Bang! Bang! Bang!

  "Growwwl!"

  Using her massive telekinetic powers, Diana Reed hit the Minotaur over and over again.

  The Minotaur let out a loud roar. The floor of the training area cracked, sending dirt and broken stones flying into the air.

  In a fsh, she used her invisible energy to pin down the beast's arms and legs. Then, she gathered all her strength to swing her sword.

  However, a bck hand suddenly shot toward Diana's back from far away, moving as fast as an arrow.

  "Ki-ki-ki-ki!"

  "That annoying ape," Diana muttered.

  The ape was two heads taller than a grown man. Its sharp cws barely scratched Diana's cheek.

  Drip. Drip.

  A few drops of blood slowly rolled down her face.

  "Kekekeke!"

  Seeing the blood made the beast excited. The ape, covered in thick, rough hair, stretched its arms out like rubber bands and swung them like whips.

  Whoosh! Whoosh!

  The attacks were too fast to follow with the naked eye, but Diana easily blocked them using her telekinesis.

  However, whenever she used her powers, the Minotaur seemed to sense it and got in her way.

  Because both monsters were attacking her at the same time, she could not fight back properly.

  To make matters worse, her superpowers started failing. Slowly but surely, her telekinesis became unsteady.

  Her damaged body just could not handle the stress of using her powers anymore.

  It seemed her physical limits had finally caught up to her.

  "Ugh!"

  Taking advantage of a short break in her focus, the Minotaur's fist broke through her guard and smashed into her stomach. Damn it.

  Thud!

  It felt just like getting hit by a speeding truck.

  She managed to protect herself at the st second with her telekinesis, dodging a deadly blow. Still, she felt like one of her ribs had cracked.

  "Cough, cough... phew."

  Damn. In the old days, she could have defeated them easily.

  Struggling against a simple bull showed just how cruel getting older could be.

  If only that annoying ape was not here, I could handle this.

  The Long-Armed Ape kept attacking from behind the Minotaur, making things incredibly difficult for her.

  Every time she tried to tie up the Minotaur with her powers, the ape jumped in to stop her.

  At this rate, I might die before the security team even gets here.

  Diana wiped the blood from her mouth and called upon her telekinetic power once more.

  She refused to look weak in front of her students.

  After all, Diana Reed was a professional hero.

  She had to keep the kids safe, no matter what it took.

  "As you can all see, our teacher cannot hold on for much longer," Oliver said.

  "..."

  The members of Team 1 and Team 16 stayed perfectly quiet.

  They did not want to just watch and let Diana get hurt.

  However, if they blindly rushed into the fight, they would quickly be beaten to death.

  "Our job is easy to understand. We have to fight one of the monsters so the teacher can focus on the other," Oliver expined.

  "Which one? The bull or the ape?" Julia asked.

  Hearing Julia's question, Oliver pointed straight at the Long-Armed Ape.

  "The ape, of course."

  It was the only logical choice. The Minotaur was way too powerful for them.

  "But do not misunderstand me. The ape is not weak. It is just weaker than the bull. We still cannot beat it easily."

  That made a lot of sense.

  Julia nodded, agreeing with him.

  She did not know exactly how strong the ape was, but seeing its fast movements proved it was too much for regur students to defeat.

  "We do not need to kill the Long-Armed Ape. We only need to get its attention and distract it until the guards get here."

  "That does not sound simple at all," someone replied.

  Distracting the ape was easy to say, but hard to do.

  For students who had never fought such a scary monster, it was a terrifying task.

  Unlike their safe Academy training, one small mistake in a real fight could get them killed.

  On top of that, their bodies were frozen in fear from the monsters' deadly presence.

  Could they really fight well in a terrifying situation like this?

  "Whether we like it or not, we must do it," Oliver said, looking seriously at the group.

  The students quietly looked back at him.

  "If our teacher falls, we are all going to die anyway."

  "Ha. I guess you are right," Nina said.

  Nina let out a heavy sigh and nodded. Even though she hated to admit it, he was telling the truth.

  Besides, who knew when the security team would actually show up?

  "So, what is the pn?"

  "Do you have a clever idea?"

  "Hey, we are running out of time, so just tell us."

  Naturally, Lily, Serena, and Nina threw questions at him all at once.

  Julian and Julia also turned all their attention to Oliver.

  Everyone knew how good Oliver was at coming up with strategies. They had all seen his great pns during the previous tournament rounds.

  Because of that, it made perfect sense to trust his judgment now.

  Honestly, Oliver was the best person to lead them.

  It was much safer to let him handle the pn than anyone else.

  "Okay. Rather than a complex strategy, I will just give everyone a specific role. Like I said before, we only need to stall for time."

  Since every passing second was precious, Oliver quickly expined his pn. He also told them a few important details about how the ape fought.

  The students nodded and quickly moved into their assigned spots.

  Even though they were still a bit nervous, Oliver's past success during the exams gave them enough confidence to trust him.

  Alright, let's do this.

  Oliver slowly loaded an arrow onto his bow.

  He was an archer, after all.

  Since he did not have the natural talent to fight up close like a real hero, using a long-range bow was the smartest choice for him.

  "Let's go. Get ready, everyone."

  "Okay."

  "Understood."

  Thwack!

  An arrow filled with magical energy shot straight toward the side of the Long-Armed Ape's head.

  However...

  "Kiik? Kekekeke?"

  Acting like it had eyes on the back of its head, the monster easily grabbed the arrow out of the air. A straight shot was not going to work.

  Maybe it is time to push the ape into its second phase?

  "I got its attention."

  "Keek? Keek... Keek..."

  The Long-Armed Ape turned around and locked its creepy eyes entirely on Oliver.

  Uh... staring right into its eyes makes me regret doing that just a little bit.

  Oliver quietly gulped in fear. Whew. Fine, let's get this over with.

  Looking highly entertained, the ape broke the arrow in half and slowly licked its lips.

  Seeing this, Diana frowned deeply and yelled. What on earth were these kids thinking? She had been trying so hard to keep the monsters focused on her!

  "What are you doing?! I ordered you to stay back..."

  "Teacher, you cannot beat them both on your own! If you die, we all die!" Lily shouted back at her.

  "We will distract the ape! Please defeat the bull quickly so you can come help us!"

  "..."

  Diana bit her lip.

  Lily was right. It was simply too hard for Diana to fight both monsters at the same time.

  If she took a deadly hit and fell, she would not be able to protect the students at all.

  In a way, the kids were making a very logical choice.

  But was it truly okay to let simple Academy students fight such a dangerous beast?

  If they made a mistake, they could die...

  "We are training to be heroes, too! So do not worry about us, teach!"

  Suddenly, a memory fshed in her mind.

  -The students are not just children; they are future heroes. You cannot treat them like babies forever.

  An old conversation echoed in her head.

  -As heroes in training, you have heavy duties. If a real emergency happens, all students must step up to protect regur people from vilins.

  They were not just kids. They were heroes in the making.

  -Under the w, you are basically treated as adults. Before this, you were kids who needed protection. Now, you are the ones who must protect others.

  She had literally told them those exact words herself. They were supposed to be the ones saving people now.

  Knowing that, was she still going to treat them like helpless children?

  Especially since some of them already had temporary hero licenses?

  "Do not push yourselves too hard. The guards will arrive soon. Actually, just hold on. I will kill this bull quickly and come back you up."

  For the time being, Diana decided to trust them.

  She felt incredibly anxious, but she had no choice but to rely on her students.

  "Yes, teach...! Ah, watch out! Oliver, it is charging at you!" Lily screamed.

  The Long-Armed Ape, which had been gring at Oliver's group, suddenly jumped right at them.

  It leaped through the air and stretched its rubbery arm out, aiming a deadly strike straight at Oliver.

  "Who are you looking at?"

  Completely ignoring the monster's scary presence, Nina swung her fist up and smashed the ape's incoming attack away.

  With a loud boom, the ape's hand was knocked way up toward the ceiling, its long arm stretching out several meters.

  "..."

  Julian saw his chance. He took a deep breath, wrapped his sword in magical energy, and swung it hard at the stretched-out arm.

  Ssh!

  "Kiik! Kekekeke!"

  The monster's skin tore open with a sickening sound, and dark red blood sprayed everywhere.

  "...It is incredibly tough," Julian muttered.

  The creature's skin was way thicker than he thought. His sword did not cut deeply enough.

  Even if it was just a practice sword, he had used his magic and swung with all his strength. Was that really not enough to cut it?

  Julian bit his lip in frustration.

  "Get back! Serena, cover us!" Oliver ordered.

  "I am already doing it!" Serena shouted back.

  When the ape tried to crush Julian with its other hand, Serena rushed in to block the strike.

  Twang! Twang! Ting!

  The loud sounds of sharp cws hitting a metal practice spear rang out.

  While Serena kept the ape busy, Julia finished casting her spell right on time.

  "Thunder Spear!"

  A spear made entirely of lightning shot from Julia's hands and smmed into the ape.

  "Kiik! Kekeke!"

  The powerful electricity paralyzed the monster's muscles for a split second. This gave Julian, Serena, and Nina the perfect chance to attack all at once.

  However, the giant ape did not even seem to care about their teamwork. It simply stretched out its arms again, deciding it wanted to kill the annoying magic user first.

  Swoosh!

  The dark hand shot forward as fast as lightning.

  It aimed right for Julia's stomach while she was defenseless. But Lily was already prepared. She rushed in and used her shield to knock the ape's arm away.

  "Ki-ki-ki-ki!"

  Angry, the ape pulled its arm back.

  Being constantly blocked and annoyed by these tiny humans was clearly making it furious.

  "Ha, ha... See? That stupid ape is not so tough after all," Nina ughed.

  "Do not rex just yet. We barely even scratched it," Oliver said, quickly correcting her.

  All six of them had worked perfectly together, yet they still had not dealt any real damage to the monster. Even so, Oliver felt like the fight was going much better than he had hoped.

  For their very first time fighting alongside Team 16, their teamwork was actually pretty great. Plus, since their only goal was to stay alive and distract the monster, the pn was working.

  This is good.

  Julian and Nina stood in the front lines to defend. Serena stayed in the middle to use her speed and long reach. Oliver stayed in the back to give orders, alongside Julia casting spells. Finally, Lily acted as a banced guard to protect everyone else.

  Not bad at all.

  With their amazing skills and smart positioning, they could fight almost any enemy.

  These kids were incredibly talented.

  It made complete sense. After all, they were the main heroine, the male lead, and the young vilin of the original game's story.

  "Uggh, damn it all..."

  "Oh, man... cough... cough."

  "Haak, ha, hack."

  It had only been a few short minutes.

  That was it. We only survived for a handful of minutes, and now we were all coughing up blood and rolling around in the dirt.

  Julian, Serena, Nina, and Lily. Every single one of us was beaten down.