Chapter 194 Beginning Of A Nightmare [1]

[Appraisal]

It was the 2nd skill I chose after reaching Floor 11. The reason was obvious, with it I just had to take one look at the shadows to know if the 'Shadow' was following me or not.

I was planning on killing the Shadow on Floor 13 but...

'Why is Leon talking to that Shadow...?'

Thinking that it would remain near me, I had been following that Shadow's movement from the sky. But I was shocked, to say the least when I saw it going in Leon's direction.

'This confirms it. If Leon doesn't attack the Shadow, it belongs to Goliaths.'

I watched in trepidation.

From this distance, I couldn't hear them, but it was clear that Leon, although alerted, had no intention of attacking the Shadow.

'How did Goliaths already single me out?'

It was too fast.

Mr. Pepe should be linked to my real identity in a few months. I'd made sure it would happen.

The moment Goliaths get permission from Headmaster to access Ward's cadet data, they will get a match of my blood samples with Mr. Pepe's blood samples 'Mr. Pepe' lost while escaping from Underworld.

'But this is too early. It should have taken them at least two more months. I'm still not ready, dammit!'

My preparations to handle the aftermath were only half done!

I kept my eyes on the Shadow that was following Leon as my thoughts raced.

'They don't have definite proof that I'm Mr. Pepe. If they had, the Shadow would've already killed me, transporting me out of the Tower and ambushing me there.'

The Goliaths will check Ward's data too, however, due to Ward's strict policies, they would need time to get access to it. All of this should take anywhere from 2 to 3 months.

'Was it Leon?'

When I was escaping Underworld, there was something I said to Leon, "I'm …not r..returning the cr..edits*cough cough I… bor-rowed from you."

I didn't speak it out of desperation. This line was the entire reason I went toward the portal Leon was guarding. It wasn't difficult to locate Leon with the diary back then.

It was to lay the foundation of when I rope in Leon but...

'No, Leon would never tell others about his suspicion without himself being sure.'

'Dammit! I don't know why they are suspicious of me, but I can't let them find anything. Not until my preparation is complete.'

***

-(Back on the ground)-

"[Shatter]"

A swift and indomitable punch struck the air. Webbed cracks formed in the sky and slithered towards Leon.

"[Pierce]" From the other side, another cadet thrust his rapier.

The attack tore through the air and homed onto Leon without deviating from the cracks.

Similarly, another cadet punched the ground, causing a fissure on the ground to rush at Leon.

Leon, who was being attacked from all three sides, placed his hand on the hilt of his katana.

Ccrackle-

Booom-!

The rapier tore through Leon, the earth ate him whole, and the cracks shattered his visage. A thundering explosion ensued, creating a 10-meter-wide crater.

"Hahaha! This is why we told you to give up! Did you think a low rank can fight the Top 25 ranked cadets like us?! Ahahaha!"

A cadet with a hulking figure laughed. He was the one who had used the [Shatter] skill.

"There is no need to laugh for defeating weaklings. It's obvious he was able to enter the competition by luck or his team wouldn't have left someone as weak as him alone."

The girl placed his rapier into the scabbard and walked to the center of the crater.

"You think too much! Also, what are you doing? There's no way someone as weak as him would have a map piece!"

Betty ignored Morand's ear-piercing voice and called out to the last of the trio of cadets.

"Why are you so quiet, Calie-?!"

Ccrackle-

Thud-!

Calie's safety device was activated and she was eliminated.

Everything was over in a few seconds.

Betty and Morand went on full alert. However, before they could react, they picked up the sound of a sword being swung.

Schwing-! Schwing-!

Thud-! Thud-!

Both of their bodies were encased in a transparent sphere, rendering them useless.

"Lilith, Lark, you can come out. I took care of them."

Leon voiced out.

"When did you get here?!" Betty, who found Leon standing beside her, was startled. Calie and Morand were the same.

Safety shields were shrouding them and they had been eliminated before having a chance to know what happened.

Rustle-

"What the hell…?" Lilith voiced out in amazement. "How did you move like that?!"

She had seen Leon dodge the attacks. He had predicted the landing location of attacks and the path they would take and moved through the blind spots with terrifying accuracy.

Leon walked like taking a stroll in his garden, swung his sword three times, and the cadets were eliminated!

It wasn't a fight! It was a massacre!

The skill difference was too big!

"It wasn't very difficult." Leon answered humbly. He didn't want to show too much of his skills and expose that he cleared [Singularity], however, he was worried about the future and had no leeway to hold back.

"Wasn't difficult…? They are among the Top 25 ranked cadets!? And they couldn't react to your attacks, you monster!"

Lark internally agreed with Lilith.

Leon's movements were slow and steady, like a stream of water, yet his attacks contained the lethality of water too.

He felt like an unstoppable and inevitable force.

"5 hours…" Checking the time passed, Leon crouched and went to check the three eliminated cadets.

'Please have a map piece'

"We aren't eliminated! There is no way a low-ranker like you can defeat me! [Wave Impact] !" Morand, who was caught inside the safety shield roared.

A pulse shot from his body, rendering everyone immobile for a few seconds.

"Hahaha! Do you know the reason why the safety shields can only block one attack? It's to make sure the cadets don't let their guard down even if the enemy is eliminated! I can still take you guys with me!"

Morand bumped his fists into themselves.

Leon rushed at Morand before he could attack.

"[Seismic Smas-!?"

At that moment, something sharp flew past his head and stabbed Morand.

Swish-

Puchi-!

"Stand down" A cold voice came from above.

"Nathan!" Lilith waved excitedly when she saw the overseer coming to them.

Nathan jumped down and landed.

However, he ignored Lilith and Leon and went to Morand, who was pale as a sheet from having his lungs pierced.

"Class Wand will lose 50 points for attempting to break the rules."

"There was nothing like that in the rule book!" Calie refuted Nathan without missing a beat. Although they broke the rule by attacking, the penalty was too heavy!

"Cadet Calie, I'm not deducting points from Class Shooter however, I advise you to keep quiet."

Nathan didn't spare Calie another glance and handcuffed Betty before moving toward Morand.

Morand and Betty belonged to Class Wand, while Calie was from Class Shooter. There was no rule against two classes teaming up against a third class, thus Nathan didn't deduct any further points for it.

"Who do you think you are!?"

Morand couldn't believe that he had lost twice in a row, and both losses were against low-ranked cadets in the bottom 1000 ranks.

It made him lose his cool. Something he shouldn't have done.

PHzzzzt-(x20)

Twenty swords appeared in the air, all pointing their blades at Morand.

"Cadet Morand, I will explain it only one time. You weren't wrong in the deduction of safety shields, nevertheless, you should have thought that the consequences will increase if you take more risks."

"Shut up! [Wave Imp-!!"

Swosh-

Puchi- (x20)

"Ag..ghh"

In front of everyone's shocked eyes, Morand was skewered alive and his body turned into blue particles.

Caw- Caw-

A large hologram appeared in the sky inside the blue dome.

-CADET MORAND HAS BEEN KILLED FOR ATTACKING OVERSEER NATHAN HUNT-

-CLASS WAND WILL LOSE 60 T-POINTS FOR BREAKING THE RULES-

"You handled the issue better than I expected you to."

"Maybe then you should help before someone attacks me."

"Hahaha, sorry about this. I came as fast as I could."

A flock of crows landed beside Nathan. Satoru conversed with Nathan before taking the two eliminated cadets away with him.

"I'll be leaving them. Good job on how you handled the issue"

Nathan nodded back.

When only four of them were left, Nathan finally turned around.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

He had a confused expression as he saw Leon, Lilith, and Lark standing stiff.

But their reactions were justified. Nathan 'killed' someone without an ounce of hesitation and, in the next second, he was speaking as if nothing was wrong. Almost as if he had done something like this before.

However, Lilith moved and pointed at Leon and Nathan exaggeratedly.

"What are you two?! When did you two become this strong!?"

Nathan smiled and proudly puffed out his chest.

"I put all my stats in Aura, so at the least inside the Dungeon, I can use my stigma a lot more freely!"

Nathan's silly act was enough to break Leon out of his stupor. Leon, who saw Nathan behaving as normal, couldn't help but smile.

'Right. He killed that cadet because he knows that we are inside the Tower where everyone has extra lives. Besides, if he didn't do that, it would've lowered the cadets' evaluation of overseers and more cadets would break the rules in the future.'

Nathan exchanged greetings with them while secretly looking at the surroundings.

[Lark Smiles Lvl.12]

[??? Lvl.???]

He sighed in relief when he saw that Lark was normal. At the same time, he found the Shadow hiding in Leon's shadow.

'This confirms it. There is no way Leon couldn't sense the Shadow if even Katrina could do that. If he lets it follow him, then it belongs to Goliaths.'

"I'll also leave then."

"Wait, can I speak to you privately?"

Nathan said his farewell, but Leon stopped him.

A small smile appeared on Nathan's face, but he hid it the next second.

'It was a good choice to act like that'