Luna took her position obediently at the rear of the strikers.

She was beyond happy when her idol gave her a party invite. Yet when she had to see that scourge being sticky with him she almost threw hands. It took great patience to endure that wench's petty schemes. How could she be oblivious at what was going through that girl's mind?

She thus took the most efficient approach at this. Ignore. Just completely ignore her existence and focus on the Sunshine. The more she interacted with him personally, the more she felt her heart being warmed and butterflies rampaging in her stomach. She once thought that being in his radiance would be her unfulfilled wish. Who would have thought she could have such a windfall one day?

She really had to show off in this exam!

The opponent's party leader seemed to be a rank higher than theirs but she didn't consider it important. In her opinion, her Sunshine could easily defeat that "higher ranked" or whatever at any time. Those other fan groups would always resort to the lines of "he is only at ninth" or "face doesn't dictate everything" which would infuriate her but she was certain that her idol would shut them up after climbing the ranks swiftly in this exam. The eighth rank was already confirmed then how about the seventh rank?

As soon as the countdown finished her party's frontlines advanced and the long range striker shot a lightning bullet while the controller advanced alongside them to spread the mist. She also used her movement skill which made her invisible for a short time to sneak ahead.

Her target was the other controller.

Before the battle, her Sunshine had already laid out the strategy to them, as expected of her idol! She was to target the controller, the two bodybuilders were told to guard the wench and that stick man in the rear. The stick man was to target the long range strikers and that wench was given free rein to assist or attack according to the situation. The remaining strikers including her idol would engage opponent's the close range strikers and defenders.

So she stealthily approached the controller's location.

There were centipedes and ants all over the place which served to intercept and alert while the bees and wasps were the main offensive means. She would have to tread extra carefully as she found insects very disgusting. There was also that Rogue stuck to the controller like glue.

Thanks to the stick man's insistent shooting, Rogue was kept busy. The archers in the rear were trying to target the rear liners but those two bodybuilders were tanking everything much to their frustration.

They previously were aiming at the Paladins but her idol's Wailing Sanctum and those other two's Holy Shield skill proved to be their bane. They thus switched to the one more available, the rear liners. But even that seemed to be difficult thanks to the twin bodybuilders.

Her class was close range combat oriented so her offensive skill needed to be performed when the opponent was within her weapon's reach. Though the controller showed excellent usage methods throughout the battlefield but her party's controller wasn't in any way inferior, she had to admit it begrudgingly.

At one point in time, the battle between the two controllers ensued and she heard her Sunshine's order,

"Number 6, soar!"

She instantly obeyed as her movement skill picked up speed and she swiftly crossed the distance. Just a meter away and still invisible she used her offensive skill on the opponent. Her extraordinary aura attribute Dark Edge was used on her dagger to further increase concealment and penetrative damage.

"Arrghhh!"

The controller screamed in pain as a dagger thoroughly penetrated her left ribcage just barely missing her heart but her left lung was severely damaged. Obviously she took caution not to deal any fatal damage as she would be disqualified for it. Even for such lung injuries that would have been considered fatal for an unawakened, the players only needed to chug a health potion to be up and running.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

She then abandoned that dagger and swiftly retreated in the rear where the bodybuilders were erecting earthen walls. They were also hurling boulders out of thin air as they used the iron baton to send those towards the two Berserkers. She then brought out another dagger from the pouch on her waist as she took a deep breath before moving forward.

She still had work to do.

°°°°

Blue was very satisfied at his party's performance.

Initially he guessed that there would be some hiccups because of their first time as a party but his chosen pawns proved to be worthwhile. Two defenders performed his orders word by word and kept the rear liners safe while Marcus was keeping the Rogue busy while occasionally shooting at the Archers.

This gave Luna a chance when Karla and that petite girl ended up engaging in mid range combat. He dished out an order in codewords, which he made them remember before the battle, and Luna showed excellent acumen by taking full leverage of the opportunity.

With the controller down, the rest of the fight swiftly tilted to his party's favor.

He then took down one Berserker at an "intense struggle" and "luckily" downed a Shield Warrior shortly afterward while the two Paladins got to receive his assistance which resulted in the remaining Berserker and Shield Warrior's elimination.

The Rogue was wounded from a gunshot during that time and without the insects forming a layer of protection around them, who had promptly returned in an illusory space inside her glabella, Luna sneaked in and dealt the final blow which then ended the small skirmish.

One of the remaining Archers were successfully restricted by Karla while the Gunslinger took advantage of it to swiftly down the helpless opponent.

The only Archer forfeited as there was no hope thus the first battle ended in victory for Azure Sun. While the Ever Victory party became a joke for their falsified name.

They then rested for ten minutes before engaging the next party, a rank lower than them. After this back to back battle the overall stamina was greatly reduced but the match still ended in their victory since the synergy between them progressed further.

Then they finally exited the dome totally exhausted after having thoroughly cleaned up before arriving outside.

They then gathered at Walter's spot and received congratulations from all around them. He naturally showed his humbleness and dedication to improve more thus further garnering a bout of praises as both teachers and students inwardly thought he had a bright future with such temperament.

Walter then briefed them,

"Now that you all completed the first format the second format would begin after a while. Drink some stamina potion and rest till then."

The party thus took a vial of glowing green liquid out of their inventory and downed it in a single gulp while grimacing from the bitterness. All students were given a dozen health potions and stamina potions every month. This was the academy's investment in them.

"All of you performed very well. I hope that we will carry on this energy throughout the second format."

He praised them slightly and engaged in conversation about their earlier performance. He also made sure to show his "competence" as the party leader by reviewing their mistakes and planning more solutions for it which granted him a look of reverence. All the members in the party were either his fans, admirers, lover or a wannabe girlfriend.

Speaking of this wannabe girlfriend, he would have chosen Luna even if her performance was below par at individual duels. No, it was not because he took a liking to her beauty or graceful curves but because of the system.

Yes, she was actually able to get in this picky system's radar who only kept silent since he arrived in the academy.

Truthfully, when he saw the side mission's description it almost made him jump in fright as he suspected an abomination was right near him but upon further deliberation and the reward listed at the end convinced him that the situation hadn't progressed to that point. He would even be able to take advantage of this as long as he handled it with extreme caution.

If it was in his past life he would have bolted from this academy lest the slightest chance for the harm to befall him come true but now he couldn't run even if he wanted to. As he was forced to keep gambling with his life in a situation where death was near him constantly, the new side mission gave him another reality check.

"Sure enough, until I truly entered the Inner Area even the seemingly safe academy was nothing but a time bomb. Nowhere is safe!"

He lamented inwardly while happily conversing with his party where hid the very being who could bring ruin to the entire academy.

Luna was looking at him with bashful eyes much to his inner turmoil.