27th.
26th.
25th
I stopped counting after that.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
Move! Get out of my way!
Huack! Go away!
Actually, most students did make way for when I shouted move.
I-I got out of your way!
Sorry. I just wanted to say that.
Bam! Boom!
But I didnt care.
I crashed into everyones backs.
Kuack!
Youre too much
The students that collided with flopped away like paper cutouts and either went out of the courses bounds or beca so separated from that they would never be able to catch up.
There were no exceptions.
Even if the target was soone who I beca quite close with, such as Seta Malkiri.
R-Ruin?
He was running while riding on that guardian that I beat up last ti.
After seeing run like crazy behind him into the mid-ranks, he asked while terrified,
You When did you catch up to ? I swear that you were the last to
Seta.
What? Why are you saying my na like that? Im getting nervous.
You understand, right?
Seta nodded his head, having understood my intentions, and made a determined expression.
So it starts again. The fight that we never finished. Alright
And then, he shouted while drawing in the reins around the neck of his guardian,
Run, you stonehead! Its the end if we get caught!
Grrrrrrr!
Operation Na,
Run like the wind away from here.
As Seta attempted to drastically increase his speed and make distance from , I just kicked the guardians butt with my feet.
Bang!
Uck!
The guardian stumbled forward and hit its head into the ground pitifully with a bang, throwing its master off its back.
Ruiiiiiiin!
Sorry!
And I heard Setas shout of resentnt as I bolted past him.
Well Seta, since I kicked you lightly, you should still be able to run.
Of course, it would be pretty hard to ride that guardian now.
I kept running.
And then, after running for a while,
Chi! Chiek!
The scene of multiple students fighting off a goblin horde could be seen.
But I didnt slow down.
Rather, using the speed I had accumulated while running, I punched forward.
Bang! Boom!
Chiek? Th-that guy. Hes not human. Chiek!
With one fist, I froze multiple goblins at once.
With one stride, I launched myself at the other students.
Whether they be goblins or students, I threw punches equally at everything I saw and just ran forward.
Nothing could stop .
And at so point, there was no one in front of .
Other than the front-runners, that was.
Naturally, they were definitely running ahead of .
But as I ran faster than them,
Found them.
Like this,
I was able to find them.
* * *
So you eliminated everyone else?
Well, not all of them. A few of them should still be running and trying to catch up.
Irene looked at , baffled at my explanation, and I turned before smiling brightly at Doom, who was standing behind her, analyzing with a cold gaze.
Therell be no interruptions now.
Taunt.
This small taunt provoked Doom to react, and in an instant, he summoned a Spirit Horse, dark in colour like his outfit, and sat on its saddle.
As he tugged on the reins, raring to go at any mont, Dylan beca flustered.
Doom, were in the trapzone right now. Theres no way youre thinking of just blitzing through, right?
The trapzone.
This was a castle ruin built from heavy stone walls.
The hundreds of permanent traps laid here to protect the treasures in the underground vault preyed on the intruders that entered the ruins.
The treasures had all already been taken out, but the traps still remained.
All contestants that set foot here could land themselves in an ice net or take fatal damage from arrows that appeared out of nowhere.
The reason that such a trapzone existed on the course of this running competition where every minute mattered
This was a race between magicians.
There were multitudes of thods that could be used to get past this trapzone, and there was also the safest thod.
Disable the traps.
* * *
* * *
This was a test of a magicians danger sense and their knowledge.
Because of this, ti could be wasted here.
The ti taken to disable a trap was also part of the test.
However, the thod Doom had chosen was a little different.
Ruin.
You called?
Ill see you at the end.
Break through.
Neigh!
He forcefully tugged on the reins of his Gray Spirit Horse and rushed into the castle ruins.
He deflected arrows using his sword and slow magic and overca nets with horsemanship.
He protected using mana barriers against traps he couldnt dodge and destroyed any traps he fell into.
Magic, swordsmanship, horsemanship. Maybe this was a thod that only Doom Pri could use, as he was proficient with all 3 of them.
As I thought, hes impressive. Hoo. I cant waste my ti here either.
Looking at this, Dylan shook his head and Irene imdiately started disabling traps.
Disable the traps.
The only thod of passing through the castle ruins trapzone.
However, it had one fatal flaw.
Disabling each trap takes too long.
It was impossible to try and catch up to Doom Pri while disabling all the traps.
Because of this, I chose another thod.
Similar to what Doom Pri had done
A thod that only I could use.
Dont I have one too?
Bing bing bing.
As I lightly tapped the heavy walls, Straang asked ,
Are you actually thinking of destroying the walls?
I an, this is Drakas thod.
Well, thats true, but this thickness is still too much for you.
I know.
Yeah.
No matter how strong I was, trying to break this type of wall was still impossible.
However,
But this is a ruin.
Oh ho Are you saying youll target the weakened points?
Yeah.
This was the ruin of a castle that was far older than the Raynac Imperial Federations history.
A tree that wouldnt fall after ten hits can exist, but if that tree was rotten, it would fall after being hit by a lot less.
Huhu. Youre not wrong.
I used both the Minimap and Players Eye to analyze the surrounding walls.
Found it.
Seemingly having been destroyed by a siege weapon, there were traces and cracks on a particular part of the wall.
From here on out, I couldnt afford to lose any more ti.
I clenched my fist hard, activated Ogres Fury, and pulled in all the strength I had before punching the wall.
Bang!
A sound that shook the earth echoed out from the hit, but the wall only shook a little and still stood strong.
What? That guy What is he doing?
Like hitting a rock with an egg, seeing punch the wall with my bare fist baffled Dylan and he muttered to himself,
Is he thinking of breaking the wall? What nonsense. No matter how strong Ruin is, impossible things are still impossible.
However, I didnt reply.
The changing of impossible into possible.
Hadnt I already witnessed this firsthand?
I had already erased impossible from my dictionary long ago.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
I felt as if my fist would break before the wall, but I didnt stop.
Looking at this, Irene spoke up.
No. If its Ruin, he might be able to do it.
Irene, I know youre closer with Ruin, but what hes doing is futile. How can a human break a castle wall with their bare fist
Look over there.
What, what the hell?
Crack! Crush!
D-did he really break it? With his fists?
Eight punches.
The crack had started to grow bigger.
And finally,
Done!
Boom!
With only nine punches, the sturdy outer wall fell away and a small hole, barely large enough to fit a single human, opened up.
Huu Didnt I say itll be done in ten hits?
Look at that. Wasnt I right?
Th-thats insane! How is that possible?!
As I climbed to the other side of the ruin, I smiled brightly toward Dylan, whose face was frozen with shock.
R-Ruin Ill also
Dont even think about following here. Im going to block it off right now.
Then, Ill see you later.
And then, I pumled the wall from the other side.
Crush!
The rubble from the wall closed up the gap in an instant.
Ruiiiiiiin!
And Dylan Markens cry of resentnt soon filled the castle ruins.
Hm.
Seems like there were a lot of people calling my na today.
Then, Straang jumped up and down on my shoulder.
Wow! You destroyed a castle wall with only 2,400 strength?!
It was pretty close. My fist nearly broke first.
The Ring of Invulnerability.
If it wasnt a ruined wall and just a normal castle wall, this wouldve never been possible.
I guess finding the weak point of a wall is also a skill. How was I?
In any case, Irene and Dylan wouldnt be able to follow through here.
And so the front-runners were reduced to just and Doom Pri.
Doom was still struggling through the traps, and as he locked eyes with , who had no injuries and was standing on the outside of the ruin,
Giddy-up!
Neigh!
He hastened his Spirit Horse to run faster through the ruin.
He looked too pressed for ti, and as expected
Shoop!
!
He had let an arrow slip past and hit him in the shoulder.
His face looked determined to not lose to , even if he had to sustain so injuries.
Alright Then should I go too?
And I answered his determination by kicking off the ground again and rushing forward.
I also
Never want to lose to you.
After running through the forest outside the castle ruins, I arrived at a paved path.
But the path broke into three.
Clop! Clop!
From the direction of the ruins exit, Doom was riding toward .
We, who were taking two different paths, had converged onto one.
Did you say you wanted to see at the end?
Seems we t a little earlier, Doom Pri.
Hwat!
Before I could even finish talking, we both started speeding up.
As Doom was riding a horse, he quickly distanced himself from at the front, but as the spell ran out, I caught up to him again.
If we were just running without using magic, I was definitely faster.
Doom Pri also knew this, and as soon as the distance between us started to widen
Shwing
He unsheathed his sword and aid at my back.
However, that wasnt even the Sword of Brilliance.
He had also already taken so injuries from the arrows.
As Doom lunged at with his sword, I dodged by a blades length and then grabbed him by his neck.
And then, after lifting Doom into the air,
Lets go together.
!
I just flung my body with him.
Towards the 3rd and final course.
You dont have a fear of heights, right?
Towards the bottom of the cliff.
Reviews
All reviews (0)