After a soul-piercing laugh that lasted several seconds, Quant surprised nearly everyone present by spontaneously calming down and saying, “Well, it wasn’t the worst plan. I can’t really blame you for being ignorant of a Ranker’s true power. Still, you’re lucky I’m so nice. If I were another Ranker, this little stunt of yours might have cost everyone here their lives. Now, run along. I would feel guilty if I just eliminated your ‘it’ here and now. I’ll give you five minutes to flee before giving chase. I’ll even take the stairs to give you a sporting chance~.”
Hearing his Instructor’s explanation, Shibisu was tempted to breathe a sigh of relief, but, seeing the flames dancing within Quant’s eyes, he knew the man was anything but calm. If it had been anyone else acting as bait, their chances of passing would have been close to 0%. Quant wasn’t the type of man who forgave offenses easily, so, while he probably wouldn’t kill them, they wouldn’t be walking away without a few broken bones…
Though it wasn’t easy, Shibisu ultimately managed a smile, stating, “After I become a Ranker, I’ll buy you dinner as an apology. Catch you later, teach.” before running away at Khun’s direction. This left Quant with a wry smile on his face, his head shaking as he muttered, “Damn brat…I’ll make sure you go broke…” in an amused tone.
—
With Quant holding true to his word, Khun directed the ambush team to form a defensive line at the corridor leading to the stairwell connecting to the top floor. They would serve as the first line of defense, buying as much time as possible while Anak was on the elevator. As for everyone else, they had been gathered within the stairwell itself, spaced out so that the Fishermen could block the front while the Spear Bearers rained down spears from above.
Even if Quant had already expended his single use of Shinsu, none of the Regulars harbored any delusions of defeating the man. They couldn’t even see him move when he went all out, so, rather than attempt another ambush, they were going with Khun’s secondary plan: demonstrating their capacity in their respective Positions. Quant had already afforded them more time than he needed to, so, while they wouldn’t pass on the opportunity to steal his badge, exhibiting their teamwork was more important.
Unfortunately, not everyone seemed to be in agreement with this plan, as, the moment the Hide-and-Seek match began, Hwa Ryun vanished into thin air while Laure simply found a quiet place to lie down and take a nap. He already had more than enough points to ascend to the third floor so he didn’t need to exert himself at all. As for Hwa Ryun, she was one of the only Regulars that never even tried to get close to anyone else, choosing to keep to herself and occasionally even going so far as to skip class.
With Laure and Hwa Ryun being two of the strongest members on their team, their absence was a sore spot for many of the Regulars close to failing. Unfortunately, even if they wanted to complain, there was simply nothing they could do about the situation as each Regular was ultimately allowed to act however they pleased. There was nothing forcing them to work together as a team, and, from the Admin’s point of view, everyone was considered to be responsible for their own actions, injuries, failure, and even death…
—
Though there was no one around to hear him, Quant ended off the count by shouting out the final few numbers. In reality, he was using his Pocket to keep track of the time, and, from the moment it counted down to zero, his body seemed to flicker out of existence before the sound of several sonic booms echoed throughout the darkness.
The moment they heard the thunderclap-like sound, the team guarding the corridor, consisting of Dede, Aleksai, and Rozeal tensed up their bodies. This was especially true for Dede, the young man with a horn sticking out from the back of his head. His Position was that of the Fisherman, so, while the other two were hiding above, prepared to bombard Quant with both spears and Shinsu, he was given the task of blocking the actual path. As a result, the needle in his hands was shaking madly, a point that wasn’t missed by the man who had spontaneously appeared behind him to say, “Did you know? If you can hear the sonic boom, the person who created it has already reached you…”
Hearing the voice from behind, Dede attempted to spin around, swinging his needle in much the same way as a sword. Unfortunately, with very few exceptions, needles were rounded and smooth to the point of having virtually no imperfections along their surface. This made it easy to use them in environments with high Shinsu density, but, as a result, they weren’t able to inflict any substantial damage when used for anything other than piercing.
Catching the needle without any effort whatsoever, Quant was unable to resist the urge to roll his eyes as he said, “Next time, keep your back to a wall or pay better attention to your surroundings. What did Hex teach you guys?”
Finished with his words, Quant took advantage of the fact that Dede hadn’t let go of the needle, pulling the boy off balance before kicking him square in the abdomen with very little force. As for the reason, they were currently near the top of a long flight of stairs, so, even if he didn’t injure the boy himself, Dede was bound to suffer on the way down.
With the Fisherman out of the strike zone, spear after spear began to rain down from above, each piercing nearly half their length into the stairs. These were provided courtesy of Aleksai, who, as a result of his daily training sessions, had become much stronger. He was still far from being able to compete against Anak, but, compared to his past self, he was almost a completely different person.
Unfortunately, even with the higher vantage, Aleksai wasn’t able to hit Quant with any of his spears. In fact, the man had even closed his eyes, arms folded behind his back as the very casually dodged each and every one of them. This filled Aleksai with a fair amount of indignation, but, with Rozeal charging a rather sizeable Baang of Shinsu at his side, he prevented himself from leaping down to try and forcibly block the passage.
Though she was inarguably the worst Wave Controller among the seven Regulars who had qualified for the Position, Rozeal still had her Shinsu-Controlling Wand. This had given her an advantage over Hoh during their lessons, and, now that she was on the verge of failing, Rozeal was intending to use the wand’s ‘final’ ability to secure a passing grade. This allowed her, at the cost of the wand itself, to drastically increase the amount of Soo she could gather into a single Baang.
Appearing eerily similar to Laure’s charged attack, the Baang formed by Rozeal grew to more than a meter in diameter before she pointed the wand towards Quant and shouted, “Please accept these heartfelt emotions, Test Administrator~!”
Hearing the rather ‘curious’ outburst, Quant just shook his head as he stared at the wave-like wall of Shinsu headed his way. It easily covered the width of the corridor, but, as someone who could travel at several thousand times the speed of sound using Shinsu, there was nothing preventing him from simply leaping over the attack. As a result, he easily evaded the attack before craning his head and asking, “Do you have a grudge against that boy or something?”
Confused by Quant’s words, Rozeal tilted her head to the side, illusory questions marks seeming to appear above her head. Immediately after that, however, she heard Dede, who had barely managed to climb to his feet, shout out, “Rozeal, you biiiiiitch…!” as he was washed further down the stairs.
At the moment when Rozeal had turned towards the direction of the scream, Quant bounded up the walls of the corridor, appearing in front of the stunned woman almost instantaneously before saying, “Wave Controllers are meant to control the flow of the entire battlefield. Awareness of your surroundings and control are the most important skills you can possess. You let your desire to pass blind you. Now, go to sleep.”
Without her wand, Rozeal’s ability to control the flow of Shinsu was meager, at best. As a result, she had no method to counterattack Quant as he easily sidestepped her flailing to chop the side of her neck. This caused her entire body to go numb, and, due to Quant not even attempting to catch her, she ended up falling painfully to the ground before passing out.
Seeing Rozeal’s head smack against the ground, Quant resist the urge to spit on her body before turning around to face Aleksai. He had no compassion for those who would injure their allies, even accidentally, so she was lucky to get off with just a bump to the head…
Though he had a few spears left in his Pipe, the unique Arms Inventories adopted by Spear Bearers, Aleksai didn’t immediately attack Quant. His only hope of injuring the man was by catching him with a piece of shrapnel, so, with the former standing next to the fallen Rozeal, there wasn’t much he could do. Fortunately, this seemed to be the ‘correct’ decision, as, after a tense staring contest, Quant nodded approvingly at him before leaping down to the corridor below.
Taking advantage of the fact that Quant seemed willing to fight him, Aleksai leaped down after the man, falling with meteoric force due to his 240cm height and 320kg weight. This was, of course, easily evaded by Quant, but, rather than end the fight immediately, the nimble man continued to dodge for a few seconds before saying, “It’s too soon for you, but you should consider becoming a Defender in the future. Your skill as a Spear Bearer isn’t bad but you lack the disposition required to become a Ranker in that Position. I can tell by your form that you’re more of a defense brawler than anything else so make sure you train your body and master Shinsu reinforcement.”
As it was his first time hearing of the Defender Position, Aleksai’s movements temporarily slowed as a confused expression appeared on his face. In that exact same moment, Quant seemed to fade out of existence, his voice suddenly echoing from behind to say, “Like I said, it’s too early for you. You’ll find out more as you climb the Tower.”
Without bothering to explain further, Quant kicked Aleksai in his back with enough force to send him tumbling down the stairs in much the same way as Dede. Immediately after that, he checked his Pocket to see that around seven minutes had passed. This meant that Anak would be reaching the top pretty soon, and, given her speed, it wouldn’t even take her two minutes to reach the exit.
While making a mental note to ask for a raise, Quant performed a few light stretches as he mused to himself, “Sorry kiddos, it looks like I don’t have the time to properly educate each of you. Even if it’s just a test, I can’t let myself be defeated by a bunch of brats…guess I’ll need to get serious…”
Following his musings, Quant chuckled to himself before leaning forward and, once again, creating a series of sonic booms in his wake. The only Regulars left were the Scout candidates from his class, two Spear Bearers he had never bothered to remember the names of, a single Light Bearer, and the enemy team’s ‘it’. It was pretty clear that they were planning to stall him by taking advantage of the ‘affection’ he had for his own students, so, with a rather vicious smile on his face, Quant entered the spiraling stairwell to show his favorite group of brats a bit of tough love…
(A/N: Alternate Titles: ‘The legendary male Tsundere…’,’Happy birthday to the ground’,’Someone call the School Board (O . O)…’)
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