The assessment grounds.
Ian's assessment had ended early, but the other assessment areas were still active, with elemental explosions sounding one after another.
Yet amid those fierce sounds...
Everywhere outside the arenas fell silent.
"You've got to be kidding."
A Gray Tower wizard stared openmouthed at Ian in the arena, as though he had seen something impossible.
How was that possible?
The Shadow Beast had just... fallen apart?
The other wizards looked from one another to the next.
They seemed to recall how the Shadow Beast had cut through them like melons and vegetables.
They had faced it themselves.
They knew exactly how powerful it was.
How had he done it?
"Oh?"
Even Hades, whose gaze was always calm, showed a flicker of surprise.
He had actually shattered the Shadow Beast's core?
Incredible.
The Shadow Beast did have a core, but its shadow attribute made it exceptionally well hidden. A Second Ring wizard simply could not detect it.
Yet this young man...
He seemed to have pinpointed it.
And he had found every weak point in the Shadow Beast's energy.
He had even used the nature of its attack to seize that fleeting opening and destroy its core outright.
"Interesting."
His gaze swept over Ian. For the first time, this wizard had made an impression on him.
His combat instincts were excellent.
His powers of observation and perception were frightening, while his Wizardry attacks were swift, powerful, and decisive.
Just the sort Hades liked.
First place in the combat assessment should be his.
Hades was certain no second wizard could defeat the Shadow Beast. That was the confidence of a Three Rings wizard.
Powerful Wizardry helped, but he knew the real challenge was locating the Shadow Beast's core.
That took the eye of certain Three Rings wizards.
It seemed this