Once we were deep enough into the Haunted Forest, we couldn't even see the grassland anymore. Professor Chain stopped us and handed three scrolls to three teachers.

He cleared his throat with a soft cough. “Teams will be split into three. We have already decided on the placings and made sure that all of the teams are balanced. The team with the lowest result will get punished.”

He gave the scrolls to the teachers and one by one they started reading out the names.

The first group consisted of Agon and his rival Sei. There was a cluster of another eight people, but I didn't remember their names.

The last thing I wanted was to personally get to know some people who would die. Especially since they were so young and had their whole life ahead of them. No thanks, I already have too much on my plate. Getting to know them would make it even worse when I knew they would probably die.

Warrior Teacher was the first group's leader. He flexed his muscles, and his veins popped. Winning Mr Olympia in my last world would have been easy for this guy. "Don't worry everyone! Trust in my muscles!"

Was every high leveled Exorcist this weird? This guy wasn't even anything more than a background character in the Manga. Yet he was weird as hell!

Bets was in the second group, with Professor Chain as his supervisor. The whole team looked demoralized by that.

"Damn, we have the harsh one!"

"Fuck! We're screwed!"

"This is going to be hell!"

Despite their words, I was envious of them. Amongst the teachers, being with Professor Chain would have been the safest. But protesting that now would be suspicious and some might assume I'm even working with the enemy. After all, saying that I came from another world where this was a manga, would make anyone assume that was the worst excuse ever.

No, I have to act as if I don't know anything either. Just go along with the flow for a bit.

Within the group Bets was on, he was huge and looked like the only noteworthy one on that team. Though there were a couple of familiar faces from the Manga that would have survived in the original story. So despite being somewhat balanced, it seemed like Team 2 had the best chances of survival.

Bets approached his group. "Hi, let's do our best."

He gave them a smile. Almost all of the second team's members bowed simultaneously. "Yes! Boss!"

It looked very Yakuza-like, and Bets didn't say anything. To the outside eye, it might seem like he might just be looking on coldly at what had happened. As if this was just an everyday occurrence to him. But he was probably panicking internally. He was a socially awkward giant, if there was internet in this world he would probably be a hikikomori (shut-in).

The third and last group was mine. With our Summoner and Blaster teachers as our supervisors. The only noteworthy member of my team was the silver-haired girl.

My heart almost came to a stop when I saw what group I was in. Originally, I was supposed to be in the same group as the main character and his rival. But it seemed like the teachers had decided to swap some members around.

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I don't remember which group everyone else was in in the original manga. Well, I remember where the main character and some others were. But this part of the story had been almost four hundred chapters ago. My memory of the small details was spotty at best.

Though I do remember one thing clearly that made my heart about to burst out of my chest. Everyone in the silver-haired girl's team was killed, teachers included. As one of the main heroines, this would traumatize her and would be a catalyst for her growth in the future to grow as a kinder person.

I couldn't give less of a shit about her future growth. As I wasn't going to die for something like that. But knowing that my team would be annihilated… No, maybe the timeline has changed enough where that wouldn't be the case.

After all, small changes add up. Me performing better than normal was what put me in this team and not the main character's team. Which was somewhat better at least. Since in the main character's team only he and the rival would survive.

The three teams went in three different directions. Professor Rana introduced herself. "To those of you that might not know me. I'm Rana! The beast master class' teacher."

Then I turned toward the other unfamiliar guy. I didn't remember him from the Manga, but he had probably been there.

He was lanky, and tall, and wore the strangest clothing for the environment. He was in a suit and tophat. The thing that stood out most about him was his swirly mustache. In short, he looked like a Victorian-era English gentleman. "Hello there chaps. I'm mister Fort. But you may call me Professor Fort."

How the hell does he have an English accent when the country isn't even a thing in this world? Well, there was Britannia. But they didn’t have the accent yet.

You know what, I should stop questioning things now. There was better and more productive stuff to waste my time on. This was a Shonen world, so I had to go with the flow more. Questioning the weirdness of the world will only turn me into a background character who is there for comedic effect.

As we were walking toward some unknown destination. Mr Fort raised his hand and stopped every one of the students from going further. "Ladies and gentlemen. Seems like we have some fans. Do come out, I know you're there. Also next time you try following someone, be more mindful of the animals."

One of the bushes that were uncomfortably close, rustled. A humanoid demon came out. With red skin like blood, overgrown lower fangs that looked like tusks, and two short horns on his forehead.

What mostly stood out was his size, which was almost two times the size of an average person. He was a giant compared to me, and his body looked like it was strong enough to rip a human in half.

"T -This guy looks quite strong," muttered Rana. Jesus, woman, you’re a teacher. Can’t you at least act confident? Why did she seem even less confident than the students?!

"Probably a middle-class demon," Mr Fort pinched his swirly mustache and had a contemplating look on his face. "The animals stopped making noise. He’s a power type. So his aura has to be quite high for all the animals, even the insects to run away. "

Those last words of his seemed to be addressing the students. He was trying to teach them something even in a situation like this.

Mr Fort took out a talisman from under his sleeve and imbued it with Ord. Which made the floppy paper stand up straight like a knife and he threw it at the strong-looking demon.

Midway on its way to the target the talisman burned up and turned into a fireball the size of a human's head. When it landed on the demon, an explosion rang out, as if it was a grenade.

I finally realized why the humans in this world never bothered developing modern weapons. Because they didn't need to. To them, it was better to concentrate efforts on something they knew would work when needing something to explode. That was to use a talisman instead of a grenade.

As the dust of the explosion cleared out, the grass had charred. The demon looked unharmed and smirked. "Is that all you can do?"

Mr Fort tipped his hat and smirked. "Yes. Definitely a middle-class demon. That didn't even phase him. He seems like the brute type who is good at close-quarters combat."

The demon walked to a tree and sunk his finger into its trunk. With one hand he uprooted the tree and threw it at Mr Fort.

"As you can see. Despite looking like a brute. Middle-Class demons possess about the same intelligence as a human. He didn't approach me in close-quarters combat, having likely noticed that I don't seem too worried about it." Mr Fort didn't move out of the way.

Professor Rana stepped forward and threw her frog in the incoming tree's way. The tamed demon enlarged and opened its amphibian mouth. Swallowing the incoming projectile.

"Though don't make the mistake of thinking only middle-class demons have intelligence," Mr Fort continued his explanation. "Later on, we will learn about how sometimes even stronger opponents can be put down. If you have a special ability that is a direct weakness."

He pointed at Professor Rana.

"She might not be good at close combat. But projectile attacks are mostly harmless to her. Since her tamed demon will swallow anything." Then he pointed at himself. "Despite being a Blaster, my ability is more dangerous to my opponent in close-quarters combat. But this middle-class demon looks like someone dangerous to get close to."

As he said that, a small ball of Ord gathered at the tip of Mr Fort's finger.

He wasn't someone I saw much of in the Manga. So his ability was a mystery to me too.