Chapter 251: Practical Test

Clara likes sneak attacks.

If a mutant pulls a sneak attack, people call him despicable, cunning, and lacking in martial morality.

But if a hero does the same thing, people call it using clever tactics, employing strategy to overcome a stronger foe.

The same action gets two completely different results depending on whose side you’re on.

The world is just that unreasonable.

Clara used to be a mutant: “despicable, ugly, and smelling bad.”

But now she’s an adorable loli hero: “So cute, cuteness is justice.”

Shielded by the ink mist, Clara used the power of Psych○ to erase her presence, then rapidly closed in on Lingge.

‘She doesn’t look good at close combat. If I can get within one step of her, then with the stellar power gloves, I might be able to take her down in one hit.’

Her target, Lingge, showed no reaction at all. Even knowing Clara was approaching, she just stood there with her eyes closed and mouth slightly open.

‘What is she doing? Charging up some ultimate attack?’

But either way, Clara wasn’t going to miss this chance to strike. She tightened her grip on the gloves and swung at Lingge’s back, which should have been invisible to her.

‘No need to be gentle or chivalrous here. If I take down the examiner, I’ll get a high score for sure.’

But at that moment, Lingge spoke.

“Mmm?”

Clara had her ears covered, yet she heard an incomprehensible word. She had no idea what Lingge said, but the glove she was swinging felt as heavy as lead, impossible to lift, dragging her arm straight down.

“Mmm?!”

She had already dismissed the gloves, so they didn’t make a sound when they hit the ground. But even so, Lingge, who should have had her back to her, suddenly turned around.

She just slightly opened her mouth and uttered a single syllable. A tsunami of sound turned into a solid heavy punch, sending Clara flying. Her brain felt like it was filled with paste; her thoughts slowed, and her head ached.

Clara, now invisible no longer, lay on the ground, mouth open, eyes shut.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Was this the strength of a superior hero?

A hero sent by the Association to serve as an examiner couldn’t be weak.

After all, if the examiner were too weak and got beaten by the candidate, it would be the Association that lost face.

“Hmph, is this the Association’s way of throwing down the gauntlet?”

Lingge still had her eyes closed. She seemed to see Clara without needing to open them.

“Well, Miss Clara, do you want to continue the test?”

“I do.”

Clara didn’t want to give up just like that.

If she ended the test now, she’d probably get a pretty low rating.

Even if she eventually registered on the hero network, she wouldn’t receive any decent requests, and she’d have fewer chances to get close to the Association’s higher-ups.

She had to make the Association see how valuable she was.

She pushed herself up from the ground. Thanks to the grass, she wasn’t even dirty.

“Round two!”

Clara raised her hand and summoned the squid broom.

Since Lingge’s sound attacks were more powerful at close range, she could just fly high in the air, maneuver around, and use the mini ink-dye beams fired by the touch tentacles to fight a guerrilla war.

She also didn’t bother going invisible.

Since Lingge always kept her eyes closed during battle, Clara simply flew in circles overhead while firing ink-dye beams at her.

Lingge still stood motionless, just opening her mouth to emit monotonous notes. The ink-dye beams from the touch tentacles would distort and dissipate once they got within a certain distance.

Even though Nyx tried to focus more power, the beams were twisted before they could converge, making focus impossible.

Clara didn’t understand, but Nyx muttered.

‘Using sound to resonate with mana… Is something like that even possible?’

Well, it was happening right in front of her!

***

Meanwhile, Clara in the sky saw wave after wave of sound distorting the air, coming at her from all directions—wide area, extremely hard to dodge.

She felt like a fly trying to dodge an electric swatter.

“The firepower of upgraded mode isn’t enough.”

[Firepower mode.]

“If I use that, I’ll just be a bigger target, won’t I?”

The firepower mode of the Inkstained Staff…

Before the turret could deploy, it needed to transform. Lingge wouldn’t just wait around during that time. A few sound waves and both Clara and the turret would be blown over.

‘Can’t get close in melee, can’t break through with long-range firepower… Looks like I’ll have to use that after all.’

Clara voluntarily landed. The squid broom beneath her feet turned back into the Inkstained Staff, returning to its original form.

Until now, Clara had deliberately avoided using this staff in front of Kamui.

‘I hope she’s forgotten about it.’

Kamui frowned in the air.

But it seemed Clara had little choice. The squid cannon and the squid fist were all close-combat weapons; the flying broom sacrificed firepower, the turret mode sacrificed mobility.

The middle ground was the Staff’s original form.

Clara ran through the forest with the Staff in her arms, using trees and rocks as cover from Lingge’s sound-based fire.

Lingge didn’t care about the practice arena’s scenery. Sound waves tore through trees like bombs, devastating everything in their path.

Flying leaves and branches covered Clara’s head, and she was periodically blown off her feet by the sound, looking quite battered.

“Yaaaah!”

But Clara still hadn’t given up.

Beneath the Staff’s adorable squid gem, translucent tentacles wriggled, gathering power to break through Lingge’s defense.

Lingge’s stamina wasn’t infinite either. Continuously using “sound” was tiring her throat and body.

‘She’s tired. Now’s the time.’

“Ha! Utian Ink Burst!!!”

Seizing the brief pause in the bombardment, Clara fired a beam of ink as thick as a bowl from the woods.

“Hmm. Impressive.”

Lingge’s evaluation reached Clara’s ears, but she easily dodged Clara’s all-out attack with a sidestep.

“That’s enough.”

Did she lose?

Superior heroes were the equivalent of executive-level monsters.

So far, Clara had never defeated an executive-level monster head-on. The Gorilla Minister, the Shadow Minister, PS, PR.

She had won every time through some trick or underhanded method.

Now, going head-to-head with Lingge, Clara finally understood that there was still a gap between them.

‘Not necessarily. This was just a sparring match.’

Nyx spoke to reassure her.

‘Her stamina is running low, while we still have the capacity to keep firing. She dodged your first shot, but she might not be able to dodge all of your subsequent attacks.’

‘If we keep draining her stamina, we’re not without a chance.’

Clara muttered this as she walked toward Lingge.

“Thanks, Nyx…”

But Kamui swooped down from the air and blocked her path, snatching the Inkstained Staff from her hands.

“Clara, before we continue the registration process, we need to talk.”