Gulliver was confident in passing the exam.

It was because he had survived without being eliminated up to this point.

Besides, he had a strong party.

The reason why he hadn't been eliminated so far was simple.

It was because the first group of participants he met was a group of people who chose to work together to defeat monsters.

From then, he officially joined the party and has been sticking to them since then.

The skills of the party members were so outstanding.

Even the trolls were easily dealt with.

During the previous battle, a fireball thrown by Gulliver ended the troll's life.

'As expected, I have skills.'

He felt so proud of himself.

But that was all the luck he had.

“Aaaaaaaaaaagh!”

Gulliver screamed.

The student who led the party desperately broke the bead ignoring the terrifying pain of his arms being chewed and escaped from the world of heroes.

Kaeeyeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

A gigantic monster let out a deafening roar.

It was a monster he had never seen before.

A monster in the form of a giant spider.

All ten legs were bent in a strange way except for the front legs.

Its body was twisted strangely while the head was half torn off. 

Although it looked like a half-corpse, the hideous creature was still alive.

Kieaek! Kieaeaeek!  

"Fireball!"  

Gulliver cast a spell quickly.  

Fwooooosh! Poof!

The fireball landed directly on the spider's face.

"ha ha ha! How is it? The taste of my fireball!”

Gulliver clenched his fist tightly. 

However, as the smoke from the fireball dissipated, the spider appeared, unharmed by the attack, causing Gulliver's face to turn pale.

Kieeeeeeeeeeee!

“Ugh, aaaaagh!”

Seeing the enraged spider charging towards him, Gulliver screamed and ran away.

The knight students unsheathed their swords to fend off the spider.

BAM-! 

BANG!

“Kuuk!”

But they were thrown away by the power of the spider.

The spider wasn’t a monster that they could handle.

"Howwwwww, how could we beat this!"

One student screamed, unable to control his emotions.

With trembling hands, Gulliver took the blue bead from his pocket.

'I have to escape! But if someone were to take it down, I might pass the exam!'

Gulliver, who had no desire to take down the spider, stood there lost, hoping someone would defeat the spider instead.

And at that moment…

[Wind Fang.]

BOOM!

BANG!

The wind's fang fell from the sky and embedded itself in the spider's back, and purple blood spattered.

Kiiiiieeeeeee!

The wound healed in an instant.

"...... It's that monster."

Abad, who floated in the air with flight magic, frowned.

Whooosh-!

BAM

This time, flames fell.

The flames soon converged into one point.

Celia, who had gathered the aura of flames on her rapier, thrust her rapier out with a flash of light in her eyes.

Kwak!

Kyaakiiiiiiiiiii!

The head-pierced spider screamed and swung its front claws.

Celia quickly escaped from its attack range and landed on the ground.

"Sh*t! Could it even recover from this wound?"

As soon as they heard the screams, Celia and Abad immediately attacked the spider.

However, even though the magic and aura attacks landed perfectly, the spider recovered instantly.

"I've never seen this kind of monster."

“It might be a monster related to Tartarus.”

Abad murmured while Celia adjusted her flame storm.

"And I think it's also the task of this test."

"Hm? Maybe that’s the key to conquering this world?"

Abad's lips curled.

He raised his staff and began to chant rune words.

The wind magic began to swirl around him.

Seeing this, Celia’s aura started to rise sharply.

'Do you think I would let you take the lead?'

If defeating the giant spider was part of the test, she had to do it before Abad if she wanted to take first place.

Up until now, they had been allies, but now their relationship returned back to competitors.

Flare!

Celia's red eyes flickered.

A ball of flame gathered at the end of her flame storm.

Celia took a stance with her rapier, gripping her left arm.

Shhhh-!

Her feet dug into the ground.

'Prominence!'

This was the greatest attack that Celia could use right now.

A thrust with all her aura focused on one point and blast it out!

WURRRRRR-!

A blade of scarlet flame shot out.

Kyaaakiiii?

The flame pierced the spider's half-torn-off head, and then went straight through its body and came out of its rear end.

"Great! No matter how good its recovery is, this should be enoug... … .”

Kung-! Kung-!

Kieaeeeeeeeeeeeeee-!

"No way!"

The giant spider stood up once again and let out an ear-piercing scream.

“Great attack, but… … .”

Abad, floating in the air, had a sharp smile.

“The destructive power of a knight and a wizard are worlds apart.”

Abad spread both hands and completed the spell.

[Rafale.]

It was the secret magic of the Llewellyn family.

A whirlwind engulfed the spider.

"What the fu*k?"

“This, is this a spell that a wizard of our age could cast?”

Looking at the spider caught in the whirlwind, the participants exclaimed in astonishment.

'It’s the End.'

Abad made a triumphant expression.

But…

"WHAT?"

The magic dissipated revealing the giant spider.

Torn by the gust of wind, its whole body was turned into rags.

However, the giant spider's body recovered quickly.

It was not an exaggeration to say that Abad had the most powerful attack of any applicant this time, and his attack ended in failure.

Celia's face showed a look of defeat.

'How are we going to defeat something like this?'

⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ 

“To have such an attack power at this age, surely, Gerdinger and Llewellyn are the strong ones among their peers!”

An aide exclaimed.

'They chose competition over cooperation.'

Alby’s lips curled as he looked at the two of them.

The mindset of wanting to be the best was not a bad thing.

Besides, both Celia and Abad possessed that level of ability.

'But will they be able to defeat the monster with their power alone?'

A monster that recovers infinitely cannot be defeated without a decisive blow.

Among the participants, only Celia and Abad were able to land an effective blow on that monster.

However, their abilities alone were insufficient.

'If you are a real Hero, try to overcome the ordeal.'

⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ 

"As expected."

Leo's eyes flashed past Celia and Abad.

'It’s the spider princess, Talatunia.'

He expected this when he saw the bodies of the trolls.

It was very much like this monster's way of eating.

The monster that ruled the Devil’s forest was none other than the daughter of the monster queen, Silatuna.

Originally, she was a terrible disaster that could destroy a country alone.

But now she was not in her best condition.

Her body was crushed, and she was barely able to retain her original appearance.

The head, which once exuded shuddering magic power, was torn off in half.

Compared to the past, she had degraded into an insignificant monster.

'As expected, the mana in Alby's left eye belongs to the Fairy King.'

Fairies.

A high-ranking creature that has been with the Elves since the distant past.

The Fairies were palm-sized beings with powerful magical powers and transparent wings.

Since Elves were the only ones that could have contracts with fairies, it was very rare to see them in the human world.

Talatunia ate the Fairy King's right hand 5000 years ago.

Luna couldn’t forgive Talatunia for messing up her hometown and eating the Fairy King's right hand.

Thus the Spider Princess, who was capable of destroying a country by herself, was killed by the [Creator of Nebula Magic].

But now thousands of years have passed.

Talatunia was still alive.

The reason was simple.

'It's in her stomach.'

The Ring of Life, a symbol of the fairy king.

The ring that grants infinite Life-force was eaten by Talatunia along with the Fairy King's hand.

Leo tightly gripped his sword.

He then took a throwing stance and threw his sword.

Wee-a-a-a-aek! 

BANG!

Kyaeeeeeaeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Talatunia screamed as Leo's sword struck its head.

Then he came next to Celia and said,

"You look tired.”

“Back off, Leo. You, who can't even use aura is no match for it.”

Blades of wind dropped from the sky and struck Talatunia.

Talatunia, who was struggling with pain, looked into the air and then jumped with a scream.

Thanks to its tremendous leaping power, it reached Abad in an instant.

[Wind Break!]

Chelsi followed up and threw the magic she had cast.

BOOM 

BAM BAM-!

The blades of the raging wind struck Talatunia.

Talatunia fell to the ground after failing to attack Abad due to Chelsi's obstruction.

Kiieeeeeeeeeeee-!

BOOOOOOM

The earth shook as Talatunia’s gigantic body hit the ground.

“Brother, are you okay?”

“Thanks, Chelsi.”

Abad, who smiled at her sister, came down to the ground.

Because he judged that it could be dangerous to be in the air.

Other students followed up and surrounded Talatunia.

“How could we defeat this monster?”

Leo asked as Abad muttered in a serious voice.

“Did it recover from any kind of wounds?”

"Yes. Even the best magic I used didn't work."

“The same goes for my attacks.”

Celia sighed.

"Really? Then we shall use the simple solution."

"What?"

“If you can’t defeat it alone, then we have to work together. It's a very simple solution, right?"

“Leo, this butter boy and I are competing.”

"Why is my brother Butter boy?"

Chelsi, who stood next to her, became furious.

"This time, I too agree with Celia's words. Whoever destroys that monster first shall be victorious."

Hearing their words, Leo showed a dejected expression.

“What if you can’t defeat it?”

"What?"

"What if that monster could be resurrected indefinitely? So what if your aura and mana get depleted first?"

Leo spoke calmly as he saw Talatunia, who revealed her will to live.

“If the task is to conquer the world of heroes, all of us will be eliminated when we fail to defeat it.”

"Nonsense! If my brother and Celia Gerdinger can't defeat that monster, then there's no one here who could defeat it. Then the entire test is wrong.”

Chelsi pursed her lips and retorted angrily.

But Celia and Abad couldn't argue with Leo's statement.

Surely it would be unfair to be eliminated for not being able to defeat that monster.

But the world was inherently unfair.

"Even if we join forces, it will take time to complete an attack that would instantly kill that monster."

Despite being attacked by 30 students, Talatunia remained unharmed.

On the contrary, the candidates were being pushed out.

It was clear that it would not take long before they collapsed.

Seeing this, Celia asked in a serious voice.

“How can anyone hold that monster during that time?”

Abad glanced at his sister Chelsi.

'Chelsi is also not good enough.'

If she were to make a mistake, she would lose her life.

The world of heroes was a fictional world.

However, death here directly leads to death in reality.

Looking at the two of them showing serious expressions, Leo smiled.

“I will hold it.”

"What?"

“I can stop it for about five minutes.”

“That’s suicide! You can’t even use aura!”

“That’s why…, 5 minutes is my limit.”

Leo turned around.

"So, prepare your best attack during that five minutes."

“What if the combined attack after 5 minutes fails?”

Abad asked coldly.

Hearing that, Leo giggled.

“Then we all fail together. But I don't think we will fail.”

"Why?"

"Fire and wind have been friends for a long time. It's because they are interlinked."

Leo, who spoke leisurely, walked toward Talatunia.

Seeing that, Celia said.

"Get ready, Abad."

“Um… To think we would be working together in a place like this.”

Abad began to chant the spell as he laughed.

⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ 

THUD

“Ugh.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeh, barely! But how did you get here....”

"I'm going to block it for 5 minutes."

"What?"

The knight student who fell looked up at Leo in amazement.

“Let me borrow this for a moment.”

Leo picked up the lance he was using.

It felt different from a sword.

CLENCH-!

Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeek-!

Talatunia, with only hostility remaining, let out a low scream looking at Leo.

“It reminds me of those good old days.”

Leo smiled coldly.

"I'm going to rip off that ugly double-head of yours after a long time, you bug."