Chapter Chapter 15: RATH 15 TL: Eevee (2/2)

-Just can. Try carrying your will into mana and transmitting it to me.

I struggled and tried a few times, but it didn’t work out. This is quite hard. It felt like the connection was getting cut even before the intentions were being sent to her.

-What are you doing, I said let’s go? If the next trial is similar we can just go back to the seventh.

Unfortunately, No.17 is right.

Although I don’t know how much time has passed, I’m considerably exhausted. We need to have a look at the next trial to decide whether to rest or press on.

In the end, No.1000 jumped into the hole first, followed by No.17, then me.

Amazingly, once we jumped into the hole, the black fog, no, the lump of black mana didn’t follow us. But how would you put it, the moment the surrounding left us it felt like something had drained away from our bodies.

“It doesn’t look like we’ll have to head back to the seventh trial.”

Although the hole was small, it was plenty for us to make a temporary base.

“Should we make camp first before we enter? I want to rest a bit.”

“What about just unloading our gear and going for a look? If there’s a fog then we can just shut the door and rest.”

“Well, that’s not a bad idea either.”

Ignoring No.1000 who was busy nomming on jerky, No.17 and I shared our opinions.

Hm. What would the tenth trial be. When I opened the door with curiosity.

“Hello, my juniors?”

Slam!

“Let’s rest.”

“Sounds good.”

No.17 and I slammed the door shut and trudged back to set up camp for the night.

What I had seen was a wide room and seven people each holding very distinct poses leering at us.

And among them, the one in the very centre with a beautiful smile was smaller than we remembered, but was definitely the Intelligence Agency’s vice-director.

We didn’t know what the next trial was but no matter what it was, it was definitely our hardest trial yet.

As we ate and lay down in our sleeping bags, we fell asleep thinking about what tomorrow would bring. Ah, but a prayer before I sleep.

“Our Lady Sermir who watches over us. Please, let there be a curse on the instructor.”

With the faith that if Sermir truly was a goddess that looked out for those who did good, then she would definitely fulfill that prayer.

***

“Quite incredible.”

What the hell was going on.

Just four months. It took them just four months to get through to the tenth trial.

The ones judged the strongest era of the organization, to me, the worst generation, the previous cohort took eight whole months to get there.

And that was horrifying enough at the time a few years back, and they chunked even that time down to a half!

And to boot the previous cohort had seven people and these kids are three!

Half the bodies, yet also half the time taken.

Logically it doesn’t make any sense?

To think they passed the ninth gate like that.

That was trial made to just eliminate all the body’s sensations and just randomly roll around till they dropped into the exit.

I made it thinking ‘I say don’t be flustered under any situation but this is a situation where you will have no choice but to panic!’ but they more or less just brute-forced it.

“These kids are my best work.”

“Your work is as amazing as ever.”

But openly expressing it is only for the small-fry.

I can’t openly show my shocked appearance in front of the one beside me casually observing the monsters named trainees with a magic tool.

“The tenth trial… we had a hard time ourselves. And doesn’t this cohort have a disadvantage in numbers as well?”

“They’re the ones who shortened your eight-month record to four. They could get through it easier than you might think.”

The cocky little brat that smiled at my words is, like Sia, none other than my ex-disciple, and the comparatively most normal one of them all, Hawell Rein. Right now he’s under Sia’s wing as part of the Intelligence Agency in a very special place.

As for where that special place is…

“Naturally. Compared to an idiot who became a host and had to flee because of women, these kids are much more useful.”

“Ha, haha… I have nothing to say.”

It was a club. Out of the many minor organizations, the place with the best treatment and surprisingly, the place that got the best intelligence.

And this kid in particular is currently in the middle of an explosion of popularity in the Empire’s most prosperous club with the noble madams, saying absolutely nothing of his popularity with the young noble ladies as well!

And this riajuu-like moron is too popular that he got swept up in faction wars and is currently hiding out here.

It’s quite possible that the young ladies are shaking around his acquaintances at by their lapels looking for him at the club he used to work at, but that’s not my problem.

“And why did it have to be you…”

“The organization doesn’t feed their workers to play around. That’s what instructor always told us every time.”

“That’s true.”

And because of that I requested for any one of my ex-disciples from the previous cohort but it had to be this one.

Actually in terms of pure fighting abilities, he’s not one to go around getting a hiding either.

Even if he looks like this he was seventh overall among all the trainees from all instructors in the previous cohort, showing off his one-digit ranked skills they call single numbers, and he got multiple love calls from various fighting groups, but due to his face he was dragged off by the Intelligence Agency.

But on the contrary, that means that among those seven disciples of mine this kid is the weakest.

And he’s also the furthest removed from the front lines.

Compared to him, the current cohort is growing at an immeasurable speed, if I asked him to educate his juniors as a senior, on the contrary I can only imagine HIM being the one educated instead.

“But they are strong. At the very least I needed Rood or Ragnum.”

“I’ve grown quite a lot as well.”

He seems to have flared up a bit, but how the hell does a host grow. Did he learn some techniques from some incredible big sisters like a certain number one host I read in a book once?(1)

No, wait, that protagonist. He was weak even though he learnt swordsmanship that could cut straight through steel, wasn’t he? I never actually saw him win himself. The protagonist that shows off the power of connections.

I think he got stronger after he darkened up, but since this kid still hasn’t gotten darker he’s still going to be weak.

“You have grown. But do you really think you could beat these kids with just that?”

“To be honest it is quite fearful. No matter that they’re restricted, they a representation of us just before we graduated.”

The tenth trial. A type of fake clone created by a fusion of doppelgangers, a unique species of devil, and homunculi, a product of alchemy.

But since the combat skills and specialties were all extracted from the people in question themselves just before graduation, their fighting power is significant.

As for their weaknesses, could you say that they could only exert 50% of the strength of the originals, and due to their high cost they had to be reused so their internals are weak.

Because of that, when the door is opened, they are set to appear making a JoXX pose. Because XXJo poses are the pinnacle of pressure and intimidation!

“As if to prove that you are the weakest, your doppelganger is getting beat up the most.”

“Ah, wait! I, I never got creamed like that”

And when we turned back to the magic tool his doppelganger was getting the living daylights beaten out of by No.1000.

As expected of No.1000. She bit down on the weakest first.

“But to think you would get caught by kids who haven’t even trained for a full year. You were always weak.”

“Kuk… That, that was because the others were just too monstrous! And there wasn’t that much difference between me and Maren either!”

“Yeah, sure, there might not be much difference between you and Maren who said the office was heaven and went straight behind a desk, but even a moron who couldn’t beat that Maren would still be better than a bunch of brats who haven’t even trained for a full year yet.”

“Haa…. You’re still the same as ever, instructor.”

The guy who seemed to quiver for a bit before he sighed, stood up with a burning resolve in his eyes.

He’s still as weak to taunts as he was back then. Like the one who always surpasses one’s expectations when you scratch them a bit, but always the first to get beaten down like the weakest of the demon king’s Four Heavenly Kings.

“My skills, I will show them to you.”

Looking at his face filled with determination, I can only pray he doesn’t get annihilated.