Sometimes, people's rationality is obscured by various factors, one of which is despair. Those students who are ranked lower are in this mindset when they take the midterm exam. The Arcadia Hunter Academy is very ruthless, and students who fail to meet expectations will be eliminated. Who will be eliminated? Those who are lagging behind. Therefore, they are eager to get good grades in this exam and improve their ranking. However, desperation never goes hand in hand with rationality. When life is in danger, the most important thing is to stay rational and calm. As students scurried past me, speeding ahead, their focus was entirely on outdoing the others. It's a typical scene, with desperate students rushing to explore and conquer the dungeon. As they charged forward, they triggered what I had suspected from the moment I entered the dungeon. Growling and roaring echoed from the ruined buildings, and menacing figures began to emerge from the darkness.
“Gurgle…” From dark doorways and broken windows emerge strange creatures of grotesque shapes, rotting flesh combined with misshapen limbs. They are the denizens of the dungeon, and they await our challenge. 'Ruin Screamer.' Such monsters are usually between level 2 and 3, depending on their level of evolution. From the moment we entered the dungeon, I knew that the monsters we would encounter would be those we had learned in the course. Although the academy is ruthless, it is fair to students. At least for those students who fulfill their responsibilities. whoosh! A monster suddenly jumped out of the ruins of the store, weapons quickly drawn. clang! "Hold on!" one student yelled, his weapon colliding with the monster's claws as it approached. The real battle began. The students began to swing their weapons wildly, with varying degrees of skill. It was a life-or-death battle, but I couldn't help but shake my head at the chaos. 'That's why teamwork is so important.' Without scouts and proper team coordination, a loose team simply cannot survive against these monsters. This midterm exam was actually a lesson, showing those arrogant students the importance of teamwork. This is why humans can survive monsters, alien creatures, and demons. In a sense, this was a valuable education. 'It's time for me to start moving, thank you for paving the way.' With that thought in mind, I climbed to the top of an abandoned building and began walking while using the battle going on below to conceal my presence. Although hunting monsters would add points to my score, I was not stupid enough to face so many enemies alone and waste the opportunity before me.
… Chaotic fighting continues in the ruined town beneath abandoned buildings, as desperate students are forced into a life-or-death struggle with the vicious Ruin Screamers. "Ah!" A student's shout cut through the air as he swung his weapon to attack a monster. Boom! His attacks struck the monster's rotting flesh with a sickening thud. “Hiss, hiss, hiss!” The Ruin Screamer fought back with its deformed claws, severely scratching the student's arm. The once silent town is now filled with the sounds of battle. The desperate students fought against these grotesque ruin screamers, grunting and screaming with every attack and every swing. "Watch out, behind you!" one student yelled as he saw a Ruin Screamer approaching another student from behind. The warning allowed the student to barely dodge the sneak attack and roll to the side, narrowly avoiding the monster's claws. Two students armed with swords fought in tandem, their blades flashing in the air. They exchanged a look, then one of them called out, "Come on." "Um." Together, they charged at a Ruin Screamer and launched a synchronized attack, successfully slicing through the monster's flesh. Not all cooperation is so coordinated. Two students holding staffs tried to fend off a Ruin Screamer, their movements hesitant and uncoordinated. "Attract its attention!" one of them shouted to the other. The second student tried to distract the monster with a feint, and while it worked temporarily, the Ruin Screamer quickly refocused and pounced on the first student, forcing him to block with his staff. In the chaos of the battle, a conversation can be heard between two students who knew each other before entering the dungeon. "Sam! We should act together." A female student shouted, holding her bow tightly to defend against the approaching Ruin Screamers. Tom nodded and replied, "Come on, Elsa. I'll cover your back." As he said this, he stood behind her and kept watch, making sure no monster could attack her from behind. Although this cooperative scene was happening all around, not all students were able to remain calm. Despite their best efforts, some were unable to avoid fatal attacks. "roar!" Whoosh! Puff! As the RuinScreamer's claws struck its target, leaving deep wounds, the injured student fell to the ground, screaming in agony. “Ahhh! It hurts!” One by one, the mortally wounded students disappeared in a flash of light. This move was to prevent the tragedy of students losing their lives due to the interference of the devil's contractor as in the past. The students were teleported back to the entrance of the dungeon to avoid fatal injuries.
As the battle continued, injured students were teleported to a safe area, while three students watched the chaotic battle from a distance. They huddled behind a crumbling building, their eyes fixed on the battle. A girl with a serious expression turned to her companions. "Is everything ready? We can't make any mistakes this time. Many eyes in the academy are on us now." A tall and thin student, playing with a dagger in his hand, nodded. "Everything is ready. We just need to wait until he is alone, and then we can take action." "I still think we shouldn't take this mission." Although the boy looked relaxed, the girl's tone was clearly uneasy. She seemed to be full of doubts about the mission they had received. "You should know that we have no choice. If we can't prove our worth, they will abandon us." The boy replied in a low voice. "Yeah...but can we find his location?" the girl asked. "Okay, he's here." The boy held up the watch in his hand, and a small dot was moving on the screen. "Then let's hurry up. I don't know why, but I always feel that he is much stronger than we know. We have to be careful," said the girl. "Really?" At this point, the third member of the group, a girl with a sly smile, joined the conversation. "Wouldn't that be more fun?" She licked her lips, a crazy smile on her face. The team leader reminded them seriously: "Be serious, this is a mission, not a joke." The enthusiastic girl couldn't help but add a quip: "What's the point of life without a little excitement?" The leader said firmly, "No matter what, our main goal is to make sure this mission looks like an accident or a monster attack. We can't leave any clues or arouse suspicion. If we are discovered, we all know what the consequences will be." "clear." "Very good. Now, let's get started." The team began to move through the complex terrain of the dungeon, slowly approaching the target point on the map while killing monsters, just like the other students. … “Gurgle…” Looking at the monsters blocking my way, I slowly counted their number. 'Ten.' Since those students' foolish behavior attracted the hatred of monsters, I was walking carefully in the dungeon, hiding my presence. This wasn't a cave, but an open field, so I had to scout carefully to find my midterm exam mission target. It's exam time now, and I can't use the [Shadow] feature to hide myself. So there has to be a time to encounter a monster, and now is that time. I reached for my bow and drew an arrow in one smooth motion, aiming at the nearest Ruin Screamer. "call……" whoosh! As I breathed, I released the bowstring, and the arrow hit the target accurately, knocking the monster to the ground.
"roar!" The monsters reacted quickly, letting out a series of ear-piercing screams and roars as they became aware of my presence and pounced on me. Whoosh! Whoosh! I continued to fire my arrows rapidly, aiming at the approaching Ruin Screamers, trying to reduce their numbers as much as possible. Since the Academy and other guilds are focusing on exams right now, I don't want to use too many different mana attributes. I don't want to give them too much data to study my fighting style. I only use green mana to improve the trajectory of my arrows and gradually reduce the number of enemies. '9' Whoosh! Bang! A monster fell. '8' Another was also knocked down. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! I fired three arrows simultaneously, aiming precisely at the two Ruin Screamers. "roar!" The arrows weren't powerful enough to defeat three monsters at once, but that didn't matter. 【Eye of Time】 As time slowed down and threads of mana connected to the monster, I quickly nocked three arrows. Infusing it with green mana, I connected the thread to the arrow through perception. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! At this moment, I released the bowstring and the arrows flew towards the target. This time, their trajectory was more precise and not as scattered as before. Bang! Bang! Bang! '5' All the arrows shot accurately into their throats, and the three monsters fell down at the same time. whoosh! "roar!" 'They are approaching.' As the monsters got closer, I knew it was time to switch to my dual daggers. 'That should be enough to show off my skills with the bow.'
Using dual wielding as my major meant that I would be graded in a different way and more rigorously, so I decided to switch weapons for the upcoming fight. With dagger in hand, I face the challenge of monsters. 'bring it on.'