Path of Radiant Ascension
I returned to Ipmaso.
The third trial was over.
The top ten performers received spiritual elixirs — Demon Essence Pills. This time, I didn't hand mine off to anyone. I took it myself.
After that, the same tedious routine settled back in. Still, I had it better than most. I had Seomun So-ryeo as a sex partner, and at night I could go find Yeon Ye-ha and take her.
Something about Yeon Ye-ha had changed. I couldn't quite put my finger on what — she was always so expressionless. But she had become more assertive than before. When she sucked me off, or when she rode me and rolled her hips, she would do things I hadn't even asked for. She herself didn't seem to notice.
Time flowed on, and the day of the fourth trial arrived.
It was also Ipmaso's final examination. Pass this, and you would be assigned to one of the Heavenly Demon Cult's units and put to work. Where you ended up depended entirely on your scores.
"The fourth trial is to find and retrieve the Blackwood Beads hidden within the Demon Entrance Cavern."
Bae Taek-ju, the Director of Ipmaso, addressed the remaining recruits.
One hundred thirty of us had survived to the fourth trial. According to the instructors, that was above average.
The Demon Entrance Cavern was an artificial cave system beneath Ipmaso, opened only once a year for this final examination.
"You will each enter the cavern through separate entrances, spaced far apart. There are thirty Blackwood Beads hidden inside. That means one hundred of you one hundred thirty will receive the lowest possible score. But rest easy — even if you score at the bottom, none of you who have made it this far will be expelled."
Not expelled, maybe. But your grades would be wrecked.
Nobody here was ignorant of that fact.
"Inside the cavern, everything is permitted. You may kill each other. You may steal Blackwood Beads. You may gather allies and move as a group. All that matters is that you bring back a Blackwood Bead by any means necessary. Show us your strength in the Demon Entrance Cavern. And do not forget — we will be watching."
Bae Taek-ju swept the crowd with an oppressive gaze, then continued.
"The fourth trial begins in one shichen from now. Follow your instructors' directions."
The instructors managed the recruits with iron control. They wouldn't even allow conversation between us.
Pointless. Every recruit already knew what the fourth trial was. The final exam was the same every year — there was no way not to know.
Those who meant to form teams had already done so.
And that included me. First Squad. The five of us, centered on Cheon Yu-un, had already agreed to stick together inside the cavern.
"Number 123. This is your starting point."
The instructor pointed at the floor. The characters for one hundred twenty-three were carved into the stone.
"It will open when the time comes. Enter the Demon Entrance Cavern through the hole."
The instructor left, herding other recruits away.
I stared quietly down at the floor. The fourth trial was identical to the original novel.
The entry method is different from the original, though. The interior of the cavern is probably a little different too. I heard they stocked it with dangerous monsters this time…
The entrance wasn't opening yet, so I sat down on the floor and waited.
A sharp grinding sound rose from the stone, and the entrance slowly yawned open. I peered inside. No stairs. Instead, a smooth slide — the kind that looked almost fun just looking at it. The bottom was out of sight.
If it's like the original, it's at least ten meters deep.
I felt no fear of a mere slide. Without hesitation, I dropped into the hole. The slide carried me down. At first it was pitch black and I could see nothing, but after a stretch of sliding, a glowing exit came into view.
I shot out of the exit and landed cleanly on the ground, then quietly scanned my surroundings, on guard.
I was inside a cave.
The ceiling was about four meters high, the width about five — room enough to move freely. Passages stretched ahead and behind. A soft light glowed from the ceiling, almost certainly some kind of formation technique.
I need to find a Blackwood Bead somewhere in here. …Stealing one would be easier.
I drew my blade in advance and started walking forward. Honestly, I had no idea if this even was forward. I was just walking, hoping something would show up.
A fork appeared.
Right path. Left path.
"Krrrruuuh…"
A beast's breathing came from the left. Not a real animal — a monster, almost certainly.
I took the left path, toward the monster. There was a good chance a Blackwood Bead would be near it. Concealing my presence, I walked until I reached a chamber. At its center stood an enormous wolf — big enough to swallow a person whole in a single bite.
"They actually managed to catch something like this."
The wolf, eyes closed, sensed my presence and snapped them open.
"Grrrrrrrr!"
It snarled as if demanding what the hell I was.
I leveled my blade at the wolf. I had no intention of turning tail and running from some oversized mutt.
A massive forepaw came flying at me — the kind of blow that could pulp a human in an instant.
The Director and every high-ranking member of the Heavenly Demon Cult with a stake in this are watching the cavern right now. So under no circumstances do I use the Heavenly Demon Divine Art or Noecheonryu.
I charged forward and slipped past the giant wolf's forepaw. Its claws raked the floor, leaving long gouges in the stone.
"KRAAAAAAAAH!"
The giant wolf roared. The moment its jaws opened, I drew up my inner energy and shielded my hearing, so the damage was minimal. I couldn't stop my legs from faltering, though.
The forepaw came again. I retreated, barely dodging it by a hair.
What the hell kind of claws are those — sharp as if they're loaded with sword qi.
I clicked my tongue at the monster's power and swung my blade.
A vicious arc of steel tore into the beast's foreleg.
A deep wound opened across its front leg. The giant wolf screamed in pain, then converted that pain into rage and began thrashing its forepaws at me indiscriminately.
Even better. Completely given over to rage, its attacks have gone one-dimensional. Big as it is, the brain is pure animal.
I dodged every swing of those forepaws and closed in until I was right in front of it. The giant wolf immediately opened its jaws and lunged.
I flipped through the air, avoiding the attack while driving my blade into its right eye.
"KRAAAAAAAH!!"
A scream thick with agony tore out of it as the giant wolf went berserk. I clung to its thrashing face, gripping the hilt tight, driving the blade deeper and twisting it this way and that.
BOOM! CRASH! CRASH!
The giant wolf's own forepaws hammered its own skull. Even clever dodging had its limits. One of those paws slammed into my back. I groaned. A few more hits like that and I'd be in critical condition.
That last blow told it exactly where I am. Best move is to drop off.
I yanked the blade free and dropped from its head.
The giant wolf realized I was gone and stopped beating its own skull. Its head was a wreck. One eye was finished, blood poured from its snout, and its teeth were shattered beyond recognition. More than half of that was self-inflicted. You don't pound your own head like that and walk away clean.
"Grrrrrrrrr…"
The giant wolf snarled and charged me.
I stayed calm and answered carefully. It had lost one eye. Half its field of vision was gone.
Exploit that blind spot completely!
I pressed the counterattack with my blade. The giant wolf tried to compensate with smell and hearing, but its reaction speed was sluggish. It could neither block nor dodge the strikes I aimed into its blind side.
No need to rush.
I slowly carved the giant wolf down. Even small wounds, stacked high enough, become fatal. The blood it spilled became a growing pool, and its movements grew slower. The ferocity drained out of it.
THUD.
The giant wolf's head hit the floor.
There's the opening.
Panicked, the giant wolf scrambled to lift its head. I didn't miss the chance — I leapt onto its skull, landing between its pricked ears, and drove my blade straight into the space between its brows.
"Khuhk… kuhhhhk…!"
The giant wolf thrashed a few times trying to rise, then collapsed without strength. It wasn't breathing. Dead.
The giant wolf. More of a pain than I'd expected. If this had been an open plain instead of a cave, it would have been a real ordeal.
Pointless hypothetical now that it's dead.
I slowly surveyed the chamber. If my reasoning was sound, the Blackwood Bead would be here.
After a few circuits of the room, I found it. The Blackwood Bead was on the giant wolf's corpse — embedded in its abdomen. I had to carve open its belly with my blade before I could pull free the blood-reeking bead.
True to its name, the Blackwood Bead was a sphere of black wood. Aside from being hard as steel, there was nothing special about it.
If I just get this back out, the fourth trial is over.
I returned the way I'd come. There should have been a hole in the ceiling — but looking again, it was sealed. I tried forcing it open with sword qi, but all I managed were superficial scratches.
So the exit is somewhere else.
I'd half expected as much. Of course.
I clicked my tongue and started moving, searching for a way out.
Along the way, I ran into someone else. A man with a solid, rugged face, a hand axe in each fist.
"…Number 123."
"You're… Number 61."
I knew him — he was the only one at Ipmaso who fought with axes. And Number 61 was in Second Squad.
"…I smell blood. You fought a monster?"
"How'd you know?"
"There's fur on your shoulder that clearly isn't human."
"Ah."
I brushed the fur off my shoulder with my palm. Number 61 watched me steadily.
"Number 123. Did you find a Blackwood Bead?"
"Not yet."
"The monsters should have them."
"Mine didn't. …Why are you so sure the monsters have the beads?"
Number 61 grinned. He pulled a Blackwood Bead from his robes — a black wooden sphere, identical to mine.
"I just came from fighting a monster myself. A serpent. The bead was tied to its back."
"…And the monster?"
"It was asleep, so I threw an axe and killed it quietly."
"…I went through hell killing a giant wolf…"
"That's unfortunate. Number 123. I know you have a Blackwood Bead."
"……"
"You and I both have beads. No reason to fight. Let's find the exit together. With the two of us, we can get out successfully. We could even take first place over Number 88."
"Number 61. I have no reason to refuse your offer."
"You'll take it?"
I nodded and walked toward him. I pulled the Blackwood Bead from my robes and showed it. Number 61 grinned wide.
"Where do you think the exit is?"
"Hard to say. For now, I plan to keep going straight. We need to map the paths—"
"Guhh?!"
I drove my blade into Number 61's chest. Caught completely off guard, he couldn't dodge and crumpled to the floor.
"Number 123…! Wh-why…?! You had no reason to kill me…!"
"Don't try to stand as my equal when you're weaker than me. You were truly arrogant."
"You… madman…!"
Number 61 died. I took his Blackwood Bead and tucked it into my robes.