A creature roaming around under the sea haunting fishers. Body resembling a dragon, a tongue like a snake, this is a Serpens Draco. But how come one exists in this river?

Serpens Draco only exists deep in the ocean and only shows itself during nighttime. This is no ocean, and its daytime, meaning, this either must be a robot, or someone or some people have brought it to this river.

At this point I could not even tell if I was sweating or if it was water, but I must get pass this obstacle.

suddenly out of nowhere, it started screeching. The screeching was unbearable to listen to, but I cannot even cover my ears since I am on water. I could see blood running down from its head, Is it in pain?

I cannot climb up, even if it has scales, I am wet, and I do not even know how much time I have left until God knows what the teacher might do.

In desperation I went underwater, the screeching became slightly less but still annoying. I did my best to swim past it, but the Serpens Draco is too big.

I tried to squeeze through just to get past and after many attempts I succeeded. I quickly swam to the top to get air. As soon as I came up, I did not hear anything from the monster, what happened?

I could not keep thinking about it, I must keep on moving. I swam quickly while still holding a good rhythm, I went passed some people too.

And finally, after about 2 Hours of swimming, I am at the finish line. I could see Shoji, Ryuu and even the man I met earlier. Along with around 9 other people, a good amount of people actually survived.

''Good, looks like you survived too, eh?'' the teacher said.

I did not answer, I just kept hyperventilating. My stomach was weak as ever. Every second that went by made me feel like puking.

''Hey Hayato take it easy, you can rest now'' Shoji said to me.

I looked at him, it was sad. Something had happened to him, but what happened? His eyes had red spots and his face looked like he was punched, what had happened? Who did this?

''Sh-Shoji'' I whispered quietly.

Everyone was cheering pretty loud for everyone to finish.

''Who-who dared to punch you?'' I asked.

He kept quiet. I collapsed to the ground, still awake, I'm only tired. I kept staring at the sky, it was beautiful.

''Now then, I have no more time to waste, everyone gather up'' the teacher shouted.

Quickly as possible I went up and started walking towards the teacher. We followed the teacher, everyone walking in a straight line. We kept walking for about a minute or two.

The teacher stopped in front of a bus, a small one.

''Everyone get in now'' the teacher said and went in.

Everyone took their time to slowly get in. The bus was shining yellow, as if it were brand new. Standing behind me was Shoji, he was quiet, pretty unusual.

I could feel my eyes, they are more tired than usual. I could fall asleep any time, but I cannot. I do not know what more I must do. So far, this exam has been extremely hard, unbelievably hard.

Inside the bus was clean. It is a nice gray color, and the seats are shining black. I could see Ryuu taking up two seats, he looked annoyed. I went somewhere in the middle next to a window.

Unexpectedly, Shoji sat next to me. I turned and looked at him, he smiled as if nothing happened. I would not call it anything big either, but I was still worried our bond was gone.

***

Damn that Hayato. I was damn sure he was going to fail the swimming part, ARGH! crushing him is not as easy as I thought.

I cannot stop thinking about it. Damn it, getting the pro fishing license is my second priority, my first is crushing Hayato, that damn insect. I can just feel the veins popping up on my face, I just want to punch him right now.

Now that I think about it, didn't that Shoji person get punched while swimming? It was someone with black clothing, with black hair. I wonder what that was about.

***

Now then, I wonder where we are going now. What challenges do we have to face?

''Alright everybody, looks like everybody has got on the bus, now comes our last stop for the first part'' the teacher said through the mic.

Last phase huh, I wonder what that will be, it's making me excited.

''Well, because it’s the last, mind telling us what it is?’' someone shouted at the teacher.

It was total silence.

''Hehe, we're going to the judges'' the teacher said.

End of chapter 8.