Chapter 195 Beginning Of A Nightmare [2]

Intra-Class Competition on Floor 10 and Inter-Class competition on Floor 13.

As I've said many times, these events were not particularly important in the novel.

Leon, who had been crushed by Caim on Floor 0, will be going through mental anguish during the first 6 months of the 1st year. The competition on the Floors only increases the mental burden on Leon as he could barely keep up with the Cadets.

But of course, these competitions had two important points.

Crunch-

"We are far enough from others. So, what do you want to about?"

Leon stopped and looked at me with hesitation.

Although he wasn't speaking, I had an idea of what he wanted to say. So, I allowed my mind to wander.

The first crucial point in this tournament was Anna. According to the novel, Anna and Cadmus would engage in a mild scuffle to lead Katana-Class in the inter-class competition. The decision was ultimately left to the weakest member of the group and Leon chose Anna. Anna who saw Leon choosing her side even though everyone was supporting Cadmus felt touched. This event laid the foundation for their future relationships.

But now, there was no Anna!

'Where is Anna?!'

I carefully checked all Floors while moving to higher floors. But Anna wasn't there!

'This is bad'

In the future, Anna will learn an acquired skill and gain the title 'Mage Killer'.

She got the [Dispel] that served as a foundation for her acquired skill as a drop on Floor 13! It was supposed to happen in this competition!

Later, with Leon's encouragement, Anna will use a combination of <Dispel> spell, [Dispel] skill, and her stigma [Memorization] to create an acquired skill. But....

Sigh

This situation wasn't bad in the sense.'This is bad. What should I do?'. This situation was 'This is bad. Let's just give up', all hope was already lost.

Anna was going to become a major force in War, besides her acquired skill will be needed to solve many critical situations in the future.

The second important fact in the competition was the appearance of Abomination.

An Abomination is an unregulated monster that is not bound by the System. It is an invincible monster. This wasn't a figure of speech. Putting aside the ever-growing strength of an Abomination, it can not be defeated no matter what rank you have. The only way to kill them is using [Sword of Eternity] or [Authority].

Though there was nothing to worry about, Administrator will kill the Abomination shortly after it appears.

'I will use the time when Abomination appears to kill the Shadow.'

The appearance of Abomination will be marked by the stoppage of the support system of the Tower. Everyone will lose their extra lives and would not be able to enter or exit the Tower until the Abomination is killed. The perfect time to kill the Shadow.

By the time my thoughts finished, Leon also firmed his decision.

"Where did you go after our written exams were finished?"

'Direct to the point, huh?'

Although I was the one being questioned, Leon was a nervous wreck. He was changing his katana's grip every few seconds, sweat glistened on his forehead, and judging by the position of his feet, his toes were curled.

"Underworld"

"W-what?!" Leon's eyes widened. "W...what were you doing there?"

With each passing second, he became paler, waiting for my response.

I almost let out a smile at his reaction.

'This is why hate you, Leon. You judge people too quickly and trust them too much. If it wasn't because of this, you would never have been backstabbed by Cadmus in the novel.'

"I went there to participate in the championship that was going to be held there."

[??? Lvl.???]

The Shadow was slowly creeping toward me.

"N-nathan are y-you..."

"Though I didn't participate"

"Huh?"

I maintained a smile as I answered Leon. I wanted to show him that I trusted him enough to know all this, just like I told him about my stigma [Sword Successor].

"Before I was accepted into Ward, I was thinking of joining the Championship. I believed that I might win a prize that could help me grow stronger. But enrolling in Ward helped me open my eyes, if I had participated I would've died. I decided to not go there. At least that was the plan..." Raising my left arm, I pulled back my sleeve and removed the glove I always wore, exposing a black arm with transparent silver lines running through it."....I thought maybe I'll find a solution there."

Leon had myriad expressions on his face.

Guilt, sorrow, confusion, sympathy, regret.

'Damn, he's making me feel guilty. Not that I'm going to stop.'

Since you wanted to pry, I'll let you hear. But I'm not making you guilt trip knowingly, okay?

"When I entered the Underworld, I found out about the criminal called 'Vile reaper'. Hearing how he kills everyone without caring about rules, I chickened out and didn't participate."

I shook my head with a helpless smile and continued.

"But maybe I was lucky? When I was roaming all lost in the mountain range after returning from Underworld, I was attacked by beasts. If I hadn't realized my stigma's actual abi-"

"Please don't do something like that again." Leon swiftly cut me before I mentioned my stigma. "I'll... help you. I definitely find a cure for your arm, so please don't do something reckless again."

"Don't worry, I want to live till old age. I won't put myself in danger."

Leon sighed and put his leg on the Shadow, stopping it from moving toward me.

'He still believes me'

The proof was how Leon stopped me from speaking about my stigma. To hide it from the Shadow.

At that moment, a large announcement rang inside the blue dome.

-CLASS WAND IS NOW IN NEGATIVE T-POINTS-

-CLASS WAND HAS BEEN ELIMINATED BY DEFAULT-

-ALL CADETS BELONGING TO CLASS WAND PLEASE WAIT AT YOUR RESPECTIVE POSITIONS AND DO NOT ENGAGE ANY FURTHER. OVERSEERS WLL ARRIVE SHORTLY-

'The competition is about to finish.'

"A piece of advice, Leon. The rules don't forbid anyone from attacking their own classmates."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Just cause. Anyway, I'll be leaving. I have my job to do."

Saying goodbye to Leon, I went back to the sky.

***

-(Present || On some other area on Floor 13 inside the blue dome)-

"Leon defeated the Rank 19, Rank 23, and Rank 25 cadets in under 60 seconds."

"That's fast. Even I would have difficulty defeating 3 ranked cadets in one minute."

A blonde-haired cadet was swinging his spear.

Ken felt his blood boil at the sight of the young man, however, he was bound by an Oath to serve him.

"Anything else?"

"Yes, actually...." Despite how much Ken loathed the young man, he was genuinely surprised at the youth's resourcefulness. "How did you know the Class Wand and Class Shooter will team up against our class."

"I made them team up."

"Hah?"

Cadmus repeated his words.

"Their teaming up wasn't a coincidence, but something I instigated."

Ken was shell-shocked. However, before he could ask how Cadmus did it,  announcements rang throughout the blue dome.

-CLASS WAND IS NOW IN NEGATIVE T-POINTS-

-CLASS WAND HAS BEEN ELIMINATED BY DEFAULT-

-ALL CADETS BELONGING TO CLASS WAND PLEASE WAIT AT YOUR RESPECTIVE POSITIONS AND DO NOT ENGAGE ANY FURTHER. OVERSEERS WLL ARRIVE SHORTLY-

"It's about time one of the classes was eliminated. They did a good job."

"Y-you how...?" Ken pointed at Cadmus in shock. "If you had instigated the teaming up of other classes. Did you instigate this too...?"

It was far-fetched, but Ken couldn't deny the possibility. 'Class Wand is eliminated because of the negative 60 T-points. They lost those points because of the Cadets that were following Cadmus' orders.'

"Why are you going to this length? Is winning the competition important to you?"

"That's only half the reason. The other half was..."

Cadmus read the report on his device sent by Lark with a friendly smile.

"..to see what our new overseer is hiding."