10 – 5. Difference in Power (2)

A storm erupted.

The energy of mana emanating from his fist created a massive whirlwind, and the powerful air pressure left the trolls helpless.

The fierce wind, like a black blade, cut through the trolls’ flesh, and when the eerie screams ceased,

All that remained were the lower halves of the trolls.

‘Yes… I’m sure I saw that…’

Igor tried to understand the situation, wiping his innocent eyes.

A troll had grabbed him by the neck and seemed to want him to release it, but he paid it no mind.

‘Is that really possible…’

He had seen a human causing natural disasters, so he couldn’t care less about trolls like these.

In awe of the incredible spectacle, Igor opened his mouth wide.

His open mouth closed only after Ian swept away the trolls at the rear.

Only then did Igor bow deeply, realizing that he had done nothing.

“When I told you to handle the ones at the rear, I didn’t mean to capture the enemies, but to take care of them on your own.”

“No… that’s not what I meant.”

Sweating profusely, Igor vigorously protested to Ian.

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He had tried to catch them, but then a loud noise came from behind, and he turned his head, frozen in disbelief or something like that.”

“Enough. Let’s leave it at that,”

Although he had let it slip in his sleep. Ian had no choice but to interrupt Igor’s words in the end.

It was a luxury to listen to excuses in a situation where they had to catch at least one more.

“I was just as surprised. There’s no need to say much.”

Ian looked at his right hand. The vivid sensation of the troll’s touch was still fresh due to the recoil.

“It’s definitely more than I imagined.”

In fact, he hadn’t thought he could wipe them out like this.

Even with Natalion’s power added to Expert High Level, the opponents were monsters directly enhanced by instructors.

No matter how confident he was, he didn’t think he could handle them easily.

Ian, who put his admiration behind him, shifted his gaze to the device.

[2nd Year 3rd Platoon 3rd Squad Point Status: 15 pts]

The rules for this training are simple.

1. First, if a platoon collects 5000 points, that platoon is selected as the top platoon, and the training ends immediately.

2. You get 1 point for each monster you hunt.

3. Red monsters are hiding in the forest. They are special monsters, and if you hunt them, you can get 500 points.

There are many other rules, but there’s no need to think about them in the current situation.

One thing to remember was to hunt monsters faster than the other platoons and collect 5000 points.

“If I keep hunting at this speed, it should be possible to reach 5000 points.”

It might be tough, but if he concentrated on hunting without a break for the remaining four hours, it could be done.

“Yeah, it should be possible.”

However, Ian decided to handle the situation a bit smarter.

Since he had possessed it, why not make the most of the knowledge he had?

“Most of my targets will be regular monsters. It’s too dangerous to go around looking for hidden special monsters.”

But didn’t he know where they were hiding?

Using that knowledge, collecting points was a piece of cake.

“Don’t get too gloomy. You have a lot to do in the future.”

Ian, who patted Igor’s drooping back, took another step forward.

Hunting special monsters is not an easy task.

Finding monsters hidden in a yard where nothing is easily visible was like searching for a needle in a desert,

And the problem was that these creatures had stronger powers than regular monsters.

This is why students often wondered if it was designed for them to catch.

However… when you think about it, it wasn’t really strange.

In a way, it was supposed to be difficult.

500 points. That’s how many points you could earn by catching 500 monsters.

They wouldn’t give them away easily.

“To become the top squad… we needed to gather 5,000 points, right?”

A squad had 20 members. So, to become the top squad, each person had to hunt 250 monsters.

Well, not exactly 250, but hunting that many monsters was a tough task.

That’s why.

“Catch them at all costs! Charge!”

Celia Wignoran said, even risking her life to target the special monsters.

She had been on a reconnaissance mission and was returning when she spotted the special monsters. She immediately started chasing them.

If she made a mistake, she could waste her energy without even breaking even, but… she thought it was worth the challenge.

“Celia, now!”

The plan worked perfectly.

The squad members, with their eyes on the points, rushed towards the special monsters, grabbing their legs with determination.

The one whose leg was caught struggled to break free, but in the process, a gap opened.

Then, a spear with a surging force was thrust.

Kwaah!

The spear, making a cracking sound, started penetrating the monster’s skin with tremendous pressure.

Peuuk!

In the end, it created a large hole in the creature’s chest.

The monster, unconscious, staggered and collapsed. Celia wiped the sweat off her brow with her sleeve while looking at the smoke rising from the evaporating monster.

“Whew…”

Unlike regular monsters, the creature had bloodshot eyes and overall reddened skin.

“Special monster… right?”

If her eyes weren’t deceiving her, then it was undoubtedly one.

I heard that the monsters created by the exam supervisors are distinguished by the color red.

I hunted that thing.

“Additional 500 points!”

Celia Wignoran smiled widely, forgetting that she was in the middle of training.

Her stomach, which had felt suffocated just a moment ago, now felt as if it had been pierced through.

Who would have thought that they would be so lucky while performing a reconnaissance mission?

“At best, I thought we’d just gather information on the enemy squads and kill a few monsters on the way.”

They had achieved much more than expected.

One small mistake could have left them with nothing, but fortunately, her squad had achieved significant success.

It was only natural to feel elated.

“Wow, did we really catch it? Is this a dream?”

“It’s not a dream; we just earned 500 points in one go!”

As if to prove her thoughts were correct, the squad members also began to smile with excitement.

Celia took a deep breath, feeling overwhelmed with emotion.

“This… We might actually win first place.”

It might be arrogance, but Celia believed it was entirely possible.

Wasn’t the start just perfect?

Already, Celia was convinced that her squad, 1st Platoon, would emerge victorious.

With that confidence, she checked the current standings.

[Point Standings]

2nd Year, 3rd Platoon: 2146 points

2nd Year, 1st Platoon: 930 points

2nd Year, 2nd Platoon: 565 points

“What… What’s going on here?”

For a moment, despair took hold.

Celia’s eyes began to tremble.

2146 points? They had barely even started their training.

“Is this even possible?”

She wanted to dismiss it as a lie. Honestly, it couldn’t be anything other than an unbelievable occurrence.

It was known that the 3rd Platoon had exceptional skills. After all, their platoon leader was directly appointed by the Emperor himself.

I learned from a veteran with plenty of real-world experience, so it’s bound to be different.

However, I didn’t expect the difference to be this significant.

“Se-Selia… Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry too much! We just need to work hard from now on too.”

The team members tried to console themselves, but unfortunately, Selia couldn’t see that in their eyes.

If they continued like this, they would lose. That thought filled her mind.

“We can’t stay like this…”

Selia gritted her teeth. She had decided to trample Ian in this test.

But… losing with such a significant gap like this?

That was unacceptable. It couldn’t happen.

Ultimately, Selia decided to take another gamble.

“I’m… going somewhere for a moment.”

“Huh? Se-Selia? Where? Don’t go alone!”

“Se-Selia!”

Selia, her eyes determined, immediately sprinted down the mountain path.

***

Thud!

Her fist tore through the red werewolf’s belly skin.

The upper half of the red werewolf burst and staggered before collapsing to the ground.

[You have hunted a special monster. You have gained an additional 500 points.]

[Current points for 2nd Year 3rd Platoon 3rd Squad: 1616 points]

When Ian heard the clear notification sound coming from his device, he smiled. Igor casually wiped the blood off his fists.

“Hooh! Does this make it three monsters hunted already?”

“Yeah. At this point, it’s safe to say we’ve hunted almost all the special monsters in the forest.”

Of course, it wasn’t all of them. Ian had decided not to touch those hidden monsters. If they were to hunt all the monsters, it would raise too much suspicion from the instructors.

Further point farming would be difficult.

But there were no problems. There were still plenty of methods left.

Grumble!

Rumble! Grrr!

Igor made a bored expression at the sound of the howling werewolves hanging from the trees. “I never imagined that the habit of werewolves coming to help their kin in danger would be used like this.”

“If you had studied hard, anyone could do it.”

“No matter how much someone studies, there is no one else who would use werewolves as tree decorations like you.”

Who would come up with such an idea? Even if someone did think of it, there would not be many who could actually implement it.

As Ian looked at the tree adorned with werewolves, he said, “The werewolves will gather soon. I guess you can handle it on your own now?”

“Where are you going? Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it myself.”

With a nod of his head, Ian disappeared into the depths of the forest.

Now it was time to retrieve the hidden piece.

***

How long had Ian been walking through the dark forest? He had finally arrived at the destination he had set.

“It’s so damn tiring, really.”

Brushing off the dirt and dust from his body, Ian stood in front of the cave.

A cave with an entrance smaller than his own height. It was quite impressive to look at.

Even in his dreams, Ian never imagined he would end up here.

“Ariel Volkhanov in the original gets the opportunity here.”

As a 2nd-year student, Ariel participated in the same training as herself and got attacked instead of the heroine, falling off a cliff and ending up here.

“Thanks to the artifact inside the cave, the holy sword Elysion grows and Ariel awakens.”

After that, nothing much happened.

Ariel, who had awakened, returned alive, and the heroine, who she thought was dead, hugged her while crying… That kind of story.

“To be honest, it’s not a very important story.”

Getting the artifact allowed her to grow, but it was just an event to increase the favorability of a specific heroine.

If one had no interest in that heroine, it was fine to pass it by.

“So, I’ll take it.”

That was also the reason why Ian could take it without feeling guilty.

If it didn’t matter whether it existed or not… then couldn’t he also take it himself?

“Let’s go.”

As Ian passed through the narrow entrance and entered the cave.

The dark scenery of the forest contrasted with the bright light that began to spread throughout the cave.

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