A/N: Lu’s title has been changed from ’Feiry Pervert’ to ’Pyro Pervert’. Because... why not?
{Pyro means fire}
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Chapter 131: Chaotic Battlefield
"Idiots! Why are you taking out all your beasts at once in a crowded place?!" Lu’s voice thundered across the battlefield, loud enough to drown out roars and explosions alike.
"If you’re fighting in a group, keep only two beasts out at a time—one to defend, one to attack!"
"If you need everyone out to fight properly, then fight solo! Move away from the main team unless you have a preplanned strategy!"
The moment Lu’s commands rang out, nearly one-eighth of the beasts visible vanished in flashes of light, forcibly unsummoned by the instructors. A heartbeat later, a few candidates peeled away from the main cluster, retreating to the fringes as they resummoned their beasts in more controlled formations.
Lu continued barking orders, his sharp eyes scanning the chaos, and gradually, the battlefield began to show the barest hint of coordination.
At some point, the larger beasts were deliberately lured farther away, drawn into wide, grinding battles meant to wear them down. The smaller ones were left closer in, thrown into the hands of the candidates. But even then—
"Fucker! Why did you tap your metal plate on the beast I killed?!" someone shouted, rage thick in his voice.
"And? What are you gonna do about it?" the other man shot back, his tone lazy, provocative.
The first man’s anger boiled over.
Because of incidents like this, it wasn’t only beasts that were being killed. Candidates turned on one another as well—some openly, others more subtly—shoving rivals into snapping jaws or mistimed attacks, deaths dismissed as mere ’accidents.’ The professors ignored it all. They didn’t even allow the instructors to interfere.
Before long, people started to realize a pattern. Only those who directly attacked other candidates were apprehended. Indirect killings were completely overlooked, treated as if the beasts themselves were the sole culprits.
The instructors, having passed through academies themselves, understood the reason. The Power Saturation Cap made it clear why the professors didn’t complain when people died to ’beasts.’ What they didn’t know—what they were entirely oblivious to—was the actual kill count that needed to be reached.
And the deaths themselves were made deceptively clean. The moment someone died, their body vanished, teleported away in an instant.
Because of that, no one realized that in just two days of the beast tide, nearly five hundred candidates had perished.
As always, the professors only watched.
Gradually, the candidates grew wary of one another. Distances widened. Trust became scarce. Only those who truly believed in each other stayed together, forming tight-knit teams. As a result, larger groups began racking up points at a terrifying pace, leaving nothing but scraps for the weaker, isolated individuals.
That didn’t mean powerful individuals went unnoticed.
Swooos!
The boy who had previously sat at seven thousand points now displayed a staggering fourteen thousand; he was hunting only two-star beasts. A beastmaster, he fought alone alongside three beasts—two Infral Cats and a Fire Hawk. Waves of heat rolled outward as flames scoured the ground, his devastating firepower razing everything in his vicinity.
Brant chuckled as he watched the red-haired, fair-skinned boy tear through the battlefield.
"Looks like even though you’re a pervert, people still want their children to be your students, huh?" Brant said lightly. "Though they only send men. Haha."
Lu heard him. His teeth clenched as he fought down the urge to burn Brant to ash where he stood.
Of course, as professors, their strength was well known. And even with the embarrassing title of ’Pyro Pervert’ clinging to him, Lu’s power hadn’t dulled in the slightest. His phoenix—a five-star beast—could reduce a city or two to cinders if given enough time. In this era, a title like ’pervert’ wasn’t particularly damning when harems of twenty, even fifty, were commonplace. The same applied to reverse harems, though those were rarer.
The boy displaying such blatant fire talent in front of Lu was an obvious ploy—he had been sent here deliberately to catch Lu’s attention.
"Hmph!" Lu snorted. "You think you’re the only famous one? My name reaches far higher than yours."
"Yeah, yeah," Brant waved him off, already shifting his gaze in search of other promising talents.
Dale was also fighting—surrounded by his girls—and drawing countless jealous stares. Those stares, however, quickly vanished the moment anyone met Dale’s eyes. His bloodlust was suffocating, sharpened by the sheer number of kills he had amassed.
His points had already crossed seventy thousand and were still climbing. His girls hovered somewhere around five thousand each. That disparity didn’t discourage them in the slightest. All they needed was for Dale to achieve overwhelming points. With a single line—My girls will go along with me—any academy would happily cater to them. Not to mention, Zeira already at things setup for them.
And it wasn’t as if the girls were weak. Each of them was formidable in her own right. Their elemental synergies flowed seamlessly, turning them into an unstoppable force. They only rested when their mana was completely exhausted.
People were especially jealous of their coordination—and their trust. Others had to carefully ration mana, always afraid of betrayal the moment they showed weakness, which dragged their performance down drastically.
Dale’s team, however, fought without restraint. Whenever someone ran out of mana, they retreated to recover while Dale’s beast guarded them. Dale himself would then plunge back into the fray, his superior strength more than enough to hold the line.
"That boy really is heaven’s favoured," Lu muttered, watching intently. "Even I feel jealous. If I had that kind of strength sharing, I might’ve burned your wrinkled ass countless times by now."
Brant didn’t bother responding. He was long used to Lu’s blabbering.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, another candidate was wreaking havoc.
"Did that girl’s strength increase during the trial?" Brant murmured, eyes narrowing as he focused on Lily.
She moved like she was dancing, sword flashing as it sliced through beasts in smooth, lethal arcs.
Lu followed his gaze.
"Didn’t she have a Spirit Caller talent?" he said. "They get a very fast initial burst of strength. She must’ve tamed a new powerful spirit—maybe a peak two-star spirit beast."
"Yeah," Brant nodded slowly. "An eight-star Spirit Caller talent. Is that her limit... or is the talent restricted by her soul rank?"
"What’s her soul rank?" Lu asked.
"I don’t know. We only checked the talent," Brant replied casually. "And you know it—checking soul rank requires a five-star commander."
Lu’s temper flared instantly.
"Bastard," he snapped. "You’re five-star. Don’t fuck with me."
"Well, only a select few know that," Brant said with a shrug. "And we’re keeping it secret. Makes for a better surprise for the Demons."
"Hmph."