The Author's POV

"If I'm not wrong those are Black-shelled scorpions"

John pointed out as he looked into the distance. I nodded my head.

"They indeed seemed to be black-shelled scorpions"

Black-shelled scorpions were ranked monsters. They were named as such because of the black shell that coated their outer layer. They were generally the size of an adult's thigh, and they were renowned for their powerful stingers that had a strong paralyzing effect.

"How many points was that again?"

"Should be about three per kill"

Standing by the side, Asim responded. Nodding his head, John looked at Melody who was next to Aerin.

"How many monsters within the vicinity?"

Closing her eyes, using her skill Melody calmly responded, "I only feel twelve entities in front of us. So they should all be black-shelled scorpions"

"Great, then that means we can secure 36 points"

"Yup"

"So how should we go about this?"

The Black-shelled scorpion's method of attack was quite simple. Incapacitate the prey with their stinger and then kill them with their sharp claws. What made them especially troublesome was their tough outer layer that was hard to crack.

In short, within a short period of time, they couldn't be killed easily. Fortunately, we had John with us.

He was a great meat shield. As long as he tanked, given enough time we could easily crack the outer layer.

...and John knew this.

"I'll do the tanking, you guys get rid of them"

He then patted his chest.

"I can more or less resist poisons"

Having trained for all sorts of situations like this, John was indeed immune to most poisons.

Unless they were extremely strong ones, he could continue defending without needing to worry about getting poisoned.

"I see...As long as we keep the scorpions in check, we shouldn't be able to face any problems"

Aerin nodded in agreement. She also believed this was the best strategy.

'No, this strategy won't work'

After subtly touching my chin, I shook my head.

We six were definitely enough to kill a black-shelled scorpion. But what worried me was the fact that there wasn't just one scorpion.

"....can I say something?"

"What?"

After a bit of thought, I decided to voice out my concern. Instantly everyone's attention was gathered towards me.

"Frankly speaking. If we follow this strategy we are going to die"

With a solemn face, I broke the news.

Though we wouldn't die literally since the academy professors were hiding in the distance, we'd fail the class.

Simply put.

This strategy was not going to work.

"Huh?! Do you even pay attention in class? If you properly paid attention you'd know that this is the best possible strategy"

Hearing what I had to say. Aerin and Melody aside, everyone's faces became dark.

"What are you talking about?"

"If you want to say something, at least say something useful"

"No, I get that, but haven't you guys noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

I shook my head and pointed in the distance. Towards where the scorpions were located. I then elaborated.

"That they scorpions aren't too far from each other. Once we create enough of a commotion when attacking one scorpion we'll attract the other scorpions and our situation will turn into a six vs twelve. Not that I doubt any of your abilities but, we can't handle twelve ranked monsters at the same time..."

"..."

"..."

Silence fell. Everyone's previous thoughts of fighting the scorpion disappeared. The ones who were trying to argue with me before didn't even look me in the eyes.

what do

was Aerin.

still follow the previous plan, but we'd need to target each scorpion individually. In short, we need to

As long as they weren't grouped together this was going to be a

who's gonna

into thought, Aerin lifted her

can do

sheath of my sword, I raised my

was no better sword art than [Ring of

have not managed to increase to

Donna, but she told me she couldn't help me with

did however tell me that she knew someone who

I was

was fine. Since my current level was good

"You can do that?"

"Yes, I can"

then let's go with

came to a decision. Standing by the side John's eyes narrowed slightly

okay with

"Nothing to complain"

'Bunch of ass-lickers'

my current fame, I was still not as famous as

they paid more attention to

"Haa...Alright, let's start"

'”Swooosh!

the air. Instantly, three translucent rings appeared before

"What's that?"

that a skill or you

obviously a sword

directed towards the rings. With me being one of the people who they had to look out for, they naturally had to pay

corner of my eyes, my lips tugged

just merely a fraction of what

"Hup!"

shot towards the scorpion in the distance. Watching my rings fly towards the nearest scorpion, I turned

a

"I do"

rapier she asked, "What do you need me to

want you to startle

"Very well"

Aerin took a stance.

"Huu..."

backward, Aerin exhaled slightly. Her platinum blonde hair fluttered slightly and her rapier became dyed in

"Hyaaa!"

Wiiiiing'”!

dyed completely in green. Following her shout, a beam of light shot towards the scorpion in

scorpion's enraged roar resounded across the

"Skreeee'”!"

other scorpions in the vicinity, but after not spotting anything nearby, they proceeded to ignore the rampaging

"Haa...haa...was that good enough?"

"Sure"

the side, I nodded

was pale and her breathing

think you

breathing and slightly pale face, she didn't actually use that much energy

just wanted to make herself look

Mind games.

are you okay? Are you exhausted, let me do the

"It's okay I'm fine"

the exhausted Aerin, John naturally tried to comfort her. To that, Aerin put on a brave face and reassured him

'Seriously?'

'”Swoosh!

my finger, I proceeded to ignore them and directly

"Skreeee'”!"

scorpion became even more enraged. Swinging

I'll

to dodge the attacks quickly. Only when the scorpion was running in the opposite direction that I wanted it to go would I actually not avoid the scorpion resulting in it directly

"Skreeee'”!"

ring instantly broke. But it achieved its purpose as the scorpion quickly turned towards the

This repeated three times until the scorpion

"Ready?"

"Mhm"

"Yes"

everyone took a

the other one so we

"Go!"

move was John. With a massive translucent shield

"Huuup!"

"Skreeee'”!"

and colliding with the scorpion, John managed to

"Support me!"

the attention of the scorpion on him, John took a knee and shouted. Everyone

weak

the scorpion and stabbed towards one of its joints. Asim and the