Chapter 135: Victory

Eren continued his lunge forwards with his fists losing its Reinforcement. This caused Aliker to lower his guard. He neglected to protect himself from an all-out attack straight at his head.

But at the very last moment, Eren Reinforced his fists with R?zoň. It was a perfect use of his Primal Strike.

Surprised by the sudden acceleration of Eren’s fist, Aliker was caught completely unaware. The layer of protection around his face completely shattered from Eren’s punch.

Aliker’s head twisted to the side, leaving him staggered for one step backwards.

The proctor wearing the brown coat wiped his hand over his cheeks, before looking and seeing that Eren’s punch had drawn blood.

He had actually been injured from the attack.

Aliker was more surprised than he was mad. One could see it in his expression that he truly didn’t expect anyone to break through his defenses, even if it was with the element of surprise.

This was the License Exam. Even the very best of the examinees here were nothing more than little shrimps in front of his own power. They couldn’t have broken through his defenses, he thought.

But it was clearly not true. Eren had done the ’impossible’.

Still filled with shock, Aliker was helpless as Eren stepped forwards and took the white flag for himself.

As soon as he grabbed the pole, the entirety of the Territory began to exhibit a change.

The volcano, which used to look like an aggressive tiger that was ready to pounce on any target dumb enough to come close, had now turned subdued.

The First, Second, and Third Cliffside had exhibited signs of losing all of their edge. The smoke that had made climbing so hard was slowly starting to disperse, allowing everyone down below to look up at the peak of the volcano.

And there, they saw Eren holding up the flag in his hands triumphantly.

"He... he did it..."

"No way.... It wasn’t Paupre?!"

"There must be a mistake!"

But the fact that Eren was now standing on top of the crater without the lava coming to life and attacking him was already evidence enough to show that Eren had now taken possession of this territory.

"Yeah Eren!"

"That’s our leader!’

"I knew he could do it!

His group members rejoiced upon seeing him hold up that flag. The other groups, on the other hand, were dejected and disappointed with their loss.

Now, they had no other choice but to leave the premises.

Eren looked at the flag in his hands and felt extreme elation. Then, he looked towards Aliker, who had now begun to float out of the crater.

He gave Eren one look, before turning around and leaving the room entirely. He didn’t have to say anything. Clearly, Eren didn’t care about the consequences since he had denied Aliker’s attempts to stop him.

Then down below, more people began to leave as well.

Sav and his group were the first ones out of the tunnel.. They were already gone by the time that Eren scaled down the volcano.

Now that he held the flag, none of the traps or the obstacles in the volcano could stop him. It became something that he could use, something that helped him and his group members tremendously.

Next after that, Paupre’s group members slowly teetered out of the tunnel carrying Paupre’s unconscious body with them.

Right after them, the burly man and his group lett as well.

The burly man gave Eren a long lingering looking before they left. This man was sponsored by the Elvenied Riders. The very same one that was supposed to earn this flag for himself.

Aliker would have given the flag to this guy, if Eren didn’t interfere and took the flag for himself.

Eren stood his ground and looked at them from a distance.

He was well aware of the attention that he had now gathered for himself. The Elvenied Riders should be completely furious with Eren’s actions, completely denying them a way to get back into the Second Test.

Because of Eren, it may very well be possible that most of their sponsored groups wouldn’t make it out past this stge of the License Exam.

Eren expected a retaliation from them soon. But that was a problem that he had to solve for another day.

For now, he just wanted to celebrate this victory with the rest of his group.

"Great job, Eren!" Abe said, tapping his shoulders. "Look at how big our territory is now!"

The Volcanic Territory had everything. It had a flat open space around the volcano, allowing for people to set up their tenets and their hovels for them to sleep in.

There was also a fresh-water pond heree, which could help them sustain themselves for a long time.

Trees bearing fruits and vegetables growing in the ground also showed how fertile the soil here was.

All in all, it was a much better territory than the ones that they were in before.

"Dibs on the crater! I want to sleep near the volcano!" said Henry.

"No one’s going to fight you on that," Sky said. "I’m satisfied at the ground."

"We will take camp near the volcano," said Delia. "Lots of Array Formations there. Lots of things that we could use for our own defenses."

"What are we waiting for? Let’s start our migration here!" said Abe.

While everyone was busy making their preparations for the move, Celeste approached Eren at the top of the crater.

"I saw what you did back then," she said to him. "Bold thing to do. I don’t think anyone would have the guts to fight a Proctor like you."

Eren didn’t turn to face her. He kept his attention elsewhere. "If they’re interfering in the License Exam, then they shouldn’t be surprised that I started fighting back."

Celeste buried her head in her knees and looked sideways at him. "That’s good. I like a man who’s brave."

Then, she quickly got up and stretched. "We have a lot of things to do ahead of us. Guess I’ll have to clean up your messes again."