Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Dragon Plaque Hunt (4)
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Most people probably thought this Dragon Plaque Hunt was a festival and reward for the second-years.
Yuri had thought so at first, too.
But it wasn't.
There was just one thing.
The reward the Cradle had prepared for the reserve knights.
'No, is this actually a reward for me?'
Yuri had stumbled upon it by accident.
It was just a guess based on a clue that slipped out during his conversation with Jerry.
Even Yuri wasn't 100% sure that "it" was what the Cradle had prepared for the reserves.
He still wasn't sure now, as he raced southward.
Even so, Yuri kept running because he was convinced he could claim that item.
'Whether it's something the Cradle prepared for the reserves or not, I just need to get my hands on it by any means necessary, right?'
That's why Yuri had abandoned the option of hiding safely and headed into the forest where the Dragon Plaque Hunt was in full swing.
To seize that gift no one else had claimed.
Yuri's eyes gleamed brightly in the darkness.
'I have to reach the target point without causing any commotion.'
By now, plenty of 49th Cohort members were probably fuming, chasing point-less empty golden goblins.
In that situation, Yuri wandering around with a large box on his back would look incredibly suspicious.
No need to stir up trouble, so he had to move without drawing eyes.
Rustle-rustle-.
Yuri moved stealthily from tree to tree, slipping through the shadows.
His smooth journey hit a snag when he'd crossed about two-thirds of the Starting Forest.
Just as he crossed a shallow stream.
A small shadow darted out from behind a tree.
Whoosh-.
At the same moment, a sharp aura flew toward Yuri's thigh with a faint whoosh.
Splat-.
"……?!"
Any ordinary reserve knight would have been pierced in the leg by that attack long ago.
But Yuri was different.
Demon Flow.
The senses of the Demon Flow he'd kept open while crossing the forest had detected the threatening intruder disrupting the calm currents.
Cloud Step.
This technique, pursuing ultimate freedom, allowed Yuri—who had been charging forward—to defy physics and retreat backward.
Splash-.
Yuri landed back on the opposite stream bank, leaving a long skid mark on the gravel.
He'd successfully evaded the attack targeting him.
But his expression wasn't bright.
"Hmm……."
Yuri looked down at his leg with a hardened face.
Through the 10cm tear in his pants, his firm thigh muscles were visible.
'I used Cloud Step, but... I still couldn't dodge it completely?'
Yuri's face went blank as he raised his head to look straight ahead.
The attacker stood facing him across the frozen stream.
About 160cm tall, with a slender build.
Emerald-green hair casually tied up with a tree branch.
Crimson eyes radiating toughness.
And a single long spear slung diagonally across her body.
Seeing the beautiful girl who looked about his age, Yuri recalled his last conversation with Jerry.
[People to watch out for? Of course. The 49th has two White Dragon Placers and six Gold Dragon Placers, but the real one to fear isn't them. It's the one with the Yellow Dragon Plaque. The so-called strongest Yellow Dragon Placer, you could say.]
The top of the 49th Cohort.
The strongest Yellow Dragon Placer.
And...
[The lower Dragon Placers in the 49th have been waiting for this hunt. It's a chance to swap for a better one for free! In that sense, she'll be especially desperate.]
The person most on edge during this Dragon Plaque Hunt.
Jerry had told him her name, matching the outward features of the attacker before him.
"...Teresa Winchester."
Yuri's murmur hung softly between them.
* * *
In the Dragon's Cradle, a Yellow Dragon Plaque marked the absolute bottom rung.
They made up the largest portion of each incoming class of reserve knights, but they were the first to get weeded out in the Cradle's trials.
In the bug-ridden dump known as the Starting Forest, 90% of Yellow Dragon Placers got filtered out.
Of those who barely survived to become full knights and last a year, how many would make it to five?
The odds were next to zero, without question.
Yellow Dragon Placers were essentially handouts for those unfit for the Cradle.
But exceptions happened now and then.
Say a family needed to send two to the Cradle but had only one recommendation plaque.
One would enter via plaque recommendation, the other via donation.
Even then, the one with the Yellow Dragon Plaque rarely shone.
Families would naturally use the plaque on the more talented one.
The lesser talent got culled.
In that light, 'Teresa Winchester' was a disruptor of the 49th Cohort's ecosystem.
A girl who'd risen late despite her Yellow Dragon Plaque, now hailed as the undisputed strongest in the cohort.
Yuri scratched his cheek lightly as he looked at her.
'She's a bit different from what I imagined.'
From Jerry's description, he'd pictured a typical brawler.
A rough, savage one.
But the real Teresa gave off no such vibe.
Her expression was blank, but she looked fragile and pure instead.
If he hadn't heard from Jerry first.
And if he hadn't tasted her spear firsthand, he might've just seen her as a pretty girl.
'She's strong.'
Very different from his expectations, but Yuri sensed much in the crimson eyes fixed on him.
Resolve.
Strength.
And...
'Malice.'
Teresa's gaze was one only someone who'd pushed themselves to the brink could have.
Yuri recognized it instantly.
It was the same as his own eyes after six months of brutal training.
That's why he couldn't underestimate her.
Yuri clicked his tongue softly.
"Tch... I thought I'd dodged well, but I run into the one person I most needed to avoid."
He'd skirted the small fry to avoid noise, only to bump right into the biggest threat.
Teresa murmured low, as if to herself, upon hearing Yuri's lament.
"You know me?"
Unless he'd misheard, she'd called his name exactly right.
But among the 49th Cohort she knew, no one like him existed.
Teresa observed Yuri.
'No epaulet even.'
A boy with long black bangs half-covering his face.
No yellow epaulet marking the 49th, so definitely a new reserve knight.
That's why she was shocked.
'A mere reserve dodged my thrust?'
It had been a perfect ambush.
Not full power, but aimed to cripple a leg.
And he'd dodged it.
No one in the 49th could evade her ambush that cleanly.
Not even a White Dragon Placer.
'Talent?'
Or luck?
Easy way to check.
Whoosh-.
Teresa spun her torso wide, aiming her long spear at Yuri.
She stepped forward, gripped it lightly with both hands, and pulled her center of gravity back.
Scrape-.
The gravel under her feet screamed.
Yuri inwardly clicked his tongue at the sight.
'Tch, looks like I can't just brush this off.'
He'd wanted to avoid clash and leave, but her aura was no joke.
And she was blocking the exact path he needed.
Already swamped with urgency, no slipping away easy.
'She's lethal.'
Just looking at the spear tip aimed his way chilled his spine.
Yuri set down the wooden box on his back and drew his sword.
Seeing it, Teresa's eyes flashed coldly.
"Hope that dodge wasn't luck."
With that warning, her legs kicked off the ground.
Crunch-.
The gravel under her foot shattered under the pressure.
Her taut backward center of gravity snapped forward.
The added explosive push from the ground launched her body ahead.
Splat-.
Her charge whistled like a loosed arrow.
Her form blurred and vanished simultaneously.
The instant Teresa crossed the stream, her sharp spear tip was already slicing toward Yuri's leg.
'Huh, same spot as before?'
Did the failed first strike bruise her pride?
Teresa targeted the exact same place.
Her strike held no hesitation.
Pure intent to impale the foe.
Of course, Yuri wasn't about to take it.
Sway-.
Yuri's form shimmered like spring heat haze.
Teresa's pupils quivered in shock.
Her spear pierced his leg.
Or so it seemed.
Clang!
The leg looked run through but was fine, and his sword whipped out like lightning.
Her spear shaft flung wide from the clash, but it spun snake-like, coiling back toward his leg.
'Persistent!'
Yuri responded calmly.
Clang- clang- clang-.
His sword strikes bent the spear's eerie path three times.
Not content, Yuri slipped inside the spear's trajectory, forcing Teresa back.
The exchange took barely three seconds.
Even a normal person would struggle to follow with their eyes, but neither had gone all-out.
Just a light probe.
They faced off at four meters apart.
Silence hung briefly before Teresa spoke first.
"Not luck... skill."
The bangs-boy's ability was real.
A mere exchange revealed plenty.
'At least White Dragon Placer level.'
To parry her attacks so casually, he'd need to be White Dragon or better among reserves.
A faint smile curved Teresa's lips.
'Lucky me.'
Her goal in this hunt: shed the hated Yellow Dragon Placer label.
Ideally, snag at least a Gold Dragon Plaque.
She needed luck.
The slim odds of encountering a higher plaque holder in this vast Starting Forest.
Stumbling on a presumed White Dragon Placer? How could she not be thrilled?
Yuri shrugged at her faint smile toward him.
"Skill's what I do."
"Seems so. You're a reserve, right?"
"Ever seen anyone like me in the 49th?"
"No."
"Then I'm a reserve, right?"
The lips visible under his bangs twisted slightly.
Teresa's brow furrowed at the sight.
"I'm 49th Cohort. Pass this trial, and you'll be 50th."
"So?"
"Show respect to your senior."
"We're swinging blades at each other— that's important now?"
"It is. That's the Cradle's way."
"Hmm, yeah?"
Yuri stroked his chin lightly and nodded.
'This Cradle place is weird, huh.'
Brawling like this, yet fussing over senior-junior.
Even funnier that it carried over to society.
Yuri nodded roughly.
"Fine, Cradle rules for Cradle folk. But Senior Teresa..."
He paused there.
His eyes, hidden by bangs, quickly scanned the surroundings.
Teresa across the stream.
Distance between them.
The wooden box's position.
Calculations done in a flash, a provocative smile played on Yuri's lips.
"Hmm, Senior Teresa... man, that name's a mouthful. Anyway, Senior Tess."
"...What?"
Teresa's brow furrowed at his playful tone.
Regardless of her expression.
Yuri kept grinning, saying his piece.
"Funny situation, right? Senior Tess wants my plaque too, yeah?"
"Don't change my name however you like."
"But if Tess takes mine, I can't join 50th... so I won't be your junior anyway?"
"I said don't call me Tess."
He stubbornly stuck to "Tess" despite her warning.
Meanwhile, he inched his feet toward the wooden box he'd set down during their clash.
He kept yapping to distract her.
"Don't like Tess? Senior?"
"……."
"Why? It's short, easy to remember... cute?"
"...Don't make me regret it. Warning."
"Why~? Tess. Tess. Tess. Tess. Tess. Tesssss!"
As Yuri's teasing crossed the line, cold fury surged in Teresa's eyes.
"I said..."
A chilling voice leaked from her lips.
"Don't do something you'll regret."
Her body pulled taut backward again, upper body tilting back.
Her waist bent like a drawn bow.
The spear in her hands evoked an arrow nocked on the string.
And.
Twang-.
Like a released bowstring, her spear snapped forward.
Her form vanished with it.
As if melting into the spear's shadow.
Winchester family secret martial art.
Rebounding Shadow.
Alarm bells rang in Yuri's mind.
'Fast!'
Teresa's weapon was the spear.
His only real-combat opponent, Mu Chi, was also a spear user.
But their styles differed utterly.
Mu Chi, inheriting Ralph Schnell's physical prowess, wielded crushing power laced with technique.
Teresa pierced with elegance and extreme speed.
From Yuri's view, she might be trickier.
And that fact spurred him on.
'Think you're fast?'
As she hid in the spear's shadow, faint thunder crackled over Yuri's body.
'But what about this? I won't lose in speed.'
Redner family secret martial art.
Thunder Wings.
Crackle-.
A blaze of light flashed, and Yuri's form vanished completely.