The Retired Hero is an Extra

Grunghin side-stepped, and now Asher was facing Jash, and the lightning-guy was in front of them.

"Let's team up for now," the lightning guy proposed, setting aside his pride and ego.

Grunghin opened his mouth, wanting to deny, but his anger and frustration made him want to defeat this pesky human at all costs.

Even Grunghin was convinced that he couldn't defeat the sword guy anymore despite his stubborn dwarven pride.

However, the lightning guy was different, he didn't belong to any noble family or an elite force.

That's why, he always thought that the difference between him and the other kids from nobility would not be that big.

Alas, it could never be the truth as Amael and the protagonist were a cut above the rest.

Even if he had never encountered Jash, the situation wouldn't change. Just that the two were stronger than anyone in the original storyline.

"Listen, you don't want to lose like this as well, right?" the lighting guy said, trying to reason with Grunghin.

"...Okay," Grunghin agreed with gritted teeth, as he saw no other option.

Unlike one would think, Jash was readying his attack, not wanting to give any time for them to coordinate.

Mana exited his core and channeled through his meridians.

This created a cold sensation around his chest due to the emptiness and a hot, searing sensation throughout his body—the meridians.

'Ah! Bear it, Jash!' he told himself, clenching his jaw to keep the pain at bay and focus on his enemies.

A spark appeared around the lightning guy, and after the first spark, another two appeared as lightning cackled on his forearms and lower leg.

He muttered something, and the lightning dissipated, focusing on his hands and foot only.

This scene, unlike any other, got even Rui reeling in surprise as he exclaimed out loud, "This boy!! He has mastered his element—lightning—to such a degree!!"

Not just him, many people were surprised. It was known that lightning was a tough element to master.

And now a somewhat unknown boy had mastered it enough to be able to use it in such a manner!?

It was entirely different from Jash, Amael or the golden-haired boy defeating others and their awe-inspiring performance.

They literally had SSS-Rank hunters to teach them with immense resources to support their growth.

However, the lighting boy was a dark horse, something the audience appreciated very much.

"Hmm, this boy is quite good, but he got played," an old woman who was watching the tournament spoke as her lips curled upwards.

"But his potential is impressive, even his element," she mumbled, smiling as she reviewed a floating document.

Only five documents were floating around her, signifying the number of participants still in the Entrance Test.

She repeatedly looked at them and then got back to observing the tournament.

Meanwhile, the girls' part of the Entrance Test had already concluded, so the focus remained on this part of the Entrance Test.

Back on the island, the lightning boy dashed toward Jash with incredible speed as his element boosted his agility a lot.

His fists flew towards Jash's face, but Jash did not stay still, anticipating the move.

He had already been preparing an attack, so he was expecting such a situation, as he caught the sight of Grunghin from the corner of his eyes.

His lips couldn't help but arch upwards as he swung his sword and moved at the same time.

—Shwoosh!

—Shiing!

His sword traveled in an arc, bypassing the lighting boy's attack and slicing his wide open flank.

Yet the barrier activated in time, teleporting him out and giving a sort of bounce back to Jash's sword as he turned his wrists.

In that split second, his grip loosened as he reversed his grip, followed by moving in a peculiar pattern towards Grunghin.

At this moment, Grunghin had just noticed the barrier teleporting the lightning guy out as he was mid-swing of his attack.

Alas, Jash was two steps ahead, already reaching him while ducking, sword pointed diagonally upwards.

Not even wanting to give Grunghin any time, Jash had already set his swing in motion, reaching Grunghin's chest before the sledgehammer could squash him.

Due to the activation of the barrier, Jash got repelled slightly, which he used to dodge the dropping sledgehammer at his previous position.

—Bam!

Even though most of the force was lost due to Grunghin's connection being cut, the sledgehammer was heavy.

It dropped with a loud sound as he had loosened his grip after catching the sight of the undodgeable sword strike.

"Huu..."

Jash took a deep breath as he stood up, relaxing his muscles and feeling the pain from over straining them.

Sadly, the battle hadn't ended yet and he had to face the most formidable ones at the same time in 1v1v1.

However, he didn't know that even the two of them were eyeing him warily due to his performance so far.

'Oi, system! Is he supposed to be that strong by any estimate?' Amael asked his system, not even expecting a response.

{...}

Well, it wasn't just one system that was speechless, even the protagonist got the same response, prompting him to tighten his grip.

Turning to look at the duo of archenemies, Jash started walking towards them, the twitch in his lips obvious.

He was barely keeping his emotions of pain under a tight lid as he walked right after overexerting himself.

It was no simple feat, though.

Imagine exercising to your limits, on an empty stomach, only to be told that you had to walk home and cook for yourself.

The exertion would catch up, leaving you lying in fatigue as the body's instinct to recover in sleep would try to take over.

Jash was doing just that, though, no cooking was involved in it, but something far more excruciating.

Outside, the audience was in a stunned silence, unable to understand what Jash did and even Rui was silent.

Of course, he knew what Jash did, but how? He had no idea.

Let alone him, even Sera and Carcel were looking on with confusion, seeing the apparent difference in Jash before the Entrance Test and during it.

It wasn't something that could be explained by talent or by just happening in the spur of the moment.

This caused them to forget even about Caera's performance as they wondered how Jash could perform such a sword move.

"Honey, did you teach him that?" Sera asked him, her voice lowering at every syllable.

Carcel gulped and immediately denied. "No! He would never learn something so bothersome!" he said.

Yet under the icy stare of his wife, he could only confess, "He asked to read the sword moves once... Yes, he only asked to read!"

"Don't look at me like that! I am telling the truth," Carcel continued, averting his wife's fierce eyes.

Unfortunately, he was rather excited at seeing his son fight in such a way, rousing Sera's suspicion.

"You know..." Sera began, "I think we should have forced him to put in more effort."

"What!?" Carcel turned his head, all his excitement washed away as he looked at his wife in utter horror.

Who was she? Where was his wife?

Those were the questions on his face which Sera obviously read and her lips twitched as she pinched his arm.

"Ouch, at least this is my Sera," Carcel muttered underneath his breath, which only increased the intensity of the pinch.

"Ow ow ow ow ow!" he squeaked before she stopped suddenly as the fight had just begun.