Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Chapter 22

Neo was mainly targeting the students who opened their mouths.

Anyone who spoke was invariably assassinated cleanly and disappeared into particles of light.

Out of the twenty or so students, five had already died instantly.

Failing the exam meant zero points.

The students who did not want to die shut their mouths tightly.

Some tried to run away when things suddenly went wrong...

But those students were also targeted without exception.

One student with a talent for magic took advantage of an opportunity and dropped a huge chunk of ice onto a fallen student.

It was a fairly quick magic casting, but...

Slash!

Before the ice even hit the ground, the body of the student who used the magic was cut diagonally in two and collapsed on the spot.

As the student who cast the magic was processed as dead, the magic he had used also returned to nothingness.

Swishhhhhhhhh—

A gentle breeze blew from somewhere.

It was a cool and refreshing wind, yet right now it felt as chilly as if a blade had just passed by.

The surviving students had already gathered among themselves and were busy preparing for ambushes that could happen at any moment.

"This is insane..."

Ziek, who had barely managed to track Neo Haias’s movements... no, the vaguely visible black shadow.

Perhaps because it was the same type of ability, Ziek identified Neo’s figure and immediately launched a counterattack.

Ziek disappeared from the spot.

At the same time, the sound of well-refined metal clashing against metal echoed from all directions.

The sight of black shadows intertwining and fighting was fierce, as if they would not allow anyone to interfere.

Some students glared, looking for an opportunity to take down both of them at the same time.

If they could eliminate both at once, the score would be quite substantial.

If they could just secure the points and then immediately get out of here and hide somewhere...

While everyone was thinking that, one of the top-ranking students with skills similar to Ziek was secretly gathering Mana.

He came from a family specialized in archery. He was waiting to unleash a huge rain of arrows that would engulf the entire area.

It was a skill close to a finishing move, and since he would be exposed to danger after using it, he had to end everything with a single blow.

"Kkeuaaaaaaaak!"

Everyone was looking for an opportunity.

Then they hesitated for a moment after hearing a terrible scream.

Ziek’s body, with both arms cut off in a somewhat gruesome manner, fell from above where the students were gathered.

The production was not overly bloody, so the shock was lessened, yet everyone’s bodies stiffened.

And now was the perfect opportunity to use an area-of-effect skill.

The student who had been watching for an opening released the secretly gathered Mana...!

Slash!

He was about to activate the skill while watching Ziek fall to the ground.

He was certain he had not given any opening, yet for some reason his vision began to collapse.

He could not put strength into his body, and his eyelids closed regardless of his will.

Ding!

-You have died.

A simple and cold message.

Watching not only himself but all the students in this place collapse, he realized the talent and the wall that he could never overcome.

’But who the hell is it? Among the assassination-type ability users... was there such a strong student?’

With that final question, his consciousness—as well as the consciousness of every student in that place—was cut off.

"Wow... this is just playing around, isn’t it?"

"Who is it? Uncompromising aggressiveness and clean assassination skills. Even the ability to escape from a large encirclement... I’m tempted."

"If you transform into a Beastman, you gain physical abilities that surpass human levels... so that’s how it is!"

The normally strict Guild Masters were unable to hide their excitement, acting almost like children.

Twenty students had been annihilated before a cup of ramen could even finish cooking.

There had been several attacks aimed at Neo Haias, yet none of them managed to inflict proper damage.

The side that had surrounded him was the one that got annihilated instead.

Of course, since this was an exam, no one was truly at fault.

In the face of a cold examination, such a scene was rather a natural phenomenon.

However, from the perspective of the spectators, it was a perfect reverse gank that felt incredibly refreshing.

The Guild Masters continued to praise Neo Haias while staring intently at the screen.

As all the enemies disappeared, Neo Haias—who had seemed to vanish from the screen—revealed his figure once more.

The students who had been processed as dead were disappearing into particles of light.

Appearing in the midst of that scene, Neo made a splendid entrance like the protagonist of a movie, nonchalantly dusting off his hands and looking around.

At this sight, some Guild Masters felt vicarious catharsis and clenched their fists tightly or trembled with excitement.

"Headmaster. Who is this student?"

"I’d like to see some information. No... I’d like to see this student fighting top-tier students or fighting powerful boss Monsters."

"Please tell me who taught him those skills."

Attention focused completely on Neo Haias. The abilities he had shown were far too excellent to belong to an ordinary Academy student.

Even if one hundred points was a perfect score, they wanted to give him more than that.

In particular, the Headmaster barely managed to suppress the corners of his mouth from twitching upward.

From being at the very bottom to becoming a top-tier student through a sudden awakening?

Was this not the exact Hunter story that everyone was curious about and desperately wanted to see?

Anyway... he had succeeded in obtaining a sudden gem.

However, he now had to think carefully about how to make the Guild Masters, who were full of expectations, compete with one another.

In the end, Neo would leave the Academy and become a Hunter.

What kind of explanation should he give here to make the Guild Masters, who were full of talent greed, feel anxious?

Could the name of the Academy be raised even higher and receive more donations as a result?

The Headmaster was thinking hard inside.

First, he shared the system window containing Neo Haias’s basic information so that the Guild Masters could see it.

Feedback came back immediately.

"The Academy... he’s at the bottom? This student?"

"He’s first in the written exam. They say there’s no student who can match him when it comes to knowledge... he had no abilities... then that means he has only just manifested his abilities now. He’s manifested power as strong as his knowledge..."

"No! Still, does it make sense to manifest such abilities from the very beginning? Even with powerful abilities, one normally has to go through a period of getting used to them at first. Looking at that combat power, I can only think that he has been hiding his strength for a long time..."

"I want to take him to the Guild and perform a detailed analysis. Headmaster... what do you think? Shouldn’t we put that student into the top-tier group and have him take the other exams as well?"

The Headmaster smiled at the pouring attention.

"Everyone, calm down. There is still time left for the exam, and there are many other students. Everyone! A great gem is something you never get tired of looking at... First of all, let’s continue watching all the top-tier students."