The Author's POV

"...Where is it?" 

Fifteen minutes had passed since I had entered the dome, and I was now alone. 

Right after entering the dome, we all split up. Kevin, Jin, and I all went our separate ways.

Nothing needed to be said about Kevin and I since we had something to do, but Jin just naturally left. In all fairness, as an assassin, Jin thrived in this kind of environment so being with a team was useless to him. It would only give away his location. 

"...We probably look like fools to the audience." 

Moving forwards, a bitter smile appeared on my face. 

This was a given though. 

In a team game, the first thing we did was split up. This became especially worrisome to the spectators supporting the Lock as everyone knew that the lower-end academies tended to team-up together. 

In short, we looked like the third years. 

Their result? A humiliating loss. To the audience, we probably looked like arrogant pricks overconfident in our strength. 

...but I honestly couldn't care less.

I had different priorities. What did the tournament matter if everyone died? 

—Vrrrrrr! —Vrrrrrr!

—Ren, how far are you from the location?

My watch suddenly rang. It was Kevin. 

Raising my wrist towards my mouth, I softly whispered. 

"I'm almost there." 

Following the map that everyone was given at the beginning of the game, I was able to navigate my way towards the location Kevin told me to go to a couple of hours ago. 

According to him, that was the place where the portal devices were going to be installed. 

—That's good, I'm almost there too. All that's left is finding the portal itself. 

"...easier said than done." 

Even though we knew the approximate location of the portals, unlike Kevin, I didn't have a system that would help me detect the exact location of the portal. 

Kevin had it, so as long as he knew the general location it was in, he'd be able to find it. Fortunately, I wasn't completely helpless. 

After all, there was bound to be a couple of individuals setting it up. All I had to do was find them. 

—Ren, I'm hanging up. I think I've got something. 

"Sure."

Disconnecting my call with Kevin, I increased my pace. 

Navigating through the dense vegetation, my pace slowed down significantly. 

"...Let's not be too obvious." 

Realistically speaking, the portal should be protected by at least four individuals.

If I was too brazen about my appearance, I'd lose the element of surprise and be at a disadvantage. Even though I was confident in my strength, four individuals were a lot. 

Couldn't just brazenly show up without any preparations. It may end up costly. 

***

"What are these idiots doing!" 

Inside of the Lock private waiting room. A high-pitched voice sounded across the space. 

"Why are they separating from the very beginning? Don't they have a brain?" 

Like a machine gun, Emma venomously spat at the TV screen in front of her. 

Besides her was Amanda. Though she said nothing, Amanda agreed with everything she was saying. 

"Damn it, what are they doing? Did everything that I told them before the match go to deaf ear?" 

On the other hand, not far from them, Melissa similarly cursed. 

Prior to when the match started, she briefed Ren, Jin, and Kevin, on the strategy that they should've followed in the battle royale to secure first place. 

but...

They had completely ignored whatever she had said to them. As though her words went from one ear to the other, the trio separated and did the exact same thing she told them not to do. 

This irritated her to no end. 

"Just wait till I get my hands on you..." 

Melissa spat as she clenched on the side of the sofa. 

Their performances were currently being displayed on national television. Everyone was watching.

As their assigned technical advisor, her face and name was plastered on the same screen as theirs. If they ended up losing, part of the blame would fall on her. 

The more she thought about it, the greater her anger rose. 

"Just you fucking wait..."

***

Masking my presence as much as I could, I stood on top of a tree and observed five individuals ahead of me. 

"Two, E ranks and three <F> ranks?" 

Although faint, the undulations of magic emanating from the bodies of the students before me suggested that they were around that rank. 

"...this is going to be tough." 

Although I wasn't one hundred percent sure, there was a high chance that these people before me were the ones I was looking for. 

My deduction stemmed from the fact that they were in the area that Kevin had told me to observe and that they were behaving suspiciously; Staying within the same perimeter for an extended period longer than five minutes, and having one of the five individuals sitting on the ground in the middle pretending to fiddle with the dirt. 

There was definitely something going on. 

"Let's observe a little bit more..." 

That being said, I still wasn't one hundred sure about their involvement. Before they made I proper move, I would stay here and keep a good watch over them.

Even so, I was already starting to make preparations. 

—Vrrrrrr! —Vrrrrrr!

Startling me a little bit, my watch vibrated. Twisting my wrist lightly, I answered the call. 

"...yes." 

I then brought the watch near my mouth. 

"Are you ready?" 

—I've found the portal and the targets. 

Kevin seemed to be in a similar situation to mine, as his voice was very soft. 

"...I think I've also found them. Tell me where the portal is." 

If the scenario was the same, then the portal should also be in a similar position as his. 

—Mhm. My targets are four individuals. They seem to be roaming randomly but, they don't seem to be straying far from a certain location and I've also found that that they are around <E> rank to <F> rank in strength.

Kevin briefly paused before continuing. 

—...They also all seem to come from a lower-end academy. The strangest thing is their rank. It shouldn't be possible for such a low-end academy to have such talented individuals. They are individuals that even the Lock would want. This makes me think that it's them...No. Who am I kidding? It's them. 

Nodding my head, my eyes squinted slightly. 

"I've got something similar...five individuals though. Guess I've got the short end of the stick." 

He got four whilst I got five. What a pain. 

—Hee...sucks for you. 

At my reply, Kevin's voice became slightly sarcastic. My brows knit.

"You taunting me?" 

—...no. 

There was a short pause before he replied. My mouth twitched as a result. 

"You seriously mocking me in the middle of a serious operation?" 

Since when did Kevin joke in such serious situations? Wasn't he supposed to be the serious type of MC? 

Some rotten bastard was definitely influencing him. 

—Alright, I'm sorry. Anyways, the portal should be hidden beneath the ground. Right in the middle of all of the five individuals. At least that's from what I'm seeing right now. 

Kevin apologized before explaining to me his situation. 

"You sure?" 

—Positive. Is your situation the same? 

"Yeah..you making a move?" 

—No. I'm making preparations. There are four people, so I can't afford to be sloppy. I'm setting everything up for an ambush. 

"...Clever."

Blindly fighting against four individuals with unknown backgrounds was stupid. Taking the initiative and doing a surprise attack was the most efficient way to win against a group of people. 

—Alright. I'm about to start. You should too. 

"Yeah." 

Kevin soon ended the call. Lowering my wrist, I quickly took out a few things from my bracelet. 

"...I guess I should get started as wel—oh?"

—Di! —Di! 

Suddenly my watch vibrated. A glaring red notification clogged the screen of my watch. 

[You may now engage with the other participants.] 

Staring at the message, the edges of my lips twisted upward. 

"...talk about perfect timing" 

—Thud! 

Jumping down the tree, I stealthily moved forward. Moving behind one of the individuals, my feet abruptly stopped. At this point, I stopped breathing and fully focused on the individual before me. 

'Let's start with one of the strongest...'

—Click! 

Placing my hand on the sheath of the sword, the all too familiar clicking sound resounded across the area.

—Thud. 

A small thud accompanied the clicking sound as the individual I targeted fell face-first on the ground. Right at the moment my sword was about to hit his head, a small protective shield formed around him, saving his life. The impact still caused him to pass out. Although the shield saved his life, it did not reduce the force of the attack. 

"What!" 

"Who's there?" 

The sound did not go unnoticed as everyone turned their heads in my direction. Already expecting this, dashing forward, I headed towards the person in the middle. The other <E> ranked individual. 

Of course, the three other people wouldn't just let me attack their most important member. Taking out their weapons, they all instantly dashed towards me. 

Staring at them, my eyes slowly turned gray as I commanded. 

"Stay." 

Instantly everyone stopped. 

"Ghhh...what!" 

"Khhh..."

"S-stop him!" 

As if their bodies could not listen to them, they all took a step back terrified. They could only helplessly watch as I neared my target. 

"Gyek!" 

Dropping everything he was doing, the individual that was setting up the portal took out his weapon and dashed in my direction. 

Watching him come at me, my feet abruptly stopped. Though confused, the individual before me slashed in my direction. 

—Shaa! 

Staring at the incoming blade, I raised my right hand and snapped my fingers. 

—Snap! 

"Huek!" 

A strange noise escaped the individual's mouth as his body stopped moving. Taking advantage of this gap, I infused my fist with thick mana and swung it towards his chin. 

—Thud!

Face first, he fell on the floor. He was knocked out cold.

Raising my sword I stabbed in the direction of his heart. Right as my sword was about to stab him in the heart, a small protective shield formed around him like the previous individual.

My purpose in doing this was to activate the special function of the suit. The paralyzing effect.

Once the target was presumed by the system as 'dead' it would paralyze the user's body until a professor brought them out. 

—Shaa! —Shaa! —Shaa! 

With no time to catch my breath, coming from all sides was the sound of multiple sharp objects cutting through the wind. 

"Ugh."

Bending down and dodging one of the attacks, I drew a quick circle in the air. A translucent ring appeared before me.

"Go..."

Once the ring formed, I pushed it to the side. 

"W-hat's going on!?" 

"Hu?!" 

Clenching my fist, the two remaining attacks headed in my direction magically changed direction.

Ring of vindication second move : Gravitational pull. 

—Bam!

"Khhuua!" 

Taking advantage of the opening created, I lunged forward and punched one of the three students straight in the guts.

My fist soon connected with his stomach, and a small shockwave swept the area. 

—Thud! 

Kneeling on the ground, saliva spilled everywhere. 

Raising my leg, I Kicked him the individual I hit in the face and directly knocked him out. Raising my sword, I once again aimed for the heart. 

—Thunk! 

"Another one down..." 

After getting rid of another individual, I turned around. At the moment, the two other individuals were still busy trying to free themselves from the ring. With their ranks being lower and my strenght being a full rank higher than theirs, the rest of the fight was as good as done. 

Click—! Click—!

Placing my hand on the sheath of my sword, two clicking sounds resounded across the area. 

—Thud! —Thud!

With two more thuds, I finally got rid of the last remaining individuals. 

"Huuuuu..."

A long extended exhale escape from my lips. My breathing was a little rugged. 

"Alright, let's get this over with." 

Pretending to act calm, I 'casually' walked towards the spot I presumed the teleportation device was located. 

My goal was to 'accidentally' find the portal device before showing it to one of the cameras overlooking the event. 

This was the most logical and fastest plan Kevin and I came up with.

The plan was for either me or Kevin to expose the device to one of the cameras that was broadcasting the event. From there, the instructors would immediately know what was going on and shut the even down. 

Thus...

"haaa....haaa" 

Standing on top of the spot where one of the students was, with my hands on my knees, I pretended to catch my breath. 

"Oof, I better sit do—"

"Not bad, but where are the other two?" 

"Who?!" 

Startling me was a cold voice coming from my right side. 

—Sha! 

At the same time the voice spoke, I felt a cold metal object graze past my face. Not letting my guard down since the beginning, I was able to dodge the attack. Just barely though. 

—Drip! —Drip! 

Tracing my thumb over my cheek and staring at the blood on my finger, I lifted my head slightly.

My eyes narrowed. 

"Aaron...."