Reader Mage-Stubbing August 10! Chapter 90: 90-We Need Your Webs

Read chapter 90 of Reader Mage-Stubbing August 10! by A_Random_Turtle on NovelPedia.

Unluckily for Merlin, neither Hakyun nor Chima were on his team. Considering that they usually bickered, this should have been fine, however, they were still the only ones he was close to within the cohort. Well, males, if he was being precise. After all, Park Yuri, Kim Yiseo, and Sofia were on his team. The set up of the team brought about a rather awkward atmosphere, at least between Merlin and Sofia, which was most likely only limited to him, because the girl did not look one bit bothered by his presence. He was different though. And because of that he quickly redirected his attention towards the most important thing at the moment. “So? Does anyone have any plans?” Merlin asked, his eyes sweeping over the members of his team, ten of them, including him, and most he didn’t know. No one replied to his question. And… They all stared back at him. He jerked his head backwards slightly. Were they expecting him to come up with a plan? He glanced at Park Yuri. She was saying nothing. He thought he had cleared up the misunderstanding that there was nothing more to what met the eyes with him. His gaze shifted to Kim Yiseo, and her silence shocked him the most. If those two were not saying anything, then it was more than obvious that no one else would. Merlin sighed. He had no choice. Thankfully, Kieran had been a rather prolific hunter in SIngularity Mage. That was his whole schtick before becoming a Mage after all. And since Merlin had enjoyed reading the mundane scenes of Kieran’s huntings, he had a bit of knowledge on setting up inconspicuous traps. At least, theoretically. The problem came in putting it into practice, but there were ten of them. It should work out. “Then, if you’ll allow me to bring up suggestions,” Merlin started and everyone listened attentively. It seemed the whole ‘hatred for him’ gimmick was slowly dying down. Or maybe the members of his team were just smart enough to realize that what was at stake was bigger than their ego. “If I’m to estimate, we should have a bit over thirty minutes to set up traps around our base before our opponents start making a move. Now, this is an estimate, there’s no guarantee that they haven’t already begun their approach. After all, they too are numbered ten. If they split in half, one group can handle the trap settings, while the other can rush at us. And since we don’t know who exactly we’re going up against, we cannot assume that we’re stronger or weaker.” That was one of the problems with the test. Dr. Elias had shared the teams and sent them to their various locations in secret. Because of that, no one knew which team exactly they were to go up against. Apparently, it’s as a means to prepare the budding Mages for the various types of monsters they could encounter in a Dungeon. “Then shouldn’t we also take the initiative and head towards them now?” a boy with black hair and an average height asked. He had introduced himself as Hwang Man-Shik earlier. A few of the students supported his claim. But that would be stupid. Merlin was not looking at the test with the eyes of a mere practical; he was looking at it through the lenses of Kieran’s eyes. In other words, the eyes of a hunter. If they split up their forces, the traps would be made slower. And in the off-chance that their opponents were stronger than them, the vanguard force may very well be wiped out on their way, and the traps wouldn’t even have been completed by the time they got to the rest of the team’s location. This was not even taking into consideration the possibility that none of their members left their camp. It was all too risky. Merlin shook his head. “No.” He explained his reasoning to them, and they all nodded in understanding. Wow, he had been blessed with rather smart teammates. “So what do we do then?” Sofia asked. Merlin nodded and turned to the white flag fluttering upon a pole. “We won’t leave our base obviously. Protecting the flag comes first. Even though this is a ‘trap’ practical, the condition fo