Chapter 76

Only two points for killing a rabbit?

But think about it, he’s a weak fighter, and the rabbit is a weak creature.

If even he can kill it, it must not be worth many points.

Winnie wasn’t in a rush to hunt monsters for points.

The circle will shrink slowly anyway, and it’s only a matter of time before he encounters other people.

For now, he’s focusing on saving all his energy instead of hunting monsters.

Otherwise, he’ll be in trouble when he finally runs into others.

When his space for movement is reduced, he’ll just need to run. He’ll meet people sooner or later.

He picked up the Frostfang and took out the map he had been given earlier.

Map No. 5 was incomplete, showing only a mountain, a small town, and a coniferous forest around it.

Winnie had no idea how far he was from the locations marked on the map.

He couldn’t even confirm his current position, only that he was likely in a forest.

Glancing at the endless mountains in the distance, he wondered what it would look like when the circle shrank, or when the so-called sharp reduction in the activity area occurred.

Would there be poisonous gas spreading across the land?

Holding the spear, he walked to the edge of the woods.

The forest wasn’t very large, and he reached the end in just a few steps.

Ahead lay an open wilderness.

Looking at the open terrain, Winnie hesitated.

In the woods, there were plenty of obstructions, so unless you were very close, you wouldn’t notice others.

But the wilderness was different, no obstacles meant that encounters would inevitably lead to big fights.

Winnie didn’t want to get caught up in a melee right now.

At his level, he could only fight quietly.

It was the job of the heroines to show off their invincibility.

Just as he was debating whether to turn back into the woods, he realized he had overestimated the size of the dungeon, or underestimated the population density.

Every year, people from all over the world come to participate in the Carillian Academy assessment, not just those from the kingdom.

At this moment, the dungeon was already packed.

“Swoosh!” A flying dagger shot out from the bushes behind him.

Winnie froze for a moment.

His slow reaction and body functions left him no room to dodge.

If it were anyone else, they would have been hit.

But he had another way.

“Clang!” At the critical moment, his fully enclosed armor suddenly materialized, producing a crisp clang as the flying dagger bounced off the heavy metal.

Summoning and releasing [Armor Fortress] took time.

In game terms, it had a long pre-swing and post-swing, so it couldn’t be treated as an instant shield in battle.

His body’s reaction was too slow to dodge, but fortunately, [Armour Fortress] activated in time.

Otherwise, who knew if the dagger was poisoned?

“Tsk, I’ve been waiting here for so long, and I still missed?”

An annoyed voice came from the bushes.

With his position exposed, there was no need to hide anymore.

A young man with braided hair and chocolate skin stepped out of the bushes.

“What is this?” The young man stared at Winnie’s armor, which had appeared out of thin air and now gleamed in the sunlight.

Confusion was written all over his face.

He didn’t understand. With his sneak attack speed, many people were eliminated before they could even use their Soul Armament.

How had this guy suddenly summoned a set of glittering silver armor?

Winnie didn’t pay much attention to the young man at first.

Instead, he noticed something unusual about [Armour Fortress].

The blue tassels on his helmet had lengthened, and golden wing-shaped engravings now decorated his forearm guards, the helmet’s edges, his abdomen, and the armor covering his calves.

Winnie was a little surprised by the change in appearance, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized it was likely due to his Soul Armament evolving after reaching the Apprentice level.

After all, his compatibility with [Armour Fortress] was 100%.

With the slight improvement in protection and the unlocking of impact resistance, it made sense for the appearance of [Armour Fortress] to change as well.

Winnie looked forward to seeing how [Armour Fortress] would transform as he broke through to higher levels in the future.

The young man in front of him clearly had never seen an armor-type soul armament before and mistook the [Armour Fortress] for some kind of enchanted prop.

“Tsk tsk, the young masters from wealthy families are really something else. They’ve got all sorts of tricks to protect themselves,” the young man muttered, clearly resentful.

Judging by his attire, he didn’t come from a wealthy family.

He must have qualified for the assessment because some noble had recognized his talent.

“Brother, where are you from?” The young man approached with a smile, twirling a flying dagger in his hand, and introduced himself in a casual tone.

“I’m from a border town in the Tyrell Empire. How about you?”

“Hey, don’t be so tense. Getting eliminated is just a matter of one move. It’s not life-threatening. You can always come back next year, right? Besides, we might not even have to fight.”

“To be honest, you’re the first person I’ve met in the dungeon. I think we’ve hit it off. Why don’t we sit down and make friends?” The young man looked Winnie up and down, stopping in his tracks to avoid alarming him.

Winnie tilted his head.

What was wrong with this guy’s brain?

He was clearly sizing up the gaps in Winnie’s armor, looking for an opening to attack, thinking Winnie wouldn’t notice.

“You don’t say that to everyone who dodges your sneak attacks, do you?”

“Oh, you’re really wronging me. Don’t always assume the worst of people. Young master, I’m really not a bad guy.” Before the young man could finish speaking, his expression turned sharp, and a flying dagger shot out, aiming for a specific spot on Winnie’s arm.

“Clang!” The knife bounced off again and fell to the ground.

“Tsk… there’s no gap there? This thing is seriously cheating!” The young man gritted his teeth, pointing at Winnie and cursing.

“Aren’t you just bullying me by wearing this to the assessment? If you’ve got the guts, take off this stupid shell and fight me one-on-one!”

“Since when does a sneak attack by a thief count as legitimate?” Winnie shrugged and raised the Frostfang.

“Oh, I’m not bragging. If it weren’t for this turtle shell of yours, I would’ve taken you down long ago! My daggers are coated with poison!” As he spoke, the young man held the dagger in his mouth and made a fierce gesture.

“…”

Winnie was silent for a moment. “So, you still put the knife in your mouth?”

“……”

The young man also fell silent. After a brief pause, his body began to twitch uncontrollably.

“Uoooh!? Help, help me!”

“Ahhhhh! Quick, quick, help…!” The young man writhed in agony, his limbs contorting as his face darkened to a purple-blue hue, with veins bulging prominently on his forehead.

He collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth before he could finish his sentence.

No way, buddy, are you for real?

Winnie was stunned, momentarily wondering how someone like this had managed to survive to adulthood without killing themselves.

He walked forward, utterly speechless.

The token can block attacks, but it can’t stop you from poisoning yourself?

This idiot actually managed to get himself killed in the dungeon, despite all the layers of protection. He’s truly a genius.

But Winnie seemed to recall that the token had an additional layer of protection, it would teleport the holder out of the dungeon if it detected their life was in danger.

However, He wasn’t sure if this guy could last until then.

Winnie approached him, looking down, and pondered whether he should do the decent thing, destroy his token, and send him directly out of the dungeon.

At that moment, the young man’s previously dull eyes suddenly turned sharp.

He rolled over from the ground and lunged at the slit in Winnie’s armor.

“Hahaha, you’ve been fooled!!!” The young man thought he had won and was so thrilled that he couldn’t help but gloat.

However, accompanied by a metallic vibration, the young man felt his arm go numb.

“Sorry, but the slits in this armor are actually protected, they’re just transparent.” After all, this was a Soul Armament, not real armor, and it provided defenses that ordinary armor couldn’t.

Winnie took the opportunity to grab the young man’s wrist, squeezing it painfully.

Winnie thought he was a fool, but it turns out he’s just a shameless schemer.

“Your acting was pretty good. I almost believed it,” Winnie said with a smile.

“You acted so realistically, it wasn’t just acting, was it? You used alchemical drugs too, right? You’re really dedicated. I have to admire your spirit.”

“Humph! To win, you have to do whatever it takes, right?” the young man snorted.

“What do you know? Do you know what it’s like to fight to the death for a scrap of food in a border town?”

“No? A pampered young master like you, who’s never worried about food or clothing, could never understand what it’s like for people like us, living on the edge… If you can’t understand what it feels like to hover between life and death, you’ll never be able to defeat me.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?” Winnie frowned.

Seriously, he’s just a random NPC. Why does he have so much drama?

Man, as a passerby, you should have some self-awareness, okay?

If you lose, you lose. Just say a few tough words and leave.

Why all the melodrama?

Is he going to start shouting about the power of friendship and then charge at me for a finalshowdown?

Come on, you’re not the protagonist.

Why do you get so much screen time?

“This time, I admit I’m outmatched in skill. But even so, you think you can eliminate me? Ha, no way!”

“”How could a wolf like me, who has struggled to survive by the skin of my teeth for years, possibly lose to a sheep like you, pampered and sheltered in a cozy pen!?”

“The more desperate the situation, the more fiercely I unleash my will to survive against all odds. This is who I am…”

[Frost Moon Slash]

With a sweep of the spear, its tip moved like a brush dipped in frosty ink.

Wherever it passed, winter howled, leaving behind a frozen landscape.

The wind and snow swept through, covering the mud and grass with frost, and freezing the young man who had tried to rise and escape.

The young man was still in the midst of his dramatic pose, like a roc spreading its wings, but now he was frozen solid, encased in a layer of ice.

His eyes were bloodshot, locked in a final, desperate expression.

Winnie looked at the frost spreading around him with mild surprise.

Snow and frost swirled in the air, and from a distance, he looked like a snow lotus blooming on the earth.

Wrapped in cold air, he felt no chill at all.

He hadn’t expected the skill to be so powerful.

Perhaps his affinity for the ice element was greater than he’d imagined.

The enchantment he released was astonishingly strong, and with a single move, he eliminated the pretentious young man who was so skilled with poison.

And this was skill he had cast with his own hands, even if it was assisted by enchanted items.

The feeling of casting skill yourself was truly different.

Looking at the situation, he didn’t need to do anything else.

Once the ice melted on its own, the young man would be eliminated.

But who was Winnie? He was a good person and couldn’t bear to see the young man suffer.

He thought it would be better not to prolong the young man’s misery, after all, the guy didn’t seem to have much going on upstairs.

So, Winnie swung his spear down, cleanly slicing the ice sculpture in half.

With a crisp crack, the young man’s token shattered into two pieces, and the man disappeared from the spot.

Winnie checked his own token and saw that his score had increased from 2 points to 12 points.

So, the guy had been lying when he said Winnie was the first person he’d met.

Who knew how many others he’d tricked while hiding here?

Those poor souls probably just felt a slight itch on their necks before being teleported out of the dungeon, left to ask the instructors with confused faces how they’d been eliminated so quickly.

It felt a bit unfair when he thought about it, but they deserved it for being so careless.

From the moment they entered the dungeon, they should have realized they were in a place full of enemies and danger.

How could they not be more vigilant?

After putting the token away, Winnie glanced back at the wilderness and noticed several figures now engaged in fierce battles, fighting each other without a word.

Well, the battle royale had officially begun.

Fighting matches were probably happening in every corner of the dungeon, with candidates from all over the world enthusiastically joining in.

Everyone was a stranger to each other, and they were all afraid of being attacked first.

So, instead of waiting, they took the initiative toeliminate potential threats before they could become problems.

It had only been a short time since the competition started, and already quite a few candidates had been eliminated.

Winnie had no intention of joining the chaos.

He decided to move on, avoiding detection by the others.

Before leaving, he remembered he hadn’t picked up the dropped items yet.

He walked over to where the young man had been sent out and picked up the map that had fallen to the ground.

“Map number three?” Winnie looked at the number on the map and tried to piece it together with the one he already had.

After several attempts, he realized the two maps didn’t align at all.

The edges didn’t match, so he gave up.

“You bastard! I’ll teach you a lesson!”

By now, the wilderness had turned into a full-blown battleground.

The candidates who had initially thought about playing it safe were now completely enraged.

A sturdy candidate, who had been fighting in the center of the chaos, had been attacked by archers lurking on the edges of the battlefield.

In a fit of rage, he abandoned his current opponent and charged straight at the archer, who was using a Bow soul armament.

It seemed he was determined to take down the annoying pest, even if it meant getting eliminated himself.

Winnie shook his head.

These youngsters were still too naive.

At this stage, no one had many points, and there was no urgency about the shrinking activity area.

What was the point of fighting to the death in such an open space?

The sturdy young man’s soul armament was likely [Berserker].

Winnie had heard that this soul armament had an exclusive ability, regardless of the user’s level, called [Frenzy].

Once activated, [Frenzy] halved physical damage taken and doubled the user’s strength.

There was a saying that a berserker’s IQ dropped when [Frenzy] was active, and it wasn’t wrong.

The berserker had indeed started attacking everyone in sight after activating it.

Fortunately, at this stage, most people didn’t have magical attack methods, so he was practically invincible.