KOREAN NATIONAL ACADEMY MIDTERM EXAM (SPRING)

DAY 10 OF 10

Suho sat on the grass, taking a drink while he rested. Monster corpses littered the ground around him as his eyes scanned the leaderboard.

image [https://i.imgur.com/Lp92Krh.png]

The gap was still evident. There weren't any more easy to locate B-ranks left this late in the exam, nor were there many lower-ranked monsters either. It’d been hard to close the point difference.

He closed the window and put his water bottle away. It was nearing 9:00 PM. He had one last chance.

The exam ended at midnight. And every year, at 10:00 PM on the last day, one last monster was released. It was always a B-rank boss monster that was worth 1,000 points, and it appeared at the center of the island.

The 1,000 points were split by everyone who attacked it, based on contribution. So it was a long shot for Suho to be able to snag enough points from it to change the rankings. Especially since he was fairly sure which monster in the midterm catalog it was.

The Goliath tortoise. It was a giant monster with incredibly high defenses. As Suho had traveled, he had never encountered any traces of a monster that large being present. And although the exam proctors changed the type of final monster that was released every year, they always had one thing in common: they were really tanky.

The purpose was obvious. The instructors didn't want one student to hog all the points, so they chose monsters that were impossible to take down alone, thus spreading the points out more evenly. The Goliath tortoise was the only B-rank monster in the catalog that fit the requirements. It would be next to impossible to get enough points from it to overtake Sunghyun, especially since he was probably also going to participate. But he had to try.

Suho tightened his backpack around him and headed towards the center of the island.

⊕

“Suho!”

By the time Suho arrived, Sunghyun was, as expected, already there. He waved to Suho as he emerged from the trees. The central area had been cleared for the return circle that would eventually appear after the exam ended to take students back to campus.

“Hey,” Suho greeted, scanning the faces present.

Quite a few students had showed up—maybe close to 30? Most of the people who had already reached the 100 point passing mark were probably too tired to come and had just decided to wait for time to be up. Yuna was present, leaning against a tree on the opposite side of the clearing. He didn't see Jihyuk or any of those from the camp, but the camp had been pitched a considerable distance away. They’d have to trek quite a ways to get here. Kitae, too, was missing.

“How have you been?” Sunghyun asked as Suho approached.

“Good,” he replied.

“I saw your score. Pretty awesome.”

“Thanks. You too.”

“Are you here for the boss?”

“Yes.”

Sunghyun smiled, expecting that.

A mumble of activity went through the waiting students. Suho glanced down at his watch. The time had just ticked to 9:59 PM.

“You made it just in time,” Sunghyun remarked. “I’ve been here for a while waiting.”

He raised a fist.

“Good luck?”

Suho bumped it and nodded.

“Good luck.”

They separated. No point in staying together when they were competing. Students encircled the clearing, waiting for the clock to finally turn to 10—itching to see the final monster. Suho set his big backpack down, planning to fetch it once everything was done.

Finally—

10:00 PM. As expected, a summoning circle spread across the ground, glowing gold. Four solid legs appeared along with a huge, dome-like silhouette. And as the monster finally fully materialized…

It was as Suho had suspected. The Goliath tortoise was here.

Not a split second later, it was already under attack. A spire of ice shot from Yuna’s hand crashed into the side of its head as Sunghyun charged in and swiped at its ankles. The tortoise roared in indignation, but neither attempt left much of a mark.

Although the monster itself was labeled as B-rank, its defensive stats were probably in the upper A-ranks. But that didn't mean it hit lightly.

The tortoise stomped forward, each footstep thundering through the earth. One wrong move and someone might just end up under its feet. Arrows, magic, all sorts of projectiles hit its skin and shell. This only seemed to make it angrier. As Sunghyun and a couple other melee fighters scampered around in its shadow, Suho watched its movements carefully.

It wasn't fast, but it was so large that any movement could be dangerous. It snapped at its attackers and whipped its tail around, trying to clear the area.

Suho charged in, going for its head. They didn't eat turtles often back in the mountains, since there was an abundance of feral monsters, but he remembered being taught how to butcher them.

Step 1:

Cut the neck.

Suho leapt up, gathered aura around his speartip, and drove it as hard as he could into the side of the tortoise’s neck, at the soft base where it met the rest of its body.

It pierced the skin, finally drawing real blood. It didn't go too deep, evidenced by how the monster was still moving so freely, trying to shake him off, but he put more strength into his hands, and he sliced downwards.

Blood gushed out onto him as a gash was opened up. Suho tore the spear out of the tortoise’s flesh before he could be flung away by its writhing, club-like head.

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He skidded underneath it, dodging its stomping feet. And as it tried to locate him again, he turned his spear upwards.

Step 2:

Cut it from the center.

Suho jammed it directly into the chink between the tortoise’s bony breastplates. It shrieked in pain. The bone was much thinner in this spot, usually protected underneath the animal. His spear didn't go in as deep, but it seemed to hurt the monster a lot more.

It instinctively drew its legs and head in and started to flatten itself against the ground to protect itself. Suho tore his spear out of the tortoise’s underbelly and ran for open air.

He barely managed to slide out from beneath it in time. The ground rumbled as it thumped to the ground, in full defense mode—all its extremities retracted into its shell. Suho could still see its red eyes watching them all, glaring, angry.

“Nice hit,” Sunghyun said, backing away from the tortoise too.

Suho gave him an awkward thumbs up.

“Thanks—”

He froze as he spotted something near Sunghyun’s head. In an instant, his hand had shot out to grab it.

Fzzt.

A sharp pain went through his palm. So familiar that he knew it already.

Another dead firebug dropped out of his hand. They’d been following him around all semester. Sometimes he found them attached to Sunghyun and got rid of them too. He had assumed they were just some kind of feral monster that lived around Seoul. Had one followed him here from campus?

There was no time to think about it as the ground began to shake. Waves of power emanated off the turtle, the earth starting to morph.

“Careful,” Sunghyun said, “it’s using its earth magic skill.”

The students jumped back to the safety of the forest as thick spires of earth rose from the ground, surrounding the tortoise in a circle of barbed spines. He was separated from Sunghyun. No problem. This much wouldn't deter him—

The hairs on Suho’s arms stood up. His brain was warning him of something. And it wasn't the tortoise in front of him.

Suho turned to his right. He couldn't see over the spikes, but he knew something else was coming. He leapt up over the barrier the tortoise had put up, racing over the spires like they were stepping stones.

He came out the other side and spotted a lone figure in the forest. Shin Yuna.

She looked fine—casting ice magic to shatter and clear a way through the pillars of dirt in her way. But buzzing nearby her was something he was sick of seeing.

Suho landed next to her. She sent him a glare.

“What are you doing—?!”

He reached out and snatched the firebug out of midair. She saw it squirming between his fingers and raised an eyebrow.

“What the fuck is that?”

He had no time to respond to her. Because this wasn't what his instincts had been warning him of.

From out of the darkness of the forest, a huge set of jaws lined with sharp teeth appeared, lunging at Yuna. Unfortunately, Suho was in the way.

He crushed the firebug and brought his spear up to block in the same motion. The monster hit him like a truck, much harder than the mother bat.

It was bright red, its skin almost magma-like. Yet it looked slimy, shaped like a river salamander, its movements fluid and heavy.

Suho barely had the strength to keep himself upright. He was pushed back, feet digging into the dirt, just to stop its momentum.

“Yuna!” he yelled. “Check the details!”

He had no idea what kind of monster this was. He gritted his teeth and held his ground as it snapped at him.

“It’s not registered!” Yuna replied. “B-rank. Fire type. That’s all it says!”

B-rank. Both of them were strong. It wasn't impossible to deal with. But something in Suho’s head was still ringing alarm bells, trying to make him get away.

The salamander, frustrated, opened its jaws a little too wide. In the next second—

It belched a noxious purple gas all over him. He tried to hold his breath, but he’d already inhaled a bit of it. Suho felt it invading his senses, dulling them. The edges of his vision started to go black. The lizard was trying to knock him out.

He jumped back, out of the gas cloud.

“Don’t get close to it!” he shouted.

“You didn't need to tell me twice!”

Suho was staying conscious by sheer will. The sounds of battle raged on behind them, feeling like a totally separate world. All the other students were occupied with the tortoise. They were on their own.

Scratch. Scratch.

Although it was muffled through his impaired hearing, Suho heard something moving that wasn't any of them, like claws scraping against bark. He looked up. In the canopy of the trees, two more salamanders were perched, staring down at them. Their mouths formed what looked like cruel smiles as saliva dripped from their jaws.

“…Fuck.”

That was the first time Yuna heard Suho curse. One was trouble enough. Three? How did unregistered monsters even get on this island? But then Suho thought—wait.

Could they be related to the firebugs?

Before he could think about it any deeper, the two in the trees leaped at him while the last went for Yuna. Suho blocked the first with his spear and deflected it to the side, but the second was too fast. It sank its teeth into his arm. He shouted out in pain, but used his free hand to slam the tip of his spear into the side of the salamander’s head.

It pierced right through its skin, splattering blood and a slimy yet burning substance across him. It detached from his arm but belched out another cloud of gas as it went.

Suho coughed and tried to back away, but he’d gotten a whiff of it again. He teetered on the edge of blacking out, and then was knocked over by the second salamander. It slammed into him, sending him to the ground, pinning him down.

He tried to push against it, but the monster was flat and heavy and its slimy skin burned—not to mention Suho was losing strength from the gas. It opened its jaws and aimed for back of his neck.

Bang.

Something else crashed into the salamander, throwing it off course. Suho looked up. Through his blurry vision, he saw Sunghyun with the angriest expression he’d ever seen him wear. He was gritting his teeth so hard that Suho could see the veins on his temples.

“What the fuck is this?” he muttered.

As the first salamander charged at him, he readied his sword. But he was swept off his feet and out of the way by a still groggy Suho.

“Hey, what’s going on?!” he asked as they rolled across the ground.

“Their breath,” Suho said, barely keeping himself conscious by biting the inside of his own lip, “it’ll knock you out. You can't get close.”

Sunghyun’s eyes widened. He understood now why Suho was in that state. And why Yuna was batting the one attacking her away with ice magic, doing anything to keep it at a distance.

“They're B-rank,” Suho said. “Call the teachers.”

“I have.”

Sunghyun had hit the emergency alert button on his watch the second he’d spotted the monsters. He’d thought it was strange that suddenly Suho and Yuna weren’t participating in the Goliath tortoise raid, though he could never have guessed it was because of something like this. But no proctors had arrived yet. Something was slowing them down or keeping them away.

For now, they had to hold the line here, before the monsters went after weaker students.

…?

No, wait.

Why weren't they going after weaker students? There were plenty of easier targets here. Again, Suho’s mind went to the firebugs. He used to spot them around National here and there, like some kind of common pest, but recently, they were only attached to him and Sunghyun. And now Yuna.

Exactly the people here.

Three salamanders.

It was hard for him to think straight. Maybe it was just his half-conscious mind making connections between things that didn't matter. But before he could clear his head, before they could charge back in, before the salamanders had even turned to attack them again…

BOOM.

.

.

.

The world went white and silent.

Suho was forced to shield his eyes. Something had exploded ahead of them, from where the tortoise had been. When his vision finally returned—

His eyes widened. The spikes that the tortoise had summoned had been completely flattened. In fact, many of the trees had been crushed too. At the center of the island, the warp circle that had brought the tortoise here was glowing a deep, ominous red.

From it emerged one orange, sticky, webbed foot, and then another. As if coming out of hibernation, an enormous toad-like monster appeared. It was at least twice the height of the already massive Goliath tortoise, and as it came out of the portal with its giant mouth gaping open—

It swallowed the tortoise whole, without a problem.

“…Hey,” Sunghyun mumbled, “what is that?”

The thing looked like a living volcano. Its drowsy, lidded eyes scanned the landscape, and then—

It locked onto them.