Arc 1 Chapter 25 : Ariel de Lusignan

[Ariel POV]

Ugh... My head is killing me.

I slowly opened my eyes.

The last thing I remembered was Raul capturing me in the middle of our fight.

I looked around.

A cave...

What happened to the battle? Did he bring me here?

Ah, that's right...

Raul took me hostage during the fight, making it difficult for Brian and the others to attack him.

Remembering what happened made my heart sink.

I had only been a burden to them during that battle...

Even after everything that had happened during the monster attack, I still hadn't changed. Whenever I found myself in danger, all I could do was wait for someone else to come and save me.

And even now, it was the same.

If Raul hadn't been near me, they wouldn't have hesitated to attack him.

If only I were stronger...

If only I had the power to stop someone without hurting them...

Tap... Tap... Tap...

I heard footsteps approaching from deeper inside the cave.

A man appeared, carrying a skinned and cleaned rabbit in one hand and several pieces of firewood in the other.

"You've finally woken up, Ariel," Raul said casually.

I stared at his face without answering.

His black hair seemed to blend into the darkness of the cave, while his indifferent gaze reminded me of someone who never cared about other people's feelings.

Raul then began making a campfire using dried coconut fibers.

It seemed he intended to cook the rabbit.

"Why didn't you eliminate me, Raul?"

I couldn't understand it.

Why had he gone through all the trouble of kidnapping me?

At my question, Raul stopped what he was doing and looked directly into my eyes.

"You're useful to me as a hostage. Having you around makes Brian and the others hesitate to attack."

My heart sank once again.

So it was true.

I was nothing more than a burden to my friends.

Raul was simply using me to make it harder for the others to fight him.

My eyes wandered around the cave until they landed on a large stone with a rather sharp edge.

After starting the fire, Raul tied the rabbit to a piece of wood using tree roots and placed it over the flames.

He then picked up two coconut shells and left, leaving me alone.

As soon as Raul disappeared from sight, I hurried toward the stone.

I was a little afraid to try this...

But this was for my comrades.

I didn't want to remain a burden while they were still fighting.

Bam!

Ugh...

That hurts...

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Why am I still conscious after slamming my head against a rock that hard?

Bam!

Ouch...

I think my forehead is bleeding now...

All right.

One more time...

I should pass out if this is enough to crack my skull.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

This time, I would hit it as hard as I could.

Bam!

But when I slammed my head against it for the third time, I felt something strange against my forehead.

This wasn't the sharp stone I had been hitting.

I slowly opened my eyes.

A hand was touching my forehead.

A warm hand...

Warm like the loving embrace of my late mother.

"Raul... What are you doing?" I asked the black-haired man who had suddenly appeared before me.

He must have already returned.

At my question, Raul smiled.

I had never known he could smile like this.

"That should be my question, Ariel," Raul said. "What are you doing?"

I could only lower my head at his question.

I didn't want to be a burden to my team.

I didn't want to get in their way and prevent them from winning.

I...

I didn't want to be a useless woman.

My vision began to blur.

It was probably because I had slammed my head against the rock too hard.

"I want to become stronger..."

After saying those words, my consciousness began to fade.

"Yes... Someday, you'll become the most remarkable Saint in this world, Ariel."

I could faintly hear him saying those words.

Me?

A Saint?

Perhaps I really had hit my head too hard if Raul believed in me that much.

---

[3rd POV]

That night, the Eagle and Griffon Clans gathered at the Eagle Clan's Basecamp to evaluate what had happened during their previous hunt for Raul.

Thanks to Raul's schemes, a total of eight members of the Eagle Clan had been eliminated, while the Griffon Clan had lost thirteen members—nearly half of their original force.

"We fell into his trap again," Valeria said, visibly frustrated. "He anticipated our arrival and lured that giant bird here by kidnapping its offspring."

The explanation only made everyone present even more irritated.

"He's far too familiar with this island," Elena said after returning from her battle with one of the Nazarith birds. "How does he know so much about this place? Didn't we all begin this exam on the same day?"

Elena was genuinely baffled by Raul's seemingly impossible knowledge of the island.

"We can discuss that later," Brian said coldly. "He kidnapped Ariel! We don't know what he's going to do to her! We have to leave right now!"

Brian's voice was filled with urgency.

Seeing his anger, the others could understand where it came from.

Everyone knew that Brian and Ariel were extremely close back at the academy.

Some even believed they were already a couple.

"Our scouts spotted that perverted man entering an abandoned underground mine while carrying Ariel," Valeria revealed.

"Then let's move now!" Brian said, unable to bear the thought of Ariel being alone with Raul.

"We can't rush in there, Brian," Valeria warned him. "Or do you want us to walk straight into another trap?"

Brian clenched his fists.

They had already fallen into Raul's traps twice.

"I can't believe the four of you were defeated by Raul."

Elena's words made Valeria, Brian, and Geralt visibly embarrassed by their humiliating defeat.

"He only won because he fought like a coward!" Brian protested angrily. "If he hadn't used Ariel as a hostage, I would've finished him with my technique!"

Elena looked slightly disappointed by Brian's excuse.

"Whatever the reason, a defeat is still a defeat. We can't change what happened by blaming the method our enemy used to fight us."

Elena stepped into the center of the gathering, drawing everyone's attention.

"Unfortunately, time isn't on our side in this hunt for Raul. After tomorrow, we'll have only two days left in the first stage of the exam. We have to eliminate Raul before the exam ends. Otherwise, all of our efforts—and the efforts of everyone who has already fallen—will be for nothing."

Her words reignited the determination of the members.

Not because they wanted to pass the exam anymore...

But because they wanted revenge against Raul.

"Tomorrow morning, we'll head to that mine and defeat him, no matter the cost!" Elena declared, raising her fist into the air.

"Ouh!"

"Ouh!"

With that, the two Clans once again strengthened their resolve to face the single man who had made their first-stage exam into such a miserable ordeal.

---

[Raul POV]

I was standing at one of the entrances to the abandoned mine.

With only one person, there was no way I could set traps throughout an area this large in such a short amount of time.

All I needed was one trap capable of hitting them hard.

If it worked, they'd hesitate to enter this place a second time.

They would assume that I'd prepared traps in other locations as well, preventing them from charging in too aggressively tomorrow.

That's why I needed to place the trap at a point they were guaranteed to pass through—a tunnel connecting the western entrance to the inner section of the mine.

Brak!

I destroyed several of the tunnel's supporting beams.

Once they entered this tunnel, I would destroy the remaining supports and cause the entire passage to collapse under its own weight.

After finishing, I returned to the inner section of the mine, where Ariel was staying.

She was asleep.

Earlier, she had slammed her own head against a rock simply because she didn't want to become a burden to her team.

She had even attempted to eliminate herself.

I looked at the wound on her forehead.

This was proof of the determination Ariel would eventually need to awaken her Codex—

The Goddess's Voice.

It was the power that would cause the Demon King the greatest amount of trouble during the great war against humanity.

I stared at her face.

For now, Ariel was still naive and immature, far from being ready to become a Saint.

The same could be said for every character at this academy.

They still needed to train.

They needed to learn from experience.

And they needed to become wiser when controlling their emotions.

But that wasn't a problem.

There was no human in this world who knew everything, always made the correct decision, never experienced defeat, and never failed.

A perfect character existed only within the fantasies of mankind.

Yes...

Ariel and the others would become stronger, more mature, and more experienced when the time came.

And I would make sure they gained valuable experience by fighting against me during this first-stage exam.

Because they were the heroes destined to save this world.