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Chapter 85

“I heard the area boss is tough only in terms of durability and is slow as hell. That means it’s exactly my type of prey.”

Those who were among the top-ranked and those confident in their firepower decided to head for the Graveyard of Lotuses, where the area boss was going to appear.

“Since the top ranks are out of reach already, let’s just loot what’s left.”

“There should be a lot of monsters inside, so we might even be able to aim for the high ranks if we play our cards right.”

Those who knew that they wouldn’t be able to even scratch the area boss would decide to head into the Mist Forests to destroy the Lotus Trees within instead.

“It’s a bigger loss if I overexert and get eliminated from the exam.”

“Let’s just stick to what we’ve been doing.”

And those who felt the pressure of the unexpected situation and decided to continue hunting down monsters in small numbers while roaming, just like at the beginning.

Depending on their skills and preferences, the students each set their own goals and moved accordingly. Naturally, this only intensified the competition, especially in the Mist Forests.

“Find the Lotus Tree first!”

“Wait! We got here first!”

“So what! Run!”

The reward condition for each Mist Forest was strictly destroying the Lotus Tree within. Hence, some chose to ignore the monsters entirely and run straight toward the Lotus Tree, prompting others to start running as well.

“Huh? Where are we... aghhhhhhhh!”

“It’s a cliff! Stop...!”

Within the Mist Forests, the already harsh environment of the Black Lotus Seas was now compounded with a hazy mist that blocked all senses. The visible range was less than three meters, making it hard for the students to avoid obstacles. As a result, many ended up rolling across the ground.

“A mon-monster!”

“These creatures are sniping us from the mist!”

Attacked by monsters within the mist, the students who thought lightly of the forest experienced true hell. Entering was simple, but exiting a Mist Forest was a challenge on a completely different level.

Meanwhile, there was one pair of students who were unlike the other students who cursed and wandered through the maze.

Thwoong!

Jake, carrying Se-Hoon on his back, dashed through the mist. He ran skillfully, accurately stepping on the rugged tree roots, jumping over fallen trees, and leaping from the edge of cliffs to quickly traverse the densely grown trees.

It seemed as if he had a perfect understanding of the terrain inside the mist. Anyone watching would have been amazed by the sight, but Jake, the person in question, wasn’t thinking anything close to that.

“Over there,” said Se-Hoon.

“Ugh?!”

The moment Se-Hoon, who was on his back, tapped his shoulder, Jake’s body sharply turned to the right.

Whoosh!

A spike from a monster barely missed his cheek. Although it was a dangerously close call that could have pierced his eye, Jake had no time to be surprised.

Every time Se-Hoon tapped a part of his shoulder, Jake’s body swiftly moved, narrowly avoiding obstacles. Naturally, as a consequence, every muscle and bone in his body screamed for mercy.

“Ugh... ugh...!”

Enduring the pain, Jake wondered if Se-Hoon had asked him to carry him just to torture him. However, while he struggled to keep his sanity amidst the tortuous pain, Se-Hoon merely stared down with a stern gaze.

“What are you doing? Focus!”

“It hurts too much...”

“That’s just because you’re using your muscles half-heartedly. Focus on your blood flow.”

“...”

Jake couldn’t help but feel a surge of frustration upon hearing Se-Hoon’s nonchalant advice.

If it were that easy, why would I need to go through such trouble...!

Running like this required him to control every single blood vessel stretching throughout his body and then using them to mobilize the appropriate muscles. It was a process that needed perfect mana distribution, blood pressure regulation, and muscle activation sequencing. The process was complex enough to give anyone a headache in an instant.

Ba-dump!

And doing that despite his already accelerated heart rate from using the Blood Art in the previous battles, meant Jake’s situation was only worsening. Frankly, it was a miracle that he was still moving.

“Come on, we still have a long way to go.”

Tap, tap, tap.

“Aargh!!”

Tapping on Jake’s shoulder nonchalantly, Se-Hoon elicited screams from the running Jake. However, although it looked like Se-Hoon was merely tormenting Jake, Se-Hoon wasn’t just idly passing time on Jake’s back.

Using the Eyes of Clairvoyance, Se-Hoon focused his monochromatic vision on the forest bathed in shades of gray to detect the mana in the creatures in their surroundings, thus gauging the rough terrain and the positions of monsters within the hazy mist.

That way doesn’t seem... oh, no.

Deciding on a direction to go, Se-Hoon suddenly realized Jake had failed to recognize an obstacle ahead. Thus, he quickly tapped a strand of Black Weaver connected to Jake’s shoulder.

In an instant, mana spread throughout Jake’s body through the stands of Black Weaver connected to various parts of his body, causing the highly sensitive blood vessels to react.

Crack!

“Ah!!”

Seeing that Jake managed to narrowly avoid the obstacle that had ended up right in front of him, Se-Hoon inwardly sighed.

Who would have guessed that an honor student would be this clumsy.

The naturally occurring barrier of a C-class Danger Zone was nothing too hard to overcome, especially with its only effect being sensory deprivation which was quite straightforward. However, despite the fact that Jake should have been able to manage with a bit of focus, he had struggled to adapt. Being preoccupied with maintaining the Blood Art aside, Jake seemed to have dull senses that didn’t match his abilities.

It’s probably because his physical prowess at a young age desensitized him to surrounding threats. Hmm, maybe it’s time for some training now that we’re in such a suitable environment for it.

Deciding to take advantage of the opportunity, Se-Hoon implemented his belief that one’s senses were sharpened through frequent exposure to danger. Instead of guiding Jake through safer paths like earlier, he slightly altered the route, changing it to a shorter yet more perilous one.

“Wait, this way seems...”

“Here it comes again. Dodge!”

Crack!

“Aaargh!”

Unlike the rest of the students wandering the outskirts, the two swiftly broke through to the center of the Mist Forest.

And just as Jake’s screams during their relentless advance began to fade away—

Whoosh!

The two emerged completely from the mist.

“Huff... huff...”

Catching his breath with a haggard face, Jake looked at the clearing that opened up before his eyes.

Right in the middle of the clearing was a giant tree about thirty meters tall, a huge lotus flower blooming at the top. The mist that surrounded them seemed to have spread from the center of the lotus.

“Is that... a Lotus Tree?”

“Seems so.”

Se-Hoon, having dismounted from Jake’s back, surveyed the hazy mist surrounding the clearing.

There isn’t a single monster around...?

The Lotus Tree was the core that maintained the entire Mist Forest. Therefore, it was normal for monsters with high intelligence to have gathered to guard the area, but curiously, there was not a single one in sight.

Perhaps too many students entered at once?

Finally managing to catch his breath to some extent while Se-Hoon pondered the unusualness of the situation, Jake asked, “So, how are we going to deal with it?”

“You’ll be cutting it down, of course. It’s the perfect opportunity to test your skills.”

Though he could chop it down himself using the Five-Flame Sword, that method required consuming a lot of energy, so it was more convenient to leave this task to someone stronger.

However, Jake thought otherwise, his face growing slightly surprised.

“Don’t tell me... you brought us here just for this?”

“...Something like that.”

The actual reason was partly to awaken the Divine Tree and partly just to see how Jake would fare, but there was no need to dampen the mood by delving into that.

Motivated by Se-Hoon’s answer, Jake, who had looked dissatisfied just moments before, energetically drew his Luminescent Sword.

“Alright. Leave this to me.”

Jake approached the Lotus Tree, examining it once more before he decided to cut it down.

The massive tree stood thirty meters tall, its circumference looking to be at least forty meters. It was a typical robustness expected from the creatures of the Black Lotus Seas.

And because of his imperfect Luminescent Sword, Jake was uncertain of how much he could actually cut through.

“You shouldn’t swing it half-heartedly like before. Use all of your strength.”

“Got it.”

Nodding, Jake took a deep breath and steadied his breathing, positioning his hands to the right of his waist. Seeing Jake preparing for a diagonal slash with a basic stance, Se-Hoon offered another piece of advice from beside him.

“Accelerate your heartbeat even more while calming your consciousness.”

Jake always instinctively suppressed his own strength, like how one would instinctively pull their hand away when touching something hot. So to avoid that, he needed to bring that subconscious behavior to the surface.

“It’s less about controlling the muscles and more about controlling the blood. You have to be aware of every reaction happening throughout your body, even those that are happening in the unconscious mind.”

Listening to Se-Hoon’s advice, he focused the entirety of his consciousness on his blood flow and began to accelerate the movement of his heart.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

His already fast heartbeat sped up further, feeling as if it would burst through his chest. He distinctly felt the flow of blood moving from his heart to the tips of his fingers.

Then, at the moment when a greater amount of blood than usual was forcefully pushed into the hands holding the Luminescent Sword—

Swish!

A blue flash split the scene before his eyes.

Immediately after, the blue blade shattered into pieces.

Gazing at the crystal shards—devoid of imperfections—before him, he turned to look at the Lotus Tree he had just cut.

Thud-!

The Lotus Tree had been cut approximately seventy percent through. The slash initially was fine, but as it extended, it became rougher and larger, a sign of the imperfectly formed blade energy.

“Ugh...”

Jake clenched his fists at the sight. He had felt that he had gathered the right amount of force correctly in the beginning, but it had somehow dispersed throughout his body later on as if fleeing.

What exactly is wrong with me...?

What was he so afraid of that he instinctively suppressed his strength?

Consoling Jake who was frowning in frustration, Se-Hoon tapped his shoulder. “That wasn’t that bad, up until halfway. Perhaps with a bit more practice...?”

While trying to console Jake, he gazed at the gap in the Lotus Tree and spotted an object inside that made him widen his eyes in surprise. The object was some sort of puppet that seemed to have been carved within the tree itself.

Knowing that such a thing shouldn’t—and couldn’t—have come from the Lotus Tree, it caught his attention.

“Shit...!”

Without a moment to think, he reached into the gap and pulled out the puppet.

Snap!

Feeling the sensation of something breaking along with the object, his eyebrows furrowed upon realizing that the surrounding mist had simultaneously started thinning slightly.

This is... the Puppeteer’s marionette.

It was a disposable item that the Puppeteer used to control the minds of monsters. Upon identifying the item, several pieces of information seemed to click together in his mind: the sudden appearance of the area boss, the monsters that seemed to have decreased in number or were not as visible, and the Puppeteer’s marionette that had been controlling a root of the Divine Tree, the Lotus Tree.

Those bastards... could they really be...?

Completing the puzzle, it seemed someone was controlling the entire Black Lotus Seas. He immediately grasped the emblem on his cloak in urgency to send a message.

Boom!

However, before he could relay what he had discovered, a faraway gigantic tree that had been sleeping deep underground burst upward through the seas.

***

Bzzz-

“...Huh?”

During the busy monitoring, a teacher assistant, startled by static noise in their ear, cast a puzzled glance around. The lobby’s scene remained unchanged and everyone was still focused on observing their students’ battles.

Must’ve heard wrong.

But just as they were about to shrug it off and return to work, they locked eyes with a professor who seemed to be scanning the surroundings as well.

Silence lingered between the two, a foreboding feeling that couldn’t be put into words enveloping them. Then, instead of deciding who would speak up first, they both turned to call for Kasar, the head instructor in charge.

However, all the screens floating in the terminal lobby vanished at that moment. The extensive monitoring network set up throughout the Black Lotus Seas had gone dark in an instant.

Seeing the unnatural occurrence, this time, the entire staff’s eyes widened in shock before they urgently declared an emergency.

“Emergency situation!”

“Activate all of the force transfer devices now!”

Following protocol, the staff swiftly sprang into action, and soon, a massive pulse erupted from the center of the lobby.

In moments, the pulse had spread across the Black Lotus Seas. It was a fail-safe designed to activate the force transfer function of the cloaks, used only when internal communications were totally severed.

“Huh...?”

“Why isn’t anyone...?”

Despite the confirmed activation of the fail-safe, not a single student had been transported back to the terminal.

Frozen by the thoughts of it being the worst-case scenario, a loud crash thundered through the lobby as the terminal’s ceiling rained down.

“We’re under attack!”

“Calm down! It’s just Professor Kasar going up!”

Having ignored the voices below, Kasar began surveying the scene beyond the barriers after jumping onto the rooftop. The dense forest had vanished, replaced solely by a stark dense white mist. The entire landscape had changed in the blink of an eye.

An evolution? No, the area boss hasn’t even appeared yet...

Despite that fact, his instincts were warning him that the Black Lotus Seas Danger Zone was becoming more and more dangerous every second.

Coming to a swift decision, he shouted down through the broken ceiling to the terminal below.

“It’s a Danger Zone evolution! All spatial transfers are likely blocked; contact the Dean and prepare immediately to go inside and rescue the students!”

“Understood!”

Reacting to his command, the entire staff efficiently geared up for a rescue mission.

Seeing them start to prepare, Kasar turned his gaze back to the barrier, pondering over the abnormal situation once more.

Only those damn Ten Evils would pull something this crazy. And their likely target is either me or the honor students.

Was this a plot to eliminate promising students? Or was it bait to lure him out to be hunted?

Though uncertain, he unhesitantly drew his weapon from the void pocket at his waist.

Whoosh!

A murky gray, rectangular blade, with a black handle that was cracked here and there like charcoal appeared in his hands.

“Hmph...!”

Gripping the hefty two-meter greatsword in reverse, he swung his arms back and then propelled his arms toward the mist.

Boom!

But all the greatsword did was soar over the terminal’s barrier and disappear into the mist.

They must’ve anticipated my intervention. Now it’s just a battle against time...

He clenched his fists tightly.

Would he find them first, or would they secure their objective first? Ultimately, the honor students would be the ones playing the decisive role in this crisis.

Facing something beyond his control, Kasar could only hope that he wouldn’t be too late as he stared into the mist beyond.