Tepo had toggled his stealth within the dungeon to reduce the force consumption. Now, as he left through the secret door, he hastily activated the spell again.

Steps came closer.

“No, I swear I heard something.”

“We already searched the office, Vandean. What could you possibly hear? You better find the key!”

“Shut up, Kalmin! Go search the key yourself and don’t bother me!”

The youths bickered as they approached the office. But the moment they stepped through the door, they were speechless.

Some of the aristocrats doubted their eyes as they looked at the slowly closing walls. But Kalmin and Vandean reacted immediately.

Without much thought the two young men dashed forward explosively. They only had the narrowing gap in their eyes. A moment later the door closed quietly, with the duo barely managing to reach the staircase.

Most of the youths were still surprised. The group approached the door, knocking on the solid wall.

“Kalmin, Vandean, are you ok? What do you see?”

“We’re good guys. We entered a staircase!”

But suddenly the conversation was interrupted. The aristocrats felt a commotion behind them. They turned their heads in confusion.

Close to the door, a small violet vortex had suddenly appeared in midair. A blob of poisonous liquid emerged from it, shooting through the air.

“F*ck!”

Tepo couldn’t stop himself from cursing. He was surprised as well. He had suddenly felt his core pulse, warning him.

A moment later [Time Protection: Future] was activated by itself. The beast attack he once blocked reappeared, aiming straight for his head.

Tepo’s eyes were wide, slowing his reaction. When he processed what was happening the projectile was already flying.

With little time the warrior could only hastily use [Chaotic Evasion].

The aristocrats watched in confusion. Suddenly thought, a man appeared out of thin air. He was only in their view for a second before disappearing in the hallway.

“Stop!”

“Who are you?!”

Despite staying in place, the aristocrats immediately yelled at Tepo. They were still trying to make sense of the situation.

Only Vorea’s sharp eyes shut open in surprise. She let out an uncharacteristic frantic shout:

“He has the heart!”

The aristocrats didn’t even react. Subconsciously this sentence was too absurd in their minds.

Until this point everything went perfectly as planned. Their hired mercenaries blocked the door and no outside help had arrived since the elder deterred others from acting.

But now you’re telling me that someone not only entered the temple undetected but was even about to clear the dungeon?!

Only as Vorea dashed towards the door did the others accept the situation. The hastily followed after her. Reaching the hallway, they already saw a student close to the balcony.

“Halt!”

“Don’t you dare!”

“Drop the heart immediately!”

Kalmin and Vandean were left in the staircase, confused by the voices outside but no one had time to care about the two now.

Tepo naturally heard the shouts behind his back. He gritted his teeth as he sprinted towards the general.

Stolen story; please report.

Suddenly his instincts screamed at him. Hastily using [Chaotic Evasion], Tepo jumped to the side as a sharp ice spike dropped from the ceiling.

It shattered on the ground with a deafening clang.

Bang!

A gunshot echoed from the stone walls. Tepo didn’t have time to be surprised that someone other than him wielded a gun as well.

He hastily used his [Heated Defense] while trying to twist his body unpredictably.

Suddenly a pain spread from his chest. But Tepo suppressed the feelings. After piercing his own heart once, there weren’t many injuries which could overwhelm him.

Among the group of youths stood a young man in golden shirt and white pants. He had a twinkle of excitement in his eyes as he aimed an artfully designed pistol at Tepo.

Come, die for me piggy!

With a sadistic grin he fired the second bullet.

Suddenly a yet of flames spread from Tepo’s back, obscuring everyone’s vision. A power engulfed his body, pushing him forward.

Tepo was close to the arc leading outside when he heard another gunshot behind him. He turned his body. Blood sprayed from his shoulder.

Blood dying his clothes red, Tepo hastily dashed outside. Only now did the other attacks arrive. Fire, ice, earth, everything rained on the balcony.

But Tepo hadn’t reached safety yet. A strange force suddenly grabbed his leg, holding it in place.

Pain shot along his leg as his momentum pulled heavily on his body. But it wouldn’t budge.

Tepo didn’t hesitate for a single moment. He used time protection right away. The force holding him in place vanished in a violet swirl.

With two wildly beating hearts the young man circled the throne before him. He didn’t think as he just plunged his hand holding the general’s heart into the man’s chest.

The world changed abruptly.

Tepo found himself back under the two trees, a large crowd surrounding him. He stood closest to the artificial core floating in the air.

A lot of pressure dropped from the young man. But suddenly he heard another gunshot accompanied by a loud shout.

“B*stard!”

The crowd couldn’t even react. Panicked cries spread among the students. Some thought they were still in the dungeon and tried to defend hastily.

Tepo felt weak as well as everything in him told him to move. But the attack came from a close range. He had no time left.

“INSOLENT!”

A thunderous shout shook everyone’s minds. Vice-commander Tapharn stared at the crowd with wide open eyes.

The high-ranking warrior was naturally faster than a bunch of students. The bullet might as well move like a snail in her eyes. She instantly activated a spell, spawning an invisible wall to protect Tepo.

Not far away the female elder eyed the vice-commander. A bunch of predictions ran through her mind. She was contemplating if it was worth to act.

The female elder was of the Redswan family. For her it wouldn’t be a bad outcome if Tepo died at the hands of a Gold. But the fallout was hard to predict if she blocked the vice-commander on purpose.

As the elder hesitated, the situation was already over.

Tepo took a deep breath of relief as he saw the bullet stopped in midair.

A moment later the vice-commander appeared before him, her body heaving in anger.

“You went too far this time!”

Pressure spread from the dangerous woman. The students who just left the dungeon were still confused.

But those who left earlier also felt righteous indignation burning in their chests. They returned to the trial field to report the situation inside.

But the dungeon committee simply ignored their complaints. They played dumb, stating that there was no evidence that the mercenaries were above the aspirant rank.

Therefore, a few brave students went back inside and blatantly scanned the mercenaries. Subsequently they were beaten half to death but at least they had their evidence.

But when they were carried back outside and reported with great difficulties, the dungeon committee said they couldn’t act based on a student’s accusation.

This would sully the forum’s reputation especially since this was the first time that non-students were allowed to participate in the event.

Despite their shock over the committee’s shamelessness, students still tried to argue, telling the teachers to check by themselves.

But they refused, still arguing that they didn’t want to displease their guests.

And the whole time Tapharn was forced to watch as the elder observed her closely.

Thus, the already tense atmosphere suddenly exploded. Even the elder had no good reason to interfere as the vice-commander stared at Corian Gold.

Somewhere at the edge of the crowd Konstan Gold also observed the scene. He only shook his head, disappointed in his younger brother.

“Corian Gold! How dare you try to kill your fellow students?!”

Tapharn almost growled, but Corian’s face was nonchalant. Although his back was sweating from the pressure, he managed to speak:

“Why are you making such a ruckus? Someone tried to take what should have been mine. We invested a lot of effort, right? So what right does this no-one have to clear the dungeon?

He should die for this.”

The surrounding students felt a chill spread in their bones. They listened to Corian speaking leisurely, directly revealing his thoughts.

The young man’s eyes showed how much he looked down on others, with people like Tepo simply not deserving the same rights as him.

Even the vice-commander felt shocked. In her perception the Gold family was actually the easiest to get along with. So, what went wrong with this youngster?

“Do you disregard the forum’s rules?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dare.”

Tepo held his bleeding chest as he watched Corian’s face. A smile flashed on the young aristocrat’s lips, almost unnoticeable. The fine contours of his face suddenly appearing incredibly vicious.

Tapharn was also at the end of her patience.

“Guards! Lead him away!”

Two of her trusted subordinates reacted immediately. They put handcuffs on Corian’s wrists, before leading him through the crowd.

“Hey, can’t we skip this farce?”

“Shut up! You can wait for punishment!”

“Really? Do you think the elder committee will judge me? Do they dare to?”

Even elder Redswan on the stage frowned as she watched Corian leaving with a bright laugh.