The Unsurpassed Maiden

To say that Mi Young is having a hard time is an understatement.

If she was given a chance to choose between fighting off that giant spider in the past or dealing with three males, she would rather choose the former than the latter. Who knew being with males can be such a nuisance. The boy from the Anemo faction, Xiao Lu, kept on arguing and bickering with the other twin, Jin Young, and Mi Young is really close to blowing their heads off.

"No, Lady Ning Gwang is much sexier than Min Ji!"

"'Course not! Lady Ning Gwang has the body of a lady while Min Ji is still growing."

"When will these two shut up?" Mi Young whispers to herself. She was having a headache already just by listening to the two boys non stop bickering.

The black haired girl hears a soft chuckle beside her and she sees Kwon Ji Hyun taking the empty space on her right. "Jin Young is always like that. Anywhere he goes he always finds someone as annoying as him."

"Aren't you tired of listening to him bickering with everybody?"

Ji Hyun laughs at her statement this time. "Surprisingly no. Maybe because it's his way of being close with you. If Jin Young argues with you a lot then you are a person close to his heart."

"I don't understand? Why does he make someone important to him by bickering?"

"I also don't know but there was this one time where my mother and father saw him bickering and arguing with a child of one of our servants. We thought he hated that kid but when some other kids bullied that child, Jin Young was the first person to defend him." Ji Hyun says. There was a dazed look on his face like he was remembering a joyful memory from the past.

After that, Mi Young remained silent while the two of them listened to Xiao Lu and Jin Young's constant debate.

There was a second round of fireworks  that gained attention from the four students. And as each fireworks exploded, the more Mi Young felt the need to go.

"Are you okay?" Xiao Lu asks while sitting beside Mi Young.

The black haired girl gave him a sidelong glance before she sighs and answers, "No."

"Why?"

"My team needs me."

Xiao Lu lets out a small chuckle. "Every captain feels like that."

Mi Young wanted to argue with him but she remained silent. She doesn't want anyone finding out about their plan.

Later that night, Mi Young finally found an opportunity to escape the three young men who were all sleeping soundlessly on the ground, not knowing that the black haired girl had already taken away their flags.

When Mi Young reached the area where the fireworks were coming from, she found Jong In scouting a nearby camp.

Mi Young walks behind the unsuspecting young lad and taps his shoulders gently. Jong In jumped from where he was crouching when he felt the light touch on his shoulders.

"Holy cow, Mi Young! You scared me!" Jong In whispers as he pulls Mi Young to sit beside him.

Mi Young threw him an apologetic look before she smiled sheepishly at him, "Sorry. Am I the first to arrive?"

"No." Jong In answers. He nods his head in the opposite direction of the tree he was hiding at. "Shi Yun is there, scouting as well."

Mi Young followed Jong In's gaze, and although she can't see where the raven haired boy was, she immediately knew that he's there somewhere, given the fact that she can feel his aura coming from the other side of the woods.

"What's happening?" Mi Young asks as she casts her gaze down the camp below them. "What faction?"

"The other Pyro faction." Jong In whispers.

Mi Young gave him a look, "I thought we're going to get the Pyro faction 'after' we get three flags." Mi Young says.

"I know but we're running out of time and some factions are really good at hiding so we have no choice. Shi Yun's idea." Jong In says while looking apologetically at the black haired girl.

Mi Young sighs before she nods her head and asks Jong In about their plan.

"So we've been observing this faction for almost two days now." Jong In starts as he looks at the camp the other Pyro faction has made. "Based on what we have observed, they always change the person who holds their flag after every two hours."

"That's a nice idea." Mi Young comments while eyeing the camp. There were two people guarding the front and two others at the back as well. Another one was sitting at the entrance of the tent. Mi Young furrows her eyebrows while looking for the other person. "Where's the sixth person?"

"The person who is assigned to hold the flag gets to hide inside their tent." Jong In says. He points at the person who was guarding the entrance of the tent. "That person is their team captain. He's also one of the freshmen students who topped the entrance exam. Shi Yun says that person is his third cousin and he is a master of defense."

"Defense?"

Jong In nods his head. "Uhn. He has mastered a lot of Pyro defensive techniques."

"There are defensive techniques for the Pyro element? I thought Pyro users specialized in offense?" Mi Young asks. She was looking at Jong In expectantly, demanding answers from the said boy.

"Those defensive techniques are rare. And yes, Pyro Mages have more offensive techniques than the other elements but it doesn't mean that we're totally out of any defensive techniques." Jong In explains. "That's why having their team captain as an opponent is quite bothersome because we don't know much about defensive techniques."

Mi Young contemplates for a second before saying, "I'll deal with him myself then."

Jong In whips his head towards the black haired girl's direction. "You mean to say you're going to battle with him one on one?"

"We have no other choice."

"Actually we do if our plan succeeds." Jong In says.

"What's your plan then?"

"Well…it's Shi Yun's plan.."

"Come on, spill it." Mi Young says while eyeing Jong In suspiciously.

The tan skinned boy sighs deeply before finally answering Mi Young. "He said that someone needs to act as bait and pretend that he or she is holding our flag so that the others will try to catch him. But we need to make sure that the one who will act as bait will have no one following him with the same as role him."

"What do you mean?" Mi Young asks, eyes reflecting confusion.

"What I mean is we need to make sure that our bait should not engage in any battle once the people who chases after him catches him." Jong In starts to explain. "One time, there was this one person from another faction who happened to stumble on their camp and those four who acts as guards on their front and back ran after that person. Their captain remained seated in front of the tent while the person holding their flag was inside."

"What happened to that person?"

"Well, turns out one of the people who chased after him had the same role as him so he had no choice but to battle with him." Jong In says. "Unfortunately, he lost."

Mi Young nodded her head at the other party's explanation. "Well, do you happen to know the roles of the people in their faction aside from their captain?"

"We've been trying to figure out their roles but we only managed to find out that the two girls in front right now are their seers." Jong In answers. "We still don't know the roles of the rest of them."

Mi Young looks at the five people guarding the tent. Based on their looks, they're not just some simple and weak Mages.

Then she looks at the captain who was sitting calmly in front of the tent's entrance. Mi Young size him up. He has a good physical built that's just right for his height. Although he looks like a normal Mage, he emits a strong aura that screams that he is not somebody you can easily deal with. Mi Young wonders if that's how the Jeon's handle themselves.

"Speaking of the Jeon's, where the hell is Shi Yun and why isn't he here?" Mi Young asks. She turns her gaze towards the other side of the clearing and sees no sign of Shi Yun at all. "Are you sure he's still alive?"

Mi Young hears the other boy laughing at her joke. "We agreed that he'll come back later after scouting that side of the forest. It's good that we're close to the enemies but it might be a problem if another team arrives and steal our prey."

"So he's assigned to block another threat?"

Jong In had a sheepish smile on his face while he answered Mi Young, "Well kind of. Compared to the two of us he's far better at dealing with stronger opponents. And I feel like someone from the Anemo faction might attack me any second."

This made Mi Young's ears perk up, "What about the Anemo faction?"

Jong In looks at her like he just saw some ghost. "Aren't you aware that they're the best hunters?"

"Well...no."

Jong In was about to say something but someone behind them cut him off.

"Well now you will know why we're called the best hunters."