NOVEL WEB Chapter 55 Threat Level: HAVOC
"Look, I'm trying to make this work for everyone, but if you guys are just going to interrupt me and attempt to fight with each other, there is no point in you being a part of the group." The kid standing atop the hill said calmly.
"Yea, Arthur is right! If you don't want to listen, just leave!" Another kid yelled from the crowd, followed by a few others.
ραΠdαsΝοvel.cοm Hearing this, Cedric turned back to Lyrian, "This isn't the end of this," He said, his face teeming with anger, "Even if it's the last thing I do, I promise you that you won't pass this exam... peasant."
He said before walking away, enraged.
After a few seconds of silence, Leon spoke, "Who was that?"
"Oh nothing, just an old... pal?"
"Alright, if you guys are done quarreling with each other, I'm going to continue saying my plan!" Arthur, the kid atop the hill, continued.
"For eight hours each day, we all will go on hunting missions throughout the forest and return here in the plains by night. All cores we collected will be equally shared to make sure everyone passes, and all food and shelter needs will also be met by everyone's contributions. This way, there isn't a shortage of anything!"
On hearing this, nearly all of the kids cheered and applauded, seeing it as a surefire way to pass the exam.
Lyrian on the other hand thought differently. 'On paper, it seems like a great idea... but it is unlikely to actually work. With a person's greed and impatience, who's to say someone won't just take all the cores they need to pass from the group and leave without warning.'
Although this was true, Lyrian decided to stay with the group and see how things went for at least a few days.
After all, Leon and Alten were here, making for a bit of a better experience in the exam.
If worst came to worst, he knew he could just leave, so there was no real risk.
For the following 20 minutes, Arthur explained how food, protection, shelter, and many other aspects of this camp group would work, and everyone was assigned separate tasks.
Lyrian was assigned to gather food for the group, which he didn't mind since he would always be collecting food to eat or to feed Garmr anyways.
Finally, the group decided that it was time to go on their first-ever hunt.
Everyone was split into 10 teams of 10 people each and were told to retrieve as many beast cores as they could for the day.
Thankfully, Lyrian, Leon, and Alten ended up in the same group, but Cedric and Glis were coincidentally a part of it too.
As they made their way further into the forest, away from the other groups, Lyrian could almost feel Cedric's hateful glare burning his back as he walked.
"Hey, peasant!" Cedric called out abruptly.
Everyone stopped to look at him as he said this. They were all silent due to their confusion as Lyrian turned around and replied.
"Don't start this again. Our team has to get cores."
"Shut the hell up! Screw the cores, you are going to get eliminated right here and now!" Cedric retorted, clearly burning with rage.
"Hey, are you sure this isn't a big deal? He sure looks to hate your guts. Just what did you do to piss him off so much." Leon asked rhetorically with a nonchalant tone.
'He talks big but his magic prowess seems quite small. Unless he has a magic aura hiding ability, there's no way he could seriously be wanting to fight Lyrian head to head.' Leon thought to himself.
"I don't know how you managed to pass the preliminaries, you probably got one of the weakest opponents, but you won't pass the exam, I won't allow it!" Cedric continued to spew out his anger.
'Hmm... how odd. Sure, I humiliated him a lot in Illstria, but would he really want to eliminate me this bad just for that reason... and speaking of passing the preliminaries, how did he even manage to enter the exam?' Lyrian questioned himself.
'Surely his parents could not have afforded such a thing...'
"Hey, are you guys sure this is the time to be fighting it out? Arthur said that if we collect a really small number of cores then we wouldn't be given as much, remember?" Alten chimed in, wanting to diffuse the situation and focus on the mission.
"Shut the hell up! Nerd!" Cedric yelled.
"Hey! Do you want to pass this exam or not!" Glis also joined in at this point, "We are losing precious time!"
"Bitch! Don't tell me what to do! If I am going to do anything, it is to eliminate this bastard!"
"No... it doesn't make any sense." Lyrian suddenly broke some of the tension by finally speaking.
"What!?" Cedric said, followed by a bunch of other confused expressions by other members of the group.
As he looked to think to himself, Lyrian spoke again, "Although you were quite the idiot, you shouldn't want to prioritize eliminating me over passing this exam. I can't tell exactly what's going on here, but it isn't normal, nor does it make any sense."
There was no doubt in Lyrian's mind that something was amiss, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what that was.
"But fine, since you want to fight me so badly, we can do a small duel, and then you have to promise that we will move on."
"I accept!" Cedric immediately replied, "You think you are going to move on with this test after we fight? How stupid!"
Just as the two got ready to fight, the others began to walk away and give them some space, a deafening roar suddenly sounded from the depths of the jungle.
The roar sounded powerful, clearly having mana infused inside of it. A sudden burst of killing intent also spread throughout the air, causing gravity to feel slightly heavier.
Just at that split moment, as everyone looked around with their eyes wide open, their guards up for anything that might attack, a giant tiger the size of an elephant jumped out of the thick bushes.
Its eyes were domineering, like a king looking down upon a peasant.
Its claws were long and razor-sharp, with serrated teeth, red fur with white stripes, and a scorpion stinger attached to its back as well.
[Warning! A creature with a lethal threat level has bloodlust over you!]
'What!?' Lyrian thought to himself on hearing the message, never having heard it before.
[Creature threat level: HAVOC]