Iron Blooded Hound

Chapter 181: Trident's Triumph

Beep-.

[First-year group 69!] [The four members of first-year group 69 will please come up to the arena now!]

It was the turn of Vikir's group.

The Baskerville triplets led the way, with Vikir following close behind, carrying their unwieldy baggage.

"Go, Highbro, you look handsome!"

"Baskerville is the best!"

"Show me your trident charisma!"

The popularity of Highbro, Midbro, and Lowbro was immense, both inside and outside the academy.

Powerful skills, noble bloodlines, tall stature, broad shoulders, stern faces, and the unusual trait of being triplets.

He had all the ingredients to be a star.

In addition to the girls at the academy, there were many fans from outside the academy.

Even the Mage Tower, Varangian, and Temisquira Women's College, the four major academies in the empire, along with Colosseo Academy, came to see the Baskerville triplets.

Meanwhile.

"Come on, Vikir!"

"We're here for you!"

"Go big, brother!"

There were also those who cheered for Vikir. Tudor, Sancho, Piggy, Sinclair, and Bianca.

At Dolores' urging, they were currently in separate groups, as first-years are encouraged to split up their cold and hot classes as much as possible.

Tudor, Sancho, Piggy, and Bianca made up the 108 group, and Sinclair was the only hot class, so she was in the other group.

"Hmmm. C'mon, commoner, thank me for taking you in."

Next to Sinclair stood a blushing Grenouille.

They were currently in the same group, but it didn't mean much if they weren't in the same group as Vikir and Bianca, so as soon as Sinclair posted "Party Wanted@@@@{Earth+Gold}Mage$$$$Head of Hot Class####" on the public board, Grenouille contacted her immediately.

That's why Grenouille is so excited about the group.

Whatever.

Vikir and the Baskervilles' triplets stepped onto an amphitheater a hundred meters in diameter.

In the huge Colosseum surrounding them, countless people stamp their feet, cheer, and watch the test taking place in the training hall.

It was like watching an ancient gladiator match.

Tsutsutsutsuts...

Soon, the scene in the arena will change.

Vikir and the triplets' view is suddenly transformed into a deep, abyssal crypt.

Soon, countless 'killer ants' began to swarm around them.

Waaaaaah!

The crowd roared.

To the audience, it would appear to be just a bunch of golems crawling like ants around the circular arena, approaching in a clockwise direction.

Vikir and the triplets must intercept and hunt them down before they reach the center of the arena.

Phase 1, 20 minutes. If you can last just 20 minutes against this army of ants, you get a perfect score.

But the average first-year student will only last 17 or 18 minutes at best, and 19 minutes will probably put them in the top spot.

"...."

Vikir looked around.

The Filthy Spawning Grounds, deep within a nest of killer ants.

A terrifying dungeon that most people would never visit in their entire lives.

But Vikir had been here dozens, perhaps hundreds, of times already.

Not in virtual reality, but in real life.

'I almost died so many times back then—not every day, but every second.'

Vikir frowned at the lingering nightmare.

The darkness, the damp grave smell, the wrinkled earthen walls, the slime dripping down like a veil, the piles of eggs squirming on the floor and walls, the swarms of ants the size of men crawling out from between them...

The average freshman would be horrified by the appearance of the barren dungeon in front of them.

'Hoh. They did a pretty good job recreating it.'

For Bikir, it was like being in the cradle of a child's play.

With that, Vikir drew his bow and let fly.

Puck! Pow! Pow!

The exoskeleton of a killer ant is hard.

Their shield-like heads are an excellent defense, deflecting most impacts.

So Vikir only targets the ants' front leg joints and antennae.

...Poof!

An ant with a broken front leg falls to the ground and is crushed by the ants behind it.

The dead body becomes an obstacle for the other ants, slowing their advance.

Dengue.

Ants with severed antennae are also disoriented and scorch the walls or ceiling.

Sometimes they would run backwards, disrupting the line behind them.

The slowed-down ants were then slaughtered by the Baskervilles' triplets.

Pow!

Sword Expert Advanced. At the age of 19, they had reached the peak of expert level and began to slice and cut through the ants, emitting a red aura that was as thick as water vapor between gas and liquid.

Puck! Puff! Puff, puff, puff, crackling!

The ants' heads and everything else were sliced off.

Baskerville's trident began to push the ant army backwards.

<Map: Killer Ant Colony, 'Filthy Spawning Ground'>

Let's join forces with our allies and stop the onslaught of killer ants!

Time remaining until the end of Phase 1: 14 minutes, 58 seconds

1. Highbro Les Baskervilles

HP: 91/100

Kill point: 49 points

Assist point: 23 points

2. Midbro Les Baskervilles

HP: 87/100

Kill point: 45 points

Assist point: 26 points

3. Lowbro Les Baskervilles

HP: 86/100

Kill point: 41 points

Assist point: 29 points

4. Vikir

HP: 100/100

Kill point: 2 points

Assist point: 38

As the game progressed, the scores continued to climb.

Highbro, Midbro, and Lowbro were working hard on the front lines, and their HP was slowly dropping.

Meanwhile, Vikir was working diligently in the back under their protection, shooting down ants with his arrows, and while he wasn't racking up many kill points, he was racking up some solid assist points.

After focusing on the Baskerville triplets' spectacular individual performances at the beginning of the match, the crowd slowly began to pay attention to Vikir, who was steadily making assists from the back.

"But who is he, Vikir? He doesn't have a last name, so he must be a commoner."

"Ah, Vikir, the one with the top marks? He's an archer? I didn't know that. He seemed to have a low mana pool for some reason."

"He's pretty good with a bow, for a guy who's supposed to be an academy student."

"But wasn't there a bit of a buzz about him being handsome? I don't think so."

"No, he looks great without his glasses. Want me to show you? Where it was?"

Many eyes in the stands lingered on Vikir for a moment, but the interest quickly faded as he barely moved from his spot and drew his bow.

Only the cheering of Tudor, Sancho, Piggy, Sinclair, and Bianca is steady.

"Come on, buddy, we're rooting for you!"

"Hey, Vikir. You're building up a nice stack of assists. You're going to get a good score at this rate."

"Wow, Vikir, your bow skills are impressive! You may not be able to see it, but you're definitely disrupting the ants' momentum!"

"Too bad. Me and my hyung would have really hit it off if we were in the same group."

"Nonsense. An archer knows an archer's heart. He would have doubled his score with me."

Whether or not he realizes that his friends are cheering him on, Vikir remains silent, fending off the wave of ants.

Tsk, tsk, tsk!

The ants rubbed their exoskeletons together, making unpleasant noises and occasionally lifting their antennae upward like scorpions to spray venom.

Sting-.

The pale, paralyzing venom flew a long distance, shooting out like a squirt.

Vikir watched it and thought.

'The ants are just holographic magic overlaid on a clay figure, but... the poison is real.'

The Introduction to Golems explains the various ways to store things inside a golem.

The professors here have built an ant-shaped golem and filled it with diluted poison supplied by the Monster Research Institute.

Meanwhile, the triplets of House Baskerville would bend low whenever the ants spewed their venom, allowing it to splash toward Vikir.

This was exactly what Vikir had ordered them to do.

Thwack!

A thick, poisonous fog rises. This was actually happening inside the arena.

(A thick wall of magic surrounds the arena, preventing the poison from reaching the stands.)

There was only one reason why Vikir would want to be this close to the poison.

[omnomnomnomnomnom...]

Madame cub.

This thing attached to my left wrist was sucking in poisonous fog as if possessed.

The paralyzing venom of the killer ants is just the right meal for this one.

It's amazing how a creature smaller than the palm of your hand can store all that poison.

"You know how spiders eat a lot at once and go a long time without eating?

For her, it's a 20-minute, all-you-can-eat poison buffet. So I thought it would be a good idea to feed her a lot now.

For more information, visit...

<Map: Killer Ant Colony, 'Filthy Spawning Ground'>

Join forces with your allies to defend against the onslaught of killer ants!

Time remaining until the end of Phase 1: 1 minute, 7 seconds

1. Highbro Les Baskervilles

HP: 2/100

Kill point: 228 points

Assist point: 80 points

2. Midbro Les Baskervilles

HP: 1/100

Kill point: 208 points

Assist point: 96 points

3. Lowbro Les Baskervilles

HP: 1/100

Kill point: 199 points

Assist point: 102 point

4. Vikir

HP: 47/100

Kill point: 16 points

Assist point: 134 points

Wave time is almost over.

Highbro, Middlebro, and Lowbro reached 0 HP almost simultaneously and slaughtered countless ants until the very end.

After the trio retired to 0 HP, it was Vikir's turn.

At the end of the trial, the total score was 308 for the highbro, 304 for the midbro, 301 for the lowbro, and 150 for Vikir.

They lasted a whopping 19 minutes and 50 seconds, with only 10 seconds left in the first phase.

If you add up all of their kill points and assist points, they totaled 1063 points, and if you convert the 19 minutes and 50 seconds that you lasted into 1 point per second, it's a total of 1,190 points.

Vikir's team totaled 2253 points, the highest among the first years.

A new record for first place!

The Baskerville triplets walked out of the arena, smiling broadly as the cheers erupted.

Next up was the ever-expressive Vikir.

Vikir was just about to step out of the arena's magic wall.

"...?"

For some reason, my left arm felt a little heavy.

I turned my head and saw that the Madame Cub had stuck a thin web on the arena floor, refusing to leave.

It looked like it wanted to eat more of the remaining poison.

"Can you eat that much and still go in? But no. It's time to go."

[Grunting].

"Then you live in the arena. I'm going home."

[kkuing-kkuing...]

"Sssh-"

Vikir picked up the refusing cub and tucked it into the cuff of his left hand.

To anyone else, it would have looked like he was just picking up a wristwatch from the floor.

As Vikir exited the stadium, he could hear the crowd appraising him.

"Wow, Vikir or something, that guy is completely on board."

"Yeah, well, according to the score, the triplets from Baskerville did it all."

"I thought the three of them were there to bully the little bastard, but it turns out the three of them were there to serve the little bastard."

"Lucky commoner. How did you get into that group?"

"Well, being number one in handwriting, I guess he was trying to use his brain."

"But he's pretty good at stopping monsters with his arrows. 150 points isn't exactly a stellar score, but it's a good one."

"I saw him shoot a bow with no mana the other day, and it was amazing. He has the basics, right?"

"Oh, yeah, I saw that, too. Wasn't he almost as good as Bianca from Usher's?"

"Oh, a close one, ain't it? He lost by one point because of his last shot. In archery, a one-point difference is huge. It's almost a division. If there is a difference of 2 points, the difference in skill level is impossible to compare."

"Still, he's kind of helpful. We should try to get him in the same group next time."

"That's right, he's a commoner, and he's the highest-scoring arrow shooter."

At first, there was a lot of negativity about Vikir being taken advantage of by the Baskerville triplets, but that was slowly changing.

Of course, Vikir himself didn't care about the comments, but there were others who did.

"Hahaha, it makes me proud to see my friend being recognized."

"With that kind of score and integrity, he deserves to be recognized everywhere."

"Yes, Vikir is more than just brains. I'm glad everyone seems to have discovered a new side of him."

"You look great. Hehe."

"Well, it does shoot a little. He'd score better if he had more mana."

Tudor, Sancho, Piggy, Sinclair, and Bianca.

They'd watched Vikir's group of 69 take first place in their first year, and they were fired up.

"Let's see if we can beat that! Go Group 108!"

"We can't lose to Baskerville's Trident."

"I'll do my best; I've been analyzing killer ants all night!"

"Just keep your distance, and I'll carry; don't let the mob get to me."

This was Tudor, Sancho, Piggy, and Bianca, chattering away in cheerful tones.

Meanwhile.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, commoner. Let's do our part."

"...."

"What is it, commoner? Are you deaf? Hmmmmmm, can't you hear me?"

Group 203, to which Grenouille and Sinclair belonged, was also preparing for the test.

Next up.

Group 108, Tudor, Sancho, Piggy, and Bianca, was called.

Beep.

[First-year 108, the four members of the first-year group 108, please come up to the arena now!]

Tudor, Sancho, Piggy, and Bianca rush onto the arena, excited to get their turn.

...and at the same time.

Vikir, who had come to the side of the arena to watch his friends play, noticed something strange.

'...What's wrong?'

An unexplained feeling of anxiety overtook him.

Soon, Vikir realized what it was.

'Ouch!'

He realized that his left hand had felt strangely light.

Vikir quickly looked into the cuff of his left hand.

There, he could see the cub sitting in an unusually quiet position.

But then.

A rustle.

Vikir takes his hand away, and the cub crumbles to dust.

There was nothing but an empty shell in his hand.

That's right.

The guy had just shed his skin.

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