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'I didn't want to kill him. But! But! I didn't have a choice.'
'It was not my fault. I went to buy the essence. But that guy didn't have any left.'
'Yeah! It's his fault, that guy—no, that bastard, who was selling those essences. If only he had some more, I wouldn't have killed him.'
'Yep, it's not my fault. It's him, and I will take revenge. I will kill that guy.'
Rohan was a good person while on Earth, but to save himself and Clear the trial he had to torture someone, and now after passing the trial.
He couldn't come to terms with it. So, he started finding excuses to justify his actions, and he found one by shifting all the blame onto Arya.
And it worked like wonders as when he was resting during the time given to the participants by the tower, he convinced himself that he was right, that it wasn't his fault.
He knew deep inside that his reasoning was wrong, as Arya wasn't even connected to all this. But to justify his actions, Rohan needed a scapegoat, and he chose Arya.
With all these thoughts he calmed his mind, but when he found out he had to enter the red gate, his anger only resurfaced. He cursed everything.
"Why?! Why do I always suffer? What wrong did I do in my previous life that I have to go through this much?!" he cursed the world.
After venting his anger, he entered the door as he didn't have any other options. As soon as he was transported to the fourth tutorial trial, he found Arya standing there talking with a giant of a man.
His anger exploded, but his mind made a good judgment, and he didn't lash out at Arya. Because he remembered the display of power Arya showed in the previous tutorial trial.
So he could only grit his teeth in this situation. Soon, the giant of a man came up to him, introduced himself as Aetherius, and asked for his name.
Though he didn't want to talk to either of them, he knew his current limits. He knew he was the weakest person in the hall, whereas both Arya and Aetherius were the strongest.
Just as he introduced himself, the announcement rang, telling them about the trial. They had to defend a big blue crystal.
Arya, after listening to the announcement, asked, "What weapons do you use?"
"My body."
"Huh?!"
Aetherius replied straightforwardly while Rohan got confused. Why should he tell Arya that? Arya, putting aside the hate Rohan showed him, cleared his doubt.
"We have to defend this crystal for the next ten days. We have to fight together against these monsters, so it's only natural to know your comrades."
This irked Rohan, even though there was nothing wrong with what Arya said. Rohan felt as if Arya mocked him, which was not the case.
Even if Rohan felt anything, he couldn't do a thing to Arya because of the difference in strength. All he could do was answer the question, "I use a dagger."
"How confident are you in your strength?" Arya asked the second question.
"Hehe, more than anything. My life depends on it," Aetherius replied with a goofy smile while flexing his muscles.
"I have learned a basic dagger mastery course before coming to the tower," Rohan answered.
If someone looked at this situation from a third-person point of view, they would find it quite amusing. While Aetherius was happily replying to everything, Rohan, on the other hand, felt mocked.
Rohan thought Arya was doubting him, thinking he was weak, a burden on the team.
"Okay! So, Aetherius will be the tank and stop the monsters when they attack. I will be the Damage Dealer as I use a sword. If any monsters slip through us two, Rohan will kill them. This will be the basic plan, and we have to defend this crystal for ten days. We will shift between these positions accordingly."
Arya explained the plan to both Aetherius and Rohan, who accepted the plan for different reasons.
Aetherius wasn't good at all this, as he only knew one thing, 'Smash!' whereas Rohan was scared and underconfident in himself, so he didn't voice his opinion.
Both Aetherius and Rohan nodded to this basic plan. Arya got ready for the upcoming fight. He took out his sword from his inventory.
Following along, Rohan took out his two simple-looking dagger while Aetherius put on a pair of gauntlets.
*Gahh!!*
*Gahh!!*
The tower Arya and the others were on was in the middle of a plain circular ground with a radius of 5 km. After this 5 km, there was a thick forest.
Many humanoid creatures with decayed grey skin, some with elongated limbs and claws, around 5-6 feet tall, and were running towards them.
Arya and the others, seeing these creatures, understood this was the first monster wave that the announcement mentioned.
As soon as the monsters reached the base of the tower, Arya and Aetherius jumped off the tower and started sprinting towards the monsters. The monsters were coming from a single direction, so it was easy for them to fight, for now.
When they got closer to the monsters, they were able to see their information, such as their race and their levels.
[Ghoul Soldiers Level - 15.]
'As I remembered from the previous life in the blue Gate, the Red Gate also had Ghoul Soldiers as the monsters, but level 15? That's different. In the blue gate, they were around level 12, and not just that, even their numbers are at least double. Well, as expected of nightmare difficulty,' Arya thought while looking at the ghouls running towards them.
"Aetherius, attract them towards you, and I will finish them quickly," Arya shouted at Aetherius.
"You bet!" Saying so, Aetherius lunged forward towards the incoming monsters.
"Yooo!!! You failed copies of zombies. Come and try to eat me. I am very rich in blood," Aetherius taunted the ghouls.
*Gahh!!*
*Gahh!!*
The ghouls were tier-1 monsters and were not that intelligent to understand human speech, they moved with their instincts, but right now they were looking clearly offended by that taunt, and started moving towards Aetherius.
Arya was impressed by it but decided to appreciate Aetherius later. He lunged at the ghouls.
*Slash*
*Thud*
*Slash*
*Thud*
Rohan, who was watching Arya and Aetherius from the top of the tower, was shocked beyond measure.
Aetherius had attracted almost all of the ghouls and was killing all the ghouls within his range. Arya, on the other hand, was something else.
His speed, power, and swordsmanship were on a completely different level. They weren't something a tutorial trial taker should have.
He was killing one ghoul with one slash. Before that ghoul even fell, he killed another.
Rohan was jealous of their strength and angry about why he didn't have their strength. If only he had that strength, he wouldn't have needed to kill that guy.
He wouldn't have had this scar on his face. He too could have been ranked first in the previous trials. But alas, none of that was true.
He wasn't even near the level of talent and strength of Arya and Aetherius. And he never would be, not with this type of mindset at least.
As Rohan was thinking all this, his eyes fell on the crystal they had to protect, and a strange glint appeared in his eyes.