Chapter 22: Lynn’s timely rescue

The next morning.

Lynn stood before the portal, letting out a deep yawn.

“Didn’t you sleep well last night?”

Sophie glanced curiously at the panda-like dark circles under Lynn’s eyes.

“Well… haha.”

Lynn scratched his head awkwardly.

Last night, he had asked Sophie to buy a lot of materials needed for making Chess Pieces.

The moment he got the materials, Auto-Crafting kicked in, and in the blink of an eye, he had already made three Tier-1 Green Chess Pieces of “Stasis”.

As the name suggested, “Stasis” could slow down an opponent’s speed, and even delay already-cast spells.

It was a rare control-type Chess Piece, just like “Paralysis”.

Normally, crafting such rare control Chess Pieces would take Lynn a lot of time and effort.

But, thanks to the godly skill Auto-Crafting…

All Lynn spent last night was a great deal of stamina.

Yes, this abstract skill could only exempt Lynn from the time needed to craft.

As for anything else…

It didn’t cover that.

But in the end, the result was good.

Lynn thought to himself.

“Didn’t expect you to dare take the assessment again today.”

Pedro’s voice rang by Lynn’s ear, breaking his train of thought.

Lynn nodded seriously.

“I have a reason I must enter the Academy.”

Pedro frowned slightly.

Could this guy be like me?

“If I don’t get in, I’ll have to go back and inherit the family fortune.”

Lynn shrugged, his tone full of helplessness.

“Tsk.”

Pedro’s eyelid twitched for no reason.

This guy…

Why did he always seem so calm and unbothered?

“…”

Whatever.

Pedro let out a long breath.

Anyway, he’d be dead soon.

The next moment, the sound of mechanisms starting echoed in the empty room.

Intricate magic runes on the bronze doors gradually lit up.

With a massive spray of steam from both sides, the tightly shut bronze doors slowly opened.

Pedro stared hard at Lynn’s back, his face icy cold.

Lynn.

I had wanted to spare your life.

But the Sage of the Abyssal Cult named you specifically.

Since that’s how it is…

We’ll never meet again.

….

After a brief darkness, the world reconstructed itself before Lynn’s eyes.

Birdsong and flowers, a breeze rustling the leaves.

A freshness not felt in the city assaulted his senses.

Lynn looked around and found himself standing in a mountain forest.

Looking up, he saw the exam prompts scrolling one by one across the sky.

“Time Remaining: 29:59”

“Number of Hunters Remaining: 10”

“Hunters’ locations are now shared on the map in real-time”

“Hoo—”

After a quick look at the rules, Lynn frowned slightly.

There were more Hunters than he had expected.

First priority: find a way to avoid the Hunters and meet up with Sophie.

Thinking this, Lynn moved his thoughts, opening the map before his eyes.

But oddly, there were no Hunter markers on the map.

What was going on?

He looked at the sky in confusion.

“Remaining Hunters: …”

“Remaining…”

“…”

The characters grew twisted and dim, until they vanished completely.

As if some interference had occurred.

Probably Livia was trying to broadcast the situation inside in real time.

But why had the Hunters disappeared?

Lynn suddenly thought of something and looked at the teammate marker that represented Sophie.

He saw the teammate marker flashing continuously.

Which meant, Sophie was in combat.

And indeed, that was the case.

Sophie, having just entered, had bumped straight into Pedro, who was nearby.

Without a second thought, Sophie drew her rapier and quickly closed in on Pedro.

As long as she could get close, even as a Tier-2 Fighter, it would be enough to slay Pedro.

But just as her sword was about to pierce Pedro’s chest, his figure instantly vanished from where he stood.

“What?!”

Sophie’s pupils contracted instantly.

How could he be faster than me?

“My target isn’t you. As long as you promise not to interfere, I can spare your life.”

Pedro’s tone was full of coldness.

As long as this annoying Tier-2 Fighter didn’t meddle, wiping out Lynn wouldn’t be hard.

Though there was already a barrier set up inside the venue to prevent examinees from being harmed by each other’s magic.

Abyssal Cult’s sorcery, however, didn’t count as magic.

Once he finished off Lynn, he’d come back and deal with this damned Fighter, and silence her forever.

Then, everything would be over.

“Tch…”

Sophie clenched her silver teeth.

The aura unique to the Abyssal Cult was growing stronger and stronger on him.

If not for the invigilators still watching this assessment, Pedro probably wouldn’t even bother pretending.

Damn it…

She had to hold out until Lynn arrived!

With this thought, Sophie gripped her sword tightly, and in a blink, two sharp sword auras swept up fallen leaves and shot straight at Pedro.

“Overestimating yourself.”

As the words fell, Pedro’s ghostly form easily dodged Sophie’s attack.

The next instant, Pedro appeared before Sophie.

Before she could react, a powerful energy sent her flying.

“Cough…”

Sophie felt dizzy.

When she came to, Pedro’s spell formation had already re-formed in his hand.

Is it… going to end here…

A sense of unwillingness welled up in her heart.

She slowly closed her eyes.

…

But after waiting a while, she didn’t feel any pain from a spell hitting her.

She opened her eyes in confusion.

She saw a pawn floating in mid-air.

Under the pawn’s effect, both Pedro and his attack seemed to slow down infinitely.

The next moment, Sophie felt herself being pulled into an embrace.

She blinked in surprise.

Then, Lynn’s somewhat brooding face appeared before her.

He was gasping for breath, looking a little bedraggled.

Dean Emil really lived up to his reputation in the original as the master schemer—every nasty trick used on his students.

No wonder he’d chosen mountainous terrain for the final assessment—obviously just to mess with the examinees, making sure their travel wasn’t too easy.

Lynn’s starting distance from Sophie hadn’t even been that far.

But right in front of him had been a cliff…

Still, he made it in time.

“How much longer are you going to stay down there?”

Lynn said, breathing heavily.

“S-sorry…”

Sophie’s cheeks flushed, she coughed lightly and quickly rolled out of Lynn’s arms.

This guy… not bad, actually.

Pretty reliable at a critical moment.

Sophie silently raised her evaluation of Lynn in her heart.

The next instant, the Chess Piece in the air shattered with a bang.

The terrifying energy almost melted everything where Sophie had just been.

“Heh.”

Pedro shook his head and sneered with disdain.

“Opportunities delivered right to my door.”

With that, Pedro let out a long breath.

Strange purple runes began to appear on his body.

They quickly crawled all over him, and the unique aura of the Abyssal Cult was revealed in full.

“I didn’t want to kill you, Lynn.”

“As an opponent, you’re cunning and troublesome enough. I respect that.”

“But you’ve become a real threat to the Cult, even making the Sage give me a personal order to eliminate you completely.”

“That’s truly regrettable…”

Pedro shook his head, then raised his hand.

But the next moment, the words he’d just said rang out verbatim across the sky.

Pedro paused, confused, and looked up at the sky.

Before long, the Pedro in the sky made the same gesture.

What’s going on?

Wasn’t this assessment supposed not to be broadcast?

“Hoo—”

Lynn let out a long breath.

“That was close, I nearly didn’t make it.”

Lynn scratched his head and gave an embarrassed smile.