After getting back her completed test paper, Cornelia didn't hesitate for long. She raised her hand to signal the proctor that she wanted to turn it in.
Not only the other challengers but even the Demon Student stared at her in shock.
It had only been a little over ten minutes since the exam started, and she was already turning it in?
Yet Cornelia wasn't the least bit nervous. If anything, she felt a little delighted.
She had never experienced anything like this before.
She, of all people, had reached the point where she could turn in a test early.
Both proctors noticed Cornelia's signal at once and almost simultaneously started walking toward her.
The more ferocious-looking one was closer to Cornelia.
Seeing that, the other proctor could only click his tongue and give up on collecting her paper.
The proctor reached Cornelia's desk, snatched away her test, and examined it with a vicious grin.
As far as he was concerned, he'd be able to kill this little demon in no time.
There wasn't a student in this school who could finish this test in a little over ten minutes.
Turning it in this early was practically asking to die.
Of course,
they still had to go through the motions.
After all, he had to mark the test below 60 points before he could kill her with a clear conscience.
Otherwise, he'd violate the rules and trigger the principal's murderous wrath.
The principal was keeping a close eye on the proctors, too.
But as the proctor looked over the test, his brow furrowed more and more. He seemed to be questioning his entire existence.
The multiple-choice questions... right, right, right, right...
Had she really guessed every single one correctly?
The hell...
The written answers... were pretty much right, too?
Could there really be a genius in this world?
She hadn't just passed. She'd scored 90 points!
What the hell?
"Tch! You can go."
The proctor put away the test, his irritation plain on his face.
But the rules couldn't be broken. Since she was the first to turn in her test and had earned a high score, he had to give her a reward.
He took a red ticket printed with the silhouette of a demon from his pocket and tossed it onto Cornelia's desk.
Without explaining what the ticket was for, the proctor walked away.
He resumed patrolling the exam room.
He was clearly too angry to speak.
His prey had slipped through his fingers, and it left him especially frustrated.
Cornelia picked up the ticket and happily left the exam room. Her little dragon tail swayed without her even noticing as she went.
Then, following Dekan's instructions, she waited for him outside the exam room.
What a relief.
Having a teammate who was good at studying was such a relief.
Though Dekan had been writing away the whole time, he'd noticed how the two proctors acted when they collected the test just now.
At first, they'd both assumed that any student who turned in a test so early was asking to die.
And they were both eager to slaughter the students.
They'd wanted to rush over, collect the test, and kill the student themselves.
A faint smile tugged at Dekan's lips.
As expected, his guess had been right. Cornelia's test submission had confirmed all his suspicions.
These two demons looked like they could be played against each other.
Cornelia was safe, and he'd finished his test, too.
Now he could act without holding back.
For the moment, he decided to call the two proctors Lion and Goat.
One of them had a more terrifying face, while the other looked comparatively refined and had goat horns.
Lion's movement speed was 1.25 times Goat's.
When a student voluntarily signaled to turn in their test, either proctor could break from his fixed patrol route and decide whether to walk over and collect it.
Their walking speed never changed.
So...
If the distance between Lion and him happened to be 1.25 times the distance between Goat and him, then he raised his hand to turn in the test...
Could he make them arrive at the same time?
Heh heh. Worth a try.
Dekan placed his test face down on the desk so the proctors wouldn't be able to tell at a glance how many answers he'd gotten right.
After waiting a little and timing the distance between the two proctors, Dekan raised his hand to signal that he was turning in his test.
Just as he'd expected, neither proctor backed down this time!
They both walked toward him from opposite directions!
Just as Dekan had calculated, the two proctors arrived at the same time!
Lion and Goat both reached out and grabbed Dekan's test.
They glared at each other, seeming to struggle to keep their emotions in check.
But neither showed the slightest intention of letting go, and they were locked in a stalemate.
"Who do you want to hand it to?"
Both proctors looked at Dekan and asked in unison.
They were both at least a little suspicious that this kid might be a genius, too.
If so, arguing over his test wouldn't be worth it.
They had imagined that this student's expression might be as confident as the girl who'd turned in her test ten minutes ago.
But what they saw was a faint trace of tears at the corners of Dekan's eyes.
His gaze held three parts sorrow and seven parts acceptance.
It was the look of someone who had accepted death, reached enlightenment, and become one with the universe.
It seemed this kid really couldn't answer a single question and was only turning in his test to find release.
Dekan lifted his head with a bitter smile and looked at the two proctors.
"Dying at the hands of powerful demons is my only wish now."
His expression looked exactly like he was saying, Wouldn't that be nice?
What a good kid. A real prize!
The two proctors were now certain they couldn't let this prey slip away.
Lion and Goat quickly turned their attention to each other, sneering.
"Let go."
"You should be the one to let go."
"Do you think you're stronger than me?"
"Want to find out?"
Their words crackled with hostility.
Lion even rolled his neck. The cracking sound made the students around them flinch.
The already dim classroom seemed to be shrouded beneath a heavy black cloud, one that could swallow everything before them at any moment.
Dekan kept his expression unchanged.
With the hand behind his back, he secretly took out a Spell Card.
[Mental Interference] [Type: Spell Card] [Rarity: Purple Rare] [Rank: 2] [Effect: Mentally interferes with a target, briefly affecting their actions. It has no effect on targets with a vastly different mental attribute, and the stronger the target's mind, the greater the mana cost.] [Note: Sorry!]
Dekan immediately activated Mental Interference, making Lion swing a fist at Goat's face.
"What the hell! You're starting a fight?"
"I... I don't give a damn! You think I'm afraid of you?"
Lion had been about to explain himself, but Goat retaliated without hesitation, punching him in the face. Lion's anger erupted, too.
"I'll beat the hell out of you!"
"I've been sick of you for ages! I'm taking you down first today!"
The two demons seemed to lose all reason and started fighting to the death.
They acted as if they'd completely forgotten their duties.
Students who hadn't managed to get away in time were caught in the crossfire. Some were sent flying; others died on the spot.
Desks and chairs shattered into scraps, and bright red blood splattered across the once-black walls.
The two proctors fought viciously. It wasn't just a contest of strength and spells; they also battled on a psychological level, each trying to utterly crush and destroy the other.
They tore into each other with their teeth, even devouring one another's flesh.
Demon blood ran everywhere. Harrowing screams rang out through the exam room, filling it with the thick stench of blood.
Dekan had already started running the instant he activated the Mental Interference Spell Card.
"Run!"
Dekan had already confirmed that Cornelia was the only challenger near him. The proctors' fight wouldn't affect the other challengers anytime soon.
Though they had no idea what was happening, the demon students and other challengers were driven by their survival instincts and bolted toward the exit.
The two proctors were too caught up in their fight to pay any attention to the students fleeing the exam room.
In the Observation Hall.
"If I'm not mistaken, Dekan had already finished his test, but deliberately decided to mess with those two demons?"
"How could he dare? A second-rank priest pulling something like this in a fourth-rank Shadow World?"
"Holy crap... He even got the other challengers out in the process!"
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Before you continue