Chapter 20

Chapter 20 – The Returner’s Promotion Battle (6)

The Killdra Mouse leaped into the air with its mouth wide open, trying not to

miss even a drop of Desir’s blood .

[Wind Bullet . ]

Romantica seized the opportunity . Wordlessly, she quickly formed a Wind

Bullet and shot it straight into the mouse’s belly . A large crack sounded—but

there was something off about the sound .

The exoskeleton covering the rat’s body had definitely broken, but the mouse

hadn’t died . Either the exoskeleton was stronger than she’d thought, or her

nerves had broken her concentration . Either way, the plan had failed . The

Killdra Mouse fell back down and retreated into the torrent of rats . It was

impossible to get to it now .

Suddenly, Pram sped past Romantica .

“Pram!?”

Faster than Romantica or Desir could react, Pram dove into the rolling mass of

rats, and thousands of rodents immediately began ravaging Pram’s skin . But it

wasn't enough to break Pram’s concentration .

The Killdra Mouse couldn’t pass up the smell of blood . It moved quickly

through the swarm . With his keen eyesight, Pram spotted the demon as it made

its way towards him . “Haap!” He stabbed at it, his sword splitting the wave of

rats like a beam .

“Squeeee . . . eeeeak . ” A silver light pierced through the dark mass of rodents .

The grotesque sound of skewered flesh echoed out . The Killdra Mouse, pierced

by Pram’s rapier, shivered and went limp . The rodent swarm, which had

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previously operated like a well-oiled machine, suddenly devolved into an

incoherent mess . “Squeak? Squeeeak?”

As if they’d just woken from a dream, the rats looked around for a moment,

dazed . But when their eyes landed on the gigantic humans next to them, they

scattered back into the forest like a retreating tide .

| Survival quest complete . You have defeated the Killdra Mouse . Survival

success .

“It’s over . ” Pram breathed out and collapsed on the spot .

Desir flicked away the remaining rats clambering on Pram’s shoulders . “Good

job, Pram . ”

“This much . . . is nothing . ”

Everything had returned to normal, as if nothing had even happened . The ear-

splitting sound of rats was nowhere to be heard . The rain, indifferent to the

fierce battle that had just taken place, poured relentlessly on their faces and

bodies .

“Cold . ” Romantica muttered, her entire body soaked to the bone . She looked

like a soggy rat .

Desir smiled, and pointed northwest . “It should be a bit better over there . ” The

thunder rumbled, and the clock tower, far to the northwest, cast a long shadow

on the ground .

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Art From Official LN

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| The quest objective has been revealed . You already possess knowledge of this

place . The quest description has been altered to account for this .

| The Privius Clock Tower is a large-scale magic device containing the highest

level of dark magic . Each hour, it will summon a demon that can summon other

demons . The summoned demons will each have unique characteristics

depending on when they are summoned .

| The final quest has been revealed .

[Quest objective: Stop the clock tower . ]

| At the top of the clock tower lies the clock’s power source . Destroy the power

source, and the clock tower will stop .

The sharp ring of a sword slash rang out, and the frozen Killdra Mouse

shattered into pieces . Blood and meat danced together in a macabre waltz as its

corpse fell to the ground . Ajest, cold and indifferent, flicked the blood off her

sword .

| You have defeated the Killdra Mouse . Survival success .

The rats had been surrounding the Blue Moon party, pushing in from all sides .

But after the boss rodent perished, they stopped in their tracks, and soon

scattered; their cowardly natures restored themselves after being freed from

the control of the Killdra Mouse .

“We’re alive!” “We won!” Excited cheers rang out from the group .

Ajest looked around . There had been ten party members, including herself .

That number had been reduced to eight . ‘Two eliminated . ’

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Overall, out of the 30 participants in this quest, over 10 had been eliminated—

more than a third . The Blue Moon party had put up a decent fight . . . but Ajest’s

mood had soured, though nobody noticed the change in her emotions because

of her indifferent expression .

Percival walked toward Ajest . “We have the lead now . Almost half of the 18

survivors are in our party . ” Mathematically, the remaining survivors could only

be small parties of three to five people . “Once we take care of the other parties,

we’re guaranteed to rank first . ”

The rain was still falling . The water soaked their bodies, washing away the

sweat . It was a refreshing feeling after their long fight against the rats . Ajest’s

silver hair blew in the wind . It was a weak north wind, blowing in with the rain .

One couldn’t even feel it without paying attention .

At that moment, Ajest’s eyes flashed open .

[Telbricsa’s shield of ice protect us . ]

Magic formulas formed in front of Ajest at an incredible speed . Within a matter

of seconds, a transparent pillar of ice emerged in front of Percival . As soon as it

reached full height, the ice pillar shattered and fell over .

“Wha, what was that just now?” Percival’s voice shook .

“Sniper . ” There was no trace of any emotion in her voice, but Ajest also felt

some shock . It was because there was barely any gap between the detection

magic—the wind—and the snipe . If she hadn’t noticed the detection magic,

Percival would have been eliminated right there .

‘There shouldn’t be any mages here capable of casting this quickly . . . ’ More

accurately, there was nobody with that level of skill among the freshmen,

herself excluded . Regardless of her expectations, the important thing was that a

high-level wind mage was targeting them . And no matter how skilled her Alpha

Class teammates were, a sniper of this level was incredibly dangerous . Ajest

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commanded the party members standing behind her . “Enemy . Tankers in front .

Wind mages, disrupt the air currents . ”

Her team moved into the defensive formation, following Ajest’s orders . The

tankers stood in front, shields out . The mages stood behind them, disrupting

the air and preparing to counterattack .

. . . But no more attacks came . The enemy had likely realized that sniping was

pointless without the element of surprise . So Ajest’s party kept waiting, but to

no avail .

“Leader? They’re not sniping us . . . ”

“Hold formation . ”

They couldn’t release the formation just because the enemy had stopped

sniping . The sniper would blow away their heads if the Blue Moon party

lowered their guard for even a second .

“Do not relax . Advance north . ” Ajest pointed in the direction the bullet had

come from .

“Mages capable of casting detection spells, cast them every 100 meters . ”

The Blue Moon party advanced, their nerves stretched tight . The rain fell, the

wind howled . For the vulnerable party, the weather conditions couldn’t be any

worse .

Ajest bit her lip . ‘I’ve failed . ’

From the third floor of the clock tower, Romantica looked out the window at

the forest below, eyes furrowed in frustration . Desir stood next to her . “It

doesn’t matter . I didn’t expect the snipe to work as long as Ajest was there . ”

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“What? You told me to snipe them knowing it wouldn’t work?” Romantica

scowled and puffed up her cheeks .

“Yes . To tell them that we have a sniper on our side . They’ll have to spend every

moment looking out for a snipe as they move, and they’ll have to constantly use

detection magic to prepare for it . That alone should be a huge mental burden

for them . ”

Romantica released the air from her cheeks, but she still wasn't convinced .

“Since the snipe failed, they’ve found our location . ”

“And that is the core of the plan . ”

Romantica raised an eyebrow . “What?”

Desir spoke again . “Snipe every party, not just the Blue Moon party . Let them

know our location . ”

Romantica’s shrill voice berated him . “Did you hit your head?” Desir smiled in

response .

Their objective was to lower the number of survivors below ten, whatever it

took . Of course, since the Blue Moon party held the majority, it was impossible

to avoid an eventual conflict with them . There was no way his group could win

against the Blue Moon party in a direct confrontation . “But a melee’s a different

story . ”

“A melee?”

“We make every party fight at the same time, right here, in this clock tower . ”

That was the best option for their party, considering their small number . “Right

now, the Blue Moon party has an absolute advantage . But what would happen if

every party gathers here? There’s no way the other survivors will fight each

other when there’s such a powerful group sitting right there . They’ll team up

against the overwhelming enemy . ”

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Desir paused to breathe, then continued . “When that melee happens, we’ll

balance them out . We’ll take out any enemies if we have the chance . If we see

one side winning, we’ll tip the scales toward the other side . We’ll slowly reduce

the number of survivors down to nine . ”

“In other words, we make them work for us,” Pram concluded .

“How scummy of you, Desir . ”

Desir raised an eyebrow at Romantica’s insult, and spoke with a smirk . “What

matters is that we win, right?”

Pram folded his arms . “But if we use that strategy, it’ll be so unfair for the other

parties . After coming all the way here while defending themselves at the same

time, they’ll be stuck in a huge melee . It’ll truly be hell for them . ”

“Wouldn’t it be heaven for us?” A peculiar twinkle flashed in Desir’s eyes .

Romantica shivered . He was a master at tormenting others . A demon in human

form .

Desir clapped his hands . “Well, that’s just the way it is . Our job right now is

simple: keep sniping every party to tell them our location . Tell them their

enemies are right here, in this clock tower . ”

Romantica moved to the window . She spoke as she cast her detection magic

silently . “I don’t know if they’ll come even if I keep shooting them like this . ”

“What other choice do they have? This place is the quest objective . ”

After all, everyone had to come to Privius Clock Tower to clear the quest .

Desir’s party was simply reminding them of that fact, with bullets instead of

words .

“Now, let the mud fight begin . ” Desir clapped .

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The sound of a bullet was lost in the wind .