Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Backstab (1)
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Sword clashed against sword, parting with a spray of sparks.
Kaang-.
A harsh metallic clang erupted.
Gilbert watched Yuri Holland stagger back repeatedly, utterly captivated by a surge of elation.
‘He’s nothing special?’
The same Yuri Holland who had supposedly taken fifteen paces in the White Tiger style.
He was struggling desperately just to block Gilbert’s light attacks.
‘What if I take down Yuri Holland right here?’
The gazes of the other cadets watching him would undoubtedly change.
With that, Gilbert flashed a bright smile and shouted.
“Had your fun! Time to end this!”
As he shouted, Gilbert’s sword came slicing straight down at Yuri.
Kwaaaaaang!
A massive explosion rang out, dirt and dust erupting like a blast.
‘Got him!’
Gilbert instinctively knew his attack had landed perfectly.
He was certain this single blow had completely knocked Yuri Holland out.
‘My victory!’
As he thought that and tried to pull his sword back—
Grit-.
“Huh?”
The sword wouldn’t budge.
‘...What?’
In a panic, Gilbert strained with all his might to retrieve it, but the sword remained stuck fast, as if wedged in rock.
‘What the hell?!’
He gripped the hilt and grunted for what felt like ages.
As the thick dust finally began to settle, Gilbert at last understood why his sword wouldn’t move.
His sword was...
“What?”
...caught in Yuri’s hand, standing motionless amid the dust.
More precisely, Yuri’s thumb and index finger were pinching the blade.
“Th-this...?!”
The moment flustered Gilbert stammered—
Yuri looked at him and smiled.
“Pathetic insect.”
The voice was utterly flat and emotionless, belying the smile on his face.
The massive presence emanating from that resonating voice sent chills crawling up Gilbert’s spine.
Instinctively sensing he needed a weapon, he desperately tried to yank the sword free.
But it still wouldn’t move an inch.
“L-let go!”
As Gilbert kept grunting futilely, Yuri’s smile deepened, a low rumble emanating from him.
“Did you have fun?”
At that question, Gilbert froze solid as he looked at Yuri.
‘E-eyes?!’
Those golden eyes, clearly human just moments ago.
Now, the pupils were slit vertically, like a reptile’s.
And Yuri’s transformation didn’t stop there.
Grgrgrit-.
His body became wrapped in dark shadows, writhing like mud.
Soon, it began to swell in size.
3m.
4m.
5m.
6m.
As it rapidly expanded, Gilbert’s head tilted back further and further.
The moment he beheld the colossal form sculpted from black mud, his jaw dropped.
A massive serpent’s body covered in glossy black scales.
Antlers like a deer’s, shimmering with rainbow hues, and a silver lion’s mane.
Even a face resembling a dragon’s.
As far as Gilbert knew, there was only one name for such a being.
“...Dragon?!”
The divine beast dragon (龍) from ancient Eastern legends.
The black dragon’s sudden appearance left Gilbert frozen in shock.
‘I-I have to run...’
His mind screamed it dozens of times, but the massive golden eyes gazing down at him blanked his thoughts to white.
Toward the trembling Gilbert, like leaves in the wind, the black dragon pronounced judgment.
[Now pay the price for your little game.]
With those words, the black dragon’s vicious maw gaped wide.
Kroooarrr!
With a deafening roar, fangs like blades hurtled toward Gilbert.
And then.
“Uwaaaaaah!”
Feeling as if his body was being shredded by those razor teeth, Gilbert bolted upright.
Opening his eyes, he frantically patted his torso.
Only after confirming no wounds anywhere did he let out a sigh of relief.
“Haa... It was a d-dream.”
He muttered, then shuddered with a jolt.
‘...A dream?’
Since when?
Where had the dream even started?
As he pondered, a throbbing pain hit one eye.
“Owww...”
The moment he clutched his aching eye, Gilbert realized.
‘I-I got knocked out... in one hit?’
The instant he’d first faced Yuri Holland.
That white fist flying at him—he’d blacked out right then.
The realization flooded him with shame, and he quickly scanned his surroundings.
‘N-no one saw, right?’
As he frantically looked around—
In the distance, blue hair and black hair entered his view.
‘B-black hair?!’
Maybe because of the dream he’d just had.
The sight of black hair seized him with inexplicable dread, and he quickly lay back down, squeezing his eyes shut.
How much time passed after that?
Two sets of footsteps thudded near Gilbert.
Soon, two voices followed.
“This guy still out? Yuri, how hard did you hit him?”
“I went easy. This punk’s got trash durability, that’s why he’s still down.”
At the words “trash durability,” Gilbert nearly yelled out in denial, forgetting he was pretending to be unconscious.
With superhuman restraint, he forced down his twitching eyelids.
‘Al-most got caught.’
Gilbert praised his own patience.
He figured no one had noticed.
But Yuri saw his eyebrows quiver beneath closed lids.
And Gilbert had no way of knowing Yuri had signaled Arin with his eyes.
Blink blink-.
Arin caught Yuri’s signal and blinked back knowingly.
Then she delivered her prepared line.
“But Yuri.”
“Yeah.”
“What now? You gonna back off just like this?”
“Back off? Nah, gotta keep pounding him.”
“Keep going? Our attacks barely work anymore, though? You saw it earlier—those other kids swarming in groups. We’re just three.”
“Who said we’re just three?”
“We are, right? You, me, Poppi.”
“Yeah, if it’s just our squad, sure. But...”
“But?”
“Wait and see. That punk’s supposed to give a decent signal.”
“That punk? Who’s that?”
“That’s...”
Gilbert’s ears perked up at the conversation between Yuri Holland and Arin.
Something profoundly meaningful.
And the “punk” they mentioned.
‘Who the hell is that punk?’
Holding his breath, Gilbert waited for more.
But then.
“Hey, they’re chasing us.”
“What? Already?!”
The two voices startled and grew frantic.
Soon, the sound of them kicking off the ground rang out, and their presence faded into the distance.
Once they were completely gone—
Gilbert shot up and yelled.
“So who the hell is that punk!”
* * *
“So who the hell is that punk?”
It was the 5th Squad Leader’s question, after hearing the conversation between Arin and Yuri that Gilbert had relayed.
Gilbert shrugged and pointed at Clarice.
“How should I know? She chased ’em off right when I was about to hear.”
“Hmm.”
As Gilbert pointed, all eyes turned to Clarice, who cleared her throat softly.
Meanwhile, Gunter, who’d been quietly observing, spoke up.
“Clarice, calling just us here means you think that ‘punk’ you’re imagining... is someone in 3rd Platoon colluding with Yuri Holland, right?”
At his words, the others finally caught on and looked at Clarice.
‘Sure... we could’ve had this talk before 3rd Platoon rotated out, but she waited till after...’
Just as Gunter said—Clarice believed the colluder was in 3rd Platoon.
And to Gunter’s question, Clarice nodded.
“Yeah, I think he’s in 3rd Platoon.”
No sooner had he answered than the 10th Squad Leader pressed aggressively.
“Who?”
“Well...”
Clarice didn’t answer right away.
He swept his gaze over the other squad leaders staring at him, his face pensive.
Impatient, the 10th Squad Leader snapped.
“Why the damn suspense?”
As the others joined in with agreeing glares, Clarice finally replied in a low voice.
“The one I suspect... is Schurmann Hans.”
“...?!”
The room erupted in shock at Clarice’s words.
Objections flew immediately.
“That’s ridiculous. Schurmann’s the one who formed this alliance in the first place!”
“Yeah, what reason would he have?”
As some defended Schurmann, Clarice countered.
“Didn’t any of you feel something off?”
“Off?”
“Don’t you think everything flowed too smoothly? From Yuri Holland’s taunt, to Schurmann’s alliance proposal... right up to Yuri cutting down the vanguard. It all connected too naturally.”
“...True, it did.”
As someone nodded in agreement, opposition voices rose again.
“That’s speculation. Sure, it flowed smoothly, but pinning Schurmann as the colluder on that alone is a bad guess. And what’s his motive? He gains nothing.”
Another counter came—not from Clarice, but another squad leader.
“By that logic, proposing this alliance and planning the strategy doesn’t benefit him either, right?”
“Why not? It’s about catching Yuri Holland.”
“You’re missing the point—this quest isn’t about catching Yuri Holland. It’s to decide the final winning squad. That’s why it’s no benefit. If I were Schurmann, I’d let Yuri take out other strong squads. That’d help me. Right?”
“Hmm...”
With no easy rebuttal, someone else chimed in.
“Honestly, I’ve thought Schurmann was off for a while. Look around. Everyone here’s top 20. Even non-leaders in our squads are leagues above the vanguard. The front-runners who got wiped were all scrubs.”
“...”
“We just need to deal with Yuri Holland, and we’re all enemies. Helping preserve a potential rival’s forces? Does that make sense?”
“A bit weird, yeah. Unless he’s got some scheme.”
Debate raged here and there over Schurmann’s actions.
Those doubting him began pointing out everything.
“If Schurmann really is the colluder... the info he gave on Yuri Holland might be fabricated too.”
“Maybe Yuri didn’t solo the vanguard—that could be exaggerated or faked.”
Clarice’s initial suspicion among the squad leaders kept snowballing.
Then someone shifted the topic.
“But it doesn’t have to be Schurmann, right? Could be someone here. Or someone in 3rd Platoon.”
“You saying... you suspect us?”
“No, just saying.”
As mutual suspicion peaked, Gunter intervened.
“Why assume there’s a colluder at all?”
“What’s that mean?”
“Why think one of us is colluding? Yuri Holland could’ve leaked false info on purpose to divide us, even without one.”
Gilbert bristled at that.
“You saying I got duped by Yuri Holland’s trick and brought back fake info?”
“If I had to put it that way, yeah.”
Gilbert glared sharply at the matter-of-fact Gunter.
Then the 22nd Squad Leader spoke.
“I’ll vote there is one. Otherwise, this perfectly tailored situation makes no sense.”
Several nodded in agreement at his rebuttal.
Gunter’s mediation attempt fizzled...
“So who’s the colluder?”
“What’d you hear? There might not even be one!”
“I say there is. But you... why keep steering it toward no colluder? Unless you...”
“Unless what?”
“You’re the colluder?”
“What?! You done mouthing off?!”
The spark Yuri had lit began to blaze.
* * *
Crackle crackle-.
Yuri, Arin, and Poppi sat idly around the roaring campfire.
Gazing at the bright flames, Arin asked.
“Yuri, so if the spark turns into a blaze like you said... what next? What’s the plan?”
To her question, Yuri tossed another log into the fire and replied.
“Dunno, what should we do?”
Though his mouth said “dunno,” a sly smile played on his lips.
A smile hinting at some scheme.