Time: 2 hours before the individual exam was over.
By this time, most of the students have already exceeded the 200-point mark. From now on, things were only going to get tougher.
As the jewels disappeared right after they were picked up and converted into points, the number of jewels left significantly decreased to the point that it was beginning to take forever just to find them. At this point, many small groups had formed and students were working together to help distribute their points evenly. A few groups of students had already moved on to battling the monsters and finding challenges to increase their point count. Yuuji's group was a good example of a larger group of students who came together and completed the examination together.
However, that did not mean that there were no longer students who moved individually. A few of them remained, especially those who preferred solo movements like Rena. While this might prove difficult later on when the free for all began, it could also mean that they would not be involved in large scale fights when huge groups clash with one another. Barely any student had dropped out of the exam yet, so that mean everyone was capable one way or another.
"Hmm… 300, 310…" Shoko mumbled to herself as she slit the throat of the goblin in front of her. "And that makes 320."
Currently, Shoko was also one of the few who moved on her own. Determined to complete the examination without relying on others for help even if it meant she couldn't complete challenges worth 50 points and above, she flicked the goblin blood from her sword before advancing forward.
The forest area had already shrunk thrice in the past hour, making the outside region no longer accessible. While the forest was still very huge in terms of how far the students could explore, Shoko was beginning to realize the effects already. She found herself encountering more traces of battle or people passing by ever since the 1 hour had passed, meaning that she was going to have to move away from where she currently was if she wanted to gain some ground.
While 500 points sounded like a simple thing before the examination began, everyone was starting to realize how hard this was in reality. Due to the large influx of activity going on all over the place, it was normal to consider that lesser points were able to be obtained moving forward. No one took the pace of how fast points were depleting into account when the event began, hence why compared to the start, the points gained on average were increasing at a decreasing rate. Jewels were harder to find with more monsters starting to spawn around the area, leaving the students with no choice but to fight. Only the really lucky ones were able to cap out their jewel point limit at 400, otherwise most people would be left around 200 or so.
Shoko continued running through the forest swiftly. She stopped occasionally to take a few short breaks and recheck her position on the map. By now, she had already circled the entire outer border once as though making a perimeter check. It took her quite a bit of effort to do so, but it was no surprise that she could due to her natural attribute as a fox. Much like elves, foxkins had great mobility while moving around in forest areas due to their nimble appearance and powerful legs. Not to mention she had her excellent sense of smell to aid her ears, Shoko pretty much had the situation under control unless she somehow managed to miss an ambush.
Coming along yet another slightly disturbed area, it showed clear signs of battle done by a group of students. Based on the way that the ground had scorched marks along with cut marks on the trees, Shoko inferred a group of roughly 5 students made their way through here after defeating a bigger pack of monsters and headed deeper into the forest, moving straight to the centre of the circle. Due to the increased rate of monsters spawning, it was now common to find weaker monsters moving in larger packs, hence why it made the battle that happened where Shoko was look a lot more dramatic than it should be.
"Alright, to the next spot then," Shoko nodded after making sure that the area was clear.
Time: 1 hour 40 minutes before the individual exam was over.
Sera had found herself stuck in a small cave doing a challenge for the past 20 minutes.
Even as the ring shrunk, Sera could do nothing but continue to solve the challenge before the next ring started. If she got caught up by the ring, she would be forcefully teleported away and that was something she wanted to prevent.
"Just a little more…" Sera grumbled. "Who in their right mind would put 3 hard mathematical questions in a cave as a challenge? I thought this was supposed to be nothing related to our studies…"
Despite her complaints, Sera eventually solved it and gained 50 points as her reward. With that, she was allowed to leave the cave and no one else could attempt the same challenge she had been through. Challenges would disappear as well as soon as someone had already completed it, but it would remain if they failed. There wasn't a penalty for failing, but they weren't allowed to try again. In short, it was a matter of whether or not one wanted to waste time doing something that might not benefit them.
"Eh, I already have 500 points anyway, I think I can take it a little easy," Sera shrugged once she rechecked her points. "Should I gather more than I can to rise through the rankings? I'm not sure what Lunaria would want to do…"
Just as Sera was unable to make up her mind, the sound of students chattering was heard coming towards her direction. As a soloist, Sera quickly got out of the way and shot an arrow somewhere close by that was opposite of where she actually hid.
"… Oh, a cave!" One of the students who came into view exclaimed. "Should we look inside?"
"Yeah, let the scout do their work," another student nodded. "It could have been rigged with traps."
Sera couldn't catch the rest of the conversations due to them all talking among themselves even though she was close by. Peeking out from behind one of the trees, she made out the figure of a few students in armour with swords and some with staffs. A few seconds later, their chatters began yet again as they checked the cave.
"Nothing," the presumed scout muttered. "Probably swept clean already."
"That's too bad," another responded with a sigh.
"We should probably move. The next circle wouldn't favour our group."
"Mm, where do you propose we go?"
"I don't know, just be careful. I really don't want to meet up with Albert's group…"
"Right? They were insanely powerful. It really is unfair that there are no restrictions to who can group up together…"
Their footsteps accompanied them as they left the area, moving on to another location to gather more points. Sera slowly stepped out of the clearing and looked around for signs of people.
"Albert's group, huh. It probably is best that I try to avoid them as well," Sera muttered, making a marker on her map to indicate the places she had been to.
Albert was the same person whom Kaze had seen the other day during sword training. There were a few prominent members who stood out from the rest in terms of their sword skills. Excluding Lunaria, because no one had ever really saw her swinging the sword before, Albert was one of the few.
People had been talking about Albert for quite a bit since his first appearance at the practical lessons. Based on the way he fought, it was natural that some got scared of him. His technique that enabled him to deal destructive power in his wake was something to be feared. One of the reasons for it was due to his attack method. Albert would use various forms of attack methods that would guarantee a decisive strike at the end which was strengthened with water magic. It was hard to say if he knew other magic or was skilled at it, but water magic was always used by him when dealing a strong finisher.
Sera held her bow in her hand as she moved. Throwing down a few traps here and there that would serve to stun enemies who passed by in a non-lethal method, she proceeded to camp in one of the trees for the next few minutes before the ring shrank. If needed, she could disable the traps and bring them with her to the next ring until they were allowed to steal points from each other.
"Hmph, then it seems like I can't slack either," Sera made a daring smile at the thought of how the ranking system would look like. "There's no way I would allow Lunaria to suffer alone at the top."
Loading an arrow onto her bow, she took aim at the movements from a tree afar and watched as a wolf moved towards her trapped zone.
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Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes before the individual exam was over.
Lunaria shot an arrow conjured from flame magic at a target faraway. Once the arrow had hit its mark, the target exploded and Lunaria was rewarded with more points.
She was now underneath a waterfall nearby, completing more challenges after slaying a few monsters. Even though she had to trudge through the forest and move over water, her outfit was still pure white with not even a speck of dirt on it.
"Another 50 points~" Lunaria cheered lightly as she left the opening behind the cave. "That was an easy challenge."
Right now, Lunaria was among the top contestants with an extreme score of 845. After looking for the jewels, she quickly moved on to finding the challenges around her and did every one that she came by. Along the way, she was able to defeat a few monsters and even brought down 2 orcs, a mid-class monsters worth 40 points each. It could be said that it was her luck in encountering all the challenges, but it was also her skill that helped her to solve each of the challenges present.
If anything, Lunaria knew that there was no point in purposely walking around and finding monsters to defeat. By the late game, they would be dealing with both monsters and students alike. Right now, she focused on doing the challenges that could be done without much disturbance because they were worth the most points. It wasn't like no one else thought of the strategy, but it was that no one was as versatile as Lunaria to be able to do all sorts of challenges, ranging from school knowledge to collection quests. As for what Lunaria just completed, it was a quest to shoot 3 targets consecutively at a distance of 50m, 100m and 200m.
Furthermore, Lunaria was able to navigate her way easily around the area with the help of her map. She had already figured out her way early on, giving her a slight head start over the other students in moving around the area. While she might have grown up in a palace and trained, that didn't mean she would be weak out in the forest on her own.
"L-Lunaria-sama?!"
"Oh, not again…"
A small group of students walked past the area and saw Lunaria in front of them. Lunaria sighed as she heard their excited footsteps approaching her, for this has already happened a few times since the beginning. Because they were in an enclosed area, it was normal for students to meet one another by pure coincidence and Lunaria was no exception. The only problem was that no one ran away from her, but got attracted to her instead. Who wouldn't want to be in the same group as the dragonkin princess?
"Lunaria-sama, how are you?" The supposed group leader politely greeted Lunaria with a ragged breathing from how excited he was. "I-I'm very glad to be able to meet you."
"Good day," Lunaria plastered an elegant smile on her face and addressed them. "I'm doing well. If you are about to offer me help, I'm afraid I won't need it."
"Oh no, we just want to be your escort," a student holding a spear stated, the other group members nodding. "We couldn't bear seeing you alone."
"I see. Thank you for the kind gesture but I have to reject it," Lunaria internally sighed, the smile still remaining. "I'm afraid there is a chance for me to betray you when the second hour is up you know?"
"That's alright!! I would even willingly allow you to stab me if that is what you wish!!"
"Yes! Wait no, you idiot! W-What we meant was, Lunaria-sama, please step on us."
"That is even worse?!"
"Lunaria-sama, allow me to guide you through the forest. After that, you can steal my points."
"Don't you see?! We get to brag that we get to feel Lunaria-sama's feet-"
"You shut it! We are in the middle of an exam you know?!"
The bickering began among the group on how they should treat Lunaria, giving her time to slowly inch away from them. Once they got too engrossed with their arguing, Lunaria waved her hand lightly and casted light magic on herself. Instantly, she blended with the surroundings and disappeared from their sight.
"… and that is what I said! So Lunaria-sama, what do you think?"
The group members finally remembered their true goal and turned to face the princess. When they did, their jaws dropped as Lunaria was already gone. Just a second ago, she was standing there and now it was like they were arguing among themselves.
"Do you think she ran ahead?"
"Nah, she probably decided that YOU ARE THE PERSON WHO SCARED HER OFF-"
"HEY! I WASN'T THE ONE WHO SUGGESTED TO-"
"YOU-"
Lunaria quickly left the area before things got out of control. Shuddering a little at the thought of what would happen if she had stayed, the illusion magic on her quickly faded within seconds of her moving away. Even though the magic she used was good at camouflaging, the effects lingered for a few seconds before quickly disappearing if she moved. This was because Lunaria used light magic, something that wasn't supposed to be suited for hiding herself in broad daylight.
Normally, dark magic was better for camouflage but it would only work during the night since it relied on there being minimal light around. Moreover, she only had a little bit of time to cast the magic without them realizing that she was going to abandon them, so she had to make it quick.
"Ugh, why do I keep encountering random people?" Lunaria complained. "I want to meet Kaze…"
When she realized what she just muttered out loud, she stopped herself immediately.
"W-Wait, no, I meant I want to meet up with Kaze so we could team up. Yes, that's it. I also don't mind if I can meet Sera or Rena or Shoko…" Lunaria blabbered on her own as if she was a crazy person, her eyes swarming all over the place. "… but why did I first think of Kaze?"
She stood there in silent for a little longer, as if contemplating her life choices. With her hand trembling slightly, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down.
When she reopened her eyes, she found herself surrounded by another pack of wolves. She didn't even react when they gained in on her. All she did was groan once again and stared at one of the wolves, as though asking for its opinion.
"Mou~ what should I do? I unconsciously thought of Kaze when I became worried of how he would perform…" Lunaria whined. "What if he gets bullied by another group for being a commoner…"
The wolves ignored her whining and all jumped at her at the same time. In the blink of an eye, their heads all dropped to the ground at the same time. The only thing that they managed to see was Lunaria unsheathing her sword for a split second before she sheathed it back in again. Even in their deaths as modified wolves, they couldn't see Lunaria's movements at all.
"… Mm, let's find Kaze then," she nodded to herself and headed off in another direction, the cores of the wolves shattering on the floor behind her to convert into points.
All that could be said was the wolves weren't even considered a foe in Lunaria's eyes, for she crushed them effortlessly like bugs.
At the same time…
"Um… Mitsui-san… can you please get away from me?"
"Nope! I want to stick by you!"
"B-But… I think we will be easier to get attacked…"
"That's alright! I can protect you!"
"… What if you steal my points?"
"Why do I need more points? I already exceeded 700 points while you haven't even reached 500."
"K-Kuh…"
Kaze was cornered by a girl of same age as him, however her charisma far exceeded what he could handle.
Watching as the girl named Mitsui jumped up and down in front of him, Kaze couldn't help but wondered how he got himself into this situation.
To understand this, we need to go back in time a bit.
When Kaze managed to hit the 400 point mark, he came across another student who was on their own.
It was a girl, to say the least. She had long black hair and was slightly shorter than Lunaria, based off Kaze's estimation. Wearing what seemed to be a noble's outfit with long sleeves and a skirt, she wielded a sword that had a small insignia on the hilt. Kaze met her when he jumped down from a small slope that ended to continue moving forward, seeing her dealing the final blow on one of the goblins.
"Hm? Oh, it's a student. I thought you were a goblin I missed," the girl noticed Kaze and grinned. "Why are you dressed so poorly? Did your armour get stolen or something?"
"Um, hi, and no, I don't have any armour to begin with," Kaze quickly moved away. "If you will excuse me, I'm just passing by."
"Oh? And here I thought you were going to propose to team up with me," the girl approached Kaze quicker than he noticed it. "What's your name? I'm Mitsui, daughter of the Levib family. Mitsui Levib."
"I'm… Kaze, just Kaze," Kaze gulped. "Are you a noble?"
"Not really. While my family has the title of a noble, I don't see why we need it, so I don't consider myself one, even if my sword and outfit has my family insignia," Mitsui pointed to the insignia sown on the left side of her clothes where her chest was. "Are you a commoner? You didn't introduce your family name."
"Something like that," Kaze sweatdropped at her straightforward attitude. "Can I leave?"
"Where are you headed? I'm pretty bored and all the people who passed by me earlier already have their groups," Mitsui chatted while following beside him. "They all invited me to join them but I rejected them because I didn't feel like walking along with a lot of people. It was such a hassle if you think about how easy-going they are…"
"You are pretty easy-going yourself, Mitsui-san," Kaze tried to keep up with her energy, but she was practically prancing around him.
"So, if you are a commoner, then I can understand why you can't afford basic armour. Then again, the quality of your sword looks decent, so it is hard to presume where you are from," she continued to ramble on without bothering about his words. "You look very normal, so it is no wonder that I haven't really noticed you in school. Perhaps you are someone who wants to be alone? I don't know about that actually; I don't see that in you. I think you are just a pure virgin boy."
"What is that last sentence supposed to mean?!"
"Don't misunderstand me please. What I meant was that you are someone who doesn't know the reality of life, hence virgin."
"I'm pretty sure you are insulting me in a different way… Look, you're smirking!"
"Hm? What do you mean? Are you trying to say I'm a liar? Even if I was saying it the other way, that is also true right?"
"K-Kuh… I can't say that isn't right…"
"You see? I'm right after all. Plus, you give off a virgin aura."
"You act like you have done it before."
"Hey now, don't go accusing me of being a loose woman. I will report you to the school authorities for sexual harassment."
"…. Your name should be Akuma (devil) instead of Mitsui… or rather, just change your name now."
"Hm? But I haven't done anything worthy of being called a devil though?"
Kaze was more exhausted dealing with Mitsui for five minutes than 2 hours of his regular training intervals. She was radiating too much chaotic energy for his own good. He wasn't used to dealing with people like her, since he was the quiet type who usually didn't have much to say. When faced with her cheeky statements and fierce rebuttals, he felt like 10 years of his lifespan had just been cut short from dealing with her.
That brought us to the current time. Even now, she kept on following him as he dealt with monsters while she watched afar. If any monsters came close to her, she would pretend to run around and allow Kaze to 'save' her for no reason at all other than to annoy him. Kaze could have just allowed the monsters to beat up Mitsui, but from the way she screamed and ran around she was just attracting unnecessary attention.
In short, he was a bully target for her.
"Thanks for the help, Kaze~ I couldn't have survived without you," Mitsui cheekily giggled at his crumpled form on the floor. "Why are you tired already? Didn't you say you were going to last until the end?"
"… I'm thinking of dropping out now because of you…." Kaze mumbled, his soul seen leaving his body.
"Now, now, don't blame it on me. I helped you earn points after all- Kaze, stand up."
"What now, I don't have time for your antics."
"No, seriously, stand up. Can't you hear that?"
At the change in her playful tone, Kaze realized that something must be coming for her to react this way. The previously cheeky look on her face had disappeared too, replaced with a tensed expression as she removed her sword.
"… I don't hear it," Kaze muttered, standing next to her and trying to figure out. "Is it the wind?"
"No, it's… a low growl…" she gulped. "I think it's coming from below us…"
"Below?" Kaze kneeled down to the floor and pressed his ear to the ground. "I can't hear anything still."
"Kaze! Jump back as far as you can!!"
At her words, Kaze instinctively leapt back immediately.
Right as he did so, the ground split open and out came a hideous monster from the ground. It was a good thing he did, because the cracks that formed in the ground was so large that he would have been swallowed up by it had he been half a second late.
"W-What in the world is this?!" Kaze shouted, watching the menacing creature staring right at him with its multiple eyes.
"I-Isn't this supposed to be a centipede monster?" Mitsui trembled at the sight of the monster. "I have never heard of it being able to grow so huge!!"
The monster released a jet of liquid at Kaze. Since he was able to see it coming, Kaze jumped away immediately before it hit. The ground instantly sizzled upon contact and began boiling, meaning that the liquid was super corrosive to the point that bubbles were showing from the ground.
It then followed its attack by using the end of its long body to swipe in a huge direction around it, blowing away Kaze and several trees. Mitsui also got caught up in the force, both of them flying off in separate directions several meters away. Gasping upon impact on the floor, Kaze struggled to his feet to face the monster, only to realize it had escaped back underground.
"Mitsui!! Are you okay?"
"U-Ugh… I feel sick…"
Kaze ran over to her side after confirming that it had disappeared. Mitsui, who had landed against a tree with minimal impact as the monster targeted Kaze instead, slowly got up with help from him.
"We need to move. The air is starting to smell a little sour from the corrosive liquid and I'm worried the steam it is releasing is poisonous," Kaze helped her to her feet and began running along with her.
"The school needs to know about this, they need to issue a subjugation order," Mitsui panted, feeling the panic hitting her. "That thing… is going to kill a lot of people if we don't hurry."
As Kaze and Mitsui ran off into the trees, a low bellowing noise came from where the hole was, the centipede monster making its next move.