The force of the monster hitting the stone floor sent a harsh vibration straight up through the soles of our boots.
That sudden tremor completely ruined Zephyr's carefully balanced posture.
He stumbled backwards just a fraction of an inch, but that tiny mistake caused him to lose his vital focus on draining the magical energy.
The connection between his hands and the invisible barrier snapped completely.
The scarred cultist did not waste a single second of that lucky break.
Taking a deep, rattling breath, the bald man rapidly chanted an incantation to reform his protective circle.
The glowing rings on the cavern floor flared back to life, locking his defences into place once again. The twin-headed cyclops started moving right alongside him.
Grunting loudly, the beast used its tree-trunk-like arms to push its heavy body off the dusty ground.
Standing still was a guaranteed death sentence in this confined space.
Pushing my aching legs forward, my boots carried me in a fast sprint directly toward the monster's left blind spot.
Sliding hard across the stone, my arms swung the scythe upward in a desperate arc.
The curved blade aimed perfectly at the red eye of the head on that side.
Slash.
"GUHHH," the beast roared, reaching for its face.
The sharp blade cut deep into its pupil, drawing a spray of dark blood that splashed loudly onto the cave floor.
'Not enough,' I thought to myself, feeling the intense recoil travel straight down my forearms.
'The cut is deep, but the blade definitely requires a lot more raw power to permanently disable a mutated beast of this rank before its natural healing takes over.'
The blinded monster let out a terrifying, dual-toned scream that rattled my teeth. It was so loud the entire underground room shook, dropping small rocks and a cloud of dust from the high ceiling onto our heads.
Pushing off the ground with its legs, the beast launched its frame high into the air.
'What?'
It landed with a devastating crash, sending a shockwave that caused both Zephyr and me to completely break our fighting stances.
We scrambled to keep our footing as the cyclops immediately crouched down to jump a second time, clearly preparing for a final, crushing impact that would surely flatten us into paste.
We both braced for the incoming blow, raising our weapons in a last-ditch effort to defend ourselves against the inevitable drop.
But strangely, the beast suddenly stopped completely mid-air. It just hung there, suspended several feet above the stone floor, flailing its heavy limbs uselessly against an invisible, crushing pressure.
Looking back toward the narrow tunnel entrance, a small figure stood framed in the tight space.
Mia had finally caught up to us.
Her delicate hands were raised high and trembling uncontrollably under the immense weight of her own psychic grip; her face was bleeding profusely from her nose and ears due to the insane mental strain of lifting an A-rank monster with pure telekinesis, but her blank, white gaze remained absolutely steady.
She locked eyes with me for a brief second, silently demanding that we clear the drop zone.
"Zephyr, move out of the way right now," I shouted at the top of my lungs to the golden-eyed hero, who was still stubbornly trying to drain the mana from the cultist's reformed circle.
Trusting my frantic warning without asking any stupid questions, he quickly rolled hard to the right side just as instructed.
The moment the path was totally clear, Mia leaned forward and used her entire body weight to guide the magic.
She let out a silent scream of physical exertion, thrusting her arms forward to hurl the suspended golem directly toward the glowing ritual circle.
The bald cultist's scarred face widened in absolute horror when he saw a bulky, thrashing figure flying straight his way through the dimly lit room.
His concentration wavered significantly as the heavy cyclops crashed headfirst into his magical barrier.
The impact completely shattered the protective shield into a million glowing pieces before smashing the man directly into the solid stone floor.
The physical toll of that extreme manoeuvre caught up to the quiet girl instantly.
Mia collapsed onto the cold ground, going completely limp, while Melissa quickly ran over to check her vitals and cradle her head.
My lungs burned fiercely as I stood there panting hard.
Watching the cultist's crushed body was a strange relief.
His broken form slowly disappeared from the illusion, scattering into absolute nothingness now that his soul was destroyed and his connection to the outside world was severed.
But the nightmare was not quite over.
The damaged monster miraculously managed to push itself up and stand once again amidst the ruined circles.
'Ah shit, you have got to be kidding me,' I groaned internally, spitting a wad of blood onto the floor while trying to force my tired muscles to cooperate.
Zephyr and I automatically shifted back into our combat stances side-by-side.
His body was already visibly trembling from severe mana exhaustion, and my own core barely had any stamina reserve left to swing the scythe one more time.
We prepared for the absolute worst, knowing that a single hit from the enraged beast would be completely fatal in our current state.
But right before the furious monster could take another step toward us, the entire illusory world suddenly shifted entirely.
The dark cavern, the bleeding monster, and the suffocating air all turned into a blinding white light as the corrupted system finally purged the foreign entities.
The remaining cyclopes scattered across the entire map exploded into harmless digital pixels.
Far away in the simulated forest, the first-year students who were being ruthlessly chased by the beasts just moments ago stared dumbfoundedly at the sudden, miraculous result.
Lucien, whose arms were badly crushed and hanging limply at his sides during a desperate defence of his group, stood above the fading remains of a defeated cyclops and let out a breathless, crazy laugh.
Over by a rocky cliff face, Kiara and two other exhausted noble girls pointed with shaking fingers toward the bright light currently being emitted across the fake sky, slowly realising they had actually survived the impossible ordeal.
The suffocating tension that had gripped the entire student body finally evaporated, replaced by a profound wave of disbelief and pure exhaustion.
We had somehow managed to endure a hijacked simulation that was designed entirely to slaughter us without mercy.
As the blinding white light slowly faded away to reveal the familiar, high ceilings of the academy's main training hall, the familiar blue holographic windows popped up cheerfully in front of everyone's eyes, signalling the true end of the test.
[Congratulations on completing the trial]
[Rankings in progress]