Instant Kill

Fran said the words as if struck by a sudden inspiration:

"Richter..."

Richter's expression changed at once. His hand, which had been hanging loosely at his side, moved to something at his waist.

He suddenly realized he might have made a mistake. The person opposite him knew who he was...

They shouldn't have known who he was, because he had never shown his face in front of Fran.

But now Fran knew he was Richter, and she sounded completely certain. There was a good chance she had known before coming that Richter was the one who had lured her here.

Although he believed an apprentice could never defeat an Advanced Apprentice, if that apprentice knew Richter was coming—that infamous madman—would she really have come unprepared?

Thinking about it from the other side, if someone who had harmed numerous apprentices and killed who knew how many people had set his sights on him, he would certainly find some way to deal with them.

For starters, he would contact a few enemies of theirs. Someone from Velos Academy whose family member he had just killed, for instance, would surely come after him if they heard he was here.

He was terrified that two or three Advanced Apprentices might suddenly appear and surround him. If that happened, he was probably done for.

His defensive gear wasn't as complete as it had been during the assessment. He had only a third of the equipment he'd had then.

Many of his precious single-use items had been damaged when he was surrounded during the assessment. If someone attacked him now, he probably couldn't withstand even two rounds.

Damn it, who was targeting him? Was it that Milank, the one who had kept his distance and never approached him during the assessment?

He'd known there was something wrong with someone who saw him and didn't try to gang up on him, choosing to keep their distance instead. No normal person would do that.

Now he had to strike first and take the apprentice in front of him out of the fight.

He pinched a clump of bone dust from the pouch at his waist and scattered it quickly. The white powder vanished into the air.

His other hand shot out a ghastly pale ray, straight at the apprentice.

Skeletons began to rise from the ground, their bones clattering as they moved.

Fran felt a force envelop her, and sensed her attributes rise dramatically.

But she didn't dwell on where the power came from in the middle of a fight. She activated her Breathing Technique first, drawing wind element to her hand.

A Wind Blade had already formed there. She released it toward the skeletons, then immediately activated [Mental Power].

She had already turned her sword into an enchanted weapon with the [Swift] and [Sharp] runes, and activated it at that very moment.

Like a bolt of lightning, Fran lightly swept past Richter and cut his throat, then slashed the apprentice beside him across the neck as well.

Richter felt as if something had brushed against his neck. Then a warm sensation flowed down to his collarbone.

His vision went dark. Only at the last moment did he realize, I've been attacked. I'm going to die.

No... Why didn't my defensive gear activate? He had brought equipment that released a shock wave as soon as anything struck his body. Why hadn't it triggered?

He had also made a second mistake. As a spellcaster, he had gotten too close to a melee fighter.

In the final moments of his life, he looked around. There were no other figures in sight—only Fran, standing in the wasteland.

Fran didn't rush over. She stayed on guard for a possible counterattack from Richter. What if he had something that could make him explode?

"Ah..." Richter tried to speak, but with his throat fatally injured, all he could manage was an incoherent cry.

How could this apprentice be so strong? Did she really defeat a teacher from a school?

Richter felt his whole worldview collapse and sank into deep self-doubt.

Then he thought of something, and the corner of his mouth curled.

Even if I die, the school will send someone to find out who killed me. I have a Notebook from the Transmutation School on me, as well as a reward I received for placing in the assessment.

Both are important. The former could expose the school's knowledge, while the latter is something every Advanced Apprentice wants.

He glared at Fran. Just wait. Once the school finds my body, they'll come for you. Being an Advanced Apprentice from another school won't be enough to make them risk letting their knowledge get out.

Fran waited in place for three minutes. She watched as the earth beneath Richter darkened with blood and the light faded from his staring eyes. He stopped moving.

That was enough. He'd lost plenty of blood. There was no way he could still be alive. They were only apprentices, after all—not the sort of tough bastards who could lose that much blood and survive.

Fran cautiously approached and began examining the two bodies on the ground.

After checking them over, she was reasonably sure Richter was really dead.

Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief and begin the essential step after defeating an enemy—looting the bodies.

After searching them, her hands were stained with blood, but she felt it had been worth the effort when she saw what she'd found.

Fran dug two pits with a shovel and threw the bodies in.

She had to admit, being in good shape made this kind of physical labor much quicker. The soil here was loose, too, so she finished digging in no time.

She tossed both bodies into the pits, then carefully headed back with tonight's spoils.

The next day, two Construct School apprentices arrived in the wasteland.

"This is the place?"

"That's right. According to the description on the list, it's here. We just need to lay the foundation."

The two didn't waste time. They immediately got to work.

They drove dozens of white stakes into the soil at regular intervals. The stakes were specially designed to compact the earth.

Once all the stakes were in place, they would activate a spell and use the device beside them to force the soil down and compact it.

Of course, if there was anything buried in the soil, the tremendous pressure would crush it and mix it into the earth, leaving it impossible to recognize.

"Hm?"

One of the apprentices suddenly noticed something.

"It looks like someone dug here."

He pointed to some darker patches of soil.

"Should we dig it up and take a look? Maybe there are some Gold Coins or something inside."

The other apprentice shook his head, stopping him.

"Is this your first time doing a job where all you have to do is compact the ground?"

"Yeah. Why? Is there a problem?"

"A big one! If you dig and find nothing, that's fine. But what if you dig up a corpse?"

"...Report it to the Enforcement Team..."

"Heh! Let me tell you, if the corpse is connected to some earth-shattering secret and the higher-ups can't find the killer, they'll use us as scapegoats."

"..." The apprentice felt a chill run down his spine. He'd heard about plenty of senior apprentices who had disappeared after getting too curious. How had he nearly ended up like them?

"Thanks for the warning. Let's hurry up and finish, then get out of here."