Chapter 53 - Disqualified?

The door of the room opened automatically after that announcement. The group of people left the room one by one. They could see a door after passing through a long corridor.

[Please pick up the equipment and weapons that you need from this room.]

They heard the familiar voice of the woman again.

The team members entered the door. There was another hall on the other side of the door.

'They sure like to build big and huge halls, huh?'

Kairen thought by himself and stepped into the hall. Other participants were also entering the room one by one.

"Hey~"

Kairen turned towards the sound. He could see Serria waving for him on the other side of the hall. She wanted to approach Kairen but one of her team members grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the other side.

Kairen could also see Reyan busy talking to his teammates in one corner.

[Every team has to carry their team's ribbon with themselves. The ribbon's color is different for each team. Please pick up your ribbons from the table in the center of the hall.]

They all turned towards the place that the woman was talking about. There were 6 bundles of ribbons in different colors and each one had 5 ribbons in them.

Kairen's team picked up the pink-colored ribbons and wore them around their arms.

Everyone picked up the weapons they needed after that. Kairen didn't need any weapons so he just picked up some protective equipment to prevent himself from getting hurt.

[When you are finished preparing, leave the hall with your teammates through the door.]

The teams finished preparing and left the hall one by one. Once they walked up the stairs, they found themselves in an outdoor stadium-like area.

Kairen looked around the place. There were tall and thick walls surrounding the whole area. The floor was the normal ground without any asphalt or layers on it.

There were two huge gates in each one of the walls except the wall in which the entrance door was placed. There were also marked areas in front of each door.

There were some people staying around the ground like bodyguards. They could also see some cameras and some other recording devices.

[Please stay in the area marked with your team's color. Don't leave the marked field before the exam begins.]

The people quickly went to the place that their team was supposed to stand.

[I will now explain the rules of the test. Please listen carefully.]

The woman paused for a moment before starting to explain the rules.

[In this test, each team has to fight against three monsters. You will be given 10 minutes to kill three monsters with your team. The monsters are all of the same type and level for each group. The groups that fail to kill the three monsters given to them in the designed time will be disqualified.]

"YESSS!"

"As I expected!"

As soon as the explanation was over some people yelled happily and jumped up. Most of the people here expected the test to be something like that. It would be troublesome if they had to do anything complicated.

[Healers and aids are present and ready to help you out. If you feel like you can't continue, please surrender as fast as possible.]

The team members got together again and began to discuss a plan for themselves.

"I guess the formation and the plan we talked about in that room will be efficient enough. Is there a need to change anything?"

Arran, their team leader, said that in a relaxed tune and looked at his teammates' faces. There was no one to oppose their previous agreement so they all shook their heads.

[Please prepare yourselves. The gates will open in 30 seconds.]

A screen that was placed on top of the entrance was turned on and started showing the time.

"Let's work hard."

"Yeah, let's beat them all real quick."

The team members all went into the formation and waited for the gates to open.

BEEP

CREEK

The doors opened after a beep. Everyone tensed up from the pressure that was being emanated from the monsters. They could guess their level even without seeing them.

"They must be at least level 4."

Arran said as he held his sword in front of himself.

GRR GRR

BOOM BOMM

The monsters all growled and walked out of the gates.

"Ho!"

One huge monster in the front and two smaller ones in the back exited from all the gates.

The bigger one seemed to be between levels 3 and 4. It had a white turtle-like body with bear paws and sharp teeth. The two little ones that were probably weaker than level 4 monsters had a body similar to gorillas with their backs covered in thick thorns.

[Your 10 minutes starts now.]

BANG

As soon as the time started, a loud explosion happened on one side of the area. It seemed that people all started to attack without any delay.

"I'll take care of the small one on the right side first, support me."

Arran turned towards the monster on the right side after saying that. His muscles tensed and his aura wrapped around his blade. He kicked the ground and rushed towards the beast.

The support mage added buffs to the man and the gunner adjusted his rifle and aimed at the monster.

Kairen finished creating shields around the group and cast an attack spell. He sent fireballs towards the two other monsters to prevent them from interrupting Arran's attack.

GROWL

The huge monster growled as the fireballs hit its body. It turned its head towards Kairen and growled angrily.

That prepared the chance for Arran to close the distance between himself and the monster. He arrived in front of the monster in an instant and swung his sword. The gunner also shot his bullets at that moment.

SLASH

DANG

The monster's right leg was cut off and a few holes were created in its chest.

KEE KKE

The monster made noises as it stumbled on one foot.

BOMM

It lost its balance and its big body fell to the ground helplessly.

...!!!

....!?

The two other monsters turned to the side. They wanted to attack the swordsman but he jumped, dodged their paws skillfully, and landed beside the group again.

After seeing him come back, Kairen cast another spell. Arrows of mana flew towards the fallen beast like rain. The injured monster couldn't even budge. The arrows pierced its body and killed it in no time. The other two monsters that were hit by the attack as well retreated back in fear.

"Ha! It won't even take three minutes."

The gunner scoffed and looked at the dead monster.

"Honestly, have they underestimated us? These monsters are too weak."

"Right!"

"Are you joking me?"

Kairen could hear other people from the other teams complain. He looked around for a moment. Everyone seemed to be in the same situation as them.

He could see Reyan cutting off the head of their team's biggest monster and Serria cutting one gorilla and hitting the other one with magic at the same time.

SWOOSH

He heard a sound and a magic spell passed before his face at a fast speed.

"Wha-"

Kairen took and step back to avoid the attack instinctively. He could see that the light was heading straight towards someone who was busy fighting a monster. The man jumped back to dodge it. The spell hit the monster that he was fighting with and cut off its head instead.

The man looked at the mage of the other team who had cast the spell.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL?"

The mage placed her hand on her mouth and said with a pale face and trembling voice.

"Sorry! Sorry I didn't mean to. I just couldn't aim correctly. I'm so-"

But her words were cut off by a louder voice.

[Team blue failed to kill their three monsters. Team blue, disqualified.]

"..."

"..."

Silence filled the area. Everyone stopped fighting for a moment and looked at team blue.

"What?"

The team members looked around in confusion.

"What the hell? What do you mean?"

Someone yelled loudly and looked up at the screen that was showing the time. They still had 9 minutes left.

"How?"

[Team green receives one extra point.]

"...."

"...."

Everyone looked at the team green this time. The mage that had missed an attack just now looked around blankly. She had a green ribbon tied to her wrist.

"T-that attack... Y-you..."

The man from team blue pointed his spear towards the woman.

"What you did just now..."

[Team blue, please leave the area.]

A few men dressed in protective uniforms stepped into the area at that moment.

"Please come this way."

They each stood in front of the members of team blue and dragged them away. One of the men killed the last remaining one of team blue's monsters and followed the others.

"That bi*ch! It was her! Wait! Let me go!"

The angry man was dragged by the men into the path that they had just passed to enter the exam.

"...."

"...."

A heavy silence filled the area.. People seemed to have completely forgotten about the monsters and were instead staring at each other in silence.