Tactics

After Ross finished the meal he prepared, and Lakar was doing the dishes, Ross suddenly opened his mouth.

,Okay, we’ve eaten. Now, I’ll explain the plan.”

At Ross’s words, Lakar stopped washing the dishes and looked at Ross with interested eyes.

,Before that, there’s one thing I want to show you.”

Lakar asked with a puzzled expression as Ross held up an unknown seed on his palm and showed it to him.

,Why this…?”

In response to the question, Ross pointed to the seed with his eyes instead of answering. As Lakar lowered his gaze to the seed, the seed on his palm suddenly began to grow rapidly.

,What, what is this…?”

,I learned Master-nim’s magic. I can use it to grow plants rapidly.”

At Ross’s answer, Lakar rummaged through his memories and came up with a name.

,Master-nim… You mean Scholar Rotten-nim?”

,That’s right.”

Lakar suppressed his curiosity at Ross’s expression, which wore a bitter smile for some reason.

,I’m going to use this tree to clear the bottom of this mountain.”

Ross, having said that, tapped the tree he was holding with his hand.

Ttong- A hollow sound was heard, as if the inside of the tree was empty.

,This is a tree that bears Papana fruit. The inside is completely empty.”

Ross threw the tree he was holding to Lakar. Lakar, who caught the tree, was a little surprised by the fact that the tree was incredibly light compared to its size.

,The characteristic of this tree is that it has Papana oil inside. They say that in the old days, they used the oil to light fires.”

At Ross’s words, Lakar looked at the tree with curious eyes.

,When a Papana tree catches fire, it explodes because of the oil inside. Most of the forest fires that occur in the south where Papana trees grow are caused by exploding Papana trees struck by lightning.”

Ross, having finished his explanation, got up from his seat, looked at the bottom of the mountain, and pointed with his finger.

,The river to the west. I’m going to lure people there.”

,Lure?”

,Yeah, I’m going to light the Papana tree on top of the mountain and throw the tree on the opposite side of the river. Then the forest below will be a sea of fire. To escape the fire, they’ll head to the river.”

Lakar, having heard Ross’s plan, swallowed hard.

Is that really okay?

It was a test without any restrictions, but still. Burning down an island was not a normal situation.

Of course, dangerous situations wouldn’t happen thanks to the shock artifact… Lakar was just thinking about fighting together with Ross, so he was embarrassed by the unexpected situation.

,But if they’re driven to the river, they’ll be able to escape the fire, right?”

,I’m going to set fire to the west too, and gather everyone towards the river. The beasts and monsters in the forest will all flee to the river to escape the fire. Then the bottom will fall into great chaos.”

At Ross’s answer, Lakar ran a hand over his face.

,Amazing. You’re really the team leader.”

Ross smiled at Lakar’s sudden sincerity.

,It’s not over yet. Come here.”

At Ross’s gesture, Lakar took another step closer.

,Can you see the upper reaches of the river in the middle of the mountain?”

Following Ross’s pointing finger, there was a huge river.

,Huh…?”

Lakar, realizing that something was wrong with the river, narrowed his eyes and looked closely.

For some reason, the currents were not flowing downstream and continued to spin. Checking the path leading downstream, huge trees blocked the path like a dam, blocking the water flowing downstream.

,Before climbing the mountain, I blocked it in advance with beanstalks and vines.”

,You did that on purpose…?”

,Yeah. By night, enough water will have gathered to sweep away the people downstream.”

Lakar felt goosebumps at Ross’s grinning face.

Ross’s plan was dangerous, but it was that great.

If he hadn’t cooperated with Ross, he wouldn’t have thought of this and would have simply focused on solving the mission.

No, no student would have come up with such a radical method.

Ross used both the environment of the deserted island and his abilities to plan to annihilate everyone in a safe zone.

The test had not even started for 3 hours. As if he knew in advance how the situation would unfold, Ross came up with this incredible plan in that short amount of time.

Moreover, the ability to think of the plan and immediately execute it was something that ordinary people could not do.

Who could call Ross an underachiever? Ross’s plan would surely cause a huge stir in Transcendence Academy.

Suddenly, Lakar thought that if Ross had been born before the empire was unified, he would have made a name for himself in history as a strategist.

,Ross, I think becoming friends with you was the best choice I made at the academy.”

At Lakar’s sudden words, Ross burst out laughing and stroked his chin, then looked down and opened his mouth.

,I’ll make you proud to be my friend.”

At Ross’s confident voice, Lakar turned his gaze and looked at Ross’s back.

Suddenly, he felt like kneeling before Ross like a loyal knight in a novel and pledging his allegiance.

Ross was the ideal lord he had dreamed of.

A man who, despite having no power, held up a spear against a troll to save people, and walked his own path without wavering even when people pointed fingers at him.

The underachiever who had difficulty wielding a spear was nowhere to be found. If asked who had grown the most at the academy, Lakar could choose Ross without hesitation.

So he wanted to follow him. He wanted to see how far he would grow, and what he was looking at, together.

,Friend… sounds good.”

***

Everyone had to flee towards the river to escape the forest fire. The forest was instantly engulfed in flames by the fireballs falling like rain from the top of the mountain, and the fire spread uncontrollably.

Navier arrived at the river with the friends she had promised to cooperate with, but there were already many people camped around the river.

On top of that, the battle continued without a break due to the monsters and beasts that had flocked to the river to escape the fire.

The biggest damage was the appearance of the trolls, with one troll eliminating more than 20 people.

The river had long since turned red with the blood shed by monsters and beasts. The hot air approaching from afar, the stench of blood from monsters and beasts. This place was already a battlefield.

,Let me cross!!!”

,Don’t be ridiculous! We’ve already secured our spot here!”

,What kind of bullshit is that! Are you saying we should all burn to death here if we can’t cross the river?”

,Don’t worry! You’ll just be eliminated from the test. No need to be scared! If you’re scared, just commit suicide and drop out!”

A fierce confrontation unfolded over a single river. The forces on the other side of the river, who had already secured their positions in the west, held up their weapons to prevent anyone from crossing the river.

Those who had been chased by the fire and fled to the river had to cross the river to escape the approaching fire, so a confrontation was inevitable.

Navier sighed and said to her friends.

,They’re planning to drop us out here.”

If they simply prevented them from crossing the river, the people here would be swept away by the approaching fire and fail the test.

Those who survived the fire on the opposite side of the river would further increase their scores with survival points, so it was like killing two birds with one stone.

When someone couldn’t stand it and tried to cross the river, an arrow flew from somewhere.

,I’ll shoot if you cross! I warned you!”

,You trash! Are you even from the combat department!”

,Shut up! This is a test!”

The atmosphere was such that a battle could break out at any moment. Navier was also thinking about what to do when she suddenly noticed a rock in the river on the opposite side.

,Wait, the boundary line of the rock is…?’

The boundary line of the rock, which was half-submerged in the river, was clearly visible for some reason. She quickly looked around and confirmed that the other rocks were the same.

In other words, the water level had dropped lower than usual.

Navier’s mind began to race. A sudden fire, and people driven to the river, a lowered water level….

Combining those things, Navier felt goosebumps on her neck.

,This is a trap! To the mountain, we have to go to the mountain!”

The people around Navier looked at her with puzzled expressions at her shout.

,What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

,A trap?”

Just as Navier opened her mouth to explain, an explosion occurred in the middle of the mountain.

Kwang–! Kwang–!

The people’s gazes turned to the mountain at the series of explosions.

Kwaaaaaang―――!!!

Navier, discovering the water rushing in like a tsunami, sweeping away everything with a huge explosion, shouted.

,Run to the mountain!!!”

Except for herself and her friends who ran straight away, the rest stared blankly and belatedly ran, only to be swept away by the water.

,You crazy bastard!!!”

Navier, who unknowingly spat out a curse, was convinced that the culprit who had planned this crazy act was at the top of the mountain.

It was as if the trees were waiting for them to climb the mountain, as they poured down from the top.

,Na, Navier! We can’t go up like this!”

As the trees continued to fall, the number of people following Navier dwindled.

They collided with the huge trees falling from the top, and the impact immediately eliminated them from the test.

,We can’t be number one if we don’t take the points from the guy at the top! The guy at the top must be monopolizing the points. If we just go up, we’ll definitely be in the top ranks!”

Greed arose in the eyes of those who had been afraid at Navier’s shout. Everyone desperately began to climb the mountain to get points.

There was only one way to get to the top. Even that had a path where they couldn’t avoid the trees coming down from the top.

Navier, having quickly checked the terrain of the mountain, shouted.

,We have to run along the path! Everyone, don’t stop and run straight!”

Navier, seeing the others running along the path, turned her body and headed elsewhere.

,I’m sorry, but buy me some time.’

If there was no path, she could just make one. Thinking that way, Navier arrived at the cliff terrain on the back of the mountain.

Navier had also learned how to climb cliffs when she scouted the mountain range with her father.

The sound of trees falling and the impact of the shock vibrated the entire mountain. She could hear her friends screaming in the distance, but Navier bit her lip and continued to climb the cliff.

After climbing the cliff for a while, Navier suddenly realized that the sound of trees falling had stopped.

A silence in which no sound could be heard. Navier felt afraid of that silence.

Navier slowly raised her head and looked above the cliff, and a blonde boy was holding a spear and looking down at her from the edge of the cliff.

Navier, having made eye contact with the blue eyes, naturally realized that this boy was the culprit.

,You, you…!”

The boy, having checked his bracelet, looked down at Navier with a cold gaze.

,You’ve worked hard. You’re in 3rd place.”

The boy said that in a chilly voice, and thrust his spear down towards the ground.

At the same time as feeling pain in the back of her head, Navier’s vision was reversed.

The figure of the boy with blue eyes looking down at her from the cliff disappeared, and the figure of the underground auditorium she had seen a few hours ago came into Navier’s eyes.

The auditorium was in a state of chaos, with everyone shocked by the events that had taken place in the test. Who would have expected that so many people would be eliminated in less than a day?

Even the professors couldn’t hide their embarrassment at what had happened.

Navier’s legs gave way in the midst of that chaos, and she collapsed to the floor.

,This… this is ridiculous.”

How hard she had worked and trained for today….

For the first time since entering the academy.

Navier felt a deep despair.