67 White Tiger
"Warning! Warning! Energy level exceeding E+ rank detected on Planet Periculum!..."
The warning continued repeating through the ship.
Neither the five examiners nor the rest of the ship employees knew what was going on.
'I'm detecting nothing abnormal, is this just an error?'
Professor Will instantly scanned the entire planet using his senses when the alarm first rang.
But even with his expert senses, he didn't sense any beasts higher than E+ rank anywhere on the planet.
This could only mean one of two things.
The beast responsible for this energy level had somehow figured out how to hide its presence from a B+ rank being like him.
But this theory didn't make sense since the ship's computer had detected it.
The second scenario was even more tricky.
'An exceedingly strong E+ rank beast has entered the planet…'
That's right.
An E+ rank beast with an energy level above its own rank had infiltrated.
A quick check of the computer's systems and its diagnostics confirmed this theory to be true. It detected an energy level exceeding E+ rank, but it pinpointed the source to a specific E+ rank beast.
This wasn't the biggest problem though.
The fact that this beast was still only E+ rank meant that no rules had been broken, meaning that the examiners couldn't involve themselves to get rid of this threat until after the exam was completed.
'Shit! Things are going to start getting tricky…'
Professor Will exclaimed.
The beast responsible for this energy signature appeared in the same region as Mira and Alex.
***
"Let's set off, we can't afford to take any breaks before this exam ends." Alex announced.
Both him and Mira had taken a short break to devour some of the meat from the Emberclaw they had saved for moments like this.
17:03
But without knowing where in the rankings they were exactly, they couldn't take any long breaks.
If they fell behind for even a few hours, their chances of reaching first place would be at risk.
By now they had left the rocky, mountainous region.
They were currently walking through an exotic looking jungle. All around them stood trees of all shapes and sizes, but there was one characteristic they all shared.
Instead of the universal green colour plants took, this entire jungle took on a purple theme.
The plants were purplish pink, the trees were the same, everything in this place was coloured in a purple hue.
Even the animals and beasts, which made it tricky for them to hunt them considering how well they blended in.
"If only we could find some strong beasts like that 'Frog' and the Emberclaw. Even something like the Mutant Crocodile will do." After two hours of walking with absolutely zero beasts killed, Mira couldn't stand it anymore.
"How have we not come across anything in the last two hours? Have all the beasts just decided to take a vacation or something…" Mira was half joking, trying to make light of their situation.
But there was also some suspicion to her thoughts.
'But really, where are all the beasts? We'd have at least found a F rank or something like that on the way, but nothing…'
Just as she was thinking about how weird the lack of beasts in this area was, her thoughts came to a stop when something alerted her senses.
Amongst the seemingly peaceful environment, the sounds of trees collapsing could be heard in the distance.
Alex had heard it too, and they both stopped.
Looking in the direction of where the sound came from, the two of them focused all their senses in that one direction.
Thud
Thud
Once again the sounds reverberated through the environment, even causing faint shakes in the ground.
"Sounds like something big is moving. Maybe even a battle is going on over there." Mira gave her thoughts on this.
"Mmhm." Alex grunted at her, agreeing.
Without any further words, the duo darted in the direction where the sounds were coming from.
But if their vision wasn't obstructed by the tall and towering purple trees, they would have almost certainly run in the opposite direction…
***
As Alex and Mira arrived at the site of the disturbances, they were confused at the lack of any beast. Instead all they found was a large open clearing, where a jungle used to stand. The entire area was ravaged, with debris from trees strewn around all across the field.
But a sudden scream pulled them out of their thoughts.
Just back in the jungle behind them, a girl screamed, pointing in horror at something in the trees.
They were unable to see what she was pointing at, but frowns were evident on their faces.
'We didn't even notice she was following us.'
This girl had obviously been following them, probably in an attempt to take their points.
But they were equally as confused at why she blew her cover.
However the reason soon made itself clear...
Alex was covered in cold sweat.
Mira was covered in cold sweat.
The screaming girl was suddenly snatched up by a huge creature that looked like a white tiger.
The girl was barely as big as the tooth of the huge creature. The tiger chewed a little, and the girl was gone.
Alex and Mira were both horrified, this creature was the size of a mountain.
'How can such a thing exist…'
***
"Shit, the situation is even worse than we thought!" Professor Will stood up from his seat, utterly shocked.
On his screen, the white tiger had just shown up in front of Alex and Mira after chewing down that girl in one bite.
"Sound the alarms! Notify all applicants to hide and wait for us to pick them up, this exam is over!"
All five of the examiners shouted out their orders in a rush, shock still evident on their faces.
"I can't believe it… how could such a creature have shown up??" Professor Will gritted his teeth.
"A divine beast has never left the Primordial Expanse through a Floodgate before…"