"Still, half of the teams were wiped out."Ryoma says while lighting up his cigarette. "Are we sure that there wasn't any anomaly?"
"There wasn't any."Amonet says while looking at the list of deceased. "If there was, we would've felt it, wouldn't we?"
Ryoma lays back, tilting his chair on their back feet and he puts his feet on the table
"This is weird."He says while looking at the ceiling of the hut
"What are you talking about?" Theo asks
"First it was the Blood Moon Incident." Ryoma says while keeping his eyes on the ceiling. "Then the entrance exam... Something....weird is happening."
The three others look at him. Ryoma puffs out some smoke
"Even during the last expedition... That thing that we saw..." Ryoma thought seriously
"I have a bad feeling about all of this." He says
[With Adam]
Adam who was quite far ahead in front of the others was now surrounded by a few Mugio's. Strangely, he didn't seem nervous, it was quite the opposite. He was calm. Calm and collected. The Djinns surrounding him all jump at him at the same time. Adam sticks all his fingers together, making them take the form of a knife, then uses Roboro to coat his hand in arcane energy
"Infinite Weapon Style; Swordless Form; Sweeping Edge." Adam uses
Adam does a round sweep with his arm coated in arcane energy. That action caused the bodies of all the Djinns to blow away and their cores to break.
"That was too slow."He says while looking at his hand
He turns around and looks behind him
"You caught up?"He says to his fellow squad member
They were obviously tired. Not even one of them was able to breathe without panting and gasping for air
"We *huff* *huff* kept running... even at night."Byron finishes while trying to catch his breath
"You didn't have to do that." Adam says while handing him a cup of water
Byron looks at the water cup
"No way...." Byron says while looking to the side
To the side, close to the forest was a large hut in construction
"AGAIN!?!?" Byron asks while yelling
"What is going on?" Lily says while looking at the unfinished hut with surprise
Lily, Alya, and Elliot were all staring at the unfinished hut with surprise
"You're gonna have to help me finish it." Adam says while pointing at the unfinished hut. "The Djinns keep attacking so I haven't been able to finish. If you're not helping, then you're not using it."
"Fine." Elliot says while walking forward. "How do you want us to help? I don't know how to build anything. What about you guys?"
The three others shake their heads
"If you can't build, then you defend." Adam says with a frown
Adam raises his head and looks a little farther ahead
"Here they come." He says while moving some logs
5 Mugio's approach them at a high speed
"Already!?" Elliot says as he unsheathes his sword
The three others do the same and with their blades raised, they start fighting. Byron slashes the one that attacks him, then uses Roboro on his other arm to destroy the exposed core. When he turns around, he sees that both Alya and Lily have already killed the ones that attacked them. Elliot finally kills the one who attacked him
"Lily and Alya... They are both strong. If they're able to deal with Mugio's, this easily. They should be able to handle Belua's as well." Adam thought as he looked at the two girls
[Somewhere else]
Djinns are beings made of arcane energy. That is why the size of the Djinn is proportional to the arcane energy they have. In other words, the type of Djinn is equivalent to their level of strength. Mugio's are the weakest, then Belua's come in second, and the strongest type are Gigas.
"THAT'S WHAT WE WERE THAUGHT!!! SO, WHY!? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!?!?!?" A young squire yells in panic
A hole forms in the torso of the squire and his body falls to the ground. In front of flames fiercely and brightly burning a small figure floated in the air. A 3 feet tall Djinn, a Mugio, laughing
"Kikikikikiki!!!" The Mugio makes
[With Eve and her squad]
A bush near them starts to make noise and the three turn around to look at what made the noise. After staring at the place for a bit, an injured Gareth comes out. Merena rushes to his side and catches him as he's falling to the ground
"What happened!?" She asks while looking at Gareth
"Hehehe." Gareth makes softly with a smile. "I ended up finding out that I am not cut out for scouting. That's what happened."
"You fought some Djinns!?" The boy asks
"At first, I did but as soon as I got surrounded, I dipped." He explains. "This is seriously nothing like the entrance exam."
"What about the girl?" Eve asks with a frown. "Did you run into her or see her?"
Gareth shakes his head
"Didn't meet her." He says while getting up with difficulty. "Considering what happened to me... I think that she might've... died."
The four go silent
"I... I AM GOING BACK TO THE TEACHERS!" The boy yells while running back
"WAIT!!!" Merena yells
The boy runs back toward the teacher's camp
"What do we do, Eve!?" Merena asks in panic
A scream resonates from the direction the Squire ran
"We're surrounded." Eve says with a frown after unsheathing her sword
Merena and Gareth unsheathe their swords as well. The three get close to each other and put their back against one another. Suddenly, Mugio's jumps out of nowhere and starts attacking the group
"Roboro!!!" They all use
The three start slashing down Djinns one after the other but the wave doesn't stop. The attacks keep on coming. After slashing down and destroying the core of a Djinn, another appears and tries to attack Gareth from behind. Merena covers for him and destroys the core of the Djinn
"Don't move away from us"! Merena says
Two Djinns jump at Eve, but she slashes them both and destroys their core using her fist coated in arcane energy.
"What do we do now, Eve?" Merena asks while killing a Djinn
"..."
"Eve?" Merena says as she slashes a Djinn exposing its core
She destroys the core with her fist and turns around to look at Eve. What she sees shocks her. Eve had completely gone berserk. She couldn't hear anything and was obsessed with destroying as many Djinns as possible
"EVE!?!?!?" Merena yells again while fighting another Djinn
"What the hell is happening to her!?" Gareth says while also fighting a Djinn
"EVELYN!?!?!?" Merena yells again
Gareth grabs Merena's hand and starts to run away
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Merena asks with anger
"She's clearly out of it." Gareth says while running and panting. "We can't keep this up. My injuries will slow us down and at some point, we'll get killed."
"What about her?" Merena asks while looking at Eve
Eve hadn't even noticed that Gareth had dragged Merena away. She was still killing Djinns with a large smile on her face
"We'll head in the middle of the zone and plant the Turres." Gareth says while panting. "This is the best thing we can do now since she's gone berserk."
The two continued to run away. Gareth with a tired expression and Merena with a regretful one. As for Eve, she continues to rampage while laughing madly from joy
"DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!!!" Eve yells while continuously killing Djinns and enduring injuries from attacks
[With Noah's squad]
"What the hell is going on?" Arlo says while running
"How am I supposed to know?" Neant says while also running
Noah was also running and behind them were dozens of Djinns. Mugio's sand Belua's
"Why are they so focused on us?" Neant asks while keeping his pace. "I thought they were unintelligent monsters that only care about destruction!"
"Do you not listen in class!?" Arlo asks. They destroy everything they see but prioritize killing humans when they are near. There's a reason they're called humanity's antagonist."
Noah turns around and uses Roboro to coat his fist in arcane energy. He then punches the ground, which lifts the round, creating a kind of barrier. Then he turns around and starts running again
"You can already use Roboro without casting?" Arlo asks with surprise
Noah nods
"I thought that casting made the skill stronger?" Neant asks
"Casting makes the skill easier to use and makes you able to use it more effectively which in turn makes it stronger." Noah explains. "That's why when you use an art or skill, it's better to cast while doing so."
Suddenly, the sky turns darker but after lifting their heads to look at the sky. Above them stood a Gigas that was 11 foot tall. The Djinn falls toward the three but before they get flattened, the three jumps away from the place.
*BOOOM*
The Djinn crashes into the ground creating a crater after his fall. They look at the Djinn with surprise since it came out of nowhere
"You've... got to be kidding me." Neant says with a nervous smile. A Gigas?
"What do we do, Noah?" Arlo asks nervously
Noah unsheathes his sword
"Do you think we can run away from it?" Noah asks while keeping his eyes on the cloud of dust in front of them
The giant Djinn swings at Noah with its hand. Fortunately, Noah blocks the attack with his sword but is still sent flying
"NOAH!!!" Arlo yells while looking at Noah
Neant and Arlo quickly unsheathe their sword
"Roboro!" They both use on their free hand
The dust clears up, and the Gigas appear before them. It was 11 feet tall and had long, thin arms, but large forearms. It also had thin legs and a bigger torso.
"How are we even going to find the core of this thing?" Neant asks with a nervous smile
The Djinn swings its arm at them causing an enormous amount of damage to the environment. Luckily, the two were able to move away from their position before they get hit but the wind, woods, rocks, and other things that were blown away hit them producing a few injuries
"Damn it!" Arlo and Neant say while getting hit by the debris flying at them
Noah passes by them while moving through the gust of winds carrying debris. He tightens his grip on the handle of his sword and when a whole tree appears in front of him, he cuts it down
"Roboro." He uses to coat his left leg in arcane energy
"Wait, Noah!?" Arlo says. "Velox Hastam won't be strong enough and you'll suffer from the backlash!"
"Velox Hastam." Noah uses while ignoring Arlo
He throws a kick, and a huge hole appears in the middle of the Djinn's entire torso. Both Neant and Arlo look at what just happened with their mouth wide open
"Damn it. It wasn't strong enough." Noah thought as he looked at the Djinn
The torso of the Djinn starts to regenerate and close up
Neant and Arlo rush to Noah's side
"You're Velox Hastam got stronger!?" Arlo asks with surprise
"That's not important." The core isn't in its torso. Noah says while keeping his guard up. "Let's move into the forest to get some cover."
Noah and Arlo nod. The three quickly start running toward the forest and behind them, the Djinn kept following while destroying everything in its path. The three keep taking chances and attack the Gigas while it's moving but none of them manage to hit the core.
"Did any of you locate the core?" Neant asks while looking at Noah who is next to him
Noah shakes his head
"I didn't either." Arlo says with frustration
A Mugio appears in front of them and Neant slashes it in two and Arlo destroys its core with his fist covered in arcane energy
"We can't keep going like this." Arlo says while running next to the two others
Arlo's eyes widen as he runs. It was almost as if he had come to a realization. Like he had understood something.
"I'll take care of this." Arlo says with a smile and his eyes closed
Neant and Noah look at Arlo with a puzzled expression. Arlo takes a deep breath and opens his eyes
"Let's do this." He says after turning around