Chapter 285 Malice in the Shadows
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After finally managing to reconcile the two little lolis, Reji calculated the time and figured it was time for him to participate in his first academy competition.
In the game's plot of history, it was precisely in this competition that he, as the Hero, won the title and became a dark horse, only then starting to enter the eyes of various major forces in the world and showing a bit of his edge.
In order to stabilize the world line, Reji still had to restore the past. He couldn't miss the competition he was supposed to participate in.
However, although he had to ensure that the route and process were the same, it didn't mean that the battles in between also had to be restored. It was fine if there were some differences in the fights.
Reji clearly remembered that in this competition plot of the game, he had reloaded the save file several times. There were a few opponents in the middle whose levels and skill sets were very exaggerated. He had to challenge them repeatedly before barely passing.
But now, the Hero, who possessed the Level 99 Demon King of the second playthrough, could be said to be completely playing the game with cheats. Reji still used his little tree branch as a magic staff when he entered the stage, winning with a single move every time.
At the beginning, because it was the preliminary round, there weren't many spectators paying attention. The few who occasionally saw it were mostly just surprised.
The participating opponents were also relatively weak. They knew that there were many monsters in this competition, so they didn't complain much about an opponent like Reji who could instantly defeat them. After all, there were quite a few instant-kill matches like this in the preliminaries.
But gradually, as Reji's ranking rose higher and the intensity of the competition increased, making the strength of the opponents more and more similar, instant-kill matches like this became more prominent.
Although Reji also appropriately kept a low profile, pretending to have some back-and-forth with the opponent, due to his mysterious attire and the very eye-catching insistence on using a little tree branch as a weapon...
So compared to the original game, where he only gradually attracted attention when he reached the top 16, now Reji, who had just finished the preliminary round, had already caused heated discussions in this competition.
…
"Who is this person?"
"I don't know. He's been wearing a cloak the whole time. What's he trying to do, being so secretive?"
"But the organizing academy doesn't seem to have stipulated that the contestants must show their faces."
"That may be so, but who comes here to compete if not to make a name for themselves and be valued by that legendary great mage? Now he's being all mysterious. You can't even tell if he's a man or a woman under the cloak. What's he trying to achieve?"
"I guess, could it be some young master from a big family who sneaked out, so he's afraid of being recognized? That's why his strength is so great."
"I think that makes sense. That 'tree branch wand' in his hand must be some kind of divine artifact!"
"Come on, a genius? I think he might be some wanted criminal who's afraid of being caught but covets the competition rewards, so he doesn't dare to show his face!"
…
Freya, who was mixed in with the crowd, heard the surrounding audience's discussions about the Hero on stage. At this moment, the Saintess felt a sense of déjà vu, as if she was a bit dazed.
In fact, this kind of "dazed" feeling wasn't the first time for Freya.
She always felt that such a scene seemed to have happened somewhere similar before.
As the Saintess tried to grasp something, the surroundings began to become more and more blurry, and the voices of the audience all became different.
The voices in her ears became more extreme, more intense, angry, and mixed with all kinds of malice that made Freya very uncomfortable.
…
"Hand it over!"
"That's right. Either hand over the evidence of his cultivation, or he's a heretic who cultivates an evil fate track!"
"How could the competition allow such a person of unknown origin to mix in?!"
"I knew there was something wrong with this kid from the start. In the preliminaries, he was not even at the fourth tier. Now, in just one week, he can suddenly defeat Lajos, a fifth-tier young master?"
"Cheating! He must have cheated! Where are the organizers? Such a person must be strictly investigated!"
…
In this dazed scene...
Freya saw that it was also an academy competition, but the Hero on stage had to work much harder. Every time, he barely won against his opponent after fighting to the point of exhaustion.
But even so...
He still couldn't gain everyone's recognition.
It seemed that no one paid attention to the Hero's efforts and combat skills. Instead, they were denouncing the Hero. In their words, he was just a kid who popped out of nowhere. How could he possibly defeat those popular candidates favored by the public?
There must be some inside story.
Several opponents defeated by the Hero, those students of the academy's spell department, also protested one after another.
They had studied and researched for so many years. If they had lost to those long-renowned geniuses, they would have accepted it. But in the end, they were defeated by an unknown country bumpkin. How could they swallow this anger? How could they be willing to accept it?
Identity...
No matter how outstanding the performance was, if there was no background, no status, all that was received was people's suspicion and questioning.
She was anxious to defend the Hero.
However, Freya found that in this hazy scene, not only were the audience different, even she was different.
She was no longer the Hero's Saintess.
And the Radiant Temple, which should have stood on the Hero's side and provided shelter and help, had now also joined the voices of questioning.
Moreover... With each victory of the Hero over strong enemies, showing his astonishing tenacity and the exaggerated speed of his rapidly increasing strength, Freya felt the gazes of greed one after another.
It came from all directions, from various forces, focused on the Hero on stage, like hungry wolves, eager to devour the Hero and divide his flesh.
Such cannibalistic gazes made Freya's hair stand on end and her whole body shiver.
She ran like crazy, wanting to report to the elders of the temple.
However, in the dark shadows, among those cannibalistic monsters, the faces of several Radiant Elders she was familiar with were also shockingly mixed in.
Swish!
Freya's pupils trembled violently. The strong mental impact instantly made her break free from the previous illusory state.
The originally blurry and distorted scene completely disappeared, and the voices of the audience in her ears also returned to normal.
"Sister, Sister, what's wrong with you?"
The two little lolis looked at Freya, who was drenched in sweat, with concern. From their perspective, Freya had suddenly become dizzy and half-squatted down.
"It's nothing. I'm fine. I might have been a bit dizzy. Sorry for worrying you." Enjoy new adventures from empire
Freya waved her hand.
After comforting the two little ones, the Saintess's heart was not as relaxed as her appearance.
What was that just now?
An illusion?
Why did I always have such a feeling of deja vu?
Even some of the scenes would appear in my dreams when she slept.
Freya looked at Reji, who was still competing on stage. The Saintess clenched her palms. She was afraid that the situation in the illusion would really happen in reality. If someone really wanted to harm the Hero...
She quickly made up her mind. She had to do something. Freya first sent the two little lolis to the inn, instructing them to stay in the room and not run around. They shouldn't open the door to any strangers. Afterwards, the Saintess disguised herself and returned to the competition venue.
But this time, Freya no longer went to watch Reji, but hid among the crowd to pay attention to those who were also watching Reji's competition.
If the illusion was some kind of warning, then it meant that this competition was definitely not that simple. There must be a lot of malice directed at the Hero.
Then she had to prevent problems before they occurred.
Just like that, Freya began to secretly tail people. And soon, something that made the Saintess's heart skip a beat was that she really discovered quite a few suspicious fellows with strange behavior among the spectators.