Chapter 30. Instant Kill
Fulan suddenly spoke as if struck by inspiration:
“Richter…”
Richter’s expression changed instantly. The hand that had been hanging naturally at his side moved to touch something at his waist.
He suddenly realized that he might have made a mistake. The person in front of him knew who he was.
She should not have known. After all, he had never shown himself in front of Fulan.
Yet now Fulan knew that he was Richter, and the certainty in her tone suggested that she had most likely already known that the person luring her here was Richter even before she arrived.
He believed that an apprentice could never defeat a Senior Apprentice. However, if that apprentice knew that the one coming would be Richter—the infamous madman—would she still come here without any preparation?
If he put himself in her position, if someone who had harmed numerous apprentices and killed an unknown number of people had set their sights on him, he would certainly think of every possible way to deal with that person.
At the very least, he would contact several of the person’s enemies. For example, someone from Velos Academy whose family member he had just killed would definitely come to kill him upon hearing the news.
What he feared most now was that two or three Senior Apprentices might suddenly appear and surround him. If that happened, he would likely die here.
His defensive equipment was not as complete as it had been during the assessment. He currently only carried about one-third of what he had back then.
Many of his valuable one-use items had been destroyed when he was surrounded and attacked during the assessment. If someone really surrounded him now, he probably would not even survive two rounds of attacks.
Damn it. Who was targeting him?
Was it that Milank who had deliberately kept his distance from him throughout the assessment?
He had known something was strange. Why would someone who saw him choose to stay far away instead of joining the attack? That was not something a normal person would do.
Now he had to strike first and seize the initiative. He would disable the apprentice in front of him before anything else happened.
He pinched a handful of bone powder from the materials pouch at his waist and scattered it quickly. The white powder vanished into the air.
His other hand fired a ghastly pale ray straight toward the apprentice.
At the same time, skeletons slowly crawled up from the ground, their bones clacking together with a series of “CLACK CLACK” sounds.
Fulan, however, felt a force wrapping around her body. She sensed that her attributes had greatly increased at this moment.
But in the middle of a battle, she had no time to investigate where that power came from. She immediately activated the Breathing Method, and wind elements gathered in her hand.
A Wind Blade had already formed in her palm. She released it toward the skeletons and instantly activated [Mental Power].
Her sword had long been forged into an enchanted weapon with the two runes [Agility] and [Sharpness], and she activated them at this very moment.
Fulan moved like lightning.
She lightly slashed across Richter’s throat and then struck the neck of the apprentice beside him as well.
Richter only felt as if something had brushed against his neck. Then a warm sensation flowed down to his collarbone.
His vision suddenly darkened.
Only in the final moment did he realize it.
I have been attacked… I am going to die.
Wait. Why did my defensive equipment not activate?
He was carrying equipment that would release a shockwave the instant something collided with his body. Why had it not triggered?
Then he realized his second mistake.
As a spellcaster, he had stood far too close to a melee fighter.
In the final moments of his life, he looked around. There were no other figures in sight.
Only Fulan stood in this barren wasteland.
Fulan did not approach rashly. She remained alert for a possible counterattack from Richter.
What if he had something capable of self-detonation?
“Ah…”
Richter tried to speak, but with his throat fatally injured, only meaningless cries came out.
Why did this apprentice possess such strength?
Had she truly defeated a teacher from a Magic School?
Richter felt as if his entire worldview had collapsed, sinking into deep self-doubt.
Then he suddenly thought of something, and a faint smile curved his lips.
Even if I die, the School will still investigate my killer.
Because I carry a set of study notes from the Modification School… and also a reward I obtained for ranking in the assessment.
Both items are extremely important.
The former could cause the School’s knowledge to leak, and the latter is something every Senior Apprentice desires.
He stared at Fulan with wide eyes.
Just wait. When the School finds my body, they will hunt you down. Even if you are a Senior Apprentice from another School, they will never allow their knowledge to risk being exposed.
Fulan waited in place for three minutes.
Richter’s blood had already stained the ground dark beneath him, and the light in his wide-open eyes had completely faded.
Enough.
That much blood had already flowed. No apprentice could lose that much blood and still survive.
Fulan slowly stepped forward and cautiously began examining the two bodies lying on the ground.
After confirming several times, she determined that Richter was indeed dead.
Only then did she finally let out a breath of relief and began the essential step after defeating an enemy—looting the bodies.
After a round of searching, her hands became stained with blood, but looking at the spoils she had obtained, she felt that the effort had been worthwhile.
Fulan dug two pits with a shovel and threw the bodies into them.
Her improved Physique made such physical labor much easier. Combined with the loose soil in the area, it took her only a short time to finish digging.
After tossing the two bodies into the pits, she carefully carried her gains from the night and headed back.
***
The next day, two apprentices from the Construction School arrived at this barren land.
“Is this the place?”
“That is right. According to the description on the list, this is the spot. All we need to do is lay the foundation.”
They did not waste any time and immediately began their work.
They inserted dozens of long white spikes into the ground at measured intervals. These were tools specially used to compact the soil.
Once all the spikes were secured, they would activate a spell and use the device beside them to compress the earth downward with immense force.
Of course, if anything happened to be buried in the soil, it would easily be crushed by the powerful pressure and mixed into the earth, leaving no trace of its original form.
“Hm?”
One apprentice suddenly noticed something.
“It looks like the ground here was dug up before.”
He pointed at a patch of soil with a darker color.
“Should we dig it up and take a look? Maybe there are some gold coins or something inside.”
The other apprentice shook his head and immediately stopped him.
“Is this your first time handling this kind of job where we only have to compact the soil?”
“Yes. Why? Is there a problem?”
“A huge problem! If you dig it up and there is nothing inside, that is fine. But what if you dig it up and find a corpse?”
“…Report it to the Enforcement Team…”
“Heh! Let me tell you something. If that corpse happens to involve some earth-shattering secret and the higher-ups cannot find the real killer, they will make us the scapegoats.”
“…!”
The apprentice’s back turned cold. He had heard stories of senior students disappearing one by one because of excessive curiosity. Was he about to end up like them?
“Thank you for the warning. Let us finish the job quickly and leave.”