My Ultimate Blacksmith System
Chapter 37: Sending A Message

Chapter 37: Sending A Message

Kiki’s system was more useful than she herself gave it credit for, and her acting skills made her all the more valuable too. On the morning of the competition, each group was brought to a designated training room by a teacher.

My group consisted of me, Luna, and Kiki, all dressed in our combat suits. The names of the heroes participating in this competition were kept confidential to protect the students’ identities.

"Please choose the dungeon your group will enter," the teacher instructed. Our group’s teacher was Mr. Samuels.

He displayed a holographic screen showing the different dungeons. There were five in total: The Dead Man’s Grove, a forest dungeon where the monsters resembled decaying humanoid figures made of vines.

The next dungeon was a desert area called Sandman’s Lair, inhabited by scorpion-like beasts. The remaining dungeons didn’t stand out much; most resembled caves and were filled with insect-like creatures.

We had already made a decision about which dungeon to enter. The school had provided us with a list of the dungeons beforehand. Since Kiki was the official leader of our group, she was the one who informed them of our choice.

"We choose Dead Man’s Grove."

Mr. Samuels reacted quickly, picking up a gray orb and crushing it. Immediately, a swirl of blue energy began to envelop, and with his permission, we stepped inside.

In an instant, after passing through the gate, we found ourselves in a deep forest area shrouded in fog. The fog was so thick that visibility was limited to just a few feet in any direction. The constant movement created by the fog was overwhelming for my eyes, and I felt a bit dizzy.

The foggy terrain was bad for visibility, but still, I instructed Kiki to use her system. I had no idea when she did, since my eyes weren’t falling for her illusions; I only knew it when Luna reacted.

"W-what’s going on? How did the two of you... why do I..."

She looked absolutely speechless.

"I used my system to change our appearance," Kiki explained.

It was all part of the plan I had devised. It turned out that the boy with the red hair in my class and his group were part of Rafael’s faction on the island. They remained loyal to him, and I was certain they had been feeding him information about which dungeon our class would choose.

I doubted Amelia could win over their trust through kind acts. The only way was to destroy the relationship they had with Rafael. That’s why I had Kiki change our appearance to match those in our class who were still loyal to him.

I also took the liberty of feeding them false information, so they were misinformed about which group would come here.

Grrr!!

A low growl came from the forest. I glanced around to locate the source of the sound—and that’s when I saw them: humanoid figures embedded in the trees. Their mouths gaped open as if they had been burned alive, and their eyes were hollowed out.

Grrrnnnrrr...rrr...!!!!

The growls from these trees grew louder and louder, as if they were synchronizing, until the sound was drowned out by what resembled branches breaking apart.

I quickly took the front and instructed Luna to stay at the back, with Kiki in the middle. I could have drawn my blade, but I didn’t. Maybe I was just paranoid, but I had a thing against showing my hand—even if I was only fighting mindless monsters.

I preferred to strike without my opponent being any wiser. Plus, now that I had the Tempered Heat skill, I could fight barehanded just like I did with the Basilisk.

Luna was different; she quickly summoned two of her curses. To each their own method of fighting, I’d say. Kiki wasn’t able to fight, so she remained in the middle, guarded at both the front and back by me and Luna.

GRAAHHH!!!

It attacked. Just as the projection had indicated, the humanoid figures looked to be made of roots. Just seconds before it struck, I cut it down. I pivoted while slicing off its legs, then, with its back turned to me, I slashed it in half from head to groin.

"Help me, please! Someone! Anyone!" it released a mangled cry for help.

It was probably a ploy to trick us into thinking they were human so they could gain sympathy. But even if it wasn’t, it wasn’t of any concern to me. The more I thought about it, the more I realized they were likely mimicking real humans—ones they had killed.

"You are ruthless," Kiki said, giving me a look I couldn’t quite discern as I chopped them up without any apprehension.

But just then, a horde of the same humanoid plant beasts attacked. I moved to meet them head-on. Truth be told, I was tired of fighting D-ranked beasts that only gave me five points.

[ENHANCEMENT]

+-----+

Sharpness 30->35

Speed 13->20

+-----+

When I activated the fire essence on the Middle Finger, it seemed far more effective at killing them. It felt like I was hacking away at a bunch of weeds, except these ones were screaming bloody hell as I did.

That wasn’t the only reason I activated the fire essence; the flame from the blade also acted as a sort of beacon. Anyone who saw it would be almost compelled to check it out. For the first time in my life, I was trying to be as flashy as possible in the hopes of drawing attention.

The only challenge was the poor visibility from the fog. After a while of mindlessly swinging my blade with minimal effort, we finally came upon what we had come here for—the flag.

It was situated on what looked like an altar made of cobblestone.

"Thanks for finding that for us."

A voice came from behind us. We turned around to see three figures emerging through the fog. It wasn’t clear enough to see their faces.

"You morons must know better than to light a fire in enemy territory; you’ll give away your location," one of them snickered as they moved closer.

It was like a moth to a flame.

"What should we do?" Kiki asked, desperation creeping in her voice but I gestured for her to keep quiet. Luna on the other hand, seemed ready to fight, her curses were slowly forming a circle around the three figures without them knowing.

When I saw this, a small smile crept on my face. I couldn’t help but feel a little bit proud. The helpless girl I found on the island would’ve been cowering right now.

Soon, the figures were close enough for us to see their faces clearly, and they could see ours. Their expressions contorted in shock when they recognized me.

"Logan?" one of them asked in surprise.

That was his name—Logan—the boy with the red hair in my class who opposed Amelia and was working with Rafael’s group. Thanks to Kiki’s system, I had taken on his appearance. It must have felt like a huge betrayal to them.

"What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to... No, there must be a reason why you’re here," he stammered, trying to make sense of it.

"Liza, Amairy, grab the flag and go," I instructed Luna and Kiki. They had taken on the appearance of two girls from my class who were also secretly working with Rafael’s group. Following my instructions, the two of them moved to grab the flag and then disappeared into the forest.

"Logan, why are you doing this? I thought you were with us. You said you rejected Amelia," he pleaded.

"Something must have happened to him. The Logan I know would never betray us," another boy in the group said.

"Tsk. This is bullshit! He’s obviously working with her. Why else would he be here?" Another boy lost it. He marched up to me, ready to grab my shirt, but the moment he got close enough, I struck.

I might have broken his jaw. With the way my fist seemed to melt into his face, I must have. The others were slow to react, and before they could, I attacked.

I went after the nearest one; his hand glowed a pink color as he aimed it at me, but before whatever attack he had conjured was ready, I planted my feet into his solar plexus, knocking him out cold.

The other one managed to launch a punch at me, but his sloppy attack left him wide open. I guided my knee into the spot where his kidney was, and a sickening scream escaped his lips. I imagined the metal guard hitting him in such a sensitive area must have hurt like hell. I then slammed him to the ground.

"Ark... Huff... Logan... why?"

Even through the pain, he was still fighting to speak.

Beating them up meant nothing—it wasn’t a proper way to send a message. Since my fate was tangled up with this class, I needed them to be at least semi-functional. If the school really intended to send me off with them to another world, it meant I’d need them, even if just as meat shields.

I’d never played chess, but I imagined the more pawns you have, the better. For that reason, I needed to send a message—a written one at that. Amelia had a trademark symbol that she put on everything she owned. It was a stylish letter ’G,’ which I imagined stood for her hero name, Gravity Girl or something similar.

That symbol will be the message. Their bodies will be the paper.

As they lay on the ground, unable to move, I activated my skill—Tempered Heat.

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