Sword Rankers
First Ally

Ran was currently stuck in a very dangerous situation, with a tree branch wedged in position, a shiny silver sword covered in blood was drawn to him.

A great killing Eve emanated from this blood-soaked silver sword. Ran shivered even though the distance of the sword with his head was very far. So afraid, Ran who initially looked up, immediately buried his head back on the ground because of the sense of terror that came out of the sword.

William looked at Ran with a cold and piercing look, feeling like a laser beam was coming out of William's eyes.

In Ran's heart, there were various thoughts on how to escape this situation, How is this? Pretend dead? But did he see me awake? Attack secretly? Impossible! Those people just failed, do I have to beg him for mercy?

The atmosphere became silent, William just stared at Ran alone, while Ran could only freeze without a sound.

In the midst of that silence, the first person to break the silence was... William.

William drew his sword and put in a position to swing his sword, Ran instantly closed his eyes thinking he would be slashed.

Srak...

"Eh...?" Ran opened his eyes again because of confusion, it turns out that what was cut by William was not himself but the branch of the tree that overcame Ran.

Ran glanced at William, and William said, "Stand up!" Resolutely.

"Huh?" Ran was confused by William's words.

Looking at the confused Ran, William continued his words, "Stand up so that you can fight me to the maximum, I am not willing to finish off someone who is in such a difficult situation, because it is an act of cowardice."

Ran immediately hurriedly stood up to hear William say, after standing up, he immediately retreated to the tree behind him to keep his distance.

Despite giving his enemy a chance, William showed no signs of being off guard at all, he still drew his sword towards Ran.

With a flat face, William said, "Who are you? What are you doing in the bushes? Are you trying to attack secretly? If that is indeed your intention, I suggest to dispose of it, I have often faced sneak attacks."

Ran hurriedly replied, "Ma-sorry... I-I don't-i-don't intend u-to attack you..."

Hearing Ran's chaotic reply, William became a little confused.

Ran continued his words, "Ha-akhu.. Ha-just curious... N-no more meaning."

William put on a face of confusion because of Ran's vague speech, then he seemed to remember something, "Wait, I seem to have seen you? Just sec..." William seemed to remember something for a moment.

When William remembered, he flicked his finger as if he had gained enlightenment.

Pud

"Oh yeah, you were bullied by a big-bodied man before the test, right?"

"Eh...?" Ran was quite surprised to hear the fact William still remembered him.

William who initially drew his sword at Ran, back sheathed it, then lowered his head while apologizing even though somehow wrong, "I'm sorry for the wrong thought, but I'm wrong, you must have just happened to be here and accidentally got hit by a branch that was cut off by me. I'm sorry."

William turned his back after apologizing and was about to walk away.

An increasingly confused by this situation, he asked William before he walked away, "Tu-wait, why did you just let go of me? N-not that we're enemies, and you should have killed me, right?"

William paused for a moment, then he turned to Ran with a face that was still as flat as possible, "I have a code of ethics that has been taught since childhood, that I should not fight weak people, that I should not fight weak people, since it was not a fight, but just a suppression, it was a lowly and disgusting act. And only a coward would do the oppression." William immediately walked back as if nothing had happened after he said that sentence.

Ran goosebumps at William's words, Ran realizes that William let go because William does not regard Ran as nothing, for William, Ran is just a weak person who does not deserve to be defeated.

Ran's feelings become mixed hearing William's words, Cih! Either I should be happy or not upset about being let go.

Thus, Ran sat helplessly because he felt he was not considered at all by William, and William walked away from Ran.

But... Ran feels something strange, a bad feeling he often feels before he is bullied during school. And that dangerous thing leads to William.

Ran looked at William who was walking leisurely as if he did not feel anything, but Ran felt something strange coming from the east.

By reflex, Ran immediately ran towards William, he did not know what possessed him, what made him try to save William? That was also the thing that Ran wanted to know himself.

Hearing Ran's noisy footsteps, William immediately turned his head, when he saw Ran running towards him, William was immediately upset, he was about to pull back his sword while shouting, "Sy base! You must want to mute-" Not finished William's words, Ran immediately hugged William and pushed him forward.

At that moment, an arrow of light flashed behind them.

Syuut....

Ran shuddered as his back passed the arrow of light, and when the arrow hit the ground.

Bumm...

The arrow immediately exploded when it touched the ground, William and Ran were thrown from the explosion.

They were both thrown into the grass, there they both rolled around due to the effects of the explosion that hit them both.

"Hoshis... Hosh...." Ran was bored with the position still hugging William and still trembling, if William had been hit by the attack, he would have been destroyed.

While William was confused to see Ran who was frightened to the point of forgetting himself, he called Ran, "Umm... What was that?"

Ran tremblingly replied, "A....A...I don't know.do not know..."

"Then can we change positions first? This position is uncomfortable."

Ran realized that he was still hugging William, when he realized, he hurriedly let go of his embrace.

They both spoke behind a large tree.

William asked Ran, "Why did you help me? There seems to be no reason for you to help me, right?"

Ran was confused if asked like that directly, he could only answer, "Okay, my body reacted on its own, maybe because you didn't finish me off, or maybe it's because I felt that the attack was too dangerous and could kill. So I subconsciously helped you because I didn't want to see anyone die in front of my eyes."

William seemed to think for a moment, then he murmured softly, "That's it, so that's your code of conduct well..."

"Eh? Why?"

"It's nothing. So, maybe we still haven't gotten acquainted properly until now, introduce, I'm William Austin." Said William while extending his hand to invite a shake.

Ran responded to William's introduction by shaking his hand while also introducing himself, "Ra-Ran, Ran Corbin."

While shaking hands, William looked into Ran's eyes deeply, Ran became nervous because he felt strangely glared at by William.

William relinquished his hands, and William said something very surprising to Ran, "Well, will you cooperate with me?"

"Ehhhh.....?" Ran was of course very surprised, the offer of cooperation from a Hyper as strong as William was indeed a good thing and made Ran a little happy, but still it was a very strange thing.

Seeing the confusion on Ran's face, William asked back, "Hmm... Why Ran?"

"Ahhhhh.... I-that's why you want to cooperate with the o-people who... Like me this? I mean, there are a lot of people better than me, right? I'm weak, even against one person I have to rely on various tricks."

Bukkkkkk

William directly hit Ran's back, he with a face of annoyance scolded Ran, "Believe yourself! You are strong, do not humble yourself. The proof is that you want to help me who almost got hit by the attack, but you can just leave. After all, the partner I was looking for was someone I could trust, I didn't care about a strong colleague, for me it was more important to have a trustworthy partner."

Ran smiled slightly, until now, it was difficult to find anyone who would admit it. And unexpectedly, it was precisely a person as strong as William who became the first person here to acknowledge his ability.

Ran raised his head back with confidence, he looked back at William with a gaze filled with confidence.

"Alright, let's work together to get rid of this sniper." Ran said with confidence.

William smiled at Ran, "Well, I hope we can continue working together until this exam is over."

"Then, what's our plan now?"

"It's easy, we just need to find the sniper's location."

"How's it?"

"I! I will act as bait to provoke that sniper attack. While you're Ran, you need to find the location of the shoot."

"W-what? Are you crazy? The attack was already very dangerous, you might be able to withstand it, but it must be difficult to endure it many times."

"Because that's Ran, you need to find the sniper's location as quickly as possible."

Glug.

"Are you sure you gave me such an important task? I better be the bait, there's no guarantee that I can beat that sniper."

"It's okay Ran, I trust you."

Seeing William's confident gaze, Ran finally agreed to the plan, "Alright, I agree."

"Thank you Ran, but, if something unexpected comes up, do it...."

.

.

.

Ran and William were ready to do their plan together, Ran was ready to run east by passing trees and grasses to avoid the sniper's vision. And William will come forward to attract the attention of the sniper at the scene of the attack.

The two of them looked at each other, then then they nodded to give a sign. William immediately jumped into the empty room to be easily seen by the sniper, he drew his sword forward with a sturdy horse position to face the coming attack. He also simultaneously issued a thicker aura to make it more striking.

Ran immediately ran towards the east along with William, 9 seconds passed, Ran saw an arrow of light shot towards William, good, I am heading in the right direction. Inner Ran.

William saw the arrow of light, he immediately deflected it with his sword, "Eughhh...." Even for William, the attack felt extremely heavy. He managed to hold it in, but it fell out of place. "Cuhhh... It seems like this guy is very strong."

William rearranged his position, this time there were more arrows coming, knowing if he would be in trouble, William chose to avoid all the light arrows.

Sat Set Set

William zigzagged to avoid all those arrows of light, and lastly he jumped high.

Bum Bum Bam

All those arrows of light hit the ground and exploded, destroying the ground and the trees. But, when William already felt like he was avoiding everything, a single arrow of light struck from his blind spot.

Unable to avoid being in the air, William chose to defend using his arm coated by armor.

Bum Brak's

The arrow of light exploded in William's arm, he was thrown far away to hit the trees, the tree that William hit was destroyed.

Huhhh.... This guy is very great it turns out, it seems he deliberately directs me into the air, in the air must be difficult to avoid, at that time he attacked from the blind spot

William analyzed his enemy, he realized that his enemy was not a random person.

While Ran, he still continued to follow the direction of the light arrow to look for the sniper, when he saw several arrows shot simultaneously, he became worried about William's state, Shit! Is William okay? It seems difficult to survive if attacked simultaneously like that.

But Ran puts aside his feelings, if he is indeed worried about William's circumstances, the best thing he should do is catch the sniper as soon as possible.

It has been almost 100 meters Ran passed, now, Ran can already see the origin of the arrow of light. The shot came from the top of the giant tree that Ran had stopped by earlier.

Funny enough for Ran, Haha, who would have thought? The place I used to take cover was used by the enemy to try to kill me.

Carefully, Ran walked to the side of the tree so as not to be caught. He created two daggers to climb the giant tree.

Stab Stab Stab

Carefully, Ran climbed the tree using his two blades.

After Ran climbed the tree directly, he could feel how big and tall the tree was. The more he climbed up, the wind blew the louder.

When Ran glanced down, the ground felt very far away, even though he had not risen too high, it caused Ran to feel very creepy and all his hair stood up, Hiiiiiii.... If I fall, I'm not just yelling "Ah"

It took quite a long time for Ran to arrive at one of the branches of this giant tree. When Ran looked at the branch of the giant tree, he carefully peered up to confirm the position of the sniper.

Ran saw it, the Sniper was on one of the branches that were not too far from Ran's branch. He wears a black hood that hides his appearance, he hides among giant foliage. The Crossbow he held to attack Ran and William.

Ran took a deep breath, he tried to calm himself down before attacking the sniper.

Ran climbed up slowly to one of the giant branches that was as wide as the highway, Ran prepared one of his daggers that he would use to attack the sniper.

Relax Ran, just attack him to fall, do not kill him, a Hyper must still be alive even though it falls this high right? He must be stronger than me anyway. But, if he turns out to be weaker than me how is it?

Ran's thoughts became chaotic because he hesitated to attack his enemy, fearing that he would kill his enemy instead made him very hesitant.

Krrtt

Ran tightened the grip on his dagger, calm down, surely the committee will not let anyone die here

Ran took aim at his enemy, he aimed at the stomach of the sniper so that his balance faltered and fell.

Ran inserted Mana into his dagger, but, when Ran was about to throw his dagger, the sniper suddenly turned his head.

The shocked Ran made his shot chaotic, instead of aiming at his stomach, he threw it at his head instead.

But, instead of dodging, the sniper was silent, the dagger that Ran threw shot towards the person, lucky for him, the dagger just scratched the hood of his head.

Sreekkk

The dagger attack made the hood torn and loose.

Ran could see a figure he did not expect, but strangely, he was not too surprised.

"You... Tim!?"

"Halo Ran, we meet again well" Sapa Tim with a smile filled with mystery