[Lifespan Remaining: 5 days, 22 hours, 41 minutes.]
"What are these?"
Gareth had stopped beside a thin wire that stretched between two trees. His gaze followed it toward the chapel before bringing his attention back to Annie.
"Traps," she answered. "Be careful where you step. Some of them are—"
"You followed us here to set traps?"
Annie blinked. "What?"
"The Bone Hound," Gareth’s expression turned sour. "You heard us talking about it, and now you’re trying to take it for yourselves?!"
"No! Th—these are just to protect—"
"You’re going to die."
Noct dropped from the branch, landing beside Alice with a soft thud. He straightened and glanced over the four newcomers. Torn clothes, bloodied equipment, and barely enough strength to argue, really.
"If you’re planning to fight the Bone Hound," he clarified. "You’re not ready."
Gareth grit his teeth. "And who are you to decide that? Just because you’re a noble, that doesn’t mean you know jack shit about any of us. Think you’re better than us because you’re an Arcadia?"
"Yes."
Noct’s reply caused him to flinch. At first, Gareth thought it was just a noble being overbearing, but hearing Noct say it so confidently, his confidence started to waver just a tiny bit.
"You’re also on your second advancement!" the leader doubled down. "You’re just bluffing!"
Noct let out a disappointed sigh. "Alright then. Show me how many cores you’ve collected. If you have more than us, I’ll let you through."
"That’s...none of your business."
"How many?"
Gareth did not seem to want to answer, but that was when the bookish-looking boy, Alex moved his hands to the strap of a bag near his waist. "We have ten."
The leader shot him a look, but otherwise said nothing more.
"Ten? Between all four of you?" Noct scoffed. "Surely there were undead in the area you could hunt. Did you stay together the entire time?"
"We had a bad encounter."
"That’s not even enough for one person to pass. And your next idea is to fight a 3-Star monster?"
"That’s why we need it!" Gareth suddenly snapped. "We spent the entire morning for these ten cores. How many more do you think we’ll get if we keep doing the same thing?!"
Before Noct could continue, Alice suddenly tapped him on the shoulder. "C—can we help them out somehow? I mean—"
"This is an examination, you know?" Noct answered with a blank face. "If they can’t pass it by themselves, how can you guarantee that they won’t just get expelled later?"
"Both you and I know that they’ll attempt it once we leave anyway," Alice frowned.
After a moment, all Noct could do was sigh and give in. "Fine. Do whatever you want. Our group will follow you from behind."
"We don’t need babysitters."
"Then you won’t need us to intervene." Noct folded his arms. "If someone’s about to get killed, I’m stepping in. When that happens, you retreat, and the kill and core belong to us."
Gareth opened his mouth, but Noct continued. "And I get to make that call. If you’d rather have one of your teammates die and not listen to me, more power to you I guess."
The leader looked back at his companions. Pretty much all of his teammates agreed with the terms, so all Gareth could do was begrudgingly agree. "...Fine. But if we kill it ourselves, you don’t touch the core."
"You have an Arcadia’s word."
As Group 11 walked pass them, the two girls simply bowed their heads before giving Alice and Annie a small wave. Alice then turned with a smirk on her face.
"Thanks. I thought you were going to keep the proud noble act the entire time."
"Ugh, save it until we’re done."
Gareth pushed open the chapel doors, the hinges protesting with a long, unpleasant creak. And the first thing they felt was cold air brushing against their faces, like it was completely devoid of warmth.
Inside, rows of wooden benches were scattered everywhere under a partially collapsed roof. Some had its wood rotted through, while others were underneath fallen debris. Sunlight barely managed to filter through the gaps overhead, allowing them to see how dusty and abandoned the place really was.
Though nobody paid attention to any of that, because their eyes had already settled on the creature that was curled up in the middle of the room:
The Bone Hound.
It was larger than Noct had expected. Even lying down, its back almost reached the ceiling. Its bones were yellowed and its forelegs were filled with sharp claws. It looked almost like a sleeping dog, if not for the fact that it was made completely out of bones.
Gareth raised a hand, signalling for the members in his party to prepare themselves. Behind him, Alex slowly reached for an arrow while Lucy drew her sword and Airy produced a small book from her bag.
But what Noct’s eyes focused on was a small podium behind the creature. A shallow recess had been carved into its surface, and from the entrance, no one could quite see what lay inside. However, Noct knew that was exactly where the key was supposed to be.
’On the bright side, at least someone’s here to distract that Bone Hound for me.’
Noct already expected the fight to begin, but he hadn’t noticed what they were still doing. Airy reached for Gareth’s greatsword as a faint glow spread from her fingertips. She repeated the motion for Lucy’s sword then stepped back.
Finally, when an arrow flew past Gareth’s shoulder, the battle had begun.
BOOOOOOOOM—!
An explosion tore through the place as the arrow made contact. The creature jolted upright, its attention instantly turning toward their party. But by that time, Gareth had already closed the distance.
He struck it squarely in the lower jaw, forcing its head aside before it could lunge for Lucy, who was just by its flank. The hound retaliated with a sweeping claw. Gareth pulled up his blade just in time, but the force sent him flying into a row of wooden benches.
Using that opportunity, Lucy slipped in between and sliced at the hound’s hind leg. But rather than stopping after the strike, she pivoted around it elegantly, her second slash flowing smoothly into a third and even a fourth.
And without giving the Bone Hound any time to rest, another arrow struck the creature’s shoulder. This one burst into frost, coating the creature’s joint in ice just as Gareth moved forward to engage and hold its attention again.
’Ahh...Rexford Academy never fails to surprise me.’
Noct finally realized why they were allowed to take the entrance examination. All four of them possessed what were generally considered "Rare Classes", which were branches of certain base classes.
That alone didn’t guarantee strength. However, awakening one usually required either a particular aptitude or fulfilling conditions that most people couldn’t manage.
"See?" Alice whispered beside him. "They’re doing pretty well."
Noct shook his head.
"No. The battle has only begun."