in the grassland, and black beacons of smoke lingered in the sky. The dark red blood, along with the incomplete corpses of the orcs, painted a horrifying picture. Originally, the monitors were worried about whether those corpses were still in the process of dying or perhaps even laying there and feigning death. Everyone was urged to be especially careful, and anything deemed suspicious should first be given a few slashes before proceeding with anything else.

In fact, no surviving orcs were encountered during the cleaning process, which lasted for more than an hour. Every orc fought hard and only fell down until they lost their last drop of blood. The intensity of that afternoon’s battle could be felt while walking amidst those gruesome corpses.

After a rough count, the number of orcs killed in that charge exceeded 600, accounting for nearly one-fifth of their troops. Those who were wounded when they retreated were not yet taken into account. The acting monitors were fairly satisfied with that data. If that was the number, then they would be able to completely wipe out the orc infantry team in just one week.

After Xiao Lin was all bandaged up, he sat briefly in the camp for the wounded before going back to Class Seven to check on the situation. Luck was on their side, for throughout the entire afternoon, only three of the students were killed by the thrown spears. The others had slight bruises, but none had any serious injury. However, although Xiao Lin was ostensibly visiting his classmates, his main purpose was actually to make sure that Gu Xiaoyue was safe.

The sight of that girl sitting coldly there gave him a sense of relief. Xiao Lin then found out all about the battle in the afternoon through Zhou Feng, the baldy who looked tough as nails.

As Xiao Lin interacted more with him, he gradually realized that Zhou Feng was also a trustworthy person.

There was nothing much to say since everyone was guarding the city, but Zhou Feng privately expressed some worry about the battle privately to him. Although they all had the upper hand in the battle that afternoon, the orcs’ fierceness had actually taken them by surprise.

The most formidable armies were the ones that had no fear of death. In fact, the students were already at a disadvantage after the archer tower was destroyed and the spell tower started misfiring. However, the orc commander might have stopped the attack after considering the circumstances of the casualties and was perhaps reluctant to engage in night battles.

Xiao Lin and Zhou Feng happened to hold the same view on that. Based on that day’s trend, it was hard to determine the result of repeated onslaughts. The commanding headquarters’ optimistic estimate of wiping out the group of orcs within seven days was purely conjecture.

“Old Xiao, is guarding all we can do? I mean, we’ve already told the fleet to move everything that can be moved. We can just burn whatever we can’t bring away. What’s important is we bring all the necessary food when we leave.” Zhou Feng was still not used to addressing Xiao Lin as ‘monitor’ and usually called him ‘Old Xiao’. Xiao Lin did not mind it in the slightest and felt that it was much less impersonal.

Zhou Feng’s proposal left Xiao Lin a little surprised.

Zhou Feng continued, “I know the rewards for this mission are very generous, but I don’t think it’s more cost-effective compared to a ten-year life span. From what I see, some people are smitten by these temptations and don’t even understand what’s at stake!”

Xiao Lin understood what Zhou Feng wanted to say. According to the standard of reward for the second task, they were able to get 20 redemption points for every day they remained there. The price of a bottle of primary Lifewater was 1,000 redemption points, which meant that the minimum number of days they had to remain there was 50, after which it would be enough to break even if they died.

It was only the sixth day, including that day. That amounted only to one tenth of the time. With nine tenths of time left, no one could guarantee what would happen next.

Retreating might be a good idea if they were in a war on Earth, but unfortunately, that was not the case. Xiao Lin pointed to the resurrection tower that was being built some distance away and sighed, “Remember, the resurrection tower is our foundation in the New World. We’ll be invincible as long as the resurrection tower exists. This is why the architects came here. We can’t abandon this supply depot, and especially not the resurrection tower!”