The Retired Hero is an Extra

While Jash waited for the unabated monster and continued observing the event, several encounters happened in nearby areas.

By the time he decided to move, only a few hundred male examinees remained uneliminated.

Even out of them, quite a few had survived by hiding and escaping, using a survivor's mindset.

The Academy would take them in regardless, as survivors were needed for reports in uncertain situations.

It was also a way of life, after all.

Excluding them, most were converging at the boss area, leading to many fights happening on the way.

They shared a similar thought: 'One less competitor is one less competitor.'

Alas, some were even eliminated during the fight by a third party.

"Haha, what a bunch of idiots, wasting their time fighting–"

—Tsssch!

As if he too was one of them, a fire-type spell landed on him, force-activating the barrier and eliminating him.

Meanwhile, the audience was obviously enjoying the intense moments with vivid commentary from Rui.

Yet they were eager to see the final battle as well.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Rui called out to the audience, "You all didn't forget the girls, right?!"

"WOAH!!"

The crowd cheered loudly, anticipating more heated battles to come while waiting for the key battle.

The screen changed to show figures of three beauties looking at each other warily, not yet moving.

It was none other than Sylvie, Caera and Vivia looking at each other, neither of them moving, waiting for someone to make the first move.

Sylvie was moving around at her own pace when she felt a presence showing up nearby.

Upon closing in, she found not one but two girls standing a bit far away from each other in a standoff.

Of course, the two also seemed to have noticed her and were waiting for her to arrive.

As she stepped towards them, a voice came from the girl on the left, "She's here as well now, let's begin."

Seeing the golden-haired girl straight up talk about fighting made the other two frown a bit.

Even if they didn't recognize each other, they could notice the signs of being effectively taught in mannerism and etiquette.

It was easy to notice, especially since they were girls, but they didn't understand the golden-haired girl and where she got her confidence from.

"It seems you can't understand," Vivia said as she took a step back and planted her foot firmly on the ground with a focused expression.

Caera and Sylvie exchanged looks, catching the sight of the golden-haired girl and each other before taking a stance themselves.

Unlike them, Vivia had already cast light-elemental spells to boost her physical abilities.

She was akin to a battlemage like Caera, but differed as her power came from her element rather than her mana veins and inherent body.

No matter how similar the two seemed, they couldn't be compared and Caera proved it by easily sidestepping despite the swift attack.

While Vivia had been using a magic staff since the beginning, just like Caera, she had switched her weapons mid-way.

It was mostly to save her mana as mages oftentimes expended more mana than warriors.

However, her element allowed her to circumvent the expenditure with physical stamina, though much less than Caera's.

Of course, that didn't meant Caera anticipated the sudden strike, unbalancing her as she tried to regain her footing.

"What's this?" Caera blurted out as a vine caught her feet and Vivia was the same.

It seemed Vivia's decision to attack Caera and eliminate her in one go backfired as Sylvie attacked both of them.

Though Caera and VIvia had similar styles to the point it was uncanny, their choice of weapons differed.

As Vivia used her rapier and shortsword to cut the vines, Caera worked to untangle her feet with the tip of her staff.

Seeing the scene, Sylvie's aquamarine eyes widened for a split second before scrunching due to the sudden fire lit by Caera.

Unable to get out of the vine grabbing her foot, she lit it on fire without a single care for her or Vivia's foot.

As if not wanting to be left behind, Vivia used the light blessing to protect her feet as a barrier of wind appeared.

It fluttered the light green hair of Sylvie, blocking her view while Vivia remained unaffected and Caera broke the vine, jumping away.

Unfortunately, their fight had to temporarily stop as a loud noise attracted their attention.

—Boom!

The three exchanged a glance and nodded as if understanding each other within a split second and rushed to the boss area, some distance apart from each other.

No matter their determination to eliminate either one, neither wanted to lose the boss monster while being busy with such a meaningless fight.

The same thing was true for other talented girls, a yellowish-orange hair dwarf, for example, Freirae, also immediately eliminated her opponent before dashing at the final destination.

Meanwhile, Ava, a katana strapped on her waist, increased her pace after hearing the disturbance.

All of them had the same thought in their mind: 'I hope I am not too late...'

Yet some fights didn't stop.

The Archduke's daughter was one such person.

Her striking blue hair and black eyes, paired with her elegant figure, were focused as she fired water spells at her opponent.

—Swoosh!

Alas, her efforts turned futile as the girl with pink hair opposite her had a shield with high magic resistance and defense.

It saved the girl from every attack, though her own footing wasn't very stable due to the shock from defending such spells.

Nearby, Rura Warmis easily passed them by, having the inherent advantage of earth element in the gorge.

"Damn it," the Archduke's daughter gritted her teeth and went ahead, but not before giving a death glare to the pink-haired girl.

The pink-haired girl, trembling, crumbled to the floor as soon as the blue-haired girl left.

"I'm saved..." she muttered with a sigh, believing herself to be safe when a sword suddenly pointed at her neck.

"E-eek!" she screamed and a barrier activated, eliminating her as an advising voice entered her ears.

"Don't let your guard down," Ziva said, hoping her advice would reach the terrified girl.

"I have eliminated too many examinees and killed many monsters, but I won't accept second place."

Her voice was full of determination like her amethyst eyes that were blazing with fire as she carefully moved towards the boss area.

Her pace increased with every step before stabilizing at a manageable speed which wouldn't exhaust her excessively.

It was not a good idea to reach the boss monster after getting tired out, so she kept her pace fixed.

Alas, the girls who only saw a shadow of her flash by thought that she was an idiot who went full speed.

Poor fellows didn't realize the immensity of heaven and earth, unable to gauge the height of Mt. Tai.

If only Ziva had cared about their existence, she would have fought them, but she actually went on energy conservation style.

Fully devoted, she skipped fights and chose an easier path, even if it might be longer.

"What a pity! Looks like we have reached an impasse here as well," Rui commented with a sad expression.

Yet his expressions transformed into utter bliss as he declared, "But the final battle is about to begin on the other side!!"

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