Confused at the sight of the golem running away, the three in front of them stopped their clenched fists midway. I sneakily opened my palm up.

“Oh hey! Three rocks and a paper, I win—”

Three glares turned toward me at once, ReRa still flying off in the distance.

{How shitty, didn't they agree to Rock Paper Scissors?}

They did, but it seems like they aren't in the mood for jokes. Their glares intensified with each passing second as they tried to make sense of whatever was happening.

Maybe Blaine's technique would work?

I lightly stuck out my tongue and mumbled, “Teehee.”

“BASTARD!“

The three of them snapped out of their thoughts all together. At once, I created a small gust around me with wind magic and dived ahead to the bag with the remaining cores, and strapped it to my back. At the same time, Luke was chasing after me for the bag while Blaine and Seraphina got their footing back and brandished their weapons, aiming whatever flakes of magic power they had left at the golem.

My mind rushed to process the situation and judge their mentality. For now, only Luke seemed truly suspicious.

He stuck his hand out, I leaned back and dodged before screaming out loud. “STOP! You'll be disqualified!!“

Blaine and Seraphina slightly lowered their weapons and looked behind. At Luke, who stopped midway while grabbing for the bag, and at me, pulling off some serious gymnastic maneuvers to dodge that guy.

“Attacking the golem counts as attacking me!“ It didn't.

“I asked the professors before. It's the same with summons, you'll be disqualified if you're in the same team.“ I hadn't asked, and they probably won't be.

But it was enough to stop them. They begrudgingly looked at the retreating golem. By that time, Luke closed in and tried to grab my collars, but I jumped back again.

The two of us glared at each other and took in deep breaths.

“Why is it running, Ralph?“ he asked.

“I don't know.“ If it wasn't obvious, I could probably fool a lie detector.

“Then, why are you running?“

“My test is on the line,” I said with a flat face. “With the core of the boss gone, we're a little short on cores, right? Even if we were planning to cover two people, I have no points at all. Sorry, but I'll be taking these.“

At that moment, an arrow of blue mana whistled through the air and shot toward the strap of the bag attached to my shoulder. I clicked my tongue and concentrated some mana in my eyes again. Before the fierce arrow could reach the fabric of the strap, it fluttered around and dove into the ground instead.

“Look,” I said, taking a step back and glaring at the three of them. There were many drones around, and this final spectacle would attract even more. Quite a few people must be doubting me, thinking that ReRa changed directions on my order and not from a malfunction. But that was ok, it was temporary.

Being cunning and sly here was more integral to this 'show' I was going to put on.

“I might be injured, but you guys are completely exhausted. Even if I am not strong enough to fight… I can make sure that at least one of your attacks hit me.“

Saying so, I took another step back, and then another, getting my back to the edge of the pit.

“Do you want to take the chance?“

“Goddamn it Ralph,” Blaine muttered, clenching her teeth. She was the one who I was screwing over the most here. The other two had hateful gazes as well, but they didn't make any moves. Half because they were worried, and a half because they didn't have the strength to.

“Instead of me,” My hand stretched out and pointed at the other side of the pit which had been shaved clean by the Mantis' wind attack. “Why don't you go after the golem? I'm not going to do it myself, you might just get the points, you know?“

The three frowned deeper than before and looked back.

“Smart choice,” I said, vigilantly climbing up the pit. At the top, I looked down at them for a few seconds and smirked.

“System, keep an eye out. We're going to run.“

{Were these rules added just for this stuff? It feels like a real waste.}

“What are you saying? Rules are always made to threaten, right?“

{Still a waste though…}

***

Ralph was gone.

“FUCK!“ Blaine screamed out loud as the sight of the black-haired man that had her dancing on his palm retreated from the pit.

“Blaine,” Seraphina softly reached out and wrapped her arms around Blaine's back with a gentle touch. “How many points do you have?“ She asked.

Blaine choked on her words, and then muttered out a weak groan. “None…”

Luke and Seraphina both stopped in their tracks.

“W-we can… hunt some more…” Luke forced himself to speak, but knew it was impossible to hunt anything else in their current state. They could do so if they dragged things out, but—

A tremble spread through the entire dungeon, perking up all three of them.

“Collapse… already?“

The trembling strengthened as mana inside the dungeon ran amok. Luke and Seraphina hesitated to move despite the urgency.

They couldn't leave the place if Blaine was going to fail as she stepped out.

Their hesitation proved to be useless as Blaine pushed them aside and ran to the end of the pit with tears in her eyes. She hopped over the pit and got back up on the ground, followed by Luke and Seraphina, and then by the many drones waiting to see the outcome of their predicament from the most cinematic angles.

“Where are we going?“ Seraphina asked.

“I remember the damn map!“ Blaine answered back and shot off in the direction that Ralph had taken. The tremblings of the dungeon increased and cracks started spreading through the skies. By then, their wristbands started glowing a bright glow, as if telling them they were headed in the correct direction.

Running a bit further through the collapsing dungeon, Blaine's feet screeched to a halt when many orbs of different colors entered her eyes.

“T-this…”

“Monster cores?“

Not much further from the pit, a pile of cores was set up in their path. The sand below the pile contained some fading letters dragged over them.

'Just kidding,' it said.

The first special exams had come to an end.