Each step he takes is slow, yet echoes with a loud thud.
"This is gonna be interesting."
Reina's heart was filled with excited, as she was unable to contain her smile.
Dealing with this freak, while maintaining balance is going to be good.
The humanoid figure roars loudly and ferociously, sending a shockwave that almost knocked them all out. The plank shook, as ripples echoed throughout the water.
The movement caused a foul odor to arise much worse than before.
"Damn this guy," Ryo annoyingly cursed. He tightly stood his ground on the plank.
The water level is at least half of the plank. If movement is exerted more, this could cause a splash on them.
Though Ryo is wearing closed shoes, the ones Reina is wearing have an almond-like shape opening, only covered by her white socks.
This could harm her if the water was to ever splash on her.
Realizing that there wasn't much time, Ryo immediately entered a stance, placing his sword forward, and aiming directly at the humanoid figure.
Soon, a sphere of fiery energy gathered at the tip of his sword. With a single chant, "release", the fiery ball was launched towards the figure.
Upon contact, the flesh of the humanoid figure was instantly burned, carving a hole right through its chest.
The humanoid figure lashes out another pained scream.
"Ready..." Ryo murmured, as he stabbed the thick, plank again, and placed it in front of them properly.
"Go." Seeing that the figure was still in throbbing pain, Ryo and Reina took the opportunity to run quickly.
The plank shook as they both ran with speed. But unfortunately, before they could reach the other side, the figure regained its composure.
It violently shreeked, and elongated its arms, launching them towards Ryo and Reina.
There was still a hefty distance between them and the other side, so running for it would be a certain death.
Ryo looked at the incoming attack, calculating.
And with swift movements, he jumped up, avoiding the attacks. However, he realizes something. It wasn't aiming for him; it was aiming for the plank.
The area it had hit was severely damaged, dividing the plank into two parts, and leaving a huge space in the middle. Reina was still in the plank,
I need to save myself first
Ryo thought, as he landed on the continuing plank, and quickly sprinted while maintaining balance towards the other side.
And with a swift jump, he lunged towards the figure and swung his now blazing blade towards its neck to decapitate it. However, it was as hard as steel. His blade basically bounced off its skin.
The figure remained its gaze fixated on Reina like a statue, unmoving and strong.
"What the hell?!" He jumped off, and lunged towards it again, this time with greater force.
And now in this attempt, he managed to slice through a small width of its flesh.
"So, multiple, high-forced, attack." He repeated this process over and over again.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, Reina carefully dodged and deflected all of its attacks using a knife.
She flexibly danced all around the remaining stable parts of the plank like an elegant gymnast, while slowly trying to make her way towards the continuing plank.
At one point, she managed to jump to the other side of the plank.
"Ehe, Bingo."
She smiled, satisfied, as she ran towards the other side. Then, as she arrived, she lunged forward, touched the surface of Ryo's blade, enhancing it, and now enveloped it into a reddish, brilliant aura.
Ryo then again attempted to cut the head's figure, and finally, the head was decapitated smoothly, falling into the ground.
"And, at last, it's over," Reina remarked with a giggle.
At last, the figure turned into a mannequin upon its defeat.
"Not much time, let's go." Ryo hurriedly initiated as he went on deeper.
Reina gleefully followed behind. They went through the narrow, pipeway path. With each step they took, greeting them was a foul smell much worse than before.
They instinctively covered their noses with their arms, frowning in annoyance. Upon walking further, they discovered a ladder at the end, ascending upwards into a manhole cover.
"That must be the way outside," Ryo suggested. Reina affirmed by nodding gleefully.
Ryo took the first step and onto the ladder, he goes. Each step he took echoes a high-pitched creak.
He, with all his strength, pushed the cover to the side. Almost a quarter in his way, he felt something bad. His instincts kicked in, and he felt that once he opened the cover, there would be a barrage of bullets raining towards him, or even just an ambush waiting for them.
As they say, always trust your instincts. He stopped in his tracks and pondered.
A flash would be nice, something to blind the enemies with, or even just something to distract them with.
"Do you have any blinds or something?" Ryo whispered asked,
"I have none."
Then, if there are no blinds, how could they proceed?
Ryo thought for a moment, before coming up with a solution.
A fire. It could be used as a distraction. Simple as a fireball could momentarily distract them.
Concluding, he looked up again, this time with resolve.
He took a momentary deep breath, before violently pushing the manhole cover up, propelling it upwards. Then, while it was open, he launched an explosive, fireball upwards, which caused a small-ranged explosion around.
Taking this chance, Ryo lunged upwards, and with focus, he swiftly looked around. In the room, were four armed men, with magic staffs aimed towards Ryo's fireball. At the opposite end of the room, was the hostage, taped in the mouth, tied to a chair, and blinded with a white cloth.
In that single second, he was able to see their positions completely, and in a set of successive dashes, he swiftly knocked out every single enemy in a single, smooth strike.
With that speed, he was able to knock out every enemy in a single attack, before Reian could even arrive up.
As she saw the scene, she smiled satisfied.
"How quick. You're really strong, aren't you?" She complimented playfully. Ryo ignores her and proceeds to go to the tied-up hostage.
This made Reina even more, happy, as she wandered around looking at the unconscious bodies one by one.
Ryo, on the other hand, carefully peeled off the tape and cloth and removed the ropes binding the hostage.
It was a black-haired girl, with bruises all over, and clear signs of being beaten up.
But unbeknownst to them, one of the culprits is still conscious. While Reina was curious about the other culprit, crouched and inspecting, and Ryo was occupied with the hostage, with all its remaining strength raised its magic staff, and summoned an ice shard.
At this moment, Ryo felt that something was off. As he was about to turn around, the culprit released its magic and launched it towards Ryo.
Unfortunately, he was too late. The ice shard grazes deeply through his arm, lacerating a deep, wound, splashing blood all around.
He flinched in pain, gritting his teeth, as he tightly held the wound.
Reina realizes what happened, and immediately shoots out a thin magic beam that completely killed off the culprit.
"Are you okay?" She asked, shocked, as she ran up to Ryo.
"S-Somehow."
If Ryo had reacted even a single second later, his whole arm would have been cut. The exam is no joke, it can literally kill them.
"Alright." Reina promptly crouched down, and placed her palms over Ryo's open wounds, and began emitting a blue, warm light that slowly healed his wounds.
Ryo's eyes widened as he realizes that Reina was healing him. He didn't expect Reina to know healing magic.
"Surprised?" Reina remarked,
"..."
He didn't respond. After a short while, he was back to normal.
"Go finish the test. I think we need to bring her outside to be considered "saved." Reina suggested as she stood up, maintaining her usual smile.
Ryo affirmed and proceeded to remove the remaining ropes tied around.
As he removed the last of them, a buzzer echoed throughout, with a robotic voice saying that they'd passed.
Soon after, the walls in front of them turned into a door, and automatically opened, revealing the waiting area for the next exam.
There were a few passers right there waiting.
Ryo let out an exhausted sigh, as he walked towards the door.
Reina on the other hand, watched as Ryo slowly walked out to the distance, her smile full of secret and mystery.
Her eyes were smiling, yet they looked unsettling. It is like looking through a deep ocean, with only the darkness, gazing back at you.
She happily tiptoed out of the exam area, and the door automatically closed.
As the doors closed, the objects within the previous exam area are slowly disintegrating, like a stage, being deleted after the player already completed it.
But amidst those things, there was something out of place.
Multiple, glowing blue butterflies flew all around the area.
Then, they all landed in a single area; the area where Ryo's blood splattered. They straightened their mouths, and drank the splattered blood, causing their wings to turn into a crimson glow.
They drank, and drank until the room's disintegration finally caught up to them.
...
On the waiting room, were Agatha, Candi, Airi, Souta, Kyouko, and Gushiken.
The rest are still on the ongoing exam.
Or so they thought.
Not even a few minutes ticked by, a black portal suddenly opened in the middle.
The rest of the students were coming out of the portal, looking tired and exhausted.
These were those who didn't pass. They are those who didn't reach the time limit.
Ryo and Reina managed to finish it at the skin of their teeth, and they were the last passers.
"Congrats on passing the second exam, at least for the minority. Now, it's time for the climax, you'll be entering your final exam. Well, if you ask me, this would be the easiest exam." Asahi spoke through the speakers.
And not having time to rest, a portal appeared in front of everyone.
"The time limit is 10 minutes. Good luck." Farewelled Asahi.
Ryo looked at the portal in front of him.
I wanna go home, and sleep. This is a hassle.
He thought to himself, before entering the portal.