A/N: So I made a small mistake in the last chapter. Rachel was supposed to work under an alias on the 2nd floor but she told the mc her actual name.
Any way, that's been fixed in this chapter and the one before this so enjoy the chapter.
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"Help? How so?" I said warily, not daring to look away from the three cloaked figures in front of me.
"I want you to join my team." The blonde haired girl with freckles said. Did she say her name was Michelle?
"Team? What do you mean?" I asked.
"It's quite simple actually. You need a team in order to climb up the tower. I want you to join us." Rachel replied
"And what if I say no?"
"Then you won't be alive to take the next test." This time, it was the other cloaked figure that replied.
I narrowed my eyes at that, my hands now gripping the sword harder than before.
"Now, now. That could've been phrased better but..." Michelle paused, "You should really consider your choice wisely Mr.."
I didn't reply. From the corner of my eyes I summoned the pocket and looked at the amount of time left for the test to be over.
7 minutes and 48 seconds.
I took a deep breath. Among the three cloaked figures in front of me, only two seemed to have a dangerous feeling to them. The last one, Michelle, was not at all intimidating.
I lowered my sword. Rachel and the other cloaked figure smiled seeing that. As for the big guy.. I couldn't tell.
"Then I've decided." I said, slowly mobilizing my inner shinsoo.
Then without any word, I pushed the ground with my legs, catapulting myself towards them.
An expression of shocked, which soon turned into excitement was seen on the still unknown cloaked figures. As for Michelle, she held her eyes down in disappointment.
With a momentary pause the big guy slashed up at my comparatively tiny figure, threatening to tear me in two pieces. The cleaver was deflected towards the hilt of my own blade as they made contact.
I willed the shinsoo to empower me and pushed the cleaver away from my body, using the momentum to launch an attack at his now exposed torso.
Just then, a sudden chill ran down my spine. Instinctively, I held up the sword to my side. The without any delay a huge force slammed into my sword and I was launched in the opposite direction at a frighting speed.
I impacted on the ground which pushed the air out of my lungs.
I quickly pushed myself up from the ground and stablized myself.
Looking back towards them, I could see the shorter cloaked figure looking towards me with a smile. Although her expression did indicate her shock clearly. Hmm. Strange. Since when was I this good at deciphering expressions?
"As I thought, you are strong. Any other regular wouldn't even be able to block my attack, much less stand up after it." She said. Speaking of, her cloak was now off her head, revealing her beautiful face.
She had dark brown hair with bright gold eyes. Her face looked perfectly symmetrical and she had a small horn sticking out of her right temple.
"It felt like I was hit by a truck. What are you, a tank?" I said
Hearing that, the girl looked slightly shocked before her face turned into one of anger.
Behind the girl, the big guy jumped into the air, with the giant cleaver in his hand.
I readied myself for another clash.
Just as the big guy swung his cleaver at me I ducked under it, slashing at his neck which was completely exposed. He pulled his head back midair, barely dodging the sword. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he punched the right side of my abdomen, or at least tired to.
I blocked his strike with my arm skidding back a few meters as a result.
I winced at the numbing sensation that traveled across my arm. But I didn't have the time to dwell upon it.
The girl, who had already appeared at my side, stabbed at my chest with the needle she held.
I jumped back in time to avoid the needle but I was hit at the side with a kick from her.
Her kick held so much strength that I was not able to keep my balance and was once again sent flying.
This time however, I was able to stabalize myself midair and land on my feet. It was pretty weird actually. Such brute strength in such a tiny body... Then again, it's not like I'm any different.
The girl rushed at me once again, not giving me any time to breathe. Her movements were extremely precise, each threatening to kill me if I wasn't careful. That coupled with the attacks from the big guy, I wasn't sure if I would last long.
My heart beat so fast that it threatened to jump out of my chest. All my senses were working overtime. I was hyper-aware of everything happening around me. The slightest tensing of their bodies, Michelle watching calmly in the distance, the winding blowing across the fields.
It was what kept me alive in this life threatening exchange of blows. In the first place, I had never fought before. As for the reason I could survive so long like this, perhaps it was due to the activation of constellations doing something to my instincts. Fighting like this seemed almost second nature.
However, even if I was able to react to almost all of their attacks, some of the attacks made by the girl still connected. Mainly the punches and kicks. Which by themselves were pretty damaging.
The adrenaline rush pushed me and I was able to ignore the pain.
I mobilized the atmospheric shinsoo to make a baang some distance away from me. Which was quite a challenge because of the constant barrage of attacks from the two people in front of me.
Once the baang finished forming, I silently willed it to move. And so it did.
The transparent ball of liquid moved like a bullet and hit the big guy in the left side of the thoracic cavity.
He was unable to dodge or defend himself and so, it was his turn to be sent flying.
The girl watched in complete disbelief as to her, the baang had hit the guy out of nowhere.
The big guy's body landed on the ground raising a small cloud of dust as a result.
As the dust cleared I could clearly see the person. He laid quietly on the ground with a heavily torn cloak, a big injury at his side and some blood on the corner of his mouth.
He was unconscious.
I looked towards the two remaining figures. Michelle had her eyes completely wide. Unable to believe what had happened. Whereas the other girl looked at me warily.
I took the time to catch a breath but it seemed like she didn't like it very much. She once again rushed at me again. I tried to make another baang to finish the fight quickly. But in a moment of carelessness, she was able to punch me in the abdomen.
The air was pushed out of my lungs.
'uggh! My stomach is burning.' I thought to myself.
But I didn't need to dwell on this feeling for long as an even greater pain assaulted my mind. The girl had stabbed the needle straight into the left side of my thoracic cavity.
She had actually aimed for my heart but instinctively I was able to turn my body to minimize the damage.
'kuh! This is bad.' I thought as I coughed a mouthful of blood.
The girl pulled out the needle from my body and kicked me aside.
I rolled on the ground profusely losing blood.
I was having difficulty breathing and my vision was spinning. My lung had been pierced.
The girl walked up to me. I thought of swinging my sword at her, only to realize that I didn't have a sword.
I had dropped it when I was stabbed.
I looked around searching for the sword. And there it was, close to her feet. It seemed that she noticed me searching for the blade and kicked it aside.
Finally reaching me, she put her foot on my back, applying force to it. As if she wanted to crush me under it.
"Argh!" I wasn't able to hold out any longer as I screamed in pain. The pain clouded my mind as my vision became blurry. My mind threatening to lose consciousness at any moment.
"You gave me quite the challenge, even though you weren't able to hit me even once." She said.
"My name is Andorssi, Andorssi Zahard. You should be honoured that a princess of Zahard is the one to kill you." She said as she raised the needle into the air.
I turned my head to look at her. I was going to be killed.
I was going to die. I had died before, but that didn't make me any less afraid of it.
In a moment of desperation, I used Star Force to pull on my roots. At that moment, strength surged into my body.
My vision cleared up, my breathing became relaxed, and the pain was not as unbearable as before.
Then just as the girl was about to impale me with the needle, I grabbed a hold of her ankle and threw her to the side.
Shocked at the sudden development she screamed as she was thrown into the air. However, she recovered quickly and landed gracefully onto the ground.
Not wasting a single moment, I pushed myself off of the ground and grabbed a hold of my sword within 2 seconds.
I looked back towards the girl. She just stood rooted on the spot looking at the side of my chest.
Confused at her expression, I looked down at my chest.
My eyes widened at the realization. My wound had healed.
'Golden Rule!' I thought to myself.
Now, the sudden surge of strength made complete sense. Additionally, Golden rule had completely healed my wound. Well, not completely, since it was still quite painful for me to move and I could feel some discomfort while breathing. But it had at least healed it enough for me to fight.
With this realization, my confidence spiked to unreal levels.
'I can win this!'
At first, all I thought of was to survive until the time limit was up. But now, I felt like I could defeat this group.
"..How did you do that?" The girl asked me. What did she say her name was again?
"Do I look like an anime villain that explains every one of his abilities to his enemies?" I replied with a question of my own.
The girl clicked her tongue and held her needle once again, getting in position to fight.
But at that time...
[Attention regulars!
The test is now over! Those that are still fighting will be eliminated!]
An announcement suddenly rang out. The girl looked annoyed at this but she still lowered her weapon.
[Congratulations to those that...] The announcement suddenly went quite.
[Eh? There's only 4 people left?!] The announcer said in disbelief.
[No no no. This wasn't supposed to happen...] The announcer said. Clearly they knew... they fucked up.
[Uh... dear regulars... just wait for some time. I shall quickly arrange something for you!] The announcer said and went quiet.
I then looked towards the two girls that now stood before me. Both of them looking at me with a look that seemed to gaze into my soul.
"Uh... What did you say you name was again?" I said with a small smile. I don't even know why I said this, considering we were just trying to kill each other a moment ago.
They didn't reply and only kept staring at me.
'This is so awkward.'
At that moment the big guy that had been unconscious until now stood up without any signs of injury on him.
I looked at him blankly.
The girl standing beside Michelle sighed.
"My name is Andorssi Zahard, a princess of Zahard." She said.
Then she pointed towards her companions.
"This here is Michelle, and the big guy is Ghost." She introduced them
"In that case my name is Perseus." I said.
"Nice to meet you Mr Perseus." Michelle said to me with a smile.
"Uh, thanks. Can't say the same about you guys though." I said.
Michelle chuckled,"That's okay. We just tried to kill you after all, it would be weird for you to say that so suddenly."
"Although, I do hope that you don't take this grudge to heart. After all, it was just how the test was designed. And the tower is a cruel place. Holding grudges were will only hinder your growth." Michelle continued with a smile.
I didn't reply but continued to stare at them with a deadpan expression.
Just then, a bright light enveloped us all.
When the light cleared we were standing in some huge hall. And in front of us was a tan man with bright red hair. He had a wide grin on his face. But the most important thing about the man was that his entire being just screamed of power.
I looked towards the man in wonder. Perhaps he was the test administrator. A ranker.
"Hello there regulars. My name is Quant. A ranker and your test administrator." He said before his grin widened even more.
"And I have a preposition for you."
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Byeeeeeeeeeeeee~~