Chapter 15

Mad Swordsman of the Shadow World (15)

“Tomorrow?”

The second exam, Token Defense.

It was something even Berton, the chief instructor of Hell Island, was greatly looking forward to.

Over the past few years.

The disorderly rabble that had never once united had changed.

And amusingly enough, the one who had gathered that trash together was a trainee who had been nicknamed an idiot.

‘Idiot... Theron.’

He could not understand why the boy had been given such a nickname.

But what mattered was that the Theron of today possessed greater potential than any trainee he had ever seen.

Especially...

‘What... happened in the Shadow Forest?’

Not only his height, but even his physique had changed.

The impression of being considerably undersized had completely vanished, replaced by a remarkably solid presence.

That was why Berton had moved Token Defense, originally prepared as the fourth exam, up to the second.

And he had even placed Section 5 in the same group as Section 3, where the most outstanding trainees were gathered.

“Chief Instructor.”

An instructor entered Berton’s office and spoke.

“All preparations are complete. Shall we deploy the instructors?”

“How many people are currently scheduled?”

“Fifty instructors will be assigned as observers for the exam.”

They were called observers, but in reality, they served as guards against any unexpected incidents that might occur.

Berton appeared to think for a moment.

“Deploy twenty additional enforcers. I’ll write a letter, so deliver it to Bellatuk.”

Bellatuk was the one who managed the enforcers. At those words, the junior instructor swallowed hard.

Although they were instructors here, the enforcers were always uncomfortable to deal with.

Were they not the only people here over whom the instructors held no authority?

“U-Understood.”

“Are there any other problems?”

“No. At present, I believe everything has been perfectly prepared.”

“Even so, check everything one more time until the very end.”

“Yes, understood!”

At the junior instructor’s answer, Berton jerked his chin toward the door.

And after he left.

“I hope the result is at least a little unexpected.”

With an expression containing a hint of anticipation unlike usual, Berton merely looked outside.

______________

The week passed like an arrow.

At last, the day of the second exam arrived.

Under the instructors’ supervision, the Section 5 trainees made their way toward the forest where the exam would be held.

And...

“...Fuck, I’m nervous as hell.”

“My heart is pounding.”

At Renil’s words, Tioren muttered quietly.

They had prepared for this exam more seriously and fiercely than for anything before.

Was that why?

There was no way to stop themselves from feeling even more nervous than usual.

But then.

“Just do what you’ve practiced. Don’t try to do any better than that. Most mistakes happen when you do.”

“Aren’t you nervous at all? Word has spread through the entire training camp that we’re aiming for third place in this exam.”

That was the problem.

He did not know how it had spread, but rumors about Section 5 were already circulating through the other instructors.

Naturally...

“Everyone’s probably dying to tear us apart... Haah... I’m already going crazy.”

Renil frowned and scratched his head furiously.

But Theron shook his head.

“Even so, nothing changes. We’ve done everything we could over the past month.”

Before long, they arrived at the forest where the exam would take place. Bengle turned around and spoke.

“This is our starting point. Even if you enter immediately, you probably won’t encounter trainees from the other sections on the first day, so focus on protecting your tokens.”

The circumference of the forest where the Token Defense exam was held exceeded thirty kilometers.

But it was not so large that finding other people was impossible, so they could not let down their guard.

“I think this may be the first time I’ve said something like this to you... but I wish you good fortune.”

Bengle spoke calmly.

What these bastards had shown over the past month had been enough.

Now, all he could do was hope luck was on their side.

At Bengle’s words, the expressions of the Section 5 trainees turned serious.

“Hoo... Let’s do this.”

“Yeah, it’s not like we’ve been fooling around until now.”

Though they ranked near the bottom, hadn’t they endured that brutal training and survived until now?

Moreover, over the past month, they had pushed themselves to a degree incomparable to anything they had done before.

Theron looked at them.

“Just remember what you learned over the past month. If anyone attacks you, keep one thing in mind. Those bastards aren’t hunters. They’re just pretending to be hunters... trainees no different from us.”

If they steadied themselves like that, they would no longer become frightened before the fight even began and make the worst possible choices.

Recalling his experiences from the past, Theron spoke calmly to the group.

At that...

“Got it. I’ll try.”

“...I don’t like it, but I think you’re right.”

Following Perka, Balk spoke quietly.

At first, Balk had seemed to follow Theron only because he was forced to, but after spending a month with him, he seemed to have acknowledged him somewhat.

But at Balk’s words.

“What bullshit. If you get hit, you get hit. What do you mean you don’t like it?”

Harganto, standing behind him, spoke to Balk.

Balk bristled and turned around, but Theron immediately stepped in.

“If you’re planning to die in this exam, feel free to fight here. I’ll just stay out of it.”

“...No.”

“Sorry. That was pointless.”

The two stepped back.

From what they had experienced so far, Theron was the type who always followed through on what he said.

Once the situation was settled in an instant, Theron spoke.

“From the moment we enter the forest, don’t let your guard down. Like the instructor said, the other sections probably won’t attack on the first day, but they aren’t the only thing we need to be careful of.”

Everyone nodded.

But unlike at the beginning, some of their fear seemed to have disappeared.

Theron looked at them.

They might have thought Theron was simply using them for the wager he had made with the instructor.

But among the Section 5 trainees gathered here, not a single person thought that way.

Over the past month.

They had seen Theron’s diligence and tenacity.

And they knew that Theron was the one who had changed the brutally vicious atmosphere of Section 5.

‘If Theron disappears...’

‘That hell will start all over again.’

After Theron took control of Section 5, their bodies had suffered more from training than ever before.

But their minds had never suffered.

They never wanted to return to how things had been.

Seeing his comrades like that, Theron gave a faint chuckle.

“Let’s all pass the test and return together. Let’s show them that we’ve changed.”

“Yeah!”

“We can do it!”

“Let’s do it, damn it!”

Their morale surged as the Section 5 trainees began entering the forest.

Everyone wore determined expressions.

Amid them, Theron alone maintained a calm expression as he spoke.

“Never leave the groups we arranged beforehand, and especially focus on guard duty at night. The moment even one person gets careless, that group could simply collapse.”

“Don’t worry. But will you really be okay alone?”

Among the forty-two trainees, Theron alone had decided to move by himself.

They trusted Theron’s abilities, but they could not help worrying that moving alone was too dangerous.

But Theron shook his head.

“Don’t worry about me. Focus only on your own survival.”

“...All right.”

“See you safely, Theron.”

“Be careful.”

After exchanging farewells with his three roommates and parting ways, Theron immediately picked up speed and ran into the forest.

Analyzing the current situation coldly, as long as they avoided Section 3, there was no section capable of overwhelmingly crushing them.

That meant if Theron took care of Section 3 first, every trainee in Section 5 had a chance of succeeding.

Because of that, the others formed groups of six and adopted defensive strategies from designated hiding places.

And while they survived through defense.

‘I’ll strike... Section 3 first.’

Before long, Theron’s figure melted into the bushes.

________________

“What are we going to do about Section 5?”

“Obviously, we should find them first.”

“Then you’re planning to attack them immediately, right?”

At the place where the Section 3 trainees had gathered.

At one trainee’s words, the boy beside him frowned.

“We shouldn’t attack right away. They’re probably hoping for some promising results in their own way, aren’t they? Let them keep their hopes until the last day, then rob them right before it ends.”

“Oh?”

“That sounds fun.”

The atmosphere heated up instantly.

Taking first place was already a given.

The Section 3 trainees were filled only with thoughts of how to torment the trainees from the other sections.

And the trainee who had proposed the plan looked toward Isaac, who was sitting some distance away.

“Isaac, the plan sounds good, right? First we’ll just figure out where the other sections are, then slowly close in on them.”

“...”

Isaac remained silent.

Ever since entering this forest, something had been bothering him strangely.

‘What is this feeling?’

It was an unpleasant sensation, as though someone were watching him.

Isaac used mana to heighten his senses.

But as though the feeling were merely his imagination, there was nothing around them.

At that moment, the trainee who had devised the plan approached Isaac.

“Isaac?”

“I changed my mind. We’ll sweep them all away starting from the first day.”

“All of them?”

“Yeah. We’ll take every token from everyone except us.”

This exam had deliberately set the stage for them to clash properly.

Only by winning overwhelmingly in an exam like this could they continue living comfortably in this training camp.

‘If we show even the slightest opening...’

There was no telling when those fickle instructors might turn on them.

For now, their strong results guaranteed them a certain amount of freedom, but they knew how the trainees in the other sections lived.

“Find the Section 5 bastards. They arrogantly ran their mouths about taking third place, so they should pay the price.”

Isaac spoke, unable to shake the disgusting feeling that someone had a blade pressed against the back of his head.

He felt as though he would only be able to relax after settling the contest as quickly as possible.

‘...I’ve never felt like this before.’

Was it because this was the first time he had competed against trainees from other sections in the same place?

He pretended otherwise, but...

‘Am I nervous?’

Isaac’s thoughts grew complicated for reasons he could not understand.

But it did not matter.

He could simply crush everyone anyway.

“Split into groups and find out where the others are. Then regroup at this point.”

Isaac pointed to a section of the terrain map they had received from the instructor beforehand.

Their meeting point was marked on the fairly detailed map.

And the moment Isaac finished speaking, the Section 3 trainees moved in perfect order toward their assigned areas.

And then.

“...”

Theron, who had been hiding himself atop a tree while watching all of this.

Quietly began moving somewhere.