CHAPTER 93: MYSTERIOUS CULPRIT?

Bloodberry snorted. She summoned her panel and logged out of the VR server.

Bloodberry’s body scattered into countless flickers of zeros and ones that vanished into thin air.

MidnightFire chuckled before also logging out.

***

Grand Avalon Academy Server

Five figures reclined in opulent seats around an intricately decorated round table. A man in his late twenties, dressed in a butler’s outfit, stood at a respectful distance beside them.

Above them was a chandelier, and underneath their feet was a red carpet that stretched far into the distance.

There were no doors or walls in sight.

"Tskk!! Tskk!! How embarrassing! I hadn’t expected to see the day when the rising star of the new generation of the Windcrest Clan would fall to such a level," Leafyblade41 said with a sneer.

"I guess not all stars are meant to forever soar in the skies. Some of them are just delaying their descent to the dirt."

He gazed at the figure sitting opposite him, expecting a response. However, he received none.

"You are too beaten down to even respond. How am I supposed to make fun of you if you’ve lost your ability to retort?" He sighed, dissapointed.

"Stop joking around. You would also have been at a disadvantage if you were in his position. You couldn’t even defeat Jaran if you used your full strength, so what makes you think that you would fare any better against the Worst One?" Bloodpetal said, glancing at Leafyblade41.

"Anyone who has watched the battle would admit that the Worst One’s strength is terrifying. You would need to use everything in your arsenal, even resorting to underhanded tricks to defeat him."

"Hmph! I’m much stronger than I was during our last battle. I won’t lose like the last time," Leafyblade41 retorted.

"Besides, I still think that the Worst One has an ace up his sleeve that he doesn’t dare to reveal. Because no one can defeat twenty-five noble Descendants in a single day without any external help, it might not be against the rules, but it also doesn’t mean that the Worst One has grown powerful."

"If we can find out what he used, then we might stand a greater chance of defeating him."

"What do you think, Ironpillar32?"

Ironpillar32, who had remained silent until now, nodded in response.

Ironpillar32 wasn’t the only one to think that Ezekiel had manipulated the battle by taking some special kind of magic item or elixir. Since it wasn’t against the rules to use such a tactic, they could only try their best to discover what the item was.

"Fortunately, we don’t need to worry about encountering such an unfair challenge at the end of the term’s tournament. The use of any special item is forbidden, which means he will have to fight with his own strength," Ironpillar32 said.

"You are right," Leafyblade41 nodded. "He’s using a strange magic item for a sword, which none of us has seen before. I think that he might have gotten the magic item from the same place he got that thing."

"Despite his reputation as a descendant of the Zahara Clan, it should still be possible for him to possess a few connections that he could use to purchase such a thing."

"Since we are all here, why don’t we begin with the meeting?" Bloodpetal said. She looked at CloudGiant and asked, "What’s so important that you summoned us here? Do you have any clue who’s taking our tasks?"

They all became serious the moment they heard her words. Due to the limited number of high-paying tasks, they all came together to share the tasks among themselves, based on the period each task refreshed, to prevent others from monopolising it.

They could all bring two or more individuals to help them complete the task, and share the merit points among themselves.

Of course, some rankers would disagree with them, like Esther or Ivory. There was no way they could stop them from completing the tasks, even if they wanted to.

However, this only happened one or a few times a week, and they were all accounted for to prevent arising enmity from the other side.

Therefore, they immediately noticed the emergence of the new individual, who was completing their tasks. Currently, they have lost one week’s worth of merit points, so they were all eager to know who would reveal the identity of that individual.

"Yes, I do," CloudGiant nodded. "That’s precisely the reason I’ve called you all here."

"Oh, then who is it?" Leafyblade41’s voice was filled with curiosity, mirroring the others’ eagerness to know.

The others listened attentively and curiously.

"It’s Ezekiel Zahara," CloudGiant responded.

Bloodpetal frowned, "How certain are you that it’s him? Do you have any proof, or are you simply pinning the blame on him because you want to use us to help you get your revenge for the embarrassment he has brought upon you and the rest of the Windcrest Clan?"

"Although I believe that the Worst One had resorted to external means to defeat you. However, aren’t you trying to trample on our intelligence by manipulating us into fighting him?" Leafyblade41

CloudGiant was stumped by Bloodpetal’s direct words.

He shook his head, "I just found out that the Worst One hadn’t been admitted to the hospital since his last battle with Ivory. And during that time, he had been visiting the dungeon every day," he explained.

"If it were anyone else, this would have been a major improvement; however, with the terrifying strength that the Worst One has displayed, it didn’t make sense that he was being admitted to the hospital every time he visited the dungeon to trian and only stopped after Ivory’s challenge. "

"I was also sceptical about this, so I arranged for someone to spy on him by checking the task tab before and after he entered and left the dungeon, including each student."

"We discovered the moment he left the dungeon, the task that was supposed to be taken on by Julia was completed. So I’m certain that the culprit is none other than him."

Hearing CloudGiant’s explanation, they all fell back into their own thoughts.

They had all planned to conduct their own investigations to determine who was responsible for taking their tasks; however, after being notified that the others’ tasks had also been taken, they chose to delay their plans to inform the others that they had experienced the same thing.

Although they were sceptical that the culprit was the Worst One, they couldn’t dismiss it because he had already performed some surprising feats, which they had never believed he could accomplish by himself.

"Even if I want to believe you, I still have to carry out my own investigation to ensure that this is not a trap to pit me into face the Worst One," Bloodpetal responded.

"I also need to make my own investigation," Leafyblade41 said.

"Me too. If he is truly responsible, then we’ll plot an ambush for him and teach him a lesson," Ironpillar32 chimed in.

"I also need to carry out my own investigation before I can make a decision," Steeleye11 added.

"Fine," CloudGiant nodded, "Inform me when you’re all done with your investigations."

"You seem annoyed. Don’t tell me that you want to face the Worst One again. Aren’t you afraid of getting beaten again?" Leafyblade41 chuckled.

CloudGaint snorted. Rather than responding, he summoned his system’s panel and logged out of the VR server.

"Look at what you did now. I wanted to ask him about his personal experience during the duel the Worst One, but now he has logged out early," Bloodpetal said, sighing defeatedly.

"Tskk! It’s not my fault that he can’t handle a joke," LeafyBlade41 responded, clicking his cheeks in annoyance.

"Since we are done, I’ve other important matters that I need to attend to. I’ll see you guys later," Ironpillar32 said, waving his hand at them.

"Me too," Steeleye11 chimed in.

They summoned their system’s panel and logged out of the server.

"Since everyone has left, I’ll also be leaving. I would rather spend time baking than remain here with you," Bloodpetal said, before logging out of the server.

Leafyblade41 snorted before logging out as well.

***

Grand Avalon Academy Magical Swordsman Department Hospital.

Jaran removed his VR headset and laid it on the table beside his hospital bed. He picked up his smartphone lying on the table, unlocked it and played a video to watch.

The scene that unfolded was the battle between him and Ezekiel.

After the battle ended, Jaran replayed it several times before he finally stopped.

Jaran confirmed that Ezekiel had toyed with him because he couldn’t land a successful strike on him despite going all out.

Ezekiel had controlled the rhythm of the battle from start to finish.

One thing that troubled him was that Ezekiel’s swordsmanship had improved significantly since their first duel.

What made it even more remarkable was that he fought with a drill-shaped weapon that bore no resemblance to a sword at all.