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.

do you

to break the silence was Aerin. To which I

follow the previous plan, but we'd need to target each scorpion individually. In short, we need to lure them to us instead of

John tanking at the front and the other's supporting, killing a scorpion was easy. As long as they weren't grouped together this was going to be a breeze for

who's gonna

thought, Aerin

can do

of

baiting, there was no better sword art

still, unfortunately, have not managed to increase

crucial step which I did not know the answer to. I did try asking Donna, but she told me she couldn't

tell me that she knew someone who could

end, I was

fine. Since my current level was

"You can do that?"

"Yes, I can"

let's

narrowed slightly before he nodded his head too. Following John, everyone else

with

"Nothing to complain"

'Bunch of ass-lickers'

I was still not as

they paid more

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

'”Swooosh!

drew three circles in the air. Instantly, three translucent rings appeared

"What's that?"

skill

obviously a

me being one of the people who they had to look out for, they naturally had to

the corner of my

they knew that this was just merely a fraction of

"Hup!"

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

a long-range attacking

"I do"

up was Aerin. Unsheathing her rapier she asked, "What do

much, I just want you to

"Very well"

Aerin took a stance.

"Huu..."

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

"Hyaaa!"

Wiiiiing'”!

a beam of light shot towards the scorpion in the distance. In a matter of seconds, it arrived before the scorpion and directly hit

rang, and the scorpion's enraged roar resounded

"Skreeee'”!"

but after not spotting

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

"Sure"

I nodded my head. Inwardly I was shaking

pale and her breathing was rugged.

you can

obviously could tell that she was acting. Despite her ragged breathing and slightly pale face, she didn't actually use that much energy in that last

wanted to make

Mind games.

you okay? Are you exhausted,

"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 she was fine. My mouth twitched

'Seriously?'

'”Swoosh!

them and directly moved my rings

"Skreeee'”!"

Swinging its claws and tails it tried to

I'll

the opposite direction that I wanted it to go would I actually not avoid the scorpion resulting in it directly hitting

"Skreeee'”!"

soon as the scorpion hit the ring, the ring instantly broke. But it achieved its purpose as the scorpion quickly

drawing a circle in the air, I replaced it. This repeated three times until the scorpion was finally

"Ready?"

"Mhm"

"Yes"

heads, everyone took a

the other one so we no longer needed to worry about

"Go!"

translucent shield

"Huuup!"

"Skreeee'”!"

the scorpion, John managed to push it

"Support me!"

of the scorpion on him, John

weak points,

light, Aerin dashed before the scorpion and stabbed towards one of its joints. Asim and the