episode_0217

Sabak-

The moment Yuri lightly stepped forward, her doll disappeared without a trace.

“…!!”

Terius’s eyes, who had been scouting Yuri from the front of the attackers, widened as if they would split.

It was perhaps a natural reaction. His main magic was exploration. He almost never lost sight of his target.

But it happened. Yurias had been walking with light steps, her skirt fluttering as if taking a stroll just moments ago. However, in the blink of an eye, she disappeared like smoke, literally.

‘What happened…?’

Terius swallowed hard. He hadn’t heard of such a thing. Yurias Philbrogue clearly didn’t even reach the main tournament in last semester’s individual tournament. She wasn’t a noteworthy strong contender.

So what happened? Magic? Illusion? Or some special magical tool?

However, he wasn’t given time to ponder.

Chwaak—!

The body of a party member standing right next to him split in two, then was enveloped in a pillar of light and disappeared from the dungeon.

“—!!”

It happened so quickly. Terius immediately drew his sword from his waist. As a third-year student, his body moved faster than his thoughts or words. Instinctively, he assumed a defensive posture against the enemy’s attack.

“Surprise attack—!! Everyone take a defensive stance—!!”

He raised his voice only after judging that his body was safe.

In fact, he should have reported it immediately when he first lost track of her. That was the top priority for a ranger. However, there was a discrepancy between the facts he knew and the reality before his eyes. Even with some experience, he was just a third-year academy student. He couldn’t help but be flustered.

He had to make up for his mistake. Their losses were only one person. There were still over 50 people remaining. If they pushed through with numbers, they could somehow manage it.

“What the, what happened—”

Chwaak—!!

Again, a sound like skin being ripped was heard. Everyone turned their heads towards the source of the sound.

However, only a blue sword glow and red streaks of blood were visible. The attacker’s figure was nowhere to be seen.

“Wh-what… is it an invisibility magic—”

Chwaak—!!

This time too, blue and red light mixed and danced. However, the attacker remained invisible.

“Wait, something’s wrong—”

Chwaak—!!

“Terius… how—”

Chwaak—!!

“Hey, hey—!! What the hell—”

Chwaaaak—!!

Terius instinctively realized it. Those who made a sound were dying one after another. So he instinctively held his breath. It wasn’t actually death, but he felt a terror as if his life was truly being cut short.

And he realized another fact.

‘There are… no screams.’

He didn’t hear any screams. While being slashed by sharp blades, none of them screamed. No, it might be more accurate to say they couldn’t scream. They were killed before they even realized they were being cut.

It was a near one-hit-kill attack. Terius thought the opponent was a superb assassin.

Otherwise, he couldn’t believe what was happening before his eyes. Without revealing their form, completely hiding their presence, they slit people’s throats. With a single attack, so fast it was almost invisible.

When he visually perceived the phenomenon, he could only accept it as such. Appearing quickly, slashing quickly, and disappearing quickly.

Chwaak—!!

“…!!”

Silence fell, with no one voicing a sound, but the attacks didn’t stop. Rather, they became more cunning. Even though everyone was focusing all their senses on the quiet surroundings, they were completely invisible. They were even harder to read than before.

Chwaak—!!

Terius quickly turned his head to look at the cadet who was attacked. Clutching his neck, from which blood spurted like a fountain, the cadet collapsed.

He figured out one more thing.

Those on the very outside of consciousness, unseen by anyone, were the prey. Just like a weeping angel statue that remains still when looked at, but attacks from behind when you look away.

It wasn’t only Terius who noticed. Another cadet following him also figured out the new rule, but forgot the old rule.

“Everyone look at each other—!! He’s targeting those on the outside—”

Chwaak—!!

Terius gritted his teeth.

‘That idiot—!!’

But it was too late. When everyone turned towards the cadet, he was already clutching his neck, enveloped in a pillar of light.

The number had dropped to less than half. Almost thirty cadets had already been eliminated by the attacker.

‘The enemy… is one. I don’t want to believe it, but it’s true.’

The methods are the same. The attacks are consistent. They are so strong that even a glimpse of their skill is impossible to grasp.

“—!!”

Chwaak—!!

How many times has he heard this sound already? The sound of skin being ripped by a blade and blood spurting out. Hearing it dozens of times in a short time, it had become familiar to his ears. Now, the moments when he didn’t hear it were awkward.

Chwaak- Chwaaaak—

Terius and his group were powerless. They couldn’t do anything. The difference in power was too great to do anything.

‘Who the hell… is this? Besides Yurias Philbrogue… there’s someone this strong…’

The runner-up, Eve Ista, didn’t use this fighting style. She was the type to subdue her opponent head-on using superior magic and swordsmanship. The strong upperclassmen mostly knew it. The amount of experience she possessed was incomparable to theirs.

Assassination. It was a fighting style far from swords or magic, but it couldn’t be helped. This was a test designed this way. It was absurd to talk about cowardice and justice in a fight.

Chwaak—!!

However, there was just one thing Terius wanted to know. Who exactly they were. The identity of the powerhouse who toyed with them with just a couple of swords.

Chwaak-

Turning his head was now tiresome. Surely, a cadet somewhere behind him must have been attacked. If he turned his head now, he thought he would become the next target.

Kwaaaaak-

His grip on the sword tightened. How long had it been since he had been this tense? Cold sweat streamed down Terius’s cheeks.

“…….”

Silence fell.

As he turned his head to check his surroundings, there were no more cadets left. Terius stared blankly, letting out a hollow laugh.

“Ha… Haha…”

There’s a heaven above heaven. He once again realized that there is a sky above the sky. Like death, the blade came without sound, presence, or warning. It was as if the god of death had truly descended upon the empty plain.

Losing half of his sanity somehow calmed his mind. And his thoughts reached areas he hadn’t been able to reach due to tension.

The beginning of everything.

It was from the moment Yurias Philbrogue disappeared from his sight.

‘…So that’s it.’

There was no law that said she wouldn’t hide her strength. There was also no law that said she shouldn’t hide it.

Terius blinked lightly one last time. A lush forest with tall blades of grass. Red blood was scattered everywhere, but there were no corpses.

Kmppak-

And the next moment, death came to him, as it was equal to everyone.

When he regained consciousness, he could no longer speak. His limbs went limp, and the magic of the mock dungeon, recognizing the damage, enveloped the surroundings in a pillar of light.

However, his eyes were open, and his brain was alive.

The death Terius caught sight of right before his elimination was…

…

…

…

‘She did much better than I expected.’

Nari clenched her fist powerfully.

It wasn’t quite to the level of surpassing the master, but I never thought she would get this much stronger. Even though it was a broadcast screen, even she missed Yuri’s movements a couple of times.

Yuri learned the original swordsmanship, [Shadowless Swordsmanship], from Nari. Of course, due to the different attributes of magic and physique, some modifications were needed.

But the essence was the same. The basic movements of actively switching between static and dynamic postures. Sometimes receiving calmly, sometimes fiercely overwhelming with a fast sword.

Shadowless Swordsmanship, the swordsmanship without shadows.

Of course, since Nari didn’t directly open the sect, no one knew exactly about Yuri’s techniques and abilities.

The audience in the training ground, the broadcasting crew and commentators beyond the screen, all lost their words.

“Th… this… yes! What happened, commentators-?!”

“Um, well… we’re not sure if we saw it correctly, but— to be honest—”

“Even the commentators could not properly grasp cadet Yurias’s movements—!! Really, what happened, cadet Yurias Philbrogue—!! No one would have predicted that she would show such prowess this late into the second semester!! Or perhaps she had been hiding her strength—?!”

Mety was a broadcasting professional. Though she was momentarily speechless, leaving the audio empty, she quickly raised the tension, even showing off her unique interrupted broadcast style.

Of course, she was just as perplexed. Yurias’s figure was not properly visible, only the cadets surrounding her collapsing one after another. The audience must have also witnessed a similar scene.

Kollak-

Mety swallowed hard, turning her gaze to Narias. Four Narias, including three clones, were busily moving while watching the broadcast screen. Perhaps they missed the battlefield. Even though she was only receiving briefings and giving orders, her movements were big and boisterous.

“Delta, return to the safe zone for now. I’m worried Yuri might be overdoing it. Yes, still, go back once and at least catch your breath.”

“Alpha, good. Maintain your posture and slowly move towards Beta and Gamma.”

“Beta, hold on! Whether you vomit or tear out your insides, don’t back down! Is that all the spirit you have?”

“Ah… yeah… just keep doing what you’re doing and keep your position, huuuuuuaaaah—”

One of the clones seemed to be in a strange state, but Mety didn’t notice. There were countless broadcast screens to check. The broadcasting crew should be impartial; they couldn’t show bias by focusing on a single cadet.

But the situation was becoming overwhelmingly biased.

Following the victories of Eve’s Alpha squad and Yuri’s Delta squad, other squads also started taking down the attackers.