The Author's POV

"Five-tusked Mammoth? How can we defeat that?"

Kevin and his team looked down below them. An enormous elephant-looking creature with five tusks extending from its mouth leisurely walked across the area below them.

Five-tusked Mammoth, a <D> ranked creature famous for its tremendous strength and tough outer layer.

"T-that's the boss monster isn't it?"

Standing beside Kevin a tall individual spoke. He had brown eyes and black hair. His name was Ray and he came from Lutwik academy.

"It is"

Feeling the tremendous pressure coming from the monster, Kevin knew without a doubt that that was the boss monster.

'Can I defeat it by myself?'

Despite being D ranked himself, Kevin was unsure. Simply put, the pressure exuding from the monster was terrifying. Thinking along those lines, he decided to stay put.

"Let's wait for the other teams to come"

"Other teams?"

"Yeah, at the moment, even if we can try to defeat the monster, without a doubt the other teams will come and may try to steal the kill from us"

If once they were close to defeating the monster the other teams came and stole their kill, Kevin would be pretty pissed.

"Look another team is here"

Suddenly Ray pointed out as he looked towards the distance. Turning around, Kevin looked towards the direction of where Ray was pointing.

"That's Jin...oh, and him"

Kevin instantly spotted Jin standing in the middle of the group. Besides him, was Aaron.

Immediately his eyes narrowed.

He did not have a good impression of Aaron. From the small interaction he had with him, Kevin knew that he was targeting him.

"Hm?"

On the opposite side, sensing something, Aaron turned his head around. A smile emerged on his lips.

"Look who we've got here..."

Aaron's and Kevin's eyes interlocked. Sparks flew in the air. The tension between the two rose.

"Oh, I definitely remember writing this part..."

Whilst Kevin and Aaron were busy looking at each other, on the opposite side, a black-haired blue-eyed youth looked at them with an amused expression.

"Writing what part?"

"Wha-the!"

Startling Ren, Aerin appeared next to him. Placing his hand on his chest, Ren waved his hand.

"Jeezus, don't scare people like that"

"I'm sorry, but what were you talking about before?"

"Hm? Oh nothing, I was just referring to the notes I had made on the five tusked Mammuth"

"Oh, what have you got?"

Aerin instantly got curious.

From what she figured out so far regarding Ren after interacting with him for a bit during the dungeon run was that he had good knowledge of the monsters within the dungeon.

Like their weaknesses and behavioral patterns.

"I forgot"

In response to Aerin's question, Ren shook his head. Aerin was left speechless as a result.

"..."

"What? It doesn't really matter anyway"

Noticing her reaction, Ren rolled his eyes.

'We're aiming to steal kill from the others. No point in fighting it ourselves'

Jumping off the rock he was on, Ren quietly moved closer to where the boss monster was.

"For now, all we really have to do is pretend to attack the monster like the others. Since our goal is killing it, we should naturally hold back once attacking..."

Arriving before a rather secluded area, Ren sat down and waited for his team to catch up.

The reason why he wasn't attacking the Five-tusked Mammuth now was because it would prove to be a fruitless endeavor.

He had to wait for the other teams to gather before deciding on his next move.

Fortunately, not long after, more and more teams had started to gather. The more teams gathered, the more the tensions grew.

Staring at the five-rusked Mammuth below, everyone had a similar goal in mind.

Kill the boss monster and emerge as number one.

...

An hour had passed since then and a large explosion shook the surroundings.

BOOOOM

"bahruuuuuuhhhhaaaaa—!"

"Keh!"

"Ghh..."

Dust and debris flew everywhere as the five-tusked Mammoth flew into a fit of rage. Wherever it went, students would be sent flying.

—Shwup!

Fortunately, whenever a student was injured severely, an instructor would quickly appear and take them away.

Such scenes appeared everywhere.

Everyone was given a special artifact beforehand, so in case they received a blow that could threaten their life it would activate and protect them.

Unfortunately...

Whenever this happened, fifty points were deducted from the overall team's score.

—Swooosh! —Swooosh! —Swooosh!

On top of a small large rock, stood Amanda with her bow drawn. Whenever she pulled the string of her bow back a blue translucent arrow would appear. Like that she aimed for the Mammuth below.

Amanda was currently aiming for its eyes.

That was its main weakness. Letting go of the string, the arrow disappeared. It soon reappeared in front of the Mammuth who quickly closed its eyes.

—Clank!

A large sound reverberated across the plain and Amanda's arrow disintegrated. Unbothered by this, Amanda once again drew her bow. Once again she released the arrow.

—Swooosh!

Below her, Emma and Eleonore worked together with the other teams to deal as much damage as possible.

Emma used her shortswords whilst Elonore stood at the back, casting different types of spells.

"Back me up!"

"Like you would need my help!"

All sorts of colorful yet devastating spells flew towards the Mammuth in the distance as Eleonore cast spells as if she was a machine gun.

Occasionally Emma and Eleonore would bicker, but they worked well together as Emma stood at the front and Eleonore helped at the back.

SHIIIING—!

Next to them, Aaron and Kevin swiftly and deftly moved around the Mammuth's lower area.

Whenever their sword slashed, blood spilled. They were aiming for the joints and legs of the monster.

Unfortunately, due to how tough the outer layer of the monster was, the best they could do was cause the monster to bleed.

But that was enough...

"bahruuuuuuhhhhaaaaa—!"

Slowly but surely the Mammuth was slowing down. Its movements had started to become more and more predictable. Everyone could feel it.

They were close to killing it.

"Huaaa!"

"Hup!"

Seeing this, everyone stopped holding back. Different colored hues enveloped the surroundings as everyone attacked more fiercely.

Emma's attack became more fierce, Kevin's attack became more powerful, Amanda's arrow became faster...

Everyone was going in for the kill.

"Hee..."

Standing not far from them, a faint smile appeared on my lips.

'Go on, keep lowering its health. Do the heavy job and leave the lightwork for me'

Since the very beginning, I had not moved.

There was a reason for this. It's because I had a plan.

My plan was quite simple. Just when everyone was about to deal their last blow I would quickly send a ring in front of them to block their attacks.

Though it won't completely block their attacks, it would be enough to delay them. I would then swoop in and take the kill.

'Ah, just imaging the faces of everyone once they see this makes me chuckle...'

The smile on my face deepened.

Just thinking of Kevin's face once he realized that I stole his kill...

I couldn't wait.

"It's almost dead! Amanda, use your strongest move! Eleonore help me!"

Looking at the Five-tusked Mammoth and sensing something, Emma suddenly shouted. Following her call, the Mammuth roared towards the sky as one of its legs gave out.

"bahruuuuuuhhhhaaaaa—!"

Nodding her head, a tremendous amount of power gathered towards Amanda. Looking at each other, Eleonore and Emma quickly separated from each other.

"Hehe, where do you think you're going"

"What are you doing Emma?"

Stopping before Kevin, Emma smiled sweetly. Two short words appeared in her hands.

"Sorry but, I, unfortunately, have to hold you back here. How about this, I'll let you go once Amanda is done, you okay with that?"

"Ha...is this how you want to play?"

Kevin instantly got the gist of the situation. They were trying to hold him back. Emma's smile deepened as she didn't deny it.

"You sure got that right"

"You give me no choice..."

Instantly, Kevin's pressure intensified manifolds as the red hue around him shrouded everything within a ten-meter radius.

"Let's see for how long you can hold me back!"

BOOOOM!

Not far from Kevin and Emma, a similar situation was unfolding as Eleonore stood before Aerin and her brother Nicholas.

"Sorry guys, but I'll have to hold you back"

"Oh? So you're resorting to this trick as well?"

Stepping up, Nicholas smiled. Looking towards Kevin in the distance, he pretty much got the gist of the situation as well. In response to Nicholas's question, Eleonore nodded her head.

"Unfortunately, yes"

She had discussed this with Emma beforehand.

Aside from Kevin and Aaron, the most threatening of all the people were the Leinfall twins. She opted to go for the Leinfall twins.

Aaron was too hard to handle for the current her.

"I see, so you want to let your partner take the shot whilst you hold back all the possible competitors. What an interesting plan"

"That's exactly it, so give it your best shot at getting through me"

Staring at the Leinfall twins before her, Eleonore's hands became engulfed in flames. In response, the Leinfall twins took out their weapons and stood back to back with each other.

A tremendous white hue emanated from their body.

"Well, shit..."

Feeling the pressure from the twins, Eleonore was starting to regret her decision.

Fortunately, she only had to hold them back.

Thus...

Increasing the intensity of the flames in her hands, she attacked.

"Haaa!"

*

"What a sight..."

Within a hundred-meter radius of the Mammuth, similar situations were unfolding. Everyone tried to hold back the strongest person of the other group whilst they had one member go for the kill.

Fortunately, I wasn't one of those people targeted. Guess everyone thought I wasn't as high of a priority.

Was slightly offended, but since it worked in my favor I guess it was fine.

"Looks like it's about time I moved..."

Unsheathing my sword, I prepared to enact my plan to kill the Mammuth. I was going for the kill.

However...

Right before I could move, a silver streak of light dashed towards the five-rusked Mammuth. It was so fast that barely anyone could detect it.

WHIIIIIING—

Following this, a small hole appeared on the Five-tusked Mammoth.

—Thud!

With a large thud, the mammoth fell to the ground.

"..."

"..."

Silence prevailed over the surroundings as everyone stood motionless and stopped whatever they were doing. Be it Aaron, Emma, Kevin, Amanda, or anyone present...

Everyone stopped whatever they were doing. Instantly, everyone's eyes were directed towards one individual.

"Haa..."

Standing on top of the monster, was Jin's cold figure. With a dagger still in his hand, Jin wiped the blood off of his face.

Turning his head slightly, Jin hopped off Mammuth's corpse.

—Ping!

Within the silence, the only sound that echoed was the sound of his smartwatch vibrating. Jin didn't even bother looking at it.

Without saying a word he left.

He came as fast as he went.

"Ah...What?"

Watching Jin's figure leave, I stood rooted on my spot. Multiple thoughts crossed my mind.

'When did he get so strong?...and did he just steal my kill?'