CHAPTER 84 – Final exam (part 3)

Close to the World Tree, Yoo Yeonha and her team, who she managed to assemble in under 24 hours, were looking around, waiting for the message from one of the cadets they sent to scout ahead.

The team was small, but was, all in all, made of a few elites from Cube, at least elites that she would be able to control. Making it an easy task for her to amass points while also getting connections with a few cadets that could make it big one day.

"Yeonha-ssi, I found someone." While Yoo Yeonha was thinking of the next move, an archer named Rose suddenly called for her.

Rose didn't wait for the signal, and she just drew her bow to point at the target, but right before she could shoot her arrow, a whip came and took her bow away.

"Eh?" She didn't know what to say as she turned towards Yoo Yeonha, who was looking at the so-called target with a pale face, before turning at Rose.

"Don't." She glared at her while slowly shaking her head. "You can't touch that man."

"Eh? B-but isn't that person rank 934?" Rose asked dumbfounded, not knowing what her team leader meant.

"…" Yoo Yeonha glared at her for a little bit, before turning towards the man. "No… You can't win against him…"

"…" Rose didn't know what to say at Yeonha's serious words.

"You see…" Yeonha showed a cryptic smile. "For that person, ranks are just numbers." She then nodded towards Kim Hajin. "See?"

"What…?"

As if it was a mere child's play, Kim Hajin started climbing up the World Tree. Disappearing into the peak of a 150 meters-tall tree in mere moments. With impeccable movements that would be hard even for her or Rose to actually do.

"I just saved your life, Rose-ssi." Yeonha smiled at Rose. "If you had let go of that bowstring, you would have lost for sure. Not only that, the rest of us would have been in trouble."

"…" Still with her mouth wide open. Rose nodded, looking at the top of the World Tree, where a cadet she thought was just a mere low-rank disappeared moments ago.

"There are many hidden dragons in this world. It's the same reason why the Hero Association can do anything about hunters from the Vast Expanse. Next time, don't do anything before I give the order."

"Yes…" Rose nodded, finally looking back at Yoo Yeonha like a child being reproached.

"Also…" Yeonha suddenly muttered, glancing at the World Tree for a moment. "About that man being uncharacteristically strong, keep it a secret."

"Eh? Why?" Rose asked.

"Because he might become one of our family members." Yeonha then smiled at Rose. "For the record, I like people with heavy mouths."

"Ah! Yes! I will keep the secret! Until death!" Rose quickly accepted to keep it a secret, noticing the implication behind Yeonha's words.

"Good." Yeonha nodded with a smile, glancing once again at the World Tree, trying to imagine if she would be able to do just as he did, shaking her head in denial. "Let's go." She then took Rose and went towards the other cadet that was waiting for the scouts to come back.

Once together, her smartwatch vibrated.

"Huh? Oh, Ijin-ssi contacted us. Let's go back."

***

Once at the top of the World Tree, Kim Hajin rested in one of the branches, which was big enough for him to even lay down.

From there, he was able to see every single part of the island, thanks to his Gift 'Thousand-Mile Eyes', which was also unrestricted by any kind of obstacle.

After looking around for a bit, he got a general idea of the current situation of the exam. As a day has already passed, cadets were working hard to collect their points, whether that was by hunting monsters, trading with other cadets, or even ambushing other cadets.

"Seems like things are going to start moving soon enough." Hajin nodded, while looking at a particular spot, before looking at his laptop for a bit, and then turning on his smartwatch.

[Kim Hajin: *coordinates* those are the coordinates to the camps of the guys I told you before. Remember, just eliminate them from the exam when they get back there. We don't know if they're already transformed into Djinns or not. They shouldn't, but I'm not sure. You check that out first.]

[Cristopher: Roger. I'll play a little bit with them.]

[Kim Hajin: Also… Are you not worried about Rachel?]

[Cristopher: ???]

[Kim Hajin: She's walking right to a trap.]

[Cristopher: I know.]

[Kim Hajin: Then?]

[Cristopher: What do you see me for? I don't waste my time.]

[Kim Hajin: That's rude. Even for you.]

[Cristopher: Let me rephrase that for you. Why would I intervene in my pupil's fight with no need? You may not know it. But she's really strong. At this point, there's no way for Chae Nayun to catch up to her without the help of strong artifacts. Heck, I'm quite sure she can give quite the fight against that idiot of Shin Jonghak.]

"…" Hajin looked at his smartwatch for a moment. "Just… What…?"

[Kim Hajin: What did you teach her…?]

[Cristopher: You'll see. (☞°u°)☞ ]

"*sigh…* What is he sending emojis for...? Whatever…" Hajin shook his head after glancing stupefied at the text he received, before sending any drone that could be close to him, and summoning his Desert Eagle and transforming it into the sniper rifle mode, waiting while looking at the different drones that were traveling through the island.

He could perfectly see a lot of cadets, even Cristopher, who was walking towards the coordinates I sent to him with his hands inside his pockets while whistling, not even caring about things around him.

Like that, an hour passed, and he finally noticed something different going on. Joo Yeohoon's plan started faster than it should.

"What? Why so soon?" He asked in surprise, sending a drone closer to them, but before he could get any information, the drone was shut down suddenly.

He quickly checked out his laptop to see what happened.

[Joo Yeohoon – has various connections with other Djinns. Made contact with Lancaster family Djinns.]

"Son of a bitch…" He then looked in the guy's direction.

He was talking with Rachel while walking towards a wooded cliff, where two other persons were waiting for them, one out in the open, while the other was hiding on a tree.

"Bastards…" Hajin muttered.

In the original story, while Yeohoon would indeed lure Rachel, it wasn't because of Lancaster. But things changed right now, and three Djinns were working together to attack and probably kill Rachel.

Even if those two from the Lancaster family were from the bottom-rung of the group, they would surely be able to hurt Rachel if they all work together thanks to their magic power as Djinns, which made them stronger than the normal cadet.

"It was Kim Suho who saved her…" Hajin muttered while looking around, before smiling. "Haha… It surely has something to do with being the protagonist…"

Kim Suho was walking with Chae Nayun towards that same direction, unconscious of what waited for them there.

"Even then." Hajin said, before preparing his sniper rifle. "We better be safe than sorry."

He then stopped for a moment and turned on his smartwatch.

[Kim Hajin: Hey, three Djinns are going to ambush her. Are you sure we should leave her be?]

[Cristopher: Look. Those pussies won't be able to damage her. If it makes you feel better, keep an eye on her. But I trust what I've seen. And Rachel's become really strong these past weeks. She was already a strong cadet, to begin with.]

[Kim Hajin: You? Admitting someone's strong?]

[Cristopher: A strong CADET. Relax, just watch the show. I'm almost reaching that place. I'll talk to you after everything's done.]

"*sigh…* I hope you're right." Hajin let out a sigh before taking a position to fire. Keeping his eyes right on Rachel and Joo Yeohoon.

***

"It was over here." Joo Yeohoon said to Rachel.

They both were going up a cliff, where he said there was some kind grizzly bear monster that could give them 10 points. As to why there were just the two of them here, Rachel didn't know. But she also didn't care.

In a one vs. one battle, she was sure she could fight against him and win, so she wasn't afraid of what he could do here.

And, after all, she needed the points, as she has been constantly trading them for food, even if the team that's been with her didn't ask for it. So only both of them going to hunt for the monster would give her more points than having to divide it among six.

"It was here…" Joo Yeohoon muttered once they made it to the top of the wooded cliff, where a man was waiting for them, instead of some monster, with two gauntlets full of claw-like daggers protruding from the point of the fingertips. His hair was covering half of his face.

"Who are you!?" He shouted at the man, trying to keep their relationship in the dark just in case something went wrong. After all, he already did what was asked of him. Bring Rachel alone to this place.

The man that was waiting for them played along, and raising one of his gauntlets, he jumped ahead towards Joo Yeohoon, cutting at his shoulder.

"ARGH!!!" Clutching his shoulder while screaming, Joo Yeohoon ran away, leaving only Rachel behind.

"*sigh…*" She wasn't too sure of what was happening, and inside her was actually asking what was all this show that just happened. But instead of worrying, she merely took out her rapier, sending a quick thought to her elementals who were ready to fight. "Who are you…?"

The man didn't answer and just smiled chillingly, before muttering to himself in a language that she didn't know. It wasn't English nor Korean.

The man lunged at her with one of his claws, attacking Rachel, who received the impact with her rapier covered in magic power. The impact resulted in embers scattering ahead, and while the man had more magic power than Rachel, he couldn't overwhelm her thanks to her technique.

It would normally be just a battle of time for Rachel to actually win against him. If the situation was before she met 'him'.

After deflecting the first attack, a crimson flame covered her sword. But instead of a disorganized flame, she used her own magic power to envelop the crimson flames, making them coat the rapier's thin blade, concentrating the flames further into it and turning her rapier into a bloody-looking sword that could burn whatever it touched.

"---" A rough voice came out of the guy's mouth, but Rachel didn't understand what he said, she could only notice his surprised face. As if he didn't know about what was happening right now.

"…" Without her knowledge, she showed a small smile, almost imperceptible for the common eye, and that only a certain sniper could notice. She then attacked at the guy, making him defend with his claws, but instead of what happened before, the hot bloody-red blade of Rachel's rapier passed through his claws, cutting them like tofu and making the guy widen his eyes even more.

Rachel immediately went for the next attack, while the guy tried to evade, but as she was faster than him, he could only try to defend using his claws, which once again, were cut by Rachel's blade.

"Grr…" Letting out a small animal-like growl, the guy tried to retreat, but without the speed to do so, Rachel quickly rushed towards her target, thrusting her blade and piercing through his shoulder, making him scream in pain as the got blade burned his shoulder.

But, weirdly enough, instead of being afraid, he just clenched his teeth the next second and stopped while glaring at Rachel.

She tried to take out the blade to continue with a barrage of attacks, but couldn't move suddenly. It was as if something just trapped her. And when the guy looked at Rachel's surprised face, he smirked. Because he knew what was coming to her.

The next instant, an assassin was jumping down from a tree, targeting the immobilized Rachel with a hideous dagger.

But Rachel, instead of being worried, just sent one small thought. To Laky.

Suddenly, in front of the falling assassin, a spinning shield of cold water appeared, surprising both Djinns and reflecting the assassin's attack before disappearing.

It had a short duration, sure, but it was something she learned from 'him', and that would only grow in power from now on. The ability to summon the elements even if there wasn't any source close.

And while both of her enemies were shocked by the surprise, neither of them noticed the fire on Rachel's sword disappearing, giving time for icy-blue water to travel through the blade of her rapier all the way to the injury, where the blade was still piercing the guy.

Once the water made contact with his shoulder, it spread with a burst of both Natural Energy from her elemental and Magic Power from Rachel, freezing the guy's shoulder, arm, part of his upper body, and half of his left face. Finally breaking herself free of whatever he did to stop her movement.

Rachel then turned her attention to the incoming assassin, and with a thrust downward she froze the ground surrounding her in a 4 meter-radius, making the assassin stop and jump at her. Which was what she wanted.

She already knew that this wasn't only for them to have points, this was a plot to kill her. So, she shouldn't stop to consider if she should hurt or not her enemies.

"Heli!" With a shout, the blood-crimson fire elemental that was preparing since a little ago, got the signal, and unleashed a wave of crimson flames that dried the air in seconds, but wasn't able to melt the ice.

"What!?" Surprised, the assassin tried to evade, but it was late and he didn't have a way to move in the air. Resulting in him being burned and pushed away, screaming from the pain.

"Laky." While they were her enemies, she thought it would be better for her to keep them alive and extract some information. "Turn the fire off."

Her elemental tried, but before the little icy-blue horned serpent could do something, a few streaks of light came from somewhere far and pierced both Djinns, turning them into dust.

"What…?" Rachel didn't know what was happening, but getting closer, she could barely see a light shining in the ground. "A bullet?" It was a bullet reflecting the moonlight of the polar night.

"Rachel!"

At that moment, both Kim Suho and Chae Nayun came to the place, and while looking around, Chae Nayun asked.

"What…? What the heck happened here!?" She was amused by the ice and the small patches of the burned ground around. While also feeling quite hot, as if something had heated the air moments ago.

"Huh…" Rachel quickly saved the bullet in her pocket, before speaking. "I was attacked… It seems there were Djinns inside the test…" She smiled awkwardly.

"What!? Really!?" Chae Nayun was surprised and suddenly took a sword, looking ready to fight. Kim Suho also frowned while taking out his sword and looking everywhere.

"It's okay. I already defeated them." Rachel said while calming them both. "Um…" She then looked at the sword in Chae Nayun's hands. "Since when do you use a sword?"

"Huh?" Chae Nayun looked at the sword "Ah! Y-You see! It's just a secondary weapon. Yes, yes! That's it! I thought it would be better to bring a sword just in case!" Chae Nayun nodded as if trying to justify herself.

"Uh… Okay." Rachel vaguely nodded.

"Um, Rachel?" Kim Suho suddenly spoke. "Why don't you team up with us? I mean, we've made a team where we just share our location, separate during the day to go hunting some monsters, and reunite at night to find shelter and rest, and also to hunt for food. What do you say?" He smiled at her while holding his hand up.

"…" Rachel looked at his hand for a moment before shaking her head. "Sorry. I already have a team. I'll go back with them."

Meanwhile, Kim Suho just stood there, with his hand still up and an awkward smile on his face.

"Um… We could take you there, it might be dangerous if there's really Djinns around." Kim Suho then scratched his head.

"There's no need. I can take care of myself." Rachel said. "Then, see you." She nodded and turned around, leaving.

Kim Suho just stood there with an awkward expression, while Chae Nayun started laughing at him.

"What? Did you thought that every woman would be pleased to be in a team with you!? Hahahahaha." She mocked him for a little while they moved to look for food.

***

Moments after, Kim Hajin was still on the tree, he was planning to check the situation for an hour before going down.

[Kim Hajin: Are you sure that was the best?]

[Cristopher: She won't do it. Not yet. And she didn't even know they were Djinns.]

[Kim Hajin: Well… If you say so… I still must say, it was impressive. Did you teach her all that?]

[Cristopher: Well, she already had the talent for it. I just guided her.]

[Kim Hajin: She's really strong.]

[Cristopher: I know. Hey, talk to you later. The last bastard is coming close.]

[Kim Hajin: Joo Yeohoon?]

[Cristopher: Thanks. Now I'll be able to put a name to his grave.]

"…" Looking at the message, Kim Hajin was speechless, before sighing. "That guy's dead for sure…"

***

After running for a while, Joo Yeohoon finally made it back to his camp, where his teammates must be waiting for him, ready to continue the exam. He already did as he was asked, and by now, Rachel should already be dead under Lancaster's Djinns.

{Easy money!} He thought.

But moments after, he turned speechless, in his team's camp, everything was destroyed, all the area was burning in flames. Tents, tables, everything, was burning, and in the middle of the camp, four cadets were on the ground, unconscious.

"Hey! Are you guys fine!" Joo Yeohoon reached to them to check. And when he got there, he noticed all their smartwatches were missing, while they had quite deep wounds here and there, although not fatal wounds. One of them even had the face basically broken, hard to recognize the handsome guy he was hours ago.

"Just, who…?"

"Oh, yeah. I kind of went a little overboard with him." A voice interrupted Joo Yeohoon, making him turn to one of the burning fires, where a guy was sitting looking at four smartwatches, that he knew were from his teammates. Scanning them. "He was talking shit about my pupil. So, I almost couldn't control myself."

"You… Why!?"

"Mm? Are you really asking that?" The guy lifted an eyebrow before he started to laugh.

"What…?"

"You tried to have Rachel killed. And you ask me why would I do this to you, or your team? Pfft… Idiot." The guy stood up, dropping the smartwatches and stomping them. "You see. I hate traitors. I hate them REALLY bad…" He then glared, his eyes turning into red reptilian eyes.

"…" Joo Yeohoon flinched. A chill running up his spine. He felt cold all of a sudden, even while standing inside a burning field.

"I can't kill them." The guy slowly walked while nodding towards his teammates. "But you? No one would care about a Djinn dying." A smirk that looked like the Devil itself showed in the guy's face.

"…" Joo Yeohoon couldn't move. He was paralyzed in fear. Being looked at by what he swore was a true monster. "S-S-Stop… P-P-Please…" He tried to ask for mercy. But he knew that monsters didn't show mercy.

Suddenly, right in front of him. Joo Yeohoon saw how all the flames that were burning around them raised high into the sky, spinning and fusing themselves as if the entire night sky was suddenly turned ablaze.

But as if gravity made its job. The blazing fire that was raging and spinning in the sky suddenly fell towards the guy in a fiery tornado that divided itself when it almost reached him, before covering his arms all the way to his fists.

"Let's see how much can you handle these weak flames. I hope you don't die too fast." The smirk intensified, being illuminated by the flames on his arms as he cracked his blazing knuckles.