The Author's POV

Chapter 102: Midterms [6]

-Khuala! -Khuaka! -Khuaka!

Like a tsunami, green-like creatures of shorter-than-human stature with flat and long hooked noses, bat-like ears, and malevolent expressions with twisted smiles appeared from every corner of the cave.

"W-hat's that?"

"Are th-ose globins?"

"Hiiii"

Surprised by the unexpected development, the students at the front immediately stopped running and huddled up together.

With their backs against each other, they each raised their weapons and nervously looked towards their surroundings. Goblins appeared en masse everywhere they looked.

"W-what do we do?"

"I-i don't know"

Despite goblins being the most common monsters inside of dungeons, they were still dangerous creatures.

With their excellent sense of smell, hearing, and tendency to hunt in groups, many aspiring heroes fell because of them

…lest needed to be said about students who had no experience of being inside of dungeons.

"We-re sorroun-ded"

Staring at the numerous goblins blocking their paths, one of the students couldn't help but say as his voice shook.

"S-something is defi-netly wrong. H-how can there possibly be so many goblins inside of a ranked dungeon. W-we're all going to die!"

He wasn't the only one who thought of it that way, as almost everyone at the front shook in fear.

I mean, although it was dark, the number of goblins before them counted to at least a thousand. How were they supposed to fight with that many goblins?

"Move aside you bunch of wimpy primates"

Indifferently walking ahead of the students, Melissa's figure appeared holding onto a long metal spear with flame engraving at the tip of the spear.

Without giving a chance for the students to figure out what was going on, leaning backward, Melissa adjusted her position and proceeded to throw the spear in her hand.

-Swoooosh!

Like a bolt of lightning, the spear traveled through the sea of goblins leaving behind a red trail of flames…

-Kacha!

-Booom!

Soon after, an explosion reverberated across the whole dungeon. The cave shook, and debris and dust flew everywhere.

As the debris cleared up, the students couldn't help but be stunned by what they saw.

"W-what?"

"Huh?"

The sea of goblins that was before them was no longer visible, and what replaced it was a single goblin wearing a mage mantle with an orb in its hand.

…well that's how it was supposed to look like.

Currently, its body was lifelessly sitting on the hard ground with a spear imbued on top of its head.

"I-s that a goblin mage?"

"W-hat?"

"So it was all an illusion?"

Regaining their bearing somewhat, everyone stared at the body of the goblin that was currently lifelessly laying on the ground.

They soon understood what had happened.

Everything was the works of a goblin mage. A more evolved and rarer version of a regular goblin.

The goblin mage had created an illusion to scare the students into thinking that they were currently facing a horde of goblins. It was a fairly common strategy they used to hunt down their prey.

It was also not that hard to spot if one paid close attention. All they had to do was look for the reflection that the orb the goblin mage made.

As soon as you spotted the orb, you could instantly find where the goblin mage was and thereafter kill it.

…We had learned this in class, but it was evident that most students had forgotten this beforehand.

Perhaps it was due to their excitement or their nervousness, but it seems like everything that the students had learned in class was completely forgotten.

Walking ahead of everyone, with the most gentle smile Melissa could muster, looking back at the students at the front she said

"Next time you're scared, don't block the paths for others. You're honestly a nuisance, so please either die or move out of the way. Thank you very much"

With that, without looking back, Melissa picked up her spear and dashed deeper into the cave.

Standing at the back, looking at Melissa's disappearing figure, I nodded my head repeatedly.

…ah, that's Melissa for you

Yup…yup…yup

Spitting venomous words with the most gentle face possible…only Melissa could pull it off.

Though I do have to say, despite the fact that Melissa was only F ranked, her power was no joke. Even I would have trouble defending against that throw.

I'd say two to three rings would do the trick.

"Let's go"

"Follow her"

Watching Mellissa leave, some of the students woke up from their daze and immediately followed from behind her.

"Huuuu…"

Glancing at some of the students that followed Mellisa's footsteps, taking a deep breath I too started moving.

Time waited for no one.

Since timing was one of the criteria used to assess the performance of the students, I couldn't waste any more time lazing about.

Channeling the mana inside of my body, I activated drifting steps.

Thereafter, as I moved forwards, with each step I took, the wind psyons beneath my feet would intensify.

Shortly after I activated drifting steps, I found myself freely running across the dungeon as my speed increased by small increments with each step I took.

-Wooosh!

"W-what was that?"

"Huh?"

Like a streak of light, I quickly and swiftly surpassed some of the students who were running ahead. Though I was still far from the first placed people, I was confident that I would soon catch up to them.

-Clank! -Clank! -Clank!

As I moved forward, the loud sound of students fighting against goblins appeared everywhere.

Moving my body slightly, I managed to somewhat dodge the battles…but I knew that avoiding fights wasn't an option.

…and I was right.

A couple of goblins soon appeared before me. Obstructing my path.

Because I was moving so fast, I didn't have enough time to stop. Hence, briefly glancing towards my surroundings to make sure no one was looking, I lightly tapped on the sheath of my katana.

-Click!

-Thud! -Thud!

Soon after, two green heads rolled on the ground. It all happened so fast that even if cameras were present, they wouldn't have been able to pick up what had happened.

Instantaneous.

Right after the heads of the goblins hit the ground, ten meters ahead of where the goblins were, I managed to finally stop my body from moving.

Jogging back towards where the goblins were, I quickly grabbed the heads of the goblins and tapped twice on the right area of my chest. Soon after, the heads disappeared from my hands.

…and as soon as the heads of the goblins disappeared from my hands, a large [2] appeared on the right side of my arm where a black band was located.

Checking my band, nodding slightly, rather than activating drifting steps, I jogged forwards.

The roads of the cave had become narrower, moreover, the ground wasn't flat making it hard for me to gather enough momentum without doing anything unnecessary.

…

Like that, for the next thirty minutes, I either passed students or hunted down goblins or the other monsters that tried to ambush me as I moved forwards.

'This is a good pace'

As I jogged, the right side of my arm had a large [55] engraved on it.

Though it was a lot, it was still far from the likes of Kevin and the rest. I mean, if I didn't remember incorrectly, Kevin came back with a score of 215 back in the novel.

…Therefore, 55 should still be within the cope of my abilities and thus prevent me from getting more attention.

But isn't, 55 already good? Not it wasn't.

79

That was my current goal.

I had estimated that this target would be the best in order to for me to achieve the top 100. That was with me taking into consideration that my written exam score would be below average.

Though hard, it wasn't impossible. Especially since I could freely use the [Keiki style] as no one was watching…well when I sure there was no one around. Pretty much the areas where the second and third years weren't present.

After a bit more hunting, I soon arrived at a fork road that separated into three different directions. Without even thinking about it hard, I quickly moved towards the right area

"Alright, let's go…"

Just as I was turning towards the right path, I heard a deep voice coming from the left side of my ears. Glancing towards where the voice came from, I soon noticed a tall individual with a buzzcut and thick glare.

…it was evident that he had purposely waited for me.

"There you are"

"…ah, how are you doing Arnold?"

Without responding to me, with his arms crossed, Arnold moved towards the middle of the cave. Obstructing my path.

"I've been waiting for you…"