The first monster’s body slammed into the ground, while my watch rang, indicating that I had gained ten points.
The remaining four were already charging toward me, their mouths stretched wide open, their screams—like nails scraping against a chalkboard—echoing through the area and irritating my ears.
The first reached me, raising his long arms as if trying to pull me into a hug... then bite my head off with that wide mouth of his.
I didn’t rush.
I let him reach me and try to wrap his arms around me. Then I slipped between his arms as they tried to close around my body, and at the same time, my sword passed through his waist, cleaving him in two.
The third had already opened his mouth toward me, only for my sword to enter between his teeth and come out the other side of his grotesque head. With a bit of force, I lifted my blade, splitting his head in half as it hung there hideously. Even before his body hit the ground, I was already on the last two.
I moved in the most efficient way possible—no flashy movements, no special combat techniques.
Moments later, the remaining two fell dead. The entire fight had taken only seconds. Without sparing a glance at the bodies scattered around, I launched myself forward once more.
I ran at full speed, and with my sensing ability extending 350 meters ahead, I didn’t fear reaching dead ends and having to backtrack all the way.
Along the way, I encountered many more Rank 1 monsters, and they all shared one thing in common...
Their lives were taken by my sword.
Even when I didn’t personally kill a monster, my watch still rang from time to time, indicating that the rest of my team wasn’t just standing around doing nothing.
The deeper I went into the maze, the more numerous and stronger the monsters became. Soon, I would encounter Rank 2.
I glanced at my watch:
Elapsed Time: [21:23]
Team Points: 210
I still needed 790 points to meet the requirement.
As I ran, I felt a new presence enter my range...
A Rank 2 monster.
It didn’t take long before it appeared before me.
Over two meters tall, standing on bent legs like a wolf’s, its long arms hung from its body, adorned with claws dozens of centimeters long. Its back was hunched, and several bone spikes protruded along its spine.
As for its face, it had no eyes—only a massive, drooling mouth occupying most of it, decorated with four sharp horns.
In short, it was ugly... like most monsters in this world.
But why were they all so ugly, as if they had come straight out of the horror movies I used to watch in my previous world? I mean, most people reincarnated into new worlds encountered monsters with somewhat natural forms.
Like giant wolves, skeletons, ghouls... you know.
While these stupid thoughts crossed my mind, the monster noticed me.
It turned its face toward me and opened its mouth, revealing rows of sharp teeth as its long tongue hung out. In the next moment, a deafening roar filled the walls of the tunnel.
The monster bent its legs, its muscles contracting violently, and in the next instant, it lunged at me.
In the following second, it was already in front of me, its dagger-like claws slashing toward me with pure killing intent. I raised my sword to block its arm.
The sound of metal colliding rang out, echoing through the cave, followed by the monster’s furious roar.
Its other arm moved to slice me apart and turn me into strips of meat, but with a surge of essence, a thin layer formed around my second sword, and I performed a diagonal slash.
The blade cut through flesh and bone. The monster’s arm fell to the ground, and before it could even scream in pain, its head hit the floor, followed by its lifeless body.
I gave the corpse a brief glance before continuing onward.
It didn’t take long before I encountered another group of monsters...
Three of the same kind as before.
I smiled as I dashed toward them.
"My beautiful points."
Time passed as I advanced through the maze. Throughout the entire journey, I didn’t encounter a single other student...
Well, it was obvious that I was far ahead of everyone else.
There might be others with abilities that helped them traverse the maze, but without enough power to kill monsters in moments, that wouldn’t be very useful.
I looked at my watch while standing in a pool of blood. Around me, grotesque limbs were scattered everywhere, along with heads of various bizarre shapes.
Elapsed Time: [42:23]
Points: 1020
Now all that remained was to reach the center of the maze and take down the final monster—and I was certain I wasn’t far from the center.
I prepared to move again, only to feel another presence enter my range on its own...
No, two.
And I was certain they weren’t monsters. One of those presences felt familiar. Even without seeing him, I knew exactly who it was.
I didn’t wait long.
Moments later, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed from one of the tunnels behind me. I turned just in time to hear someone speak in a deep voice.
"So you’re saying he’s here."
"Yes, he’s at the end of this tunnel." That was the voice of a small girl.
With each moment, the footsteps grew closer.
Then he emerged from the tunnel.
With a height close to two meters and a massive body, Garon stood there before me, carrying a small girl over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. His body was bathed in blood—probably from the monsters he had torn apart on his way here.
He looked at me.
"Finally found you."
Then, without a hint of care, he threw the girl off his shoulder.
She let out a small scream as she hit the ground.
"Ah..."
I didn’t need to ask to understand what was going on.
It seemed Garon had tracked me using this girl’s ability, abandoning the rest of his teammates just like I did.
He stepped toward me.
"Now you have nowhere to run like last time, you coward."
It seemed he was still holding a grudge against me.
Well, this was Garon.
And he was right. Even if I started running now, it would be easy for him to track me down.
I smiled as I returned my swords to my ring.
"I don’t get it, Garon... are you really going through all this trouble just to catch up to me?"
He didn’t answer, only continued approaching with heavy steps.
I raised my hand toward him in a gesture of peace.
"Come on, Garon. Fighting here won’t benefit either of us, so let’s just pretend we didn’t see each other."
But as if he couldn’t hear a single word I said, the skin around his fists hardened, and in the next moment, he was already on top of me.
My smile deepened, a layer of essence already coating my hand.
"stupid."