From the academy's high stands, the forest was a blur of fog and shifting silhouettes. Students leaned forward, clutching their seats as the projection screens flickered with glimpses of Floor 20.
Nimrodel narrowed her eyes. She had seen countless trials in her years, but this one… this one was different.
Why is he letting the Mopane lead him deeper? He knows it's a trap. Yet he's walking straight in.
Around her, the whispers grew restless:
"Did you see that dodge earlier? He's not human.""He already has enough ADP to qualify for Elite Class.""I still can't believe he's standing after all that."
But beneath their awe was something else: confusion. He wasn't from Central, yet he carried himself like he belonged at the very top.
The Forest's Cage
On the floor itself, Feng Jian stood at the water's edge. The mist curled thick around him, the ground sticky with swamp mud. The trees groaned—roots sliding across the surface like snakes, branches bending inwards.
He felt the Mopane's will pressing down, orchestrating the forest into a living prison.
No exits. They want me suffocated, pinned, drowned.
Across the lake, twenty-two lizardmen stood in formation. Raptors hissed and clawed the ground. In their center, the Water Mage Chief raised his staff, the lake behind him churning unnaturally in answer.
The Chief roared, his guttural voice echoing across the water."—Attack!"
Four tight columns of lizardmen surged forward. Spears whistled through the mist in deadly unison.
The Choice of Weapons
Feng's fingers hovered over his sword hilts. For a breath, he considered drawing them—then stopped.
Steel that sings wind is too loud for a place like this.
He slid them back, their weight settling against his hips. His hands found the obsidian daggers strapped to his belt. Black light shimmered faintly along their edges.
The shift was immediate. His aura bled from green-blue into blue-black, like ink soaking into parchment.
He whispered, barely louder than the mist:"Shadow Movement."
And he vanished.
The Chief's Shadow
The Water Mage Chief jerked as Feng rose out of his shadow itself, daggers flashing.
For a heartbeat, death hovered an inch away.
But the guards moved first—two spears lunging, the Chief slamming a wall of water outward.
Too fast to finish in one strike.
Mid-air, Feng twisted. His feet caught a Mopane root that lashed upward as if sensing his presence. He bent knees, then used it as a springboard, launching himself higher, just above the spears' tips.
Water and wood smashed together below him, a cage snapping shut too late.
Then he dove—straight into the lake.
Beneath the Water
The world muffled. Darkness pressed in. Roots pursued him like serpents, snapping violently through the water.
He exhaled once.
The Mopane doesn't trust the Chief's strength. Good. That means its true body is near.
As he sank, a memory bled in—the Black Snake. The night its shadow slid beneath a carriage, the strike that nearly ended him: Serpent's Fang.
He had survived. He had learned.
Now he would return the lesson.
Serpent's Fang Reborn
His right dagger darkened. Black Qi wrapped it like venom, the blade lengthening into a jagged fang.
Beneath the mud and water, he felt it—faint but steady. The Mopane's core.
Roots lunged. Serrated, poison-dripping.
Too obvious.
He tilted his body by an inch. They missed.
He thrust.
The dagger pierced the core. Black Qi surged like venom, biting deep.
The Mopane convulsed. Roots flailed violently, smashing the lake into chaos. Above ground, the forest's living cage shuddered, branches snapping and collapsing.
Then, silence. The forest stilled.
The Chief's Rage
Feng broke the surface with a calm breath, droplets cascading off his daggers.
The Chief shrieked in fury, staff glowing as he raised the lake itself. A towering wave surged forward, blotting out the stands, blotting out sky.
Good. All his strength, one desperate gambit.
The wave came crashing down.
Feng's eyes narrowed. His dagger tilted low.
Water drowns light. But where there is no light—shadows deepen.
He whispered:"Shadow Spikes."
Serpent Spikes
The Chief's elongated shadow rippled.
Then it erupted.
Spikes of pure darkness burst upward, impaling lizardmen in rows. Raptors shrieked as their own silhouettes pinned them in place. The Chief staggered, blood spraying as his guards were ripped apart around him.
The entire formation collapsed in seconds.
But Feng was already gone.
Assassin's End
The Chief spun wildly, dragging another wall of water to shield himself.
Too late.
Feng emerged from the shadow of a fallen soldier. The daggers flashed once, precise as a surgeon's cut.
The staff shattered. The Chief's throat opened.
Silence. The lizard army fell still.
Feng stood alone in the mist, droplets sliding from obsidian edges. His chest rose once, steady. Then he sheathed his blades.
Battlefield reset. Opponent's will broken. Floor cleared.
Academy Stands
The silence stretched even in the observation deck. Students stared wide-eyed.
"He cleared it… alone?""That was… an A-Rank Mapane. And thirty lizardmen.""No wonder he's ranked above Central's own…"
Lisa's lips tightened. She remembered standing at that same place a year ago—her 110-year natural key, her hard-earned first place. Now she watched someone younger, from outside Central, seize the spotlight she thought untouchable.
Nimrodel pressed a hand against the console. Her voice trembled, but carried through the hall:"In all my years… never have I seen such mastery."
Trial Results – Floor 20
Time to Clear: 18 minutesBase ADP: 30 monsters × 2 = 60Record Bonus: +600Total ADP This Floor: 660
Cumulative ADP:
Floors 1–10 → 150
Floors 11–19 → 697
Floor 20 → +660Total = 1,507 Points
Team Rankings Update:
Maria's Team – 1,507 ADP
Lisa's Team – 1,322 ADP
Central's Elite Squad – 1,188 ADP
Other Teams – below 1,000 ADP
The scoreboard glowed across the stadium. Maria's team sat firmly at the top.
And in the mist of Floor 20, Feng Jian simply walked forward, unhurried, as if the battle had been nothing more than a passing storm.
End of Chapter 15.