A ruin where the green vegetation had oxidized to a grayish-black and collapsed, and only ashes lay thick on the bushes.

Under the smoke that filled the sky, two young men stood.

“…Amazing.”

The wooden sword I was holding turned to ash and scattered. I muttered, looking at Mo Yonghan, who was standing in front of me, unconscious.

“If I didn’t have the Daoist Scholar’s Fan, I would have lost.”

I was able to win thanks to the divine object emitting a pure white light in my hand at the last moment and amplifying my mana.

As the precarious feeling subsided, a strange sense of accomplishment arose.

Mo Yonghan was an opponent whose protective qi was difficult to strip away even last semester. He seemed so high up back then, but to think I had defeated him one-on-one. I felt that I had grown anew.

“I’ll take this.”

I untied the black headband from the forehead of Mo Yonghan, who was standing frozen in the posture of having thrown a punch. Seeing that it hadn’t burned despite that much firepower, it seemed it wasn’t made of ordinary cloth.

I tried pulling it with force as a test, but it didn’t budge. It seemed tougher than most cowhide.

I wrapped the untied black headband around my neck.

‘By the way, now that I don’t have a weapon, what should I do?’

I lifted the Daoist Scholar’s Fan instead of a dagger and checked my current condition. My mana was almost depleted, most of my internal energy was exhausted, and I didn’t even have a sword.

It was a relief that I had the Daoist Scholar’s Fan. Although the weapons had been returned, the Daoist Scholar’s Fan was small enough to be easily hidden in my bosom.

To be precise, the instructors had overlooked weapons smaller than daggers.

Come to think of it, it was rather unfair to give only a wooden sword to a student whose main weapon was a dagger or a throwing knife, so it was allowed as long as it wasn’t a fatal weapon.

Of course, they wouldn’t have known that the Daoist Scholar’s Fan was a divine object.

While I was calmly continuing my thoughts like this, I had roughly caught my breath, so I raised my voice so that everyone could hear.

“A lot of you have flocked here like a pack of wolves.”

With those words, intermediate students began to reveal themselves one by one from the bushes beyond the ashen space.

‘Four white and two blue…’

It seemed the duel with Mo Yonghan had certainly stood out. Not only did I set the forest on fire, but I also caused an explosion at the end.

From their perspective, they must have thought that even if one side won, they could attack in the gap when they were tired.

That was why I hadn’t fled right after the decisive battle with Mo Yonghan. Because I knew that it was a situation where struggling was meaningless.

It was better to recover even a little bit of stamina in the meantime. But there was something more important than such petty schemes.

“Nine of you have gathered.”

To make them listen to me. It was impossible if not now to make these hyena-like people who had gathered in this place pay attention to my words.

“What?”

The student with the blue headband, who was flustered, looked around for a moment when the numbers didn’t match. To him, it must have seemed that there were only seven students in this place.

“You didn’t know, did you? That two black headbands are also targeting you.”

The students, who swallowed dryly at my words and glanced around. I, who had confirmed their wary expressions and the way they quietly exchanged glances, roughly deduced their power distribution.

“How can we believe that!!”

When one of the students with a white headband shouted, I coldly retorted.

“Don’t tell me, you thought you were the only ones who would take advantage of this chaos? They say a chicken buries its head in a pit when it plays hide-and-seek, and you’re just like that. To think you believe that if you can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.”

At those words, a few students swallowed dryly. They wouldn’t have been unaware of this fact. But when I noticed their existence, they must have been startled and checked the qi sense around them and revealed themselves like this.

Since they had been discovered anyway, a surprise attack was difficult, and they had already roughly grasped the location of the other students. They must have stood up to attack together.

Without knowing it would turn out like this.

Even if they had known, as long as they had come to this place with a glimmer of hope, it was bound to be like this. Because if they were spotted even once by a master of the black level, they couldn’t escape after that.

“You should watch your back there.”

At my point, a student who flinched for a moment and took a stance. Although I had roughly grasped the qi sense and pointed, the opponent showed a strong reaction.

‘Anxiety comes from the unknown.’

Right now, I was being perceived as a master who had defeated Mo Yonghan. Because of that, I was the most wary in this place, but paradoxically, I was also a being whose skills were trusted.

As I thought, the other students also seemed to be increasing their vigilance, narrowing the distance between their own groups as if to prepare for a surprise attack from a black headband that might be somewhere around.

‘Of course, it’s not accurate, but…’

It was obvious that there would be a black headband somewhere around here.

The clash that Mo Yonghan and I had caused was impossible without a battle at the black level, and in order to win the highest credit of 16, at least one black headband was needed.

And most of all, the sense of [Absolute Magic] was roughly predicting that there were about two enemies somewhere over there.

It was a lie mixed with a lot of possibility, but that’s why it was plausible. Thanks to that, only a tense tension was lingering in all directions.

‘As I thought.’

Right now, it was them who were surrounding this battlefield, but it was me who was controlling their actions. I looked around at them once and then opened my mouth.

“You’re hesitating. It’s like a bunch of small fry who can’t survive unless they stick together.”

“What?”

“How dare a newcomer!”

To provoke them.

The guys who felt insulted revealed a sharp expression, but I didn’t care. On the contrary, at times like this, one must be resolute. Right now, I was an unknown master.

A monster who had just skipped a grade to become an intermediate student, had won the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, and had defeated Mo Yonghan, the third-strongest among the intermediate students. At the same time, I was the one who had created this ruin of only ashes.

So I had to be relaxed. As if I could clean up the small fry anytime.

“Are you getting worked up over this? But why aren’t you attacking?”

“This…!”

I pointed out the core to the guys who were emitting a fighting spirit as if they couldn’t stand it anymore.

“You’re afraid of being taken advantage of, aren’t you? Because there’s a tiger behind you.”

A continued silence. The students also knew. That even if they fought me and obtained a black headband, a blue headband, they didn’t have the strength to protect it. That it would be snatched by a black headband that was watching for an opportunity somewhere here.

“You are a pack of wolves. You can’t face a tiger with just one or two. Even if you barely get your prey, you are destined to be hunted anyway.”

At the cold assertion, the students with the white and blue headbands each had a dark expression. But among them, there was someone who voiced a different opinion.

“There are four of us!”

The white headband who had opposed me earlier stepped forward and shouted. Judging by the arrangement of the personnel and the subtle exchange of glances, it seemed the four white headbands were one group, and the two blue headbands were another.

“Can the four of you defeat Mo Yonghan?”

I asked, gesturing with my chin at Mo Yonghan, who was still standing unconscious.

“……”

Then, the guy who fell silent. He would also know deep down. That with the skills of a white headband, that is, from the beginning of the first-rate to the proficient level, it was difficult to win against a master who had reached the proficient peak level, even if three or four of them gathered.

I looked at their faces. A sense of powerlessness was embedded in their eyes. With this, a gap had been created in their hearts. A crack of distrust, anxiety, and fear.

“I’ll make a proposal. An alliance.”

“What?”

“It’s been almost half a shichen (1 hour) since the credit snatching started. It’s about time the number of students has been reduced to less than half.”

I said, looking at their appearances one by one.

The four in the white headband group only had one white headband wrapped around their wrists, but the two in the blue headband group each had a white and a blue headband on their wrists.

I had also just dealt with three students, including Mo Yonghan, so the estimate was roughly correct.

“So what about that…”

“You still don’t get it?”

“What?”

“It means that from now on, it will be more difficult to protect than to snatch.”

The ones I would encounter from now on were only the students who had survived at least a 2-on-1 competition.

Whether the individual was strong or had formed a group in an alliance like now, it was obvious that they would not be easy.

“I see. So that’s why it’s an alliance?”

One of the students with a blue headband added, as if he understood.

“Yes, at least if you just protect, you won’t lose.”

It was more rational to form an alliance than to fight each other and have our strength worn down and then be snatched by a black headband.

“But can we trust you?”

The student with the blue headband asked back.

“As you can see, I’ve filled up to my satisfaction. Two white and one black. There’s no need to be greedy for more.”

“You still have a blue headband left, so you could be targeting us, couldn’t you?”

A very natural question. I could persuade them directly, but it was better to…

“Hey, white headband group. What do you think?”

“…We don’t care. You’ve already reached the limit of the white headbands.”

To bring in another force. This way, only the blue headband group would be left floating alone.

“Our alliance members say so, but what do you think?”

I smiled and looked at the blue headband group. The white headband group, which had been forming a semicircle and pressuring me until just a moment ago, had now come up next to me and was in a position to confront the blue group.

I, who had been surrounded in the center of a circle just a few minutes ago, was now the center of a majority force that was divided into two sides.

In fact, even though I had almost no strength left.

A bluff, that’s what made me huge. To the point where it was difficult for them to approach. Once I had imprinted my presence, it wasn’t that difficult after that.

To create an external enemy, cause a division within, and take the center. It was a trick that was possible just by wagging my tongue well.

“Keuk!”

The two people with the blue headbands, who had been caught up in the politics before they knew it, let out a groan. Whether to confront me and the white headband alliance, or to leave this place and face the bushes where a black headband might be lurking.

The choice was up to the two of them.

“…We will also participate in the alliance.”

They made a rational decision. Because the current alliance seemed safer than an unknown threat.

The blue headband opened his mouth with a wary expression still on his face.

“First, give us a confirmation that you won’t attack us…”

Chwaak!

Just as the words were about to continue, two black figures rushed in from behind the students with the blue headbands. One, who had allowed a single blow in the surprise attack, collapsed, scattering blood on his back, and the other was thrown back, unable to withstand the impact.

“Hey, you can’t let them get away.”

“Hmph, it doesn’t matter. We can just wipe them out.”

The two, a man and a woman with black headbands, bickered with each other. They were familiar faces.

It was Yeo Jin-gon of the Zhongnan Sect, the fourth-ranked intermediate student who had been on the stage at the event earlier, and Go Su-bin of the Beggars’ Sect, the fifth-ranked intermediate student.

‘To think two of them would be together.’

An alliance of two black headbands.

I quietly gripped the Daoist Scholar’s Fan tightly and faced them. The most formidable combination I could imagine was in front of me.

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep