Extra And MC

Chapter 66  Chapter 62 - Arcana Academy Entrance Exams II

-BOOOOM!!!

Following that very first explosion, multiple areas in the arena continued to explode, seemingly like a chain reaction had been set off.

-BOOM!!!

-BOOM!!!

-BOOM!!!

Many candidates who had been previously happy that they had survived their sudden drop from the atmosphere were now once again in a state of confused panic and disarray as they watched so many of their mates immediately be whisked away by the shimmering white light, indicating that they had been disqualified.

"What the hell is this?!" some of them shouted in utter confusion.

"This is too much, even for an entrance exam!!!" others voiced with similarly troubled expressions on their faces.

"Oh look at that! I totally forgot to inform you guys that there would be explosive trip mines placed throughout the expanse of the arena! Oops! My bad! Do diligently ensure to survive okay?" Derek's merry tone rang through the expanse of the arena.

Even a good portion of the audience who had been previously excited were once again thrown into a state of dumbfounded disbelief as they heard Derek's shameless yet thrilled voice.

Most of the rankers who were in the stands however, were totally enjoying this chaotic cacophony of unexpected events and it was obvious from the exhilarated smiles and excited glints in their eyes.

Maybe it was due to a different form of excitement they were getting from not being on the field themselves or as a result of watching aspiring young rankers have to deal with something akin to their daily lives, but right now, they were thoroughly and completely entertained.

"Derrreeeekkkk!!!" some candidates screamed with a vengeful tone as the shimmering white light whisked them away due to another explosion that had seemingly disqualified them.

"I'll kill you, you damn bastard! I swear to high heavens I will!" one candidate in particular shouted while also being disqualified.

"Just wait till we're enrolled at the academy! You'll receive countless duels till you lose you fucker!" others shouted with seething vengeance in their tones.

Derek however responded to their continuous onslaught of 'prayers and good wishes' with a mirthful and hearty laughter that instead pissed off the candidates who had been disqualified even more.

Despite so many participants who had taken the entrance exams now whittled from almost about five thousand to a mere six hundred, the candidates who had remained however, gradually waited out the continuous explosions while covering themselves with either a thick layer of mana or a defensive spell.

Caroline had covered herself with a huge ball of thick rosy vines while Ivar and Ivelia, along with Ben had seemingly housed themselves in a circular and immensely hardened structure of earth and green diamond respectively, each of them immensely placed at lengthy and spaced out regions of the arena from themselves.

Adrian and Beatrice however had re-summoned their azure phoenixes and just kept flying through the skies, while waiting out the explosions.

Amelia and Bryan had continued phasing around the arena, narrowly evading every single explosion, same as Lucas had continuously kept doing with his blue streaks of lightning.

Flynn on the other hand just stood unmoving, his [Force Field] tanking all of the explosive trip mine's damages while Aiden had used [Grav Boost] to immediately cover the expanse of the arena's grassy plains and reach the tail edge of it which was completely safe in a split second.

Much to a lot of people in the audience's surprise and bewilderment, they had then watched the black-haired youth move even closer towards tail edge of these grassy plains and rest his back on the crystalline dome, a mini box of popcorn appearing on his hands and an amused expression on his face as he watched the entire havoc play out like something that came straight out of an intense warfare movie.

Briar who had her eyes on her brothers and sisters through the gigantic holographic screens, had burst into child-like laughter after watching Aiden do what he did.

Although she had no idea why her siblings were doing whatever it was they were doing, she found Aiden's antics very funny for some reason.

The young girl felt like although her older brother was doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing, he was still doing it regardless anyway.

Almost soon enough, even Leopold and Anna were infected by her contagious laughter and had just chuckled while shaking their head at their son's antics.

It should also be noted that all the candidates were at vastly different and relatively far apart regions around the arena.

From the moment they had been mass transported into the dark floating rectangular space by some of the Academy's instructor's teleportation spells when Derek had snapped his fingers, said instructors had also ensured to reshuffle them, ensuring that no one was close to the people they previously came with or might've possibly colluded with before the exams began.

A lot of candidates had also not realized this until they were 'airdropped' out of the sky and began falling towards the arena grounds.

Now, as the explosions of the trip mines settled and the arena seemingly went into an almost peaceful state, if anyone could even call it that, especially considering just how destroyed the arena now looked, mechanical hums quietly began to travel in subtle waves across the havoc-stricken arena.

The crowds in the audience too were now also leaning at the edges of their seats, seemingly waiting in hushed anticipation and tingling excitement for the next phase of the entrance exam the academy had planned for them.

Suddenly, in a grand display of earth-shattering explosions, robotic variants of different fissure-like monsters emerged at different regions from the underground depths of the earthen grounds and onto the surface the expansive arena.

The robotic monsters roared with a mechanical tone, putting a good chunk of the candidates into a severe wave of despair and even disqualified some unsuspecting ones due to the sudden impact of their large bodies colliding with them as the unearthed themselves from and onto the arena's grounds in grand fashion.

Some other candidates too, upon seeing the almost 5 to 8-meter-tall robotic beasts, instantly fell on their butts, hopelessness present in a lot of their eyes as they stared at the mechanical monsters they were tasked to defeat.

From an assortment of robotic variants of Rhinobears, Arachnoworms, Elemental Golems and even Flaming Basilisks that numbered in hundreds, the academy spared no effort to let the candidates understand that even if the entrance exams seemingly held no actual detriment to them failing, they were not going to play around with them in the least.

Arcana Academy was a place where only the best of the best could and would thrive!

Also, judging from the way the entrance exams had been structured from the very beginning, despite Derek's seemingly gleeful persona that made it a quite fun and comedic experience to a certain extent, the undeniable truth was that the exams were extremely hard and unfavorable to each and every single one of the participants.

These set of phases in the exams, tested each and every candidate's ability to react and adapt to seemingly unfavorable situations on the fly.

It was also a trait that every aspiring ranker who was either planning to be a 'Delver' that went into and conquered fissures, or were just planning to join the ranks of The Tower's on-field force, must learn to have.

Although some candidates who were also participating in the entrance exams just wanted to live a relaxing academy life while getting an easy office job down the line, the Academy was also using this exam as a way to crush those mundane feelings.

Asides from the butterfly effect that was yet to be explained and had caused this sudden entrance exam which was definitely as a result of Aiden and Flynn's actions since they came to this world, Arcana Academy's instructors had also noticed that so many youths came to the academy with the wrong mindset.

This entrance exam which their Head Dean had suddenly implemented out of the blue, had been a way for them to curb a lot of those feeble mindsets and get them into a state of seriousness, something that was greatly appreciated by all of the instructors.

Now, following the sudden appearance of the robotic-variants of the fissure monsters, the second phase of the academy's entrance exams was going to test the candidate's battle prowess, both with their [Series], weapon arts, combat arts and other possible aspects that makes one a fighter and a force to be reckoned with.

The robotic monsters, as if already automated to do so, instantly began wreaking havoc through the vast expanse of the arena, instantly obliterating about a hundred among the participants that were remaining in the arena and were unable to gather their wits in time to attack their sudden adversaries.

Despite this though, a lot of the remaining candidates had willed strength and courage into themselves, instantly taking up battle poses, summoning their weapons and preparing their spells for combat.

The crowd by now was also roaring with excitement as sparks began to fly around the arena here and there, indicating that the candidates that were left were going all out and trying their best to survive. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The timer, which had been closely attached to the sides of panoramic screens in the form of fairly big holographic boards that the audience from the stands had been previously viewing from, had now suddenly lighted up and began counting down.

To the contestants however, an emotionless and automated robotic female voice had begun counting down from 30:00, indicating that the candidates needed to survive for thirty minutes in the arena.

As Aiden kept watching everything play out, still with an amused smile on his lips, he watched as two rhinobears in the far distance that had seemingly locked their glowing red eyes onto him, immediately begin to charge towards him with their protruded long horns lowered, their hybrid-looking mechanical hind legs carrying them and propelling them forward at immense speeds.

The emerald-eyed youth then sighed as he watched this sight, returned his popcorn to his spatial ring while also retrieving his greatsword, did a few stretches here and there and then, stood properly while speaking with an energized tone, a seemingly thrilled glint also present in his eyes.

"Let's do this!"