Shadow Monarch: Heroines Could Hear My Thoughts?!

Chapter 165- Serious Power-Up (Part 1)

"Hah… Hah… Hah… Ugh, fuck!!!" Rin squinted his eyes as he glared at his right side. There, he could see his whole arm, covered in dried blood and in a horribly bad shape. His fingers and the palm of his hand were skinless as if it was peeled off like a banana.

His face was pale, probably from the sheer amount of blood he had lost and also because of the huge injury that cut his face horizontally. The scar sadly damaged one of his eyes and made it basically useless.

However, the most dangerous and by far the most gruesome injury was the one he had on his chest. From as down as his left kidney and as high as his left shoulder blade, a huge sword slash dug deep into his flesh and revealed his bones.

The blood that kept dripping down and creating a pool around him was alarming to say the least. It was in fact quite impressive how he was still capable of standing or even staying unconscious for that matter.

The only thing that could explain this was the inhuman speed at which his body was recovering. The tissue of his muscles and skin was visibly wriggling and fixing itself at a speed a hundred or even a thousand times faster than normal.

However, even that didn't help his case at all.

'I can't breathe… My lungs are damaged!! Every breath I take feels like a knife stabbing me in the throat!! Dammit, all!' He cursed in his head.

His one intact eye, slowly moved to somewhere else, precisely whatever he was sitting on. As much as Rin's current condition was eye-catching, what was under him was way more, dreadfully imposing.

A pile of dead corpses was stacked on top of one another, creating a horrifyingly huge hill. The smell emanating from that pile of corpses was so repulsing that a human would instantly puke their stomach out if they came anywhere near it.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that hundreds were slaughtered here.

*Clap* *Clap*

Suddenly, out of nowhere, he heard claps that made him lift his face up. His eyes immediately squinted as a cold aura errupted from his whole body like a raging volcano. In all his lifetimes, Rin had never, ever felt this much hatred toward a person… Not even Marcus, the main reason for him losing all of his family. The person in front of him was by far his most hated enemy ever.

"Truly a splendid show for the sore eyes. Seeing you do that is truly worth the time."

"You are dead…" Rin replied coldly as his eyes widened to a scary degree and a cold expression filled his face. The eerie lack of emotions on his face was more than enough to send someone into a frenzy.

The person grinned widely as he rubbed his chin.

"That's it, that face! That was what I'm looking for! Seeing your pure heart, I could only desire to corrupt it, Rin… That's how it should be."

Standing up slowly, Rin picked up his dagger and then picked up the other weapon he had before he slowly started descending the mountain of corpses… Human corpses. Not even the sound of his feet breaking bones or squishing meat made him lose his focus for even a second.

With each step he took, his speed increased slowly. From walking to strolling, then from strolling to running, then from running to dashing, and finally from dashing to a lightning-quick speed.

His silhouette vanished like a mist.

"Come to me, Rin!!"

This was the start of a fight that will change Rin's fate altogether. A fight that he never expected to occur so soon yet was tricked into falling into its entangled problems. A fight that deeply turned Rin from who he was to someone drastically different… A devil in human disguise.

****

*Before this happened*

In the few days that followed, Rin and Elise quickly gathered everything they needed and were finally able to move from the first floor.

As much as they liked the place since it was their place of residence for the past month, their desire to see what the higher floors have in store for them was way stronger.

Then, when they passed through the gate that quickly transported them to their destination, they were amazed by what they saw.

Although the size of the city was considerably smaller than the first floor. It was by no means worse. In fact, it was way more beautiful, organized, built, and even administrated than the first floor.

Because of the way a smaller number of students, it was also less bustled and more lively. The two, as contrasting as they are, somehow were present in this city.

However, the most noticeable thing about this floor wasn't the city itself but what surrounded the city. Around it was a mountain chain unlike any other Rin had ever seen. The peaks of this mountain chain were made out of some kind of material that wasn't similar to rocks at all.

'They are man-made?' Both Rin and Elise couldn't believe that this was even possible.

For someone to be able to build a whole mountain that even exceeds the highest peak in their old world is nothing short of insanity. Much to their predictions, it was indeed the founder that put those mountains there.

And the reason for their existence was quickly revealed to them.

'You can train there?' Rin questioned.

He was told that for those who want to use these mountains for specific training like stamina, strength, and the such.

So, after settling down in their luxurious dorms and being given all the things they needed including information about their classes, they were given the time to get accustomed to the place.

"This is… the place."

Now, both of them were standing in front of one of the mountains. Beside them was Emilia, who looked as calm and as cold as ever.

"Mm, how is this mountain even used for training?" Rin asked as he looked at his master.

For obvious reasons, Emilia had also accepted Elise as her disciple too. Both of them were monstrously talented so it would be stupid for Emilia not to add Elise to the fray.

"Oh, it's quite simple and brutally hard. See everything that I taught you? Well, it's nothing compared to this."

Her words made Rin gulp down a mouthful of saliva as he felt a dreadful sensation crawl up his body. He knew that when Emilia says such bold claims, she means every single one of them and that was like nightmare fuel for him.

"Anyway, I got access to visit this floor for the sake of continuing the training so I don't want any slacking off. You two will be squeezed dry of every ounce of sweat you have until you are incapable of moving."

Her words were like that of a demon ready to destroy them. However, Elise didn't seem to be bothered by them as her eyes were focused and serious. She was totally ready for whatever Emilia was going to make them do.

Then, after that, what happened was nothing short of hell. She summoned two giant boulders. Each one of them is at least 2 tons heavy.

Then, she put them on the direct path to the top. The task was simple, well on paper it was. They had to push these boulders up the slope.

Now, that would be considered easy with some mana enhancements. However, there was another factor put into this training.

"You are going to wear these suits. They have an extra added weight of up to 1000 pounds. I will keep increasing the weight whenever I see fit. Your goal is to make it to the top by the end of the training. It can take weeks to do so but it will increase your physical prowess greatly."

The suits were made of some kind of brown fabric and had many traces of mana on them, most likely for the function of weight addition. After wearing them, the two of them felt their bodies sink down into the ground.

*CRACK*

The rock beneath them cracked considerably as their shoulders and their bones shuddered.

"Ugh…"

It took both of them a good second to get accustomed to the new weight.

'I feel like I'm carrying an elephant on my back!' Rin clenched his teeth as he cracked his neck.

"Now, you start! I will keep a watch on you two!"

Rin and Elise then walked to the boulders and tried to push them.

"Ugh!!" Even before reaching the steep rise, pushing the boulders was already a hard task as it is.

(A//N: Sorry for the cliffhanger at the start of the chapter. It's needed since this part of the academy arc will be the actual start of the climax of the academy arc. Hopefully, you stick around to see :) )

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Thanks for reading. Any support you give me is always appreciated no matter how small it was. Let's all keep it up :)