Chapter 347: Dragon Deification

The student spat a mouthful of blood and passed out.

All the students and instructors widened their eyes. What had just happened? Was Auric telling the truth? This pressure instantly knocked out a Rank 2 student, and it was the top student from Dermania. If even that kind of student couldn’t pass, there was no way other students could pass either.

In other words, someone manipulated the energy and tried to crush Auric. It wasn’t an empty accusation.

Because of the incident, Head Instructor Ryan hurriedly retracted his pressure so that no one would notice.

Auric had actually calculated this move as well. That was when he started running in earnest.

Without the additional pressure on the remaining two walls, he crossed them without any problems.

In just a few seconds, he actually crossed the finish line.

"Well, pressure indeed." Auric grinned. He spread his arms while asking, "My fellow students. Let me apply some magic on you. This small magic is usually available in our lives. All you have to do is take out the problem and it will look like your lives will get easier... Yes, you, except the students from Dermania!"

Auric smiled.

As he had expected of Maya, the troublemaker who taught him, she completely understood the assignment.

As soon as Head Instructor Ryan was exposed, he would retract that power, but he couldn’t allow other students to realize it. That was why he maintained his power over the students.

Auric confirmed it with his short speech.

Then, he wanted to remove that problem, so it was only natural for his teacher to do that magic. Of course, Maya recognized who actually created the problem, especially when Auric mentioned his name. He wouldn’t explicitly call that person’s name even when apologizing if he truly accused the wrong person.

Auric’s principle was equivalent exchange after all. If he did something bad, he would apologize sincerely. Since he didn’t, it was clear that the other party was the bad one.

"!!!" Head Instructor Ryan, who was too focused on the student who passed out, couldn’t react in time. The only thing he could do was shift his gaze to the side, only to find a foot kicking him in the head and blowing him away.

Bam!

Everyone was even more startled because they didn’t think someone dared to attack Head Instructor Ryan.

What was even more surprising was that all students from the four countries suddenly felt their pressure lessening.

"What?!"

"The pressure..."

They suddenly remembered what Auric had said. He told them everyone except the students from Dermania.

They hurriedly looked at these students and noticed that they had confused reactions.

"Oi, you bastards! Did you guys just cheat?"

"Did you not feel the pressure weakening?!"

From those two shouts, their attention returned to the students from Dermania. If that was true, that meant Auric wasn’t throwing an empty accusation.

Dermania had indeed cheated. The reason Dermania got more people crossing the finish line wasn’t because they had trained for this test. They finished it with reduced pressure.

Auric raised his hand and reminded them out loud, "I know it’s shocking, but shouldn’t you guys help that guy first?"

When they heard Auric, they felt like cursing as they thought, ’Weren’t you the one who tossed him?’

However, the instructors rushed to the scene to check the situation.

"The test is postponed. Postponed."

"That’s right. I demand that the test be postponed!" The instructors from other countries demanded while checking the injured student.

The moment Auric exposed the trick, Head Instructor Ryan immediately retracted his power from the wall, but with Maya’s help, he wasn’t in the position to maintain the pressure on the students.

"Oi, you cheaters from Dermania, answer honestly. Did you or did you not feel any change in the pressure?" Some instructors rushed toward the students. They were demanding the truth. As long as they got one confession, that was more than enough to prove Dermania was cheating.

The students were completely confused, while some already laughed.

"Hahaha. Dermania was calling Auric a cheater during the previous competition. Yet, they were the ones who were actually cheating."

"If Auric was cheating, they should have proven it. They were the ones throwing accusations."

"I know, right? When Auric did the same, he immediately got reprimanded."

"What a shameless country."

However, there was actually one miscalculation in Auric’s plan. No, the plan itself was excellent. The execution, however, was not as good as expected.

When Maya kicked Head Instructor Ryan, she kicked him to the side, away from the other instructors. That was supposed to be a correct move, considering no other instructors could help him.

At the same time, the instructors surrounded Maya, considering she dared to hit one of them.

Maya was ready to fight, even if she was surrounded. In fact, Supervisor Jacob immediately led the instructors from Esfrata to support Maya.

They were glaring at each other intensely, neither intending to back down.

Maya had already calculated these consequences. She might be punished lightly for this, but since the other party was cheating, this offense was understandable. The one who would be punished severely was Head Instructor Ryan.

Supervisor Jacob intended to fight to the bitter end. This wasn’t a miscalculation.

The miscalculation was the angle of the kick. She might have kicked Head Instructor Ryan away to dispel the pressure, but Head Instructor Ryan was actually flying toward the finish line.

In other words, the person closest to Auric was none other than Head Instructor Ryan, especially given that all instructors from Esfrata were moving to the center to get ready for a clash with Dermania.

This was the beginning of the problem. All of a sudden, they could feel energy fluctuations from the side.

Supervisor Jacob widened his eyes as his face turned pale. In that instant, he realized what was happening.

"Maya! Protect Auric!" Supervisor Jacob shouted.

"!!!" Mr. Green and Maya were startled. There was only one reason for him to give that order. They panicked and turned to the side, finding Head Instructor Ryan already releasing his energy.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Maya turned pale as she leaped toward Auric as fast as possible, but she was simply too late.

Supervisor Jacob and Mr. Green were also coming toward Head Instructor Ryan to push him away so that he couldn’t unleash his power properly. Even though they could move faster than Maya, they were still one step too late.

The other instructors were even more shocked. What did this mean? If Auric died, the glory of Esfrata would stop right here. It would turn into an international conflict.

However, it changed nothing. Auric would be dead. The genius evolution master would be no more.

There were many geniuses. Still, a genius of Auric’s caliber was extremely rare. His talent was equal to or even better than that of the seven Rank 7 humans in the world. In addition, Auric was the only evolution master among them.

His future would be limitless... only if he were still alive.

That was what Head Instructor Ryan was thinking as well.

A moment ago, as soon as he got kicked, Head Instructor Ryan couldn’t help but think, ’What’s going on? Did I just get kicked? Who? I saw a woman... No, wait. I’ve heard of that woman. She must be Auric Elfe’s teacher.

’The trick has been exposed. My reputation is going down the drain. I can’t let this go. Should I pin the blame on someone else? That won’t be enough. Even if I can’t escape the situation, I wouldn’t be able to escape the responsibility to the country.

’In that case, I have to somehow change the situation. All this time, Auric Elfe has been pummeling the country’s honor. That’s right. Auric Elfe.’

Head Instructor Ryan glanced to the side, realizing that Auric was also taking advantage of the chaos to cross the finish line.

’That’s right. Auric Elfe is a peerless talent, but a dead genius is no genius. If I kill him...’

Head Instructor Ryan’s mind was filled with the thought of what would happen if he killed Auric.

The simulation ran through his mind. Obviously, the moment he killed Auric, there would be a big conflict between Esfrata and Dermania.

At the same time, this conflict would have started even though he didn’t hit him directly. After all, the tension between them was already high because of the marathon and the previous test.

In that case, there was no need to worry about the international conflict since it was going to happen either way.

Even if he ignored the conflict, he would have to face the backlash. His reputation and a lot of other things would disappear.

Still, killing Auric would be the same as eliminating someone who might become a rival. In the past, their country was the only country that had a Rank 7 human in this great base.

However, not long ago, Joker emerged and became the second Rank 7 human.

Their country lost its sovereignty. The other four countries couldn’t do anything in the past because they only had one Rank 7 human to rely on. If that person refused to make a move, the other four countries wouldn’t be able to stop a Rank 7 beast.

In fact, this was the origin of their arrogance and system. They were so used to having people fawning over them that they couldn’t escape from that system, which was also why Gloria easily became a scapegoat.

With Joker’s emergence, people could still ask him for help. Dermania’s dominance was over.

If Auric was allowed to grow, he might become another Joker. Even if they had a few candidates that might be able to reach Rank 7, no one could be compared to Auric. This training program had just proven it.

If they removed Auric, the situation would go back to normal. In other words, killing Auric was a priority, especially with the tension between them. They couldn’t allow Auric to grow and suppress them in the future.

In that case, he could just kill him first and deal with the consequences later.

’That’s right. I just have to kill Auric. If people demand an explanation from me, I will just say that I was attacked by someone from Esfrata and the best action was to retaliate. The closest person to me was Auric, so I ended up killing him. With a little sobbing and acting, I can escape almost anything. The country will also be protecting me because of it.’

Head Instructor Ryan was confident that this was the best plan.

That was why when the others were distracted by the conflict, he hurriedly rolled on the ground and stood back up. He released his power and immediately directed it at Auric. For a Rank 6 human to kill a Rank 2 human, even just a lump of energy would be more than enough. The gap between them was simply that big.

That was also when Supervisor Jacob noticed it.

"Maya! Protect Auric!"

Maya panicked. She screamed while rushing toward Auric, "NOOOOOO!"

Auric was already raising both arms. There was no way to stop this. In fact, Lindwurm had warned him right before Head Instructor Ryan released his energy.

If it were a Rank 4 or even a Rank 5 human, he could have used his Void Step to somehow escape from them.

’What should I do?’ Auric couldn’t even think of a solution. The Void Step wasn’t fast enough to avoid the attack.

It would be impossible for him to receive this attack. He gritted his teeth and released all his energy, trying to activate the Void Step as much as possible. If he could just slow down the impact by using his energy, he could then use Void Step to get away. It would be fine to reveal it in a life-or-death situation.

He might lose an arm or two, but he would survive. That was what he thought, but it was definitely not what Lindwurm thought would happen.

The energy ended up hitting Auric.

Boom!

"NOOOOO!" Maya teared up, realizing her mistake. She shouldn’t have kicked him in this direction.

The burst of energy kicked up the dust on the ground, causing Maya to fall into despair.

Auric was still fighting to the bitter end until he heard a sound that hurt his conscience but relieved his heart.

*Crack!*

The cracking sound came from below him. Judging from the distance, Auric knew what had just shattered. It was the necklace from his father.

Auric once said that he didn’t want luck to save him. His father’s protection was a kind of luck because he failed to predict that his life would be in danger.

That was why even in a hopeless situation, Auric was actually thinking about abandoning both hands just to survive. He didn’t count on it and chose to fight to the bitter end.

That changed the moment the necklace shattered. Even though Lindwurm wanted to respect Auric’s choice, he couldn’t agree to the sacrifice.

There was also the matter of Auric’s prediction that failed to calculate the insanity of Head Instructor Ryan.

Hence, his father judged that direct intervention was necessary.

Suddenly, a burst of energy erupted from the smoke and sent them all flying away, revealing Auric’s condition.

All people thought Auric had died. What they didn’t expect was that not only did he survive, but he was actually unscathed.

Auric was covered in gray energy, but more importantly, his body had actually changed.

His arms, legs, cheeks, and forehead were covered in black dragon scales. His hands had turned into claws, and a pair of black dragon wings had emerged from his back.

"Avatar Artificial Fusion, Dragon Deification."