First of All, I’m Drinking - Chapter 62

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 62

 

“That’s simple.”

 

Irin answered lightly as if it were nothing.

 

Ding!

 

Even now, my ranking continued to drop.

 

[176 Asel: 1,000 points (currently 8th place)]

 

Now it was at a level that couldn’t even be called top-tier ranking.

 

However, I didn’t feel impatient.

 

I looked straight at Irin and opened my mouth.

 

“You have two choices.”

 

I held up my index and middle fingers.

 

“Team up with me and pass the exam together. Or get forcibly sent back by my hand right here and now. It’s your freedom to choose which one.”

 

“Hah.”

 

Irin let out a hollow laugh as if it were absurd.

 

“Are you sure you’re calling that a choice? There’s only one answer – the former.”

 

“I thought a crazy bastard like you might choose the latter.”

 

“That’s not possible. Do you know why I want to enter this school? Because I want to fight strong guys.”

 

Irin grinned and clenched his fist tightly.

 

“This school must be full of strong guys like you, right?”

 

‘That’s probably not the case.’

 

I wasn’t sure if Irin would be able to fulfill his hopes, but for now, teaming up with me and entering would be much better than dropping out here.

 

“Good! I’ll team up with you.”

 

Irin cheerfully expressed his intention.

 

“So what’s the strategy?”

 

I took out the booklet from my backpack again.

 

I opened to the page about monsters and Achievements.

 

“From what I see, it’s more advantageous for us to hunt monsters and achieve Achievements rather than finding and eliminating other examinees.”

 

Killing other examinees and collecting points was the conventional method.

 

If your abilities supported it, you could quickly earn thousands of points through monster hunting and Achievement completion.

 

‘It’s just that almost no one can do that.’

 

Even the Flame Poison Scorpion King that died at Irin’s hands – judging by the aura flowing from its corpse, it’s absolutely impossible to catch with ordinary skills.

 

Currently in this exam site, only me, Irin, Tanya de Belyaev, and Ragnor von Grantuan could probably solo boss-level monsters.

 

“There are a total of five boss monsters listed in the booklet.”

 

One of them, the Flame Poison Scorpion King, had already been dealt with by Irin.

 

The Blue Abyss Imugi was said to have been defeated only a handful of times, so hunting it would risk drawing too much attention.

 

So three remained.

 

“Before Ragnor and Tanya defeat them all, let’s catch them all first.”

 

* * *

 

We came out of the cave.

 

Our next target was another 3,000-point boss monster, the ‘White Horse Swimming Through the Sky’.

 

Irin said he could sense its scent relatively nearby.

 

“It should be above Basement Floor 2. We’ll have to search for it though.”

 

The Blue Abyss Imugi was likely on Basement Level 5, the very bottom of this labyrinth, based on the circumstances.

 

The other two would be similar.

 

It was rational to target the ‘White Horse’ that was relatively close.

 

I muttered while running through the vast grassland.

 

“You can sense a monster’s location just by looking at the words written in a book? That’s amazing.”

 

“It might not be right. That’s why I said we’d have to search for it.”

 

“It’s okay if it takes some time, so try your best.”

 

Finding the cave entrance hidden and covered by vines, and being able to defeat the Flame Poison Scorpion King – that couldn’t have been mere coincidence.

 

I completely trust Irin’s senses.

 

Irin suddenly raised his eyebrows.

 

“If two people catch it, how are the points distributed? Don’t tell me they give 3,000 points to each person?”

 

“That’s probably not it. It would be divided according to party size.”

 

To put it bluntly, let’s say 100 people formed a party and barely managed to defeat it.

 

Giving all 100 people 3,000 points each wouldn’t make sense from a fairness perspective.

 

Since our party has two members, in this case, we’d likely receive half each – 1,500 points.

 

Irin and I found the entrance to the labyrinth and went inside.

 

It was the same entrance I had come up to the surface through after taking out 7 people at once a few minutes ago.

 

Ochre stone walls and torches lined up in rows.

 

Murals carved into the walls and majestic standing statues.

 

A ceiling as high as a decent cathedral.

 

I thought anew that this was a really well-made labyrinth.

 

If I had been an ordinary human, I might have been overwhelmed by the atmosphere alone.

 

I was running in the lead. I knew the way to Basement Floor 2.

 

Irin followed closely behind me.

 

After running for a while, we encountered other examinees.

 

“People!”

 

“Prepare for battle!”

 

It was a three-person party that was extremely tense.

 

I looked at Irin.

 

“Hey, are you still in 1st place?”

 

Irin checked his artifact and nodded.

 

“Still am.”

 

Right. It wouldn’t make sense if 3,900 points were overtaken so quickly.

 

“Then, leave those guys to me.”

 

“Do whatever you want. I’m already thinking of myself as eliminated anyway.”

 

I gripped my sword and charged forward.

 

Whoosh-!

 

The sound of cutting through the wind.

 

“Ugh, ahhh!”

 

“What the hell is this bastard!”

 

With my sword swung in a crescent arc, the three applicants instantly turned into particles of light.

 

Ding!

 

[176 Asel: 1,150 points (currently 7th place)]

 

Gaining 150 points raised my ranking by one level.

 

It seems the examinees around my ranking don’t have big point differences.

 

I found the stairs leading down to the lower floor.

 

Finally, Basement Floor 2.

 

I had returned to my starting point.

 

From here, Irin had to take the lead.

 

“Hmm…”

 

Irin twitched his nose and sniffed around.

 

Doing that made him look quite crude and beast-like, but fortunately his decent face barely offset it.

 

“That way!”

 

Irin confidently pointed in one direction with his finger.

 

“Are you sure? Can you be certain?”

 

“Absolutely! I can feel a strong aura from that direction! Just follow me!”

 

Irin threw himself forward without a moment’s hesitation, as if he thought there was no way he could be wrong.

 

I followed behind Irin, kicking off the ground and racing through the labyrinth.

 

Kuguuuuu-!

 

Suddenly, stone walls jutted out from both sides, rushing toward us.

 

‘This labyrinth… had traps too?’

 

An ordinary examinee might have panicked, but both Irin and I were far from ordinary.

 

Irin didn’t even draw her sword and punched the rushing stone wall with her fist.

 

The stone wall crumbled with a spray of dust.

 

Kwaaaaang!

 

I also destroyed the stone wall jutting out from the opposite side with a single kick.

 

This made us seem like a combo with surprisingly good coordination.

 

Before long, the path ended and a corner appeared.

 

“It’s beyond that corner.”

 

That seemed to be the direction Irin’s ki sense was pointing to.

 

I knew it too without her having to tell me.

 

The obvious sound of metal clashing could be heard.

 

Clang! Clang!

 

A battle was raging beyond the corner.

 

However, this definitely wasn’t a place where monsters would be.

 

The aura I felt was far from the nature of monsters.

 

“Haah…”

 

I frowned and rubbed my brow.

 

“Hey, those aren’t monsters, they’re people.”

 

“Huh? That can’t be right.”

 

Irin looked flustered as if she could never be wrong.

 

Instead, she shot back at me.

 

“How can you tell without even checking?”

 

“Well, let’s check it out now then.”

 

We walked around the corner step by step.

 

As I expected, the combatants were human.

 

A party of about five or six people was ganging up on one person, but that one person was actually leading the battlefield.

 

“Kugh!”

 

A snub-nosed woman from the party of five or six retreated and let out a lament.

 

“Damn! What kind of monster is that!”

 

“Sila! Let’s reorganize our formation first…”

 

Swoosh-!

 

It wasn’t the sound of flesh being cut.

 

It was the sound of wind being split.

 

“Zailet!”

 

The snub-nosed woman called Sila desperately cried out the name of the man who had been forcibly transported.

 

But the man who had already disappeared as particles of light couldn’t possibly answer her call.

 

“Uaaaah!”

 

Meanwhile, another member of the group was eliminated.

 

The numerical advantage was gradually narrowing.

 

And the moment the difference in numbers decreased even slightly, the odds of victory dropped exponentially.

 

Sring-!

 

A sword strike that flashed like lightning.

 

The group did their best to resist, but the difference in power was too stark.

 

One by one, they turned into particles of light and left the battlefield.

 

“Kagh! Damn it all!”

 

Finally, with Sila being forcibly transported just before having her throat cut, the battle came to an end.

 

Only then did I carefully observe the appearance of the one who had won the battle.

 

Blood-red shoulder-length hair.

 

A scar running long across one eye.

 

It was someone I had seen in the materials Bael had given me.

 

“…”

 

She gripped two standard-issue daggers in her hands and stared intently in our direction.

 

2nd place in the first screening final results.

 

Tanya de Belyaev.

 

She was only overshadowed by the exceptional existence called Ragnor von Grantuan, but originally she was skilled enough to easily claim 1st place in the first screening.

 

“Ooh…! Ooooh!”

 

Irin was extremely excited and snorted.

 

“I don’t know who she is, but she looks incredibly strong! Yeah! She has to be at least this level to make fighting worthwhile!”

 

This crazy battle maniac was already looking forward to fighting Tanya.

 

Damn it.

 

I had encountered one of the two people I absolutely shouldn’t meet at the exam site.

 

It wasn’t because I lacked confidence in winning.

 

‘This one and Ragnor von Grantuan are already at a level where their acceptance is predetermined.’

 

According to Bael, Tanya had also made quite a name for herself outside.

 

When news spread that she was applying to Millennium Academy, no one doubted her acceptance.

 

The gap in class between her and other applicants was too outstanding to fail something like a transfer exam.

 

In other words, if this one were eliminated, that alone would draw too much attention.

 

Especially to the person who directly caused the elimination.

 

‘Even now, they’re probably watching this situation from the control room.’

 

The 2nd, 3rd, and 5th place from the first screening had gathered in one place.

 

This was currently the hottest location within the exam site.

 

Naturally, everyone’s attention would be focused here.

 

And if I happened to take Tanya’s head and eliminate her in such circumstances?

 

Becoming a major rookie would happen in an instant.

 

I definitely don’t want that situation.

 

‘At least it’s fortunate that Irin is beside me.’

 

The 3rd and 5th place joining forces to defeat the 2nd place wouldn’t be that strange a picture.

 

Still, I’d prefer to get through this amicably without fighting if possible.

 

“…”

 

Tanya’s tightly pressed cherry-colored lips slowly parted.

 

“3rd and 5th place… That’s an unusual combination.”

 

Being a noble, she naturally knew information about threatening examinees.

 

“Are you two also here to hunt the ‘White Horse’?”

 

Huh?

 

What is she talking about right now?

 

Tanya suddenly started touching various parts of the wall, then pressed several bricks as if entering a code.

 

Kuguuuung…!

 

The structure that had been a wall just seconds ago opened, revealing a hidden space.

 

From inside the space, a monster’s aura was pouring out intensely.

 

Tap tap.

 

Irin annoyingly tapped my side.

 

“See, you bastard. I was right.”

 

Her expression looked quite aggrieved as she said this.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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