YM778.TV Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Enemies on a narrow road
Charles reached into his backpack and pulled out two sleeping bags. "I\'ve got extra sleeping bags, but there\'s only one tent, so you\'ll have to make do on the ground by the fire tonight."
The dark-skinned man waved his hand dismissively. "No problem at all. We haven\'t eaten all day, so we\'ll be glad just to have some food. We could cook up some mushroom soup or something."
"By the way, we didn\'t catch your name," the tall, thin one said with a friendly smile.
"Thomas," Charles replied, giving a false name.
Upon hearing the name, both men looked shocked. The dark-skinned man\'s face lit up with admiration. "Thomas? You mean the third-ranked guy on the leaderboard? I can\'t believe we\'ve run into you out here—it\'s an honor! I\'m Maxim."
"I\'m Aiden," the tall one added. "With someone like you on our team, there\'s nothing to worry about. Haha!"
The two men began chatting, showering Charles with praise. Since they were strangers who had met by chance, Charles didn\'t intend to get too close. After exchanging a few words, he was about to head back to his tent to sleep.
As Charles turned to leave, he noticed something strange—the small basket filled with mushrooms that one of the men was holding looked familiar. He remembered that Aurora, from the 7th squad, had a basket just like it, and she loved making mushroom soup for him.
Without letting his suspicion show, Charles returned to his tent. He drank a bottle of [Regenerating Potion] to dispel his sleepiness, then activated [Pet Vision] to have Mousie closely monitor the two men\'s every move.
With these two suspicious individuals nearby, there was no way Charles could sleep.
...
In the dark forest, the campfire was the only source of light in the area.
The pot on the fire began to bubble, and soon the aroma of mushroom stew with beast meat filled the air. As the two men added spices to the pot, they whispered to each other in low voices.
"Aiden, this kid is the real deal. If we kill him, we could split his points—he\'s the third-ranked Thomas on the leaderboard. With that many points, getting into one of the three Imperial Capital academies would be a breeze, and even if we fall short, Nolan Academy is guaranteed," Aiden muttered.
"Shh, keep your voice down!" Aiden gestured for Maxim to lower his voice. "Are you crazy? You can kill anyone else, but we\'re talking about the third place on the leaderboard—his strength must be formidable. And you want to target him?"
Maxim glanced nervously towards the tent, relieved to see no movement inside. He then lowered his voice even further. "What are you afraid of? We have the numbers on our side! I\'ll send a message to Robert right now. He\'s nearby, guarding those few from the 7th squad.
He can be here in ten minutes, and besides, I have a plan..."
Inside the tent, Charles\'s expression darkened with murderous intent when he heard Robert\'s name. He had been looking for that scumbag, and now he learned Robert was just a few kilometers away!
A few minutes later, there was a soft rustling outside the tent, and a figure appeared at the entrance. "Thomas, I made some mushroom soup. It tastes pretty good. How about a late-night snack?"
Charles unzipped the tent and pretended to yawn. As he glanced at the bowl of mushroom soup in the man\'s hand, a few lines of text flashed before his eyes.
[Mushroom Soup]: Warning! This soup contains a potent, colorless, and odorless poison. Drinking it will immediately render you unable to use attribute powers, and within five minutes, you will bleed from your orifices and die.
The brief warning flashed across Charles\'s vision, and he calmly thanked the man as he took the bowl.
Pretending to drink the soup, Charles discreetly spat it into his system\'s storage space.
Seeing Charles seemingly down the mushroom soup, the two men\'s smiles twisted into something more sinister. "Thomas, if you know what\'s good for you, hand over your points card, and we\'ll make sure your death is quick."
Charles smiled faintly. "Points card? And what if I don\'t hand it over?"
"Then you\'ll be going straight to hell!" the two men snarled, pulling military knives from their sleeves.
In a flash of steel, they lunged at Charles, aiming their blades straight for his heart.
"I welcomed you into my camp, and you repay me by trying to poison me!" Just as their knives were about to pierce his chest, a ghostly blue spear materialized in Charles\'s hand. With a swift motion, he spun the spear, creating a beautiful arc, and blood spurted from the men\'s throats.
"You... why..." Their eyes locked onto Charles in shock as they clutched at the gashes in their necks, but the blood kept flowing. Within seconds, life had drained from their eyes.
They likely never figured out, even in their final moments, how Charles had survived after they had clearly seen him drink the poisoned soup.
Hearing the commotion, the sound of hurried footsteps began to close in from all around.
"Charles? You killed Aiden and Maxim!" a voice shouted in disbelief from outside the camp, and several flashlights immediately lit up Charles.
Charles stood up, wiped the blood from his spear, and turned to face the newcomers. "That\'s right, I killed them. So what? They tried to take my life—did you expect me to just let them?"
From the crowd, a pale, gaunt boy, as thin as a reed, slowly stepped forward. The moment Charles saw his face, the veins on his forehead bulged with rage.
"Robert, did you kill all the members of the 1st squad? And you even teamed up with scum like Felix and Bradley, betraying your own classmates? You\'re nothing but a beast!" Charles struggled to stay calm, but he couldn\'t hold back his voice, which erupted in a furious roar.
"Charles, you think you\'re so righteous, so superior! I don\'t have your talent, so I have to rely on underhanded methods to get into one of the three great academies," Robert sneered as he summoned his mystical beast, the Four-Winged Tiger. But he knew full well that his beast was just for show, lacking any real combat power.
At the same time, Charles summoned his own two mystical beasts.
The moment Max saw Robert, it bared its teeth and growled menacingly, ready to pounce and tear him apart at any moment.
Charles looked at Robert with a disdainful smile. "Robert, how long has it been since we left the city for this trial? And you\'re still a first-tier Beast Master? You\'re nothing but a failure!"
Ever since Charles transferred to Lsengard High, Robert had bullied him relentlessly for not paying "protection fees." This torment had only eased slightly when Lily became their homeroom teacher.
Although these were memories of his previous life, seeing Robert now still stirred deep feelings of anger within Charles.
Robert gave a cold, malicious smile, wasting no more words on Charles. He turned to a middle-aged man standing nearby and said, "Morrs, kill this kid—5 gold coins!"
As soon as Robert spoke, a burly man stepped forward to the front of the crowd.
[Name]: Morrs
[Age]: 45
[Height]: 186 cm
[Beast Master Level]: Tier 3
When the middle-aged man appeared, the dozen or so students around him instinctively stepped aside to clear a path.
"What a disgrace," Charles muttered, his face dark with displeasure. "Bringing along a Tier 3 Beast Master as a bodyguard for this trial—no wonder you\'ve been able to kill other students so recklessly."
As the crowd parted, Charles noticed several people tied up at the back, bound hand and foot. Among them were members of the 7th squad, including a girl—Aurora.
Aurora\'s voice was tinged with despair, her eyes red as she looked at Charles, tears welling up. "Charles, you need to run! He\'s a Tier 3 Beast Master—you can\'t fight him!"
The others, all battered and bruised, looked on with worry. Some of the boys were covered in blood and barely clinging to life.
One of them tried to warn Charles as well, but Robert silenced him with a brutal punch.
Robert turned his lecherous gaze toward Aurora, sneering, "I didn\'t know you cared so much about him. Once I\'m done with Charles, I\'ll have my way with you."
Robert signaled to Morrs, and the middle-aged man\'s body ignited with blazing flames. Three black hexagrams appeared in front of him.
—[Flame Griffin]—
[Attribute]: Fire
[Level]: 21
[Quality]: Iron
[Skills]: Fireball, Airborne Assault
[Weakness]: Water Attribute
...
—[Fiery Spiritual Bird]—
[Attribute]: Fire
[Level]: 22
[Quality]: Iron
[Skills]: Firestorm, Sharp Beak and Pointed Spikes
[Weakness]: Water Attribute
...
—[Lava-like Flower Core]—
[Attribute]: Fire
[Level]: 21
[Quality]: Iron
[Skills]: Lava Spike, Dizziness Pollen
[Weakness]: Water Attribute
...
The three mystical beasts, exuding a powerful aura, lined up in front of Charles. As they appeared, the surrounding trees began to catch fire, burning fiercely.
As the man launched his attack, a dozen others around him also summoned their mystical beasts, sending them charging toward Charles.
Charles smirked and cracked his knuckles, the sound echoing through the tense air.
Since he had Robert in his sights, there was no way he was letting him escape. Deciding to end this quickly, Charles removed the [Divine Scale Armor] from his storage space.
With the weight of several hundred kilograms lifted from his body, Charles suddenly felt light as a feather.
"Boom!!!"
In a blur of motion, Charles darted forward and delivered a powerful kick to the student leading the charge. The force of the blow sent the boy flying like a ragdoll, smashing through several towering ancient trees before he hit the ground, coughing up blood.
Charles moved with such ghostly speed that even Morrs couldn\'t follow what was happening. Before anyone could react, the dozen attackers were already lying on the ground, incapacitated.
"Kill him! Burn him to ashes!" Morrs commanded his mystical beasts with fury.
But in the very next moment, a massive figure loomed above him. As Morrs looked up at the terrifying creature hovering overhead, a chill ran down his spine, and he found himself unable to breathe...