Chapter 85
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Puppet in the Lotus Tree
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After the new rules were announced, the cadets scattered throughout the Black Lotus Flood divided into three main types.
"Ultimately, whoever takes down the area boss will claim first place."
"That guy's just tough-skinned; he's slow as hell. Means he's mine."
Top-rankers or those confident in their firepower headed for the Lotus Grave, where the area boss would appear.
"The top ranks are hopeless anyway, so let's raid some empty nests."
"There are plenty of monsters inside. If we play it smart, we can still aim for the upper ranks."
Cadets who stood no chance against the area boss made for the Mist Forest to destroy the lotus trees.
"Pushing too hard and getting eliminated would hurt even more."
"Just keep doing what we were."
Those who felt burdened by the unexpected developments stuck to hunting monsters around the outskirts, just like before.
Cadets setting goals based on their own skills and tendencies. Naturally, this intensified competition—and nowhere more fiercely than in the Mist Forest.
"Find the lotus trees first!"
"Hold on! We got here first!"
"So what! Run!"
The reward condition in the Mist Forest was solely the destruction of lotus trees.
As such, some opted for a strategy of ignoring monsters and sprinting straight ahead, and the sight spurred other cadets to dash after them.
"Huh? Where's this... Gah!"
"It's a cliff! Stop...!"
But the flood's already brutal environment, now compounded by fog that blocked all five senses.
Even things visible within the less-than-3-meter visibility warped due to sensory confusion, leaving them unable to dodge properly and tumbling to the ground.
"M-mo-monsters!"
"They're sniping us from inside the fog!"
With monsters exploiting the fog for attacks, the cadets who'd entered thinking it a cakewalk experienced pure hell.
Unlike entering, exiting the Mist Forest's labyrinth was no easy feat either. While cadets wandered lost, spewing curses...
Thwoong—!
Jake, carrying Lee Se-hun on his back, charged straight through the fog.
Stepping precisely on gnarled roots, leaping over fallen trees, kicking off cliff edges to dash across densely grown branches with practiced ease.
Movements as if piercing the fog perfectly. It would have drawn awe from onlookers, but the one doing the running felt differently.
"That way."
"Guh?!"
The moment Lee Se-hun tapped his shoulder from behind. Jake's body, about to surge forward, sharply veered right.
Whoosh!
A monster's spine grazed his cheek by a hair's breadth. A razor-close call that could have cost an eye, yet Jake had no room for surprise.
Tap, crunch! Tap, kwaduk!
Each tap of Lee Se-hun's finger on his shoulder sent his body whipping around, barely dodging obstacles—while his muscles and bones screamed for mercy throughout.
"Guh... Ack...!"
At this point, Jake wondered if Lee Se-hun had asked for a piggyback just to torture him. As the relentless pain made him lose focus, Lee Se-hun looked down with stern eyes.
"What're you doing? Focus."
"Too... painful..."
"You're using your muscles halfway, that's why it hurts. Concentrate on your blood flow."
"......"
Seeing Lee Se-hun speak so casually, Jake felt bitter words rise to his throat.
'If it's that easy, who the hell would go through this...!'
Consciously manipulating the countless blood vessels threading his entire body to activate only the muscles needed for running.
Mana distribution. Blood pressure adjustment. Muscle sequencing. A headache-inducing array of processes had to execute perfectly in split seconds.
Thump—!
If only his heartbeat were slower it might be bearable, but prior combat and blood arts had it racing faster by the second.
Honestly, just managing to run like this was nothing short of a miracle.
"Come on. Still a ways to go."
Tap, tap, tap.
"Aaack!!"
Lee Se-hun tapping indifferently on his shoulder. Jake screaming as he ran.
It might look like only Jake was suffering, but Lee Se-hun wasn't just along for the ride.
Hummm.
His vision shifted to black and white, the forest dyed gray.
Using his penetrating vision to peer through lifeforms' mana, Lee Se-hun grasped the rough terrain beyond the fog—and the positions of hidden monsters.
'That way's no good... Damn.'
He'd just settled on a path when he saw Jake fail to spot an obstacle ahead. Lee Se-hun quickly tapped the cluster of black spirit threads gathered at his shoulder with a finger.
Hummm—
In that instant, mana spread through the black spirit threads connected to Jake's body everywhere, and his hypersensitive blood flows reacted reflexively.
Crack!
"Ack!!"
Jake's body barely evaded the obstacle right in front of him. Watching, Lee Se-hun sighed inwardly.
'A department topper, and this clumsy.'
A mere C-grade hazard zone's natural barrier. A simple sense-sealing effect that anyone could handle with a bit of focus.
Yet Jake struggled against the fog—not just from focusing on blood arts, but because his senses were dull relative to his skill.
'Grew up with superior physicality, got numb to crises. Good setup around him; time to temper that.'
Senses honed sharpest through repeated peril. Instead of the safe route he'd planned, Lee Se-hun rerouted to a slightly riskier but faster path.
"The path feels off..."
"Coming again. Dodge!"
Crunch.
"Kyaak!"
Unlike cadets wandering the outskirts, the pair pierced the Mist Forest's heart in the blink of an eye. As Jake's nonstop screams began to fade...
Thwoong!
The two burst completely free of the fog.
"Huff... huff..."
Jake, face ashen, caught his breath and gazed at the clearing ahead, vision now unobstructed.
A massive tree about 30 meters tall grew at the center.
A gigantic lotus bloomed at its peak, fog flowing from its core and spreading outward.
"That... the lotus tree...?"
"Looks like it."
Sliding off Jake's back, Lee Se-hun examined the fog encircling the clearing.
'Not a single monster...?'
The lotus tree served as the nucleus maintaining the Mist Forest.
Intelligent flood monsters should be guarding it—but not one was in sight.
'Too many cadets entering at once?'
As Lee Se-hun eyed the odd incongruity thoughtfully, Jake—breath somewhat recovered—asked.
"So, how do we take it down?"
"You chop it. Perfect for checking your progress."
He could hack away with the Five-Colored Flame Blade like an axe, but that guzzled stamina. Better to exploit the strong kid here.
Jake's eyes widened slightly at the answer.
"Wait... You came to the Mist Forest on purpose for that?"
"...Pretty much."
He'd brought Jake along to roll him while awakening the sacred tree, but no need to sour the mood by saying so.
At Lee Se-hun's reply, Jake—who'd worn a dissatisfied look moments ago—vigorously drew his lightwheel sword.
"Alright. Leave it to me."
Approaching the lotus tree, Jake sized up his target.
30 meters tall, circumference easily over 40 meters—a stout lotus tree worthy of the flood.
With its immense durability, how much could his incomplete lightwheel sword cleave off? Unknown.
"Don't half-ass it like before. Full power."
"Got it."
Nodding, Jake steadied his breath and lowered his two-handed grip on the lightwheel sword to his lower right.
Basic diagonal slash stance. As he regulated his breathing, Lee Se-hun advised from the side.
"Ramp up your heartbeat more. Sink your awareness."
Like reflexively yanking a hand from something hot, Jake instinctively suppressed his own power.
To fix that, he first needed to drag that subconscious out into the open.
"Not your muscles—sense every reaction in your body via blood flow. Control even the unconscious responses."
Absorbing Lee Se-hun's advice, Jake poured all awareness into his blood flow and accelerated it further.
Thump-thump—
His already racing heartbeat pounded like it would burst his body, the blood surging vividly from heart to fingertips.
And the instant far more blood than usual flooded into his sword-gripping hands at maximum force.
Crackle.
A blue flash rent Jake's vision.
Bang!
As he swung his arm, the blue blade shattered into fragments.
Confirming nothing clung to the scattering shards, Jake turned to the lotus tree he'd just slashed.
Rumble.
The lotus tree's base—about 70% severed.
The cut started thin, growing ragged and wide toward the end. Traces of the imperfect sword aura.
"Tch..."
Jake clenched his fist tight at the sight.
Power had gathered properly at first, only to scatter throughout his body like fleeing soon after.
'What the hell's causing...'
Why preemptively flinch in fear and release his strength? As Jake scowled in frustration, Lee Se-hun patted his shoulder.
"Not bad up to the middle. More practice and...?"
Comforting Jake, Lee Se-hun peered into the tree's cleft—and frowned curiously at the object inside.
A puppet, carved as if from the wood itself. Something that shouldn't emerge from a lotus tree. Lee Se-hun's eyes went wide.
"This...!"
Without time to think, he yanked the object from the crevice.
Snap!
A sensation of something severing, and the object in his grasp. Simultaneously, the surrounding fog thinned slightly. Lee Se-hun's eyes narrowed at the reaction.
'This... a puppeteer's puppet.'
A consumable used by puppeteers to control monsters. The moment he identified it, new pieces clicked in Lee Se-hun's mind.
The abrupt area boss emergence. Monsters scarce as if reduced in number. And the puppeteer's puppet manipulating the lotus tree—the sacred tree's roots.
'These bastards...'
A situation as if they controlled the entire Black Lotus Flood. Closing in on the truth, Lee Se-hun urgently grabbed the emblem on his cloak to relay the news.
Kwaaaang!
Far off, a colossal tree dormant deep underground erupted above the flood.
Static.
"...Hm?"
The TA monitoring busily looked around puzzled at the noise in his ear.
But the lobby looked no different from before—everyone focused on the cadets' battles.
'Misheard?'
The TA tilted his head and started to turn back—when.
"Huh."
His eyes met a professor's; both had been scanning similarly.
"......"
"......"
An inexplicable ominous sensation. Without a word on who first, both whipped around to call the lead overseer, Kasar.
Whoosh!
All screens floating in the terminal lobby vanished.
The countless facilities installed across the Black Lotus Flood went dead in an instant.
An unnatural shutdown. Staff eyes bulged before they shouted urgently.
"Emergency situation!"
"Activate forced transfer devices now!!"
Following protocol, staff moved swiftly, and soon a massive wave burst from the terminal.
Paaang—
A pulse spreading across the flood in a blink.
Triggering the supply cloaks' forced transfer function—an emergency measure for when internal comms cut out like now.
"What the..."
"Why's no one..."
Yet despite activation, not a single cadet transferred to the terminal.
As the worst-case scenario sank in and all froze.
Kwaang!
The terminal building's ceiling shattered with a roar.
"Enemy raid!"
"Prof Kasar went up top! Stay calm!"
Ignoring the shouts below, Kasar reached the rooftop and peered straight beyond the barrier.
The lush forest gone without trace—only pristine white fog in view.
The flood transformed in a blink, like elsewhere. Kasar's eyes widened.
'Evolution? No, but the area boss hasn't even shown yet...'
Utterly implausible, yet his instincts screamed that the Black Lotus Flood had turned far more perilous.
Decision made, Kasar yelled down through the shattered hole.
"Area evolution! All spatial transfers blocked—contact the president and enter now to rescue the cadets first!"
"Understood!"
At Kasar's shout, staff donned gear in perfect order, prepping for internal entry.
Watching, Kasar gazed back at the flood beyond the barrier, pondering the abnormality.
'In Babel, only those Ten Evils would pull this insanity. And prime targets now... me or the department toppers.'
Aiming to eliminate prized prospects? Or using them as bait to lure and hunt him?
Nothing certain, but Kasar wasted no time brooding. He drew his armament from the subspace pocket at his waist.
Whoosh!
A rectangular blade of dull gray steel and a black hilt cracked like charred wood.
"Hup...!"
Gripping the 2-meter-plus greatsword in reverse, Kasar reared back his arm—then hurled it toward the fog.
Bang!
The greatsword soared over the barrier, vanishing into the fog. Kasar clenched his fist watching it go.
'They anticipated my involvement. Now it's a race against time...'
Who spotted first—him or them? It all hinged on the department toppers' capabilities.
In this beyond his control, Kasar prayed they weren't too late and stared into the fog.