Chapter 56 He's Not Stopping
Chapter 56 He's Not Stopping
"If he can have the best trainers, I don't see why he can't become the next Agnes Araneid or Selas Moon."
"Those are big names," Jason mumbled.
"Indeed," Jess agreed. "A couple more potential rankers seem to have appeared in the academies who could give them a run for their money in a few years."
"Unfortunately, Warden wants to join as a combat instructor at the academy," Jason said.
"That's actually not a bad option," Jess said, narrowing her eyes. "If one lacks funds and backing, the academies are where you get the most benefit."
Jason scowled at her, then turned his eyes back to the screen. He sighed in resignation. "He probably will get in after what he showed," he said. "Even if he can't teach much, the academy would like to have capable people who can keep the students safe in the dungeons."
Not to mention, he seemed to have some relationship with Professor June. Although the Elven woman didn't have much sway in the Third Academy beyond her position, she was a respected figure. If she wanted, Warden would get the job, either way.
"Let's see how he does in the combat test."
On the screen, the surroundings changed again as darkness fell over the region. Warden stood up as howls from wild animals echoed from all directions. He didn't waste a moment, drawing his blade and waiting for the beasts to attack him.
A common iron-ranked wolf lunged at him, even though dozens of them howled from the darkness. Warden's blade flashed, blood sprayed in the air, and the beheaded corpse fell to the ground.
This time, two wolves came, but the results were the same, even though they tried to gang up on him.
Warden waited as four approached this time, and now he had to move his body. With each wolf he killed, their numbers doubled in the next round, and the difficulty rose exponentially.
"How far do you think he'll go?" Jason asked.
"He'll probably fall when the number rises to thirty-two," Tess said. "His weakness is his low stat. Even if he can kill the wolves, he'll be exhausted and run out of energy." Nôv(el)B\\jnn
Warden had to sprint around when the number rose to eight, while also making sure he wasn't depleting too much of his energy. His recovery rate was high, which was a relief, but he wasn't sure how long he could keep up with the number of foes doubling each time.
Warden finally suffered a scratch in the next round when there were sixteen iron-ranked wolves. These wolves were similar to the cursed ones Warden had killed but had higher attribute points and regenerative abilities. His entire face was covered in blood as he made sure to behead the wolves, since anything less seemed to regenerate within seconds. This strategy significantly depleted his energy reserves, leaving him with barely a fifth of it.
"He hasn't taken a serious injury yet," Tess said, sounding surprised. "His leg movements are honed, far better than his swordsmanship."
"He mentioned he prefers a spear over a sword," Jason muttered next to her. In his test, Warden had managed to defeat the sixteen wolves and fell in the round with thirty-two foes, earning him a Grade-B. If he tried now, he would probably make it, though the fight would be exhausting.
As the battle progressed, more claw marks appeared on Warden's leg. Although his light armor looked sleek and provided decent protection, it managed to save him from all critical damage to his chest, while Warden was capable enough to protect his head.
His blade seemed to have lengthened quite a bit throughout the fight. Jason couldn't tell if it was the sword or if the energy was making it possible, as observed on the screen.
Finally, he defeated the last of the sixteen wolves, his body filthy with splatters of blood and gore, surrounded by beheaded wolf corpses and severed limbs.
Like before, the test didn't give him time to recover his energy, as more wolves came in knocking. This time there were thirty-two of them. However, instead of facing them, Warden began running in the other direction.
"What is he doing?" the young girl with the machete asked after finishing her test.
Warden's test seemed to have attracted most of the people present in the facility to watch, as it was not every day someone achieved high results. Not to mention, Jason himself brought him here, which already made more people take notice.
"Probably taking his time to recover some energy," Jess said, shaking her head. "It's futile. He won't be able to recover one-tenth of his energy this way, but even if he had all his energy, thirty-two wolves were no joke."
Warden hadn't made any indecisive moves in the battle. He only swung his blade twice, and both times he slew two wolves. For the rest of the time, he simply ran around, dodging attacks.
He kept going like this until he killed six more wolves and finally decided to change his gear. His movements changed abruptly as he broke through the packs of wolves, his blade's length rising to an unprecedented level. It was over eight feet now, and with one swing, he killed off four opponents.
"What the hell?!" Jason stepped forward towards the screen. He had never seen a sword like that.
"What kind of attack was that?" the spectators discussed.
"The guy clearly wasn't a swordsman," Tess said. "But it seems just becoming a swordsman wouldn't be enough with a weapon like that."
Warden's pace didn't stop. He moved with utter dominance, the wolves barely standing a chance against the full scope of his power. It happened within a dozen or so seconds, but those dozen or so seconds were utterly terrifying and glorious to watch.
Warden had killed sixteen wolves in those dozen seconds.
But that seemed to have taken everything out of him, as his movements became sluggish. The blade emitted dark purple smoke no more.
"H-he ran out of energy," Jason sighed.
"But he's not stopping."