"D-did... did you see that?" one of the spectators asked, shaking the friend beside her. The woman’s pale face was frozen in disbelief, but when she looked over, she saw that her friend wore the exact same stunned expression.

In fact, all around them, murmurs had begun to swell into a dull roar. Everyone was in awe of the performance they had just witnessed, which was still projected on one of the large screens above.

On that screen, a young man could be seen sitting casually cross-legged on the massive body of a fallen monster. He rested his nodachi with one hand while casually eating what looked like an apple with the other.

"Who is he?" someone muttered. And in response, another person shrugged.

"We’ve never seen or heard of him before."

The reason everyone was in shock was because in recent years, many cadets who participated in the Games actively avoided this zone. In short, they steered clear of nests where there was a concentration of more than three monsters at a time.

Coming across one monster and killing it was standard. Coming across two, or even three at a time and killing them, was an impressive feat. Coming across five and surviving was practically a miracle.

However, anything beyond that was considered a death sentence. That is, unless you were an elite Ace like Leon, whom everyone expected such a performance from, or the Princess, who always displayed a level of power worthy of royalty.

Plus, a major part of watching the Games was seeing how the cadets carefully navigated around the nests, or how they frantically fought off the monsters they happened to stumble into.

Seeing someone actively deciding to hunt them down, however, was completely unheard of.

And even more so, this person went straight for one of the monsters regarded as the apex predators of the zone. He then went ahead to kill not one, or two, but up to thirty of them, including their Leader.

Not to mention, a few screens away, they could see the woman identified as his bond, currently in a heated battle with another group of predators.

What a performance!

"Wasn’t he ranked 199? Is that a mistake or are the people above him in the bastion of crimson and silver even more monsters?"

As more people chimed in, the latter option seemed to be the only logical conclusion.

"What noble house does he belong to?"

"..."

"..."

The murmurs continued as the spectators tried to figure out just who this noble warrior was.

...Meanwhile, up above in the executive VVIP box, the monarch sat silently, watching the display with a perfectly calm expression.

***

"Have one too," Cedric said as he tossed an apple to Athena, who looked slightly drained.

This was because it had taken a massive amount of mana to completely heal Cedric after that crash. But he was not the only one she was supporting.

Athena could perceive the world through her daffodils, and so, she had also sent a swarm of daffodils with Aika and Redd. The petals of daffodils were drifting silently in the air and had been actively working to heal both of them when they needed it.

That aside, she caught the apple and walked over to lean against the creature’s massive carcass.

On the other hand, Cedric sliced off a piece of the fruit, then reached up to the raven that was perched on his shoulder.

"Thanks, buddy. You did great," he said softly.

"I’m flattered," the bird, Arlo, replied as it tilted its head and carefully took the apple.

These days, Cedric had designated the leadership of his unkindness of ravens to Arlo. This helped especially in battle because now, Cedric did not have to control every single bird himself. All he needed to do was share the vision while Arlo directed the birds on what to do and where to position themselves. This gave Cedric the best view of the battlefield, and also allowed Arlo to scout exactly where the ravens needed to stand in preparation for Cedric’s swapping skill.

That aside...

Cedric turned to face one of the many notification screens hovering around him.

[EXP: +1000]

’So I got a thousand exp for killing the Sleeping Queen, while the Lemures gave me between four hundred and sixty and five hundred exp. Hm. I really don’t understand the exact math behind these points. Sometimes I feel like I can predict what to expect, but other times it feels completely random,’ he mused for some time before changing his train of thought.

’I ended up killing nineteen of these creatures plus the queen, while Athena took down eleven herself. It’s a shame that we don’t get the exp from the creatures our summons kill. But I guess that makes sense. They need exp to grow too, so if they kill anything, the exp goes directly to them.’

He exhaled.

’Anyway, I shouldn’t do another hunt for now until after tonight. Aika is using a shit ton of my mana and I’m sure even before the end of her hunt, my mana core will be drained.’

...Cedric made up his mind to rest in the meantime to recover properly.

***

...

..

.

Elsewhere...

——

The ground shook as over three dozen grotesque creatures rushed through the ruins. They were each as large as carriages, and every single one of them looked like a scorpion, except for the fact that they had humanlike heads fused to their segmented armor.

At this moment, however, they were all rushing towards the clearing where a young man stood with one hand raised slightly.

Behind this blonde youth, the massive mirage of a female warrior was aiming an arrow at the approaching horde. And all around this specter, what looked like ten enormous arrows made of golden light had formed in the air.

But this mirage wasn’t the only one here. To her left and right were projections of male warriors. While one held a massive greatsword, the other held a long spear made of golden light.

Leon, who commanded these specters, had a smug grin on his face as he watched the stampede. When the creatures were close enough, he brought down his hand and muttered.

"Judgement..."