'Theodor Andreev…'
Theodor was a person who had passed Haruo to rank one in the test. Although Haruo never cared for things like rankings, he felt rather bitter about not being able to claim first place to receive its reward.
As much as he wanted it, what's past was past, and he could only sigh as confirmation.
By pure muscle memory, Haruo squinted his eyes in displeasure at the dispersing cloud of dust. Because of that, he swayed his hand around himself to displace the particles away from his body.
After relentlessly scattering the dust, both Theodor's and Haruo's silhouettes finally became clear.
Theodor glanced at Haruo once before setting it below his feet.
Crumble… Crkk… Crack…
Theodor roamed around the piles of rubble that made the walls once before. His eyes darted with his own foot as he carefully watched where he stepped.
"…"
Haruo glared at the semi-pure. Although Theodor had his eyes fixed on the floor, his ultimate focus was, in no doubt, directed at Haruo.
Sriikkkkkk!!
The metallic tip of the spear rang out its cries as it was moved along Theodor's trail on the ground, causing Haruo's eyelid to flinch at the shrieking spear. Then, with no explanation, he stopped.
He shot Haruo one more glance before the silence.
Tokk!
Theodor's foot shot from the ground, and with it, a rock the size of a fist was sent to Haruo at an unbelievable speed.
Haruo fled five steps back before summoning his blade to clash with Theodor's incoming pierce.
Although their weapons made contact, because of Haruo's tilt, their blades naturally glided against one another. And within that motion, their eyes seemed to meet within the dim room, their pupils seemingly radiating a faint light as their gazes sharpened simultaneously.
Claaang!
Both pushed their blades into each other and were separated by the recoil.
The sounds of the metallic clash created a symphony that rang in their ears. The two participants' demeanor remained the same; however, neither of them found the sound pleasant one bit.
'I never intended for him to find me this quick…'
Haruo backed near the wall. The light that radiated from the window highlighted his body in the dim area as he furrowed his eyes toward the semi-pure.
'Rankers like him and me are the highest form of points one can gather. It was natural that he would come hunt me down.'
There was an additional rule within the manhunt:
A person could target a ranker from the top 20 leaderboard if they wish to.
In addition to that rule, many participants had access to the location of the current rankers.
But of course—like Kilian would have it—this was a rule not only limited to the lower ranks, but also to the top rankers themselves.
And for why anyone would even dare attack them, was solely because the points one could get were at least half of their original point before the second half.
'In any case, it was a 'high risk, high reward' situation…' Haruo's hand rested on the edge of the window.
'But I'm not like them.'
TINK! SKRAAASH!!
Shards of glass scattered everyone around the vicinity, and especially towards Theodor.
Haruo quickly sat atop the open window and glanced at Theodor one more time—his face flustered as the decision the white-haired boy made.
'I'm not aiming for number one here. Top ten is a sufficient rank that holds a fair reward.'
With no words exchanged between the two, Haruo jumped out in a hurry and dashed away from the building.
***
A group of two people ventured around the city with careful steps, striding across from one building to another.
One was injured by an arrow stuck to his calf, while the other struggled to carry the limp man across the street. Although the place was only filled with buildings and the silent hum of the weather, the two of them didn't dare to make a single sound.
They weren't fools. They knew exactly what type of players hunted the city.
Because they had personally seen the rumble and ambushes of multiple teams, there was even an all-out war within the far south. They wouldn't dare be careless for a second.
Huff… Huff…
"Let's rest for a second… I can't keep walking anymore…"
Liang Chen—who carried the man—darted his eye across every building within the block. Then, at a near distance, they saw a building they could hide in for the time being.
Both rushed at the building with a tired expression, and along the way, the two chatted.
"How's your leg?" asked Liang Chen.
"I know this isn't real, but the pain is. It would've been better if you had travelled alone."
Liang Chen wanted to say something, but his lips seemed to have been sealed, unable to say a single word.
Soon, they had made it into the building. They had made it deep within the building, away from the entrance to avoid conflict. Liang Chen rested on the edge of the wall, slumped with exhaustion as sweat came pouring down his cheek nonstop.
It had been three days since the test began, and through those short days, dozens of teams had fallen. Just yesterday, 30 teams failed. And if all are combined, the total sum could be counted to 79 teams.
'Might even more… I can't even tell anymore.'
Although officially, 79 teams had fallen, the severity and amount of casualties exceeded that number. But if Liang Chen had to guess, at least half of the remaining teams had mostly two members left—one if they're unlucky.
He recalled the moment before the test. He teamed with Juliette and a man he had known by coincidence.
There was even a time when he wanted to recruit Haruo or Tatiana, but he already noticed they had had their fill and so were they.
And ever since then, they had been constantly fighting with no end. Sleeping became a privilege, while accumulating fatigue turned routine. Now, his teammate was about to die while Juliette was waiting for both of them.
The test was very harsh, but he wouldn't have it any other way.
He took one last breath before looking at his teammate and saying.
"Hey, about—"
A warm sensation filled Liang Chen's upper body as he turned his head to face his companion. Their faces were inches apart as Liang Chen appeared confused about the predicament.
Soon, that same warmth turned into a sharp, disastrous pain that rang throughout his body.
He glared down and saw a knife lodged in his clothes, and what came out was fresh red blood that slowly leaked everywhere.
"What…?"
Only after the pain struck him did he fully realize that his own teammate had pressed a knife into his body. Ultimately, betraying him and the team.
"Wh—What are you doing?!"
As the realization dawned on him, he saw a chipped part of his teammate's skin. Soon, that one chipped area peeled itself upward into a curl. Then more of it began appearing slowly, filling his entire face with nothing but curls, until that peeled skin plopped to the ground and revealed a new face. A foreign face.
"Who… who are you!?"
Liang Chen forced himself to stand with both feet, yet his body refused to comply. He slowly pulled the bottom of his jacket and saw the black veins sprouting everywhere on his skin; the knife had a paralysis solution.
"I just happen to be here, not harm done… Right?"
"Then!—"
The man abruptly cut his voice and continued with: "He's dead."
"…!"
"I just happened to use his face for the time being. No harm done, right?" Sneered the imposter.
"The fun thing about this test is that there's no alarm that tells you whether your teammate has died, which makes it convenient for me to stab people without them knowing, hehe…"
A vicious glare met the imposter's eyes. The injured man wanted to use his ability; however, the majority of his own stamina had already been depleted during the war in the far south. He had no more energy left to use.
"Sadly, this skill of mine is heavily limited. I can't just keep using it… But what do you care? You're going to die anyway."
Reaching for his pocket, the imposter revealed another knife and pointed it straight at him.
"Oh my… I spoke too much. Y'know, I've read so many novels to know that speaking too much leads to the villain's demise. So sorry, but I can't chat with you anymore. Hehe…"
Liang Chen closed his eyes and quietly accepted his fate.
"You're not wrong." Said Ena.
"Well, I guess you could—" The imposter's face froze. That wasn't his victim's voice. "Huh?"
"...!"
Thud—clang!
In haste, he heard two thuds reach the floor with a metallic ring that followed.
'Huh?'
He stared down and saw two arms that resembled his, with fresh blood mixing itself with Liang Chen's.
Crash! Crk! Crack!!
Liang Chen, hearing the chaos unfold, slowly raised his eyelids and saw the mess before him. There, he saw the lying body of the imposter on the ground, bleeding profusely as a lady with a single blade the size of her own forearm in display. With one final kick, she turned her red eyes at the paralyzed Liang Chen.
"What…?"
Ena strode her feet at Liang Chen's spot and squatted to his level before healing his wound. The man was confused about the situation, but then turned his face into one of gratitude.
"Oh, ah! Thank you for—"
Smack!
"Good, it'd be really bad if you died so suddenly. I accidentally killed that guy without even getting any information from him."
His complexion dropped instantly once again, and turned to both confusion and dread at the predicament present. He tried to speak, but Ena smacked him again before he could do so.
Although his injury had healed, Ena made sure the paralysis stayed—not that it made a difference.
And for the next thirty minutes or so, she used Liang Chen as her punching bag.
Within that time, Ena held back considerably, fearing disqualification due to an unknown regulation being violated by accident. So she stuck to using merely her fist, kicks, and sometimes even her blade.
'This guy has balls. I've been beating him up for almost an hour, and he hasn't even said anything.'
That, or he was rather too scared and injured even to speak.
She sighed at his uncooperativeness and sent the poor man with a single slash. So, with a disappointed tone, she muttered.
"Well, at least now I can continue him."
The lying corpse on the other side of the room flinched after her words. Sweat poured down his neck as he slowly turned to see his own reflection on Ena's blade.
"WAIT! WAIT! There's no need to be rash here! If you need info, then I'll gladly comply!"
In that same sentence, he turned his whole body to meet Ena. His hands, although severed recently, had completely healed with skin covering the fleshy wound from earlier.
Ena's lips curled into a smile as she gazed at the person. "You know, like in the 'novels' I read, many of the villains who were cornered tend to lie with information and only tell the truth after getting beaten up."
"I-I'll be honest, I p-promise!"
"Don't worry, it's just a test after all."
***
After a few more sessions of torturing a participant, she swung her hand and swiftly severed his head like Liang Chen.
"Hoo…"
Ena wiped the dropping sweat from her forehead. Right after, she removed the corpse and every single trace they brought.
'At least I got good information. He doesn't seem to be lying, so there's no reason not to trust it.'
It had been three days in total since the test started, and throughout those days, Ena failed to get a single wink of rest. Not that she felt threatened whenever she slept, but because of the constant noise caused by the other participants, whether it be far or near, she was delicate when it came to sleep.
As much as she wanted to kill the near participants and receive a peaceful sleep, Haruo had forbidden her from exiting the building without Isaac guarding it for her.
Ena scratched her scalp in frustration as she wondered. 'What the hell is he doing for him to be gone so long?!'
And, within that same timeframe, Haruo was nowhere near the building or block. And knowing there was no way for them to know whether he was dead or alive, she had no choice but to wait until he made his presence.
Ena scoffed before pressing her earlobe where a blood earpiece was present.
"Did you hear that? Go to that building. Do something other than picking up trash."
{But the building is nineteen blocks away… If I go that far, then our communication will be—}
"So what? Don't tell me you can't even raid a simple building and get a flag?! Just kill a few guys, grab the flag, and return; it's not as hard as you make it out to be."
{But…}
"But what?! If I were in your position, I would've disregarded everything and just barged into every building without a care!"
In truth, the reason Ena was assigned the role of protector was that she could bridge the gaps within the building to the absolute. Her ability was incredibly versatile, and the range she had was near unbelievable.
She could place traps, track nearby people through their blood, and even communicate through an earpiece.
Although the range couldn't exceed 400 meters in terms of communication, it was already a generous amount. Even if her ability was still unpolished, it was undoubtedly still that of an SS-rank.
{… Okay…}
At the other end of the line, Isaac gulped down his saliva as he intensely gazed at the towering building on a rooftop. With a single step, an uncomfortable feeling occurred in his ear.
Blood dripped from his ear. Knowing it was his earpiece, he knew he had already stepped out of Ena's range and was completely alone. He was somewhat nervous,
But all he could do was swallow it whole.