CHAPTER 48: CHAPTER 48 - SENTINEL

Logan walked over to the weapons rack patiently, searching for a glaive.

Eventually, he managed to find one at the very end of the weapons rack and let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Logan picked it up and swung it around.

’It feels a little off compared to my own glaive,’ he thought, walking over to the door. ’But it should be sufficient.’

Passing through the door, Logan heard the noise of shifting gears behind him as the door slid shut.

Moments later, the ground shook slightly as a robot twice his size rose from beneath the floor.

The robot was completely white and stood motionless, gripping a long staff in its right hand.

’So that’s what I’ll be fighting,’ Logan thought, observing it carefully.

’’Examination mode activated,’’ a mechanical voice rang out. ’’Engaging surroundings and Sentinel.’’

Logan stayed alert as the surroundings began transforming into a rocky cave.

In front of him, the robot’s appearance also started changing.

Its white surface darkened, transforming into a knight-like figure wearing thick metal armor and wielding a sharp sword.

’So it isn’t exactly a monster,’ Logan thought, observing it. ’Or at least I’ve never seen this one before.’

After everything stopped changing, Logan heard the mechanical voice again.

’’Examination starts in 3,’’ the mechanical voice rang out. ’’2.’’

As the voice said 1, Logan prepared himself, standing in the proper stance.

’’Start,’’ the mechanical voice rang out.

The sentinel immediately started moving, dashing towards Logan.

’It isn’t that fast,’ Logan thought, maintaining some distance with the sentinel.

He’d already come up with a plan while waiting in the room.

’I can’t use the Flaming Body technique too early,’ he thought, circling the sentinel. ’The difficulty will probably increase after the three-minute mark.’

He’d observed carefully, figuring out that most people seemed to be getting out slightly after the three-minute mark.

’Its movements are pretty rigid,’ Logan thought, watching the sentinel struggle with turning around.

Without hesitation, Logan dashed towards it, slashing his glaive over one of its hamstrings.

The sentinel stumbled forward slightly but quickly regenerated its wound.

’Interesting,’ Logan thought, already back at a safe distance. ’Let’s do that again.’

Logan sent mana through the training spear, forming a red edge on the glaive’s sharp blade.

Dashing forward, Logan slashed through its other hamstring.

This time, instead of retreating, he continued slashing the sentinel across its back while it stumbled forward.

’Good,’ Logan thought, seeing a small fire spread across its back. ’Let’s see how you put that out.’

The sentinel turned around, the flames still burning.

It stood still for a moment before its body armor flickered away, revealing pure red skin underneath.

At the same time, Logan heard a loud clunk behind the sentinel.

’It... shed its armor?’ Logan thought, surprised.

The sentinel was no longer on fire, having shed its burning parts completely.

’Interesting,’ Logan smiled. ’Only 2 minutes passed and I made it shed one of its parts.’

Suddenly, Logan heard the mechanical voice again.

’’Anomaly detected,’’ a mechanical voice suddenly said. ’’Activating shield mode.’’

’What is shield mode?’ Logan thought, confused.

The sentinel didn’t give him time to figure it out and burst forward with its sword raised.

’It’s faster,’ Logan thought, no longer able to outrun it.

Logan raised his glaive with two hands, blocking the sword’s blow with its shaft.

’That wasn’t good for the glaive,’ Logan thought, dashing to the side as he noticed a slight bend in the shaft. ’Shouldn’t do that again.’

Without hesitating any further, Logan activated his flaming body technique.

His speed increased vastly, making it easy for him to dodge the sentinel’s blade once again.

Logan leapt up after another dodge and slashed across the sentinel’s head, cracking its helmet.

The flame from his cut, however, fell to the ground.

’What’s going on?’ Logan wondered, confused.

Despite his confusion, Logan stepped aside. The sentinel’s blade crashed into the ground beside him.

He slashed the sentinel’s hands and arms.

The sentinel had pulled its weapon up again, this time sending it horizontally towards Logan.

Logan was interrupted and jumped back at the last second, not managing to find stable footing due to the sudden attack.

Rolling away, Logan quickly got back to his feet before distancing himself even more.

’Fireball,’ Logan imagined, guiding mana to his palm.

The sentinel wouldn’t just wait around though, quickly dashing after Logan.

Creating a fireball twice the size of a football, Logan waited for the sentinel to get even closer before he released it.

After releasing it, he quickly ducked down, barely dodging the sentinel’s blade.

’Has it become faster again?’ Logan thought, using his glaive to attack the sentinel’s legs once again.

Like before, the flames slid off the sentinel and scattered across the floor.

’It’s like he has some kind of energy field around him,’ Logan thought, dashing behind the sentinel.

This time, the sentinel turned around very quickly, using its full momentum behind its blade.

’Fuck,’ Logan thought, trying to block using his glaive’s shaft once again.

As the sword collided with his glaive’s shaft, it bent under the force, flinging Logan across the room.

Seeing the sentinel immediately dash towards him again, Logan knew it was over.

’’I give up,’’ Logan said, immediately bringing the sentinel to a halt.

’’Signal received,’’ a mechanical voice rang out. ’’Examination over.’’

Logan slowly stood up, brushing off his clothes.

’’That wasn’t too bad,’’ Logan muttered, satisfied with his progress.

The door slowly opened, revealing the other teenagers staring at him in shock.

’’What?’’ Logan asked, confused.

Turning around, he noticed the pile of metal on the ground and the scorch marks.

’Oh,’ Logan thought. ’That.’

’’Logan Mercer,’’ the female instructor called out as he walked through the door. ’’1700 points.’’

’What?’’ a girl Logan didn’t recognize shouted. ’’His time wasn’t much more than 4 minutes, how could he get a score so much higher than me?’’

The female hunter’s expression turned cold. ’’So you think you’re better than him?’’ she asked.

’’I... I didn’t say that,’’ the girl stammered, not willing to offend Logan.

The female hunter remained silent, glancing at all the other teenagers, but none of them spoke up.

’’The next student will have to wait until the area is cleaned up,’’ she said coldly. ’’The reason for that is because Mr. Mercer here managed to activate a special, more difficult mode after two minutes.’’