THIRD ROUND

HYPERION

 For the third round,all six hundred and Twenty four of us were seal within a thick, steel, magically reinforced wall. "The goal is to try and kill as many chimeras as you can within the span of an hour. Getting knocked unconscious serves as a tap out,and so is declaring forfeiture.The gear provided to you will prevent the lethal brunt of the attack, but not all,so make sure to add a layer of protection for yourself if you are averse to pain. Now, begin". Parts of the floor beneath us gave way as several chimeras came forth. Using my range art,I could sense that they numbered about a thousand two hundred and forty eight.

.... expect us to fight this many.

.... possible, exactly twice our number.

.... they even have this many.

....even think there were this many chimeras existing in the world.

Some of the candidates were voicing self doubt about their capability to hold their own against this horde.with a handful already forfeiting. I was even more perplexed about the fact that the monsters hadn't attacked us yet,must be some kind of command ingrained into them after their capture." No time to dilly dally, you have only an hour to get rid of them all".

 The creatures were huge,towering a lot of centimeters above even the tallest of us with a muscular humanoid body,with poultry bile coloured skin,muscular arms long enough for them to drag across the ground,grey coloured tusks and a trunk.It had a large enough fear factor,but a rather disappointing composition when analysed properly. "The woman captain is right,we don't have time for this,not that I care what any of you do", said a physically buff man who had instantly decapitated and was holding the heads of two of the chimeras by the trunk. He had somehow managed to already lose his shirt,or had he arrived here without one. No!, I doubt that he would be allowed in here with no shirt."Hey!",Ida shouted as she snapped her fingers in front of my eyes." This might just be me,but don't we have to kill some of these monstrosities to actually pass the exam",she said with a zany expression. "Well I'm not holding you back am I?",I replied before running after one of the beasts. I could catch a glimpse of Ida slapping her forehead with her right palm and dragging it across her face. A habit she had incorporated,to signify I had exasperated her with one of my snarky comments.

 The monsters were rather easy to kill,they had only a slightly hard hide, rather squishy in fact if you had mastered density and strength augmentation. But they did seem to have a slightly high, but limited amount of intelligence as some of them had adopted human like fighting styles and showed fear. 

 Thirty minutes into the examination and all the chimeras were dead. About a hundred and five participants were knocked out and a hundred and twenty willingly forfeited. I guess even though the chimeras were weak,they had intimidating numbers. I had succeeded in killing eighteen of the humanoid monsters, rather saving my energy for the second round."Aaahh,the shirtless man screamed, even though by now,more men were shirtless,that was how I had decided to identify him. "More,I want more!. Does this count as a test?,I don't know which to be more disappointed in,the weakness of these monsters or the fact that some people dropped out in this round",he said contemptuously. "A rather energetic man that one, don't you think ",Ida whispered as she came to me. "Guess how many I killed",she said excitedly. "About thirty,I would guess",her jaws dropped. "You were counting?",no, I didn't have time for that. I just thought of the most over the top number the massive amount of participants here would allow you to kill. "Worry not,Jhooni",the captain's voice sounded through the speaker. "This round was rather a sieving method to weed out those with probability of dying during the second round. I promise the third grade monsters are far more formidable",The shirtless man,Jhooni apparently,let out a barking laugh,"interesting!",he exclaimed. What interested me was the rather absurd number of chimeras they used to "sieve" out the weak from among us."Anyway, you have the rest of the apportioned hour to prepare for the final round".

 Apportioned hour,so if it took us exactly an hour to defeat all the monsters,they would release the next batch without letting us rest?,I asked . "No,he replied,we would have called back the fourth grade monsters before sending in the third grade",the captain replied.Kind of makes you doubt the whole;"Oh we don't want you all to die" crap huh,Ida remarked.

After about twenty four minutes of resting and some workers coming to take the chimera corpses and mopping up the blood,a loud bell signalling the beginning of the final round was struck. The chimeras sinister aura pervaded the rink before we saw them. I could already guess what they were. Poultry bile coloured skin, just like the last monsters, sharp claws and a mouth filled with sharp teeth.dense,thick scales covered in barbs,a poisonous tongue and pointed tail nearly equal in length to the chimera itself."Ladies and men,the third grade salamanders",the captain said as if giving a sales pitch.

 The rink began to extend to fit the number of chimeras we were fighting."Your suits are infused with a pseudo antidote that will automatically be administered to you if you are infected. But of course, you will be knocked out and eliminated. Feel free to forfeit at anytime",the captain said through the speaker."Hah, not on my life", Jhooni bellowed."We might have to take this one together for maximum efficiency",I told Ida. "Well, what the hell are we waiting for".