Return of the Dragon-Devouring Assassin

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Feyr knocked on the door of the Head Instructor's Office.

Knock knock—

"Come in."

There was more force in Zak's voice than usual.

It felt as though something important was about to be said.

"I was told you were looking for me."

"That's right."

Zak gave a short reply, then followed it with a question.

"What do you suppose the reason is that this instructor has called you here?"

Feyr held his tongue for a moment.

He had picked up on the serious atmosphere, but the content of what was to be discussed wasn't something he could immediately pinpoint.

When Feyr stayed silent, Zak let out a scoff.

"Well, even you wouldn't know."

Zak got straight to the point.

"The reason I've called you is because you will be taking an individual exam on your own this time."

"An individual…… exam?"

The exams administered at the Lunar Eclipse Training Ground—aside from the previous Token Exam—were mostly group-based.

Since this was a place that trained assassins, the exams here were focused on operations, and as a result, group exams were the norm.

With 1 exception.

'Don't tell me it's a Skip Exam?'

The Skip Exam was exactly what the name implied—an exam that allowed one to bypass stages that would otherwise need to be completed here.

It was a proposal extended only to those called prodigies even within a Family where every member was already a genius.

Given that, there was nothing strange about the Skip Exam being offered to Feyr.

But.

'There's no Skip Exam at the Lunar Eclipse Training Ground, is there?'

According to his memory, no such thing existed here.

If a slave born of lowly origins were to skip ahead to another Training Ground, the backlash there would be severe.

And so, the very concept of skipping ahead had never been applied to the Lunar Eclipse Training Ground.

Which made this all the more baffling.

Why Zak was proposing an individual exam—he couldn't work it out.

As he turned it over in his mind, a memory of something Zak had once said surfaced.

'The people above seem to be quite taken with you.'

Could it be that this exam was connected to that as well?

With that suspicion in mind, Feyr asked Zak indirectly.

"Could it be that this, too, is an order handed down from above?"

At that question, Zak's eyelid gave a faint twitch.

The reaction that came out of him when he was struck at his core.

Just as he had guessed, it seemed this was indeed an order from above.

Even so, 1 question remained that he couldn't resolve.

'Would Azazel really go through the trouble of something like this?'

Azazel was someone who, once his interest was piqued, would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.

Had he not already handed over even the Gold Key on a whim of interest?

And yet a person like that would go through the cumbersome method of a Skip Exam?

It didn't add up.

Then who on earth had extended this proposal to him?

Just as Feyr was mulling that over—

Bang!

"That is none of your concern."

Zak slammed his fist on the desk and said it flatly.

Displeased by the question, Zak fixed him with eyes like those of a predator.

It was only natural for Zak to react sensitively—it was an order that had come down directly from above.

So Feyr immediately lowered his head and offered an apology.

"I apologize. I overstepped."

In truth, Zak's mood was of no concern to him.

Even if it had been a careless remark, it had nothing to do with himself.

He had already achieved what he was after—grasping the intent behind this exam.

And Zak was the type to let it go quietly with a single word of apology.

Of course he was.

After all, the one who had watched him longest in his past life was none other than himself.

Just as Feyr had expected, Zak clicked his tongue once and then began talking about the exam.

"The exam is scheduled to take place today without delay, and it will be held in the basement of the Main Building here. If you need time to prepare, I'll give it to you—go and come back."

For any other slave, that would have been news like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. But to Feyr, it was no great matter.

Since when had sitting an exam on short notice been anything new?

If anything, being given preparation time was the more unfamiliar thing.

"I'll take the exam right now."

When Feyr said that with composure, Zak waved his hand as if to say do as you like.

Zak then rose from his seat and spoke to him.

"This instructor will supervise this exam alone. We'll be moving to the exam room, so follow along."

"Understood."

Having said his piece, Zak left the Head Instructor's Office, and Feyr followed behind him.

The 2 of them then descended the stairs leading to the basement of the Main Building and arrived underground.

Feyr looked around with curious eyes at the surprisingly spacious area for a basement.

'This is my first time coming down here.'

Even back when Feyr had served as an instructor at the Lunar Eclipse Training Ground in his past life, he had never once come down to the basement.

It had always been a restricted area.

At the time, he hadn't known the reason why it was off-limits—but now that he understood there was an exam room here, it made sense.

Before long, the footsteps of the 2 moving through the underground space came to a halt.

Before them stood a massive iron door, rusted in patches and clearly quite old.

Zak stepped up to the iron door and turned to face him, beginning to explain the exam.

"The exam is conducted beyond this door. All you need to do is retrieve 3 Tokens hidden inside. Bringing back just 1 is acceptable, but the more Tokens you bring back, the greater the reward you can receive—keep that in mind."

To put it simply:

Enter the exam room and bring back all 3 Tokens to receive the best possible reward.

In the end, retrieving Tokens was no different from the previous exam.

The difference was that the more Tokens brought back, the better the reward.

He found the appeal of higher rewards appealing—proportional to how many he pushed himself to retrieve.

But separate from that, something struck him as odd.

It was simply too easy for a Skip Exam.

It was even easier than the previous exam.

'Is this really all there is?'

Of course, he didn't know what lay in wait behind the iron door.

But even so—was it not just finding Tokens?

A Skip Exam in name, reduced to Token-hunting—he couldn't help but find it strange.

On top of that, with the Serpent Sense already mastered, finding a few Tokens was nothing at all.

Just as Feyr was privately puzzling over it, Zak looked at him and asked one final question.

"Any questions?"

"None."

Zak then reached into his chest and drew out a small key, inserted it into the iron door's keyhole, and turned it.

Clack—

As the lock disengaged, the iron door began to swing open with a thunderous groan.

Krrrumble—

The door had been left untouched for so long that rust had set in, making it struggle to open at all.

Judging by its state, this place hadn't been opened in decades.

At any rate, once the door swung fully open, the interior was revealed.

Or rather, it should have been.

What appeared before his eyes was not the interior's full view—only an impenetrably thick darkness.

And it was not ordinary darkness, either—it seemed to be swallowing the light that seeped in from outside.

At the sight before him, Feyr let out a hollow laugh.

"Ha……!"

Finding Tokens in the dark.

‘Was that really all a Skip Exam amounted to?’

At this point, he was more amused than anything.

'No—actually, isn't this a stroke of luck?'

If the interior of the exam room was in complete darkness, it was also the perfect opportunity to put the Serpent Sense to proper use.

Zak, unaware of that fact, simply thought Feyr was an odd one for laughing like that, and reached into his pocket to pull out his Pocket Watch.

Then—

"Are you ready?"

Zak looked down at Feyr and asked the brief question.

‘Ready?’

‘Obviously.’

Feyr smirked and said, "I am."

Zak glanced at the Pocket Watch and said, "The time limit is 10 minutes. If you don't come out within that time……."

He paused, then snapped the Pocket Watch shut with a sharp crack and issued his warning.

Snap!

"I will consider it a failure."

Zak left that short, blunt warning and stepped back.

Consider it a failure, huh……

Feyr let out a small snicker.

He couldn't help it.

With the Serpent Sense, there was no way he could fail.

With that thought, Feyr stood at the entrance of the exam room, brimming with confidence, and asked, "May I go in?"

At Feyr's question, Zak gave a small nod.

At Zak's signal, Feyr immediately plunged into the exam room.

The moment Feyr stepped inside, the iron door slammed shut with a bang.

***

The interior of the exam room was pitch black, like plunging deep into a cave.

No matter how he looked around, nothing was visible, and no matter how much time passed, his eyes refused to adjust to the darkness.

Clearly, it was not ordinary darkness.

But that presented no problem whatsoever.

He had the Serpent Sense.

To properly harness the ability to detect vibrations, Feyr stamped his foot hard against the ground.

Thud!

As his foot struck, a faint vibration spread through the interior of the exam room.

At the same moment, Feyr closed his eyes—and a world of black and white unfolded before his closed eyes.

'I can see it.'

Even with his eyes shut, the entire structure of this space was clear to him, as though every surface had been outlined in white.

A clearer view than when he had used the Serpent Sense before.

Having fully absorbed the energy of the Inner Core, seeing through mere darkness like this was a simple matter.

Having swept the structure of the exam room's interior in that short span of time, the result was clear.

He had located the numerous traps lying in wait within the darkness.

'Mechanisms?'

Mechanisms were a type of booby trap that activated upon detecting movement.

Their varieties were extraordinarily diverse—from devices that triggered spells to devices that launched arrows and the like.

The majority of the mechanisms packed into this place appeared to belong to the latter category.

Of course, there were some that fired off spells, but their number was vanishingly small, not enough to be genuinely dangerous.

'Right—at least there's this much.'

‘For a Skip Exam in name, there should be some obstacle, shouldn't there?’

With that thought, Feyr smirked and turned his attention away from the mechanisms.

He then began searching for the 3 Tokens that were the objective of the exam.

Having already swept the structure moments ago, he had also managed to pinpoint all 3 locations.

The Tokens were situated in 3 places total.

'1 at the far end of the exam room. 1 on the right wall. And the last…….'

Was hanging from the ceiling.

What kind of madman would think to hang a Token from the ceiling?

Was there even anyone who would find it there in the first place?

Pointless thoughts like that crossed his mind—but regardless, he was going to retrieve them all.

Feyr cleared his head and began to step forward.

'Start with the nearest one.'

Having set his route, Feyr fixed the right wall—the closest location—as his first target.

The one on the ceiling was bound to be the most difficult to retrieve, so the next target after that would be the Token at the far end of the exam room.

With his course of movement settled, he broke into a run—

Wmmmmm!

A strange sound from beneath his feet.

‘There wasn't supposed to be a device anywhere near here?’

The instant Feyr had that thought and lifted his foot—

Whoosh!

Several arrows came streaking toward him with the speed of lightning.

Arrows tearing through the air, closing in fast.

A sharp, acrid smell drifted over—these were poisoned arrows.

As the arrows drew near, Feyr swiftly stepped aside on the spot.

The arrows then converged on the very spot where Feyr had been standing just a moment before.

Thwack thwack thwack!

It seemed that what lurked in this place was not Mechanisms alone.