Almost all the examinees had taken up positions in the forest.
Naturally, the evaluators’ attention could only turn there.
They controlled most of the Gate Eyes operating for this exam, observing the forest as darkness settled over it.
It did not take them long to notice the abnormal changes occurring within.
[Grrrr!]
[Kyaaaah! S-someone, help me…!]
[Don’t panic! If we stay calm, we can handle th— bzzzt!]
The screens showed monsters drunk on their instincts, and examinees either fleeing in terror from their attacks or trying to fight back.
The footage displayed across dozens of screens was much the same.
Quite a few screens cut off midway with bursts of static.
It meant that either the screen chokers around the examinees’ necks or the Gate Eyes flying overhead had been destroyed.
In the former case, it could mean the examinee had met their death.
“…”
That situation was unfolding throughout the entire forest.
The evaluators could not hide their agitation.
“This is… too dangerous, isn’t it?”
They had expected that the examinees who had been lying low would engage in a fierce struggle for one another’s admission tickets on the eve of the exam’s final night.
They had also expected that the monsters drawn by their mana would become involved, throwing the battlefield into chaos.
After all, they had set the gate inside the forest where the examinees were gathered precisely to encourage that chaos, so it could be said that this was the situation they had hoped for.
But what was happening in the forest had far exceeded their expectations and was reaching a point where it could no longer be controlled.
They could not simply sit by and watch.
The supervisor overseeing the fifth practical exam spoke with authority.
“The monsters’ behavior is far from normal, so we will deploy the evaluators and assistants to the field immediately! Those deployed are to prioritize rescuing the examinees and determine the cause of the situation.”
“Supervisor, with our personnel, will we have enough time to save that many examinees…?”
“We can make up for the shortage with the examinees we rescue. They may still lack practical experience, and they were only flustered by the attack because they had no central figure to rally around, but if those who have made it this far regain their composure and coordinate, they should be fully capable of defeating the monsters. That means all of you must become their rallying point. Understood?”
“Yes! Understood!”
Once the evaluators were deployed, they should be able to clear the forest outskirts quickly.
The problem was the heart of the forest.
It would inevitably take time for their strength to reach that deep.
Unable to shake off his concern, the supervisor watched the screens together with the evaluators who remained in the control room.
“It would be easier to rescue them if the examinees came out toward the outskirts… Is the examinee from the Divine Sword Do Clan still fighting?”
“Yes, I’ll put him on the central monitor.”
The largest screen changed.
It showed Do Gyeonu of the Divine Sword Do Clan engaged in a struggle with a female examinee.
The supervisor frowned, looking displeased.
“To think he’s still only thinking about stealing admission tickets in this situation…”
Do Gyeonu held the highest score in this exam.
As a result, the supervisor and evaluators had been keeping a close eye on him.
But the sight he was showing them now was nothing but disappointing.
He seemed not to know which should take priority: his own safety or the admission tickets.
A foolish hunter died young, and he was foolish to the extreme.
That was what the supervisor was thinking.
“But that examinee is impressive too. She’s fighting on equal footing with the examinee from the Divine Sword Do Clan.”
“…”
One of the evaluators spoke up.
The supervisor’s gaze shifted to the female examinee fighting Do Gyeonu.
She was an examinee wearing a yellow admission ticket.
“She certainly is unexpected.”
The supervisor gave a brief assessment.
The female examinee, Park Jihui, had not stood out until now.
Like the other examinees who had obtained yellow admission tickets, she had only recorded average results.
Yet perhaps she had undergone some change of heart, because in the fifth exam she was displaying skill that stood in stark contrast to her previous performance.
She had even been evaluating other examinees, as though she herself were an evaluator.
“Hmm…”
It was unusual for an examinee wearing a yellow admission ticket to display that level of ability.
It was more than enough for the supervisor to take notice.
For that reason, he was not entirely uninterested in the fact that two examinees he had been watching were fighting each other.
He simply hoped that they would get their emotions under control and develop the discernment to grasp the situation.
Just then, Do Gyeonu’s voice came through the screen.
[A fiend of the Demon Society is a target to be eliminated.]
[…]
[All the more so if it’s one of the Six Demons. Isn’t that right? Doll Ghost Lady, Lee Gahyeon.]
At the words Do Gyeonu spoke as though making a declaration,
the evaluators doubted their ears for a moment.
They could not understand what they had just heard.
“What did he… just say?”
“A fiend? That’s absurd.”
“We must have heard wrong.”
“He probably said it to insult her. Even so… that was too much.”
The evaluators were dumbfounded.
Why would the Doll Ghost Lady, Lee Gahyeon, be here?
It was nothing but nonsense.
They did not believe Do Gyeonu’s words and tried to laugh them off.
[…How did you know?]
“…”
Until Park Jihui said that.
An awkward silence fell over the control room.
“…It’s a joke, right?”
“It must be.”
“She must just be playing along with the joke made by the examinee from the Divine Sword Do Clan.”
“…”
The evaluators dismissed it as idle talk.
They did not want to accept the fact that a fiend had infiltrated the exam.
But they had no choice but to accept it.
Park Jihui’s eyes had turned red.
“A fiend…”
“…”
Unless one was an albino or a demi-human, red eyes did not manifest in humans, even when their genes were altered by mana.
The fact that hers had turned red nevertheless indicated that she was a fiend.
“How could a fiend…”
“Then she really is the Doll Ghost Lady!?”
The control room was thrown into an uproar.
The evaluators could not hide their shock at the fact that a fiend—and the Doll Ghost Lady, Lee Gahyeon, no less—had infiltrated the examination grounds.
However, they were Academy instructors and, at the same time, hunters.
In this world, it was not uncommon to become entangled with fiends.
In a way, facing them was a hunter’s life and destiny.
Their shock lasted only a moment.
As an instructor and as a hunter, the supervisor’s expression changed, and he gave orders to the evaluators.
“Determine the Doll Ghost Lady’s exact location! Inform the evaluators deployed in the field of this at once, and tell the evaluators closest to her to engage her immediately!”
Why was the Doll Ghost Lady here?
What was her objective?
Before that, how on earth had Do Gyeonu of the Divine Sword Do Clan discovered the Doll Ghost Lady’s identity?
At the moment, there were too many things they could not understand.
But those questions were not important.
What mattered was defeating her, the likely cause of the situation unfolding now, and bringing things under control.
They had to move instead of thinking.
For now, the supervisor set aside the questions that had risen in his mind.
* * *
She might be nothing more than a clone of Lee Gahyeon, but even so, she was strong.
After her identity had been exposed by me, she no longer hesitated to emit the aura of a fiend.
The blades she swung came rushing in.
Ting!
The trajectory, its keen edge gleaming blue under the moonlight, quickly vanished and disappeared, disrupting my vision.
The blade I had clearly deflected with the Ultramarine Sword was suddenly thrust before me again, threatening me.
It felt as though I had fallen into an antlion pit.
It was enough to make a ghost wail.
There must have been a certain form and technique within those attacks that looked like simple hacking and slashing.
If I continued this exchange as it was, I would eventually fall to her.
Right then.
Whoosh!
Lee Gahyeon swung her right hand, which she had pulled back hard behind her head.
Having grown accustomed to exchanging blows with her, I moved instinctively.
Her lips entered my sight.
“…!”
The corners of Lee Gahyeon’s mouth had risen.
Something was wrong.
A vague unease swept over me.
But I was already swinging the Ultramarine Sword down to strike away the blade.
I could not withdraw my sword now, and if I did, I might expose an opening.
There was no choice. I had to push through.
I put strength into the Ultramarine Sword.
Bzzzt!
The Ultramarine Sword struck against the barrier Lee Gahyeon had deployed in front of her right hand.
She was not holding a sword.
‘Then where is it…!?’
The question flashed through my mind.
In that moment, the blade she held in her hand was coming in from the left.
I had to counter it.
Just as I made that judgment—
Crackle!
A current ran across the back of my neck.
My evasion instinct was pleading with me to look behind me.
I entrusted my body to that instinct, pivoted on my right foot, and avoided the blade digging in.
When I glanced back, a sword was flying in from the darkness.
It was the sword Lee Gahyeon had been holding.
Ting!
I swung the Ultramarine Sword and knocked the falling sword far away.
But as though it were connected to something, the sword returned to Lee Gahyeon’s hand.
Silver thread.
It had been bound to a thread so thin it looked ready to snap, yet possessed the strength of reinforcing steel.
It was the Doll Ghost Lady’s main weapon.
“I thought you hadn’t noticed this, but you really do dodge well, don’t you? You have good instincts.”
Perhaps because she had shown it to me once,
she no longer tried to hide the silver thread.
When she released the hand holding the sword, the sword connected to the thread extending from her fingertips dangled in midair.
“Then shall we see if you can dodge this too?”
Lee Gahyeon swung her crossed hands.
The swords hanging limply in the air filled with sharp energy and flew at me.
Whoosh!
It was not only the swords that came flying.
Threads sprouting from her other fingers were also aiming for me.
In the darkness, lines revealed by the moonlight were faintly visible.
When I strengthened my eyesight with mana, I could see the mana dwelling within the threads.
‘I can dodge them.’
Watching the lines suffused with blue light and relying on my evasion instinct,
I knocked away the swords, cut the threads, or twisted my body to avoid them.
Then I charged straight toward her, who was now without a weapon in hand.
“You’d better watch your back.”
Even as she saw me closing the distance, Lee Gahyeon showed no sign of panic.
As though she were a conductor, she brought both hands before her chest and crossed them.
Crack!
It was then that a sound came from behind me.
Trees bound by silver thread were falling overhead.
I leaped from where I stood, matching the speed of the falling trees.
I landed atop a tree that had fallen to the ground and escaped the danger.
‘Fighting here puts me at a disadvantage.’
There were too many features in the surroundings that she could use with her silver thread.
At some point, she must have set things up, because I could find blue lines drawn here and there between the trees.
If I had passed through without knowing silver thread was strung there, my body would have been sliced to pieces.
‘I’d better change locations.’
I searched the map of the forest in my head.
Since I had spent the entire day roaming the forest and fighting for admission tickets, I knew the surrounding terrain well.
It was not difficult to think of a place advantageous to me.
Lion Shattering Rend
A sword technique blending the principles of Strength and Supremacy.
Leaping down from the tree trunk I had been standing on, I struck the ground with all my might.
The mana dwelling in the blade split the earth and collapsed the ground.
───!!
It was a technique that consumed quite a bit of mana, but it was just as destructive.
Lee Gahyeon retreated far back to avoid the aftermath of the attack.
It was the direction I wanted.
Lion’s Fierce Charge
I charged at Lee Gahyeon.
Lion’s Fierce Charge increased in power every time I changed direction and advanced in a straight line.
Moving while creating lightning-like trajectories, I soon caught up to her.
Lion’s Wild Dance
So that Lee Gahyeon would have no time to think,
I poured out attacks without pause.
In terms of weapon performance, the Ultramarine Sword had the advantage.
If I committed myself and brought the Ultramarine Sword down, her twin swords could not easily deflect it.
“Kh!”
The composure vanished from Lee Gahyeon’s face.
Frowning, she tried to widen the distance in order to turn the tide of battle.
Things went exactly as I had hoped.
“This place…”
“You won’t be able to knock down trees anymore, will you?”
We were standing in a field.
It was the place where I had become the examinees’ target yesterday and fought over admission tickets.
“I wondered where you were leading me, and it was here? Did you think I wouldn’t be able to handle my silver thread properly in this place?”
Lee Gahyeon snorted.
The silver thread forming from her fingertips sagged limply to the ground.
“But unfortunately, what will you do? My silver thread can do this as well.”
“…!”
Lee Gahyeon raised her hand with a flash.
In that instant, the ground before her was torn away.
A clump of earth retaining its form fell toward my head.
*She could do even this?*
I hadn't anticipated it.
In the game, there had been instances where Lee Gahyeon used Silver Thread to throw terrain features, but tearing up the ground itself had never been mentioned.
However, the open field was a more advantageous location for me than the forest.
In an open field, the surroundings were wide and clear, allowing me to swing my sword comfortably from anywhere without worrying about obstacles.
Crack!
Trusting my body to my evasion instincts.
I dodged the falling clump of earth and sprinted across the open field.
Lee Gahyeon likewise charged at me.
Swish!
Lee Gahyeon swept her hand through the air.
Strands of thread crossed in an X-shape, attempting to block my path.
They couldn't be cut by a simple swing.
Lion's Trace
Drawing the mana within my body from my heart.
I swung my mana-infused blade and severed the strands of thread.
The threads freed from her hands dissolved into mana, melting into the atmosphere.
Ting!
Lee Gahyeon spread her clasped hands, extending the Silver Thread long.
The Silver Thread blocked my sword.
Immediately after, she delivered a spinning kick, striking my flank.
Having blocked the attack to avoid a fatal wound, I was pushed aside.
To maintain her momentum, she unleashed a slashing frenzy.
Ting!
The Twin Swords and the Cerulean Sword clashed.
A metallic din filled the open field, ringing in my ears.
Fwoosh!
It was then that the night sky flashed.
Light had burst out of nowhere.
*Go Eunbi must have evacuated the others safely and come to help.*
Go Eunbi had fired an arrow.
A signal flare.
Fwoosh!
Once again.
The night sky flashed for an instant.
The light bursting above the open field brightly illuminated the surroundings for a moment.
Beneath the light, Lee Gahyeon's red eyes and the veins rising on her face were clearly revealed.
Lion's Iron Fragment
Lee Gahyeon seemed to pay no mind to the light brightening the night sky.
Likely because it posed no threat, she appeared to think it was simply something the examinees were using to light up the forest's darkness.
That wasn't entirely untrue.
Even though I was hoping for something more, simply illuminating the darkness was good enough.
*When the light bursts next.*
I would find an opening against Lee Gahyeon.
Lowering my stance, I stomped on the ground.
Once again, a fierce exchange of attacks unfolded.
Slash!
Lee Gahyeon's blade brushed my cheek.
My grazed cheek stung.
I must have allowed her attack through and suffered a cut.
I wasn't worried.
If I feared a wound of this magnitude, I could never become a Hunter.
In the first place, I had already accumulated more than one or two injuries while crossing blades with her.
So I continued to wait for the right moment.
Before long.
Fwoosh!
An arrow laden with light soared into the night sky from somewhere.
The arrow reached its critical point and exploded, scattering light across the night sky.
Seizing that moment, I tilted the Cerulean Sword and tore into the ground.
Lion's Curtain
Dirt flew up in all directions, and simultaneously, mana flowing from the back of my blade created a curtain.
Beneath the night sky where the light had yet to fade, the curtain concealed my presence.
"Using such petty tricks!"
Lee Gahyeon split the curtain with her Silver Thread to find me.
However, I had already left that spot and moved behind her.
"…!"
Bewilderment spread across Lee Gahyeon's face.
Fixing my gaze on her.
I unleashed the Azure Lightning condensed within the Cerulean Sword during our battle.
────!!
Blue current screamed.
As if it would tear the world apart.
The Azure Lightning freed from the Cerulean Sword roared savagely, surging up jaggedly and dyeing the night sky blue.
Let's see you block this too.
I discharged the condensed Azure Lightning from the Cerulean Sword toward Lee Gahyeon.
Lightning incomparable to Lion's Shatter swallowed her at the speed of a thunderbolt.
"Kyaaaaaaaaah!"
Lee Gahyeon screamed.
She tried to escape the lightning, but her electrified body wouldn't move easily.
The Azure Lightning scorched and burned her body as if leaving not even her form behind.
"With something like this… I…."
But Lee Gahyeon was a Majin.
Though she had clearly suffered a fatal blow, the lightning couldn't completely annihilate her.
The thickness of the blue lightning decreased.
Whether because she had become able to endure the pain, she cackled.
Naturally, I didn't stay still.
Lion's Iron Fragment
Before the lightning vanished completely.
I charged at Lee Gahyeon, who was struggling to stand within the thunderbolt.
"…What!?"
The lightning constraining Lee Gahyeon disappeared.
I swung the Cerulean Sword like a whip.
The whip-like slash severed her head before she could react.
"Ah…."
With a vacant sound.
As if she couldn't believe it.
Lee Gahyeon's head, separated from her neck, floated into the night sky.
Her head plummeted toward the ground….
"Did you think it would end just by cutting off my head?"
"…Of course not."
Lee Gahyeon's head did not fall.
Silver Thread connecting the severed cross-sections of her head and neck stopped the descent.
Her head, with eyes facing the ground and mouth facing the sky, looked at me and burst into giggles.
"Majin, you see."
The Silver Thread hanging in the air shortened.
Lee Gahyeon's head was drawn by the Silver Thread and settled onto the severed cross-section.
As if her beheading had been a lie, the seam smoothly closed up.
"We have two lives, you know?"
Crack, crack.
A sound like bones twisting came from Lee Gahyeon.
It was no illusion.
The lower part of her stomach was writhing and transforming.
Her hips expanded greatly, while her legs transformed into the legs of an arthropod, increasing to eight.
"Once as a human. And…."
Lee Gahyeon smirked.
Before I knew it, Lee Gahyeon was in a position looking down at me.
With her lower body transformed into that of a spider.
"Once as a Majin."
"…."
"You must be terribly disappointed that it doesn't end with just one time. What will you do? It seems you don't have much strength left to fight me. On the other hand, I've made a full recovery."
Lee Gahyeon spread her arms wide, as if showing herself off grandly.
And then she spoke to me.
"It's not too late even now. If you tell me how you found out my true identity, I'll be generous and let you go without killing you. You're just my type, and I'd rather not kill you if possible. No, better yet, why don't you join our side?"
"Join your side… are you telling me to become a villain or something?"
"Correct."
"…."
"You try to use anything you can take advantage of, you're good at scheming, and you don't hesitate to kill people when it's time to make a decision—doesn't someone like you suit being a villain better?"
"That's absurd."
"Why is it absurd? A personality like yours suits a villain. If you come over to our side, I'll teach you everything from one to ten—no, even beyond that, one thing at a time. Let's have fun together, okay?"
"Spiders aren't my type."
"Then… I'll prepare a doll that suits your taste. Just say the word."
"I have no intention of playing along with you."
"…Are you going to keep this up? I'm giving you a chance right now."
"Should I give you a chance too?"
"…."
"Do you want to die gracefully, or die horribly?"
"You… don't listen to a word anyone says. And here I was, being considerate for once."
"Not a person. A Majin."
"Well, fine. If you wish to die, I'll grant your wish. After I kill you, I'll turn you into a doll and keep you in my collection forever."
Killing intent swirled in Lee Gahyeon's eyes.
I didn't falter against her, even though she had become far stronger than before.
As she said, I had nearly exhausted my strength and didn't have much left, but even so, I was confident I could win.
Above all.
*You came at just the right time.*
I had reliable support.
I looked up at the night sky.
A circular magic circle had appeared high in the night sky.
"Just when did that…."
Lee Gahyeon seemed to have noticed it only then.
She moved her spider legs to escape from beneath the magic circle.
However, the magic activated far faster.
A third-circle darkness element magic that bombarded the area beneath the magic circle in proportion to the caster's ability.
The magic circle emitted light, and within it, pitch-black fireballs dropped like a bombardment.
"Kyaaaaaah!"
Lee Gahyeon screamed, her increased size providing more points of impact.
She escaped the magic circle with difficulty, bleeding profusely.
Then she glared fiercely up at the night sky.
"Was this your doing?"
"…."
Near the fading magic circle.
A woman with white and blue hair fluttering in the wind was floating.
It was Yeon Haneul.
She looked down at the ground in silence, her red eyes gleaming.
She didn't answer Lee Gahyeon's words, as if Lee Gahyeon wasn't even worth her attention.
"Good thing you found your way here."
"I was able to find you easily thanks to Eunbi letting me know with the signal flare. That's the signal flare the three of us decided on when we hunted rabbits, remember?"
Yeon Haneul landed before me.
Standing before me as if to protect me, she asked in a disgruntled tone.
"You were so sure I'd come, weren't you?"
"Because I believed you would."
"…."
I shrugged.
There was no way Yeon Haneul hadn't heard the rumors that I had become the target of the examinees.
If she had heard those rumors, she would undoubtedly have come to help me.
The opposite was true as well.
If I had heard that she had become a target, I would have rushed to help her.
That was the kind of relationship we had.
A childhood friend relationship where we trusted each other without doubt and gave absolute support.
"Thanks. I can breathe easier now."
"If you were going to pull something like this, you should have told me. Then I wouldn't have had to struggle so much to find you."
"Sorry, I'll try to tell you next time."
"'Try'? Device on."
Huffing, Yeon Haneul drew an iron hammer.
I stepped toward her.
"So? I just need to take her down, right?"
"Your opponent isn't a human, it's a Majin, so don't hold back. You'll get hurt if you hesitate."
"I won't. Don't worry. But you're not hurt anywhere, right?"
"You see the wound on my cheek here? She did this to me."
"…I see."
"Haneul, teach her a lesson."
Grind.
Yeon Haneul clenched her teeth.
She ignited her fighting spirit.
Meanwhile, I stood beside her.
As long as she was by my side, I would absolutely not lose.
*I can't show a pathetic sight in front of Haneul.*
I had become the childhood friend of the mid-boss.