"If they enter the main street, we’ll have to fight several of them at the same time."
The students obeyed.
A few minutes later, the entrance route to the eastern shelter had been secured.
Without even smiling, Kaelen checked the injured students and the remaining equipment.
At the same time, Marcus was also performing well in the western part of the city.
Instead of fighting in open areas, he used narrow alleys and half-ruined walls to prevent the Fallens from attacking his group all at once.
His spear was well suited for this kind of environment.
Every time a creature tried to approach, Marcus pushed it back with a precise strike, giving the students with him a chance to attack from the side.
Both of them were among the most well-known first-year students who were not considered part of the academy’s elite, and both were also underlings of James.
The same student who had broken Leonis’s Core.
Both of them truly deserved their reputations. They were still Level One, but their training, talents, and skills allowed them to perform far better than ordinary candidates.
In the academy’s observation room, Celine Ardent was checking several images at the same time. The screens showed different parts of the city.
On one of them, Kaelen was leading his group. On another, Marcus had blocked the Fallens’ path.
However, Celine’s gaze stopped on a third image for a moment.
Leonis Habsburg.
The boy was moving through one of the southern streets without a fixed companion.
However, unlike the students who were running in a hurry to reach their goals, he kept checking the positions of the buildings and the dangerous routes around him.
Whenever he noticed a Fallen, he only entered combat when he had a suitable escape route available.
In one of the images, Leonis pointed at two lost students and told them not to cross the southern street. A few moments later, a group of Fallens emerged from that same route.
Celine paused the image, then watched the few seconds before that moment again.
How did he notice?
Before the creatures appeared, Leonis had looked at the walls and windows. He had probably noticed signs that others had missed.
She opened his initial report.
[ Name: Leonis Habsburg ]
[ Level: 1 ]
[ Talent: Minor Reinforcement — F-Rank ]
She remained silent for a moment, then selected another image.
"Interesting."
That was the only reaction she showed, but from that moment on, Leonis’s image became one of the screens she checked regularly.
Dong!
The sound of the tower’s first bell spread throughout the city.
A few seconds later, the ground beneath the students’ feet shook slightly, and huge iron gates closed in several parts of the city.
Routes that had been open just a few minutes ago were suddenly blocked, and the Fallens that had been kept behind secondary barriers entered new routes.
Leonis stopped beside an intersection and reviewed the original map in his mind.
The direct route to the southern shelter was now closed, but a narrow alley to the west was still connected to the same area.
He changed his route without hesitation. On the way, he saw several students trying to force open the closed gate using raw strength.
He didn’t even stop.
In this situation, wasting Mana on something that had been part of the exam’s design from the beginning was a foolish choice.
A few minutes later, he reached the southern shelter.
Three students were standing in front of the entrance, trying to keep a group of Fallens away.
However, the monsters were not the main problem.
One of the protective pillars beside the entrance had been damaged, and the Mana flowing through it seemed unstable.
After a brief inspection, Leonis noticed that one of the Mana transfer cables was trapped beneath pieces of stone. If the pillar completely stopped working, the shelter would be left without protection.
He pointed at the two nearby students.
"Keep those creatures busy on the right. You don’t need to kill them. Just don’t let them get close to the entrance."
One of them asked in surprise,
"Who are you to give us orders?"
Leonis pointed at the damaged pillar.
"Someone who’s telling you that if you stand here for another thirty seconds, the shelter’s barrier will stop working."
The student looked back at the pillar. Its blue light really was growing weaker.
This time, he didn’t argue.
Leonis walked toward the cable and used a limited amount of his physical strength to move the large piece of stone lying on top of it.
Then he examined the damaged section.
The cable itself wasn’t broken.
It had only twisted under the pressure, disrupting the flow of Mana.
He freed the cable, and a few seconds later, the pillar’s light became stable again. The shelter was no longer in danger.
Without waiting for anyone to thank him, he headed toward the central street. His main objective was still ahead.
The source of the corruption.
And if his guess was correct, the answer was near the clock tower.
Dong!
The second bell rang.
This time, the changes in the city were more severe. Several central streets were closed, and black light rose from cracks in the ground around the clock tower.
More Fallens moved toward the central square. At the same moment, an alarm sounded from one of the shelters.
The corruption level had increased.
Corruption was a power that could turn ordinary people into low-level Fallens. If they failed to stop it, they would lose the exam.
Leonis stopped at the entrance to the central square.
The clock tower stood to the north of the square.
A street from the east led to it, while another narrow route to the west connected to the abandoned market.
However, a huge creature was standing in the center of the square. The Fallen was almost three meters tall.
Bone armor covered its shoulders and chest, and its two long arms ended in thick claws.
However, what caught his attention the most were the wounds on its body. Part of its shoulder armor was broken, and black blood was flowing down its side.
Even so, every few seconds, strands of dark Mana entered its body from the ground, and its wounds slowly closed.
In front of the creature, Kaelen and Marcus were fighting alongside several other students.
Kaelen was attacking from the east.
Marcus stood to the west, using his spear to prevent the Fallen from moving toward the southern street.
Both of them were under pressure, but they had not completely lost control of the fight yet.
"Marcus! Keep it on its left side!" Kaelen shouted.
Marcus thrust his spear toward the creature’s knee. The attack struck its bone armor and created a small crack.
The Fallen let out a harsh growl and brought its arm down.
Marcus was forced to retreat, and the creature’s claw struck the stone pavement, sending several pieces of stone flying in all directions.
At the same moment, Kaelen attacked from the right. His sword struck the creature’s injured shoulder.
Bang!
The crack in its armor grew larger.
However, before he could deliver a second strike, black Mana entered the Fallen’s body from the ground.
The wound began to close.
Kaelen gritted his teeth.
"Damn it, this creature is getting energy from an external source!"
Marcus had noticed it too, but getting close to the tower was almost impossible.
Every time someone tried to pass it, the Fallen changed its position and blocked the way with its long claws.
Leonis examined the situation from the entrance to the square for a few seconds.
An external source.
His gaze moved from the Fallen to the ground. Thin strands of black Mana could be seen between the cracks in the stone pavement.
Some of them moved toward the creature’s legs, but all of them came from a point at the base of the tower.
He followed the path of the energy.
So the real problem isn’t that creature.
At that moment, the Fallen attacked one of the students. The boy had apparently used up all his Mana and couldn’t move back in time.
The huge claw came down from above.
If the attack hit him, a large part of his body would probably be crushed beneath it.
Leonis moved.
[ Quick Step ]
He appeared beside the student in a short distance and raised his sword at a diagonal angle toward the Fallen’s wrist.
Bang!
The sword struck the bone armor, but the force of the attack wasn’t enough to stop the claw completely.
However, that wasn’t his goal. He only changed the direction of its movement by a few degrees, causing the claw to strike the ground right beside the student’s feet instead of his chest.
The stone pavement broke.
A short shockwave spread through the area.
He grabbed the student’s collar and pulled him out of danger.
"If you can’t fight, go to the shelter. Standing here won’t help anyone."
The boy nodded between his broken breaths and ran toward the southern street.
Leonis turned his gaze back to the Fallen. The creature was now standing a few meters away.
And Kaelen was keeping it occupied with his sword once again.
"What are you doing here?!" Marcus shouted when he saw him.
"I’m solving a problem that you two have been fighting the signs of for the past few minutes."
Marcus frowned.
"What did you say?!"
Kaelen interrupted him.
"What do you mean?"
Leonis pointed at the base of the tower with his sword.
"That creature isn’t the main source of the corruption. It’s only feeding on it."
Kaelen followed the direction he pointed in. A few seconds later, he noticed the strands of Mana moving beneath the stone pavement.
His expression changed.
"An energy transfer node..."
Leonis nodded.
"As long as it’s active, any damage you deal to that creature will be repaired."
"You think we don’t know that?! The problem is that monster won’t let us get close to the tower!" Marcus said angrily.
Leonis gave him a brief look.
"Then force it to move away from the tower."
A brief silence followed, and then he continued.
"One of you, attack from the east and force it toward the square. The other, block the western route so it can’t return. I need twenty seconds."
Marcus laughed mockingly.
"You think you can give us orders?"