The chaos finally died down.
Half the mock city had collapsed into rubble after the brutal fight.
The corpses of the giant scorpions slowly melted away, fading into dark sludge.
Ao stood in the middle of the ruins, panting, his body covered in cuts and bruises.
He'd barely won—with one arm missing at that—and only now did he get a moment to breathe.
"…So how long till my arm's back again…"
He muttered, trying to remember how many seconds had passed since the last regeneration.
A dry desert wind swept dust across the shattered buildings. Ao dropped himself onto the remains of a collapsed wall.
"Even if the body regenerates every five minutes… the fatigue during the fight is still real.
The pain is dulled, sure, but when an arm gets ripped off—yeah, that still hurts. Then five minutes pass and poof, everything resets like nothing happened."
He sat there counting the seconds in his head.
The desert was quiet— too quiet.
Behind him, on top of a mound of rubble, something shifted.
Pebbles trickled down one by one—
Then—
KROOOM!!
The explosion of rubble made Ao whip around—
—but he was too late.
A giant scorpion burst out from beneath the debris, leaping straight at him while he was completely defenseless.
Shit—!!
Ao grabbed for his sword— but knocked it away in panic.
The shadow of the monster swallowed him whole.
THUD!!
Everything went dark for a moment. He felt the wind against his face but no impact of fangs or claws.
He slowly opened his eyes—
—and froze.
The scorpion in front of him—just inches away— had been impaled clean through its body by massive spikes of stone. Black fluid splattered everywhere.
Ao sensed someone behind him and spun around, snatching up his sword and pointing it forward.
"Who the hell are—!!"
The light glinted off the blade— and he stopped dead when he saw the face.
"H-Hold on! Calm down, it's me—Ao… it's me, Renuru."
Ao's eyes lit up instantly.
"Renuru!! You're still alive!?"
"Of course I am! I'm not that weak. Actually, I should be the one asking—you look like death warmed over."
He chuckled softly, earning a ticked vein from Ao— who promptly lunged at him.
"You little—!! Don't go acting all smug!!"
The two of them eventually settled down on a pile of rubble under a patch of shade, the dry wind whipping across their backs.
"Hey Ao… let's team up," Renuru said as soon as he sat.
"Huh?" Ao blinked.
"Right now I've only taken out two examinees. That's… what, maybe 350 points?
I barely fought anyone else on the way here except monsters."
"So you're saying…"
"Yeah. Everyone already has a team by now.
You saw it too, right? That huge group camping near the wall. The rules don't forbid teaming up."
Ao rubbed his chin.
"True."
"But think about it," Renuru continued.
"When someone defeats an examinee, who gets the points? If it went to only one person in the team, the others would kill each other instantly.
But that's not happening—no infighting at all."
A bolt of realization struck Ao.
"You're saying… the points get shared!?"
"Exactly. We don't know how it's distributed—equal shares, most damage dealt, or everyone gets full points… If it's the last one, scores would inflate like crazy.
But then again, by the time that happens the number of surviving examinees would be extremely low."
"And maybe each testing zone has different max scores too…" Ao added.
"So?" Renuru tilted his head.
Ao nodded firmly.
"I'm in. Monsters are getting stronger every floor.
The next layer might crush me if I go solo."
Renuru grinned wide.
"Hell yes, Ao. Let's plan this out."
He drew a rough map in the sand with his staff.
Meanwhile, in another part of the desert city—
Flames roared from the body of a lone examinee.
A young man with burning crimson hair, a permanent scowl, a huge scar across his face—
and a left ear torn to a jagged stub.
Around him lay bodies.
Every single examinee in the area was reduced to charred stumps,
their remains smoking as if freshly burned. Some were nothing but scattered ashes; others half-melted into the sand.
He inhaled slowly— and conjured a fireball into his palm.
FWOOM!
He snapped around and hurled it with such speed it split the air.
BOOOM!!
The fireball detonated, engulfing a hiding examinee in screaming flames.
The cries echoed for several seconds before falling silent.
A blackened husk dropped to the ground.
"Gained 260 points," his sticker announced.
The illusion screen unfolded:
Top 10 Ranking – 30 Minute Update
1st: Dou Ko-Mass — 3990 points
2nd: Honoto Oya — 2820 points
[…others omitted…]
Current Examinee Score: Honoto Oya — 2820 points
The red-haired boy grinned, teeth bared like a beast.
"Dou Ko-Mass… you're next."
He clenched his fist, flames spiraling upward.
"Those 3900 points? They're gonna be mine."