A burst of pink light covered the skies.

The raging battle, the impassioned screams, the impending impact from the Ent. Everything stopped as if enamored by the pink glow. Waves upon waves of mana emitted from the magic stone, the cracks on its surface spreading with each passing second.

"AHH!!" Zachary screamed again as he pushed his shortsword deeper in.

A crashing sound reverbed in the air.

"Good.... day...?"

And the Ent shriveled up and dropped to the ground.

Everyone remained stunned in place as Zachary slowly retracted his wings and fell right atop the monster's corpse while panting heavily.

"I-it's... over..."

There was no mistaking it. The monster had fallen to the ground, under Zachy's feet.

Excitement bubbled up in everyone as the reality of the sight in front of them dawned into their minds.

"AHEM!"

Suddenly, a loud voice tore away the atmosphere as words sounded out from the skies.

"Good job, students." It was Don Brocious, the chief examiner. "Though a whole ton of you are gone, all four bosses in the dungeon have been beaten up!"

They all waited for a few seconds, their heads stuck to the sky.

Nothing.

There wasn't a word about the exam's end.

{Host...}

"Yeah. Fuck." Ralph answered the system under his breath and rushed away from the battlefield. While everyone was still confused, he dived into the trees and hid beneath the shadows. "[Dark Disguise (E-)]"

The rustling snapped the others out of their stupor.

"The exam isn't over... it seems." With a voice as charming as his looks, Leone Hendrickson, the blonde youth, swiped back his hair and gazed at everyone around him before settling on Seraphina.

"Such is the case..." Seraphina matched the gazes as she slowly bent down and picked up her blood-red spear. "The objective might be something different," she said as she casually pointed a spear to the ground and narrowed her eyes at Luke.

"Are you guys suggesting, we should be reducing the numbers?" Luke's black hair fluttered as he unsheathed his sword.

All their gazes now landed on Zachary, the one on top of the monster they had almost died from.

'Huh? Me?' Confusion filled his mind as Zachary saw everyone waiting for his words. 'Fuuuuck! Ralph! Get back here, take responsibility! How do you expect me to fight these monsters?' His eyes scanned all over the place for Ralph, but it was useless! His friend was gone! Just then, an expanding crack in the sky entered the corner of his eyes.

Zachary was still confused and the crack in the sky befuddled him even further. In a daze, he raised his hand...

The other three went on alert at his sudden actions.

... and pointed to the sky.

The gazes of all eighteen on the battlefield moved with Zachary's hands and shifted to the crack in the sky.

"The dungeon..." Luke said. "It's breaking apart. The final objective after raiding is to escape!"

Without wasting another second, all of them sprinted away from the battlefield and the crack. Their destination, the dome in the center.

***

"Ahhahahaha!"

White hair fluttered with the brown as Don Brocious' loud laugh spread in the control room of the examiners. He, alongside the other professors, avidly watched the students running away from the collapsing dungeon.

Some tried to do things on their own. Some of the more dense ones instead decided to fight each other, completely misunderstanding the objective of the exam.

The ones who realized on time worked together to run away just like the top candidates. The ones with the most awareness of their surroundings were almost at the dome, like Ralph Rubinstein and the girl that had registered alongside Luke.

"My, my, what an exciting event it was this year," Professor Artie said, stretching his arms above his head.

"So many unexpected things. We'll have a good bunch to whip into shape!"

"That Zachary kid was the most unexpected though. I knew he was a top 100 candidate, but such strength and charisma with enough wits. And the presence to level out the bad blood that was forming at the end by pulling all attention towards himself."

The examiners nodded at their colleague's words.

Don Brocious too nodded as he saw the students rush inside the dome one after another. The cracks in the sky spread further, stretching down to the ground and tearing the terrain apart. Soon, a message appeared in place of the projections.

"All students have entered the dome. The disqualified students are already present inside. Dream Gate closing in T-10 minutes."

Slapping his thighs, Don Brocious stood up from his seat and the other professors followed. "Y'all submitted your grades?"

"Yes, professor."

He pushed the chair behind and towards the door. "Good then, let's see how the computers rank the student. Next time we'll make the exams a bit more subjective with the rankings, I'd like to make a lot of money."

Unsure whether to laugh at the tasteless joke or speak out against it, the other professors could only give an awkward smile and follow behind him.

Don Brocious stepped in front of the door and it slid open, a vast empty field as the exit. He didn't pay it heed and stepped ahead, right as he exited the room, instead of the ground, his feet fell against a metallic floor.

"W-what?"

"Did we just teleport?"

Confused students filled the space on the left, feeling the effects of the teleportation spell that transported the entire dome out of the Dream Gate and brought it back into Agriche City.

A chuckle left Don Brocious as he looked at the familiar scene that played out each year. The long line of prestigious professors and teachers followed him, attracting the attention of the students with their regal gait as they walked up to the podium in the center of the dome.

The students all had their attention stolen by Don Brocious' regal figure. He gazed at the students for a few seconds before speaking up.

"Ahem. Welcome, prospective students and examinees in the Entrance Examination for Agriche Academy. First, on behalf of the academy, I would like to congratulate you on the completion of the Entrance Examinations."

"Wooo!"

"Yay!! We did it!"

Cheers rang out from the students for a few seconds before settling down again. As one would expect from the best of the best from all over the world, there was no need to shush them up at all.

"The objective to clear the examinations was to successfully raid the Dream Gate by taking down all the boss monsters and escaping before the dungeon collapsed. Unfortunately, of the1600 we expected from 3500, only 837 students were able to make it through to the end. That does mean that we will only accept those 837 students into their courses this year. The remaining have automatically been disqualified."

Gasps left the students at once, this time, though, they showed no signs of stopping. Only 837 students? It was a shock to the majority of them. It was even worse since every student knew whether they had passed or failed the exams.

Don Brocious gave them no time to gather themselves. He simply shook his head and spoke up again. All the students were once again quietened by the tone of his voice.

"Now. We will be moving on to the next point of order. A mixture of the examiners' gradings alongside the strictly objective grading made by our computers has ranked the passing students accordingly. This will be the very ranks you will be entering the Agriche Academy with."

The students all watched with bated breaths as three enormous projections appeared in the air the above the examiners, facing all ends of the dome. Letters buzzed in on the projections and within seconds, the results were displayed.