Chapter 1228 – 1228. The Path To Ascending In Radiance
I returned to the Demonic Training Camp.
The third test was over.
The top 10 performers were given spirit pills. They were Demonic Essence Pills. This time, I didn’t give the Demonic Essence Pill to anyone; I consumed it myself.
After that, a tedious routine began. Still, I was better off than the others. I had Seo Mun-so-ryeo, who could be called a sex partner, and I could visit Yeon Ye-ha at night and violate her.
Yeon Ye-ha seemed to have changed somehow. I wasn’t sure what had changed. She was such an expressionless woman. However, she had become more proactive than before. When she sucked my dick or moved her hips on top of me, she would do things I didn’t even ask her to do. Yeon Ye-ha herself didn’t seem to notice it, though.
Anyway, time flowed, and the fourth test day arrived.
It was also the last test of the Demonic Training Camp. If you passed this test, you would be assigned to one of the Heavenly Demon Sect’s units. Where you were assigned depended on your score.
“The fourth test is to find the Black Wood Beads hidden in the Demonic Cave.”
Bae Taek-ju, the head of the Demonic Training Camp, said in front of the trainees.
There were 130 trainees left until the fourth test. According to the instructors, it was above average.
The Demonic Cave was an artificial cave located underground in the Demonic Training Camp. It was a cave that was only opened during the final test of the Demonic Training Camp every year.
“You will enter the Demonic Cave through separate entrances. There are a total of 30 Black Wood Beads hidden in the Demonic Cave. That means 100 out of you 130 will receive the lowest score. But don’t worry. Even if you get the lowest score, you won’t be dismissed after coming this far.”
Even if you weren’t dismissed, your score would be terrible.
There was no one here who didn’t know that fact.
“Everything is allowed in the Demonic Cave. You can kill each other. You can steal Black Wood Beads. You can move with your comrades. What you have to do is to get the Black Wood Beads by any means. Show your strength in the Demonic Cave. Don’t forget. We will be watching you.”
Bae Taek-ju looked around with an imposing gaze and continued.
“The fourth test will begin one hour from now. Follow the instructors’ instructions.”
The instructors thoroughly managed the trainees. They didn’t even allow the trainees to talk to each other.
It was a meaningless act.
The trainees already knew about the fourth test. The final test was the same every year, so they couldn’t not know.
Those who were going to form teams would have already formed them.
And that included me. First Squad. Centered around Cheon Yu-un, the five of us decided to move together in the Demonic Cave as well.
“Number 123. This is your starting point.”
The instructor pointed to the floor. It was written as one hundred and twenty-three (百二十三).
“It will open when the time comes. You can enter the Demonic Cave through the opened hole.”
The instructor left with the other trainees.
I quietly stared at the floor. The fourth test was the same as in the original work.
‘The way to enter is different from the original work. Maybe the inside of the Demonic Cave is also slightly different. I heard that they put dangerous monsters in the Demonic Cave….’
Since the entrance wasn’t open yet, I decided to sit on the floor and wait.
Kiiiiiiiiing.
A sharp sound came from the floor, and the entrance slowly opened. I looked inside. There were no stairs. Instead, there was a smooth slide that looked fun just by looking at it. The end of it was not visible.
‘If it’s the same as the original work, it’s probably more than 10 meters deep.’
I wasn’t afraid of a slide. Without hesitation, I put my body into the hole. I went down the slide. At first, it was dark, so I couldn’t see anything, but after sliding for a while, I saw an exit where light was coming from.
I came out of the exit and landed gracefully on the floor. I quietly looked around and was on guard.
It was inside a cave.
The ceiling was 4 meters high, and the width was about 5 meters, so it seemed easy to move around. There were paths in front and behind, and a faint light was coming from the ceiling. It was probably some kind of sorcery.
‘I have to find the Black Wood Beads somewhere here. …Stealing them would be easier.’
I drew my sword in advance and held it in my hand, then moved forward. Honestly, I didn’t even know if this was the front. I was just walking, hoping something would come out.
A fork in the road appeared.
Right and left.
“Kuhhhh….”
I heard the breathing of an animal from the left. It wasn’t a real animal, but a monster.
I headed to the left path where the monster was. There was a high possibility that there would be Black Wood Beads around the monster. I hid my presence and walked, then arrived at a clearing. And in the center of the clearing was a huge wolf. It was a wolf so big that it could swallow a human in one bite.
“You managed to catch a guy like this.”
The wolf, which had been closing its eyes, felt my presence and opened its eyes wide.
“Krrr!”
The wolf growled as if asking what I was.
I pointed my sword at the wolf. I had no intention of being intimidated by a dog and running away.
The giant wolf’s forepaw, which seemed capable of turning a human into mincemeat in an instant, flew towards me.
‘The head of the Demonic Training Camp and the guys who have a position in the Heavenly Demon Sect will be watching the current situation in the Demonic Cave. So, I will never use the Heavenly Demon Divine Art and the Lightning Heaven Style.’
I ran forward and dodged the giant wolf’s forepaw. The giant wolf’s claws scratched the floor. A long scar was left on the floor.
“Kuaaaaaaaa!”
The giant wolf roared. The moment it opened its mouth, I pulled up my internal energy to protect my hearing, so I wasn’t greatly harmed. However, I couldn’t stop my legs from faltering.
The giant wolf’s forepaw flew again. I stepped back and barely dodged the giant wolf’s forepaw.
‘What kind of claws are so sharp as if they contain sword energy?’
I clicked my tongue at the monster’s power and swung my sword.
Ghost Cutting Sword Technique (斬鬼刀法) – Evil Cut (惡斬).
I inflicted a large wound on its foreleg. The giant wolf screamed in pain, then turned its pain into anger and indiscriminately swung its forepaws at me.
‘It’s better this way. It completely entrusted its body to anger, so its attacks have become one-dimensional. As expected, it’s just big, and its head is at the level of an animal.’
I dodged all of the giant wolf’s forepaw attacks and approached right in front of it. The giant wolf immediately opened its mouth and lunged at me.
I did a somersault to avoid its attack and at the same time stabbed my sword into its right eye.
“Kuaaaaaaa!!”
The giant wolf went berserk with a scream full of pain. I held the hilt of my sword tightly and stuck to the face of the berserk wolf. I moved the sword around, pushing it deeper.
Thud! Bang! Bang!
The giant wolf’s forepaws hit its own head. There was a limit to how well I could dodge. I was hit hard on the back by its forepaw. I groaned. If I got hit a few more times here, I would be in a critical condition.
‘It figured out where I am with that attack. It’s best to get away from here.’
I pulled out my sword and fell away from its head.
The giant wolf realized that I had fallen and stopped hitting its own head. Its head was a mess. One eye was gone, blood was pouring from its snout, and its teeth were shattered. More than half of it was self-inflicted. It would be strange if it was okay after hitting its own head like that.
“Krrrrrrrr….”
The giant wolf growled and charged at me.
I didn’t let my guard down and calmly responded. It had lost one eye. That meant one side of its vision was gone.
‘I’ll thoroughly exploit that blind spot!’
I held my sword and continued my counterattack. The giant wolf used its sense of smell and hearing instead of its missing eye. But its reaction speed was slow. It couldn’t block or dodge my attacks that targeted its blind spot.
There was no need to rush.
I slowly chipped away at the giant wolf. Even small wounds, if they accumulated, would become fatal. The blood that the giant wolf shed gradually became a puddle, and the giant wolf’s movements slowed down. Its ferocity disappeared.
Thump.
The giant wolf’s head fell to the floor.
‘The opportunity has come.’
The panicked giant wolf tried to quickly raise its head. I didn’t miss that opportunity and jumped onto its head. I landed between its ears, which were sticking up, and stabbed my sword into its forehead.
“Keok, keoeok…!”
The giant wolf struggled a few times to get up, then collapsed powerlessly. It wasn’t breathing. It had died.
The giant wolf. It was more troublesome than I thought. If this was a wide open field instead of a cave, I would have had a lot of trouble.
‘It’s a meaningless assumption now that it’s dead.’
I slowly looked around. If my guess was correct, the Black Wood Beads would be here.
After looking around a few times, I found the Black Wood Beads. The Black Wood Beads were on the giant wolf’s corpse. It was embedded in its abdomen. I cut open its belly with my sword and was finally able to get the blood-stained Black Wood Beads in my hand.
The Black Wood Beads were black wooden beads, just like their name. There was nothing special about them except that they were as hard as steel.
‘If I just go back with this, the fourth test is over.’
I returned to where I had come from. There should have been a hole in the ceiling, but when I looked again, it was blocked. I tried to forcibly open it by attacking the ceiling, but even when I hit it with sword energy, it only left scratches.
‘So, there’s a separate exit.’
I had a hunch, and it was as I expected.
I clicked my tongue and started moving to find the exit.
I ran into another person on the way. It was a man with a firm face. He was holding an axe in each hand.
“……Number 123.”
“You are… Number 61.”
I knew him because he was the only guy in the Demonic Training Camp who used axes. And Number 61 was in the second squad.
“…I smell blood. Did you fight a monster?”
“How did you know?”
“There’s fur that’s clearly not human on your shoulder.”
“Ah.”
I brushed off the fur on my shoulder with my palm. Number 61 stared at me intently.
“Number 123. Did you find the Black Wood Beads?”
“I haven’t found them yet.”
“The monster should have them.”
“It didn’t. …But why are you so sure that the monster has the Black Wood Beads?”
Number 61 smiled. He took out the Black Wood Beads from his chest. Black wooden beads. The same as mine.
“I was also on my way back from meeting a monster. It was a serpent monster. The Black Wood Beads were tied to its back.”
“……And that monster?”
“The serpent monster was sleeping, so I quietly threw my axes and killed it.”
“…I went through a lot of trouble to catch a giant wolf….”
“That’s too bad. Number 123. I know you have the Black Wood Beads.”
“…….”
“You and I have the Black Wood Beads. There’s no reason to fight. Let’s find the exit together. If it’s you and me, we can successfully find the exit and get out. We can be number one, beating number 88.”
“Number 61, there’s no reason to refuse your offer.”
“Are you accepting it?”
I nodded. I approached Number 61. When I took out the Black Wood Beads from my chest and showed them to him, Number 61 grinned.
“Where do you think the exit is?”
“Well. I don’t know yet. I’m thinking of going straight ahead for now. I need to familiarize myself with the path… Keok?!”
I stabbed my sword into Number 61’s chest. The guy, who had let his guard down, couldn’t dodge and slumped to the floor.
“Number 123…! W-Why…?! There’s no reason for you to kill me…!”
“Don’t try to be on par with me when you’re weaker than me. You were truly presumptuous.”
“You… crazy bastard…!”
Number 61 died. I took his Black Wood Beads and put them in my chest.
