The examiner led the Newbies through the forest, and this time, he wasn’t running as fast.
He ran just fast enough that Kyle could keep up.
The reason for that was safety.
They were deep in the forest, and if a beast attacked Kyle, he would die.
After some minutes, Kyle’s instincts told him that food was close.
He looked towards the right with interest.
The examiner looked like he wasn’t paying attention, but he was actually paying very close attention to how the Newbies conducted themselves in a dangerous environment.
When he saw Kyle looking to his right, the examiner reflexively also looked in that direction.
At that moment, his senses picked something up.
Was this just coincidence, or did this Peak Adept sense the beast before him?
The examiner changed direction and ran towards the beast.
“Dylan, you’re first,” the examiner said while looking at the Shouter.
Then, he looked at the man with the two daggers. “Marvin, you will support.”
The two of them gave affirmative answers and charged past the examiner.
The group halted while the two of them charged forward.
Some seconds later, sounds of fighting echoed throughout the forest, and the others continued walking forward.
Dylan and Marvin were fighting a huge hairy spider, which was around three meters wide, including legs.
Dylan was pushing the spider back with his shield.
He had already summoned his True Body.
Marvin appeared from time to time near one of the spider’s legs, leaving deep cuts.
Dylan was doing an excellent job. It was clear that he had fought many beasts before.
However, the same thing couldn’t be said for Marvin.
Just by looking at his weapons, one could tell that Marvin was not someone who focused on fighting beasts.
Yes, daggers were nice and sharp, but beasts were quite big.
Sure, the daggers would bury themselves into the beast’s body, but due to the size of their bodies, it was only marginally worse than being stung by a nail.
Daggers were made for assassinations, not fights against beasts.
Nevertheless, Marvin was fast and agile.
He landed on the spider’s thorax and rammed his daggers deep into the space between the thorax and the head before retreating.
The spider was injured and grew more panicked.
‘If he actually used swords, that spider would be dead,’ Kyle thought.
The fight continued for about twenty seconds.
Dylan charged forward, and a forcefield appeared in front of his shield.
BANG!
He hit the underside of the spider’s head, and Kyle’s eyes widened as he saw the spider flipping 180 degrees.
‘Theodor said he has a Gravity Affinity. I assume this is like opposite gravity or something? Kind of like a repellent,’ Kyle thought.
The spider fell onto its back, and Marvin appeared on its belly.
“Move!” Dylan shouted.
Marvin looked at Dylan and saw the lifted mace.
In one swift motion, Marvin moved to the side.
BOOOOOM!
Dylan’s massive body slammed the mace onto the spider’s thorax, breaking its chitin into pieces.
“Now!” Dylan shouted.
The next moment, Marvin’s body shrank.
‘Artificial manlet!’ Kyle thought as he saw Marvin becoming as tall as a nine-year-old.
Marvin leapt to the open wound and started to hack away at it with incredible speed.
Flesh flew everywhere.
The spider managed to stand up, but Marvin just kept going at it.
A moment later, the spider started to run away, but it was too late.
After some seconds, it collapsed and lost control of its body.
The fight was over.
The result was clear, as was the performance of the two.
Marvin’s performance was lackluster, while Dylan’s performance was excellent.
Marvin had already lost in the first part of the tryouts, and now, he showed another lackluster performance.
It was clear that Marvin would not pass.
“Can you compare to that?” the examiner asked as he looked to his right, at Kyle…
Just to be greeted by an empty space.
The examiner had heard some shuffling earlier, but he hadn’t felt any danger coming from it, which was why he had ignored it.
Well, it turned out that it had been Kyle, who had booked it.
The examiner looked at the distant Kyle, who was currently running away.
The examiner just shook his head in disappointment and disdain.
But then, he saw Kyle stop.
Kyle lifted his hammer and hit the ground.
BOOOM!
The next moment, a huge spider jumped out of the ground, right in front of Kyle.
The examiner’s eyes widened in shock before immediately narrowing in seriousness.
He knew that these spiders generally lived in pairs, but he hadn’t been able to locate the second one.
Well, now he knew where the second one was.
The examiner ran towards Kyle.
He had tried to intimidate Kyle and confront him with his weakness.
He didn’t actually want him to die!
This was an Initial Ferocious Beast!
The examiner reached Kyle-
And stopped.
BANG!
The spider had bitten the hammer.
Kyle’s muscles bulged, and he pushed forward, destabilizing the spider’s stance.
Kyle charged forward in a low stance, and the spider bit down.
CLINK!
Yet, Kyle just shrugged his shoulders, making his shoulder plates more prominent.
The fangs hit his shoulder, but they were not strong enough to pierce the thick Wasteland Metal on the shoulder plates.
Then, Kyle swung his hammer.
CRACK!
The pick of the hammer buried itself into the spider’s thorax before lifting the entire body.
“AAAHHHH!” Kyle shouted as his entire body bulged.
The examiner watched as the spider’s body lifted further.
Kyle turned around and swung.
The body flew over Kyle and…
BOOOOM!
He slammed it onto the ground behind him, which was now in front of him.
The pick had done devastating damage to the thorax.
Kyle pulled the pick out and lifted his hammer.
Then, he smashed down with all of his power.
BOOOOOOM!
The blunt end of the hammer hit the spider’s head, insect-juices flying everywhere.
The spider’s body curled up while seizing from time to time.
Kyle calmly put his hammer over his shoulder and turned to the examiner, who had an expression of absolute shock on his face.
Kyle smiled widely.
“I told you I’m good at fighting beasts!”
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