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CHAPTER 232: THE END OF EXAM

 

~ Aun’s Point of View ~

 

「Kinu! Ready the recovery potions and magic! Quickly!」

 

「Mhm, leave it to me. I won’t let him die.」

 

Four days after Cururalio’s exam started, a magic circle appeared at the entrance to the “Tower of the Wolf”, and a clearly dying Cururalio was transferred from it right in front of us.

 

He was completely unconscious. His equipment was ripped to shreds, burnt all over, and in tatters. He was bleeding heavily from his right shoulder, and his whole body was badly burned. His left arm had been twisted and cut off, and his tail was cut off as well.

 

He was so seriously injured that I could not be sure he was still alive until I quickly appraised his status, but his HP had barely reached the value of zero.

 

「I must say, this guy has exceeded my expectations……」

 

During this exam, Nelfie used her Stealth skill to watch over Curulario from the shadows, and shared information with me via telepathy. The purpose of this was to deal with any kind of unforeseen circumstances and to understand how he was thinking about taking on this exam.

 

However, in both good and bad ways, he had far exceeded my expectations and chosen an incredible route for himself. Moreover, the door to the Boss room had closed before Nelfie could enter behind him, so we were not able to actually see what was happening inside of the Boss room at the time.

 

In truth, as I had told Curulario, I had intended for him to pass the test if he went down to the entrance of the tower from the above floors and came out, or if he would raise his level and challenged the boss, and then used the Labyrinth Escape Stone to return back to safety.

 

However, when the test began, Curulario had been teleported using a Magic Circle and returned to the entrance. This meant that he had succeeded in defeating the Boss solo.

 

This was the best proof that he had managed to defeat the boss on the 20th floor solo without using a the Labyrinth Escape Stone to make an emergency escape.

 

My appraisal Skill showed that his level had more than doubled from 22 before the test began to 50 at the current moment, and not only had he acquired a large number of different Skills, but those Skills’ levels had also increased considerably.

 

Curulario had likely overcome many walls that he felt were his own limits in this test when compared to himself from the past. Otherwise, there was no way he could have possibly acquired so many Skills in just a few days’ time.

 

「You were being too reckless out there…… I was not expecting you to defeat the Boss, and to do it solo no less.」

 

「Aun, that’s not all. The Boss monster of the Tower of the Wolf is supposed to be the Great Silver Wolf. There is no way that a monster like that should be able to utilize fire attacks.」

 

「Huh? Then, that means……」

 

「Mhm. Curulario managed to invoke a Rare Boss battle and beat that Boss solo.」

 

「This guy…… Seriously? Plus, looking at his growth rate, Curulario must be one hell of a talented guy……」

 

As I was thinking that, Ciel and Heil came to the scene with several other of their clan members.

 

Nelfie must have seen the situation and called them over right away.

 

「Kyuru?! Aun-san, Kyuru is……!」

 

「He’s fine. He’s pretty seriously injured, but he’s not dead. And since Kinu is treating him right away, his burns should also heal nicely.」

 

「Y-yes…… that’s good to hear. But his left arm looks like it was twisted off……」

 

「I can’t heal this wound myself. But I will do something about the rest.」

 

「For now, I want to take Kyuru to a place where he can relax. Is there a good treatment center somewhere nearby?」

 

「In that case, let’s take him to our clan house first! We have some good healers and a medical room available there!」

 

「Okay. Then we will do just that. He’s still in the middle of his treatment, so should we accompany you guys?」

 

「Well, that’s obvious. If Kinu-san and the others are going to accompany him, I could not be more relieved.」

 

「As for the exam itself…… Let’s wait until Kyuru wakes up. We need to hear the details from him.」

 

It was a pretty dangerous situation to be in, but he should be fine for now.

 

What happened in the Boss room…… We would not know until we would hear what happened to cause him to become like that, but for now, all that we could do was to wait for Curulario to wake up.

 

(In the meantime, I have to do what I can. After all, it’s for the sake of the man who will become my apprentice.)

 

 

◇　　◇　　◇　　◇

 

 

Two days later, we heard that Curulario had woken up, so we went to the Tekirana Clan house.

 

The moment we opened the door to the medical room, Curulario, his eyes wide open, jumped out of bed and……

 

「Master Aun! I’m sorry for showing myself before you in such a shameful state!」

 

He gave me a beautiful and picture-perfect grovel.

 

「Umm, what?」

 

「I realized how inexperienced I am during the test from you, Master Aun! But I think I did everything I could! Please, let me be your apprentice!!」

 

「Wait, wait! Don’t move just yet! Shouldn’t you be resting?!」

 

「No! I’m fine now!」

 

「What are you talking about? You were still in a coma just thirty minutes ago, you know!?」

 

Currario tried to move right away, but the healers of Tekirana grabbed him from behind and tried to get him back to the bed, but his excitement did not  subside in the least.

 

「What do you mean by that? …… Umm, Cinque, please back me up on this?」

 

「You damn lizard!! How dare you cause trouble for Master Aun!!」

 

It was no good…… Cinque’s switch has been flipped in an incomprehensible direction.

 

「Kinu, please do something about it……」

 

「Huh? Are you sure? Isn’t this situation perfectly fine?」

 

「What do you mean……?」

 

「Hey, damn lizard, you want to be Aun-sama’s disciple and servant, don’t you? If so, it’s only natural that you can sense Aun-sama’s feelings. Am I wrong?」

 

「Yes……! I-I mean, that’s right!」

 

「Then get some treatment first! You’re still only a little stronger than basic garbage, so all you need to do now is get yourself back to full health!」

 

「Yes! I’m sorry!!」

 

「And that left arm…… You thought you could fully complete the training from Aun-sama in that condition, huh……!? You’re being extremely arrogant! I thought of alternatives like a prosthetic arm, but -—」

 

「Yes, you are absolutely right, Cinque-san! Well then, please allow me to regenerate my left arm and…… my tail! “High-Speed Regeneration」!」

 

When Curulario activated his Skill, the cut-off left arm and tail began to move in undulating motions, and regenerated within a few seconds.

 

「Now, the severed parts are all fine! Now I shall focus on restoring my strength fully!」

 

W-What’s that supposed to mean!?

 

Oh, by the way, as for the explanation of the Skill in question……

 

・「High-Speed Regeneration Lv.6」: Consumes HP and MP to quickly recover body parts that were severed……. The amount of HP and MP consumed depends on the Skill’s level.

 

「You don’t mean that……」

 

「Yes! I tore off my left arm myself!!」

 

Everyone was visibly stunned when Curulario said this as if it was the most obvious thing in the entire world.

 

This guy…… It looks like he was way more formidable than I thought he would be…….