Victor continued advancing through the forest without any apparent hurry, keeping his hands in the pockets of his adaptive suit. The dark fabric followed his movents silently, molding itself to his body as he traversed branches, rocks, and uneven terrain. The Blood Demon’s Concealnt remained active around him like an invisible second skin, completely hiding his presence from the monsters, the participants, and even so of the examiners scattered throughout the evaluation area.
The result was simple.
Hunting.
Slaying.
Movent.
Repetition.
Victor had spent the last few hours doing practically the sa thing.
Whenever his perception encountered a powerful creature, he appeared, created a stake of Black Ice, and ended the problem with a single attack.
The efficiency was ridiculous.
At several points, he didn’t even need to stop walking.
He simply extended his hand.
The ice appeared.
The stake shot off.
The monster died. Victor kept walking.
Naturally, that had accumulated an absurd amount of points.
According to the system.
Seven hundred and fifty.
Maybe a little more.
Maybe a little less.
Victor wasn’t paying much attention.
Honestly, the score had already lost any practical relevance for him after the first territorial bosses.
As he walked on a colossal branch dozens of ters above the ground, he noticed a Black Ice stake erge between his fingers.
The weapon spun slowly.
Small.
Elegant.
Lethal.
Victor analyzed the dark structure for a few seconds before casually throwing it.
The stake disappeared.
A second later.
A distant explosion echoed through the forest.
Another monster dead.
Victor observed the direction of the impact.
"That really goes through anything."
That wasn’t an exaggeration. Black Ice possessed an absurd piercing power.
Far superior to what a common sword could produce.
More than once he saw the stakes pierce natural armor, reinforced bones, and even rudintary magical barriers without losing speed.
It was almost unfair.
Almost.
Victor continued advancing while his eyes observed the red lines scattered across the forest.
Hundreds of them.
Perhaps thousands.
Creatures.
Participants.
Examiners.
Everything appeared before him.
Then a presence caught his attention.
Large.
Heavy.
Violent.
Victor slowed down imdiately.
Not because he was worried.
But because that energy signature seed familiar.
A territorial boss.
Another.
His smile appeared instantly.
"One hundred points."
The prospect was pleasing.
Even for soone who pretended not to care much about the score.
Victor imdiately altered his trajectory.
The Mist Steps propelled his body through the forest at high speed as he traversed miles of vegetation practically without touching the ground.
The energy grew stronger.
Closer.
More evident.
Until finally he reached the territory.
Then Victor stopped.
And blinked slowly.
"...Ah."
That wasn’t what he expected.
Because the territorial boss was already busy.
Very busy.
Extrely busy.
In fact.
The territorial boss was getting beaten.
Violently.
The entire region was a vast swamp.
Dark waters covered almost the entire expanse of the terrain. Twisted trees erged from the mud like gigantic skeletons scattered across the horizon. The air was heavy and laden with constant fog.
In the center of that scene was a monstrous creature.
A hydra.
Or sothing extrely close to it.
The monster possessed eight gigantic heads covered in dark scales and dozens of ters in length. Its serpentine body occupied an absurd area of the swamp.
Normally it would be terrifying.
Normally.
The problem was Leon.
Leon was beating that thing up.
Literally.
Victor watched for a few seconds without saying anything.
One of the hydra’s heads lunged forward.
Leon punched.
The head exploded.
Another tried to bite.
Leon kicked.
The entire jaw disintegrated.
A third erged from the side.
Leon grabbed the creature’s neck.
He twisted.
And used the head as an improvised weapon to crush another head.
The sound of the impact echoed throughout the swamp.
Victor remained silent.
"...He really solved all his life’s problems through violence."
The observation seed correct.
Very correct.
Leon didn’t even use elaborate techniques.
Nor complex strategies.
Nor special weapons.
He simply hit things.
And the things died.
It was an absurdly simple fighting style.
But frighteningly efficient.
The hydra roared.
Leon responded with a punch.
Victor almost felt sorry for the monster.
Almost.
Then his attention shifted.
Because sothing else caught his senses.
People.
Many people.
Hidden.
Watching.
Waiting.
Victor imdiately widened his perception.
Then he found them.
One.
Two.
Five.
Ten.
More.
Many more.
Participants.
Scattered throughout the swamp.
Hidden behind trees.
Underwater.
Among gigantic roots.
All watching Leon.
All waiting.
Victor tilted his head slightly.
Then he began to count.
Fifteen.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Thirty-four.
The final number even made him raise an eyebrow.
"...Wow."
That was practically an army.
And they all had the sa objective.
Leon.
Victor quickly realized why.
It was obvious.
Leon had accumulated many points.
Many.
Probably almost as many as him.
Maybe more.
Maybe less.
But he was certainly among the top contenders.
Eliminating soone like that represented a huge reward.
Especially since the system transferred part of the accumulated points to the winner.
So it made sense.
The problem was sothing else.
Victor observed the hidden participants again.
Then he watched Leon crush another Hydra head using another Hydra head.
Then he sighed.
"They’re going to die."
Because that simply didn’t seem like a good idea.
Not even remotely.
Leon was alone.
Yes.
But he was also destroying a territorial boss using his own fists. The ssage seed quite clear.
Still.
The ambushers continued to wait.
Victor decided to remain observing.
This had beco interesting.
Much more interesting than simply killing another monster.
The battle continued.
The hydra had already lost half its heads.
The entire swamp was destroyed.
Water was sprayed everywhere with every movent of the creature.
Trees were constantly toppling.
The mud looked as if it had been hit by an earthquake.
And in the center of that chaos.
Leon continued advancing.
Unstoppable.
One of the last heads tried to unleash a blast of venom.
Leon passed through the toxic cloud.
Completely ignored the attack.
Grabbed the creature’s neck.
And ripped off its entire head.
Victor watched this.
Then watched again.
"...This shouldn’t work."
But it did.
Unfortunately for the hydra.
It worked perfectly.
The creature roared in agony.
The last two heads advanced simultaneously.
Leon simply smiled.
Then he disappeared.
For a mont.
Just a mont.
Even Victor had to watch the movent closely.
Leon reappeared above the creature.
The two fists descended at the sa ti.
BOOOOOOOOM.
The impact was so violent that half the swamp seed to sink.
Water exploded in all directions.
Waves swept for miles.
When the mud finally began to recede.
The hydra was dead.
Very dead.
Absolutely dead.
Victor observed the result.
"Right."
Those hundred points clearly wouldn’t be stolen.
Even he didn’t believe he would manage to appear at the last second of that specific situation.
Leon had turned the territorial boss into a traumatic mory.
Then it happened.
The ambushers moved.
All of them.
At the sa ti.
Victor almost started laughing.
Because it was an absurd sight.
Thirty-four participants erging simultaneously from all corners of the swamp.
Magic.
Weapons.
Abilities.
Blood techniques.
Everything was activated at the sa ti.
The objective was simple.
Eliminate Leon before he could react.
Victor watched this in silence.
Then he crossed his arms.
Because now.
Now, yes.
The situation had beco truly interesting.
Victor remained motionless on one of the highest branches in the area while observing the scene below through that absurd perception that continued to function without any conscious effort. The Blood Demon Concealnt remained active around his body, completely hiding his existence from the rest of the battlefield. To the other participants, that stretch of swamp contained only a recently slain hydra, dozens of hidden vampires, and a seemingly lone Leon amidst the destruction.
The reality was quite different.
Victor could feel them all.
Every breath.
Every muscle contraction.
Every minute change in the blood circulation of the participants hidden among the swamp’s gigantic roots.
The most interesting thing was that they truly believed they had found the perfect opportunity.
Leon had just faced a territorial boss.
The entire terrain was destroyed.
The hydra had forced a relatively long fight.
In their minds, that was precisely the mont when a warrior beca vulnerable.
Tired.
Exhausted.
Distracted.
Victor watched so of the participants honing their skills while others gripped their weapons tightly.
So were nervous.
Others seed confident.
One of them even smiled.
Victor almost felt pity.
Almost.
Because it only took a few seconds of looking at Leon to realize that sothing was wrong with that assessnt.
Leon didn’t seem tired.
He didn’t seem injured.
He didn’t even seem slightly bothered.
The man stood over the crushed carcass of the hydra, wiping so mud from his shoulder. His expression was so casual that he seed to have just finished a relatively pleasant walk.
Victor crossed his arms slowly.
"You’re really going to try this?"
The question was asked of no one.
But the answer ca imdiately.
The ambushers attacked.
All of them.
At the sa ti.
The swamp exploded.
Bursts of compressed blood shot through the air.
Blades erged from among the trees.
Scarlet magic illuminated the area.
Chains of demonic energy shot from multiple directions.
More than thirty participants launched their attacks simultaneously against a single target.
The sight was impressive.
For a brief instant, the sky itself seed to turn red due to the absurd amount of energy released.
The objective was simple.
Eliminate Leon before he could react.
Victor watched this in silence.
Then he noticed sothing curious.
Leon didn’t move.
Not an inch.
No attempt to dodge.
No defensive stance.
No sign of concern.
The man simply remained still while dozens of attacks converged on his position.
Then he sighed.
It was a small sigh.
Discreet.
But Victor managed to hear it.
And he imdiately understood that those participants had made a gigantic mistake. Leon’s shadow moved.
Not his shadow.
The darkness itself.
The entire swamp seed to darken for a fraction of a second as a black mass began to spread around the vampire’s feet.
Victor narrowed his eyes.
This was new.
Very new.
The energy emanating from that ability didn’t resemble blood.
It didn’t resemble magic.
It didn’t resemble any of the common abilities he had seen during the Ritual.
It seed older.
Heavier.
More dangerous.
The shadow continued to grow.
First a few ters.
Then dozens.
Then hundreds.
The entire terrain was covered by a black layer that seed alive.
The participants realized it too late.
Much too late.
Leon finally raised one hand.
The darkness responded imdiately.
A whip erged.
But calling it a whip seed insufficient.
The black weapon was dozens of ters long and seed to be made of a solid substance that absorbed even the surrounding light.
Victor watched the structure take shape.
Then he whistled softly.
"That looks unpleasant."
Leon moved his arm.
Just that.
No great movent.
No visible effort.
Just a simple swing.
The result was absurd.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
The air exploded.
The entire swamp trembled violently.
The shockwave produced by the black whip traveled for miles while entire trees were uprooted.
The participants’ attacks simply vanished.
They weren’t blocked.
They weren’t deflected.
They were destroyed.
Erased.
As if they had never existed.
Victor watched it intently.
Then the screams began.
Vampires were thrown into the air. So flew through trees.
Others disappeared into the swamp.
One particularly unlucky fellow was thrown so far that Victor completely lost his blood signature for a few seconds.
The whip kept advancing.
The destruction continued to grow.
Every ter traveled by the weapon left a trail of absolute devastation.
Gigantic roots were split in two.
Centuries-old trees exploded.
Entire sections of the terrain simply vanished.
Victor watched this for a few seconds.
Then he murmured:
"...Now I understand."
Because it finally made sense.
Leon wasn’t just strong.
He possessed monstrous skill.
Sothing comparable to the absurd abilities awakened by Victor himself.
The difference was that Leon clearly already knew how to use it.
And very well.
The survivors tried to reorganize.
So stood up.
Others activated new abilities.
Several seed determined to continue.
Victor honestly admired their courage.
Or stupidity.
Depending on the interpretation.
Leon looked at the group.
His expression remained exactly the sa.
Calm.
Bored.
Almost indifferent.
Then the shadow around him began to move again.
This ti it wasn’t a whip.
There were dozens.
The participants froze.
Victor also raised an eyebrow.
Because this was becoming ridiculous.
Black arms erged from the swamp.
Chains appeared between the trees.
Shadow spears began to erge from the water.
It was as if the entire territory had transford into an extension of his skill.
Leon remained in the center of that manifestation while observing the enemies.
No emotion appeared on his face.
No satisfaction.
No pleasure.
It just seed like work.
A simple task.
Sothing that needed to be done.
Victor began to laugh softly.
Because now he understood perfectly why the Blood Kings were observing so participants with such interest.
He himself was a problem.
Grace was a problem.
But Leon...
Leon was sothing else entirely.
The man looked like a natural disaster in human form.
The participants realized this a few seconds too late.
Then Leon attacked again.
The swamp exploded in absolute chaos.
Shadows surged in every direction as the vampires desperately tried to survive what had clearly ceased to be an ambush.
Now it was a massacre.
And Victor, hidden on the distant branch, simply watched it all unfold as a small smile slowly appeared on his face.
Because this test was becoming increasingly interesting.
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