"Rai right?" A voiced called out to him.
"Hm?" He turned around, and his eyes went wide like he'd seen a ghost. "You're..."
"Join my team, Rai Voltia." She was one of the candidates that activated an extraordinary Soul-Core during the Soul Awakening Ceremony.
The daughter of the Head Commander of the 14 Soul-Squads, Kaira Daemar.
"Kaira Daemar..." He muttered under his breath, and all eyes turned to Kaira as she asked him to join her team.
Whispers of jealousy flew round, and even Xander gritted his teeth. To everyone, passing the Soul-Hunter's examination was a necessity, that meant your team had to be strong enough to pass.
So why did one of the strongest participant in this exam choose to side with someone whose chances of success was zero?
"Join your team?" He found it hard to believe. "Why?" That was the only reasonable question, did she also sense the change in his Soul-Energy from before?
"To be the strongest and become the head commander of the 14 Soul-Squads, you need to be more powerful than the 14 captains combined. And if I can't pass the Soul-Hunter's examination on my own, I can't attain such heights."
She explained. She couldn't care less about the taunting words of other candidates trying to encourage her from afar to join them instead of him.
"What does that have to do with me?"
"You're the weakest Soul-Hunter in this selection, and since the conditions require me to be in either a team of two or three, it makes you the perfect teammate for me since you won't be able to do anything." She said disdainfully.
'Honestly, all these damn nobles and their pride. So that's what she's aiming at huh, whatever, at this point having her as a teammate just increases my chances.' He thought.
"Fine, I'll join your team." He reluctantly agreed.
"The time limit is up." The vice captain of the 5th Soul-Squad announced just as they formed a team.
"Before we begin, we'll inform you about the first phase. To be a Soul-Hunter, you need to experience of facing a beast, therefore the first phase will be a dungeon raid." He began.
Murnurs arose, a dungeon raid? Already? Well at one point they would have faced this, but they just didn't expect it to be in first phase of the Soul-Hunter's examination.
"Do not worry, it's not anything more than a C-rank dungeon for your own safety. We've had captain level Soul-Hunters search the dungeon thoroughly for all beasts and potential threats, after confirming it's viability, they scattered flags everywhere, on beasts, beneath rubbles. The requirements for passing this stage is to obtain as many flags as you can within the given time limit." The fifth vice captain led them forward, and they followed him down the restricted area.
It was one of the sites a dungeon emerged in weeks ago, and they carefully preserved it for this occasion.
Finally, they arrived, and the large gates of the dungeon greeted them with a mystical hum. From the density of it's energy, to it's sheer size, it was obvious the interior of the dungeon was quite large.
And that made the search for the flags more difficult.
"There are two conditions in clearing this phase, the first, you have one hour to capture the flags, after an hour, those without a flag will be eliminated. The second condition, defeat the dungeon boss, and that's an automatic pass." There were two conditions, with each having it's fair level of difficulty.
Even with the ranks of A,B or even C. With their underdeveloped Soul-Cores, it'll still take a team of B-rank Soul-Hunter to defeat a C-rank dungeon boss.
The moment the dungeon boss is defeated, the dungeon will close, and you all must leave the dungeon at once. Anyone without a flag the moment the boss is defeated will also be disqualified. Now that we've gone through the conditions to pass the first phase. The moment you all enter the dungeon, the first phase begins."
The fifth vice captain approached the gates, and waiting there for him were five Soul-Hunters who were tasked in standing by in case something went wrong.
"The first phase starts now, please proceed into the dungeon." On his orders, they all went into the dungeon, one by one, till it all came down to the last person, Rai.
He took a deep breath, then fixed his sights on the spiraling mystical anomaly they called a dungeon, and approached it.
"Hey kid." One of the men standing by called out to him before he stepped in. He glanced over his shoulders, and locked his gaze on the grin of the second seat of the 11th Soul Squad.
"You're... The second seat of the 11th Soul Squad... Zarek Veyl." He muttered.
"Oh? You remember me. It seems you've made it this far into the selection, it's no surprise considering you held your ground against me. Well whatever, before you go into the dungeon, I have just one piece of advice for you. Be careful." He said.
"What do you mean?"
"Dungeons are completely unpredictable... Unstable, which is why we never let D-rank Soul-Hunters join the association. In a dungeon, even the hunter becomes the hunted." The grin faded from his lips, replaced by a hardened seriousness, as though even the slightest mistake might mean life or death.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Why you say?" Another grin stretched across his lips. "Because I'm the one who's going to kill you, Rai Voltia! So don't die, or I'll personally come to hell and finish you off!"
"Hmph." Rai chuckled, turning his attention back to the dungeon. "Sure, I'll be waiting."
He stepped into the dungeon.
SWOOSH!
A violent inrush of wind pressure blew through his hair as he passed through the gates, and he found himself in standing behind Kaira who waited for him to step in.
"W-Whoa." They stood behind a half-collapsed building, and before them stretched what seemed like an abandoned city, its crumbling walls and broken towers resembling the ancient ruins of a long-lost civilization.
"Where are we?" Rai asked.
[This is the first stage of the Soul-Hunter Exams. You have to survive the upcoming wave of magical beasts and capture a flag for a given time limit in order to advance to the next stage.]
[Time remaining: 59:58]