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

first to break the silence was

the previous plan, but we'd need to target each scorpion individually.

scorpion was easy. As long as

gonna

thought, Aerin

can

my hand on the sheath of

was no better sword art

unfortunately, have not managed to increase

did not know the answer to. I did try asking Donna, but she told me she couldn't help me with regards to this matter as

tell me that she knew someone who

the end, I was still unable to

was fine. Since my current

"You can do that?"

"Yes, I can"

then let's go with

John's eyes narrowed slightly before he nodded his head too. Following John, everyone else also

with that

"Nothing to complain"

'Bunch of ass-lickers'

as

that they

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

'”Swooosh!

took out my sword and drew three circles in the air. Instantly, three translucent rings appeared before me.

"What's that?"

that a skill or you

obviously a

them. Their attention was directed towards the rings. With me being one of the

solemn expression from the corner of my eyes, my lips tugged

knew that this was just merely a fraction of what

"Hup!"

rings shot towards the scorpion in the distance. Watching my rings

have a long-range attacking

"I do"

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

I just want

"Very well"

Aerin took a stance.

"Huu..."

backward, Aerin exhaled slightly. Her platinum blonde hair fluttered slightly and

"Hyaaa!"

Wiiiiing'”!

towards the scorpion in the distance. In a matter

explosion rang, and the scorpion's

"Skreeee'”!"

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

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

"Sure"

my head to the side, I nodded my head. Inwardly I was

complexion was pale and her breathing

you think you

and slightly pale face, she

just wanted to

Mind games.

you okay? Are you exhausted, let me do

"It's okay I'm fine"

tried to comfort her. To that, Aerin put on a brave face and reassured him she was fine. My mouth twitched at their

'Seriously?'

'”Swoosh!

proceeded to ignore them and directly moved

"Skreeee'”!"

the scorpion became even more enraged. Swinging its claws and tails it tried

I'll

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

"Skreeee'”!"

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

in the air, I replaced it. This repeated three times until the scorpion was finally within ten meters of where we were

"Ready?"

"Mhm"

"Yes"

heads, everyone took a

dragged the scorpion far enough from the other one

"Go!"

first one to move was John. With a massive translucent shield before him, he jumped up and tackled

"Huuup!"

"Skreeee'”!"

with the scorpion, John managed to push it

"Support me!"

of the scorpion on him, John took

its weak points,

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