"...I will be the prey."
A hand grabbed everyone's attention.
Vikir stepped to the front of the class.
His nonchalant face looks like it belongs to someone who's volunteering to clean their room or wash the dishes for the day.
....
The room fell silent.
There was hardly anyone here who didn't recognize Vikir's face.
The talk of the town, the first-year super-rookie.
Whether it's his sports, his grades, his skills, or his looks, he's quite a celebrity in many ways.
The auction's simultaneous outbidding of the Aristocrat faction and the Baron faction was rumored among the professors.
Gordon, a third-year student in the aristocratic faction, asked in a nervous voice.
"Are you... going to be the sacrifice of that cannibalistic flower?"
"Yes."
"Don't you know what a sacrifice is? I mean, aren't you a little out of it? Did you hit your head on something when you fell?"
They didn't see Vikir hunting Cerberus with a pack of hellhounds.
But they did know that Vikir was much stronger than most upperclassmen, so they found the situation puzzling.
But Vikir merely repeated the same words in an indifferent tone.
"I will be the prey. If you don't like it, find another volunteer."
With that, Vikir turned his head to look at the students lined up on either side of Gordon.
Although they were covered in blood and sweat, they were all expensive clothes that clearly looked like they were luxury goods.
They were probably students of the aristocratic faction.
Everyone who caught Vikir's gaze cowered and hid behind.
"No members of this group, is that it?"
At Vikir's question, Gordon and the other students from the Aristocrats averted their gaze.
Vikir continued nonchalantly.
"You guys, weren't you planning to hunt down other students and use them as fertilizer for Daylily anyway?"
The eyes of all the students widened to the point of tearing.
Vikir was convinced that the Aristocratic students were plotting an evil plan because of what he heard behind the scenes.
'That cannibalistic flower, will it eat and sleep even if we throw a corpse at it?'
'I'm sure it will, it didn't say it only eats the living.'
'... That's good, then. It will make things easier.'
'I'm thinking the same thing, maybe even easier than the previous stage?'
However, the students of the baron faction turn white when they hear Vikir's words.
"What, what are you talking about, are you crazy! How could anyone think such a thing!"
"Isn't it?"
"Of course not!"
"...."
"It's true, believe me!"
Gordon exclaimed in frustration.
But it was too late.
The other students, who had heard Vikir's warning, slowly began to distance themselves from the aristocrats.
No longer could they dominate the atmosphere as they had before.
Gordon scratched his head as he watched the students slowly avoid him.
"Damn it! So what should I do! I came here because I wanted to say something, but you!"
"I told you at the beginning, I'm going to be the prey."
"Then just get eaten! Do it!"
"It will still be like that ....But"
Vikir paused and looked back at everyone.
"I'm just trying to tell you how no one will die after me."
With those words, everyone's eyes locked on Vikir again.
Every single one of them looked desperate.
Gordon shuffled toward Vikir, ready to drop to his knees at any moment.
"What? Well, is there a way to do that? What? If you changed your mind and decided to lie...."
But Vikir didn't let Gordon finish his sentence.
"Get it."
"...what?"
Gordon said, and then looked blank for a moment.
Vikir spoke again.
"I will catch the Daylily of Blood Tree."
The faces of the students around him went blank.
"What the hell, crazy...!"
"Didn't you see the video the fairy showed us earlier...!"
"Oh, no. We just wasted our time...!"
Just when the complaints were about to explode.
…Boom!
A terrifying blast of sound ripped through everyone's eardrums.
Vikir raised his fist and slammed it into the wall of the clock tower.
Crack, crack, crack! rumble!
The diagonal crack stretched out and completely collapsed one of the stone pillars of the clock tower, causing the bridge piers beyond it to collapse one after another.
"...."
All the students' jaws dropped.
Vikir spoke again.
"The Daylily of Blood Tree will be caught by me alone tomorrow."
"...."
There was nothing to say to that. The students just stood there, mouths agape, listening to his words.
Then Vikir crossed his arms.
"But there are some things that are essential to the process."
"...What, what are they?"
Gordon asked, and Vikir answered him nonchalantly.
"Random boxes. Candy."
"...!"
"I need all of yours."
At that, the students looked at each other's faces.
Those who had opened their random boxes were looking at the candy and other assorted items inside, while the unopened ones hesitated, holding the random box itself.
Gordon was no different. As he held up the 15 strange candies from the random box, he thought to himself.
'If I had known, I would have eaten them all as soon as I got them.'
But Vikir knew what they were thinking.
"From now on, people who eat candy will be excluded from transactions. Even people who have nothing to offer."
"What do you mean, exclude?"
"Think about it yourself. I have a plan."
That made everyone bite their lips.
In truth, there wasn't much to think about.
In the first place, the random boxes and the items they contained were given to them in order to survive the Daylily of Blood Tree.
As long as they could save their lives by consuming them, they would stay in business.
But the human heart is a tricky thing.
It's not easy to give up what you have for the common good.
Gordon, the leader, is hesitant, but the other students are not.
Vikir turned to Gordon, who was hesitating, and to the aristocratic students beside him.
"Earlier, you looked at me like you could never lose your people. Was it a relationship so cheap that you couldn't even pay for the random box?"
"No, of course not! I'm not doing this because I feel like the random box is a waste! I'm doing this because I'm afraid you're going to run off with our random box and candy, and I'm wary of that!"
"You might think so, then, but don't give them to me yet, and keep them. Tomorrow, when the Daylily wakes up, I will go and stand in front of it, and stack them some distance away. You guys stand a little further away."
It's a way for them to have a backup plan if it looks like the agreement is going to be broken.
If Vikir betrays, the students can run forward and retrieve the random box.
If they do, Vikir can use his quick feet and strength to run the other way.
"I will not betray you. As long as the number of random boxes and candies are kept."
"...Hmm. But does it have to be random boxes and candy? Can't it be something like money for leaving the tower, or an unconditional offer of a good job?"
"No. It has to be random boxes and candy. All other items as well."
Even the students here know that the promises outside the tower are empty.
Just when everyone was about to give up.
"Stay here, Vikir."
Grenouille was the first to step forward.
His eyes were sparkling for some reason.
"If you ask for it, I'll give it to you. We're 'friends'. We trust each other!"
Vikir paused for a moment.
Then he took the random box from Grenouille's hand.
And when he opened it.
…snap!
The random box didn't explode, but instead bit into Vikir's wrist.
Mimic. Grenouille's random box was a 'flop', but that's to be expected when you can't tell anything by looking at it.
The blood drained from Grenouille's face.
"Aaahhhhhhhh! Oh, my God! Are you okay, Vikir? Oh, no! I didn't know! Gee, I swear, I didn't know, uhh...! No, that's not what's important right now, the medicine, the medicine, now!"
But Vikir just smirked.
"Calm down."
Vikir squeezed the arm that had been bitten by Mimic.
And then.
Pow!
With his other hand, he struck the Mimic's stomach and crushed it.
When the box-shaped exoskeleton breaks, tongues, intestines, and teeth pour out together with blood.
There was not a single wound on Vikir's wrist when he was taken out of the Mimic.
"I guess I'll just have to take your heart."
"...."
Grenouille gives him a blank look, then a sparkling gaze.
"As expected, my friend!"
All the students in the room stuck out their tongues in disbelief.
They had just watched a pretty strong third-year student lose his wrist to Mimic so futilely just moments ago.
Besides, Vikir was still not finished with his demands.
"And one more thing. There's something I need you to hand over."
"...What the hell is it?"
"This is the most important thing."
Vikir opened his mouth to make his final demand.
"I need one human body."
"...!"
Everyone's complexion changed drastically, including Gordon's.
This wasn't like the random boxes and candy he'd been asked for earlier.
"What, what are you talking about? Why do you want a human body? You're the one who's going to make sure there's no body in the first place."
"The only time I need a human body is the beginning. Right now, the Daylily of Blood Tree is overly skinny and has very hard skin, it's slowed down because of that, but it's also difficult for me to attack."
Grenouille had seen Vikir cut through the flesh of the Daylily of Blood Tree with painstaking precision.
The other students had also seen hellhounds annihilated by the vines of the Daylily of Blood Tree without leaving a single living soul, so they all had no choice but to agree with Vikir.
Finally, Gordon said bluntly.
"Shit. So, whose body are you going to sacrifice?"
In the end, it came down to the same old discussion.
Who would die?
The student who fails?
The student who doesn't have enough money?
The student who doesn't have many friends?
Or those who are simply powerless?
With all these questions in front of him, Vikir drew his sword once again.
"It's up to me to decide."
At that moment.
…Whirr! Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwak!
The stone pillars that Vikir had just smashed with the force of his fist immediately collapsed.
Seeing this, the students realized once again that Vikir was a hundred times weaker inside the tower.
Several times they denied the reality of the situation, only to have the inevitable conclusion come out of their mouths.
"...Are you a swordmaster?"