The Author's POV

*Tsk*

"Another dead end..."

Clicking her tongue, Melissa glared at the cave wall that was blocking her way.

Turning around, she once again walked back towards the entrance of the fork roads, not minding the fact that the road was littered with goblin corpses.

"This way, I'm sure this is the correct path"

"Quick before the others catch up"

Along the way, Melissa would occasionally spot other students running down the path, but she didn't bother to even glance at them nor speak to them.

Since this was a competition, there was no need for her to tell them that this road was a dead end.

Moreover, with the fact that she was walking back, it was already painfully obvious that this was a dead end. Yet the students seemed to have completely brushed this fact off.

It was not her fault they were dumb.

Sighing, Melissa couldn't help but speed up her pace. After all, the faster the time the better the score.

As Melissa ran, she couldn't help but wish to get this over with.

In reality, she didn't particularly care about her exam.

Her specialty lied in the theoretical area, meaning that she had no interest in fighting. If not for the fact that her parents practically begged for her to enroll at the Lock, she would've never have come to this place.

"Damn this..."

If not for the fact that she choose the wrong path twice, Melissa estimated that she would've been first by a long shot.

She had wasted a lot of time...

Though she didn't particularly care about the exam, that didn't mean she wanted to botch it either.

Even if her specialty laid in the theoretical area, she still wanted to get a good score. After all, for a perfectionist like her, anything below Top 5 was a failure.

Fortunately, the dungeon was still long and thus she could still reach first place, but the fact that she wasted time irked her. Thus, without pause, she soon ran back to the entrance at full speed.

-Beeeeep! -Beeeeep! -Beeeeep!

As she reached the entrance of the cave, Melissa soon heard the loud and continuous beeping sounds coming from the other side of where she was.

Frowning slightly, slowing down her steps, she soon spotted three third years squatting down and treating a student.

...hm?

Getting a closer look at who the student in question was, Melissa was slightly taken aback.

...Wasn't that Arnold?

She recognized him instantly. I mean, he was Jin's lackey after all. Whenever Jin was present he too was present.

Though not anymore, with Jin always sticking around her whenever he had a chance, she had obviously seen Arnold several times in the past.

...He too annoyed her. Especially since all he did was lick Jin's ass

But why was he passed out on the ground?

According to what she remembered, Arnold, being Jin's lackey, was a fairly strong individual. Pretty much the same strength as her.

Before the trial started, she had estimated that apart from him, no one else would really pose a threat to her in terms of power.

So, how in the world was he in such a state...

'Wait...'

Recalling something, Mellisa couldn't but be slightly startled.

She had just remembered her encounter with Ren...prior to when she entered the left path.

Altough at that time she didn't know who Ren was beating up, due to how battered the victim's face was...she now had a feeling that it was in fact, Arnold.

That time, Melissa thought Ren was beating a relatively weaker student who had picked a fight with him.

She thought that the dispute was over an insignificant matter like the corpse of a goblin. Such disputed happened quite often, as every goblin head counted for an extra point for the exam.

Therefore she didn't stick around for too long and just went her way.

...but the last thing she expected was for 'that' student to be Arnold...After all, Ren didn't particularly strike her as a strong individual.

However, it seems like she was wrong...it turns out that he was capable of beating the likes of Arnold.

Arnold was a fairly muscular and tall male. Although she didn't get a clear look last time, as she looked at Arnold on the ground being helped by the third years, Melissa felt that this was the same body frame as the person Ren was beating up.

This sort of surprised her.

Though she was surprised to see Ren appear in the <F> rank section, she didn't put much thought into it.

After all, she did give him potions. With the aid of her potions, forcefully entering <F> rank wasn't an impossible feat...but seeing Arnold battered on the floor, it seemed like his combat strength wasn't to be underestimated.

To be able to one-sidedly beat Arnold...

Hard.

Very hard.

Even if you ambushed him, with how robust his body frame and defenses were, such an accomplishment was hard.

Watching the third-years applying ointment all over Arnold's face, Melissa frowned.

The more she got to know about Ren, the more she felt that he was strange. From the incident back in Professor Rombhouse class to the theory he had given her, and to the fact that he could easily bully Arnold.

Ren Dover had shown her many surprises.

Glancing at the third year carrying Arnold's body away, the frown in Melissa's face didn't lessen one bit.

Ren Dover.

He was definitely hiding something.

...

-Wooosh! -Wooosh! -Wooosh!

Inside of a damp cave-like environment, three streaks of light split the air apart, and a whistle arose.

-Spurt! -Spurt! -Spurt!

Soon after, green blood splashed everywhere as three goblins lifelessly fell down on the ground.

"Thanks!"

Putting her shortswords away, Emma, who was a few meters away from the goblins, glanced at Amanda who was a few meters behind her, and thanked her.

With both of them being <E> rank, they had naturally decided to team up. Moreover, with the fact that they were friends, they didn't need to worry about anyone backstabbing them.

Glancing towards the deeper end of the dungeon, Emma glanced at Amanda and asked

"Is Jin up ahead?"

"hm"

Nodding her head, Amanda responded

"He is with Troy"

Frowning, placing her hand on her chin, Emma couldn't help but ask

"Troy? If I remember correctly...he is the guy with yellow pupils and is always with Arnold right?"

"Yes"

Getting confirmation from Amanda, Emma's frown deepened.

"Honestly...that guy seriously creeps me out. Whenever I see him standing behind Jin, I always get this double-faced feeling coming from him."

Turning her head towards Amanda, Emma couldn't help but ask

"Is it just me who feels that way?"

Shaking her head, Amanda responded

"No"

She too felt a similar feeling whenever she saw Troy.

...He was dangerous.

Altough Jin seemed to be oblivious to it, Amanda, who always picks up on little things regarding people's behavior, noticed Troy always behaving weirdly.

Especially whenever he was with Jin.

He would always have a polite smile on his face whenever he was with him, but on rare occasions, his face would turn extremely serious.

Almost as if he had no emotions.

If someone didn't pay attention, chances were that they were going to miss this point, but Amanda managed to catch him doing it three times already.

Altough she knew that something was wrong, she didn't pry too deeply.

Considering how Jin always behaved, it wasn't strange for Troy to hate him...but now that Emma was also pointing it out, it seems like his shows of hatred had started to become more blatant.

...Amanda was starting to feel that something big was about to happen to Jin. But this was only her gut feeling. She couldn't confirm it.

"Ugh, enough talk about Troy, do you know what the others are up to?"

Snapping Amanda out of her thoughts was Emma who quickly cut the heads off of some of the goblins and put them into her dimensional space.

Handing some of the heads to Amanda, Emma continued.

"...I know Melissa is in the <F> leveled dungeon, so she should be fine. Kevin is also by himself in the D sec..."

Pausing her thoughts there, Emma couldn't help but frown as she muttered to herself

"...god just what kind of monster is he?"

She had known since Hollberg that Kevin had reached <D> rank, but recalling this fact once again, she couldn't help but once again be reminded by how ridiculous he was.

<D> rank at the age of 16?

Almost unheard of.

Even Jin who was extremely talented and full of resources was only <E> rank.

Just imagine how much of a monster Kevin was for reaching that level without being handed the same amount of resources as Jin.

After a bit of thinking, Emma couldn't help but say out loud

"...I'm sure that at the moment, no one in our first years can beat him"

Hearing what Emma said, Amanda nodded. However, a second after she nodded, she recalled something.

Hesitating for a second, looking at Emma, Amanda carefully said

"What about him?"

Tilting her head in confusion, Emma looked at Amanda and said

"hmmm? who are you referring to when you say him?"

"I mean Re-"

"Ah!"

But before Amanda finish speaking, Emma suddenly realized whom Amanda was speaking of and quickly raised her hand and blocked her mouth.

With her hands still on Amanda's mouth, Emma clenched her teeth and angrily said

"Don't ever mention that guy's name to me again..."

"?"

Taken aback by Emma's sudden outburst, Amanda found herself unable to speak due to her blocking her mouth. She didn't know what to do.

Moreover, just what did he do to piss Emma off so badly?

Stomping her feet in anger, not minding Amanda, Emma couldn't help but curse out loud

"ghhhh, just thinking about him pisses me off to no end, oh how I wish I could beat him to a pulp. Do you know what he did to me? He bas..."

Like that, for the next minute, Emma vented out her frustrations on Amanda.

In the end, Amanda could only helplessly stare at Emma as she ranted about her experience in the train ride.

"...and so that's what happened"

Finally venting everything out, taking her hands off Amanda, Emma quickly turned around and dived deeper into the dungeon.

"Let's go, I suddenly don't feel like talking anymore"

Glancing at Amanda behind her, Emma urged her to follow along.

Right now, any talks regarding Ren would immediately send her into a rage.

Recalling what had happened during her train ride back, Emma could feel her blood boiling. Just who did he think he was to ignore her like that?

The disrespect...

Ren Dover.

This was a name she wouldn't quite forget for a while.