Chapter 11
Gullivan was certain he would pass the exam.
Because he hadn’t been eliminated so far.
Besides, he had a reliable party around him.
The reason he hadn’t been eliminated until now was simple.
The first group of examinees he met had tried to defeat monsters together as a group.
Since then, he had stuck to this party.
The party was skilled.
They even handled trolls with ease.
In the previous battle, Gullivan’s fireball had even finished off a troll.
‘I really am talented.’
He praised himself like that.
But his luck ran out there.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Gullivan screamed.
The party’s de facto leader had his arm bitten off and hurriedly shattered a marble to escape from the Hero Record.
Screeech!
A huge monster let out an ear-splitting shriek.
It was a monster he’d never seen before.
A massive, spider-like monster.
All its legs, except the front ones, were twisted grotesquely.
The silk-spinning body was horribly crushed, and its head was half torn off.
It looked half-dead, but the hideous creature was still alive.
Screech! Screech!
“Fi-fireball!”
Gullivan frantically cast a spell.
Fwoosh! Bang!
The fireball hit the spider’s face directly.
“Hahaha! H-how’s that! Taste my fireball!”
Gullivan clenched his fist.
But when the smoke cleared,
The spider emerged without a scratch, and Gullivan’s face went pale.
Screeeech!
“Uwaaaaah!”
As the enraged spider charged, Gullivan screamed and ran.
The knight students grabbed their weapons to try to stop the spider.
Thud! Crunch!
“Urgh!”
But they were sent flying by the spider’s strength.
It was a monster they couldn’t possibly handle.
“How are we supposed to beat something like this?!”
A student screamed in near-despair.
Gullivan, with trembling hands, took a blue marble from his pocket.
‘I-I should escape! B-but if someone defeats it, I might pass the exam!’
Even though he had no intention of fighting the spider, Gullivan wavered, hoping someone else would defeat it for him.
At that moment.
“Wind Fang.”
Snap-!
Screeeeaaah!
A fang of wind fell from the sky, piercing the spider’s back and sending out dark purple blood.
Ssssss-!
The wound healed in an instant.
“…A monster indeed.”
Abad, floating in the air with a Fly spell, frowned.
Fwoosh-!
This time, flames fell.
The flames quickly gathered into a single point.
Celia, her eyes flashing, focused the flame’s Aura into her rapier and struck.
Crash!
Screech!
The spider, its head pierced, screamed and swung its front legs.
Celia quickly dodged out of the attack’s range and landed on the ground.
“Tch! It healed from that too?”
Celia and Abad, who had rushed over the moment they heard the scream, immediately attacked the spider.
But even after taking direct hits from magic and Aura, the spider recovered without a problem.
“A kind of monster I’ve never seen before.”
“It could be a beast from Tartarus.”
At Abad’s mutter, Celia gripped her Flame Storm tighter.
“And it seems to be the task for this exam.”
“Hm? I see. Is that the key to conquering this world?”
A smile curled on Abad’s lips.
He began chanting runes with his staff.
Wind mana surged around him.
Seeing this, Celia started up her Aura, startled.
‘He’s trying to get ahead.’
If defeating the giant spider was the exam’s objective, she had to beat Abad to it for the top spot.
Up until now, they had cooperated, but now they became competitors.
Fwoosh!
Celia’s red eyes flashed.
At the tip of Flame Storm, she gathered the flame’s Aura.
Pulling her left arm holding the sword back, Celia took up a thrusting stance.
Crash-!
Both feet dug into the ground.
‘Prominence!’
Celia’s strongest attack.
A thrust, focusing all her Aura into a single point!
Swoosh-!
A crimson blade shot out.
Screech?
The flames pierced through the half-torn head, straight through the spider and out its rear.
“Alright! No matter how strong its healing is, with this much…”
Thump-! Thump-!
Screeeech!
“No way!”
The spider rose and shrieked, splitting their ears.
“That was an excellent attack, but…”
Abad floated in the air with a sly smile.
“There’s a clear difference between the destructive power of a knight and a mage.”
Abad spread his hands, finishing his chant.
“Rafale.”
A secret spell of the Lewellin family.
A violent gale wrapped around the spider.
“Uwaaaaah?”
“This—this is a spell from someone our age?”
The examinees, caught up in the whirlwind, shouted in shock.
‘It’s over.’
Abad wore a meaningful expression.
But.
“No?”
As the spell faded, the giant spider appeared again.
Its body had been torn to shreds by the gale.
But the giant spider’s body quickly regenerated.
Even Abad’s attack—unquestionably the strongest among the examinees—did nothing.
Celia’s face showed frustration.
‘How are we supposed to defeat something like this?’
* * *
“As expected of the talents of the Zerdinger and Lewellin families! Such powerful attacks at their age!”
The aide exclaimed in admiration.
‘They chose competition over cooperation.’
Albi smiled as he watched the two.
The drive to be the best wasn’t bad.
Celia and Abad had the skill to back it up.
‘But can they really defeat that monster with their own strength alone?’
A monster with limitless regeneration could not be defeated without a decisive blow.
Among the examinees, only Celia and Abad could inflict any real damage.
But even their current strength wasn’t enough.
‘If you are truly heroes, overcome this trial.’
* * *
‘As expected.’
Leo’s eyes flashed as he followed behind Celia and Abad.
‘It really was the Spider Princess, Talatunia.’
He had suspected it when he saw the trolls’ corpses.
Their manner of death was exactly the same as this monster’s eating habits.
A monster who, as the daughter of the demon queen Silatuna, once ruled the cursed Demon Beast Forest.
In her prime, she was a dreadful calamity capable of destroying a nation alone.
But now, she wasn’t whole.
Her body was crushed, barely maintaining its original shape.
The head that once radiated terrifying magic power was half torn off.
Compared to her prime, she had fallen to the level of a pitiful monster.
‘As expected, the power in Albi’s left eye was from the Fairy King.’
Fairies.
Ancient spirit beasts that had been with elves since ages past.
Tiny beings with transparent wings, about the size of a palm, fairies were brimming with powerful magic.
Fairy contractors were elves alone, making them extremely rare in the human realm.
Five thousand years ago, Talatunia devoured the Fairy King’s right hand.
Luna could not forgive Talatunia for ruining her homeland and devouring the Vowkeeper’s right hand.
The Spider Princess who once destroyed countries alone was killed by the [Founder of the Nebula].
And yet, thousands of years later—
Talatunia was still alive.
The reason was simple.
‘It’s in her belly.’
The Ring of Life, symbol of the Fairy King.
A ring that grants limitless vitality had been swallowed by Talatunia along with the Fairy King’s hand.
Leo adjusted his grip on his sword.
He took a throwing stance and hurled it.
Screeeech! Thud!
Screeech!
Talatunia screamed as Leo’s sword struck her head.
Then, standing next to Celia, he spoke.
“Looks tough, huh?”
“Stand back, Leo. You can’t handle this without Aura.”
A blade of wind swept down from the sky, covering Talatunia.
Writhing in pain, Talatunia glared at the air and let out a monstrous shriek as she jumped.
Her tremendous leap reached Abad in an instant.
“Wind Break!”
Chelsea, who had hurried after them, activated her prepared spell.
Crash—!
The raging blades of wind enveloped Talatunia.
Thanks to Chelsea’s interference, Talatunia failed to attack Abad and crashed to the ground.
Boom—!
The ground shook as Talatunia landed.
“Are you alright, brother?”
“Thanks, Chelsea.”
Abad smiled at his sister and descended to the ground.
He realized staying airborne was too dangerous.
The other examinees who had followed surrounded Talatunia.
“How are we supposed to defeat that monster?”
When Abad muttered in a grave voice, Leo asked,
“Does it keep healing?”
“Yes. Even my best magic didn’t work.”
“Same for my attacks.”
Celia sighed.
“So that’s how it is? Then it’s simple.”
“What?”
“If we can’t beat it, we work together. Isn’t that obvious?”
“Leo, Abad and I are rivals in this.”
“Why is my brother a rival!”
Chelsea protested from the side.
“This time, I have to agree with Celia. Whoever defeats that monster first will be the top student, right?”
Leo looked at Celia and Abad with an exasperated expression.
“And if you fail?”
“What?”
“What if that monster can resurrect infinitely? And you run out of Aura and magic first?”
Leo spoke calmly, watching Talatunia as she exuded killing intent.
“If the exam task is to conquer the Hero Record, then if we can’t defeat it, all of us are out.”
“No way! If my brother and Celia Zerdinger can’t defeat it, then there’s nobody our age who can. That means the exam is wrong.”
Chelsea pouted and argued back.
But neither Celia nor Abad could refute Leo’s words.
If everyone failed just for not being able to beat that monster, it was certainly unfair.
But the world was always unfair.
“Even if we work together, it’ll take time to build up a one-shot attack to kill that monster.”
Even under the combined assault of thirty examinees, Talatunia took no damage.
Instead, the examinees were being pushed back.
It was clear they would collapse before long.
Seeing this, Celia spoke gravely.
“Who’s going to hold that monster off in the meantime?”
Abad glanced at his sister Chelsea.
‘Chelsea can’t do it either.’
One wrong move, and they’d lose their lives.
The Hero Record was a virtual world.
But death here meant real death in reality.
Leo gave a faint smile as he watched the two of them grow serious.
“I’ll hold it off.”
“What?”
“I can last about five minutes.”
“That’s suicide! You can’t even use Aura!”
“That’s why five minutes is my limit.”
Leo turned away.
“So gather as much power as you can in those five minutes.”
“What if the attack we gather in five minutes fails?”
Abad asked coolly.
Leo chuckled at that.
“Then we all fail together. But I don’t think we’ll lose.”
“Why?”
“Fire and wind have been friends for ages. Their affinity is great, after all.”
Speaking nonchalantly, Leo walked toward Talatunia.
Watching him, Celia spoke.
“Get ready, Abad.”
“Sigh—never thought we’d end up working together like this.”
Abad raised his magic with a slight smile.
* * *
Step, step—
“Ugh…”
“You okay?”
“B-barely! But how are we supposed to… that monster…”
“I’ll try to hold it off for five minutes.”
“What?”
The knight student on the ground looked up at Leo in surprise.
“Let me borrow this for a moment.”
Leo took the polearm he was using.
It felt much heavier than a sword.
Step, step—!
Screeech—!
Now with only primal hostility left, Talatunia gave a low scream at Leo.
“This brings back memories.”
Leo gave a cold smile.
“Let’s smash that ugly face in again, you bug.”