"Since when was it... there?"

After finishing up their task of cleaning up the entirety of the lower-tier beasts around them, Medea took a deep breath, calming her mind and body, which had been pushed quite a bit by the fight, as she did so, allowing her to take her mind off the hunt and survey her surroundings once again.

Pile of dead beast carcasses and a pool of blood form underneath their battlefield, a clear sign of their ruthless efficiency during their fight, their surroundings holding no other living beings but the two of them.

’Tsk, how much more are you hiding, Junior Novus?’ As she continues taking in deep breaths to recover from the fight, she couldn’t help but feel intrigued looking at her teammate, the young man standing straight with closed eyes, his breathing still normal, as the fight that feels a bit taxing even to her didn’t even make him break a sweat.

While she wondered to herself about that, however, she felt like it was too personal a question to ask, hence why she opted to just let her attention roam around while waiting for whatever it was that he was doing, her assumption of it being scanning the surroundings for any lingering threat.

That is exactly when she noticed something amiss.

Despite the open area with the once clear, now bloodstained stream, given that they are still surrounded by thick woods of towering trees, she is well aware that the sun should’ve had a slight difficulty lighting up their surroundings, yet the particular darkness around them tells her that the reason is anything but the trees around them.

And she cannot be closer to the truth than this.

As she looked up to the skies, she saw it, a great hemispherical dome of dark tint that seemed to loom over the entire infested island, causing her to grit her teeth as her mind began to wonder about something.

"Since when was it... there?"

As the question escapes her lips, the only person with her appears to open his eyes as he approaches her figure, standing in front of her as he looks over the woods, sharp gaze seemingly piercing through the trees and revealing anything hiding behind them.

"It has been there since the middle of the fight, Senior Medea." Turning around towards the confused lady who had just watched him behind, he answered in a lower, gentle tone before turning his gaze to the woods once more, this time his voice speaking in a more vigilant, louder tone than before.

"Isn’t it about time you show yourself up?" he expressed, making Medea all the more confused as she wondered who it was that he was talking about; however, knowing what kind of ability he has, she thought that there’s definitely a reason as to why he is acting like this right now.

There is nothing but silence in the air; the only accompaniment anyone else can think of is the gentle wind blowing through their skin, yet even this gentleness feels a bit deceitful, as both couldn’t help but feel prickly as it touches them, as if something is forcing them to feel a weirdly primal discomfort.

The discomfort of being watched by something or someone unknown.

"Looks like you don’t plan on coming out... fine by me then." as Novus waits for anyone to answer him, a faint smile appears on his face as no one reveals themselves with his words, causing him to lead into the singular solution that would force whoever it is that is observing them to come out of their hiding.

Mana whirls around his being as he stretched his palm, the powerful, natural energy gathering in a blob of liquid ball that seems to barely keep its shape, the magic circle underneath it glowing a bright, pure crimson as if a burning flame itself before the ball of mana turned into a pure source of fire, the warmth enveloping its caster as if it acts all too intimate with him.

’It might’ve been just a few days ago in actuality, but it feels like it has been a while since I’ve last cast a normal fireball...’ he thought to himself as he observed the large ball of fire floating atop his palm, smiling as he recalled the times when this sole orthodox magic he mastered was the only weapon in his arsenal.

’I-isn’t that too much mana for a fireball??’

Observing behind him, Medea couldn’t help but mutter to herself as she felt the massive amount of mana being drawn towards the flame, confusion appearing in her mind as she wondered how it was that this basic magic was still stable despite the overwhelming amount of mana that should’ve destabilized it being contained seemingly without any effort at all.

To Novus, there are no words that need to be said, since whoever it is that hides behind those trees refuses to show themselves; then it’s only either that they don’t want to pick a fight with them or that they truly want to pick a fight with them and are only ensuring that they will win once they do so.

And given the number of irregularities happening around them right now, he would rather assume that it is the latter so that he can make sure that he himself, along with Medea standing behind him, will be safe from the danger his instincts had been warning him ever since their previous hunt.

The fireball shoots away from the caster’s palm, scorching everything in its path as it travels in a straight line towards the woods, as if whoever cast it has little to no concern about the surroundings being destroyed right now.

That was when the two of them saw it.

Whoever it is that is hiding behind that tree is a bad matchup for any normal fire elemental mage, as the fireball vanishes into nothing with a singular wall of water being erected right in front of the woods, the fireball not even doing anything at all as the water wall continues to stand tall after the attack.

"Student Novus, it is bad etiquette to attack someone before they can even introduce themselves."

The wall of water collapsed, and along with it, a person appears from behind one of the trees, their figure and voice appearing feminine, a faint smile on their, on her face as she gradually approaches the two.

There is a faint sigh of relief from both Novus and Medea when they see the female figure sporting a neat, clean look while wearing something familiar to them.

It was not the academy’s uniform, but something that they still recognize, as it also has the same stellar insignia that their uniform has in its chest pocket: the pale white office shirt paired with the coat and slacks being a signature outfit that each academy personnel and staff are issued some pairs of.

That relief doesn’t last long for Novus, though, as with each step that this lady takes, his instincts scream even louder of the danger, to the point that it might become nearly unbearable if she continues to walk closer to them.

"Hello, Student Novus, Student Medea, I am Venica Algeria, one of the field staff for this exam."