The Author's POV

*Tsk*

"Another dead end..."

Clicking her tongue, Melissa glared at the cave wall that was blocking her way.

Turning around, she once again walked back towards the entrance of the fork roads, not minding the fact that the road was littered with goblin corpses.

"This way, I'm sure this is the correct path"

"Quick before the others catch up"

Along the way, Melissa would occasionally spot other students running down the path, but she didn't bother to even glance at them nor speak to them.

Since this was a competition, there was no need for her to tell them that this road was a dead end.

Moreover, with the fact that she was walking back, it was already painfully obvious that this was a dead end. Yet the students seemed to have completely brushed this fact off.

It was not her fault they were dumb.

Sighing, Melissa couldn't help but speed up her pace. After all, the faster the time the better the score.

As Melissa ran, she couldn't help but wish to get this over with.

In reality, she didn't particularly care about her exam.

Her specialty lied in the theoretical area, meaning that she had no interest in fighting. If not for the fact that her parents practically begged for her to enroll at the Lock, she would've never have come to this place.

"Damn this..."

If not for the fact that she choose the wrong path twice, Melissa estimated that she would've been first by a long shot.

She had wasted a lot of time...

Though she didn't particularly care about the exam, that didn't mean she wanted to botch it either.

Even if her specialty laid in the theoretical area, she still wanted to get a good score. After all, for a perfectionist like her, anything below Top 5 was a failure.

Fortunately, the dungeon was still long and thus she could still reach first place, but the fact that she wasted time irked her. Thus, without pause, she soon ran back to the entrance at full speed.

-Beeeeep! -Beeeeep! -Beeeeep!

As she reached the entrance of the cave, Melissa soon heard the loud and continuous beeping sounds coming from the other side of where she was.

Frowning slightly, slowing down her steps, she soon spotted three third years squatting down and treating a student.

...hm?

Getting a closer look at who the student in question was, Melissa was slightly taken aback.

...Wasn't that Arnold?

She recognized him instantly. I mean, he was Jin's lackey after all. Whenever Jin was present he too was present.

Though not anymore, with Jin always sticking around her whenever he had a chance, she had obviously seen Arnold several times in the past.

...He too annoyed her. Especially since all he did was lick Jin's ass

But why was he passed out on the ground?

According to what she remembered, Arnold, being Jin's lackey, was a fairly strong individual. Pretty much the same strength as her.

Before the trial started, she had estimated that apart from him, no one else would really pose a threat to her in terms of power.

world was he in such a

'Wait...'

something, Mellisa couldn't but be slightly

had just remembered her encounter with Ren...prior

how

thought Ren was beating a relatively

a goblin. Such disputed happened quite

for too long and just went

the last thing she expected was for 'that' student to be Arnold...After all, Ren didn't particularly strike her as a strong

seems like she was wrong...it turns out that he was capable of beating the likes of

male. Although she didn't get a clear look last time, as she looked at Arnold on the ground being helped by the third years, Melissa felt

of surprised

Ren appear in the

an impossible feat...but seeing Arnold

able to

Hard.

Very hard.

him, with how robust his body frame and

third-years applying ointment all over Arnold's face,

Ren, the more she felt that he was strange. From the incident back in Professor Rombhouse class to the theory he had given

Dover had shown her many

Arnold's body away, the frown in Melissa's face didn't

Ren Dover.

definitely

...

-Wooosh! -Wooosh! -Wooosh!

damp cave-like environment, three streaks of light split the air apart,

-Spurt! -Spurt! -Spurt!

three goblins

"Thanks!"

meters away from the goblins, glanced at Amanda who was a few meters

had naturally decided to team up. Moreover, with the fact that they were

end of the dungeon,

"Is Jin up ahead?"

"hm"

her head,

"He is with Troy"

hand on her chin, Emma couldn't help but

If I remember correctly...he is the guy with yellow pupils and is always with Arnold

"Yes"

Amanda, Emma's frown

I see him standing behind Jin, I

towards Amanda, Emma couldn't help but

me who feels that

her head, Amanda

"No"

too felt a similar feeling whenever she

...He was dangerous.

be oblivious to it, Amanda, who always picks up on

whenever he was with

was with him, but on rare occasions, his

he

attention, chances were that they were going to miss this point, but Amanda managed to catch

was wrong, she didn't pry too

was

was starting to feel that something big was about to happen to Jin. But this was only her gut feeling.

you know what the others

the heads off of some of the goblins and put them into

of the heads to Amanda, Emma