HP: The Arcane Thief-Novel

The final stage of the trial began as Axel was dropped in the middle of the chaos.

On the screen, the battlefield was displayed up close in high definition. It was an unrealistic scene where the two sides were engaging in direct, primal confrontation.

Projectiles were fired, weapons clashed, and screams erupted. Blood flowed like rivers and lives were lost every second.

Standing in such a scene of carnage, Axel leisurely surveyed his surroundings. Not a hint of fear or panic could be detected from his face. On the contrary, he appeared... curious? Excited, even.

Seeing that, many people were already impressed. No matter how bad it looks on the screen, it's several times worse to actually feel it in the trial room, which can simulate it infinitely close to reality. In such a situation, there are many who would start feeling nauseous or directly vomit.

That is something really irritating to watch for the spectators, who like watching real fights. They know it's difficult to do it in person, but they are still used to watching videos of veterans. In such a situation, Axel, who seemed not at all fazed from his surroundings, gave them hope that they might see a good show.

"Not bad."

"He's taking it well."

"At least not a wimp, huh?"

"Well, you can't say that until he kills."

"Agreed."

Indeed, the next most pathetic thing is not being able to kill your opponent. It's a very common weakness in many soldiers. Usually, those who are intimidated by war or those who aren't able to kill, aren't really blamed for it, since they are only human.

But still, these people are looked down upon in the Frontline division. After all, if you are in the frontline division, killing is necessary, and if you are so averse to it, then why even choose to be on the frontline? Just for the high benefits?

That's why, these people are called wimps, and are not allowed to be in many of the frontline subdivisions.

Now, all that was left to see was if Axel will fight well or not. While everyone was anticipating a good fight, their hopes were dashed when they saw Axel strapping his dagger and wand to his waist, keeping his hands empty.

??

"What... is he doing?"

"Has he already given up?"

"Damn it, is he a wimp after all?"

Axel's actions were quite peculiar. If someone is dropped in the middle of a warzone, their reactions would be predictably filled with fear and panic.

Axel, on the other hand, leisurely sheathed his weapons, as if he won't be needing them at all. People couldn't anticipate exactly what he was planning to do.

"Is he going to run away?"

"I don't think so. Maybe he thinks it'll be easy."

"He won't survive long if he underestimates the trial like this."

"The difficulty level will increase very quickly. He should fight seriously from the start, or he'll be surrounded and killed."

Axel's actions were now leading people to believe that he won't be able to perform well in this trial after all. This is not an actual war, but a simulation designed to test one individual. In this trial, the challenger has to kill their way up. The enemies will keep targeting the challenger, and there is no running away.

Furthermore, even though the starting difficulty is easy, the number of enemies and their power keeps increasing. If the challenger does not kill the starting enemies, their numbers stack up with the new, more powerful opponents. In the end, the challenger is overwhelmed quite easily and dies.

Now that Axel has sheathed his weapons, it seems that he is not going to kill the enemies after all.

On the battlefield, both sides clashed against each other. Since Axel was dropped in the middle of such a battlefield, he wasn't given much time to stand idle. A Kraken warrior attacked him.

Axel just stood in his place even as the man swung his Trident at him with an inhuman speed. At the last moment, he ducked low, going forward. He didn't look back, but somehow, the man was killed by the spell of an Atlantian soldier who was right behind Axel.

Walking forward, he picked up a fallen shield from the ground, which he used for blocking a spell that had come from the opposite side. He came face to face with the Spellcaster who had tried to hit him. Dodging another spell, Axel pushed the man aside, before he continued his stroll. The Spellcaster who was pushed aside stumbled into another Kraken member, both of whom were cut down by an Atlantian warrior who took advantage of the disturbance.

Continuing his steps, he was now surrounded by Kraken soldiers. Suddenly seeing an enemy in their midst, the surrounding soldiers made Axel their main target.

Walking up to a certain spot, Axel suddenly tilted his body sideways as a bullet and two spells whizzed past him. But his positioning was such that these ranged attacks instead hit other Kraken soldiers who were caught unprepared.

The rest of the enemies attacked him, but within a few seconds, all of them were lying on the ground. The shooter had somehow shot the sword wielder, who happened to be standing right behind Axel. At the same time, the warrior who was trying to stab Axel with his trident got deflected and ended up stabbing the shooter, after which he 'accidentally' tripped due to Axel's foot and ended up falling on the sword of the fallen sword wielder, which was still filled with magic, thus cutting himself.

Just like that, Axel was leisurely moving back and forth through the field, his opponents dropping one by one. Until now, Axel had not so much as tried to hurt a fly, and yet, those he faced were all incapacitated.

"...????..."

The people watching simply couldn't understand what was happening. Is this still a war? Why does what Axel is doing look more like a leisure stroll in the garden?

In such a situation, one of the students voiced out everyone's doubt. "So, is he a wimp or not?"

"...."

The question was met with silence. A wimp is someone who is scared of violence and doesn't kill his enemies due to 'morality'. But when looking at Axel, he does not, at all, seem averse to violence. As for not killing his enemies, it seems he's just too lazy to do so rather than sparing them out of mercy.

The veterans, on the other hand, hand their own thoughts.

"Battlefield awareness…" That was what they were seeing right now. Axel had not personally attacked anyone yet. But still, he had used the external factors to the fullest against his enemies. In the battlefield, your emotions are heightened, and your ability to think is inevitably dulled due to excessive blood flow. In such a situation, Axel being able to calmly deal with the enemy without even having to use his own power spoke a lot about his competence.

"But why...?"

The only question was, why? Why was Axel not engaging in battle? Why is he not being offensive? Is he really averse to taking lives? Can he actually do it or is this his limit?

"He hasn't used much magic yet, has he?" A veteran keenly noticed. Axel was not using his own magic. Even in the last trial, he had used readymade bullets. It made one wonder if he really couldn't use it.

"It's truly impressive, but it would be a pity if this is it." another veteran muttered. So far, Axel has displayed excellent abilities in every field. But, if this is the extent of his combat skills, then he won't be able to progress in this trial.

Because, what he was facing until now was the lowest level threat in a war. In order to progress further, he needs offensive and defensive power that cannot be achieved through mere physical abilities.

Sure enough, in the battlefield, Axel had to suddenly jump to the side, just as an explosion happened right where he was previously standing.

"The second wave is here." Someone muttered.

"Well, it was fun while it lasted..."

Many people thought that the trial would end soon now. They were disappointed, but no one thought less of Axel. With what he has shown, there are already too many subdivision who will be

Meanwhile, inside the battlefield, Axel looked at the wizard who had fired the previous spell.

The characteristic Kraken tattoos on this soldier's body were much more prominent than others, even visible on the face. From beside him, another soldier with muscles that were abnormally bulging came at Axel, swinging his sword that launched a slash that could travel through the air.

Seeing the enemies who were definitely stronger than the previous ones, Axel got a bit serious now. But, he still did not draw his weapons.

With unpredictable footsteps, he suddenly closed the distance between himself and the new soldiers. When the Spellcaster fired his next spell, his hand was redirected towards the warrior with building muscles.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

Simultaneously, gunshots were fired at Axel, who used the Spellcaster's body as a shield. Five soldiers were still surrounding him. And the one who had fired the shots was a shooter who could fire rapid bullets.

Quickly closing the distance, Axel went on the offensive for the first time. Raising his hand, he delivered a regular punch to the Shooter's face.

*Crunch*

But impact could be heard even over the loud cheering of the spectators. The Shooter's face directly caved in as bloodmist rose into the air.

"OOOOOHHHH!"

"Damn!"

"He can even do that?"

"Did he just kill that man with a single punch?"

Since the beginning of this stage, his movements had been slow, and he hadn't tried to attack the opponents himself. But now, Axel's movement had gotten faster and he had also gotten more offensive.

The 5 remaining soldiers in his surrounding, who were all warriors, attacked him with their weapons filled with magic. Axel seemed to be able to react easily to the attacks, managing to dodging with just a nick of time every chance. When faced with multiple attacks, one of the warriors would be used up as a shield.

Outside, the people couldn't believe their eyes. When they saw that Axel had not been using magic, they had thought that he wouldn't be able to go on much longer without it. After all, without magic, he would have no offence. Then how...

"What kind of punch is that?"

As they saw Axel blowing his opponents away with his seemingly ordinary punch, they were left with a deep sense of dissonance.

His punch was displayed up close in slow motion. They saw that the punch was ordinary, but at the last moment, just before making contact, the veins on his hands would pop out as his hand would blur. Along with that, his wrist would also flick outward like a whip. All combined, it generates enough force to thoroughly shatter the target upon contact.

Even with the difficulty increased, Axel fought the enemies bare-handed without problems. Punching was not Axel's only offense. Sometimes, he would twist enemies neck, and sometimes he would target the weak spot with their fingers.

While dodging multiple attacks, he would take down one enemy at a time, methodically killing them with no hurry. As if conserving his stamina, his movements were sharp and precise, and his speed would only increase when reacting to threatening attacks.

At this moment, a shadow loomed over Axel. Without even looking up, he ran out of range as a Giant tentacle landed, narrowly escaping. A new wave of soldiers attacked him, this time much more in number than the previous time.

"It's finally over, right?"

"Yeah, but he's been amazing so far."

"He did great."

Everyone thought that this was it. This is the stage where most people give up. After all, the existing enemies stack up with the new enemies. Then there is the involvement of those giant creatures.

When it seemed that Axel would give up, he did something. He finally brought out his wand. And with a flick, the numerous weapons lying on the ground rose up.

"Fuck…"

"What kind of spell is that?"

"Is he really going to…?"

*Swish* *Swishswishswishswish*

With another flick, hundreds of weapons were were launched towards the enemies with great momentum. Among them were swords, tridents, spears, axes, all of whicu accurately hit their designated Targets.

In an instant, only the giant creature was left alive in the immediate vicinity of Axel, who hide could not be penetrated by normal weapons.

Decimating an entire wave with just one spell… this is not something a novice can do.

"So, he was also a powerful Spellcaster all along."

*Shiver*

A shiver ran through the crowd when they witnessed this scene. Until now, Axel has not been using magic all, leading them to think that he really might not be good at it. But then he does this. It made people think just how much more was he hiding? Was what he has already shown really all he can do?

"This guy…"

"How much is he hiding?"

"We'll find out in the next wave."

"Indeed."

New enemies came forward, led by a Kraken soldier carrying a spear that was definitely at least a powerful sub-relic. Combined with the existing giant creature, it put Axel under a formidable pressure to deal with just his exposed abilities.

"Go Chris!"

"Yeah! Show us all this time!"

The cheer grew incessantly. The excitement in the air was palpable. At this moment, Axel finally brought out his knife, causing the noise to reach a crescendo.

But then… Red lights flared up in the Training Hall, as alarm blared. It was an emergency.

Thus, due to protocol…

"""""""""NOOOOOOO!!!"""""""""

With the unwilling yells and curses of the crowd, Axel, along with the rest of the trial room participants, were ejected from their trial rooms. Someone was going to pay for hanging them at this cliff.

....

A.N.: This time, it's not my fault. Blame whoever caused the Emergency.