The Contest

Moonlight flowed like water.

In the small grove.

Sulu and Donald stood facing each other, their expressions frozen like statues.

In Donald's eyes, Sulu clearly saw fear, helplessness, and struggle.

Crack!

Just then, Donald moved!

Of course, it wasn't Donald moving. The shadow was controlling him, making him step forward one step at a time and spread his arms, trying to grab Sulu by the throat.

The other party's target this time... is to kill me?

Sulu's hair stood on end. Is it because of what's happened lately? Have I made them wary?

Donald's expression was helpless. Like a marionette, he kept moving forward.

I can't let this go on!

Sulu glanced at his Attribute Panel and swiftly activated the exclusive ability of his LV4 Krav Maga Combat Arts—[Tiger Power]!

[Tiger Power—Strength +0.4! Duration: 30 seconds. After use, enter a weakened state: Strength -0.2, Constitution -0.2. Duration: 3 hours!]

If that still wasn't enough, he'd pour all his experience into Krav Maga Combat Arts!

Roar!

In an instant, he felt a tremendous warmth surge through his body, bringing with it a terrifying amount of strength!

So far, Krav Maga Combat Arts had only increased his strength by 0.4 in total, but now it had doubled in an instant!

Just how terrifying was this boost?

Veins bulged one by one across Sulu's face, and his body seemed to swell. He roared, "Get... away from me!!!"

Rumble!

His voice rang through the forest like thunder.

Snap!

Beneath his feet, the tangled shadows were like a rope stretched to its limit. They suddenly snapped in the middle.

A mass of darkness quickly retreated and vanished into the forest.

His strength was now nearly 2—twice that of an average adult—and it finally let Sulu break free of the shadow's restraint and move again.

Across from him, Donald also seemed relieved. He collapsed to the ground.

"Don't think you can get away!"

While Berserk—no, Tiger Power—was still active, Sulu pushed off the ground.

Bang!

A small dent appeared in the earth. Using that burst of force, he charged after the black shadow and into the trees like a cannonball.

As a muscle-bound Warrior, he'd have to be an idiot to fight a Mage at range. He had to get in close!

Whoosh!

His suddenly increased strength made him seem like the king of beasts in the forest as he barreled forward.

At last, after sprinting several hundred meters, Sulu spotted a dark figure.

The figure was crouched in the forest. The mass of shadow merged into her body, and she let out a muffled groan. "Damn it..."

Could the spell have backfired?

Sulu was overjoyed at the sight and chased after her.

From his own experience practicing [Corpse Maiden Creation], he knew that whenever a spell failed, it would backfire on the caster. The only difference was how badly.

Maybe if he rushed over, he could finish her with a single Tiger Style move!

The distance between them closed quickly.

100 meters!

50 meters!

20 meters!

By this point, Sulu could see the woman's curvy figure clearly and was sure the mastermind behind it all was a woman! And she was suffering from a spell backlash!

My chance!

Sulu burned with anticipation. I'll finish her here!

A mysterious spellcaster! The shadow that had killed Beatrice! The real culprit who had tried to frame him!

It had been inevitable from the start: there was no room for compromise between them!

A faint killing intent stirred in Sulu's heart.

Though he had never killed anyone in either of his two lives, he knew that if he let the mastermind live, things would go badly for him. Even though he had just broken free of the shadow's restraint, it was because he'd caught her off guard—not because he could ignore her powers next time.

So he had to kill her!

"What are you waiting for?"

Just then, the dark figure suddenly raised her head and spoke in a deliberately lowered voice.

"What?"

Sulu was shocked.

In the middle of the dense forest, another figure had appeared beside the dark one.

There were actually two masterminds behind it all!

And both were women!

This figure also had a curvy build. She raised her hand and pointed at Sulu.

Suddenly, Sulu groaned. Pain stabbed through his head, as if a needle had pricked him, and his speed dropped sharply.

Another spellcaster!

Now, he couldn't help feeling the urge to retreat.

He'd dared to chase them before because there had only been one of them, and she'd been suffering from a spell backlash. But now, everything was different.

"What's going on?"

But the spellcaster across from him seemed even more shocked than he was. "His soul is too strong! I can't suppress him!"

"Help me get away!"

The first woman, who had used shadow magic, rasped.

The other woman immediately helped her up. Both were wearing pitch-black coats that covered their faces, but they couldn't have been very old. They looked like two witches.

As they retreated, the second witch looked toward Sulu again.

Her bright eyes now seemed like the breach of a dam.

In an instant, Sulu felt a wave of pressure crash down on him.

Unlike the needle-like pain from before, this time it was like a heavy weight—not on his body, but like a suit of heavy armor placed directly on his soul!

This was an invisible contest in the realm of the mind.

Thank goodness!

Sulu's body grew unbearably heavy, but he could still move, albeit with difficulty. That was, of course, because his mental strength was far greater than an ordinary person's.

"What's going on? Why is he still standing?"

The two female spellcasters cried out in alarm and hurriedly fled in panic.

After an unknown amount of time, the pressure receded like the tide.

Sulu let out a long breath, nearly collapsing to the ground.

Though his mental strength was quite good, he had still lost the contest to the spellcaster across from him.

That proved her mental strength was greater than his.

Under that kind of suppression, challenging two people would have been unwise.

So he chose to give up.

"Still... I learned a lot today. At the very least, there are two enemies, and they're both women!"

Sulu's gaze shifted. "One uses shadow magic, and the other attacks directly with her mental strength... The one who uses shadow magic seems to have some limitations. For example... she can't control too many people at once, and she can't command a shadow to kill someone directly?"

Both in the earlier attack in the private room and just now, the shadows had only controlled two people.

And the shadow hadn't killed anyone directly, either. It had to control someone it had bound. For example, it couldn't make Sulu kill himself; it had to use Donald instead. That gave Sulu plenty to think about.

Could that be the shadow's limitation?

"Magic... especially this kind that involves control, is like a contest on the level of the mind. It's like in my previous life: even the most skilled hypnotist can't hypnotize someone into killing themselves, because that goes against the instincts of their subconscious..."

"But even so, it's still formidable!"

After resting a little, Sulu rose to his feet, feeling somewhat dejected.

On his Attribute Panel, Tiger Power wore off, and a weakened state appeared in its place, leaving him panting even harder.

"What about the attackers?"

Donald came over hesitantly from behind.

When he saw that Sulu was still alive, his expression turned rather strange.

"You look like you were hoping to collect my body. Is that it?"

Sulu felt speechless, realizing that his actions earlier had been a little reckless.

If those two women had been any stronger, he might have been the one to die.