[Outside The Dimension.]
"Hmm... Did we make a mistake?" Gaga asked in confusion, staring at the screen in front of her with a deep frown. The 'Boss' monsters designed to stall the students for at least twenty minutes had been deleted in seconds.
"I think we did... These two are beyond this mode. Maybe all the S-Rank and above tasks should be given to them... We will need them to grow stronger, and faster," the Third Elder whispered, scribbling notes onto a holographic pad.
"Ok... We already know the outcome of these two... And we also know they will never face off in a simulation," Hayatobi sighed, rubbing his temples.
"I know we are all curious to know who's the strongest, but that won't be happening any time soon."
Aurelia stood some meters away, listening to the three elders, her fingers clenched so tight her knuckles were white.
Stellar, who had been eliminated earlier in the Inner Region, stood behind her, staring at the screens with jealousy.
"She is just showing off!" Stellar hissed out.
"Even the elders. They are..." Aurelia exhaled, forcing her breathing to steady. The humiliation burned in her chest.
"She thinks strength is everything. We will see," she muttered, a dark smirk twisting her face.
___
[Carl's Passage.]
Carl and his group of five appeared in the same dark passage. The air here was colder, damper. They moved their gazes from the flickering torches on the walls to the woman sitting on a stone throne in front of them.
She was beautiful in a haunting way, with pale skin and crimson eyes. A small, amused smile graced her face.
"Umm... Who are you?" Daniel asked with a slight frown, gripping his bow tightly. His instincts were screaming at him to run.
"You don't even know who I am?"
The woman raised her head. Her crimson eyes locked onto them, and the temperature in the room plummeted.
"It seems the Academy hasn't started their jobs yet."
She slowly stood up. Her hair was impossibly long, black as ink, spilling off her shoulders and pooling on the ground around her like a living shadow.
"I won't introduce myself... I will just show you what you should expect from me."
The five looked at one another, deep frowns on their faces. They were confused. Was this part of the test?
"Hey old woman, we don't know what you're blabbering about... Just get here to die by our swords!" Mitsuki yelled, her Warrior blood boiling. She stepped forward, sword raised.
"Old woman?"
The woman placed a delicate hand on her cheek and chuckled lightly. The sound was like dry leaves skittering on stone.
"You know... No one has dared call me that, even if I have lived for millions of years."
The moment her words dropped, the shadows on the floor surged. Her hair shot forward with the speed of a railgun.
"Watch out!!!"
Carl screamed, his skills flaring red. Without hesitation, the three guys leaping to the left. Mitsuki rolled right.
But the Healer was too slow.
"No!"
BAM!!!
The four landed on their feet, spinning around. Their eyes went wide in horror.
Gabby was suspended in the air. A thick tendril of black hair, hardened like steel, had impaled her through the chest.
"Fufufu... Seems I am faster than someone."
The woman licked her lips. She flicked her wrist, pulling back her hair.
Instantly, the support vanished, and Gabby's lifeless body dropped to the ground with a sickening thud.
[Teammate Eliminated: Gabby]
"Shit! A Lv100 Demon!! We are done for!" Connor muttered, his hands trembling as he raised his staff.
"Stats Enhancement!!" he yelled, casting a desperate buff on the remaining four. Golden light wrapped around their limbs.
"No matter what happens!! We must defeat this witch!! If we can't, we can get points for dealing damage!!" Daniel yelled, as he pulled the string of his bow to its breaking point.
"Good."
Carl's eyes hardened. He couldn't save Gabby, but he could make her death count.
"Attack!!!"
With his words, Carl vanished, activating his stealth skill. The remaining team members lunged forward into the abyss.
___
[Outside the Dimension.]
[Ten minutes later.]
WHOOSH!
The gateway glowed violently, spitting out four figures. Carl and his remaining team fell from the portal, hitting the hard floor of the academy ground.
"Shit!"
Carl slammed his palm on the ground, frustration radiating off him.
"How can she be that powerful?!!" he shouted, his voice echoing. The gap between them and that entity was insurmountable.
"Come on, Leader, at least you guys dealt some damage."
Gabby, who was already waiting, unhurt and fully restored by the simulation, offered them a small, comforting smile.
"Yeah. Our points should be above five thousand," Daniel said, slowly getting to his feet. He wiped the sweat from his brow, a small smile returning to his face. They had survived ten minutes against a monster. That was an achievement.
Hayatobi stared at them from the observation deck. He watched their camaraderie, their resilience.
He slowly nodded his head.
'Good.'
BAM!!
The sound cracked through the observation ground like a whip.
Everyone turned their heads to the shimmering dimensional gateway, watching as the vortex spat out three more figures. Grace and two of her teammates fell out of the gateway, hitting the ground heavily beside Carl and his group.
They didn't land with the poise of elites; they landed like survivors escaping a catastrophe.
The male teammate scrambled to his knees, his face flushed with a mixture of adrenaline and indignation.
"This? That Demon is too strong for anyone!!" the guy yelled with a frown, slamming his fist against the floor.
Beside him, the team's mage was shaking, her eyes wide as she recalled the hopelessness of their battle.
"Yes!! How can we defeat a flying demon which has 50% reduction to magic attack?!" the lady added, her voice cracking. It was a statistical nightmare—an enemy that could stay out of melee range while shrugging off half the damage from the only people who could reach it.
In the midst of their panic, the team leader remained eerily calm.
Grace simply stood up, dusting the debris from her uniform. She didn't say anything. Her expression was contemplative, her mind already replaying the battle, analyzing the movement patterns of the entity that had decimated them, rather than wasting breath on complaints.
The murmurs of dissatisfaction began to spread among the gathered students, a rising tide of resentment against the unfair difficulty.
"Stop complaining!"
Hayatobi yelled at the students. His voice, amplified by a pulse of spirit energy, rolled over the crowd like thunder, crushing their protests instantly.
And to their surprise, the gateway flared violently again.
WHOOSH!
THUD! THUD!
More students fell from the gateway, tumbling out in heaps, coughing and groaning. One by one, the remaining teams were ejected, all bearing the same look of shock and defeat.
Hayatobi stepped forward, looking down at the cream of the crop, the future defenders of the dragon empire, who were currently whining about fairness.
"The real purpose of the core region is to make sure you all lose!" He yelled.
His words hung in the air, heavy and absolute, stunning everyone into silence. The students looked at the Elder, realizing for the first time that the test wasn't designed to measure their victory, but to measure their resilience in the face of impossible odds.