That Vivid Red

Momonga looked at the Yellow Ring and nodded.

Just as he had thought. With Aequus's strength, there was no way he couldn't get a Yellow Ring.

The adjutant quickly tallied the score, then announced:

"Aequus, fourteen Blue Rings, five Purple Rings, one Yellow Ring. Two thousand seven hundred points!"

Everyone fell silent when they heard that score.

It was so high that all they could do was look up at it.

No wonder!

No wonder he had been so confident earlier!

At that moment, some of them turned their eyes toward Milers again.

They were even more curious about his score now.

After all, he ranked above Aequus!

Wearing a smug expression, Aequus returned to Milers and Randall.

"Well? Did I blow you away?"

But all he got in response was Milers's expressionless face.

Randall rolled his eyes. "That's it?"

Aequus said, "What do you mean, that's it? That's a Yellow Ring! I got pretty badly hurt getting it!"

He pointed at the deep claw marks on his arm.

They had already scabbed over, but it was still easy to imagine how brutal the fight had been.

"Next, Milers!"

Momonga was also very curious about Milers's score, so he simply abandoned the order on the list and called him up directly.

Milers gave Aequus a look, then walked forward.

Aequus froze for a moment, then said:

"What was that look supposed to mean?"

Randall fanned the flames beside him:

"It means you're small fry!"

Aequus said, "Oh... Huh? What's that supposed to mean?!"

By then, Milers had reached Momonga.

He calmly took a stack of rings out of his bundle.

And everyone froze again.

That pile of rings.

Among all the Blue Rings and Purple Rings, the Yellow Rings stood out starkly.

And there were two of them!

Those two Yellow Rings alone put him ahead of everyone except Aequus.

Aequus was dumbfounded.

There was no need to calculate anything. Milers's score was guaranteed to be higher than his!

The adjutant quickly finished tallying the score, then announced loudly:

"Milers, ten Blue Rings, five Purple Rings, two Yellow Rings. Three thousand five hundred points!"

Momonga nodded. That score lived up to his expectations.

By now, everyone was a little numb.

They couldn't even get Purple Rings. How could these two defeat even yellow-level Ferocious Beasts?

Under everyone's gazes, Milers returned to his spot and gave Aequus another look.

It seemed to say, That's what I meant!

Full-circle moment.jpg

Aequus opened his mouth, then wisely shut it.

He had lost!

He had already lost!

Still, he had lost to Milers so many times already. One more loss hardly made a difference.

Milers then looked at Randall, posing a question with his eyes.

Well? Did you get more than me?

Randall merely smiled. Everything went without saying.

Milers's heart jolted.

What's this?

From that look, did you really get more than me?

"Next, Randall!"

Momonga simply decided to call up all the people he was interested in first.

Aequus patted Randall on the shoulder and said:

"My brother! Crush Milers for me!"

Despite what he said, he didn't actually think Randall's score would exceed three thousand five hundred.

Randall said nothing, leaving him only an inscrutable view of his back.

His movements also had everyone's attention.

They acknowledged Randall's strength. After all, he had beaten Pietro.

But they didn't think Randall could measure up to Aequus and Milers.

So, to varying degrees, they were all waiting to enjoy his embarrassment.

That's what you get for being so cocky!

They accepted Milers and Aequus treating the top three spots as theirs for the taking!

But what gives you the right?

Soon, Randall reached Momonga.

Momonga glanced at this young man, who seemed ordinary apart from his good looks, and grew curious about his score.

Because of his teacher Zephyr, he suddenly asked:

"Randall, did you get any Yellow Rings?"

Randall paused, then shook his head.

"No, I don't have any Yellow Rings! I don't have any Purple Rings either!"

Then he took out a single, lonely Blue Ring.

Momonga: ???

Everyone: ???

Only one Blue Ring?

This...

Nobody knew what to say.

So you're only good for fifty points?

That was the lowest score so far!

With that score, how did you have the nerve to say you were guaranteed a place in the top three?!

If Momonga hadn't been there, everyone would already have started making snide remarks.

Even so, their mocking gazes all stabbed into Randall.

Only Milers and Aequus fell into thought.

Milers, in particular, wore a grave expression.

Just now, Randall was indicating that his score was higher than mine, wasn't he...?

Momonga also frowned and said:

"So you only have one Blue Ring?"

Randall raised an eyebrow and said:

"Of course not."

Momonga said, "But didn't you say you didn't have any purple or yellow... Wait, could it be...?"

Halfway through, realization suddenly struck him.

Then, for the first time, shock appeared on his face.

And he watched as Randall pulled a handful of Red Rings out of his bundle!

That red was so vivid, as though they had been stained with fresh blood.

Holy shit, Momonga swore inwardly.

What the fuck...

Where did you conjure up all these Red Rings?

This wasn't one or two. This was a whole fucking handful!

There were only seven red-level Ferocious Beasts on this entire island!

You took every last one of them yourself?!

The moment Randall took out that handful of Red Rings, a deathly silence fell over the scene.

Every face looked as though its owner had been utterly broken.

So that's what you meant when you said you didn't have any Purple Rings or Yellow Rings?

Apart from one Blue Ring, all the rest were red?!

If there had only been one, they could have convinced themselves that he had gotten insanely lucky.

But that was a whole handful!

He had to be cheating!

Everyone stared blankly at that vivid red, feeling as though none of this could be real.

Red. Someone had actually managed to get red.

Now they didn't even dare look at Randall.

They were terrified that he would notice their earlier looks and attitudes.

Aequus and Milers were also stunned.

Milers couldn't even maintain his expressionless face anymore.

Good grief!

They were actually more shocked than anyone else.

Because they knew how powerful yellow-level Ferocious Beasts were.

And a Red Ring was worth ten times as many points as a Yellow Ring!

That meant, with their strength, they would have only one option upon encountering one—

Run!

If they couldn't escape, they would die!

Aequus muttered:

"This makes no sense! He and I were clearly evenly matched before...

How did he suddenly become such a monster..."