Outside the stronghold, Celitia hid in the nearby forest, smiling as she watched Margaret step right into the trap.

Celitia indeed couldn't cast magic, but that didn't mean she couldn't set up magical traps.

The spell formations she had prepared were quite simple, didn't take much time to set up, and were easy for the person controlling the trap to master.

Such a simple trap naturally couldn't completely annihilate the enemy, but it was sufficient.

Celitia calmly waved her hand, calling to those behind her:

"Long-range magical strikes, take your positions."

Upon receiving the command, several mages began chanting simultaneously, releasing ice crystals and flames from all directions, firing them in unison at the red team.

Affected by the gravity spell, the red team members moved sluggishly, unable to dodge, and could only watch helplessly as the magical attacks came straight at their faces.

The participating team members were all still students who had at most engaged in one-on-one training matches—none had ever seen such a scene.

They were so frightened that their formation completely collapsed, pushing and shoving as they tried to flee, and in their panic, several people even fell to the ground.

"What are you panicking for!"

At the critical moment, Margaret's angry voice rang out, "A handful of magical strikes and you're scared like this?!"

"Deploy magical defenses! Regroup and get out of this area!!"

Led by Charlotte, several mages in the team chanted together, deploying defensive shields to protect the team as they struggled to move outward.

"Continue long-range strikes."

Celitia observed Margaret and her group's movements.

"Close combat teams prepare. After the next round of strikes, immediately move in to intercept them."

Sophia and Shanie had long been restless, rubbing their hands together as they waited for Celitia's command.

When the mages took a temporary breather, Sophia and Shanie each led reorganized squads to flank Margaret's team from left and right.

"Sophia! You're truly despicable!!"

Having suffered through a round of traps before seeing the enemy leader's face, Margaret angrily charged forward with her sword raised.

The two long swords clashed together, sparks flying, as Sophia raised an eyebrow at Margaret and sneered:

"This is called tactics. Compared to your methods of poisoning and poaching people, this can hardly be called despicable!"

Thinking about how she had carelessly fallen into such a simple trap, Margaret couldn't help but fly into a rage.

"I'll fight you to the death!"

Even with one foot caught in a trap, Sophia only had so few people—surely she could still defeat her?

If she could just capture Sophia, wouldn't she have won more than half the battle?

"No, Margaret!"

Charlotte's voice shattered Margaret's fantasy just in time.

"We must break through! We can't fight effectively like this!"

Under the pull of the gravity spell, every movement required much more effort from the team members, all showing signs of fatigue.

Having to protect their teammates, fight the close combat teams, and guard against magical strikes that came flying unexpectedly... it was simply too exhausting.

Even with numerical advantage, under these circumstances, that advantage didn't amount to much.

During the initial panic, because there were so many people, they had even knocked down their own teammates, who then couldn't move after taking a few kicks and were forced to exit.

Margaret gritted her teeth fiercely, having to abandon the idea of fighting Sophia to the death here.

"Regroup! Break through!!"

Sophia and Shanie couldn't let Margaret pass so easily, leading their teams in desperate obstruction.

Both sides struggled for nearly an hour before Margaret finally succeeded in forcing back the two squads and fled with her team members in a sorry state.

Celitia didn't order pursuit.

She sat on a rock among the mountain forest, leisurely crossing her long legs, supporting her chin with one hand, her expression casual and languid.

"Thank you for your help, Student Alsen."

Looking at the brown-haired boy tied up in front of her, Celitia showed him an elegant smile.

The boy named Alsen had taken several punches from Shanie, his face bruised and swollen, with a cloth gag in his mouth, staring at Celitia in terror.

Alsen was the spy Margaret had planted in the blue team, having secretly told Margaret the stronghold's location early on.

Sure enough, Margaret had come, then suffered a major loss and had to flee in embarrassment.

Celitia gestured to Benita beside her, who then stepped forward and removed the cloth from Alsen's mouth.

"What... what do you want to do?!"

Finally having a chance to speak, Alsen hurriedly asked.

"Nothing special."

Celitia shrugged, saying leisurely, "You've lost your usefulness. Get lost quickly, don't let me see you again."

Alsen couldn't believe it: "Really?"

When Celitia exposed his spy identity and dragged him out of the team, Alsen had thought he'd at least lose a leg.

"I can't exactly kill you."

Celitia impatiently waved her hand, "Get lost. Do you want to stay here for dinner?"

Alsen's face turned bright red, mumbling but not daring to speak.

Benita cut the ropes binding Alsen and pushed him:

"Since Lily said so, you'd better get lost quickly."

Alsen moved his body, looked at Celitia again in disbelief, quickly turned around, and ran off, afraid that Celitia might change her mind.

Sophia had just finished her pursuit and returned from outside the forest, carrying her sword.

Seeing Sophia, Alsen was so frightened that his pace quickened even more, and he fled rolling and crawling.

"Just letting him go like that?" Sophia said unhappily.

"Yes, because he's still useful."

A pleased smile curved at the corners of Celitia's lips, and in Sophia's eyes, she looked exactly like a cunning gray-furred little fox.

"Margaret lost at least seven or eight people, while we only had two exit."

Sophia's eyes lit up, "Lily, if we could do this several more times, we could completely destroy her fighting capacity!"

Celitia laughed:

"Several more times? Margaret isn't that stupid. This kind of illusion trickery can only fool her once."

"Then what do we do?"

Sophia was somewhat disappointed.

"Should we go directly to her stronghold to capture the flag? Margaret deployed so many people this time, which means her stronghold should have almost no defense."

Celitia didn't answer directly, but asked: "How's Shanie's side?"

"She just sent someone back with a message saying Margaret has reorganized her team and is resting," Sophia said.

"Very good, consistent with my prediction," Celitia showed a confident smile, "Margaret still doesn't plan to retreat and defend."

Looking at the girl's smile, Sophia once again sensed the taste of scheming, even feeling a bit sorry for Margaret.

"What do you plan to do next?" Sophia asked.

"I think your suggestion is quite good. Let's attack their rear."

Celitia winked at Sophia, her expression light.

"This time, we'll use a different bait."