The fight continues on Noah’s side. Noah had warmed up enough. He was conserving all his strength for the last 2 rounds but time is also of the essence.

“Time to finish it then...”

Noah gained momentum and swiftly cut through the skin of the beasts with his enhanced speed.

Thus he started to stack the bleed effect with a flurry of attacks. He did not let the effect wear off and so every 5 seconds there will be a calculated strike on each beast.

It was as if sometimes he disappeared from the screen as a result of his agile movements. Again he would appear to land a blow with his dagger. One of the warthogs had run away and did not approach Noah. The others kept attacking and got hit instead. Their HP was going down constantly due to the bleed effect and finally, it was over for them. “Four down, one to go.”

The warthog left as a result was wary of the hits from Noah. Though half of its HP was taken away, it was intelligent enough to avoid further loss. The dagger was the danger the beast had perceived. Noah approached it many times but it dodged. After several tries, Noah also noticed the fact that the warthog was wary of his dagger.

But, he could not find any other way to slay this last beast of the third wave.

Time was running out.

Noah carefully looked at his surroundings. “In the wild, anything and everything is a weapon”, the words of Kane struck him. But there was nothing he could use. It was a clearing area with a cliff on one side and a forest on the other three.

“The forest is the boundary. There is nothing to use.”

“Wait..the forest is the boundary”, he repeated his words.

“Right..That I can use...” smiled Noah as he threw his dagger towards the forest. Seeing that the dagger is not in Noah’s hands anymore the beast charged at Noah instantaneously.

Noah ran towards the forest. He checked that the warthog followed him. As the warthog reached him, Noah did a backflip off of the invisible boundary wall and landed behind the warthog. The stunt he pulled off was a technique from the Time Journal and his body just reacted to it. Though, he never thought he could pull it off with such precision.

But it was not the time to waste. The beast hit the boundary with all its might and had a mild concussion as an after-effect. Noah took the opportunity to grab the dagger lying nearby and stab its gut to finish it off permanently. Third wave completed for Noah. HP stands at 650.

The examiners had stood up seeing this act. “What in the name of….” uttered Prof. Sawyer. She could not believe her own eyes. Some had an expression of disbelief, mouths wide open.

Principal Beck had a faint smile under his lips as he took a sip of his lemongrass tea.

The fourth wave had already started. Only a few students had reached this stage. Ton was the expected one and Melv and Noah were the surprising ones. All the students were carefully looking at the bush movement in one corner. The beasts had spawned there. But what came out of the bush was a sight to shiver.

The beast for the fourth wave of the Solo Raid Battle was a Darkwolf. It is a genetically re-engineered version of the extinct species Direwolves. However, the experiment had gone wrong and the wolves who were more dangerous and savage had fled to the wilderness. It had immediately triggered evolution and came back to haunt human civilizations time and again.

Thus a Darkwolf, a Level 4 beast equivalent to human EQ 25 may have been an understatement even in this virtual setting of the exam. But then again there were 2 of them for this wave. The Darkwolves were almost the size of a horse. They came out of the bush bearing their fangs and a shrill growl.

Melv had realized his potential was only the third wave. He had stayed in the exam till the current wave just for fun. But seeing the Darkwolves approaching him, he almost wet his pants. In a hurry, he tried to open the System screen. “Damn it...open fast. Where is the Logout button?” Melv was about to press it when one of the beasts leaped at him. He started praying as he closed his eyes.

“Melv. Melv, you are just fine. Open your eyes.” The doctor said.

“I am okay?” Melv opened his eyes and sighed in relief. He had logged out in time.

Similar things happened to others who had started the 4th wave. Some could logout in time. Others got attacked and fainted in the capsule. The doctors and nurses started treating them. The only 2 remaining in this phase were Ton and Noah.

Ton channeled his brute force ability and roared back at the beasts. They were just measuring Ton as they circled around their prey. Ton took the initiative and attacked first. The Darkwolf took it head-on. Ton’s attack power being high, it took a blow. The beast fell back and shook its head. Another beast approached Ton and bit his arm. He started bleeding. HP went down to 1070.

He hit the beast hard with his left fist. Taking the blow, the Darkwolf left his arm. The Darkwolves kept attacking him from the sides one at a time and dealt significant damage. Ton would try to punch them, hold them or deliver a smash. None of it would work. The beasts were quite agile.

“Huff…” Ton took a deep breath.

“Come at me now”, said Ton as he relaxed his defense.

The Darkwolves were intelligent. They would approach Ton as if to attack but stop midway to see his reaction. Ton had to totally let go of his defense so that they would attack again. This time he let the first wolf claw him. His HP went down to 850 by then along with the bleed status effect.

But his goal was the second Darkwolf. Seeing the other wolf land a hit, it charged at its prey only to meet a prepared Ton. He was waiting for the beast. Ton caught the jaw of the beast with his hands and tore it open with brute strength.

Ton was out of breath. His HP was further lowered to 670. However, he had taken down one of the DarkWolves. Only one remains. Ton stood his ground and let it come to him. Moving will consume energy; he cannot afford to lose it now. The Darkwolf was being careful. It was not approaching Ton.

It somewhat realized Ton’s HP was decreasing slowly due to the bleed effect. So it was waiting patiently for the perfect time to kill. Ton’s HP was dwindling at 450 now. He would not last long. So he started banging his gauntlets and roared at the beast. It was a taunt.

The beast could not take the taunt much longer as it attacked. Ton tried to swing a punch, but the beast aimed at Ton’s leg. Another bite, another damage dealt. HP came down to 190.

Ton gathered all his strength in one last effort. The next time the beast leaped at him, he caught the beast with his hands and rolled on the ground. Finally, he could overpower the beast and restrain him. The beast was fighting back with all its might. It was hard for Ton to hold much longer, so he went for one last punch.

“Die you filthy beast. I will pass this wave...”

Ton was about to land the punch when everything turned black. He opened his eyes and found some people looking at him. It was the doctors and nurses trying to tend to him. When Ton realized that, he left his capsule in anger and looked at the screen. The blood loss seeped away his HP before he could land the blow. He could not overcome the 4th wave.

“Aaaghhh…” shouted Ton in anger, as he left the Arena.

The only one remaining in the 4th wave was now Noah.

…