Chapter 59: The Beginning of the End

Toren Valerius Vespera drove his spear through the chest of a Devil Monkey and carried it several meters before the creature’s body finally slid from the blade.

The spear came free in a violent pull.

Another Devil Monkey descended from above.

Toren planted his rear foot, twisted his waist, and swung the weapon upward with enough force to intercept it before its claws reached his face. The spearhead pierced beneath its jaw and tore through the top of its skull, but Toren did not stop there. Red energy surged along the shaft as he pivoted, and the creature’s body was thrown aside with a burst of heat that scorched its fur black.

Three more rushed him.

Toren laughed.

One attacked from the front while the other two moved around his flanks, but their attempt at coordination lasted less than a second. He stepped toward the center of the formation instead of retreating, forcing the three creatures into each other’s path before driving his spear through the abdomen of the nearest one.

The weapon emerged from its back.

The red energy surrounding the spearhead ignited immediately.

The Devil Monkey shrieked as heat spread through the wound, its body convulsing around the weapon while Toren ripped the spear free and turned toward the second creature. It managed to raise both claws, but the shaft crashed into them with enough force to break its guard before the spearhead punched through its shoulder.

Toren twisted the weapon.

The creature screamed.

He kicked it away.

The third was already on him.

Lowering his body, he let the creature’s claws pass over his head before thrusting upward. The spear pierced through its stomach, and red energy surged through the wound again. Flesh charred around the impact point as the creature spasmed, its scream dissolving into a wet, broken cry before Toren flung the corpse aside.

Another came.

Then another.

Toren never gave them space to surround him.

He moved through the pack instead, each step carrying his spear into another target. A thrust pierced through a chest. A horizontal swing crushed ribs before the burning energy scorched through them. A Devil Monkey tried to leap backward, but Toren advanced with it and drove the spear through its thigh, pinning it against a tree before tearing the weapon free and finishing it with a strike across the neck.

More Devil Monkeys rushed him.

Toren shifted his stance and began cutting through them with practiced efficiency. He drove the butt of the spear into one creature’s chest before reversing his grip and burying the spearhead beneath its ribs. Another lunged from his blind side, only for Toren to turn with the attack and sweep its legs out from under it. Before it could recover, he slammed the spear downward through its skull.

The forest filled with shrieks.

Some came from the creatures he wounded, while others came from those trying to escape the red flashes that seemed to appear everywhere Toren moved.

One Devil Monkey reached him from behind.

Toren spun.

The spear struck through its torso so violently that the force lifted the creature from the ground.

Red energy exploded along the wound.

The creature convulsed on the spear before Toren ripped it free and let the corpse fall.

He stopped keeping track of the bodies.

By the time the forest finally became quiet again, fifteen Devil Monkeys lay scattered across the clearing.

Toren rested the butt of his spear against the ground and looked over the carnage.

A satisfied chuckle escaped him.

He hadn’t needed to use much of his strength.

That was almost disappointing.

The result was enough. The other candidates were nowhere near his level, and even the Hero presented less of a threat than people seemed to believe.

The man had Sacred Light, an absurd talent, and the sort of reputation that attracted idiots wherever he went, but Toren had already noticed one obvious weakness.

The Hero kept helping people.

Every additional candidate he wanted to rescue meant time wasted, energy spent, and fewer monsters killed.

Toren shook his head.

"How naive."

He leaned his spear against his shoulder.

Saving worthless people was apparently supposed to be some kind of virtue.

He couldn’t imagine why.

Every Chosen One had a screw loose somewhere.

The other Vespera candidates were probably still alive as well. They might even break into the top twenty if they managed to avoid the stronger creatures.

It wouldn’t matter.

Once the examination ended, they would be sent back. None of them threatened his position.

Caelus crossed his mind.

Toren dismissed the thought almost immediately.

He had already heard enough about the bastard.

D-potential.

A weak affinity.

Rumors of Contractor involvement.

Even reaching C-rank hadn’t changed his opinion of him.

Then another thought surfaced.

Toren remembered standing before his father before the examination, expecting the usual instructions and warnings.

His father had mentioned an obstacle.

Not a royal.

Not a noble.

A disciple of the youngest S-rank in the history of the Draconis Empire and leader of MIST.

That was all he’d said.

Only a name.

Eve.

Toren narrowed his eyes.

Apparently she was different.

His father hadn’t told him exactly how. If the threat were truly significant, Toren assumed he would have been given more information. So she couldn’t be important enough to worry about.

Perhaps she was talented.

Perhaps she would even break into the top ranks.

It still wouldn’t matter.

Toren smiled.

The victory was already within his grasp.

All he had to do was continue walking forward and take it.

He lifted his spear and left the clearing.

---

Across the island, Lucian moved with five other candidates through a narrow stretch of forest while a pack of Corrupt creatures closed around them.

Hollow Striders.

They resembled oversized wolves, their bodies lean and muscular with dark hides stretched tightly over unnatural frames. Their glowing eyes remained fixed on the group as they prowled around the perimeter, looking for a weakness.

There were too many to fight comfortably in an open area.

That was why the team had chosen the location carefully.

A wide depression between two rocky slopes gave them only a few paths of approach.

Their trap was already prepared.

"Now!"

The Wind Mage raised both hands.

A burst of air tore through the depression and slammed into the wolves from behind, forcing the front of the pack deeper into the narrow space.

At the same time, the archer released two arrows coated in mana.

One struck the ground before a fleeing beast.

The second buried itself beside another, forcing it to veer toward the center.

The martial artist stepped into the opening.

He drove his heel into the chest of the nearest wolf and sent it stumbling backward into its own pack.

The support mage’s barrier flashed into existence behind them, cutting off the final escape route.

The trap closed.

The wolves snarled and collided against one another as they tried to break through the formation. Several snapped at the barriers while others clawed desperately at the ground, searching for a route that wasn’t there.

Lucian stepped forward.

His hand tightened around his sword.

White light began flowing through the blade.

Kyla, his childhood friend, stood several steps away, auburn hair tied behind her head and green eyes fixed on the trapped creatures.

"You’re up."

Lucian nodded.

The moment his sword entered the center of the formation, the entire trap lit up.

Sacred Light flooded through the barriers, the wind currents, the arrows embedded in the ground, and the space between the trapped creatures.

The wolves screamed.

They tried to leap away.

There was nowhere to go.

Lucian swung.

The light detonated through the depression.

The creatures were caught in the center of it, their bodies battered from every direction as the concentrated power tore through them. Their claws scraped against the ground in a desperate attempt to escape, but the trap held.

One wolf managed to break through the wind barrier.

Lucian redirected his swing.

The blade flashed.

The creature disappeared beneath the light.

The attack ended, and the depression fell silent.

Fragments of the wolves’ bodies littered the ground.

The five others lowered their weapons.

Mark, the silver-haired Wind Mage, pushed his glasses up and stared at the result.

"That was ridiculous."

Fiona, the archer, laughed.

"At this rate, you’re guaranteed first place."

Lucian gave them a smile.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

The smile looked convincing enough.

Only his childhood friend noticed that he wasn’t actually smiling with his eyes.

She watched him turn away from the corpses.

Lucian looked toward the center of the island, his smile disappearing.

Something had been bothering him ever since they entered the examination.

At first, it had been little more than an instinct, a sense that something beyond the ordinary presences scattered across the island was wrong.

Now it had become impossible to ignore.

Whatever was at the center was approaching a point of no return.

Lucian didn’t know exactly what would happen when it did.

If the thing beneath the island achieved whatever it was trying to accomplish, the examination would stop being an examination.

Everyone on the island would die.

His grip tightened around the sword.

They needed to reach the center quickly.

His companions were still talking among themselves, discussing the fight and the ranking as though the examination were nothing more than a competition.

Lucian couldn’t blame them.

They couldn’t feel what he felt.

"Lucian."

He turned.

Kyla was standing a short distance away, looking at him.

"Are you coming?"

He forced another smile and nodded.

"Let’s go."

The group continued through the forest.

Lucian followed them, his eyes remaining fixed on the distant center.