Mid Term Test (6)

"Prince Theo will enter Cedric's barrier and created a smaller mana barrier inside it as a precaution. As you know, the holy barrier didn't work with non-demonic creatures. We don't know what kind of enemy will come" Ares said and Prince Theo follow without asking anything.

"Selina will help me attack the monsters coming from inside the barrier with Prince Theo. Gina helped in sensing the number of the creatures coming to our way and Cedric try to produce as much holy power as you can and release them the moment I give the order to do so" Ares carefully gave orders to everyone.

Everyone follow Ares's instruction even though they have a lot of questions to ask but knowing Ares, they knew Ares wouldn't tell them.

"Some people said that quiet people are the most observant" Prince Theo muttered seemingly wanting to help explained why Ares seem to know each of their abilities.

-Crack Crack

"A-Ares, there seem to be six monsters coming our way. Three from the west side of you and three from north" Gina reported according to her role.

"Selina and Prince Theo, get ready," finished saying, six golden chains the size of an adult man's arm coming out from Ares's stomach.

If before he could only produce his chains aura from his back, now he could make them come out from in front of his abdomen.

A few minutes later, six demonic monster trees were visible to them and they were coming toward the five of them.

"Prince Theo shot fireballs towards those on the west and Selina try freezing their legs from moving for at least one minute"

"Ok," both Selina and Prince Theo complied.

Being attacked abruptly, the monsters stopped for a bit on their track and Ares used it as the opportunity to seal them.

"Gina help Prince Theo maintain the second barrier and Prince Theo go kill those monsters"

"Hey, are you crazy?! Prince Theo isn't a Zanuki" Selina retorted for the first time.

Suddenly around a dozen daggers plunged toward Selina before they all stopped just a few inches away from her. Everyone was stunned except Prince Theo.

Sensing the situation wasn't right, Prince Theo tried to calm everyone. "It's ok, I'm a mage so I could just use spells from inside the barrier. The was no need for me to go out and Ares didn't ask me to go out either."

Prince Theo ordered his elemental to destroy the monsters so as to not waste his mana and dark mana wasn't compatible with holy energy so he was worried his mana might make everyone inside the barrier uncomfortable. They were not like Ares who was already used to dark mana since he lived in Kazigare Valley.

Ares retracted all his daggers and observed the area carefully.

Cedric, on the other hand, wanted to ask Ares why he didn't ask him(C) to purify those monsters instead but after seeing how Ares didn't like people questioning him, Cedric just shut his mouth obediently.

After that, four more groups of demonic monsters came toward them seemingly wanting to destroy Cedric's holy barrier. Everyone seemed exhausted except for Cedric since he didn't do anything other than maintain the holy barrier.

'What should I do? I feel useless in this situation' Cedric muttered inwardly.

Seeing Cedric looking at Ares like a kid that has been abandoned by his parents, Prince Theo decided to reassure him, "Don't worry, Ares is saving you for the last and maybe for the most crucial moment. He is not someone that does something without a reason."

What Prince Theo said to Cedric was also heard by Selina and Gina. Gina just asked Ares to give him some mana a few minutes ago since she realized her mana was almost depleted and Ares gave her some mana that almost fill up her mana pool.

Gina felt guilty for some reason but Prince Theo explained to her that amount of mana wouldn't affect Ares much since Zanuki has a big mana pool.

While Prince Theo was reassuring the people inside the barrier, Ares on the other hand became more nervous. He wasn't sure when the Boss monster would come.

In the novel, Cedric almost died and his holy power exploded toward the monster boss, obliterating it. That was why Ares kept Cedric from doing anything. He planned to make Cedric defeat the monster boss just like in the novel since Ares knew he wasn't strong enough to do so.

So far all the monsters that came to them were small fries but that also showed that the Boss might be next.

-Brrrrr

Suddenly the ground shook a bit and not long after that, a huge snake-like monster that look like a serpent with a length of more than 100 meters came towards them.

"I didn't sense anything, ho-how?" Gina who was supposed to report the movement of every monster within their vicinity said stuttering.

"Cedric now your turn. Prince Theo, Selina attack that monster on my cue and Prince Theo try to purify that monster after I sealed its movement" Ares ordered and they did as he instructed.

"Fuh is that the last one?" Prince Theo asked while Gina and Selina seemed relieved.

It took them half an hour to attack the monsters from inside the barrier and Ares was doing multiple people's jobs by defending the barrier from outside and also attacking while sealing the monsters from moving freely.

Because of Ares, they didn't have to worry the monster would suddenly plunge at them.

However, Ares on the other hand felt an ominous feeling increasing inside his heart.

'That wasn't the Boss monster.'

The Boss monster is supposed to be a huge Ankylosaurus-like monster with a hard shell, heavy tail and sharp thorns on its back. That was why Cedric didn't manage to defeat it since his attack didn't penetrate the monster at all.

"Cedric ready your holy power again," Ares said while the others already thought everything had already over.

Seeing that Ares never even once gave them the wrong commands, they were sure something else would come towards them.

"Ares, two o'clock direction from your place" Prince Theo suddenly said and Ares started to face that direction without much thought since he knew Prince Theo might have used his elemental to scout the area.

Elemental wouldn't be affected by Demonic energy since it was considered as one of the natural energy of this world and elemental was one of the being closest to nature.

Even though they were already on standby for what was coming, they didn't expect it was to this extent.

'Why does the novel never describe that the Boss monster is as big as a mountain?!' Ares muttered inwardly looking at the huge monster.

The Ankylosaurus-like monster has a huge shell with sharp thorns covering its back and a hammer-like tail.

Ares tried to calm himself down, a monster that big wouldn't have the agility to move fast and its abdomen area was not protected by the hard shell. He quickly revised a few possible plans to defeat the monster most efficiently.

"Selina, form ice lances and attack that monster's abdomen area. Prince Theo also does the same and focuses on one point to attack. Cedric gets ready. This might be the last one so we have to give our all."

"Yes!" Everyone comply and did their roles.

Dozens of ice lances plunge toward the monster and Prince Theo also used his elemental to attack while Ares sealed the monster's legs.

However, his chains were too weak and they broke every time the monster moved in resistance.

Suddenly when he sealed the monster once again, he felt someone's hands on his shoulder and before he managed to turn around, a gush of hot energy flowed inside his body making him feel excited for some reason.

More and more metal chains came out from him and their sizes were getting bigger and bigger until each metal chains have the size of 50 meters wide.

Multiple chains sealed the Ankylosaurus-like monster's four legs and its neck.

'Damn, no one ever told me that holy energy could help Zanuki sealing technique' Ares muttered inwardly while trying to regulate the energy inside his body. The energy kept pouring in like a waterfall and Ares felt like he wanted to vomit but he couldn't.

Cedric on the other hand also didn't know and just waited for Ares's instruction for him until his system suddenly gave him a suggestion.

-Ting

[Zanuki sealing technique analysis complete. Compatible with holy energy. Suggestion for user: Use your holy energy to help the descendent of Zanuki, the family of ancient Demon Hunter.]

-Ting

[New Quest!]

-Ting

======System Quest======

Difficulty: High-Mid Tier

Quest: Assists the descendent of ancient Demon Hunter, Ares Zanuki to defeat the Demonic Ankylosaurus.

Suggestion: Zanuki was blessed with a sealing technique that has traces of purification. User can use their holy energy to strengthen the sealing technique by inserting holy energy into the body of the sealing technique wielder.

Reward:

∆Increased efficiency of mana breathing and holy power by 10% permanently.

∆Increased all user's stats (Agility, Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence) by 10 points

=======================

Looking at a few popped out interfaces in front of him, Cedric felt relieved that he could do something for Ares. He felt guilty letting Ares do everything.

Without hesitation, he gave Ares all the holy energy he had accumulated. However, he never thought that it might make Ares feel uncomfortable. Thus ignorant of that fact, Cedric continued pouring his holy energy.

Prince Theo who stood closest to Cedric and Ares realised that Ares's pale skin had become redder the more holy energy Cedric gave him and some of the energy was forcefully expelled out from Ares's body.

{Master you have to help Ares. He seems uncomfortable}

Prince Theo's elemental suddenly said in the midst of them trying to damage the Ankylosaurus-like monster.

'How can I help him when I'm a dark mage?' Prince Theo was dumbfounded by his unreasonable elemental.

{Stupid master. Just do what I said if you don't want your friend to die from holy energy overload}

Prince Theo was shocked since he knew how dangerous holy energy overload is. It is just like mana overload when a mage absorbed too much mana from mana stones and made their mana pool explode from inside their heart. Holy energy overload is the same but it was more severe because it would make the whole body explode.

'Do or die'

Prince Theo put his hands on Cedric's shoulders and by following his elemental's advice, instead of trying to absorb the holy energy into him, he just has to put restrictions on how much Cedric could pour his tremendous holy energy into Ares. Prince Theo acted like a filter between Ares and Cedric.

Blood started to come out from Prince Theo's nose and mouth. He felt pain every time the holy energy reacted with his mana.

{Don't worry master, you won't die but I never imagine how this kid has this much holy energy. Why did he study in HGA and not the church?}

To make his master felt less painful, the elemental tried his best to reassure his master.

Currently, Ares, Cedric and Prince Theo were standing in a straight line with their hands on each other's shoulders. Selina and Gina just let them be and continue their roles in attacking and maintaining the secondary barrier.

Feeling a bit comfortable, Ares continued producing metal chains to tie up the Ankylosaurus-like monster and Cedric's holy energy which also flow through the metal chains further hurting the demonic monster.

All of them were at the end of their energy but they still endure it since they knew if they gave up, they would die.

**************************

First-Year Monitoring Room in HGA.

"Hmm, I always like watching the first year since they always acted differently from each other. Some fight like madmen, some run away, some were hiding, some resort to extorting and some even act like they were on a stroll. Hahaha this is fun"

"Toned it down Chief. You can't say it's fun watching people suffering"

"Who cares. They suffer because they were weak. Look at those two walking and sitting like they are really on a stroll. They were in the same class with those kids who keep on hiding from monsters. The gap is too big" the Chief complained.

"Chief, some of the organizations like the Royal Corps, Sacred Corps, Mercenary Union and Intelligence Union have called us to give them the recording of the first year's top-ranking" a staff suddenly announced.

"Ergh just ignore them. They are not allowed to recruit the students before their final year so they will always try to use different methods if we give them the students' information" the Vice Chief, Almer Dario replied in an annoyed tone.

"Did any of the noble family call?"

"There's a few but we ignore them since their kids are still alive so there's no need to pick their call" answered the assistant calmly.

"This is why I said, we need to block our phone lines during the testing period lest those picky nobles will always try to contact us like we were going to kill their kids" the Chief grumbled.

"But Chief, some of them donate tons of money to our academy"

"So what? There's dozen of the noble family I can extort from if I want to"

"Chief please mind your words of choice when talking" the Vice Chief reminded.

"Hey instructors, don't you think this test is too easy. Do they only need to survive to pass? Why not make it more difficult next time?" The Chief said ignoring the Vice Chief.

"This is their first test so we don't want to pressure them too much. We will increase the difficulty on their final test and make it more difficult than last year's" the Head Examiner replied since no one dare to oppose the Academy Chief, who is one of the strongest people in the empire and also in the world.

"Hehe that's more like it," she said before continue watching the monitors while eating potato chips and drinking a strawberry milk juice.

"Chief, the Intelligence Union urged us to give them the top ranking information"

"Tell them, I will smash their clan matriarch's head if they try ordering me around once more"

"Yes, I will relay that to them"

"Damn those pestering bugs"

"Why didn't the other council members do something to them?"

"Because they are still useful. Once they become useless, those other monsters will eat them whole"

The officials one by one gave their opinions on the Intelligence Union until suddenly a hoarse voice shouted inside the room.

"Chief!!! Something is wrong with the dungeon Class A were in"

On the monitoring screen, they could see the dungeon shook and the students were sucked into a weird teleportation portal without having the opportunity to run away.

"What about other dungeons?"

"Other dungeons seem fine"

"Started mass teleportation now!"

"Yes, Chief!"

The instructors and other staff started getting busy. Multiple announcements were made to instruct and control the students.

"I want to go inside the dungeon," the Head Examiner said.

"Instead of going inside the dungeon now, I think it's better if you go straight to where they were teleported to. Almer, track the teleportation coordinate, select a few capable people and go there to save the students. You lots check how many Class A students are affected"

"Roger that Chief"

"There's a bug in here. Sophia, you check" ordered the Chief.

"Yes, I will start now" the secretary replied before turning into a pile of smoke and disappearing.

The other overseers who have been relaxed until now started to check each surveillance camera of the first year and check each of the students using a face recognition system to make sure each of them didn't go missing since it's trickier to find if anyone went missing in a dungeon. The environment in the room became tense.

"Update, half of the students have arrived and we still doing what we can to teleport the rest of them immediately."

"Almer is your group ready?"

"Yes, Chief we are ready. Currently, around 25 students from Class A have been confirmed to go missing inside the weird teleportation gate thus I bring along 25 staff and instructors with me."

"Make sure come back alive and bring them back alive"

"Yes, Chief!"