Chapter 52: A points feast!
"H-huh?"
The young man, the one who’d killed Eiros, genuinely couldn’t move an inch from where he stood. Slowly, whatever satisfaction they’d felt just moments ago, convinced they’d won, was now crumbling apart over a mistake none of them could wrap their heads around.
’What? What’s...? Why is he dead...?’
His heart pounded hard as he watched Eiros’s body slowly slide off on its own, slipping free of the spear before dropping with a dull thud onto the cold, sludge-like floor.
"Huh... W-where’s the barrier...? What’s going on... T-this can’t be real, right?"
"S-supervisors...! We need to call the supervisors! D-do something...! Someone’s actually going to die here."
Utter pandemonium broke out instantly. A few students screamed in panic, while others stood frozen, unable to move at all.
There were also a few who seemed to try staying calm, attempting to check on Eiros’s condition, but in the end, the sheer fact that Eiros was dead sent them spiraling into panic too.
"T-this can’t be happening! W-what exactly are the staff even doing?? W-why hasn’t anyone shown up...!"
"I-it wasn’t me who killed him... so don’t drag me into this..., I didn’t even land a single hit."
Nobody could make sense of what was happening. Some students quietly decided to slip away, while time kept ticking on, and the young man with the spear, still frozen and unable to do anything, slowly lost his grip on himself.
"I-I’m... I’m sorry... please forgive me... I-I didn’t know, I didn’t know the barrier wasn’t active."
Tears streamed down his face, his whole body trembling with fear. Either way, this had to have been his first kill.
He sobbed, drowning in fear. That panic spread until even some of the others who’d contributed to the kill found themselves unable to stand their ground. Their darkened faces turned away, as if refusing to believe what had just happened.
But no matter how long they waited, still no supervisor, not even a single professor, showed up. If anything, that only made them more tense.
Was something wrong within the academy?
Was something like that earlier tragedy happening again?
Had the criminals come back, and that’s why the barrier wasn’t working?
Plenty of them started thinking exactly that. But right then, they felt something. Their bodies suddenly gave off a faint glow, revealing a pale green, transparent barrier for a moment before it vanished from sight.
That was proof they’d just become prey. Which meant the role switch had already happened, and the full three hours had passed. And yet, still nobody moved—except Eiros.
Yes, Eiros was slowly moving again.
"H-huh?!"
"W-what the...!"
"Is he... still alive...?"
His torn academy uniform, drenched in blood, was still plainly visible. Right where there should’ve been a gaping hole, everything looked perfectly fine, leaving everyone utterly baffled.
Eiros rose calmly, a faint smile visible on his blood-stained lips. Then, he glanced around at everyone present.
Craaack—!
Nobody so much as flinched, but the young man who’d killed Eiros jolted, then immediately broke down sobbing.
"T-thank god... look, I didn’t know... I really didn’t know... so, I’m truly sorry—"
But Eiros only smiled, swinging his sword.
Slice—!!
Boom—!
The young man, unable to react in time, could only freeze in place as Eiros’s sword, crackling with sparks of red lightning, slammed straight into his body.
He went flying, crashing into a stone wall in the distance. A pale green barrier flickered into view for a split second, then finally shattered with the loud crack of breaking glass.
"Ten points."
For a moment, nobody moved at all. But the instant they saw Eiros shooting toward them, it all finally clicked.
It wasn’t the academy’s fault, and it wasn’t the barrier’s fault—it was them. Right, that had to be it. Eiros had somehow fooled every single one of them in a way they still couldn’t figure out.
"D-damn it...! Ruuuun!"
With their roles now swapped, they had to flee as prey. Sure, they might’ve been able to gang up and catch Eiros together. But with their soul essence running so low, that meant a few of them would have to be sacrificed first before they could even hope to bring him down.
But who exactly wanted to be the sacrifice?
Nobody!
So, in the end, this was the peak of the chaos Eiros had unleashed. Or, you could just call it...
A points feast!
***
Alen and Godon were together. Well, the two of them were guys who genuinely couldn’t wrap their heads around how a girl’s mind worked, so in the end, whether it was Erness or Reina, they’d both simply been left behind, plain and simple.
By now, they’d already left the cave tunnels behind. It had taken a while, since that maze of a cave had been an absolute nightmare to navigate.
Behind them, they could still hear the powerful tremors shaking the ground inside. Quietly, Alen let out a sigh of relief as he glanced at Godon.
"...Good thing we got out of there."
Godon looked at him for a moment, then nodded, his expression grim.
"Those two are unbelievably cunning. I never imagined they’d actually pull something like that off."
Alen laughed.
Of course, both of them had been genuinely stunned by what Eiros and Valkas had just done. It was a high-risk plan, but one with an equally massive payoff.
If things kept going like this, couldn’t you say it’d basically be impossible for anyone to rank ahead of Eiros and Valkas, given they’d managed to survive the entire one hundred eighty minutes intact? And on top of that, with so many hunters left looking like complete fools.
Alen let out another sigh, this one even longer than the last.
"Eiros, huh... he just Awakened, right?"
Godon nodded, and Alen continued, his expression darkening.
"Don’t you think he’s just a little too... strong, for someone who only just Awakened? That’s not fair at all."
Godon was thinking the exact same thing. It was worth remembering that a person’s overall strength didn’t just depend on their combat instincts, but also on how much Soul Stones they’d already consumed.
That got Godon thinking.
"...You think maybe he found a huge stash of Souls Stone somewhere and just absorbed all of it, ending up ridiculously strong?"
Alen stared at him in silence, a few seconds of quiet passing between them before—
"Pftt..." Alen tried to hold back his laugh. "You’re kidding, right? What kind of idiot would waste that much Soul Stones? It’s the single most valuable resource there is."
Godon blinked, then burst out laughing.
"Fair point. Hahaha, yeah, that’s definitely not it."
Then, the two of them fell quiet again.
"...."
"....."
"...So how’d he actually get this strong, then?"
"How would I know? Wanna just ask him his secret later?"
"Good idea."
They’d already put a fair amount of distance between themselves and the cave. Watching just how insane the tremors coming from that place were, both of them exchanged nervous smiles before scrambling off in a hurry, thoroughly spooked.
As prey, avoiding a fight was always better than getting into one.
But once they’d made their way deep enough into the forest, the air around them suddenly began trembling violently. Godon reacted fast, wincing as he raised both hands, wrapped in cloth gloves.
Alen raised his sword, then backed off, putting a fair distance between himself and the source, high up among the treetops.
Boom—!!
"Urgh...!"
Godon winced, feeling a crushing gravitational force bear down on his body. Right then, he spotted Valkas grinning, shooting toward him with his spear aimed to run him straight through.
"Why...! Are you here...?!"
Even startled by Valkas’s sudden appearance, Godon didn’t let his focus slip. His body tensed, muscles rippling, and his physique, adapted to its surroundings, quickly seized the momentum it needed.
He swung his fist.
Boom—!!
Their attacks never actually made contact. But Godon’s punch, powered by a body attuned to gravity itself, was more than enough to send that gravity reeling.
Valkas felt his own attack rebound on him, as if that gravity had bent right back and was now trying to shove him upward.
"Whoa...!"
He looked surprised, but with a sharp grin on his face, he poured out even more Soul Essence.
Boom—?! Boom—!!
That gravity pressed down once more, but Godon already had more than enough time to dodge.
The ground beneath that gravitational pull erupted violently, tearing apart in a fairly wide circular radius.
Alen vanished from where he’d been standing, then reappeared directly behind Valkas with a cold smile.
The arc of his blade shimmered with a burst of starlight, far thicker than anything Godon remembered seeing from him before.
Valkas’s smile never wavered. He made himself lighter, almost weightless as a feather, then flung his own body upward using his own gravity, propelling himself high into the sky.
Woosh—!!
Slash—!!
Starlight sprayed out, flickering for a moment before exploding into a sharp tear across the air.
Alen landed steadily, watching Valkas soar high above.
"Hey, why are you even here? Weren’t you supposed to be with Eiros?"
Hearing that, Valkas burst out laughing, as if he’d just remembered something hilarious.
"You should’ve seen his face! It was absolutely priceless the moment I decided to toss him aside and use him as bait."
"Ah, you... betrayed him? That’s cold."
Alen’s smile froze.
"How could you actually do something like that?"
Then Valkas shrugged, pointing off toward somewhere far behind Alen. That made Alen tilt his head, glancing back.
"..."
He spotted Godon, already sprinting off into the distance.
"I’M NOT LETTING ANYONE BETRAY ME AGAIN THIS TIME!"
His thunderous roar echoed across the entire forest. Meanwhile, Alen stood there completely speechless, at a total loss for how to react.
But one thing was clear—he’d just been betrayed, plain and simple.
Right then, still reeling from the shock, Alen felt a cold gust of wind shooting toward him at a lethal speed, far faster than anything he’d ever faced before.
That made him turn with a cold, focused expression, drawing his sword with a force he’d never once mustered before.
A tremendous explosion followed right after.
***