Chapitre 23: Chapter ?? - Someone interesting (2)
The hall that had become a battlefield was a mess. Screams and blood were being splattered everywhere. Initially, there were about eighty teams in this place, but after only a few minutes the number was reduced to less than fifty.
With loud rumbling sounds, the dust in the place stirred and formed a mist covering everything.
Two people stared at each other in the dusty mist.
One was a large man mumbling something with a bored expression. And the other was a gray-haired, blue-eyed boy wearing one of the test vests.
A tense atmosphere was between them.
"Hey, kid. Hand me that vest of yours. I'm not interested in killing a little kid."
"No. I need the vest to pass the test."
The boy shook his head with a determined face. The big man clicked his tongue and spoke again.
"Don't test my patience, kid. What will you do if I happen to try to take the vest from you by force?"
"I will fight you, then."
The big guy's eyebrows began to quiver.
"Ahhh. So you're saying that a child who looks no older than thirteen wants to fight me, is that it?"
A strange smile formed on his face as he stepped forward slightly. The boy frowned and nodded.
"That is correct."
It was then.
POW!
The moment he blinked, the boy saw the back of someone's hand appear right in front of his nose. Not only that, he also saw the big guy's fist blocked by this hand. The shockwave caused swept away the surrounding cloud of dust and presented a clearer view of the surroundings.
"Hey, baby. Are you okay?"
The boy's eyes widened. Seeing the person who appeared in front of him, he was pleasantly surprised.
"Sir Urek!"
"Hahaha. It hasn't been that long since we met, so why are you so excited?"
Urek laughed.
"Who are you?!"
Uhm? He turned his face and looked at the big guy who seemed quite perturbed by his appearance. The big guy was looking at him with a fierce expression that made it look like he was going to rip a chunk out of his body. Urek found this amusing and pointed to himself.
"Me?"
He bared his teeth at the big guy and took a step forward. And then.
"I am Urek Mazino!"
His fist shot toward the big guy. It was terrible. The big guy felt as if a giant meteor was about to hit him. He couldn't move in the face of the gigantic pressure. It was at that moment.
[Don't exaggerate.]
'Ugh. I almost forget...'
Remembering Uriel's words for him not to overdo it, Urek decreased the strength of his attack a little.
But, it was still an 'attack' by Urek Mazino.
The air ripped apart and in an instant, his fist grazed the big man's nose.
"Wha, what..."
Bang!!
A thunderous noise similar to the sound of a balloon popping resounded throughout the hall. At the place where Urek's fist landed, a blood mist spread and mixed with the surrounding dust cloud.
The big man's head exploded.
The boy behind him blinked his eyes in amazement. He didn't mind the bloody sight. For someone who was chosen as a regular to climb the tower, seeing something like that was not something very terrifying. What impressed him was the strength of Urek Mazino. Not even in his wildest dreams would he have imagined that a regular on the same Test Floor as him, would have such absurd strength.
'As I expected, Sir Urek is a completely different person!'
The boy's eyes sparkled with admiration and, Urek unknowingly won his first admirer.
"Sir Urek, are you all right?"
"Haha. No need to worry, it was pretty easy to defeat that guy."
"If that's so..."
The boy felt even more admiration as he saw Urek's indifferent smile.
He remembered the conversation he had with him a short time ago.
Before the test had even begun, Urek had talked with the boy for a while. The conversation between them went quickly, and Urek ended up listening to the boy's wishes.
[Huh? Your dream is to get out of the tower?]
[Yes. That's been my dream since I was a little boy. But, my family always mocked this dream, they said that something like going outside is something absurd and is just a pipe dream. That's why I'm climbing the tower!]
[.....]
[Who knows, maybe if I can become someone as impressive as the Ten Great Family Leaders I can someday go outside?]
[.....]
[Don't you think something like that is amazing, Sir Urek? There are few records about the outside. All we know is that's where the Irregulars came from, I'd like to see a place like that!]
[....Pu-heh.]
[.....?]
[Puhahahahaha! Baby, you are interesting! Very well, how would you like to join me? I will help you with that dream!]
[...Hehe, I appreciate Sir Urek's thoughts. But, I already have a team. Also, although I dream of going to the outside, I know that this is a practically impossible dream. Who knows if there really is an outside side and it's not just a myth?]
[Ahahahaha. You don't have to worry about that. The outside certainly exists!]
[How do you know that...?]
[Because I came from there!]
[You came from there...? Haha, that was a really funny joke. No need to kid me, Sir Urek...]
[Joke? I'm serious! Uriel told me what you call us, let me remember... Hmm... Ah! Irregulars! Yes, I am an Irregular!]
[Right, right. Sir Urek is really an Irregular like the Enryu Red Tower!]
[Hahahahah, glad you understand!]
Although he said that, the boy never thought that Urek was really an Irregular. To him, Urek was just a completely different person from the other Regulars here, but an Irregular... That was already something unimaginable.
Unaware of his line of thought, Urek asked something that was making him curious.
"Where are your team members?"
"Oh, they..."
Seeing the boy lower his shoulders with a strange expression, Urek tilted his head.
"What happened? You can talk."
"Well, how can I tell...? My teammates are right over there."
The boy pointed in two different directions. Looking in one of the directions, Urek could see an abnormally large person, at least four meters tall, and another person holding a sword fighting each other. The giant was missing an arm but was fighting on equal terms with the swordsman.
"Stop dodging!"
"Hahaha! Weren't you a great swordsman and going to cut off my other arm?!"
"....."
The boy was silent.
"Which one is your teammate?"
"...The big guy. And there's my other teammate."
Following his finger again, Urek saw someone crouched in a corner not far away. He had brown hair, blue eyes, and was wearing one of the vests. He was making circles with his finger on the ground, with a bored, inexpressive expression on his face. It seemed that there was nothing in the world that mattered to him.
"....."
...Your companions are quite unique. Urek laughed and crossed his arms.
"What about your team, Sir Urek?"
"Mine?"
Urek smiled broadly and pointed in a direction opposite to where the giant and the swordsman were. In the direction where he pointed, some white beams could often be seen and blood was splattering everywhere.
"They are right there."
"Could those white beams be...?"
"They belong to the guy named Uriel that I told you about. He's someone that even I consider strong."
"Oh, impressive...!"
The boy's eyes shone even brighter. How could he not have thought of this before? To be able to keep up with someone as amazing and brilliant as Sir Urek, they must also be amazing people.
'Besides, for Sir Urek to consider someone as strong! This Uriel guy must have unimaginably strong power!'
Until now, all the people Urek saw he considered them to be terribly weak. There are only a few people that he considered as not bad at all, and even fewer that he considered as strong.
The boy raised his head and looked at Urek. The latter was smiling brightly and with terrifying confidence radiating from him.
***
'This is bothering me...'
Tap. Tap.
Dylan stood with his arms crossed tapping his finger on his arms. His eyes behind his sunglasses were solemn.
'Who are they?'
He couldn't help but feel tense at the appearance of those two Regulars. It was unimaginable.
One of them carried a sword that radiated a power so great that it made Dylan cringe. Not only that, the boy himself was abnormally strong. One stroke of his sword created dozens of cuts following abstract trajectories and destroyed his enemies.
'His fencing is quite similar to Arie Swordsmanship. Is he from the Arie family?'
That doubt arose. Although the boy does not have the white hair of the Arie family, and his name is registered as 'Elune Uriel', it was not impossible for him to be of the Arie family.
'He could be one of the abandoned children in the Middle Area.'
He was even with an Arie family girl on his team.
But, what kind of excuse could he make for the other boy? He had silver blond hair and a pair of red eyes. Unlike the first, this boy did not carry a sword with him. Nor was he fighting several people at once and defeating them easily. But, Dylan was taking even greater care with him than with the first boy.
'Physical strength like that... Even a Ranker might not be that strong.'
Dylan frowned. The sight of the blond boy exploring the giant's head with just one punch appeared in his mind.
That was not something very impressive among the Rankers. But Dylan felt the terrible force behind this attack. He was sure—the blond boy had slowed the force of the attack on purpose.
If he had attacked with the force put into the attack initially...
'This entire hall would have been destroyed.'
Not just the hall. The attack would probably destroy a good part of District 2.
That was not something possible even for a Ha family Ranker. Perhaps only a High Ranker would have enough strength to make such an attack.
But a Regular who just started climbing the tower having that much power?
'That's impossible.'
A frown formed on Dylan's face. He was about to think more about the situation when someone interrupted him at that moment.
"Lord Dylan, the teams have already dwindled to only twenty."
'Already?'
Dylan can't help but doubt his ears. It had only been a few minutes, he planned for this test to last at least an hour. He sighed.
"Right."
Settling for the lizard-like being in front of him, Dylan stepped forward with a stride. He opened his mouth and spoke in a loud tone.
"Pause!! The third test is over! We will take the count to see if each member of your team carries a vest! If all members have a vest, congratulations! Your team has passed!!"
Everyone's attention was caught by his shout and everyone who was fighting stopped their movements.
Some groans and cries of disappointment were heard along with the battle ceasing. Not everyone managed to collect enough vests.
A line formed in front of Dylan and he began to count the vests each team got.
"What the hell, you had your vest stolen and you didn't even try to get it back? Your group doesn't pass."
"Huh?! Did your teammate hand over the vest to preserve his life? Is that my problem? Your group doesn't pass."
"Only two vests. Your group doesn't pass."
"Three vests. You guys pass."
"You guys pass."
"Five vests, not bad. You guys pass."
Dylan nodded his head in satisfaction. Some seemed to have understood the rules of the test and took as many vests as they could.
He continued counting the vests, and then there was a moment when he had to raise his glasses to show his disbelieving eyes.
"Ten vests?!"
"Yes."
He looked at the light blue-haired boy nodding his head with a stoic expression on his face.
Dylan laughed for a moment and said to him, "Your group passed," and looked at the person behind him. Uriel walked right after the blue-haired boy, with Arisha and Urek following behind him.
'Let's see how many vests this group has collected.'
Dylan was especially interested in this group. Apparently, the only one who collected vests from this group was the black-haired boy, since the Arie family girl only followed him and the blond boy didn't even make an effort to collect the vests.
"Here you go."
Uriel dumped the vests on the floor and Dylan started counting.
'One, two, three, four...'
For now, it was as expected, but the numbers continued to climb.
'...Twelve, fourteen, thirteen... twenty, twenty-one...'
Dylan began to frown. Not only him, the other Regulars like the blue-haired boy also frowned at this.
They looked at the black-haired, purple-eyed boy smiling and wondering inwardly.
How many vests did he take?
That question was soon answered by Dylan who finished counting.
"Thirty."
"Wha, what...?"
The Regulars choked. Dylan gave a more precise answer.
"A total of thirty-three vests. Your team passes."
"Wow..."
The Regulars couldn't help but take a deep breath and take a second look at the purple-eyed boy.
At the same time, Dylan's gaze over his glasses sank.
Thirty teams. One Regular managed to defeat over ninety Regulars on the same floor as him, alone. That's not impossible—at least on higher floors, but on the 2nd Floor? Where Regulars can't even use shinsu?
Dylan turned and left a few words as he left the hall.
"To those who have passed, someone will be coming soon to take you to the dorms and turn in your points. Those who collected the most vests will obviously receive more points. That's it, see you."
***
"Hahaha, you did well, Uriel. You had to see their faces when you threw those vests on the ground."
Urek laughed walking side by side with Uriel.
Just as Dylan had told them earlier, someone appeared and showed them where their dorm room was. This person handed out a total of 1,000 points to Uriel, Urek, and Arisha. And now, they were walking towards the cafeteria to get something to eat.
The trio, well, Urek and Uriel were talking in the middle of the way with a smile on their faces. They quickly arrived at the dining hall. It was huge. There were several strange octopus-like creatures with several eyes that prepared the food.
The three went towards the octopuses and were about to order food when...
"Sir Urek!"
A sudden shout caught the attention of the three.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone