Saved?

Nearly ten monsters emerged from behind the cover of the woods and charged towards them.

A winged jaguar which was closest to Amelia leaped at her from behind.

Nero, who was facing the black-haired girl, was the first to notice the winged jaguar jumping on her from behind.

He quickly reacted to the situation and tried to protect Amelia by instinctively moving his body toward her.

However, he was too far away, and the jaguar would have already run into her by the time he could reach her.

Anastasia and Kent were also facing their back to the jaguar so they had no idea about it as they were busy dodging from other monsters. There was no time for them to either notice or help Amelia.

Hugh tried to shoot the monster that running across him but his magazine was already empty. All he could do was to dodge the stampede of monsters.

The element of surprise and proximity of these monsters to the group made it impossible for them to help Amelia as everyone was busy avoiding the rest of the monsters.

"Roar!!"

When Amelia sensed the presence of something behind her, she abruptly turned her body.

She could only widen her after seeing a winged jaguar inches away from her face.

"Haa!"

A short gasp escaped her lips in shock and fear as she realized the danger she was in.

Time seemed to slow down as she stared into the jaguar's eyes, unsure of what to do with no time to react.

At that crucial moment, Amelia felt a sudden force pushing her out of the way of the wolf.

She stumbled to the side, narrowly avoiding the wolf's canines which would have ripped her face apart.

As she fell, she caught a glimpse of strands of silver hair flashing before her eyes. It was a boy dressed in a black and red jersey of the academy who had saved her.

Yes, it was Lucas.

As Lucas pushed her out of the way, the winged jaguar turned its attention to him.

Terror flashed in its eyes as the jaguar gazed into Lucas's eyes. It desperately tried to run away from the abomination present in front of it, but it was too late to stop its momentum and could only continue to bite him.

"Even though it's unpleasant, I guess that is the only way to deal with it."

The silver-haired boy stretched his left hand while mumbling a few words, trying to fend off the jaguar's attack as it bit into him

Lucas didn't move a single inch from his position despite its weight and momentum.

The jaguar deeply bit down his left hand but Lucas didn't care about it at all. Despite its bite force not a single scratch appeared on Lucas's hand. His body had become too strong for it to be damaged by such weak monsters.

 "Mana Burst"

Lucas muttered as mana started to gather in his left palm. The jaguar realizing the fate that is about to befall it desperately struggles to let go of his hand but Lucas holds a firm grip on its jaws making its attempts futile.

Boom-!!

A small explosion erupted from Lucas's hand instantly exploding the beast's head. The headless beast fell to the ground as the inside matter of its head scattered all around. 

"Are you alright, Lucas?" Nero shouted with genuine concern for Lucas who had risked his own life to protect one of their teammates.

"Lucas! Hey, man, hey!" Kent too rushed to his side with a face full of worry. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Lucas assured them as he stood there covered in blood and the entrails of the beast.

"I'm calling the Instructors!" Anastasia announced before tapping on her smart bracelet.

"Is he okay?"

"What happened?"

"What was that?"

Grace's Unit came to the scene of the incident too.

Every single one of them was tired and some even had small injuries from fending off the monsters but still came to check on him. They clearly saw that beast biting him so it was obvious that they were worried about him having serious injuries.

But Lucas looked at them calmly without a change in expression. Right now his state of mind was completely disturbed as he struggled to maintain his calm.

Amidst the commotion, Amelia was left stunned. With a lost look on her face, she sat there, utterly confused.

Why did he save me?

Or

Did he really save me?

Those were the only thoughts echoing in her head. Despite the clear evidence, she couldn't believe what had just happened.

******

The aftermath of the incident was a complete mess. The professors had to intervene in the exam due to rampaging monsters.

They even had to launch an investigation team to find the reason behind the unusual behavior exhibited by the monsters. The entire forest was closed to the students for the time being.

But not everything has gone bad. Most of the students had come out relatively unharmed and only a few cadets sustained minor injuries that could be healed with treatment.

Lucas, the only student who was thought to be seriously injured was later found to be completely unharmed except for the state of his uniform. Even the hand which was bitten by the winged jaguar didn't have a single bruise.

Since most of the students had hunted down the designated beasts, the Academy decided to continue with the ranking of units despite the incident.

And the team that took the top spot was undoubtedly Nero's unit. Aside from the Steel Winged Eagle that was killed by Nero, all the monsters Lucas had killed including the Winged Jaguar resulted in their unit being awarded the first place.

"And since matter can't be created, according to the law of conservation of matter, we all are as old as the universe since we too are created from matter!"

"What are you trying to say, Kent?"

"I'm trying to prove a point. So what if she was a minor?"

"..."

"Joke! I'm joking!"

Kent said with a wave of his hands at Lucas's piercing gaze.

It's been three days since the 'incident' in the 5th district forest.

And in this period of time, Lucas's reputation had improved by leaps and bounds.

Nero had started to talk to him without that distant look in his eyes. Anastasia has started to put down her guard around him. Amelia was awfully quiet in front of him. Only Kent's attitude remained unchanged.

Saving Amelia at the last moment and presenting all the monsters that he had killed which got them ranked 1st played a big factor in improving his reputation.

They had even assumed that the entire reason Lucas acted separately from the Unit was to kill the monsters so that they could achieve rank 1 and that it was all part of his plan.

Whatever the reasons may be, everyone now believed that Lucas had changed for the good.

What's more, Lucas got a whooping 57 Edit Points. Although it is less likely that he would use them.

However, it's worth noting that not all events that occurred in the past few days were positive. For some reason, the spark between the two classes had turned into a full-blown forest fire.

Right now, the situation is that classes 1-A-1 and 1-C-8 are at each others' throats. By now the majority of the cadets from both classes have been in conflict. It was clear to Lucas that someone was deliberately fanning the flames.

If things continued this way then without a doubt the Student Council would intervene.

"Oh, by the way, how's your hand?" while walking their way towards the class, Kent asked. 

"It's fine, " Lucas replied. 

 As always, his replies were concise and curt making it harder for Kent to make any small talk. They soon arrived in front of their class and as soon as they entered the classroom, they noticed a boy sitting at the front desk with a visible bruised face full of wounds.

"What the hell?" Kent exclaimed.

Several cadets were already surrounding the boy in the spotlight while angrily murmuring amongst them.