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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Circle and Weapon
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Was it a survival instinct, an obsession with life he’d had since he was young?
He chose a spear as his weapon.
So he could keep whatever was coming to ‘devour’ him at a distance.
There was a bow, but it would be difficult to use if the fight closed to short range.
One hint remained. ‘Bridge’.
*What in the world does that mean?*
Helios kept his eyes fixed on the sky, as if pleading for an answer.
It was laughable. He felt like some primitive man begging the sun for answers.
But his wish was real. That man had come to this prison, said to be the worst of the worst, and helped him for some trivial reason.
He could tell at a glance that the man was an oddball, different from ordinary people.
Then, just one more time…
“Hey, say something, damn it.”
Just then, a slow, languid, and indifferent voice seemed to brush past his ear.
“Not ‘hey you.’ It’s Sir Garet.”
At the same time, the lips of Mint, the dedicated guard he thought he’d made eye contact with, parted.
*Cir-cle. And wea-pon.*
And the blue barrier vanished.
Circle? And weapon? Why a weapon?
Helios understood the shape of her lips but found it difficult to decipher the meaning right away.
Squeak! Squeak!
But the rats were swarming again.
Helios scowled and raised his spear.
Unfortunately, this was his limit.
He even doubted if he could survive the next twenty minutes.
It happened then. The moment he stabbed a rat, he saw a red dot that had been invisible until now.
It was a red spot, barely visible through the fur on its overturned belly.
“Hey, you son of a bitch, what are you doing!”
A short, stocky man fending off rats next to Helios cursed.
*A circle?*
Yes, it was a circle. A round shape.
Thwack!
As Helios stabbed the circle with his spear, the weapon vibrated.
Helios felt a strange sensation.
Miraculously, he began to see red circles on the other rats as well.
Helios stepped forward.
“Hey? What are you doing?”
“Are you crazy? Hey!”
The men fighting alongside him shouted, not wanting to lose their best fighter, but Helios just charged ahead.
For some reason, he felt that swinging the spear this time would be different.
*Circle, and weapon.*
The moment Helios precisely stabbed the next rat.
Crackle!
A faint blue light emanated from the spear, and the old, shell-like layer surrounding it peeled away.
A blue spear soon appeared, suffused with a gentle, almost sacred light.
“What the… K-Kia? Hey man, you were a Kia user?”
Someone shouted, but Helios kept running forward.
The spear had miraculously changed its form.
The rats crumbled the instant they touched the spear.
*Circle, and weapon.*
It was as if stabbing the red circles with the weapon was the correct answer.
So, if he just wiped out all the rats with this spear, would the trial end?
No. Helios instinctively felt the spear thinning slightly with each use.
This wouldn’t be enough to eliminate all the giant rats pouring endlessly from that door.
Then what?
*The answer is by the door!*
Helios ran recklessly toward the door.
The shouts of the new prisoners behind him were drowned out by the squeaking of the rats.
Screee! Squeak!
The rats no longer saw Helios as prey.
They retreated frantically, as if they knew they would vanish upon touching the light.
When Helios finally reached the vicinity of the door, he realized.
“…A bridge?”
In front of the massive black door was a long bridge. The structure was so exquisite that you could only tell the area before the rat-spawning door was a cliff by getting up close.
The rats could only reach the prisoners by crossing that bridge.
This, too, was something one wouldn't know without approaching.
Which meant that to get here, one had to ‘activate’ the weapon that repelled the rats.
And it required the courage—or perhaps recklessness—and judgment to charge all the way here.
Helios raised his spear.
“Prisoner Helios.”
The languid voice echoed in his ear. Strangely, the guard hadn't been smiling.
“Be careful not to get eaten. Especially your ‘legs’.”
But it felt as if he had.
Rrrip! The bridge, made of sturdy cloth, tore apart.
It happened so easily, so futilely, as if it had been designed this way from the start.
As the bridge ripped, countless rats fell into the chasm.
Amazingly, even the rats that had already crossed the bridge seemed possessed, running to the cliff and leaping off or simply collapsing.
Fwoosh—.
He could see the rat corpses crumbling into black shadows.
The shining spear in his hand also faded away, soon returning to its original, worn state.
[Trial complete. Congratulations, lowest-grade Stray Dogs.]
An announcement-like voice came from the ceiling.
[You may now challenge the second floor.]
It was the sound of the surviving new prisoners being assigned the ‘lowest-grade’ rank.
Helios looked up at the ceiling.
The window that had looked like the sky was now empty.
For a moment, Helios felt a pang of disappointment.
But the disappointment didn't last long.
When he followed a guard who appeared from somewhere out to the tower's entrance.
The gentle face that had been looking down at him from the window was right before his eyes.
“Prisoner Helios.”
Drenched in sweat, Helios stared at the guard in front of him.
There wasn't even a polite smile on the guard's face, and yet…
a languid, beautiful voice that seemed to hold a smile drew his attention.
“Congratulations on your survival.”
* * *
*Hmm, so he activated it.*
Mint had stopped looking down at the lower floor the moment Helios activated his weapon and ran for the door.
There was no need to watch any longer.
*It’s going to be over soon anyway.*
The first floor of the tower’s trial is both difficult and easy. You just need to figure out the clear condition.
Only one thing is required: Do you have the aptitude for Kia?
If you have the aptitude, you can see Kia.
The male lead was bound to become a great master anyway. Not only that, he would acquire an unparalleled ability.
Besides, Mint had felt it from the moment she first met him.
*Ah, this bastard. He’s got the makings of a top dog someday.*
That he had incredible potential, you know?
So Mint decided to do something else.
And what was that?
[~100 Easy and Simple Manuals Carefully Selected for New Guards~
P.S. Written by your awesome senior, Steven!]
It was the condensed manual Sergeant Steven had given her.
“Wow, you read that whole boring thing? The one that’s like a law book?”
He had laughed his head off when he heard Mint had diligently read the manual provided by the prison, and then tossed her this book.
“Kuhahaha! That uselessly thick thing! The one even the Warden called a failure after making it?”
And he’d even condensed the entire manual himself.
Mint revised her assessment of Sergeant Steven.
She’d thought he was just a silly guy with an inferiority complex toward handsome men.
Turns out he was a pretty decent superior.
[Did the prisoner you’re in charge of safely overcome their assigned trial floor? Then do this! First, give them a round of applause!]
Next to the text was a drawing of a round, smiling face. There was even a helpful illustration of clapping hands.
And now.
Mint was clapping for Helios, who had just emerged.
Clap, clap, clap.
“Absolutely splendid.”
“…”
Soaked in sweat, Helios looked at Mint with a weary and exhausted expression.
*What is this now?*
If Helios had any strength left to speak, he would have screamed, ‘Are you crazy?’
Because Mint was clapping with an almost maniacally steady rhythm.
Clap, clap, clap.
“…”
Clap, clap, clap.
Mint wondered. It was all well and good to clap enthusiastically, but when was she supposed to stop?
She soon felt gazes on her that looked ready to kill.
It was the group of new prisoners who had survived alongside Helios.
Their fierce faces seemed to say, *Are you mocking us?*
She felt a gaze from another direction as well.
It was Sergeant First Class Kein, who had come out of the tower at some point. His look was anything but pleasant.
Mint figured Kein must be displeased with her, a rookie, for doing nothing in the waiting room and then just coming out.
*Next time we meet, I’ll have to show him I’m working more diligently.*
With this thought, Mint didn’t stop her hands. Not until someone stopped her.
Clap, clap, clap.
“Uhm, Sir Garet. Perhaps you could stop clapping now…?”
Turning her head at the cautious voice, she saw the familiar face of an attendant.
It was the same attendant who had told her that her words could be misunderstood by Helios.
“Ah, the attendant from before?”
