As I reached a secluded corner of the virtual city, that “variable” finally revealed itself.
“Hm? So you knew I was tailing you? You’ve got pretty good instincts.”
It was a sharp-eyed boy dressed head-to-toe in black.
The one wearing the No. 461 name tag was ironically radiating clear hostility toward me, a fellow applicant.
“I followed you because you seemed to be having fun taking the exam all by yourself. Man, ‘pick up the citizen and run’… that’s not exactly what the academy officially announced, is it?”
No. 461 clearly had a problem with my method.
While everyone else was struggling to fight, I was just running away and sucking honey.
“The academy definitely told us. The key is how you interpret the keyword ‘rescue’.”
“Yeah? I guess that makes sense. Grasping the intent of the test maker! So you did that well, huh? But you know what?”
No. 461 shrugged and continued.
“This exam’s goal is to turn rescued citizens into ‘cards’ and collect 10 of them. The funny thing is, there’s no rule that says applicants can’t attack each other.”
“……”
“That’s a valid strategy too, right? If we’re talking about grasping the test maker’s intent. It’s the same as you eating the citizen rescues raw.”
The blatant hostility and unabashed provocation instantly conveyed his goal.
He was going to steal the cards I had collected.
This was the variable of the exam.
Even though it was a test to select hero candidates, they didn’t prohibit stealing each other’s cards.
It naturally evaluated interpersonal combat ability by having some applicants play the role of a kind of “villain.”
“Wait, I don’t get it.”
“What?”
“In the end, I basically told you the answer. You can just use the same method. Then you can safely rescue 10 citizens too. So why are you trying to fight me? If you fail because of it, you’re the one who loses.”
At my words, No. 461 gave a nasty smile and then burst out laughing.
Like someone who had heard a hilarious joke.
“Fail? Me? Because I fought you?”
After laughing loudly for a while, his expression suddenly turned serious and he lowered his voice.
“I’ll tell you two things. First, trash like you is no match for me. You’re a non-awakened, aren’t you?”
With those words, still wearing a sneer, he pulled something from his pocket.
Two sharply honed throwing daggers.
“Second, the reason they didn’t bother prohibiting attacks between applicants is probably so that pure trash like you gets filtered out by the other applicants themselves.”
The moment he finished speaking, his figure blurred.
As expected, he was the type that fought using high mobility.
The sharp daggers flew toward me with a chilling whistle.
Swish—!
But the daggers simply cut through empty air.
A single tilt of my head was enough.
The [Evasion Instinct] passive was working wonderfully again.
Right after, his brow twitched at the dagger that didn’t connect.
“Oh, you dodged?”
A slightly flustered reaction. He had probably planned to finish it in one shot.
But his attitude was still relaxed.
He approached again with that cocky stride.
Facing him, my choice was simple.
“You’re running away from me too?”
I bolted. A dumbfounded voice came from behind.
I’ve said it many times: there’s no reason to fight him.
Even if I win, I gain nothing; if I lose, I lose eight cards.
There’s no reason to accept such an unfair fight.
“Damn it, why won’t anything hit?!”
His feet were slightly faster.
Sharp stabs kept coming.
Fortunately, thanks to the strange evasion ability overlaid on my body, I didn’t allow a single clean hit.
Most attacks only sliced empty air.
Still, it was an annoying situation.
I didn’t have time to waste on pointless combat when I needed to finish rescuing citizens quickly.
“Don’t run!”
Unable to stand it any longer, he overtook me and blocked my path.
The sharply honed blade rushed toward me.
A nasty smile appeared on his face as if I couldn’t dodge this one.
But the attack once again cut only air.
Once more. And again.
The result was always the same.
“Why…?”
He muttered blankly. Why won’t it connect?
The reason was simple.
An excited opponent charges in.
There’s no tempo or rhythm.
When such obvious attacks come, I just dodge obviously.
The problem was that my attacks weren’t landing on him either.
He was fundamentally agile, after all.
‘I can’t use the skill right now.’
If I used [Hundred Night Demons] even once, I wouldn’t be able to move my body for a while.
I couldn’t ruin the entire exam just to deal with one nuisance.
‘Then instead…’
My thoughts began to accelerate.
Searching for a move I could use right now.
And finally, one possibility came to mind.
“Hup—!”
The exact moment he charged again.
I lightly sidestepped the thrusting attack and evaded.
In that revealed instant.
Shwick—!
I swung my sword wide.
“Ugh—.”
An ambush taking advantage of his carelessness.
It looked like it succeeded.
Clang—!
But my sword struck only the floor, missing him completely.
He had thrown his body backward and dodged acrobatically.
“Ha! You think I’d get hit by something like that?”
He sneered. Certainly, without using skills, my swordsmanship was sloppy.
But he had made a mistake.
In order to dodge my clumsy swing, he had thrown his body backward.
That alone was enough to create distance and steal the timing.
Without delay, I entered the building right beside us.
On flat ground, no matter how much I tried to shake him, he would just catch up again.
“After all that fancy footwork, you’re just running away!”
Cursing came from below.
The sound of him sprinting up the stairs followed immediately.
And another sound reached my ears.
“P-please save me!”
Screams and cries for help from a citizen on the third floor.
It was a very welcome sound for me.
“Damn it, running around like a rat.”
No. 461 spat curses as he ran up the stairs.
He was engaged in an unexpected chase.
The target was Applicant No. 456.
He had thought he could finish him quickly and take the eight citizen cards, but things weren’t going as planned.
‘Why won’t anything hit?’
He was confident in his speed, if nothing else.
Yet his sword never reached the guy.
Every time he thrust or swung, Ryu Jin-woo evaded with bizarre reaction speed.
It felt like some superhuman ability, yet he couldn’t sense any mana at all. Strange.
After perfectly dodging every attack directed at him, Ryu Jin-woo bolted straight into the building.
“You think you’ll get away with running forever!”
No. 461 listened carefully to Ryu Jin-woo’s footsteps.
The hurried footsteps stopped in a room on the fourth floor.
Obvious ploy. He probably planned to ambush from inside the building.
But that wouldn’t work.
He approached the room with maximum alertness.
If an ambush came, he would counter instantly.
No. 461 was confident in his speed.
So he entered the room without hesitation and—
“…Where did he go?”
There was no ambush as expected. Only the window was wide open.
No. 461 looked outside the window.
As expected, Ryu Jin-woo was there.
He was looking at No. 461 with a calm expression.
With a citizen held in his arms.
Seeing that scene made rage boil up inside him.
That bastard was mocking him.
‘I was going to just knock him out, but now I’ll cripple his legs…’
With that rough resolve, he kicked off the floor.
But something felt wrong.
His balance began to waver.
No. 461 reflexively looked down.
There was a deliberate-looking crack in the floor beneath his feet.
‘No way…!’
By the time he realized, it was already too late.
CRASH! RUUUMBLE—
The floor collapsed and his body was already falling downward.
THUD—!
He crashed down to the floor below.
Of course, falling one story wouldn’t cause injury.
The problem was the sense of wrongness he had been feeling all along.
No. 461 recalled Ryu Jin-woo’s appearance.
‘He was holding a citizen.’
At the same time, he understood the source of that wrongness.
GRRRRR—
An ominous sound rang out.
A low growl like a beast’s.
Lying sprawled on the floor, No. 461 slowly raised his head.
A massive, room-filling body and presence.
Hot breath like a steam engine could be felt close by.
A humanoid monster with a bull’s head, a Minotaur.
The monster was radiating blatant hostility toward No. 461.
“You son of a—”
No. 461 couldn’t finish his words.
BOOOM—!
A wild body slam followed, smashing him through the wall and sending his body flying through the air.
THUMP—!
Dust rose in the empty lot.
“Ugh… urgh…”
No. 461, slammed roughly into the ground, saw Ryu Jin-woo’s upside-down face in his vision.
Ryu Jin-woo watched him for a moment, then leisurely walked away.
A moment later, the Minotaur’s roar that had been echoing from above suddenly ceased.
In his fading vision, he saw Ryu Jin-woo organizing the newly acquired card.
When their eyes met the sprawled No. 461, Ryu Jin-woo lightly raised his middle finger.
“You… you son of a…”
Once again, No. 461 couldn’t finish his curse.
His vision went pitch black as if the screen had cut to black.
[Ryu Jin-woo (456) – Rescued: 9/10]
Leaving the fainted No. 461 behind, I leisurely left the scene.
The mimic bastard had suddenly appeared and was laughing maniacally at the opponent who fell for my trap, so I was a bit distracted.
Now only one remained in the exam.
There could be others aiming for the cards I had collected, just like him, so the key was to quickly secure the last card.
I kept moving between buildings as I had been doing.
Because if I found a citizen inside a building, I could rescue them without fighting.
But from some point on, every building I entered was empty.
“I guess I’ll have to handle the last one outside.”
I had been avoiding combat to minimize risk, but at this rate I might have no choice.
As I hurriedly moved my feet,
“Kyaaah—!”
After wandering for who knows how long,
a high-pitched scream rang out.
It was a clue that a citizen was nearby.
‘I should at least check. If it’s a weak monster, I can just kill it.’
With that thought, I ran straight toward the scream.
Sure enough, a citizen was trembling in terror there.
But she wasn’t alone.
A monster had already been summoned.
The summoned monster was a gigantic scorpion-type monster.
Three times the size of an adult male, its carapace-covered body gleamed with a glossy sheen that clearly showed its hardness.
Black venom like crude oil dripped steadily from the tail rising high above its head, overflowing with unclean energy.
And standing calmly in front of it was a person.
A girl with silver hair that reached her waist and ruby-like glowing red eyes.
Flames swirled around her entire body like heat haze.
“…Seol Ha-yoon?”
One of the main characters of [Heroes Zero].
A familiar face I had often seen in the game.
The moment she took a step, the heat began to surge.
Soon, fierce flames erupted from all around her.