Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Tap tap tap!

"Catch him! Catch that bastard!"

"Son of a bitch! Why is he so fast?!"

Theron heard rough breathing and curses behind him.

He glanced back.

Palcoat and his group were chasing him as though they truly intended to kill him.

Good. They're following.

Theron carefully controlled his speed.

He maintained a distance that always made them feel as though they were just about to catch him.

Naturally, that only made them angrier.

Whoosh!

After running for some time, Theron moved toward the outer edge of the forest.

He avoided thick roots and soft patches of mud.

Then he finally saw the place he had been searching for.

"Haah... Haah..."

Theron stopped and deliberately breathed heavily.

Before him was a steep slope, almost like a cliff.

Thick bushes covered the area below.

Standing near the edge, Theron turned around.

"You... bastard... Haah..."

"Damn it... Finally caught you... Haah!"

Palcoat and the others could barely breathe.

Palcoat forced his breathing under control.

"Finished running, you little rat?"

He raised his knife threateningly.

"If you cooperate now, I'll let you live."

Palcoat smiled viciously.

"Of course, I'll still break one of your arms."

The trainees around Palcoat were the same ones Theron had beaten badly during the previous fight.

And there was one reason they had gathered around Palcoat again.

Because of these bastards.

Several violent trainees had joined him.

They disliked how the atmosphere in Section Five had recently started revolving around Theron.

Over something this childish...

Children were still children.

Theron glanced toward the slope behind him.

It was extremely steep and covered in branches and bushes.

Then he looked at Palcoat.

"Stop talking bullshit. If you're going to attack, then come."

Theron raised his dagger close to his body.

His gaze became sharp.

"But come prepared to die."

Several trainees flinched.

Some even stepped backward without realizing it.

Theron was small.

But the pressure coming from him was anything but small.

However...

"Don't try to scare us, you bastard!"

The warning only made Palcoat angrier.

He shouted and charged.

Like a wild boar, Palcoat rushed toward Theron with madness in his eyes.

"Die, you bastard!"

Swish!

His dagger stabbed straight toward Theron's stomach.

Theron casually knocked it aside.

With weapons involved, this situation actually favored Theron.

A dagger reduced the importance of their difference in body size.

Slash!

"Aaagh!"

Theron's blade cut through Palcoat's left forearm.

Blood splashed onto the ground.

Palcoat screamed and stumbled backward.

His eyes widened.

For one brief instant, he had not even seen Theron's knife move.

"What are you doing? Aren't you coming?"

Palcoat alone was not enough.

To create a proper excuse...

All of them need to attack me.

That was why Theron had cut Palcoat's arm instead of his leg.

A small injury like this would give them an excuse to truly attack him with murderous intent.

Exactly as he expected...

"What are you doing, you bastards?! Do you want to break our alliance?! Kill him! Kill him! If we all attack together, we can kill him!"

Palcoat screamed wildly.

The hesitant trainees bit their lips.

Then...

"Aaaaaah!"

"Die!"

They rushed Theron together.

But their movements were so clumsy that...

I could kill all of them in thirty seconds.

Their openings were painfully obvious.

Theron almost hesitated.

Then he lightly avoided the dagger of the trainee at the front.

After that, he took one large step backward.

Slip!

"Aaaaaagh!"

Theron's body suddenly slid down the slope.

It was so steep and so densely covered in bushes that he disappeared instantly.

The darkness made it impossible to judge how far down the slope went.

The trainees above froze.

"W-What?"

"That bastard... fell!"

Palcoat's group rushed to the edge.

The dark, bush-covered slope seemed endless.

"...I can't see him."

"Damn... Is he dead?"

Palcoat frowned at the muttered question.

"Shut up, you bastards!"

He stared downward.

But no matter how long they waited, Theron never appeared.

One trainee scratched his head.

"Ah... Damn it. What do we do about the test now?"

They had chased Theron because they wanted Moltir Flowers.

Not only had they failed to make him collect flowers for them, they had not even managed to steal the ones he already had.

And if word got out that they had killed another trainee during the test...

Palcoat's expression turned grim.

"Listen carefully."

Everyone turned toward him.

"We chased him and lost him. That's all."

Palcoat pointed downward.

"Theron ran away and died on his own. Don't say anything about him falling from this cliff. We simply lost him. Understand?"

As long as everyone here remained silent, the truth would never come out.

"The bastards sharing Theron's room didn't actually see us fighting him either. If they accuse us, just deny everything."

Several trainees exchanged nervous looks.

Palcoat tightened his grip around his dagger.

"If anyone says a single word to an instructor, I'll snap your neck while you're sleeping. Got it?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Understood."

"We take this secret to the grave."

Everyone nodded.

Then they quickly returned the way they had come.

Theron was dead.

They needed another way to collect Moltir Flowers.

After they left...

Rustle.

Something moved among the bushes below the slope.

Theron slowly stood.

Scratches and cuts covered his entire body.

Blood ran from his shoulder.

Theron calmly wiped it away and looked upward.

"...Suspicious bastards."

Remaining motionless while a tree branch was stabbing into him had been rather unpleasant.

Still, it had worked.

Now everyone's attention would be completely redirected.

The instructors would probably hear that...

I'm dead.

But Theron had no intention of leaving the training facility.

There were still far too many things on Hell Island that he needed.

This ridiculous little performance was only meant to buy him time.

Time to obtain the Blood Jade Fruit.

"Haaaah."

Theron caught his breath.

Then he searched through his old memories and looked in one direction.

I need to hurry.

If he did not return before the time limit, the test would end.

He had to obtain the Blood Jade Fruit and still pass the test.

Once he organized his thoughts...

Whoosh!

Theron disappeared into another stretch of darkness connected to the Shadow Forest.

"Missing?"

"...Yes."

Berton frowned.

Bengle lowered his head.

It was extremely rare for the Head Instructor of Hell Island to show interest in a specific trainee.

And now that trainee had disappeared during the first test.

In reality, they could practically assume Theron was dead.

Berton remained calm.

"Who told you?"

"The trainees sharing his room. They said Palcoat and several others attacked them."

"Several? It was a group attack?"

"Twelve trainees, including Palcoat."

"..."

Berton became silent.

Then...

"Wouldn't that mean he wasn't missing? They killed him."

Things like this happened occasionally.

During tests, especially inside the Shadow Forest, trainees with grudges had the perfect opportunity to attack each other.

Berton narrowed his eyes.

He shouldn't be someone who loses to a pig like Palcoat...

Whether there were twelve attackers or twenty.

A trainee with Theron's eyes did not seem foolish enough to die so easily.

Bengle shook his head.

"I don't know if they're telling the truth... but they claim they lost him while chasing him."

"I'll confirm it myself. Bring them here immediately."

"But... three days have already passed. Whether they killed him or he became lost... there's a high chance he's already dead."

Berton's gaze turned cold.

"Didn't I say I'll confirm it myself?"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

Bengle immediately turned and ran.

He knew saying one more word might cost him his head.

Berton remained alone in the office.

Theron's face appeared in his mind again.

"...That shouldn't be possible."

Was the feeling that he had missed something...

Just his imagination?

Soon, Berton looked coldly toward the trainees entering his office.

In his previous life, Theron had been completely reborn on the day of an unexpected accident.

He still clearly remembered the overwhelming life force and heat he had felt on the edge of death.

He remembered the first time he saw the Blood Jade Fruit.

"It was definitely... around here."

A narrow valley south of the Shadow Forest.

Theron searched through his distant memories while walking deeper inside.

Three days had already passed.

Two days remaining.

There was not much time.

Still, Theron refused to rush.

He slowly searched the valley.

The sky darkened.

The cries of wild beasts echoed around him.

At his current level, everything on Hell Island could still be dangerous.

Whenever he sensed a beast approaching, he hid behind rocks and lowered himself to the ground.

He avoided every unnecessary risk.

After some time...

"Found it."

Theron stared at a small cave hidden behind tall grass.

When he had discovered it in his previous life, he did not remember there being this much grass.

That happened two or three years later. Of course some things would be different.

Theron pushed aside the vegetation and entered the small cave between the walls of the valley.

Whoosh.

There was no wind.

Yet the moment he stepped inside, a cold sensation wrapped around his body.

As he went deeper, that coldness slowly changed.

Heat began spreading through the cave.

It was exactly what he remembered.

The moment the heat touched his skin, memories from his previous life became vivid.

"...Ah."

The darkness gradually became brighter.

The cave walls began glowing faintly red.

Heat shimmered between cracks in the stone.

Theron's gaze locked onto one location.

At the place where the heat of the earth and mana crossed...

Something filled with overwhelming mana and life force appeared before him once again.

"...Found it."

A fruit resembling an orange-red crystal glowed inside a hollow in the stone wall.

It pulsed almost like a living heart.

The fruit absorbed mana from deep underground and released it again as heat.

Last time...

Theron had simply eaten it because he was desperate to survive.

Because of that, he had failed to absorb even ten percent of the Blood Jade Fruit's true power.

Even so...

That small amount had been enough to completely change his life.

But now...

"This time will be different."

If Theron could absorb everything contained within the Blood Jade Fruit...

He reached out.

Without hesitation, he plucked it from the wall and sat down.

The Dark Tempelst Mana Method should be capable of containing all this limitless power.

Then...

Crunch!

Theron bit into the Blood Jade Fruit.

He swallowed it.

And immediately began circulating his Mana Method.