‘Am I seeing things?’
Jake blinked his eyes.
Even after rubbing his eyes and looking again, the person standing in front of him was still the red-haired boy, Shuren.
“Why are you staring at me like you've seen a ghost?”
Shuren snickered at Jake's stupid expression.
Coming back to his senses, Jake scowled.
‘He was faster than me?’
He couldn't believe it.
The realization that he had been slower than Shuren only made Jake angrier and angrier.
He had the Mock Dungeon's information completely memorized.
Shuren, on the other hand, shouldn't have known anything.
More than anything, it was that expression on his face.
It looked as though Shuren were looking down on him, and Jake's anger surged.
“Looks like you were chasing me, but you're slow even when it comes to running, huh?”
Shuren's words caught Jake off guard.
‘He noticed? But how?’
Jake couldn't understand it.
He had openly shown hostility toward Shuren, but he had never publicly said that he intended to chase him down.
“W-what are you…… Why would I chase you?”
“You weren't? Then never mind.”
Shuren sneered.
Jake's face twisted even further at his reaction.
“Well, anyway. Good work getting here. I killed this guy.”
Tap, tap.
Shuren patted the Troll's corpse as he spoke.
“……Yeah, you're amazing. So what?”
Jake couldn't understand what Shuren was doing.
“You got here before us, and you killed the monster here too. Then hurry up and enter the destination. What are you still doing here? Don't tell me you waited just so you could see our faces and mock us before going in?”
“Do you think I'm you?”
“What?”
“Forget it. I didn't wait for you just to trade stupid remarks.”
Shuren looked over Jake and his subordinates.
‘None of them have any idea what's going on.’
How much more shocked would they be after hearing what he was about to say?
Shuren laughed inwardly and opened his mouth.
“I'll give you the chance to go in first.”
“……What?”
Jake and his lackeys stared at Shuren as though he had started spouting nonsense.
“Especially you, Jake. Didn't you want to finish first?”
“What the hell are you talking about? Are you screwing with me?”
Jake asked because he couldn't understand Shuren's intentions.
“Boss! That bastard is definitely plotting something.”
“Or maybe he's finally lost his mind?”
His subordinates also stared at Shuren in disbelief.
“Then I'll just go in first?”
Shuren shrugged.
“If word gets around that you passed after someone you all looked down on so damn much, what do you think your reputation will be like at the formal training center?”
“…….”
The children fell silent.
If they passed this exam, they would become formal trainees.
There were trainees from older classes there.
Those seniors would obviously ridicule them for being direct-line children who had still performed so poorly.
That was especially true for Jake.
He had received an enormous amount of support from his family.
Being humiliated at the formal training center was bad enough, but the murderous looks his parents would give him were even more frightening.
‘I have to finish first. No matter what.’
Jake began to think Shuren might actually be serious.
After all, they were a group.
He concluded that Shuren was yielding because he wouldn't stand a chance fighting several of them at once.
‘That's why he's acting like this. He gets to preserve his pride and still pass the exam.’
Just as Jake, having convinced himself, was about to speak—
WHOOSH—!
Someone moved first.
‘Who?’
It was one of Jake's subordinates.
“H-heheh! I'll gladly take first place!”
“You bastard!”
“The boss hasn't even moved yet……!”
The children shouted in shock.
“Shouldn't we follow him too?”
“L-let's go!”
One person's defection threw the others into confusion.
They started moving, intending to follow the boy who had already dashed ahead and enter the destination.
“Thanks, Shuren!”
“Don't mention it.”
Just as the first boy who had rushed forward thanked him and tried to pass—
SWISH—!
Shuren swung his sword, and light burst from the blade.
The strike triggered the Ring's defensive magic, and the boy who had been hit went tumbling backward.
Every other child froze at Shuren's actions.
“W-what are you doing?”
“I clearly said I'd give you the ‘chance’ to go in first.”
Shuren answered with a smile.
“Liar!”
“You thought I'd just let you have it for free?”
Shuren found their indignant reactions nothing but amusing.
“It's about time you paid the price, don't you think?”
“What price……?”
The children hadn't expected Shuren to suddenly bring that up.
“For all the shit you've pulled at the training center.”
“Do you think I just stood by because I'm an idiot? Or because I didn't have the strength? I could finish all of you even if you rushed me together.”
The children's expressions turned vicious at Shuren's provocation.
“There was nothing for me to gain by fighting you inside the training center. Your families would've covered everything up anyway, wouldn't they? I'd be the only one wasting my time.”
Shuren assumed his stance.
“So I decided to use this exam as my opportunity. I can eliminate all of you legally here, can't I? I'm the only one passing through this place. You lot end here.”
“……What the hell are you talking about?!”
Unable to contain his anger, one of the children charged at Shuren.
CLANG—!
Shuren lightly knocked his sword aside.
SHNK—!
Then he thrust his blade toward a vital point.
“Urgh!”
The Ring's defensive magic narrowly avoided activating.
To make sure the boy couldn't come at him again, Shuren kicked him in the stomach and sent him flying away.
One had already been eliminated, and another had suffered a serious injury.
Alarm bells were ringing in the children's heads.
Shuren hadn't been bluffing.
They were genuinely in trouble.
“……Boss! What do we do?”
The children now looked only to Jake.
But Jake didn't have a solution either.
If anything, because he was skilled, he understood Shuren's true level better than the others.
‘I knew the dungeon's information in advance. I rushed through it because I wanted to catch up to him, but in the end, he still got here before me.’
Jake had also planned to avoid the Troll.
Shuren, however, had killed it alone.
And yet look at him.
He was still completely fresh.
‘……In my current condition, I can't beat him.’
Jake was furious, but he had no choice but to admit it inwardly.
‘Is this the end for me?’
He felt empty.
Even after receiving every bit of support his family could provide, he still couldn't defeat Shuren.
If he failed the exam and went outside, what kind of faces would his parents greet him with?
He didn't even need to see them to know.
They would come at him as though they wanted to kill him for disgracing the family.
‘No. No.’
Jake clenched his teeth.
There was still one method left.
‘I can't give up like this!’
Even if people cursed him for it, he decided he had to pass this exam.
SHING—!
Jake stepped back and pointed his sword at his own subordinates.
“B-boss……?”
“You go after Shuren first.”
His words shocked them.
“Lord Jake, you saw him too! That bastard is a monster!”
“How are we supposed to fight him? You're the only one who even has a chance, Boss!”
“I know! I know!”
Jake glared at his subordinates.
“You can't beat Shuren. But are you just going to let yourselves get eliminated? Grit your teeth and rush him. At least wear down his stamina.”
“Boss! You're telling us to be sacrifices?”
“Then do you have a better way?”
“Even so……!”
They felt betrayed by Jake, whom they had trusted.
“If I pass this exam and become a knight someday, I won't forget what you did. I'll help you.”
“Don't lie! You're using us as bait even now, and you're saying you'll help us later? And you still call yourself—agh!”
SLASH—!
Jake swung his sword at the boy screaming at him.
“……Except for this one. Though that number may increase.”
Everyone shut their mouths at Jake's cold voice.
“Choose for yourselves.”
Those were Jake's final words.
His murderous gaze filled them with fear.
The fear that they might be the next ones cut down by his sword.
They might have been put through the wringer at the training center, but in the end, they were still children.
Jake's subordinates eventually submitted to him and decided to rush Shuren.
‘Yeah. This is what the Pellantz Family really looks like.’
Shuren thought as he watched them.
They always went on about justice and proper order, yet the moment they were cornered, they started talking about noble sacrifice while driving their own allies to their deaths.
‘I wonder what their parents watching outside are thinking right now.’
How dare children of the Pellantz Family turn on one another like that?
All because they can't even defeat one branch-family kid?
Every kind of ugly insult was probably pouring out right now.
The thought made Shuren laugh.
‘First, let's deal with these guys charging at me.’
Shuren looked at Jake's subordinates rushing toward him.
Fear still lingered in their eyes.
Fear of Jake behind them.
And fear of the monster called Shuren in front of them.
Even if they had coordinated their attacks precisely, it was uncertain whether they could defeat Shuren.
But if they charged in like a disorganized mob, they were easy opponents for him.
CLANG! CLANG-CLANG—!
One or two exchanges were enough for Shuren to deal with each of them.
Jake's subordinates couldn't match Shuren in raw strength, swordsmanship, or experience.
It didn't take long for Shuren to defeat the terrified idiots charging him at random.
“You bastards……!”
Jake grew furious as he looked at his fallen subordinates.
He had known they would lose.
But he had clearly ordered them to at least drain Shuren's stamina.
Yet Shuren was still bursting with energy.
“……What the hell are you doing? If you're going to kill them, then kill them properly.”
Jake pointed at the fallen children.
They were groaning in pain.
None of them looked capable of rejoining the fight.
But one thing bothered Jake.
Their defensive magic had still not activated.
In other words, they had not been eliminated…….
“Who knows? Guess I misjudged my strength.”
Shuren shrugged.
“Now all I have to do is take you down, and this tedious exam will finally be over.”
Shuren looked at Jake.
“You should be grateful to me today.”
“……What?”
“What good would it do you to pass this place and become a formal trainee with skills that pathetic? You'd just keep using your family as a shield, study the curriculum in advance until you're sick of it, somehow become a knight, and then turn into a corpse on a battlefield before long.”
“Watch your mouth.”
“A bastard who does nothing but play boss at the training center thinks he knows anything about a battlefield?”
Shuren's ice-cold gaze pierced through Jake.
For a moment, Jake felt his heart shrink without realizing it.
‘He's the same age as me?’
Jake couldn't believe it.
It felt as though he were standing in front of his own father.
‘……That.’
He noticed a small black sphere floating through the air.
He had heard that images from inside the dungeon were being transmitted outside through those.
‘My parents must be watching this too.’
GRIND.
Jake bit his lip.
How were his parents evaluating him right now?
He was afraid.
‘Fuck it! I'm screwed either way.’
If he surrendered, he failed.
If he chose to fight, he would probably fail anyway.
Jake decided he would at least leave a scratch on Shuren.
“Come at me, mongrel.”
“You've got some spirit.”
Shuren smirked as he faced Jake.
He could at least acknowledge that much.
Shuren had thought Jake would break down and surrender by this point.
‘So he really is a child of the Pellantz Family.’
For a moment, Rak came to mind.
That fucking bastard.
But Rak had not been without talent or skill.
If anything, he had been around Shuren's own level.
‘Tch. I guess their bloodline really is good.’
Then Shuren had no choice but to crush Jake thoroughly.
Shuren assumed his stance and prepared to fight him.