"And it will be much faster for him to go alone," Damian said, and Amelia understood the point he was trying to make.
"Well, we should move as well then," Amelia told Damian as she looked around and found Alyssa was missing.
"Where did she go?" Amelia asked Venessa.
Throughout the time in the dungeon, Alyssa hadn't uttered a single word. She would only occasionally assist them or focus on killing the monsters.
The only one on the team who had conversed with her was Venessa, who would occasionally strike up a conversation with everyone except Asher.
"She went ahead the moment he did," Venessa said, noticing Alyssa use her gravity magic to move towards the forest.
"Ah, okay," Amelia replied.
Far ahead on the path, Kevin was running with his team trailing behind him.
"Did the direction change again?" Elena asked as Kevin changed course.
"Yeah," Kevin said as he leaped over a bunch of vines.
"The rocky terrain will start from here," Eva informed them, noticing the change in their environment.
As they didn't know the exact final location where they needed to place the Medallion, all they could do was follow the direction it indicated.
While traveling, they noticed a bunch of broken trees and dried land.
"Do you think we'll encounter any monsters?" Lishia asked Elena.
"Maybe, but I'm not sure. Let's keep our guards up though," Elena said as she spread her Mana Sense to continuously check if anyone other than them was nearing.
At that moment, Elena was pleased that they were in the lead and that Kevin had sufficient mana that would aid them later.
But she didn't let down her guard yet.
It was too early for them to think they had won. After all, such premature celebration had backfired too many times for her to not learn her lesson.
She was not going to underestimate Asher, so she crafted a strategy that could lead them to victory with Eva.
"Start it," Xander said, observing the race with the other professors who had just left the dungeon after Asher's team.
"Okay," Elsa responded as she tapped her ID bracelet.
They were looking at the rocky terrain, which was part of the race, but they had created a special path for themselves.
Elena, who was running while using the mana at her feet, suddenly stopped as she noticed Kevin halt.
"What happened?" Elena asked Kevin.
"It changed direction, but it's pointing at this mountain," Kevin said.
Elena approached and took a look at the Medallion, confirming Kevin's observation.
"Do we need to go over it?" Elena queried, eyeing the small mountain in front of them.
"No, look, a path is opening," Eva pointed out, noticing a faint light in the middle of the mountain.
"Do we have to enter that?" Ria asked.
"It seems like it," Eva responded.
"Let's go then," Kevin decided, leading the group inside.
Meanwhile, 5 km behind them, Asher was navigating through the forest, noticing signs of recent footsteps.
From the corner of his eye, he spotted many stealth drones following him at all times.
He assumed these were the drones being used to monitor this test.
"Is this the speed of a D Rank Hunter?" One of the staff members questioned as they watched Asher move through the forest terrain without pausing once.
Xander didn't react much as he was preoccupied with observing the complex movement technique Asher was using.
Asher's figure would disappear from one place and appear at another. It was almost like he was using a spatial spell, but Xander could see the intricacies of the movement technique Asher was utilizing.
But trailing him, Alyssa was also traveling at high speed. Unlike Asher, she was using her Gravity Magic to accelerate herself.
Yet, neither of them was utilizing their full capabilities.
In two minutes, Asher exited the forest. He surveyed the mountainous path and the unusual opening that the Medallion pointed at.
'Is this the path they created?' Asher guessed as he entered the cave, which was starkly different inside.
Despite being illuminated, the terrain was filled with various Rune Traps visible to the naked eye.
It was designed to force people to slow down.
But they ended soon. Asher avoided them and traveled towards the narrow road that could only allow one person to run on it at a time.
But as he was passing through the road at the end, numerous Sensips appeared, noticing Asher.
"VAAAAAAARGH," The beasts roared upon seeing him. Asher looked at the cages that had opened when he started running on the narrow path.
'So they've already passed through the trap,' Asher observed the other empty cages that had been opened by Kevin's team.
Asher eyed the five Sensips as his gaze landed on them.
'Shadow Bind,' He thought in his head, and chains erupted from the ground, strangling the monsters.
Right then, he didn't want to waste any time.
"I should increase my speed now," Asher said as he flared his mana.
At the moment, he was only using his movement technique to maintain his speed.
<Host has gained 100 EXP>
<Host has gained 100 EXP>
...
Five such notifications flashed in front of him, but Asher ignored them.
Asher suddenly disappeared from the footage, leaving Xander and the other professors watching in suspense.
"Is he trying to brute force through the traps?" Neyman frowned. The traps were designed to slow them down and make them choose their paths carefully.
Asher was only a kilometer away from Kevin's group as he noticed the path filled with Rune Traps. The only way to cross it was to go through the narrow paths or a single rope while under the threat of encountering monsters.
Boom!
Boom!
Explosions erupted as Asher passed through them, wrapping his body in Aura and negating the shockwaves emitted from those rune traps.
His current speed was enough to evade the traps, but doing so required his full concentration.
Asher tilted his head as he saw a fire arrow whizz past him.
"What is this kid doing," Neyman observed Asher's reckless maneuver through the rune traps.
"Shouldn't we stop him," Arman looked at Xander.
But Xander remained silent, not answering them.
Meanwhile, Kevin was dodging lava traps around him, and the others behind him were doing the same.
"Those monsters slowed us down a lot," Kevin said as he swung his spear, taking down a D Rank Monster. His eyes were glowing blue.
He had stopped conserving his mana and was leading them instead of Matthew, who was quite exhausted by now.
Kevin jumped up, spinning his spear to deflect stone daggers that sprang from the Rune Traps.
He looked at a monster eyeing him and hurled his spear, a Rank B weapon.
In an instant, the spear decimated the monster and destroyed the ground around it.
Kevin landed and jumped onto a rock, crossing the path first.
"I should save this for later," Kevin muttered, looking at the blue bracelet he was wearing.
BOOM
He heard an explosion, and everyone, including him, looked in the direction from which they had come. After a few seconds, they saw Asher emerging from there.
"How did he get here so fast?" Kevin wondered, frowning.
"Kevin!!" Elena shouted, catching his attention.
"Follow the plan," she reminded him, and Kevin nodded.
Even though he wasn't keen on the idea, he decided to go along with Elena and Eva's strategy.
'I will win this race for us,' Kevin resolved as he flared his mana, which was nearing that of a mid D Rank Hunter.
He immediately dashed towards the exit, holding the Medallion in his hand, leaving Asher behind with his team.
Asher watched Kevin disappear. He looked around as Elena and Eva crossed the lava path, with the others following suit.
"Use the terrain to our advantage. We need to stall as much as we can," Elena instructed. She knew they couldn't stop Asher entirely.
But she just needed to delay him long enough for Kevin to win. He had the perfect affinity for this type of test.
Lightning Affinity, which made him the fastest and the second rank among all first-year students.
Asher observed them, noticing the lava pool in front of him.
"Barrier Magic," Eva chanted, erecting a barrier to ensure nobody could get affected by the spell Asher had demonstrated in the Mage Test.
"Lishia, try to restrain him, while I push him back," Elena instructed.
Meanwhile, Matthew and Ria raised their swords, standing as the last line of defense.
"This boy is too reckless," Zacram said, glancing at Neyman, who couldn't believe anyone would dare navigate the Rune Traps so recklessly.
"I purposely made them non-lethal for this part of the test. He must have recognized it," Neyman mumbled.
"But he's cornered now, and the Whiteheart boy hasn't used his Lightning affinity till now either," Zacram added.
"Well, let's watch what he does," Elsa said, curious to see how Asher would handle the situation.
"Blink," Asher disappeared from his spot and reappeared behind Elena, who was standing at the back.
His indifferent gaze fell on Elena. While everyone was puzzled by what had happened, Elena sensed a presence behind her.
But she was too late to react.
Before she could turn her head, Asher raised his leg and kicked her, breaking through Eva's barrier and sending her flying to a wall far to her left.
Everyone turned around, looking at Asher in disbelief.
"How did you learn that teleportation spell?!" Eva stuttered, her eyes wide as she guessed what Asher had just done.
"You don't need to know," Asher replied, disappearing from his spot.
Eva immediately raised her guard, but Asher's target was behind her. It was Matthew, who raised his sword, but to no avail.
He tried to stop Asher's attack, but even while blocking, the force behind Asher's strike was too much for him to handle.
Asher was about to push even more, but he halted as he sensed a particular person approaching them.
'She can handle them now,' Asher thought, using the Mir Steps technique to exit the place and follow the direction that the Medallion was indicating.
