Gellivan was confident he would pass the test.
After all, he had managed to survive this far without being eliminated.
Moreover, he had a solid party around him.
The reason he had not been eliminated so far was simple.
The group of examinees he first met were a cooperative bunch who aimed to take down the monsters.
From then on, he joined the party and clung to it.
The party's skills were outstanding.
They could even handle a troll.
In the previous battle, a fireball Gellivan cast had taken the troll's life.
But his luck had run out.
The student who was the de facto leader of the party, with his arm being chewed, quickly shattered a bead to escape from the Heroic World.
A massive monster let out a deafening roar.
It was a monster he had never seen before.
A giant spider with a monstrous appearance.
Of its ten legs, all but the front ones were grotesquely bent.
The part of its body that spun silk was grotesquely crushed, and its head was half torn off.
Despite looking like a half-dead corpse, the terrifying creature was still alive.
Kiiiiiiiiik! Kiiiiiiiiik!
Gellivan hastily cast a spell.
The fireball hit the spider's face directly.
“Hahaha! How about that! Taste my fireball!”
Gellivan clenched his fist.
But as the smoke from the fireball cleared,
Gellivan's face turned pale when the spider, unscathed, revealed itself.
As the enraged spider lunged at him, Gellivan screamed and ran away.
The knight students grabbed their weapons to stop the spider.
But they were flung in all directions by the spider's strength.
The spider was a monster they could not possibly handle.
“How can we beat this thing!”
A student let out a scream bordering on a tantrum.
Gellivan, trembling, pulled out a blue bead from his pocket.
‘I, I need to escape! But if someone knocks it down, I might pass the test!’
Despite having no intention of taking down the spider himself, Gellivan wavered, hoping someone else would do it for him.
A wind spear that fell from the sky pierced the spider's back, splattering dark purple blood.
The wound healed almost instantly.
Abad, floating in the air with a Fly spell, grimaced.
The flames soon converged into a single point.
Selia, with a glint in her eyes, gathered the flame aura on her rapier and thrust it forward.
The spider, with its head pierced, let out a scream and swung its front legs.
Selia quickly retreated from the attack range and landed on the ground.
“Tch! It even recovers from this?”
As soon as they heard the scream, Selia and Abad immediately attacked the spider.
But even after taking a direct hit from magic and aura, the spider recovered unscathed.
“I've never seen this type of monster before.”
“It might be a creature from Tartarus.”
Selia tightened her grip on Flame Storm at Abad's muttering.
“And it seems to be part of the test.”
“Hmm? Indeed. Is this the key to conquering this world?”
Holding his staff, he began to chant in runes.
Wind magic power swirled around him.
Selia, seeing this, raised her aura.
‘I can’t let him get the upper hand.’
If knocking down the giant spider was part of the test, to be the top student, she needed to do it before Abad.
Until now, they had cooperated, but now they were in a competitive relationship.
Selia's red eyes glinted.
With her left arm, holding the rapier, she pulled it back and took a thrusting stance.
Her feet dug into the ground.
The most powerful attack Selia could use.
A thrust that focuses aura into a single point!
A blade of red flame shot out.
The flame that pierced through the spider's half-torn head and exited through its rear.
“Good! No matter how strong its recovery, this should...”
The giant spider, rising to its feet, let out a deafening scream.
Abad, floating in the air, smiled slyly.
“The destructive power of knights and mages is clearly different.”
Abad spread his hands and completed the spell.
A secret spell of the Rualin family.
A fierce gust of wind enveloped the spider.
“Is this the spell of a mage our age?”
The examinees caught in the wind let out cries of shock.
Abad had a meaningful expression.
As the spell dissipated, the giant spider revealed itself.
Its body was torn to shreds by the wind.
But the spider's body quickly recovered.
Even Abad's attack, which could be considered the most powerful among the current examinees, was ineffective.
Selia's face showed signs of frustration.
‘How are we supposed to take this down?’
“Indeed, they are worthy of being the talents praised by Zerding and Rualin! To have such powerful attacks at their age!”
The advisor exclaimed in admiration.
‘They chose competition over cooperation.’
Albi, watching the two, curled his lips.
The determination to be the best is not bad.
Selia and Abad have the skills for it.
‘But can they really take down that monster with their own strength?’
A monster that recovers infinitely cannot be defeated without a decisive blow.
Among the examinees, only Selia and Abad have attacks that could be effective against the monster.
But even their current skills are not enough.
‘If you are truly the material for a hero, overcome this trial.’
Leo's eyes glinted as he followed Selia and Abad.
‘The Spider Princess, Talatunia.’
He had suspected it when he saw the troll corpses.
The monster's feeding method was identical to this creature's.
A monster that, as the daughter of the demon queen Silatuna, once ruled the cursed monster forest.
Originally, it was a terrifying disaster capable of destroying a country on its own.
But now, it was not in its prime.
Its body was crushed, barely maintaining its original form.
Its head, which once emitted a terrifying magic power, was half torn off.
Compared to its prime, it had fallen to a mere monster.
‘Indeed, the magic power embedded in Albi's left eye was that of the Fairy King.’
A high-level spirit that has been with elves since ancient times.
Fairies, with transparent wings and the size of a palm, are beings with powerful magic power.
Only elves could enter into a contract with fairies, making them extremely rare in the human world.
Talatunia, 5000 years ago, devoured the Fairy King's right hand.
Luna did not forgive Talatunia, who had destroyed her homeland and devoured the right hand of her contract partner.
The Spider Princess, who was single-handedly destroying a country, was killed by the [Progenitor of the Constellation].
But thousands of years later,
The Ring of Life, a symbol of the Fairy King.
A ring that grants infinite life, was devoured along with the Fairy King's hand by Talatunia.
Leo adjusted his grip on his sword.
Taking a throwing stance, he threw it.
Talatunia screamed as Leo's sword pierced her head.
He then stood next to Selia and said,
“Looks tough, doesn’t it?”
“You step back, Leo. You can’t handle this without aura.”
A wind blade from the sky descended upon Talatunia.
Talatunia, writhing in pain, glared at the sky and let out a roar, jumping.
Thanks to her incredible jumping ability, she quickly reached Abad.
Chelsea, who had followed closely, activated the spell she had cast.
The wind blade enveloped Talatunia.
Talatunia, prevented from attacking Abad by Chelsea, fell to the ground.
The ground shook as Talatunia landed.
“Big brother, are you okay?”
Abad, smiling at his sister, descended to the ground.
He judged that being in the air was too dangerous.
Other examinees who followed surrounded Talatunia.
“How do we take down this monster?”
As Abad muttered seriously, Leo asked,
“Yes. Even my most powerful spell didn’t work.”
“So what? Then it’s simple.”
“If we can’t take it down, we need to combine our strength. It’s a simple story.”
“Leo, we are in a competitive relationship.”
“Why is my big brother a butter?”
Chelsea, standing next to them, flared up.
“I also agree with Selia this time. The one who takes down the monster first will be the top student, right?”
Selia and Abad, hearing this, looked at Leo with a disdainful expression.
“What if we can’t take it down?”
“What if the monster can infinitely resurrect? And if our aura and magic power run out first?”
Leo, looking at the increasingly aggressive Talatunia, said coldly.
“If the test is to conquer the Heroic World, we all fail if we can’t take it down.”
“No way! If Big Brother and Selia Zerding can’t take it down, no one our age can. That means the test is flawed.”
Chelsea, pouting, argued.
But Selia and Abad couldn’t refute Leo’s point.
Indeed, it would be unfair if they failed for not taking down the monster.
But the world is inherently unfair.
“It will take time to complete an attack that can kill the monster even if we combine our strength.”
Despite the concentrated attacks from thirty examinees, Talatunia showed no signs of damage.
Instead, the examinees were being pushed back.
It was clear they wouldn’t last long.
Selia, seeing this, said seriously,
“How do we stop the monster during that time?”
Abad glanced at his sister Chelsea.
‘Chelsea is also not enough.’
A single mistake could cost them their lives.
The Heroic World is a virtual world.
But death here means real death in the real world.
Seeing the serious expressions of the two, Leo smirked.
“I can hold it for about five minutes.”
“It’s suicide! You can’t even use aura!”
“That’s why five minutes is the limit.”
“So you need to gather as much strength as you can in those five minutes.”
“What if the attack fails after five minutes?”
Hearing this, Leo chuckled.
“Then we all fail. But I don’t think we’ll fail.”
“Fire and wind have been friends for a very long time. Because they complement each other.”
Leo, speaking calmly, walked towards Talatunia.
Selia, seeing this, said,
“Phew- I didn’t expect to have to combine our strength like this.”
Abad, chuckling, raised his magic power.
“B, Barely! But how do we...”
“I’ll try to hold it for five minutes.”
The knight student, who had fallen, looked up at Leo in surprise.
“Let me borrow this for a moment.”