Varian drew every bit of his strength and jumped away from the white light.

"BOOM!"

The deafening sound was followed by the blinding dust that rose and enveloped the hill.

Varian crashed to the ground, and the sharp debris pierced his skin. The wounds from the earlier fight only got worse.

"Ouch" He hissed in pain and tried to move.

When he was about to get up, his body stiffened. There was no floor in front of him! There was a huge chasm!

He looked above and around to realize the truth he didn't want to believe.

The entire hill was cut into two by that white light.

'Are you for real? Cutting a hill into two? Even adamantine is sliced like cheese?' Varian cautiously stood up and watched his feet. He was afraid the floor under him would collapse.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

The sounds of adamantine blocks in ceiling collapsing continued to reverberate. Varian quickly decided he had to keep moving. He remembered the room earlier and turned back.

He peered through the dust and saw the room with aura crystals. It was filled with collapsed adamantine blocks. The altar and most of the aura crystals were crushed. A few aura crystals were blown out of the room due to the impact.

There was an eerie silence from the room.

'Where are the Abyssal Knights?'

Varian carefully walked through the debris and watched out for the collapsing adamantine.

He reached the entrance of the room and filled his space ring with the intact aura crystals scattered around.

Before he entered, he brought up his cadet comm and checked the points to confirm his guess.

[Acquired: 1 Merit Point

5 Merit Points for admission to Blue Defense Academy

6 Merit Points for Guardian Defense Academy

….

10 Merit Points for Imperial Defense Academy]

The cadet comm awarded him 1 Merit Point for killing the Abyssal.

'So it doesn't matter if the Abyssal is already injured? As long as I can kill him?' A sly smile flashed on Varian's face as he gazed at the large room.

Holding his breath, Varian stepped through the entrance in a combat ready mode.

The room was full of crushed and broken aura crystals. The adamantine blocks buried most of the room, along with the altar's position. The floor was dyed in green blood.

Varian focused on the Abyssals at the other end of the room. They were all severely injured but wouldn't die immediately.

The reason for their injuries was simple. The adamantine blocks crushed them. Some had their legs under the blocks, some their hands and few their backs. Only one had his head crushed and died.

Varian squinted his eyes and realized they were all around the location where the strange altar was previously present.

However, now a huge adamantine block was present in that location.

"H-Hu..man!" an Abyssal noticed Varian and yelled in rage and disbelief.

They saw another Abyssal Knight fighting him and thought he'd die. To their surprise, he didn't die immediately, and then the adamantine chunks blocked their view.

They were busy protecting the altar, but presumed he'd die.

Now, this human was alive and kicking. The Abyssal knight even felt the human was much stronger than he first entered the room. The turn of events blew his mind.

Varian picked up nine adamantine chunks and smiled at them. It was a cold and indifferent smile.

The Abyssals guessed what he was about to do and immediately shot at their own neck.

"Swish"

Varian moved faster, and the adamantine chunks pierced their head.

They didn't want their deaths to provide him with merit points, but Varian made sure he didn't lose his opportunity.

His cadet comm used its sensors and its AI determined he "killed" the Abyssals.

[Merit Points: 10

Congratulations, Varian! You are now eligible to join Imperial Defense Academy.

If you wish to be an honorary student, make an outstanding contribution.]

Varian was ecstatic, and felt every cell in his body cheer.

He raised his head and was about to laugh when...

"Boom!"

He dodged the block of adamantine and reality set in.

'To join, I must survive!'

Even if he got the mp, if he stayed here, he'd die. He kept his cool and saw a door at the end of the room.

'He opened the door and his gaze brightened.

He saw stairs!

The only regrettable thing was they were upstairs. If he had a choice, Varian wanted to descend the hill and leave.

With his current strength, he wouldn't be able to fight many Abyssal Knights patrolling around the hill, but he had ample confidence in escaping.

But he could only take upstairs. It was better than staying here and getting crushed.

The walls glowed red, giving ample lighting. Varian's face had a hopeful smile, and he rushed up with enthusiasm.

There were multiple doors for multiple floors on the way, but Varian continued to climb.

Only the top and bottom of the hill were safe. Anywhere else was in danger of collapse.

With his 25% greater human speed, he quickly reached the end. He didn't open the door right away and instead focused on his hearing.

"Clash"

"Clash"

"Clash"

He heard the faint clashes and judged the fight was happening at a long distance.

'I'll be safe from the fight. I'll just need to find a way out soon.'

He opened the door was was blown away by the scene.

The red moonlight from the black sky shone on the hilltop. The castle on the hill was vast and covered the entire hilltop. It was at least as large as a few football fields.

Varian discovered to his horror that this huge castle was cut into two and that cut also divided the hill. The chasm was a few meters wide, proving the ridiculous power of that white light.

'If I didn't escape, I'd be dead.' Varian felt sweat trickle down his forehead and the next moment, he noticed three figures in the distance.

He could only make out that one was a human and the other two were Abyssals from their physique. The human was in all black and the Abyssals wore a red robe and a full body armour, respectively.

The Abyssal in the red robe punched at the human. Due to the sheer force, the air compressed and blasted, sending shock-waves for hundreds of meters.

The human dodged and the Abyssal's punch landed on the ground.

"Boom!"

Varian nearly collapsed as the ground shook crazily. Anchoring his feet to the ground, he gazed down and saw the ceilings of all floors in the hill's secret facility shake. The adamantine blocks making the ceiling continued to collapse.

'Monsters!'

He decided to get out of this location. He spotted a path down the hill a few hundred meters away and rushed towards it.

'Once I'm below, I can escape the city and all I've to do is wait till they pick us up.' Varian felt hopeful. Too soon.

Unexpectedly, the fighting location shifted, and they appeared a few dozen meters away from him.

In that brief moment, Varian saw the Abyssal in full body armor had three tattoos on his chin and the Abyssal in robe had a tattoo on his cheek.

Varian felt his breath stop as he recalled the denotations of Abyssals.

'Three tattoos on chin — Abyss Commander — Level 3. One tattoo on cheek — Abyss Lord — Level 4!'

The Abyssals glared at the human in black

Varian was behind the human's back and felt that death waved at him.