The assassins were on the four corners of the big room, and Shen rushed at the closest one first. It tried to run to the safety of the defenders instead of attacking, but his improved agility made him faster than it, and he quickly intercepted the foe. His movement speed wasn't the only thing affected by the improved stats, as each of his spear strikes now broke through the speed of sound a little after he started moving the weapon, releasing small sonic booms.

His enemy's daggers were still halfway to its throat to protect itself when Shen's spear decapitated it in a single swipe.

The still-hooded flying head hadn't even started turning into light when he rushed at the assassin in the other corner of the room that was close to the door.

The assassin there had moved his way to backstab him while he had rushed at the other. When he turned to face it, it tried to run away too but was swiftly decapitated. His F agility gave him an advantage already, since he could use its potential better than the Shadows, and together with his movement skills, they were just too easy to deal with.

The three crossbowmen shot him and the two spellcasters sent fireballs his way, but he was already running to another corner of the room by then to kill another assassin, and everything missed him by a very large margin. In fact, it almost looked like they hadn't aimed at him at all.

He made quick work of the third assassin, who only started moving when he started rushing at it, and by then, the fourth one had gotten behind the five shield bearers.

Elite Minotaur Assassin (F) | 9,031 → 9,041 AP

Shen knew from experience that trying to go past the defenders would force him to stop in place for an instant. With so many ranged attackers nearby, that would be stupid. He had one trick to attempt before doing that though: brute force.

Before now, he hadn't attacked the big metal tower shields even once. He had known that even if the spearhead pierced through, which was doubtful, the shaft wouldn't follow, resulting in a useless attack. This time, however, he rushed full speed ahead toward one of them and thrust with all the skill he could produce, using his F strength and agility to the utmost.

The spearhead released a loud sonic boom, swiftly followed by a metallic bang.

The blade pierced the defensive metal more easily than he had expected. The strike's momentum was such that it violently bent the metal plate inwards, deforming the shield beyond recognition. The minotaur behind failed to keep holding it straight, and it hit its body at the same time the spearhead also pierced through its helmet and entered its skull.

Elite Minotaur Defender (F) — 223 / 300 | -77

While the injured defender was still being pushed back by the thrust's momentum, Shen was already pulling back to avoid getting hit by fireballs and bolts. That proved to be the right decision when something worse than explosive fire missed him by a hair's breadth despite his quick retreat.

There had been no visual cue or incoming magic projectile to warn him of the attack. A black dot simply appeared where he had been standing on and swiftly expanded into a black bubble that lasted for a mere instant.

An instant was enough for it.

The darkness of the bubble was unnatural. It was darker than black and seemed to twist reality itself, to deny existence. Shen felt a pang in his mind just by looking at it. When the bubble disappeared, the very floor of the room had been eaten away. There was not even any debris from it. The things the ball had hit had simply... disappeared from existence. Even the surrounding three defenders, including the one Shen had attacked, weren't spared, as half their bodies were gone. What remained of them turned into light at once, the Shadows utterly dead.

Elite Minotaur Defender (F) | 9,041 → 9,044 AP

He had gotten only 3 AP from the kill, but he was more worried about not staying still for even a second. In fact, the hidden attack had scared him enough that he wanted a moment to organize his thoughts and think of a strategy against it. He kept running toward the exit, only to find the door was gone. Where it had once been, he found only a seamless wall.

Shen still slammed feet first against where it had stood in case it was an illusion, but he found only solid metal. He was stuck in the room, which, for the first time, he noticed was fully metallic rather than having wooden plates. Piercing holes on the walls to create an opening might work with his extra power, but it would have him revisiting the same place repeatedly, and that made him predictable. He didn't want to chance getting attacked by the black sphere again, even if it would probably also create an opening if it missed.

He might try if he found himself desperate, but he wanted to leave just to get some time to think. He wouldn't risk his life for that. For now, he could try to think while killing his enemies.

Shen turned to face the minotaurs and saw the last assassin had followed him to backstab him, only to find itself away from the protection of the defenders. Shen didn't let the chance pass him by. He rushed at it and decapitated the fool at once.

Elite Minotaur Defender (F) | 9,044 → 9,054 AP

He kept moving after the kill, avoiding bolts and fireballs that way, but no new dark bubble came his way. That worried him. Did it mean the boss—which was not a figurehead!—couldn't use the attack successively or was it waiting for a good opportunity to use it again? Shen had no way of knowing, and even running in a straight line suddenly didn't look like a great idea. What if the boss calculated where he would be and used a new bubble against him?

Shen shivered in realizing even killing the last assassin might've been the end of him.

He started running around in erratic patterns, thinking about what he should do.

Suktuk-amorak was having a bad time.

'I'm telling you he has achieved F tier strength and agility!' he insisted, using mana to send his thoughts straight to the Stage Overseer. 'He's not human! Someone is disguising themselves as a newly integrated race!'

'And I'm telling you, I'll investigate it when I have the time,' the annoying hydra replied directly in his mind.

'I'll be forced to do terrible, terrible things to survive by then!' He wasn't worried about dying, but his F+ magic might not cut it against an enemy with F stats.

The overseer wasn't moved by his worries. 'If there's nothing else, prisoner,' he said and cut their connection before getting a reply.

Things wouldn't be so bad if he had known of the trainee's strength beforehand, but learning it by surprise had made him react stupidly. At first, when the "human's" F agility let him kill the assassins easily, Suktuk-amorak had frozen in shock. Then, when he showed F strength and enough skill to crush the defender's shield, the middle boss instinctively used the strongest spell he had, the Obliteration Sphere, to erase everything dozens of yards around the human from existence.

Unfortunately, Suktuk-amorak's magic stat was currently only at the F+ tier, which made the sphere only a couple of yards wide, and the human had reacted too quickly.

Worse still, the Obliteration Sphere required a lot of focus to cast. Too much knowledge was needed to erase things from existence. Spellcasting required at least knowledge of the laws of physics at its most basic level, and the Laws of Reality at a higher level. He had used the latter to overcome the former, and it had a cost. The Laws of Annihilation could destroy anything, but suppressing matter wasn't easily achieved.

He had used almost over two-thirds of his power for that, and he only had enough remaining for one attack that could kill his foe in a single shot.

Suktuk-amorak wondered if he should try another loophole he thought might work, but decided against it for now. If the soul lock was discovered, he would only add to his time in jail. If this other trick failed though, he would be killed for even attempting it.

He would wait for now. He could always resort to the trick after his original plan failed.

But he couldn't deny that, deep down, he wasn't optimistic anymore.

A couple of minutes later, Shen decided he couldn't run forever. He didn't know the boss's capabilities, so he couldn't plan against it. He could only use what he already knew to act, rather than be stopped by indecision.

So, still moving erratically, he moved toward one defender and thrust his spear at it. He made sure to still keep enough momentum that, just like with the first one, his spear pierced its head. Also just like the first one, he moved back as soon as he had dealt damage to his enemy.

No new dark sphere came, but he didn't let himself relax. If anything, the boss's lack of reaction made him tenser. When the defender was back in line, he attacked it again. The stupid Shadow hadn't even changed the shield's position, and this time, his spear went through the opening it had just created, all the way through its head.

It survived even that, but another attack later, it was dead.

Elite Minotaur Defender (F) | 9,054 → 9,064 AP

The boss still hadn't attacked again, and it made Shen even more anxious. He could only push forward though. He attacked the last remaining minotaur.

And at last, the middle boss reacted.

His spear had pierced the shield and was still moving toward the minotaur's head when he felt his scalp crawling. Something was coming. He didn't know what, but he knew that pulling his spear from the shield would take a time he might not have.

He left it behind and ran away as fast as he could.

Blinding light and the roar of thunder left him terribly dazed, incapable of seeing his surroundings or even feeling what he touched, but he did his best to keep moving. It wasn't very useful. A few moments later, when his feelings returned to him, he realized he was lying on the ground, struggling against it like a baby. He stood up and ran away at once, finally turning back to look at the source of the thunder.

The ground where once had stood the last defender was charred black, and some of the metal had melted. The nearby minotaurs were hiding their eyes with their hands, which explained why no attack had come his way when he had been fallen. The defender had become charcoal and was turning into light—together with his spear, which had been blown into bits.

He considered buying a new F- spear but decided against it. He was so close to having ten thousand AP and being able to purchase an F spear! With the defenders gone, did he even really need an F- weapon?

"Purchase G spear," he said.

Purchased: Any Weapon(G) | -100 AP

Remaining AP: 8,964

Shen clenched the weapon that materialized on his hand, and rushed at the three crossbowmen, making sure not to move in a straight line.

Suktuk-amorak bit his tongue to avoid throwing up. He was suffering the consequences of using more willpower than he should at the last attack. Yet, the "human" had still dodged it. To think he would throw away a valuable F- weapon like that!

The glorious minotaur had only two options left, one of which could cause his death. Still, he would do that before resorting to his last option. That was something he really didn't want to do.

The potentially punishable trick was to freeze the "human" in place for an instant. Capturing trainees for a few seconds was against the rules, and a proper court would certainly have him condemned for going against the spirit of the rule, even if he did much less than that. But the system probably wouldn't detect some micro-freezes. Tutorials had no dedicated System Directorates, after all. The defenders used skills like that, so doing something similar to them should fool the tutorial's detection tools.

Once again, he waited for the perfect opportunity.

Shen was running when suddenly, he was stopped in place. It was only for an instant, but all his momentum vanished.

Fireballs and bolts flew his way.

He started running from them but was stopped again. And again. Everything happened fast, his improved agility also letting him react quicker to things. He noticed there was no defender nearby, but he guessed the boss could stop him even at a distance, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Or was there?

Shen had thought before about how mana and qi couldn't be in the body at the same time. Though he couldn't feel the magic holding him, it should be fueled by the Alliance's energy. He could try to disrupt it.

He continuously pushed his qi out of his body while running, and he wasn't stopped again.

That was almost too little too late. He only left the range of the fireballs enough not to get hit directly, but the explosions right beside him was huge, and they hurt badly.

Health: 56 / 100 | -44

He was violently pushed to the side and felt his back burning. The damage was ridiculously high too, and he had to admit he faced genuine fear of defeat for the first time in a while. He wouldn't let his fear control him though. While doing his best to withstand the pain, he turned back and rushed toward the crossbowmen.

A few feints to the sides later, he was upon his targets.

Shen kept pushing qi from his body and he wasn't locked in place again. He could only push the qi he had refined—which was in his core—out of his body, and by now, half his reserves were gone. Fortunately, it had been enough.

The crossbowmen fell easily, and the way to the boss was open. He considered killing the spellcasters first but saw no reason to bypass the target with 1 health point.

His spear moved in a straight line toward the boss's head, but the minotaur's hand became a blur. In a feat of agility, the boss grabbed the shaft just below the spearhead. He was so strong that Shen found himself incapable of budging his weapon one bit.

Then the minotaur clenched his hand, and the shaft shattered.

Shen let go of the broken spear, moved back quickly, and bought a new G weapon. He might buy an F- tier weapon if needed, but he would rather save the AP for now. He had attacked head-on, so it was understandable that the minotaur had caught his attack.

The boss stood up from his throne and raised his closed fists.

They started burning.