After crafting two High-grade spatial storage iron cubes, Damian let the remaining metal to be used by the others. He had only so much time to spare. Once finished, Damian activated all the traps that Tom and the others had helped him set up. Now, only one clear path existed to cross the distance between the woods and the end of the bridge—a route everyone had memorized.
"You're heading out?" Greg asked, clearly worried about his chances of surviving alone.
"Yes," Damian replied with a confident smile. "Do everything you can to reinforce the house. I'll be back with some guests." Without another word, he strode directly into the monster zone.
The monster blocking their path to the civilian zone was the same giant snake the students had faced during the SSS ranking exam. It seemed weaker than the other two monsters nearby. Clearly, the Knowledge Keepers were being treated differently again, though it wasn't surprising.
The audience in the arena was roaring with excitement, captivated by the numerous confrontations unfolding across the giant field. Damian glanced briefly at the third-rankers, who were deep in discussion among themselves, but he had no time to focus on them.
Lucian and Sam had already made significant progress, escorting their civilians nearly halfway to their houses. Meanwhile, Maelor and Alex, along with their teams, were still holding back the giant rhino. They seemed to have identified the greater threat and were showing some degree of cohesiveness.
The most impressive group, however, was the Fist of Valor elite team. Despite losing many of their elite members in their struggle against the monster, they had managed to rescue over 14 civilians—far more than Sam and Lucian, who each had only four. After delivering the civilians near the lizard monster, the Fist of Valor team were preparing to return to rescue more. Their determination and success inspired other solo fighting and hesitant pugilists, who joined the fight with them, making the battle far more effective.
Meanwhile, some lone spellswords and mages had also joined the Spellborne Legion's efforts against their rhino monster. Though uncoordinated, their involvement still improved the situation.
As Damian neared the giant snake, he darted forward, narrowly avoiding its massive head as it lunged at him. With a series of quick zig-zags, he managed to trick the snake into crashing into a boulder.
The arena's projections shifted to focus on him, drawing cheers and jeers from the crowd. Some praised his bravery, while others called him reckless for taking on the giant snake alone.
While the snake recovered, Damian climbed the tallest tree nearby and retrieved a wormhole roll from one of his newly crafted spatial storage cubes. Activating it, he took control of the runic circle using a mana thread. He then unfurled a second same big roll—this one a high-powered light element laser spell, five times more potent than what he could craft by hand.
The snake, now enraged, spotted him and slid forward with alarming speed. Just as it lunged to devour him, the wormhole activated. Damian leapt into it, emerging on the opposite side of the snake's massive head. Without hesitation, he triggered the laser runic circle. A searing beam of heat and energy erupted, slicing through the snake's head in a single horizontal strike. The ground beneath it was charred in a straight line.
The crowd erupted into wild applause. The intensity of their cheers distracted even the other students momentarily, though only a few had a clear line of sight to see the snake collapsing, severed in two.
Damian landed on the snake's decapitated head and drove his longsword, cloaked in black aura, into its remains, ensuring its health bar was fully depleted. As the last sliver of red disappeared, the snake disintegrated into light particles, leaving Damian standing atop toppled trees. Moments later, over 20 random items materialized around him.
Having already sensed the unusual mana pattern, Damian had been expecting this. Among the items were several weapons, steel and other alloy ingots, health potions, and combustible oils and extracts. The most intriguing items, however, were two strange, two-foot-tall iron pillars etched with runic arrays. Damian recognized them as light barrier arrays—temporary barriers capable of providing half an hour of protection from weaker monsters. Though the use of iron made them fragile and single-use, they were valuable in these conditions at least. He had planned to craft something similar later, but these would save him both time and mana.
After storing everything in his spatial cubes, Damian resumed his journey. There wasn't much time left before the second monster wave targeted their houses. While this feat alone would earn him a substantial number of points, it still wouldn't be enough to claim first place.
Damian sensed Lucian and Sam nearby but decided not to approach them. With only four civilians each it was not efficient to cross them, they could gather more before he could go borrow it. Instead, he made his way toward the lizard monster, where the pugilists were engaged in battle.
Reaching behind the monster, Damian surveyed the situation once more and located Karl's team. They were applying potions, preparing to head back. The civilian dummies they had rescued were being transported back to their house, now heavily guarded by a group of pugilist students who had come to get them halfway. Similarly, Evrin and some of her supporters were assisting Sam's team, while Einar remained on house duty.
Moving stealthily, Damian trailed behind a group escorting 14 civilian dummies. The pugilists seemed tense, expecting an attack from the Spellborne Legion, but Damian knew they were preoccupied elsewhere. Random students occasionally appeared within his mana sense range, but they were scattered and posed no significant threat.
Student-on-student attacks were different from battles against monster illusions. The wristbands' pain-negation feature provided some relief, but strict instructions forbade the use of heavy, fatal spells. Fighting was permitted, but overly powerful spells were not, especially if they caused unnecessary harm to other students.
The health bars of the students were calibrated to withstand less damage than a Terror-ranked monster, ensuring their safety during the exam. Damian had also sensed many second ranker guards placed all over the field who operated the capturing device along with keeping an eye on such violations.