BOOM!! CRASH!!
Trees toppled like twigs as the golem bulldozed its way toward Ao.
THUD!!
Its massive hand came down instantly—no hesitation, no pause.
Ao barely rolled aside, darted under its legs, and sprinted straight for the controller.
The moment the boy saw what was in Ao's hand, he smirked lazily.
"You… think something like that… can cut… my stone…? Attack."
He flicked his wrist.
The golem twisted its body unnaturally fast and charged after Ao again, tearing up the forest with each step. Stone fragments and splinters rained through the air like shrapnel.
Ao rushed forward, sword raised—
"Stone Wall!"
The boy cast instantly.
Ao dropped his blade mid-swing.
"Huh…?"
A massive wall rose between them, blocking the strike completely.
"Release!"
Mana burst from Ao's body again as he vaulted over the golem's swinging hand and drove his sword straight into its chest.
The blade pierced deep— mana flaring— and the entire body froze.
Cracks spread across its surface like spiderwebs.
Then—
SHATTER.
The golem disintegrated into streams of gravel, falling like rain.
The controller lowered his stone wall—
and his face drained of color the moment Ao held something out toward him.
"N–no way…"
"You were lookin' for this, right?"
Ao grinned. In his hand was the boy's wand—snapped clean in two, caked in dust and gravel.
"At first I didn't even notice where your wand went.Then I remembered: it never left the golem's body.
And every time you ordered it around, you kept it in your line of sight. So I baited you. Made you block your own view with a wall—
and your last command was 'Attack.' Once it was out of your sight, you couldn't cast Earth Spikes anymore."
The boy collapsed to his knees, trembling.
Then suddenly— "You bastard!! Gravel Shot!!"
He thrust out his palm.
But the moment he blinked—
A black silhouette appeared before him.
THUD!!
"Gah!!"
Ao's knee smashed into his face. Black sludge burst from his nose and mouth as he crumpled.
The fight ended instantly.
Ao stomped the boy's head repeatedly until it was a mangled mess.
Yet the body didn't vanish.
"Huh? Why's he still here? Don't exam clones disappear like monsters…?"
He kept stomping until something caught his eye.
Floating inside the black sludge— a spherical core, like a magic stone.
Ao narrowed his eyes, then stabbed it with his sword.
The moment it cracked, the boy's body dissolved into the same black ooze as the monsters.
"So that was the key! Nice!!"
He celebrated with a little hop.
'You gained 150 points.'
Ao exhaled in relief as his body regenerated after five minutes.
"God, that feels good…"
But then the announcer's voice echoed from his wrist.
"Displaying the Top 10 scoreboard."
A glowing illusion floated above his arm.
[1st: Dou Ko Mass — 2200 pts
2nd: Iruki Senjou — 1005 pts
3rd: Honoto Oya — 910 pts
…
10th: Naishou Jin Ewis — 780 pts
Your current score: 225 pts]
"Two thousand?! In just thirty minutes?! Meanwhile I'm barely over two hundred…"
He imagined the first-place candidate, and the image in his head was basically a monster in human skin.
"Yeah… definitely someone I don't wanna meet."
He lowered his arm and the display vanished.
"Alright… let's keep moving. Fifteen minutes until Zone 2 opens."
He walked onward.
A dark silhouette behind a tree quietly followed.
Fifteen minutes later.
A towering stone cliff filled his vision—so massive he could see it even from hundreds of meters away.
As he approached, the forest thinned, revealing the wall standing like a fortress.
Fifteen minutes left until it opened… but Ao stopped suddenly, slipping into a bush.
There are tons of people…
A whole group of examinees sat waiting at the wall's base.
Why aren't they fighting each other…? Don't tell me… they're teaming up? Well, I guess we were never told we couldn't.
Ao stayed hidden.
If I walk out there, they'll turn me into free points. Nope. I'm staying right here.
He lay in the bushes, killing time by thinking about anything and everything. Fifteen minutes felt like hours.
"Man, this sucks… How long has it been…? Feels like I'm dying of boredom…"
He checked his healing.
"All three wounds healed… finally."
He peeked out—
—and the cliff began to sink.
The ground trembled.
"Hey!! It's moving!!" "It's opening!!" "Finally!!"
The wall split open, and a scorching gust blasted outward. Even from afar, heat washed over Ao like a furnace.
"It's so damn hot…"
Beyond the opening lay an endless desert. The next wall was barely visible through the shimmering haze.
Ao stretched his neck.
"Alright… time to move."
But then—
"Examinees, proceed to Zone 2 immediately."
Ao frowned.
"Immediately? What's that supposed to—"
The forest went eerily silent. Too quiet.
The first tremor hit.
Ao turned around—
—and froze.
Hundreds of monsters—familiar and unfamiliar—came stampeding through the trees, chasing the examinees in a massive wave.
"WHERE THE HELL DID THESE COME FROM?!"
"RUN!!"
"IT'S A STAMPEDE!!"
Ao sprinted with everyone else, face pale.
"Of course they'd pull something like this!!" he shouted while running for his life.
Snarls and thunderous footsteps closed in.
Screams followed—along with wet, tearing sounds he refused to look back at.
Pieces of bodies and black fluid sprayed forward. Voices begging for help were cut off one by one.
Ao pushed his legs harder.
The heat grew stronger.
Wind blasted his face like fire.
Then finally—
He leapt past the boundary into Zone 2 just a moment before a monster's jaws snapped shut behind him.
He collapsed on the burning sand, panting hard.
The sun beat down mercilessly.
Sweat soaked his shirt instantly, mixing with sand.
He turned back— the monsters clawed at an invisible barrier, unable to enter.
"God… it's hot…"
He pulled off his warm-up jacket, slinging it over his shoulder as he scanned the surroundings.
Ruined structures scattered across the desert.
Cave mouths.
A few examinees sprawled on the ground, recovering.
And beyond everything— another massive cliff marking the end of Zone 2.
"Alright… what now… Why'd they make the clones feel heat this realistically anyway…"
He started walking.
One of the examinees stood up quietly behind him—
the same dark figure that had been tailing him since the forest.