Crack! Crack!
Two crisp sounds came from behind.
Ralph and Bobby spun around instantly, their hair standing on end with fear.
Gregory was now standing up. Hidden inside the branch he had been chewing on was a steel needle.
"You... you dare to escape?" Ralph mustered his courage and pointed at him.
"Hehehe, escape? No, no, no! I can’t break out of this magic barrier!" Gregory’s laugh was unsettling. As he walked toward Ralph, he cut his finger and began drawing magic runes on his arm.
Soon, a red glow lit up and shot straight into Bobby’s eyes.
Bobby screamed and collapsed to the ground. "Stay away! You monster! Get away from me!"
Ralph frowned at Bobby and asked in confusion, "Hey! Mean girl, what’s wrong with you? Hurry up and cast a Fireball spell! I can’t fight this guy!"
Gregory looked at the panicked Ralph and laughed even more crazily. "You idiot, your friend is under my fear magic. She’s experiencing her worst nightmare right now. Don’t disturb her."
Ralph stepped back in fear, trying to act tough. "Don’t get too cocky! My magic is way stronger than Bobby’s! I’ll beat you with one spell!"
"What spell? Foam spell or Dust removal spell?" Gregory chuckled, completely ignoring Ralph.
He had overheard their conversation earlier and thought Ralph was a joke, since he didn’t even know any combat magic.
As Gregory’s bloody finger was about to touch Bobby, Ralph gritted his teeth and shouted, "Drying spell!"
Instantly, the blood flowing on Gregory’s fingers dried up completely.
This move even caught Gregory off guard, as he had been about to draw more magic runes. "What the hell! You can do that?"
Bang!
Just as Gregory was distracted, Raymond suddenly appeared behind him and knocked him out with one punch.
Raymond picked up the unconscious Gregory and glanced at Ralph. "Wake up your friend."
With that, Raymond walked straight to the prison cart and shoved Gregory inside.
Click!
Raymond locked the cart door and tossed the branch with the hidden steel needle into the fire.
Suddenly, Raymond noticed that another sinner card had appeared in his empty space.
[Sinner: Gregory]
[Race: Human]
[Strength: Black Iron Stage, Level 20]
[Status: Serving Sentence]
[Crime: Unknown, requires 100 Guard Contribution Points to unlock]
[Guard Contribution Points: 55]
[Draws Available: 0 (23:59:15 until next draw)]
...
55 Guard Contribution Points!
Seeing this number, Raymond was shocked!
Did arresting an escaping prisoner give more Guard Contribution Points?
But 55 points was way too much!
Excited, Raymond started to feel a little better about Ralph and Bobby.
Just then, Bobby had been woken up by Ralph.
Still shaken, she took the lead and brought Ralph over to thank him.
But Raymond was more concerned about one thing - how did Gregory get a steel needle hidden inside that branch?
From what he remembered, the branch was already in Gregory’s hand when he walked through the portal.
Thinking about this, Raymond looked up and scanned the wilderness around them.
During his earlier patrol, he had noticed that their camp was right in the middle of a grassland.
The location wasn’t good.
In fact, it was terrible.
"Looks like someone is using this exam to target me," Raymond said as he picked up the steel needle and snapped it in half with his hands.
At the same time.
At another camp inside the magic barrier.
Two junior guards were taking turns keeping watch.
Suddenly, dozens of torches fell from the sky, setting the tents and fences on fire.
Two dark figures appeared out of nowhere, kicking down the fence from both sides and storming into the camp.
"Watch out! Someone’s here to break the prisoners out!" one of the junior guards shouted, drawing his longsword and ready to fight.
But before he could even cross swords with the dark figure, his head was twisted off by a giant hand.
He collapsed to the ground, blood gushing from his mouth. In the last moment before his life ended, he realized that the man who killed him was actually a prisoner he had been guarding.
Just as his eyes closed, the two dark figures attacked from both sides and killed the other junior guard.
"Hehehe! What a rush! Getting to kill again before I die - totally worth it!" the prisoner grinned, stomping the junior guard’s head into the ground.
One of the dark figures, face covered, spoke coldly, "Don’t forget what you promised us."
The prisoner licked his lips and chuckled. "Relax. You just want me to help kill the guards at the other camps, right? No problem. I’m more than happy to kill a few more."
The other dark figure stared at the prisoner and said in a deep voice, "We don’t care if the other junior guards live or die. But those two mages and Raymond - they must die."
...
The same thing happened at almost every camp.
Prisoners broke free from their chains and turned around to kill the junior guards taking the exam.
Even if a few guards were quick enough to lock their prisoners in the cart, the dark figures hiding in the shadows would launch surprise attacks, knocking them out and eliminating them.
At the center of one camp, Barron gently patted Bucky on the shoulder. "Lord Marcus has promised to make you the top scorer in this exam. Make sure you perform well."
With that, Barron handed Bucky a potion and warned him, "This is the Bloodthirsty Elixir. It can boost your power five times for a short time. You’re already at Black Iron Stage, Level 17. Don’t use it unless you’re in real danger."
Bucky took the potion and nodded seriously. "Don’t worry. Unless that guy Raymond makes it through the first round, I won’t even need this with my strength."
When Barron heard Raymond’s name, his eyes darkened. "Raymond? He’s as good as dead."
While camps were being destroyed one after another.
Nearly half of the camps remained calm and quiet, with no signs of trouble.
Those Black Iron Stage Level 20 mercenaries disguised as junior guards were lying in their tents, fast asleep, while the prisoners were locked up in the carts.
For hours, not a single enemy attacked them.
It was clear that these people had been given special treatment by the examiners and were guaranteed to pass the first round.
Inside the exam hall.
The crowd of onlookers had already left.
Only three officers and the squad leaders remained, waiting for the results.
Hal checked the time, and a bad feeling grew stronger in his chest. "Something’s not right."
Suddenly, the space portal flickered wildly.
One by one, junior guards acting as examiners stumbled through, carrying burlap sacks on their shoulders.
"Medic! Hurry! This kid’s still breathing!" Barron shouted loudly, staring straight at Hal.
"Damn it!" Hal’s heart raced as he rushed forward.
He opened the sack and saw that the person inside wasn’t Raymond - and let out a sigh of relief.
But as more and more bodies were thrown through the portal, Hal’s worry grew again.
"Relax, you know Raymond’s strength. He’ll be fine," Milton said, patting Hal on the back.
"Not necessarily!" Quentin watched Barron and the others re-enter the portal, then strode over to Hal and the others with a smirk. "I just heard Barron say that a few idiot groups let their prisoners escape. And those prisoners are all ruthless criminals - some of them are even non-human warriors and mages. You’d better pray that Raymond didn’t run into those lunatics."
With that, Quentin let out a loud laugh and turned away.
Hal’s eyes burned red as he stared at Quentin’s back. "If anything happens to Raymond, I’ll kill you and Barron first."
Meanwhile, Veronia, standing in front of the space portal, had a grim expression on her face.
As the head examiner, having nearly a third of the participants get injured or killed right at the start of the exam was a huge embarrassment for her.
"Should I pause the exam and send people to hunt down the escaped prisoners?" Marcus lowered his voice, pretending to be concerned.
"No need. Prisoners escaping is a common situation in the exam. If those junior guards can’t handle this, then they don’t deserve to enter the core area of the first layer and become junior guards." Veronia’s words were firm, without any hesitation.
Grayson stood nearby, quietly watching Marcus. Suddenly, he flashed a grin. "Since we’ve got nothing better to do anyway, why don’t we sneak into the barrier and take a look at how the prisoners managed to break out of their camps."
Marcus’s body stiffened at the words. He turned his head and stared at Grayson, his voice cold. "As the head examiners, our job is to keep the barrier safe. If we go inside, what if someone destroys the space portal while we’re gone?"
Grayson let out a chuckle. "Are you afraid I might see something I shouldn’t?"