The Novel's Extra: Scrapped

As the second exam went on, my gaze was focused on the Djinn planted by the Evil Society. He shifted about uncomfortably and looked around as if searching for something.

'With how suspicious this guy is acting, it's a miracle he ended up in here.'

It was then that Rachel tugged at my sleeve. I looked at her and saw the blonde girl pointing at the monitor screen.

"Focus."

"Ah, right, of course." I turned to the screen and began typing down an Analysis for Chae Nayun.

I decided to give a non biased paper on her pros and cons. Even though her magic power was amazing, she was clunky and missed opportunity shots.

Reading the contents of my paper I reworded it to be as nice as possible. Even after nearly three months of socialising, my hatred of the rich and influential has never died down…except Rachel… and maybe Yoo Yeonha.

I then looked to the right, where Kim Hajin was seated, his paper was essentially a tirade about how terrible Chae Nayun was, written into a professional tone.

'I can already see a future where he gets sucker punched by Chae Nayun.'

It wasn't long before group three swaggered out of the room with all the grace of a headless chicken.

Chase Nayun sat back down at Yoo Yeonha's table and began talking loudly, probably so that people (Kim Hajin) could hear her brag about how easy it was.

"Wow~ I wonder if I got some sort of insight. Who knew I could win against a Thousand-Mile Horse so easily?"

"..!"

It was then that I felt a faint vibration, no it was more like a ripple from a pond far away. It was there and then it wasn't.

My instincts told me that it wasn't so simple.

'What was that? Is it beginning?'

Thinking fast, I brought the stars close and began looking ahead of the present.

'Alright, due to my excessive use of starlight seer, it's gotten stronger. Which means I have around a minute to figure out what the hell is going on.'

I got up and looked around the room. The fake Rachel gave me a strange look. Her body was covered in shadow and stars much like the environment, but bright as though she was both apart and part of nature itself.

I moved away.

10 seconds pass.

The fake Kim Hajin seemed to notice something was up and began inspecting the room.

'He's sharp.'

The only things shimmering in light were the cadets, the heroes and the mages- no not all the mages, ones missing. Where's the Djinn?

"Group 10, Rachel, Kim Hajin, Skid, Lee Wei." Jin Joohwa called out.

I ignored it and searched for the Djinn.

20 seconds pass.

Left, a wall and windows. No sign of movement other than Kim Soohyuk standing guard. 

No, there's light shining on the ground outside. Shadows! Someones waiting on the roof.

30 seconds pass.

Right, the door to the exit and a fully extended ladder.

'A ladder? It seems to have been used recently, it's fully extended. Which means the people outside are waiting for the shields to go down!'

My eyes darted up and there I spotted it. With a head engulfed in flame and a tight iron collar made of threads, a Djinn, stood atop a galvanized steel walkway, his hand resting on a lever.

"That's the shield system." I muttered.

'Once he pulls the lever the shields along with the power for this entire building goes down.'

40 seconds pass.

The power goes down. Cadet's panic and the instructors calm them down.

Growling at the door. Monsters.

They break in and destroy the door easily. Magicians begin running away, not bothering to unsummon the monsters.

Jin Joohwa announces something on the speaker before moving away herself and casting spells from the back line.

50 seconds pass.

A loud explosion erupts from the side of the building coming from one of the habitats. No doubt Rachels.

60 seconds pass. The vision ends as shadows devour stars. 

I snapped out of it as I typed on my monitor.

I then got up and walked to the chief magician. She noticed me and smiled, looking over the exam.

"Hello cadet, Minori. Do you have a question?"

I nodded and leaned closer.

I didn't bother looking for the Djinn as I knew he was probably already climbing the ladder.

"Chief Magician Jin Joohwa. One of the summoners is climbing the ladder."

I whispered since I didn't want people to panic.

She widened her eyes and looked over, indeed, one of them was climbing the ladder. Their figure was morphing in and out of view as though trying to merge into the wall.

A high level illusion spell that blocked perception unless someone directly looked at you with clear intentions..

"Thank you for informing me of this. You may go sit back down. I'll handle it." She turned to the ladder before weaving mana into a mesh around the man's leg, dragging him off the ladder.

I nodded and moved back to the seating area. I dealt with the Djinn without him knowing I did so. Yet I still felt unsafe so I walked over to Kim Suho's table and whispered as I passed him.

"On guard. Something's wrong." Kim Suho's expression hardened as he looked at me and nodded.

I sat down at my seat and made sure to write the rest of my reports.

A moment later the Djinn let out a gargled groan and a pop.

…

Outside the Monster war exam area.

Chaos ran rampant as a full siege of Cube was well and truly underway. Heroes were busy protecting civilians and the cadets were all taking exams, unaware of the things just outside. 

The distraction would be over soon as many strong heroes were stationed on sight. Yet none of them understood the true target of this attack; Princess Rachel Elizabeth Louise.

The low incessant growls of feral monsters were present outside the front door. Illusions were cast on the window so that light bouncing off the monsters wouldn't get in.

Dogs with fur so black you'd assume it to be ink. Horned lizards on two legs. Winged monkeys with red eyes and an assortment of all types of monsters.

All of which, ready to run rampant at a single command.

From whom you may ask?

Sitting atop the roof of the exam area were two assassins clad in black cloth. The only distinguishing feature was the bone flute one of them held, allowing them to give simple commands to low grade monsters.

"Hey Azik, is the barrier down yet?" A gruff voice came from the one without a flute. 

Azik flinched as he felt subtle killing intent from the person behind him.

"S-Soon, mister Smith." Azik swore under his breath as he once again tried to contact the person inside.

'Sh*t, sh*t, son of god, Lucifer help me, why won't he pick up!?'

The one named Mister Smith grew impatient as more and more killing intent seeped out from him.

'This guy is insane! You know what, it's about time. The barrier should be undone, even if the lights are still on.'

Azik gulped down a mouth of saliva before opening his mouth and holding the flute in a manner as if about to blow it.

"W-We're totally ready M-Mister Smith." Azik let out a shaky smile as he sweat profusely.

"Hahaha! Finally!" The one named Mister Smith jumped up onto his feet before running down.

He used a mana rope to swing into the window. His blade drawn and an excited glint in his eyes.

"Here I come princess-!"

–thud…sliiiiide

A dull thud and then the squeaky slide of rubber on glass rang out. Mr Smith hit the ground with a poof as the mana rope dissipated.

An intense killing intent exploded from below Azik as he blew the flute with all his might.

The hoard of monsters charged at the door, tearing at the door with their mighty…claws.

Why were they like pets pawing at the door to get in?

'T-The barrier isn't down…'

Azik felt a presence appear behind him, stepping forward with heavy stomps.

"Hey."

The gruff voice came from right above Azik as he turned his head up. Mr Smith was looming over him with a furious grin.

"I'm going to wring your body of blood and then your gonna-"

–Hey, I think something just hit the window. I'm going to go check.

""Sh*t"" The two spoke in unison as they began panicking.

A hero had definitely been alerted.

Enraged, Mr Smith grabbed Azik by the neck and shook him.

"You incompetent little rat! Your vile information got us into this!"

Mr Smith began choking out Azik as he yelled at him, not caring for whether or not he'd get caught.

If he went back empty handed Lancaster would murder him anyways.

BAM-splatter.

An explosion of mana followed by the sound of liquid splattering onto the ground, distracted the two assassins.

"Step down from there. You two are under arrest." The person who spoke those words had all but murdered every single low rank monster outside the door.

Mission failed. It was over before it even began. The Serpent Dragon they disturbed as a distraction, the countless low grade monsters used to scatter the attention of heroes and now even the main mission itself would be in vain.

As the assassins resigned themselves to an awful fate, a shadow slipped inside the building.

And without warning, the power shut off.

Kim Soohyuk looked back in surprise.

'The Cadets!' 

That moment of hesitation was enough for Mr Smith to run up and stab the instructor in the stomach.

"Azik! Go in!" He yelled before exerting incredible magic power to push the instructor as far away from the building as possible.

…

As I resigned myself to write a proper analysis on Rachel's battle Kim Soohyuk stepped out of the building.

Not even a minute later a black shadow flew into the room, onto the galvanized steel walkway and shut off with a magic power imbued screech. 

'What? An unexpected variable?'

The shadow unfurled its bat wings as all eyes turned to the intruder. Red saliva dripped down its snout as a spine like fur covered its neck.

It seemed feral and monstrous.

I let out another screech as the stunned cadet's covered their ears.

'A feral bat, weaker than a hell bat but poisonous.'

I covered my own ears and looked at Jin Joohwa who was already doing something by the announcement system.

'We won't have to worry about the people inside the exams if the chief is already on the case. Kim Soohyuk hasn't returned yet so it's safe to assume something happened out there.'

The Feral bat puffed up its chest as though about to let out a massive breath.

A massive ray of silver mana slashed a bloody gash into the bat. It fell to the floor but shook in a daze. 

'Kim Suho's got the bat covered. So I have to get the power back on. The bat broke the breaker box so it might not be possible. Do we have a backup generator?'

Just as the thought came to me a mage cried out in pain.

A figure cloaked in black had cut a mage clean in half.

Panic began to set in as the figure ran forward, only to make a ninety degree turn and gun it for the exam habitats.

"Get the back up generator online!" Someone yelled.

"Ahhh! There's more monsters!"

"Shut the door!"

I tuned them out and gripped a handful of mana strands, igniting them and hurling it at the cloaked figure.

'Mana quality is about intermediate grade 9. Quantity is intermediate grade 1.'

'He has a lot but I can definitely overwhelm him with efficiency alone.'

The figure twirled gracefully and avoided the fire ball.

'Right, he's obviously an assassin. With that much mana? It doesn't make sense.'

Hweee—!

'A flute?'

"To your left!" Kim Suho yelled.

I didn't hesitate to throw myself back. I used my hand to stabilize my landing and watched as the bat, now on fire, barrelled into where I used to stand. 

Suho slashed and sent another gash into the bat.

"Thanks." I spoke and continued to dash after the guy with the flute.

Thankfully Suho followed.

"Minori. What have you gathered!" He didn't ask but demanded as the situation called for it.

"He's an assassin, but he has extraordinary mana strength. He's also a Djinn so don't hold back. He's nimble and elusive, so uses area of effect attacks!"

Suho nodded as we ran down a corridor towards the waiting room

Once we made it to the entrance I was greeted by a powerful side slash, going through my skull in an instant. Gray matter and blood mixed as my corpse fell.

–I raised my shortsword and intercepted an attack the moment we rounded the corner. Sparks flew as my wrist strained against the strength of a full swing.

Kim Suho used sword qi as well, throwing the cloaked figure back a couple metres with a projectile.

The cloaked figure now sported black, furry goat legs and a pair of sharp horns curling around his head. The cloak was no more and instead tattered black wings spread from its back.

"A fully transformed Djinn." I almost swore as I looked at it through the stars.

Before I could even get an analysis on it, it pierced my stomach with a lunge and ended the vision.

I activated wild blood and caught the attack before it hit my stomach.

The sudden increase in physical strength surprised the Djinn as it couldn't pull its knife away.

Suho let out a chilling breath as he slashed at the Djinn, because the blade actually made contact this time, the Djinn's arm was severed and a deep cut appeared on his ribs.

"HRAGH"

It let out an animalistic roar before I shoved my hand into its mouth and sent a crackling bolt of flame deep into its throat.

At the same time the Djinn went limp as its bottom half fell away from it's top.

"...huuu, let's get to the cadet's. Quickly." Suho said seriously and opened one of the doors.

I took the Djinns corpse off my arm and deactivated wild blood. Feeling my temperature go down as I realised the room had become a sweltering hot furnace, searing flames and unbearable smoke.

"Right." I walked next to him and he closed the door, shaking his head.

The next was the same mangled corpse and a summoned monster on top.

Suho clenched his teeth and cut the remaining monster summons down in a single swing.

I remained silent.

The next door was empty but there was a hole in the wall.

Kim Suho entered while I moved onto the next.

'I haven't seen Rachel or Hajin's corpse. They'll be fine. I know they will. If they aren't, I'm moving countries and changing my name.'

I swung open the door and saw Kim Hajin helping Rachel bandage up. Suho was coming through the hole in the wall.

"You two. We have to go. Now." I spoke seriously and gestured to the flaming waiting room behind me.

I walked in and helped Rachel up with Hajin, she blushed but remained silent while Suho cleared a way through flame and smoke.

"Hey, you guys. Can we all agree that it was the Djinn who did all of this fire damage?" I asked slightly humorously, only getting a laugh from Suho.

"Sure." Hajin said.

Rachel nodded but seemed tired.

…

Once we made it out most of the cadets were injured, magicians of all types were casting low grade healing magic on the most injured.

The most damaged were Rachel, Me, and instructor Kim Soohyuk.

Finally getting a chance to catch my breath, I sat down and lay back, staring at the ceiling and letting out a well deserved sigh.

30 out of 100 injured.

4 out of those 30 are now dead.

1 hero was injured and I don't even know how many more there are on the outside.

At least I got the job done.