Chapter 9
Chapter 9
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: Promotion Exam (3)
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I quickly turned my head, and there was another monster tangled up with Ethan.
Ethan had his nape bitten by it, his side torn open.
Red blood was pouring out, soaking the ground.
“That dumbass?!”
He got taken down that easily?
No sooner had the doubt arisen than the force pulling my arm loosened.
The monster I’d been fighting lunged toward me.
“Hup!”
Right after it kicked off the ground, I swung my left arm, wrapped in its tongue.
“Kieaak!”
The monster’s body floated up into the air.
Swinging my arm with all my might, I smashed it into the one entangled with Ethan.
With a dull thud, the two monsters and one human tumbled like bowling pins hit by a ball.
I immediately switched my weapon to the longsword and severed the monster’s tongue.
The moment black blood splashed onto my face, I was already charging forward.
By then, the weapon in my hand had changed back to the spear, which I hurled at the monster’s back as it tried to rise, exposing its rear to me.
Almost simultaneously, the tongue-severed monster rushed at me.
My focus sharpened once more, and everything around me began to slow down.
I blocked its upward-slicing claws with my left forearm.
Then, the motion of drawing the longsword from storage flowed as smoothly as water.
Slash—!
Its chest split open, black blood spraying out.
Without stopping, I pivoted on my front foot, spinning my body.
As I sliced horizontally with the sword in hand.
Screech.
With a chilling sound, the monster’s head floated into the air.
Black blood fountained from the severed neck.
「Successfully eliminated the enemy…….」
Even as the message appeared, I kept moving.
Toward the one skewered on the spear, wriggling on the ground.
Amid the pattering black rain, my sword plunged toward its head.
The moment the contaminated mana began absorbing again, the blade pierced its solid skull.
My body collapsed.
「Contaminated mana exists within the body. Check your Chaos Value.」
「Mental contamination beginning.」
「Purify the contaminated mana.」
After writhing in agony amid the monsters’ corpses, another voice echoed in my head.
“Hah, hah…….”
Having absorbed mana twice, I slumped to the ground.
The absorption process was excruciating.
At this rate, fighting multiples would be impossible.
There’d be mana absorbed bit by bit during combat anyway.
“You fucking bastard…….”
What kind of game did they make like this?
I couldn’t contain the bubbling rage.
I’d never felt goodwill toward the system before.
But even so, this was off.
It didn’t feel like my emotions, yet it pretended to be.
Creepy, disgusting, teeth-gritting.
I tried ignoring the voice in my head.
Having experienced it once, unlike before, I could barely suppress the killing intent.
Turning my head, I saw Ethan clutching his wound.
Seeing him, my first reaction was irritation.
‘What’s the point if he can’t even handle one?’
With skills like that, he’d just be dead weight.
I’d answered the dilemma I’d pondered before the monsters appeared.
Better to move alone than carry baggage.
I was a bit worried about running into groups.
‘If it looks dangerous, I’ll bolt.’
Clicking my tongue, I opened my status window. Chaos Value had risen again.
I’d absorbed 62 and 57 mana, bringing total mana to 311.33.
In that state, Chaos Value was about 38%.
The proportion of contaminated mana in my total mana was the Chaos Value.
‘What happens if it gets higher?’
Even at just over 30, emotion control was this bad.
What would happen if it rose more?
Glaring at the status window, I gritted my teeth and pulled out a purifier.
‘Hold on.’
But this time, instead of swallowing it immediately, I hesitated.
I only had three purifiers left.
Having used one already, eating it now would leave just one.
‘Does one purify everything?’
Or is there a fixed purification amount?
Either way, I didn’t need to use it right now.
I didn’t know how many more I’d hunt.
Contaminated mana would keep accumulating.
Plus, I didn’t even know where to get more.
“Shop.”
I muttered on a whim. The tutorial was over, after all.
「Shop services unavailable on Beta Server.」
But the damn system screwed me over as expected.
From the situation, purifiers were essential.
Missions would continue, and killing those monsters always came with contaminated mana.
The structure made purifiers necessary.
Yet the system didn’t even tell me how to obtain them.
The pent-up anger from before writhed.
As if seizing the chance to escape my control.
An absurd description, but the most accurate.
“Urgh…….”
Forcing down the rage, I glared at the white bead in my hand.
The raging fury sharpened my reason instead.
I’d always had a hot temper, but not this extreme.
This emotional shift wasn’t normal.
I couldn’t yield to the abnormal voice in my head.
My grip tightened on the purifier.
‘Not now—let it build up more, then use it.’
After deciding, I ground my teeth and stood.
Ethan groaned and staggered to his feet.
I didn’t spare him a glance as I recovered my weapons.
Then I pulled clothes from storage and tore them into strips.
My arm was wounded from blocking the monster’s claws earlier.
Not deep, but torn long enough to bleed steadily.
In a mission with unknown end time, ongoing bleeding was a burden.
“Tch.”
I wrapped the cloth around my arm, compressing the wound, then checked the mission window.
The moment I saw the number, my face twisted.
‘6/13.’
It had gone up while I checked.
I’d killed three, so the other three were by different players.
If one person killed those three, our records would tie.
I needed to move faster.
It was ridiculous that I had to chase monsters on foot right now.
How did it come to this?
With a deep sigh, I gripped the spear firmly and stepped forward.
But I had to stop after a few steps.
Due to the presence I sensed behind me.
While I’d checked the mission, Ethan had torn his clothes to bandage his wound, just like me.
‘This guy trying to freeloader.’
I was suppressing the surging killing intent and rage from contaminated mana.
My nerves were on edge.
Ethan following as if it were natural made my blood boil.
I instantly aimed the spear at him.
Ethan flinched and stopped.
His throat bobbed heavily.
“Don’t follow.”
Even without shared language, the meaning got across.
As proof, he started babbling desperately in English.
Pleading to take him along, not to abandon him.
His trembling body showed his raw fear.
Unlike me, he couldn’t handle even one monster properly.
No wonder he was terrified.
With skills like that, who knows how he took down the polar bear.
Scowling deeply, I flipped him off.
I couldn’t drag around someone useless when I needed to secure first place, risking my life.
No sooner had I shaken him off and turned than I sensed him doggedly following.
‘This fucker.’
The rage, slipping my control at the slightest trigger, manifested in action.
I hurled the spear at Ethan, a few steps away.
Thud—it pierced the ground by his feet, quivering.
“Hiek!”
I approached step by step, taking in Ethan who’d fallen backward.
“I said don’t follow.”
My ragged breathing, synced with emotion, felt foreign.
I yanked the spear from the ground.
The impulse to kill him right there surged.
To resist, I had to suppress myself madly.
My steps away from Ethan grew rough.
I had to get away from that idiot somehow.
Then this stifling rage wouldn’t be provoked.
“Ha!”
But I didn’t get far before halting abruptly.
A sudden doubt.
Was ditching Ethan really my judgment?
Abandon a burden who couldn’t fight one and was injured?
The words in my head made it seem obvious.
Why this anxiety, this foul mood?
Gritting my teeth, I closed my eyes and panted heavily.
Then, at some point.
“Uwaaaah!”
Unable to contain the rising anger, I roared.
Punching out, a tree beside me snapped with a crack.
I stared at the mana rippling in my hand.
Darker than usual. Not just red—mixed with black? Was it my imagination?
As I watched, I turned back out of defiance.
I didn’t want to be swayed easily by this contaminated mana.
Striding forward, I soon spotted Ethan.
I hadn’t gone far anyway.
He’d been clutching the spear in his sprawled position, wiping tears, then scrambled up upon seeing me.
Watching the bigger guy snivel irritated me again.
“I’m losing my mind…….”
Since this game started, my swearing had increased.
Scowling, I crooked my finger at him.
Ethan started with sobs—hic, heep, hah—odd noises.
Yet he limped toward me, pitiful and pathetic.
With a long sigh, I re-bandaged the cloth around his neck and side.
* * *
After teaming with Ethan, we found only one more monster.
I killed it, obviously.
My score: 4 total. Mission count: 11/13.
‘Hope no one’s outpacing me.’
The system gave rewards based on performance.
First place got the most, naturally.
From the tutorial, it emphasized tiered rewards by score.
I could lose first if careless.
Anxiously grinding my teeth, I hustled around.
But speed wouldn’t pick up.
Ethan’s stamina plummeted from continuous bleeding.
Eventually, he couldn’t walk properly—I had to carry him.
“What am I even doing…….”
Carrying an injured guy in this situation was absurd.
Just ditch him. The voice in my head whispered to kill Ethan.
Why volunteer for this suffering?
“Sorry…….”
Ethan apologized sporadically amid gasps.
Fortunately—or not—killing intent eased each time.
The boiling anger persisted, though.
“Ao!”
Venturing frustration on nearby trees while walking, then—
I caught a faint sound and changed direction.
Rushing toward it, another monster appeared.
The new one paced before a white wall.
‘What’s that?’
Rough rocks at the wall’s edge suggested a cave entrance.
Sensing me, it turned and bellowed, jaws wide.
“Kyaaaak!”
Scanning it quickly, I scowled.
Beside it lay a large furry beast and human corpse, stacked.
Blood trails stretched around, like it dragged them.
‘Why?’
Something felt off, but no time to think.
The aggressive monster wouldn’t wait.
As I set Ethan down, it kicked off the ground.
I charged too.
As distance closed, it gaped its mouth.
I was used to their tongue-first pattern now.
Boldly grabbing its tongue, I closed in.
When it entered spear range.
A spear materialized in my empty hand.
A cold smirk tugged my lips.
If blades were risky, hide and stab.
Thrust.
“Kkieek!”
It couldn’t dodge the spear in its gut.
But refusing easy defeat, it gripped the shaft and pushed in.
“You tough bastard!”
With spear in belly, it closed fast and kicked up.
A heavy impact slammed my side.
Crack—something broke.
Ribs, probably.
“Urk!”
As my body slid sideways, my neck was grabbed.
I wrapped mana around my right hand and struck its arm upward.
Crunch.
The shattered bone pierced its black fur.
Suddenly, my feet left ground—floating sensation.
It had coiled my leg with its tongue, lifting.
Leg up, head down naturally.
Skull smacked ground with a thud, then I flew across air.
Toward the white wall where the monster had stood.
Just seconds.
It had already turned and charged.
Midair, I drew the longsword from storage.
As my back hit the white wall.
「Hidden mission zone discovered.」
「Trait ????? detected.」
「Entry conditions met.」
「Entering hidden mission zone.」
「Purifier (×5) provided.」
What?
Damn system