On the other side.

Margaret was currently sulking.

She had thought victory was within easy reach, but reality had given her a harsh slap in the face.

She had actually been fooled by such a simple illusion!

"Margaret, not counting the ten guarding the stronghold, we have thirty-two people left."

Charlotte finished counting the numbers and reported the situation to Margaret.

"Three people were eliminated due to being trampled by each other, and the remaining five were lost in the earlier siege."

To ensure the safety of participating students, each person had protective magic formations set on their bodies.

Once danger was encountered, the formations would trigger to protect the students' vital points, and guards stationed nearby would immediately rush over to remove them from the competition venue.

The eight eliminated people had already left reluctantly, and Margaret's team had suddenly lost nearly a quarter of its members.

Bringing this up made Margaret furious.

Being hit by enemies was one thing, but how could three people be trampled to death because their own side panicked too much?!

Glancing at her team members and seeing the exhaustion on their faces, Margaret had to reluctantly suppress her anger.

"Let's rest here for a while."

Hiding in the dense forest, Margaret reviewed the mistakes from earlier.

Celitia had used a fake flag to deliberately set a trap to deceive her.

But according to the competition rules, the stronghold's range was limited.

Even if they hid the real flag, it couldn't be hidden too far away.

The real thing must still be in that vicinity.

In terms of casualty scores, her side had undoubtedly fallen into a disadvantage.

But as long as she found the real flag and captured it in one fell swoop, victory would still belong to her.

Thinking carefully, the overall quality of Sophia's team was clearly inferior to her own side.

Even with the help of traps, she had still managed to break through successfully.

That's right, Sophia simply didn't dare fight her head-on.

As long as she gathered her forces and searched patiently, she would definitely be able to find the real thing and take it down in one stroke.

Thinking this, Margaret regained confidence.

After resting for about twenty minutes, Margaret felt it was enough.

Just as she was about to order the team to continue moving, Margaret suddenly heard rustling sounds from nearby bushes.

"Who's there?" Margaret's expression changed dramatically. "Get out here!"

Two team members rushed toward the source of the noise, and soon dragged out a brown-haired boy from the bushes.

This person had two black eyes—it was Alsen, who had taken two punches from Shanie and been driven away by Celitia.

"It's you!"

Margaret shot up, rushed to Alsen's front, and viciously kicked him.

If not for his faulty information, how would she have fallen into Sophia's trap?!

"I think you're tired of living, daring to appear before me again?!"

Alsen took Margaret's kick, his legs went weak, and he fell to his knees with a thud.

"I'm sorry, Lady Margaret!"

Alsen was sobbing, nearly ready to hug Margaret's thigh and cry.

"My information was wrong, causing you to fall into a trap!"

"You still dare to say that!!"

The anger she had originally suppressed flared up instantly, and Margaret kicked Alsen again viciously, knocking him to the ground.

Alsen didn't care about the pain and lunged forward to hug Margaret's calf, sobbing with snot and tears:

"Lady Margaret, I fought desperately to escape just to redeem myself through merit! They would never dream that I've already investigated the location of the real flag!!"

Out of self-interest, Alsen didn't dare say he had been released by Celitia.

Celitia definitely couldn't have expected that when Sophia and the others were moving the flag, he had secretly seen their actions.

Relying on this knowledge, Alsen dared to find Margaret, hoping to redeem himself through merit.

He had to do this.

Otherwise, having betrayed Sophia and ruined Margaret's plans, Alsen would definitely have no way to continue surviving in the academy.

If he didn't take this gamble, all that awaited him was a gloomy withdrawal from school.

"I don't believe a word of it!!"

Margaret pulled her calf from his embrace and kicked Alsen in the forehead.

Alsen suffered this heavy blow, his eyes rolled back, and his body went limp as he collapsed.

Above his already blackened eye circles, there was now an additional square shoe print.

Looking at Alsen's miserable face, Charlotte was thoughtful.

"Margaret, I actually think we could listen to what he has to say."

"Still listen to him? Wasn't being deceived once enough?!" Margaret said angrily.

"Look at the wounds on his body, and his clothes torn during the struggle—these traces aren't fake. Alsen should have indeed suffered abuse from Sophia's side and then escaped from them."

Charlotte spoke confidently, becoming more certain as she talked.

"Since that's the case, we can consider listening to his information. What if it's real? It's better than us wandering around like headless flies. Even if there's a problem with the information, if we're more careful and cautious this time, we definitely won't fall into Sophia's trap again."

Listening to Charlotte's analysis, Margaret gradually felt she made some sense.

If Sophia wanted to play with illusions like last time, Margaret definitely wouldn't be fooled again.

And if the information Alsen brought was real, then victory for her side would be within easy reach.

This possibility was simply too tempting, and Margaret found it hard not to be moved.

Listening to Alsen's account wasn't exactly a bad thing...

Thinking this way, Margaret kicked Alsen again: "Wake him up for me!"

Charlotte walked to the unconscious Alsen's front and said confidently: "Leave it to me, Margaret!"

Alsen was awakened by a sharp pain.

His face burned with pain, and some warm liquid was flowing down into his collar.

Alsen instinctively wanted to raise his hand to touch it, but found he couldn't move—his whole body was tightly bound and tied to a tree trunk.

Charlotte stood in front of Alsen, waving a small dagger in her hand.

The dagger gleamed brightly, reflecting the sunlight filtering through the forest, with blood flowing down the blade and dripping from the tip.

Alsen instantly understood where the sharp pain on his face came from.

"I have many ways to make you unable to live or die without triggering the protective formations."

Charlotte lightly licked the dagger blade, her tongue containing blood as she smiled at Alsen. "Would you like to try?"

"No!!"

Poor Alsen was so frightened that tears and snot flowed freely. "Please spare me, Miss Charlotte!!"

"Spare you? What a joke!"

Charlotte's expression instantly became ferocious as she placed the dagger against Alsen's neck.

"You deceived us once, and now you want to deceive us a second time. Why should I spare you?"

His neck felt ice-cold, and feeling the pain of his skin being cut, Alsen completely broke down.

"I didn't! Really didn't!! I swear to the goddess, everything I'm saying is the absolute truth!!"