Chapter 9

Zeph's POV

"Well, I always knew you had it in you to defeat a werewolf in a single combat," Ralph said patting my shoulder.

"I got lucky I guess and Rein helped me remain undetected," I shrugged.

"But what were they thinking pinning us against werewolves even before we joined the academy? They wanna get us killed even before we set foot in the academy? What's the point of this institute, if they want us to be trained fighters," Ralph muttered.

"I think it was more than that. I think they are judging us on all our strengths. Physical, psychological, emotional, and mental. It was like if we are brave enough to hold our ground or if we are smart enough to get a flag without fighting a werewolf. Also, there were very few werewolves in the jungle, I only saw two. There should have been more near the tree because everyone had to get a flag from there. But, we encountered only one which means they made it look difficult but it wasn't that difficult in reality."

"Hmm, makes sense and I did get a flag without fighting a werewolf. Does that makes me smarter than you?" He asked with a mischievous smile.

"In your dreams, maybe," I rolled my eyes and he laughed.

We reached the end of the forest thanks to the markings I had made on trees along the way. Lake was just on the opposite side of the ground. Blood was dripping from my shoulder where I got grazed by the werewolf and Ralph noticed it too.

"You are hurt," his voice showed concern.

"We don't have time to waste, it's just a graze. We will deal with it later. Let's go and embed this flag near the lake first."

We ran to the lake and embedded our flags. We were the first ones to reach it, no one else was in sight. I was wondering if someone else had even made it.

Shumal approached us: "Well done you two, not bad for newbies to escape the werewolves. But, but, don't get over yourselves just now. This last task won't be that easy at all," a devilish smile played on her lips. What was with this woman?

"Great, now what?" Ralph muttered.

As we waited three more candidates joined us gradually and Shumal blew her whistle as the allocated time was up. Two of the candidates were injured like me which meant that they had a skirmish with werewolves as well but somehow escaped. One was unharmed, and I recognized him. He was a cousin of our future Prince. Xin Li was his name and no doubt he was strong.

"Since, five of you delinquents have made it this far. I will now explain your next task to you. The lake contains a monster. You have to lure it out and kill it. This is a team task. So, the five of you will work together in a team. Use whatever weapons, potions, or means you like to kill it. No restrictions whatsoever. Your task will be completed once the monster is dead. Clear, any questions?" Shumal told us in a ragged voice.

"What kind of monster is it? And is there a time limit?" Xin Li asked.

"You have to find it out for yourselves, this is why you need to come up with a strategy and there is no time limit," she explained.

"Will we all pass if we kill it?" Ralph asked.

"Final decision will be made by the administration and you people will be informed by letters after I submit my report of today's exam. Get ready now". She blew her whistle to announce the start of our final task.

We grouped to finalize a strategy on how to go about things. "Why are they keeping a monster? Aren't all monsters supposed to be locked up in Dark Realm?" Are they trying to kill us all?" Ralph asked innocently.

"I am sure it's just an enormous version of regular creatures we have. They might have used a spell or portion to either make it look big or swell in size," I replied calmly. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Are you guys ok? I asked the two guys who were injured. One was bleeding from his leg and the other had an injury on his forehead. " We are fine, werewolves just grazed us, they weren't looking to seriously injure us or kill us. Their only motive was to stop us from getting the flags."

"Great, then let's see what we have between us and see if we can come up with a strategy."

Four of us had swords while the guy with the forehead wound carried a spear. We had few potions left. Like the one which enhanced physical abilities and the sleeping powder which I had used earlier on the werewolf. Xin Li and Ralph had strong armour We also had a couple of Kunei knives which would be beneficial for long-range attacks. The guy with a leg injury had a special rope which was laced with a paralytic nerve agent.

We decided our strategy and now we were ready to take on whatever came out of that lake. Ralph was chosen to lure it out of the lake. So, he wore his armour pulled out his sword and carefully stepped in the water. All of us pulled out our weapons and waited patiently.