Arena

Laman City was in the heat of war.

Soldiers from both sides were clashing everywhere in the city and blood was spilling. The civilians of Laman City locked up their houses and shuddered in fear.

The Aman Empire was very well aware of the structure of the city.

They were also at an advantage in terms of numbers, so it would make sense to have driven them out in a short time, but there was a big problem right now.

There were examinees, like Odin, on Arend Kingdom’s side.

The assassin-style examinees like Marie and Shuhei were also going around killing high-ranking officials, so their command was falling apart.

With their help in hand, the Arend Kingdom was almost at a point where they took over the city.

However, just at the right time, an anomaly appeared.

“Our aim is the examinees!”

“We just have to take them out!”

It was the corrupt examinees.

They mostly belonged to Lee Chang-wee’s faction in China.

Lee Chang-wee had already escaped the grasp of the communist government and took all of the Arena business profits for his own. The communist government did not touch him out of fear. As long as Heising stayed dead, there would be no one to stop him.

The ones following Lee Chang-wee decided to follow him until the very end. Although he was a greedy and vicious man, he had the wisdom to share his profits with his underlings.

Those followers of his already turned their backs against the Chinese government by following him. If they lost their skills as examinees, there was no way the government would let them go.

It wasn’t just the Chinese examinees. There were many other examinees from the world who were poached by Lee Chang-wee who were in similar situations.

Not only that, but there were also examinees that took their side even though they were not corrupt examinees.

They feared going back to being an ordinary human after losing all their powers as examinees.

They believed that, once Arena and Earth fused into one, the examinees that had supernatural powers would become special.

In any case, both of these groups’ targets were the examinees trying to clear the last exam.

“Find the examinees!”

“I don’t give a shit about the war. The important thing is to find and eliminate the examinees!”

They didn’t give the soldiers of the Arend Kingdom a second glance.

They were looking for the examinees trying to clear the exam as though they were hungry predators.

***

Lee Chang-wee was somewhere far from Laman City.

The two dark magicians with him were using Eyes of the Abyss to watch the area.

“Is it fine to stay here? Our allies in Laman City aren’t looking too good.”

One of the dark magicians asked.

Lee Chang-wee answered his question.

“As I said just now it would be a real pain if Kim Hyunho joins them. It will be even more difficult to defend from his sniping in a chaotic battle. It will be better to stop him here.”

Indeed.

Lee Chang-wee was spending all of his time obstructing Kim Hyunho.

If a powerhouse like Lee Chang-wee joined the war, then it would be a great help in defending Laman City, but Kim Hyunho would also join the war and that would make matters worse.

Kim Hyunho would be able to discover the examinees amidst the chaotic battle and snipe them all.

His sniping power was beyond imagination and wasn’t something that someone could put countermeasures up against.

It would be better to take the penalty of losing Lee Chang-wee’s battle prowess to obstruct Kim Hyunho from joining the war.

The two dark magicians controlled their Eyes of the Abyss to fly in the direction of Kim Hyunho’s position found through Lee Chang-wee’s pathfinder skill and stood guard.

The plan was for Lee Chang-wee to go and strike Kim Hyunho as soon as he came into range. This was also the reason why Kim Hyunho wasn’t approaching them carelessly.

Even though they had fought numerous times attacking and protecting the procession, they had never seen each others’ faces until now.

***

“Let’s see. First up, I can guarantee that his pathfinder skill is only beginner lv 1.”

“I agree. Our opponent is only aware of the direction we’re in.”

“He’s with 2 other dark magicians, and considering that they can use the Eyes of the Abyss, they should be pretty powerful. If a battle breaks out, they should be able to support Lee Chang-wee in multiple ways.”

“The most problematic of them all is the defensive item that Lee Chang-wee is wearing.”

I was discussing a plan with Cha Jihye.

I didn’t know that things would turn out like this.

Lee Chang-wee was obstructing my path to Laman City with his two dark magicians. This was only possible as he was aware of my direction through the pathfinder skill.

I thought about passing right above them at high altitudes, but they had two dark magicians, so I thought that they should have methods to make Lee Chang-wee fly, so I gave up on that.

Meanwhile, I had one advantage against them.

It was that they weren’t aware of the existence of Cha Jihye.

They weren’t aware that she was here, nor did they know that she had high Lv1 aura control, which made her a master-level expert.

Wouldn’t it be a winning battle if I utilized the fact that they aren’t fully aware of our prowess?

I couldn’t just go to them blindly with that in mind. We also weren’t aware of the extent of defense that Lee Chang-wee’s magic item had.

Well, Laman City had all the high-ranking examinees, including Odin, on their side.

If Lee Chang-wee, the most dangerous of them all, didn’t fight, then they would still be able to win this battle.

But at that time, the communication device in my chest pocket started vibrating.

When I took out to check, it was Dana who called me.

“Hello?”

-It’s about to begin.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

-Kajad Pun Aman will be moving soon.

“What!?”

Dana continued as I stayed shocked.

-I checked myself through the Marble of the Abyss. He seemed no longer able to control his desire anymore. He’ll move to fulfill the lacking souls.

And his destination should be the Brown Mountain Range as we expected.

Not only were there three Trees of Life, but there was also the smaller Tree of Life that only came into existence recently. It was home to elves as well.

Kajad should appear in the Brown Mountain Range as though a thirsty man discovering an oasis.

-We should enact the plan now. How’s the situation on your side?

“Lee Chang-wee is obstructing us from getting to Laman City. There are two dark magicians with him as well.”

-We cannot delay this any longer. Just break through them. Don’t try to fight back and defeat them, just think of it as rushing right past them.

“Okay.”

-And also, there is a limit to magic items, no matter how excellent they are. In my opinion, Lee Chang-wee’s magic item should be activated if there is a force that can harm the body.

“And so?”

-I think attacks that aren’t strikes will do the trick.

“Attacks that aren’t strikes?”

-The magic shouldn’t activate when you’re trying to pat his shoulder, for example, right?

“Oh!”

Only then did I realize what Dana was trying to say.

It might work if he was grabbed and had his joint broken, or just plainly thrown into the ground.

Of course, it would be really dangerous to fight him head on, but I didn’t need to do that.

I could just use Sylph to do it.

I can create several hands made of wind with Sylph’s help to throw him into the air, or something.

It wasn’t like Lee Chang-wee would stay still, so it would become a hard battle, but I could use this method to make him stay away from me.

In the meanwhile, I can just run away on the back of the rake eagle.

“Let’s go!”

After the communication, Jihye and I got on the back of the rake eagle.”

“Screech-!”

The rake eagle flew into the air with a strong cry.

“Sylph.”

-Nyan?

Sylph was summoned.

I was saving up on summoning time as I only had 14 hours to summon a day.

“From now, tell me if you see any Eyes of the Abyss.”

-Nyan!

I flew up high into the air and armed myself with the Neilson R3.

A moment later, Sylph warned me and I immediately pulled the trigger.

Just before I fired, Sylph adjusted the direction of the muzzle.

Boom!

-Nyaan!

And another one.

I shot another round.

Boom!

The two Eyes of the Abyss should all be broken now. f𝑟e𝒆𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗oѵ𝐞𝗹.c૦𝑚

Meaning, that Lee Chang-wee was aware that we were moving.

‘It starts now.’

I transferred my thoughts to Sylph. Having understood what I was asking, Sylph created five hands made of air. After a few minutes of flying, I was able to meet the enemy.

“Here you come, Kim Hyunho!”

Lee Chang-wee welcomed me with a smirk.

On his back was a pair of wings, presumably made from dark magic.

Now, he was no longer disguised as a soldier and was wearing black armor.

Boom- Clang!

The bullet I just shot was blocked by the shield that appeared momentarily.

Lee Chang-wee’s smirk got thicker.

“Good armor you got there.”

“I paid a lot for it. More than half the reason I got this was for you, so you can be proud of it.”

His eyes then turned to Cha Jihye who was behind me.

“Oho, so you two couple were together all this time?”

“You getting jealous?”

“Hahaha, of course, I am. I just know what kind of a hot girl she is!”

Then, Lee Chang-wee flapped his black wings and flew straight towards me.

“Go!”

I shouted to Sylph.

The five wind hands all flew towards Lee Chang-wee at the same time.

At the same time, I aimed the rifle at Lee Chang-wee’s black wings and fired.

Boom!

Lee Chang-wee was shaken for a moment after one of his black wings dissipated, but another one grew up in its place.

It seemed that the dark magicians on the ground were capable of maintaining it.

Lee Chang-wee then took out his sword and swung it like lightning.

As his sword contained the aura blade, he destroyed all the wind hands with a swing.

With Lee Chang-wee approaching, I handed the Neilson R3 over to Sylph and took out the two Neilson H2s.

Cha Jihye also took out her dual blades and got ready to fight.

It was just at that moment.

The black wings behind Lee Chang-wee’s back suddenly disappeared.

“What the!?”

Lee Chang-wee became surprised, and without his wings, he fell down to the ground. ƒ𝗿e𝘦𝚠𝗲𝚋n𝚘ν𝙚𝗹.𝑐o𝙢

Though, I didn’t expect him to fall to his death just because he fell from this height.

When Lee Chang-wee fell far enough that we didn’t see him anymore, I tilted my head in confusion and asked Cha Jihye.

“What was that?”

“From how his wings disappeared, I believe that a problem occurred with the dark magicians on the ground.”

Did some of the examinees help us?

I thought about all 31 examinees that participated in the final plan.

I checked with the pathfinder skill and they were all in Laman City’s direction.

‘Then who?’

Well, in any case, it was good that he got an easy way out.

We took our mind off Lee Chang-wee and flew towards Laman City.

***

The moment he was about to collide with the ground, Lee Chang-wee protected his body with aura.

BOOM!

With a very loud sound, the ground he smashed was paved in.

Climbing out of the dirt, Lee Chang-wee had a very serious look around.

“Who the hell is it?”

After the dust settled, he could see what was around him.

The two dark magicians were laying on the ground, dead.

While there was a pair of a man and woman that was thought to be the culprits…….

“What!?”

Lee Chang-wee’s face turned into that of shock.

Shockingly, it was Heising and his close female aide.

The two that were thought to be dead, and should be dead, was glaring at him in animosity.