The Mysterious Black Magician

Chapter 197 - Top Rank

Rea stared at Cinde. "What is that technique that Crimson used a while ago?" She asked.

Cinde knitted her brows and tried to remember if she ever did see him using the skill before. But she could not recall. She glanced at Rea after a sigh. "It is the first time that I saw him doing it. Maybe his new skill?" Cinde said after a shrug. "I see," Rea replied then returned her gaze to Crimson. She wondered if he was inventing a skill. "Regardless, that still looks like a normal sudden charge. Though quicker," she added.

Cinde nodded as she too agreed with Rea's assessment of Crimson's new skill. Then she also stared back at him.. "Look, Ella, he's about to use it again!" She pointed.

He exuded the sword in hand with his Deity's mana. Then he lifted it at chest level. He slightly bent his knee lower and his right hand was gripping the hilt. His left on the other hand was caressing the blade of the sword while pointing the tip to the target dummy.

His right leg was stretched at the back while his left was supporting his body weight.

Rea and Cinde were staring at him with curiosity. They both were wondering about his pose. It was different from what he did recently. Perhaps, he would be going to use different techniques this time.

"What is he doing?"

"This Eyma," Rea mumbled.

Cinde glanced at her with a dumbfounded expression. She was able to hear Ella's words. For some reason, the word she spoke was familiar to her.

Regardless, they had the urge to scream for a warning when they noticed the three vine-drills were coming at him at a speed that was hard to perceive with normal eyes. Aside from that, Crimson was currently closing his eyes!

After a brief moment, a loud crash invaded their ears.

The two gaped as they stared at the now dusty and smoky part of the room to where Crimson was standing. The other dummies immediately stopped on their charge.

When the dust and smoke cleared up: "Eh? Where did he go?" Cinde asked when he could not spot Crimson in his position.

"What!" Suddenly, Cinde heard a surprise utterance from Ella.

She glanced at her and followed to where she was looking. There, they saw him standing ahead to where the dummy who attacked him using its vine-drills was used to be in position. But at the moment, they could not find it! The vine drills also slowly turned to light particles.

"What he did, Ella!?" Cinde was shocked to see the dummy suddenly was dispatched.

They didn't even notice him making a move from his position. He just did a weird pose that was different from before. However, seeing that he vanished and appeared ahead of the monster, they could guess that he used the same technique as what he did a while ago.

But this time, it was more powerful! It even eliminated the Trent dummy which is known for its high restoration ability.

It was crashed into tiny pieces that rendered its restoration ability to be ineffective!

Cinde and Ella had their mouths agape while staring at him. They noticed him wearing a satisfied face. Looked like it was the result he expected.

The other Trent dummies immediately rushed to attack him. They sent their vines to whip him.

Yman dodges it by slightly waving his body. The vine whips passed at him at a little margin.

He ducked to evade the vine that horizontally whipped at him. Then he leaped into the air. The dummies seemingly got excited as they screeched while summoning more vines from the floor.

"Isn't it a bad move?" Cinde asked. He knew that Crimson was strong. But leaping into the air while being sieged with multiple range attacks were putting yourself at a disadvantage. Because it would lower one's mobility and become an easy target by the enemy.

She glanced at Ella but she noticed no disagreements from his action. She wondered if Ella fully trusted him. After all, she chose him as her bodyguard. Her eyes were fixed staring at him. She suddenly felt a little flick of pain inside her. Cinde wondered why she felt it.

In truth, Cinde wasn't doubting Crimson's decision. She just wondered what he was planning for leaping in the air and putting himself at the disadvantage. 

Maybe he would be going to summon his mount(bird-type) Fire Doll?

Currently, the dummies were hoarding below him while sending their vines to reach him.

However, right at this moment, they all noticed that he was posing the same pose he did a while ago.

The next second, after a burst of white energy, enveloped his sword, he vanished again. Then it was followed by a louder noise of crashing onto the ground.

The hoarding monster turned to pieces of light particles.

"S-so strong!" Cinde commented.

Rea was staring at him. He was standing in the middle of light particles. Showing a wide grin on his face while staring at the odd size sword in hand. "Could it be because of his sword?" She voiced her thoughts.

"Uh? B-but it looks ordinary," Cinde replied. Rea wasn't mean to ask her. She just subconsciously muttered. 

All of the remaining Trent dummies were defeated at once. Looks like he found a trusted technique. Not only for fighting a single opponent but also useful in battling multiple enemies.

Suddenly, inside the room, they heard a weird sound. It was a sound to alarm every one of something going on.

But then they noticed the magic circle glowed in red color.

"Eh? What is it this time?!" Cinde exclaimed.

"Could it be…" Rea wasn't able to finish what she was supposed to say as his initial thought was proven right.

"...unbelievable. Is this another level of difficulty?" She said in shock.

"Another difficulty? I thought he's already fighting the highest difficulty?" Cinde was puzzled.

"I don't know of what was going on," Rea claimed to be as puzzled as her but seeing the thing that came out from the red magic circle. It is probably a dummy of the monster of a higher rank creature. No, it wasn't just higher. It was truly powerful.

Yman was wondering, the instructions on the door weren't telling the truth! Even Cinde's words did not match what was happening.

The enemy this time was a boss class already! It is supposed to appear at around 10.

Cinde looked away when Crimson stared at the glass window, though he could not see her from the inside. But Yman knew that she was currently watching him.

In any case, he could only move forward and fight:

Without them knowing, outside the training room, many people were gathering and talking like buzzing bees.

"Look someone reached the boss round in just a few minutes!" One of the Demihuman said while pointing to the monitor that could be seen inside the Training Pavilion lobby.

In the monitor, all the trainees who had the best achievements were listed in it.

Currently, they were in chaos, the name of rank 1 trainee who reached the boss stage in the fastest time was replaced by another name. And the new name recorded in it was... "The Mysterious!?" Some people shouted his name in a question.1

"Who's that?"

Everyone was asking who was the person.

"Aside from that, wasn't Lord Gregor the one who resided in that spot the whole time?"

"Lord Gregor is the deputy leader of Mighty Solus Department?"

"What?" 

"I heard that he's a prideful man."

"Wouldn't it be bad if he knew about it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Idiot, someone just took the spot from him!"

"Right, but….. he can retake it back if he wanted."

"Dumbass, look at that time of the new rank 1. Do you think it's easy to achieve it?"

"Eh? Y-you're right."

"Regardless, I'm curious who is The Mysterious person."

"Wait, that name sounds familiar though!" Someone among the crowd said.

"What? Do you know him?"

"I mean, I feel like I already heard that name from somewhere…" 

"Wait, that name, I saw it in the recent competition in the Empire!"

"You're right! Now I also remembered…"

People were starting to feel curious about him.

"We can identify him if we will know which room is currently active."

"No, most of the room is still active!"

"Damn, I wanted to see the live battle!"

"Me too!"

"Unfortunately, the man is fighting in private!"

All the people who were currently waiting for their turn to enter the training rooms were starting to wonder about the man who suddenly took the rank 1 position of the fastest who reached the boss stage.

In truth, they were just waiting in silence while some were conversing with their friends when a sudden announcements came and broke the usual atmosphere inside the pavilion lobby.

The announcer stated: [Congratulations to trainee The Mysterious for breaking the current record of the fastest person who reached the boss round! On behalf of the management of the Training Pavilion, we hail you as the new Rank 1 achiever! Once again congrats.]

Then it was followed by the announcement of benefits that he could get as the rank 1 achiever.

Yman gawked at the announcements. But he had no time for it, as the new enemy was eyeing for him!