Klautz could agree that curbing a second gen enough to make him agree to pass on the lead to a newbie was indeed something unusual and out of the box… it could be said to be almost impossible even and couldn’t be done without winning the favor of the actual leader.

But who was Klautz? He was someone who had defeated a second gen already and was stronger than all of them. He was indeed competent and didn’t need to buy any favors. More than that Shizu by nature was someone who would easily concede to such a request.

‘Yet how could things end up this way? Is there something more that I am missing here?’

‘It’s as if they don’t even treat her like an equal,” Klautz crossed his fingers, not sure what was happening anymore.

Slacking off on work was something that could be considered common among these young masters. At least Klautz believed so. Yet when Shizu did so they just had to point their dirty fingers at her.

What’s more? Shizu’s backing should be the most influential among all of them. At least that was what it seemed since Shizu was able to recruit Klautz overriding the wishes of all of the others.

“It shouldn’t have been something that should have happened had they feared her backings. But from the earlier strife with her I am quite sure that they have a lot of influence. What’s wrong with these contrasting clues?”

Klautz eyes squinted. When facing such a deadlock the most obvious thing to do was to find more clues. 

But, it was a pity that he could only collect information from the newbie camp. 

Who was behind Shizu? Why did her peers treat her with such disdain? What are her roots? And why does she have more than needed influence? The answers to all of these questions lied in hell itself.

Had Klautz got the permission to enter the human society of hell he could have delved deeper into this family line of the Yukihos. But without finishing the camp first there was no hope for him. 

Akihiko was nowhere to be found and Gozoto would not be conceding to any of his requests considering he just turned him down. Not to mention that Klautz had just broke apart a luxurious door which trying to find the locked Shizu. It was supposed to be for use for the second gen only and not something for newbies like him to touch. That was probably something he would have to take care of later.

“So this is why she wanted to win. Hmm, but there are simply too many opponents each of having their own tricks up their sleeve. It won’t work out.” but Klautz couldn’t leave it as it is either. “Damn, this is troublesome.”

Klautz had never aimed for Yukiho to win. If anything after gaining enough reputation and influence he would be ditching the group. It was not the place that was meant to contain him. Yukiho winning wouldn’t bring him any growth nor profits. It was an unusual endeavour not worth his time.

“But if I can…”

Every challenge came with its own set of hidden opportunities none of which were visible to the eyel. This challenge was no different. Whether Klautz would be able to realize such a difficult task was of a different matter.

***

Klautz’s entire schedule had been flipped upside down. 

If at all he had become more committed to winning now that the background details were already taken care of.

He had to divert his entire focus on bringing up the team now. The ones who had left the group and worked under Shizu command until now were retrieved back and the numbers had grown larger to that of crossing 50s.

But Klautz no longer worked them to the point of death. Instead they worked in small groups of 5 now, with the groups rotating after periodic intervals.

With such a structure they could go through a proper cycle of work and rest and then work again. This might be good for their mental health but of course it came with its own set of cons.

“Scouting team quick! Find the next target,” Klautz ordered.

As soon as his voice rang out in the crowd 2 groups of 5 separated from it as they began working according to his instructions.

Klautz was no longer focusing on increasing their levels alone. With them rotating shifts they wouldn’t be gaining much in the first place. Rather Klautz was focusing on specialization instead.

Scouting, Collection, Support etc… there were multiple teams focused on a specific role, that they focused on honing. Such a structure was enacted keeping in mind the requirements of the event they would be facing in the future.

Thus those who were actually fighting numbered very few… leading very few people to gain any levels.

This form of setup was indeed advantageous to the team and it would lead to them having greater chances of victory. But every sweet can be poisoned in disguise.

It was good for the team but whether it good for them individually was a different topic.

‘On the individual level it might be devastating for them, but gotta make this work. This is the only way’ Klautz thought.

As a group they might be making progress, but in the indivisual level they weren’t gaining anything. Only those selected few could gain the stats while the others were left behind in dust.

Of course Klautz had picked only those that were strong enough for the fighting and killing the beast. Thus a vicious loop haunted all of them.

The strong only grew stronger and the weak only grew weaker.

The disparity had already taken roots and had begun to show. But since it won’t be affecting their performance for the competition Klautz had chose to ignore it.

***

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