88 – Brain Hemorrhage

The massive axe blade, taller than Wenfu herself, loomed inches from her neck. The icy killing intent drained the last shred of courage from her bones. Even though she knew this was a no-death tournament, her body, sensing danger through sheer instinct, no longer obeyed her.

Anyone could see that golden-haired girl wouldn’t be easy to deal with—so going after the “soft target” was clearly the smartest choice.

The echoing acoustics of the canyon left no doubt: if they caused a commotion here, the other teams would hear it. They had to finish this quickly.

The axe lifted and then fell in an instant—but to Wenfu, it felt like an eternity.

Was she really about to be eliminated after making it this far…?

Just before the sharp wind and crushing pressure of the axe reached her, a fragrant breeze swept over her—wrapping around her waist and pulling her into a warm embrace.

Wenfu was enveloped by a mix of peppermint and vanilla—the scent clung to her like a spring wind brushing the heart. Her dazed senses gradually returned, and she realized someone was holding her behind the back and under her knees, cradling her completely.

Pressed against that warm, soft... cushion, she could feel every subtle bounce with each movement.

Seeing the size is one thing, but feeling it firsthand… that’s something else entirely…

“Mm.” Wenfu knew full well that this was not the time for shameful, wandering thoughts—but her mind still betrayed her.

Teresa carried Wenfu, bow still slung across her back, sprinting along the canyon wall with nimble horizontal steps.

“Trying to run?”

The enemy mage hurled three scrolls. With a mental command, a flurry of icy spears burst forth from a conjured magic array—not aimed directly at Teresa, but at the narrow path ahead.

The route was instantly sealed by razor-sharp ice, biting cold surging out. It blocked not only their escape, but also cut off any teams trying to sneak in and scavenge the fight.

Three scrolls in one go—extravagant. Like Divine Children, mages also consumed mental power to activate scrolls by extracting their enchantments. Using three at once massively increased the strain.

No wonder this team made it to the top ten. Judging from what she’d seen, their Divine Child had probably been eliminated.

That meant the intel advantage still belonged to Teresa and Wenfu.

“…Strange…”

The axe-wielding Blake Ironfang frowned. Teresa had landed without issue, but something didn’t sit right.

Even though the axe itself had missed, the air blades generated by his Divine Authority had hit her. Yet she looked completely unaffected?

Teresa gently set the dazed Wenfu down, then activated Divine Appraisal.

As expected, while they’d been dodging, the enemy Ranger had made a move—flanking from the side under cover of his own Divine Authority.

Name: Barclay Orin

Strength: Yellow

Speed: Blue

Endurance: Yellow

Jumping Ability: Green

Divine Domain – [Hidden Canopy's Blessing]:

Physical Resistance: 4

Magic Resistance: 3

Alchemy Resistance: 2

Divine Authority Resistance: 2

Domain Effect: When not being actively observed, dramatically reduces presence.

Divine Authority – [Relative Existence]: As long as no one in the area knows his name, allows him to visually blend into the environment. Note: The fewer people who know his name, the stronger the effect.

Ah, so it wasn’t true invisibility—just a powerful camouflage effect. He lowered his presence and activated his Divine Authority to meld with the surroundings.

Even knowing his position, it would be tough to hit a weak point.

The fewer people know his name, the better his concealment, huh…?

Teresa glanced over at Blake and the mage, then seemed to put something together.

Clearing her throat, she cupped her hand to her mouth and shouted in a sweet, bell-like voice toward Barclay’s position:

“Mr. Barclay Orin, no more hiding—I see you!”

“?!!”

Barclay’s hairs stood on end. He nearly lost his footing.

“Barclay Orin…?”

Blake and the mage both blinked in confusion, exchanging puzzled looks.

Seeing their reactions, Teresa knew she was right.

Exactly as I thought.

“Who the hell is Barclay Orin?” Blake muttered.

Just as Teresa had guessed: Barclay had never shared his real name with his teammates. Or, more precisely—he had given them a fake name in order to maximize his Divine Authority’s effectiveness.

He was very good at this. Flawless, even.

Even in Coleman Academy’s archives, only his alias was recorded. In tournaments, he only used codenames. Apart from his parents, nobody in the world knew his true name.

But there was a flaw in the system—Divine Appraisal.

Names could be faked, but facts could not. Divine Appraisal penetrated all disguises and revealed a person’s essence. No matter how convincingly he claimed to be “Jack” or “Jones,” his real name—Barclay Orin—would always show up under Divine Appraisal.

To counter that, Barclay had spent a fortune on a blackstone pendant enchanted by a high-level runesmith. It blocked Divine Appraisal, so anyone trying to scan him would only see garbled code where his name should be.

It was supposed to be foolproof—after all, as the runesmith explained, the pendant worked by reducing the “penetration level” of Appraisal, like covering a painting with black cloth. Unless the opponent had legendary-tier Appraisal, there was no way the pendant would fail.

And what were the chances of a legendary-tier Appraisal user showing up among first-years? Honestly, even in the entire Coleman Academy, such a person might not exist. The pendant was plenty safe.

So when Teresa called his name… Barclay panicked.

He racked his brain—when the hell had he exposed himself?

He never considered that someone had used Divine Appraisal to discover his name. Why? Because Teresa was a Divine Princess, not a Divine Child. She couldn’t even learn Appraisal!

Even if, somehow, she could, there was no way it could punch through his pendant’s enchantments.

It had to have been a leak. Someone must’ve spilled it.

Who the hell was it?!

Before he could get to the bottom of it, Teresa spoke again.

“Mr. Barclay Orin, I understand why you didn’t tell your teammates your real name. Your Divine Authority works better the fewer people know it—so of course you wouldn’t share it with your team.”

You damn golden-haired witch!!!

Barclay nearly suffered a brain hemorrhage from rage.

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