Raelis dashed through the fallen candidates and arrived at the front lines of the defense.
His team was still behind him, with the exception of Mathieu.
He seemed to be frozen in fear, standing near the edge of the hill.
All of a sudden, Mathieu took a step back and tumbled downward, causing Raelis’s eyes to widen.
"Alice... go rescue him, now," Raelis commanded, catching her off guard. fre ewe bnove l.com
"W-What? But what about cover?" Alice asked.
"Just do it," Raelis shot back, slashing forward, cleaving a mana beast’s body in half.
Alice lingered for a moment longer, then dashed back toward Mathieu.
She dove after the idiot without a second thought.
As for Raelis, he fought his way through the hordes of mana beasts.
Unsurprisingly, the mana beasts had made their way through the candidates’ defensive barrier and were now massacring them.
Even so, it wasn’t much of a problem for Raelis, who could easily deal with them. After just a few more minutes of weaving through the chaos, he arrived only meters away from Ajax.
He was fighting two Grade 8 mana beasts at once, and the injuries that riddled his body were now critical.
His neck was ripped open, and there was a hole in his abdomen.
And the moment Raelis took a step closer to save him, a tiny mana beast latched onto Ajax’s neck as its body began to swell.
Raelis’s eyes widened.
Ajax was blown to bits, and the remaining mana beasts turned their attention to Raelis and Clea, who stood not too far behind.
Inwardly, he was conflicted.
Is this... did I just fail the exam...? Raelis thought. I remember the rules were that all candidates from a single team were supposed to survive... he’s dead.
A tiny mana beast flew his way, prepared to latch onto his neck.
But before it could, Clea stepped forward and attacked the mana beast with her nails, splitting it into several dozen little pieces.
She flashed Raelis a cold glance, then tilted her head, avoiding the fist of a wolf-type mana beast.
Once again, Clea raised her hand upward, cleaving the wolf-type mana beast in half, and even a couple more mana beasts behind it.
And that was when Raelis finally snapped out of it as he ran forward, slashing and killing every single mana beast present.
Blood spilled like never before, dyeing his vision red.
Candidates were slowly dwindling, while most jumped down and escaped.
He saw Auren in the distance, jumping down alongside the rest of his siblings, not sparing Raelis a single glance.
He wasn’t betrayed this time since it was his own choice to head in, but the feeling...
It almost feels like they betrayed me again... huh.
Raelis began utilizing more and more of his stealth technique as he dashed inside the shadows of the mana beasts.
He danced between the giant shadows, only exiting when a guaranteed kill was in sight.
Eventually, he took a step backward, his back colliding with Clea’s.
She was heaving breaths just as tired as his, clearly exhausted.
But only now did he realize that her breaths were as silent as his, if not more.
Ince she realized he was listening, Clea’s breath became louder, mirroring a normal person’s.
She’s way too suspicious... the cutting ability, and her reaction to me nearly cleaving her head in two.
He even recalled the faint pink glow in her eyes, but for the sake of his own sanity, he’d question her only after this was all over.
"How many did you kill?" Raelis asked, lightening the mood. "I lost count at 173-ish. You?"
She remained silent for a few moments, then let out a sigh.
"298," she replied. "They’re not very strong, so I’m sure you’d be able to kill more of them if you used your Flame Body technique."
"Hmm...? Maybe." Raelis tilted his head, slightly puzzled by her talkativeness.
But that was the only moment they had to chat, as in the next, the mana beasts swarmed them again.
The two fought the mana beasts back to back with surprising chemistry.
He ducked a swipe, and her blade passed over his head, slicing through a lunging beast.
With each mana beast he missed, she killed it for him.
And the same was true in his case.
The crescent moon lit up the battlefield as Raelis and Clea fought back to back, cutting down every beast that came close.
It was almost felt like they weren’t fighting anymore, but performing a beautiful moonlit dance.
Every time they turned, more beasts fell. Their movements were sharp, fast, and perfectly in sync.
Sure, they could escape. Very easily at that.
But neither Raelis nor Clea suggested it, so they kept going until he had no choice but to activate his Flame Body technique.
The entire area burst into orange flames, pushing the mana beasts backward.
Clea was unharmed, as the flame didn’t even react to her.
That was because flames born of emotion responded to it.
If he saw Clea as an enemy, even if for a moment, she’d be burned to a crisp.
With that in mind, Raelis compressed the fire until it surrounded only his body. Then he glanced at the remaining mana beasts.
There were a couple hundred left, and no more seemed to be coming up the hill.
As luck would have it, all those beasts were gathered in a straight line.
Noticing that, Raelis took a deep breath as he sheathed his daggers and concentrated all the fire swirling around his body straight into his lungs.
It was like fuel, and when he finally opened his mouth, a burning sensation passed through his throat a giant fireball flew out, colliding with the mana beasts ahead and turning them to ash in an instant.
The fireball only stopped once it reached the bottom of the hill and collided with a giant rock.
Still, that fireball alone was enough to wipe out all of the remaining mana beasts.
He staggered slightly and fell to the blood-soaked ground.
Bodies were scattered everywhere. Whether they belonged to the mana beasts or the candidates, it was hard to distinguish.
Raelis spotted Ajax’s clothes in the distance, and with that, he let out a sigh.
What was done was done. He couldn’t turn back time.
But even if he were to fail this exam...
"I killed 1,132," he stated confidently.
Clea sat down only a few meters away from him, brushing the blood out of her hair.
"I killed 1,133," she replied flatly.
His brows twitched. "Bullsh—"
"Raelis!" Alice’s voice rang out as she ran toward them.
She had a tied-up Mathieu slung over her shoulder as she stopped before him and Clea.
"You two are injured..." Alice muttered with a frown as she stuck her hands into her pockets, pulling out two funny-looking glowing blue herbs.
Before either could protest, Alice forcefully opened their mouths one after the other and shoved the herbs inside.
The taste seemed rich and flavorful at first, but not even a moment later...