"Is Arthur in the dorms?" Principal Boros asked, turning his head to look at a third-year student standing near the monitors.
"Uh, yes, sir. He came back from the excavation before Luciana did."
"Call him now."
The student didn't waste a single second.
He turned and ran from the training hall, sprinting straight toward the elite dorms.
Professor Blaze cursed under his breath.
He walked up to the pedestal and slammed his large hand directly against the glowing blue orb.
A spark of red lightning rejected his touch instantly, pushing him back a few steps.
His mana capacity was simply too high.
The artefact was specifically designed to let only low-level students participate, automatically locking out anyone above a certain threshold to prevent faculty interference.
'What the hell is happening in there?' Blaze thought, staring at the red screens that showed the students' spiking heart rates.
Boros kept his face completely indifferent.
He crossed his arms over his chest. For now, the principal could only hope the first-year students had enough common sense to hide and stay safe until help arrived.
Inside the simulation, my breathing was ragged.
Reaching into the open chest of the dead Cyclops, my fingers closed around its warm core.
Ripping it free from the flesh, the crystal pulsed warmly in my palm. Applying a little bit of pressure crushed it easily into fine dust as a familiar rush of energy flowed directly into my veins, soothing my tired muscles.
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[System Alert!]
[Breakthrough: Awakened to Master - 20%]
'Tch. At least it is something,' my inner voice grumbled.
Since the stage boss was officially dead, the simulation should have ended immediately.
The blue exit portals were supposed to open, pulling us all back to the safety of the academy hall.
But the air remained heavy, and the sky changed into a red hue.
We were not being summoned back.
A bad feeling settled deep in my stomach.
Sheathing my sword, jumping up to grab the lowest branch of a nearby tree was easy enough.
Climbing higher into the canopy gave me a clear, elevated view of the surrounding forest.
What waited out there made my face pale.
Screams echoed from different directions.
Giant trees shook and snapped violently in the distance.
The shadows moving quickly through the woods were way too tall to be regular monsters.
Cyclopes.
Not just one.
More than ten of them were actively running around the map, swinging their stone clubs and chasing down the students.
'What the fuck,' my mind raced.
'What is the use of my regression if nothing goes according to my knowledge. Someone hijacked the trial to break our minds.'
Down in a different clearing miles away, a girl with short twin-tails cried out in panic.
Her legs were trapped tightly under a fallen tree branch.
She repeatedly pressed the emergency exit button on her black tracking watch, but the small screen just blinked with an error code. It was not working.
A Cyclops walked slowly toward her.
The beast dragged its stone weapon across the dirt, purposely making a loud scraping noise to make sure she feared it before the end.
Her eyes were already red from crying, and her throat hitched with every panicked breath.
The monster raised its club high, preparing to smash her completely flat.
"Hnng.. NO!"
Just a second before the weapon fell, a blur crossed the clearing.
The high speed caused the wind to whip around the dirt.
Lucien swooped in, picking the crying girl up and dodging the strike by a literal hair.
He carried her to the edge of the woods and left her in the care of his trembling noble friends.
"Hide behind those rocks," Lucien ordered, his voice lacking its usual arrogant drawl.
He checked the scoreboard on his wrist.
Shane was sitting at the top, higher than everyone else by a ridiculous margin.
That meant the original boss was already defeated, but somehow this nightmare was not ending.
Lucien cracked his neck.
His eyes turned a blue, filled with crackling electricity as he turned around and ran straight toward the giant.
On the opposite side of the forest, a different Cyclops broke through the trees and crashed hard against a rocky cliff face.
"GOHHHH."
Mia was holding her ground against the beast alone.
Her hands were raised, shaking from the intense physical effort.
Lifting a heavy, living being causes a severe drain on a person's core.
Blood dripped steadily from her nose, but she did not stop her assault.
Her pupils vanished entirely, leaving her eyes white.
The stone club, which was dropped, suddenly flew into the air on its own.
Guided by her telekinesis, the weapon smashed down onto the monster's bald head.
Then it lifted and smashed down again.
And again.
Meanwhile, Zephyr stood quietly on the chest of another dead Cyclops.
His academy uniform was torn, and his hands were covered in dark monster blood.
He crushed a red core in his fist, absorbing its power to refuel his exhausted core.
Hearing another scream echo through the trees, the golden-eyed hero jumped down from the corpse and ran directly toward the sound to save more students.
While looking around from my high branch, a strange glow caught my attention.
Far out to the east, a specific place was emitting a red energy.
The dark magic practically poisoned the air around it.
It was Narrow Path Four, the location Zephyr and I talked about meeting up at before the trial began.
'If the corruption is coming from there, that is where the answers are,' my thoughts sharpened.
Waiting around any longer felt like a total death sentence.
Jumping from branch to branch, the journey toward the red began.
While most of the top-ranking students were strong enough to hold their own against regular mobs, fighting multiple boss-level monsters is different.
It requires strategy, not just raw power.
The average kids were going to get wiped out if someone didn't shut this broken system down from the inside.
Within ten short minutes, the dense trees started to thin out.
The dirt path led directly into the mouth of a tunnel.
It was supposed to be the original boss's lair before it woke up early.
Red light spilt out from the cave entrance, casting long, creepy shadows across the ground.
Walking forward slowly, my hand stayed glued to the hilt of my sword.
The air inside the tunnel felt cold.
Taking another step, a shadow shifted near the stone wall.
Someone else was already inside.
Melissa was standing perfectly still right at the entrance.
The red light washed over her training uniform. Her usual playful posture was completely gone.
She stood completely rigid, like a doll waiting for instructions.
"Melissa?"