Chapter 168: The Entrance Examination (Part-14)
However…
When the ten candidates from the three regions finally rushed up to Ryan, raising their weapons high and unleashing their attacks with the momentum of hungry wolves descending upon prey, the expressions on the faces of the remaining candidates from the three districts gradually began to freeze.
Because what happened next was something none of them had expected.
"Boom!"
The ten attackers surrounded Ryan from all directions at once, their blades flashing in the sunlight as swords, sabers, and axes came crashing down toward him with fierce momentum.
Yet…
Nothing happened.
Ryan did not even bother opening his eyes.
He merely tilted his head slightly to the side, twisted his waist a fraction of an inch, and let the attacks glide past him one after another as if they had never been aimed at him in the first place.
From beginning to end, his feet did not move even half a step.
He stood there exactly where he had been standing before, relaxed and composed, as though he were simply enjoying the breeze beside the river rather than facing a coordinated assault from ten elite candidates.
The attackers gritted their teeth and pushed harder.
Some executed their most practiced martial techniques, their movements swift and precise.
Others swung their weapons with ferocious force, trying to trap Ryan within overlapping arcs of steel.
Yet no matter how perfect their timing seemed or how fierce their attacks appeared, none of their strikes even brushed the corner of Ryan's clothes.
They could not hit him.
They could not even come close.
But that was not the most unbelievable part.
The most absurd thing was that Ryan's eyes remained closed the entire time.
He had not opened them once.
He stood there calmly, avoiding every blade and every fist as if the battle around him were nothing more than a slow and predictable dance.
The ten attackers began to grow anxious.
They increased their speed, their breathing growing heavier as they poured more strength into their attacks.
Finally, all ten of them lunged forward simultaneously, attempting to overwhelm Ryan with a coordinated assault from every direction.
Still useless.
Every attack either slid harmlessly past Ryan's body or was stopped by an invisible force that prevented the weapons from advancing even a single inch closer.
The situation was absurd.
Ten fully armed candidates attacking with everything they had…
And yet they couldn't even touch a man who had his eyes closed.
Yu Mu watched the scene unfold, and his expression gradually darkened.
"What the hell are you doing?"
His voice carried obvious irritation.
Ten people had already been sent to deal with a single North District candidate, yet after so long they still hadn't even managed to land a single hit.
This was beyond embarrassing.
"What are you all doing?!"
Yu Mu shouted angrily toward the battlefield once again.
"Hurry up and attack properly! One by one you're acting like you're from the same family—what kind of nonsense is this?!"
The ten candidates who were currently attacking Ryan heard Yu Mu's furious shouting, and bitterness instantly filled their hearts.
They wanted to yell back.
We are attacking!
They had already used nearly all their strength.
The martial techniques they normally kept hidden had already been unleashed.
Every single attack was delivered with full force.
Yet the problem was simple.
They couldn't hit him.
At that moment, Ryan suddenly let out a faint chuckle.
"Oh…"
"The candidates of the three districts are only capable of this much?"
He shook his head slightly.
"Compared to the North District candidates, you're far worse."
Then his tone changed.
"Alright."
"I don't have time to play with you any longer."
"I still have things to do."
With those words, Ryan finally stopped dodging.
He slowly raised a single finger.
Then, one by one, he casually pointed toward the attacking candidates.
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
Each time his finger touched a weapon, a sharp metallic clash rang through the air as sparks burst outward.
At the same moment, a terrifying force exploded from the point of contact.
The ten attackers were instantly blasted backward as though struck by an invisible hammer.
Their bodies flew through the air together with their weapons.
And those weapons—
Whether they were high-quality blades, heavy axes, or finely forged swords—
suddenly shattered mid-air.
The metal disintegrated into countless fragments that scattered across the ground like broken glass.
As for the people wielding them—
"Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!"
Moments later, their bodies crashed heavily onto the ground more than ten meters away.
Their eyes rolled upward.
Their breathing stopped.
Silence.
"Ding!"
"Congratulations to the player Ryan for killing a Western Mansion candidate. Gained 6000 experience points and 0 God of War value."
"Ding!"
"Congratulations to the player Ryan for killing a Western Mansion candidate. Gained 4300 experience points and 0 God of War value."
"Ding!"
"Congratulations to the player Ryan for killing a Western Mansion candidate. Gained 15000 experience points and 0 God of War value."
The system notifications echoed quietly in Ryan's mind.
Which meant only one thing.
All ten attackers were dead.
Ryan had not used any martial skills.
He had merely tapped them with a finger, releasing a trace of power.
And that tiny trace had been enough to kill ten elite candidates instantly.
Under normal circumstances, Ryan did not enjoy killing people.
After all, he was still human.
Taking lives easily could weigh on one's conscience.
But these people were different.
They had already shown their intentions when they abandoned the North District candidates earlier.
People who wish to kill others should be prepared to die themselves.
Still, Ryan sighed slightly in disappointment.
The experience points were too few.
Each candidate had only provided a few thousand experience points, with the highest barely exceeding ten thousand.
At Ryan's current Rank, he needed tens of millions of experience points just to advance a single Rank.
Compared to that requirement, the rewards from killing these candidates were like drops in the ocean.
But considering that most of them were merely War Division or early War Spirit Rank, the reward was already acceptable.
Meanwhile—
The remaining candidates from the three districts stared at the battlefield in complete shock.
Their eyes widened so much they nearly popped out of their sockets.
What… had just happened?
"I… am I seeing things?"
"One finger… he just used a few fingers…"
"And the ten candidates from our three districts were sent flying?"
"They… they're not breathing anymore…"
"They're dead."
"No way…"
Someone swallowed nervously.
"He killed ten geniuses with just a few taps of his finger. How is that possible?"
Another candidate spoke slowly.
"I watched carefully just now… the ten attackers weren't holding back."
"They were sweating, their expressions were tense, and they were gritting their teeth. They clearly used their full strength."
"So the reason they couldn't defeat him…"
"…wasn't because they were weak."
"It was because they couldn't."
A chill ran through the crowd.
"You mean… that North District candidate is stronger than all ten of them combined?"
"That's impossible!"
"He's just a candidate like us!"
"How could someone that strong appear in the North District?"
Someone else suddenly lowered his voice.
"Could it be… some kind of black magic?"
"Maybe he used poison techniques or some strange sorcery."
"That would explain why our attacks couldn't touch him."
Another candidate shook his head slowly.
"That explanation sounds ridiculous."
He stared at Ryan carefully.
"Think about it…"
"What if…"
"…he's the candidate who ranked second on the Western Mansion outer ranking list?"
The crowd fell silent for a moment.
Then someone immediately rejected the idea.
"That's impossible."
"The second-ranked candidate is a peerless genius."
"How could someone like that possibly come from the barren North District?"