Ch.4342. Party Members (6)

# 42. Party Members (6)

Unlike the first survival test, no one had passed through the fifth round.

“Only 1 out of 1500 will pass…”

It sounded like an extremely difficult challenge, but in reality, it wasn’t like that at all.

The truth was that simply charging forward would have been enough to pass—it was actually quite easy—but they didn’t know that.

Even the second and third-year students entered the set confidently at first, but once they saw me with my activated skills, they just cowered and ran away.

Of course, her side was even worse.

“I know they pass if they survive until time runs out, but aren’t they running away too much?”

“You would’ve done the same if you were taking the test.”

“What? If it were me, I would’ve charged right in.”

Elin said confidently.

Considering her personality, she probably would have done exactly that.

“As if you would.”

“No! I really would! Right, Princess?”

Hearing this, she nodded and replied.

“Elin would definitely do that, and so would Albert.”

“See? Told you.”

As Elin was loudly boasting, Riel appeared from somewhere and handed us a paper with students’ names on it.

“There are some skilled ones in the sixth round.”

We examined the paper carefully.

There were quite a few familiar names on it.

‘Chris, Briton, Reina.’

Many of the talented first-year students were listed.

And then.

‘He’s here too.’

Leo Michael.

Surprisingly, his name was also written on that paper.

And just like me, she was looking at that name too.

With quite an interested expression.

***

One thing changed as we conducted the survival test.

Instead of splitting up into groups of two and one, we now moved together.

When we split up before, we had too much time left, and considering the criteria for selecting party members, this approach worked better.

So now we were walking around the set together, looking for our prey.

“They seem to be gathered in one place.”

She expanded the range of [Ruthless Cold] as much as possible.

However, it seemed no one was within that range.

“Let’s check some other places.”

So we wandered around different parts of the set.

“Over there.”

Suddenly, she pointed at a cave located some distance away, as if she had detected something.

We entered the cave carefully and finally found where people were gathered.

“It seems quite deep.”

We went deeper into the cave.

After going some distance, we could faintly hear people talking.

We hurried deeper into the cave and eventually reached the entrance to a space where people were gathered.

“Let’s observe from here.”

Following her instructions, we hid near the entrance and watched them.

About 140 people out of the 149 survivors were gathered there, having a strategy meeting.

The 140 seemed to be divided into two equal groups, with two third-year students appearing to represent each side and sharing their thoughts.

“Let’s hold out here until time runs out. We can’t win anyway.”

One side suggested stalling for time.

“We have 148 people combined. You think we’d lose 148 against 3?”

The other side seemed to want to fight.

The two representatives glared at each other, growling.

“Of course we’d lose! Haven’t you seen them fight? Especially that princess—she’s a real monster! People like us can’t win against them!”

Hearing this, she clenched her fist beside me.

“We won’t know until we try. Don’t you know numbers can overcome anything?”

“That only works to a certain extent. It doesn’t apply against monsters like them. It’s not just the princess who’s strong—those siblings are too powerful for us to handle!”

It was true that my skills had improved considerably from training with her recently, but they seemed to be overestimating me.

Besides, I wasn’t the type who had an advantage in one-versus-many situations unless there was a huge skill gap.

“Anyway, we’re staying put. If you want to go fight, go ahead.”

As one stubbornly insisted, the other looked at him with contempt.

Then a moment of silence fell.

When no one said or did anything, she spoke beside me in a voice only we could hear, clearly frustrated.

“Shall we go now?”

“Now?”

“Yes, the timing seems good.”

Elin and I exchanged glances and nodded.

She stood up and said:

“Turn that on.”

She strongly activated [Ruthless Cold], and I also activated [Mortal’s End] as she instructed.

The people there were quite startled by our sudden appearance.

“How did they find us?!”

“The monsters are here!”

“Run! Run away!”

Some seemed frozen in place, unable to move, while others were frantically trying to escape.

“Let’s begin.”

As she said this, she fired [Ice Magic] at those fleeing, and we also started eliminating people in our own ways.

Those who had originally argued against fighting were still busy running away, and even most of those who had wanted to fight were now just standing there getting eliminated without taking any action.

However, there were some who were different.

Four people stood proudly before us, not running away like the others.

‘All familiar faces.’

Chris, Reina, Briton, and Leo.

Those four stood confidently before us, each holding their weapons.

She looked at them and said:

“There are quite a few this time, including some unexpected ones. I’m looking forward to this.”

As she raised her staff, they appeared quite tense.

However, among them, only Leo stood before us with a confident expression, not intimidated by her.

He pointed at Elin and said:

“You, come with me.”

“What?”

“Let’s have a fair one-on-one fight.”

“Why me?”

Elin was quite bewildered by his words.

Of course, so were the princess and I.

“Stop talking and follow me. Are you scared?”

Those words struck Elin’s pride.

“What did you just say?”

“I asked if you’re scared.”

It was childish of him to challenge a younger girl to a one-on-one and ask if she was scared, but Elin falling for such provocation was equally childish.

“Scared? Me? Fine, let’s do it. Follow me.”

Elin and Leo went outside the cave simultaneously as if they had planned it, while we just stared blankly at them.

She asked me, looking confused about her sister’s strange behavior.

“Were they always this close?”

“I don’t know either.”

I wanted to ask Elin about it too.

It seemed like something had happened between them without my knowledge.

‘Come to think of it, they’ve always been like this…’

They always seemed like they couldn’t stand each other whenever they met.

Anyway, I put that aside for now and focused on the survival test.

She seemed to realize this too and asked the remaining three with a serious expression:

“So what would you like to do now? I’m fine with whatever you choose.”

It was quite an arrogant statement, but she had the skills to back it up.

If she wanted, she could eliminate all three of them at once right now, but instead, she gave them a choice.

Reina and Briton remained silent while Chris spoke alone.

“Honestly, even if the three of us fought against Albert, we’d probably lose. Would you mind just watching this time, Princess?”

She answered without a moment’s hesitation:

“Let’s do that then. If the three of you win, all three pass. How does that sound?”

Chris smiled and replied:

“We’d be grateful for that.”

“You seem to have lost a lot of confidence, unlike the beginning of the semester.”

“What’s changed isn’t my confidence, but your skill.”

I summoned a purple sword using [Obsidian Blade].

“Let’s begin.”

Gripping the sword tightly, I immediately used [Swift] to approach them.

***

After leaving the cave, Elin and Leo…

Glared at each other for a long time.

Leo was the first to break the silence.

“Have you improved at all?”

“Of course I have, unlike you who’s always standing still.”

“I’ll make sure you never say that again.”

The two blond figures, similar in appearance, pointed their weapons at each other.

One held a small staff, the other a large spear.

Both weapons were gleaming, but Leo’s spear shone even brighter.

“You’re definitely using something expensive.”

“So what?”

Anyone could tell that his weapon was far superior to Elin’s in performance, and in reality, there was indeed a difference in their weapons’ capabilities.

Yet he wasn’t being complacent, relying solely on his weapon.

The two were engaged in an intense battle of wills, watching each other carefully.

And then…

-Crackle!-

The one who broke the tension and made the first move was Elin.