At another place.
In the outermost region of the testing area, a group of four monsters swam past.
They are level 4 reptilian monsters that resemble saltwater crocodiles, 'hard diles'.
However, these diles are not moving based on their own instincts. No, someone is controlling them.
(Begin Plan A. Avenge Brother Talahze. No matter the cost.)
It was Alahze, one of the Ancient Undead in the Magnus Legion.
Alahze has the power to control any monster or undead that eats his flesh.
(Duke Monster's Nest discovered. Commencing operation.)
The place the crocodile visited was an underwater cave deep in the ocean. All the monsters entered the cave.
Ouch!
As soon as they entered, the entire cave began to shake violently as if it were in the middle of an earthquake.
(Get ready).
Alahze's short command.
Something was looking for a way out of the pitch-black darkness of the seemingly endless cave. It was like a train emerging from a dark tunnel, and its dimples were stuck on the tracks.
Soon after, a giant snout appeared, swallowing the crocodiles in one bite.
Urgency! Urgency!
Even the slightest twitch of his jaw had torn through muscle and bone until there was nothing left of his appetizer.
When the monster was finished, he slipped back into the cave.
All that was left was silence and red blood stains in the water.
* * *
"Hello again, everyone! With our short break over, allow me to remind you all of the rules for the third BDMAT!"
The announcer shouted through a loudspeaker that could be heard throughout the Kizen campus, and many people gathered in the audience seats in front of him.
"As you all saw, the first half of the exam was a coin collecting race! However, the next stage of the exam will be on a vast battlefield as students will hunt sea monsters and compete for points!"
As he pointed to the set of projections, the main screen switched to a nautical chart image for the area.
A circle is drawn in the middle of the chart, with a small hole on one side. Outside the circle is a vast ocean.
"The middle circle you see is the 'deep sea', which is where the coin fights take place! The waters are shallow, so even students can easily reach the bottom! Outside the circle is the 'outer sea', which is the real ocean and is filled with sea monsters! You can earn points by hunting monsters there, and of course, students can team up with each other if they want!"
The main screen changes again. A group of students are shown hunting monsters in the outer sea, all on a small wooden boat.
"Of course, there are no platforms in the outer sea! However, if you pay 500 points using the tongue pad, Kizen will drop a small wooden boat large enough for 1 person from the sky. With that, you can rest in the outer sea and control your steps! It seems that Kizen has anticipated the troubles of our brave students and has taken care to help them focus on their exams! Now, next, let's take a look at the types of monsters in the outer sea!"
The screen on the left flickered before displaying a list of all the monsters known to exist in the ocean, as well as the points students earned for hunting them.
"There are many types of monsters in the waters, ranging from level 2 to level 5! Ah, Professor Jane, what is that?"
MC asked while pointing to the monster at the top of the list. Jane raised her crystal ball loudspeaker and answered,
"It's a 'duke monster', a level 5 monster. It only comes out of its cave about two hours a year. I doubt we'll see it during the testing, so you can ignore it."
After saying that, Jane took a deep breath.
He couldn't help but think that it was a bad joke by Kizen Headquarters to put the monster on the list that students couldn't hunt. They weren't even sure if it existed in these waters.
"Ohh! You can get 100,000 points by hunting it? Amazing!! Ordinary level 2 and 3 monsters are worth 100 to 500 points, but 100,000 points? If anyone can hunt it, they will definitely be ranked the highest!"
* * *
Meanwhile, Simon was maintaining his stamina in the deep sea. Around him, he could see several students desperately struggling to find coins.
The test lasts four hours, and Deimos can only be used for two hours.
He had to control his steps as much as possible.
Checking his tongue pads, he saw that many students had already earned points, meaning they were going out to the outer seas to hunt monsters. The rankings were also changing rapidly.
'Then I should go too.'
Finally, Simon started to move. He still had about two hours left of the exam, so he figured it was a good time to head out to sea.
Simon climbed aboard the deimos and went out to sea.
'Come on!'
As he took a deep breath before activating his air magic circle and diving into the water, the sea was filled with venomous squid monsters 'pulp'.
Simon squeezed his legs tightly around the deimos' body while aiming the Bone Armor Handgun he quickly formed in his right hand.
Oh my! Oh my!
One shot, one kill. He darted past, hunting the pulp with terrifying speed and accuracy. It was 300 points per creature, so he took full advantage of the moment.
Of course, their poisonous mist didn't do any damage to Simon, his body was already prepared to neutralize everything.
'Hopefully BDMAT can change the public's perception of Professor Belya.'
After hunting down a bunch of pulps and chasing them as they flee, Simon reappears. He will reach the open sea, where monsters give more points.
'I can see it now!'
Visually, the inner sea and the outer sea can be distinguished by the color of their water. While the inner sea, surrounded by the barrier that Kizen set up, is a turquoise blue that is so clear and transparent that one can see all the way to the bottom, the outer sea is simply a deep blue that has no other characteristics at all.
It feels like the sea will stare back into your soul if you stare at it for too long.
"?"
However, the area that connects the inner sea and the outer sea is full of boats.
The students who had purchased boats with 500 points mostly stayed where they were, not venturing further out into the open sea.
Simon moved towards them.
Several students on the small wooden boat glanced at him enviously when they saw the whale skeleton.
As he slowly walked forward, he checked to see if he recognized any faces.
Luckily, there is one.
"Toto!"
Toto jumped when he heard someone shout his name before turning around. Immediately, his face turned pale.
"S-Simon?! What is that?"
"Oh."
Simon smiled awkwardly.
"It is a skeleton made with gods."
Toto gasped in surprise, looking back and forth between Simon and the deimos in half admiration, half envy.
"That's amazing! So you're pushing summoning even in the ocean, huh?!"
After saying that, he suddenly looked sad and lowered his head.
"But I immediately turned to Jet-Black Mechanics when I heard the ocean theme."
"Haha, I don't think there's a right answer to a question like this. You're just being smart."
Toto looked like he wanted to touch the deimos, but the whale was wary, so he just moved his hands restlessly.
"But Toto, why is everyone stopping here? Is something wrong?"
"Oh, you see..."
Toto pointed forward with a frightened expression on his face.
"I think there's something… up ahead."
"What?"
Just in time, a male student bravely rowed his boat out to sea.
He looked back at his teammates, who were waiting in horror.
"Ugh, you sissy! See? I told you it was okay to—!"
You are crazy!
Those were the boy's last words.
His small boat was pulled out to sea and he was still in it, never to resurface.
* * *
* * *
"Huh??!"
"What the heck is this?!! What was that!!!"
Some students started turning their boats around in fear.
"I think it's better to just collect points in the deep sea."
"R-Right!"
The students changed course and started back. Toto did the same, turning his boat around.
"There seems to be something there, Simon. Maybe you'd better go back and come back in an hour—"
At that time.
A dark shadow appeared beneath the fleeing students.
"!"
His large figure surrounded hundreds of students.
Simon felt all the hair on his body stand up.
The other students' faces were also pale with fear.
They started screaming and running away.
'Get out of here, gods!'
Deimo Simon also took off at full speed, and then…
Bwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!
The ocean rose like a tidal wave, and the mouth of a giant monster rose to the surface.
"Aaaahhh!"
"Nooooo!"
Many students fell into the gaping jaws of the monster, which then snapped shut. Teleportation was heard actively all around.
Simon with his Deimos dodged the sharp teeth and shot across the sea, quickly escaping to the surface.
(Kuhahahaha! This is fun! This is so fun! Kizen must be this crazy, huh!)
'That's no fun for me!'
At that moment, the monster's head turned.
The large vertical pupils of a reptilian creature resembling a sea lizard or dragon stared directly at Simon.
'Don't tell me…'
Grrrrooooooooooooaaaaaaah!!!
The creature begins to chase Simon across the ocean. Any students unlucky enough to get in the way have their ships destroyed, and their barrier gauges plummet.
"Deimos! Let's go to the sea."
Simon ordered after turning on his air magic circle. He stroked the skeleton's head to calm its nonexistent nerves, and then the skeleton immediately sank.
'!'
Simon gaped as he finally got a clear look at the object.
It was a massive mass of flesh with fins the size of buildings propelling it forward. Suddenly, compared to the monster, the ocean didn't seem so vast.
'That must be it.'
Simon's eyes widened.
'That's the 100,000 point monster at the top of the list, the duke monster.'
Pier burst out laughing.
Simon turned again to see what the monster was doing. Energy gathered in its gaping maw.
'It's not fair if you can use breath attacks too!'
Simon quickly gave the Deimos an absolute command. He immediately dove deeper, and almost at the same time, an unstoppable stream of current shot directly above them, exploding in a huge explosion after a few hundred feet.
'Wow.'
Simon was stunned.
It felt like a hole had been punched in the ocean.
'Did they really tell students to hunt for that?'
In fact, duke monsters only live in caves on the seabed, so they rarely harm humans.
That was why humans arbitrarily categorized him as level 5, but his actual strength was far above that.
'I'll try to run as far as I can for now.'
* * *
"Wow!"
The cheers of the audience grew louder at the sudden appearance of this big event.
Simon's fight with a giant monster – the duke monster.
"Deimos Simon is also very fast! Similar or even slightly faster than the duke monster! Who else can last even a second against this new ruler of the seas?! Besides!!!"
The MC continued with great excitement while gesturing wildly,
"If the monster went into the deep sea, it would be a huge disaster and basically mark the end of the exam itself! But look, Simon single-handedly lured the monster into the outer sea! He sacrificed himself to protect the ordinary students! How moral of him! This is the dignity of Special Admissions No.1"
As the MC takes matters into his own hands and the audience cheers for Simon's heroism, Jane is the only one who remains sane.
'You think that's charming? It's weird enough that a duke monster appears, and he's only after Simon.'
He's right.
Simon was all over the place trying to escape, and the creature kept firing breath attack after breath attack at him.
Each time it happened, the sea would part and surge. Fish and monsters alike would be caught in the onslaught, their corpses rising to the surface.
He took out a new communication crystal ball from his pocket.
"This is Jane."
(Yes, ma'am! This is the testing center!)
"100,000 points or whatever, I think we need to kill the duke monster before he causes more damage to the entire test."
(I will convey it to the supervisor immediately.)
If it were normal, Jane would send agents under her authority, but since she was also a first-year professor, she had no right to be involved in the exam. The BDMAT was organized by the headquarters itself.
A few moments later, the reply came.
(The supervisor wants to wait and see.)
"What? Are you crazy?"
(Ah. Like this…)
The voice inside the crystal ball paused for a moment before answering,
(That student? Simon Polentia? Looks like he's trying to fight the duke monster.)
"What did you say?"
Jane stared at the screen urgently.