Three vs One (3)

Karle was right when he said that my plan was to separate them and defeat them one by one.

But he got something wrong. He was never my first target.

During the brief clash when they sneak attacked me, I managed to assess their abilities roughly. Of the three, Lorena was the weakest, followed by Gerald, and the strongest was Karle.

Furthermore, Karle's skill made him very fast and slippery. Even if I separated him from the rest of the group, I was only 10% confident I could defeat him in under one minute.

Thus, since the very start, my target was one of the other two.

Next was fleshing out a plan. I needed to find a way to stall Karle long enough to take care of one of his two companions.

Luckily, I found a way through [Understanding].

When I used it to scan my surroundings, I managed to locate a tier-two alligator lying still while waiting for a prey to appear.

As soon as I realized the existence of that alligator, a strategy quickly formed in my mind.

The rest was easy.

First, I attracted Karle to the location of the alligator. Next, I used [Confidence] to transmit two ideas to the alligator. 

One, I was a friend. 

Two, it had to continue lying in wait for an opportunity to launch a sneak attack.

I was not sure if [Confidence] would work, but fortunately, it seemed that my proficiency in it had increased to the level where I could influence a relatively weak beast without much difficulty.

I then waited for Gerald to catch up with us, and finally, when Gerald and Karle teamed up to attack me, I changed the idea I was transmitting to the alligator.

[Attack now]!

The next instant, the alligator jumped out of the muddy water and lunged at Karle.

The sudden attack shocked Karle. He could only stop his attack in a hurry to defend against the alligator.

That gave me the opening I needed to get rid of Gerald.

Karle was busy fending off the alligator, and Lorena had not caught up to us yet. Now, it was just Gerald against me.

'I only have three seconds at most.'

The alligator was just a tier-two creature. Karle would quickly recover his composure after the initial surprise and swiftly take care of it.

But that brief instant was enough.

My eyes became cold and sparks burst out of my body as I reached out for the powers inside me.

[Killing Aura]!

[Lightning Seed]!

I activated two skills simultaneously.

The sudden eruption of killing intent and raging lightning assaulted Gerald. The killing intent froze his thoughts, and the lightning invaded his body, stiffening his muscles briefly.

Then, I filled my body with mana, bursting out with several times my normal strength.

"Huh?" 

Gerald was shocked. His bat was pushed away by my sudden burst of strength as my spear went straight for his chest.

But for better or worse, Gerald was someone in the top fifty during the entrance examination. Even under the effects of the killing aura, lightning, and my sudden burst of strength, he managed to squeeze out a response.

"UUOOOOOH!!!"

With a roar, he released a burst of mana out of his body and tried to jump away.

Unfortunately, even that was under my calculations.

Just before he could jump away, I called upon part of the powers of one of the creatures I was contracted to.

'Saphire, please!'

Following my inward roar, the muddy water around Gerald seemed to come alive, entangling his feet and making him lose his balance.

Gerald's eyes opened wide.

'Checkmate.'

I stared at him with an indifferent expression, and my spear stabbed his chest.

*Clang!*

With a metallic sound, the bracelet around Gerald's wrist broke, releasing a barrier around him that protected him from my attack, but at the same time, it meant he had been eliminated.

Although the barrier protected him, it also restricted his movements until a teacher arrived to take him out.

Gerald stared at me with a dumbfounded expression, and Karle, who had just finished killing the alligator, was in disbelief.

"One less," I muttered.

Next, without waiting for Karle to react, I filled my spear with lightning, compressing it into a point on the spearhead and firing it in Karle's direction.

[Lightning Beam]!

A ray of purplish-silver lightning flew toward Karle.

"Fuck…!" Aghast, Karle hurriedly activated his skill, disappearing from his original location before the lightning could reach him.

But once more, he was not my target.

My control over Lightning Beam was not good enough to guarantee I could hit someone as fast and slippery as him.

Instead, my target was the injured girl that just arrived and was unprepared for the sudden attack.

"Kya!"

*Boom!*

Before she could react, the ray of lightning hit her head on and the bracelet on her wrist shattered, activating a protective barrier around her.

Just like Gerald, she was eliminated.

"Two down," I remarked and looked at Karle relaxedly. "It looks like you are the only one left."

Karle's expression changed several times before he smiled resignedly.

"Shit… This doesn't make sense."

I shrugged and walked toward him while putting my spear on my shoulder.

"Are you going to give up, or do you want to resist?"

Karle smiled wryly.

"And you are just the fourth place. Just how strong are the three above you?"

"You will have to discover that by yourself. Unfortunately, you won't have the chance this time."

Karle sighed. He then held his sword firmly and his expression became serious.

"I admit you are strong, but I won't go down so easily. Bring it on!"

I narrowed my eyes and kicked the ground, narrowing the distance between us in an instant.

At the same time, Karle activated his skill.

"Secret techniche!"

Then, he–

'Ran away?' 

I was stunned.

Lorena, Gerald, and I could only watch dumbfounded as Karle used his skill several times in succession and disappeared in the distance.

This…

How can someone be so shameless?