Elsewhere in the Shadow World, a frazzled little nerd wandered around, complaining about the heat in his random location. He wished for some sun protection but paused to enjoy the breeze—only to be obliterated by a powerful spell from Romantica Eru. His disqualification was promptly announced.
With 27 participants remaining, we see that Romantica and Pram Schneider had luckily been transported near each other. Romantica found it adorable that Pram was worried about Desir Herrman. Using her wind magic, she detected nearby enemies and decided to target the lone one. She sent out an attack—but it was instantly destroyed, and two enemies appeared. One complained that detection magic reveals your location, while the other jerk (a.k.a. boyfriend material?) reminded her that Romantica was “just beta trash.”
Romantica did not take the insult lightly. She decided it was time to prove who the real trash was—with a fight. The guy continued talking smack about their superior class, but Pram wasted no time attacking him. The jerk claimed it proved the betas lacked manners, but Romantica realized they weren’t weak at all. Everyone got on guard, swords drawn.
A girl tried using magic, but Pram decided to show off his lightning speed. Terrified, she wondered if someone like him could really be in the beta class. Her partner whipped up a dirt wall and told her to unleash a massive area attack—but in doing so, she revealed her exact location. Romantica sent her flying with a gust of wind, switching the insults: now she called the enemies dumb for hiding, only to reveal themselves immediately after.
Pram reminded the alpha boy to focus on the fight—though he was actually just distracting him—while Romantica finished off the alpha girl. She noted that her opponent might have had a chance if he had focused on her first. That was what happens when you underestimate the beta class.
With 25 participants left, Romantica and Pram complimented each other on how much they’d improved, with Pram crediting Desir for their training. Speaking of which, Romantica called Desir Herrman out from hiding, knowing he had been watching. Desir was amazed by their progress, stating that he knew they could handle it on their own.
Romantica realized Desir had been the person she attacked earlier. She thought she had grown strong, but he had destroyed her spell effortlessly. Desir complimented her performance and even gave her head a friendly pat—though she protested furiously, reminding him she wasn’t a dog. The fun and games were over.
As Desir Herrman noticed a storm brewing, red lightning scorched the sky, and something strange happened at a nearby Clock Tower. A massive fire attack erupted, and some poor soul was instantly obliterated by another team. With 18 participants remaining, Desir explained the two paths to promotion into the Alpha class: either finish first by clearing the Shadow World, or survive and place in the top nine.
Desir was realistic—clearing the Shadow World was basically impossible since the other teams would gang up on them. Finishing in the top nine was their only hope, relying on the other teams knocking each other out. Romantica Eru thought it would be much harder than he made it sound, while Pram Schneider was overly confident… mostly because he was doodling on the ground instead of planning.
Suddenly, rain poured down, leaving them no choice but to take cover under a tree. Romantica had a realization: aiming for the top nine among Alpha students would never have crossed her mind if it weren’t for Desir. Without him, she might have joined Dante’s team—and heaven only knows what would have happened once they learned she was a commoner.
Desir could sense her unease and reassured both her and Pram that they were getting much stronger. His RZ (a.k.a. weird head-patting habit) was getting on her nerves, so she called him a weirdo and told him to stop. She also reminded him how much she hated his “dumb face,” though deep down, she couldn’t help but love her team.
Then, a bell rang in the distance. Tesser announced that it was finally time and reminded Romantica that this was part of their studies. They were now in the world of the previous Clock Tower—a high-level magical device that regularly produced monsters.
The Clock Tower activated, and something stirred beneath the ground. A voice announced the start of a survival quest, revealing that the tower had generated a new monster. All teams needed to survive the monster’s attack. Naturally, the teachers freaked out, certain that Desir’s Beta-class team was doomed. The head of the Blue Moon group even laughed at Brigette.
Back with our heroes, a girl screamed in terror—another participant down, leaving only 17 remaining. Danger loomed as Desir told Romantica and Pram to stay back. The ground began to shake, a foul stench filled the air, and a monstrous rat emerged. The duo froze in fear as it let out a deafening roar. Desir quickly deduced that this was no ordinary rat: it was controlled by a KRA monster, a fearsome creature that commanded hordes of vermin.
The monster wasn’t just any rodent—it controlled a battalion of mice-like limbs, fed on human blood, and never gave up once it chose its target. Romantica Eru decided to fire an airball, but it was useless—they needed to keep running. Predictably, the mice were closing in fast.
Desir Herrman explained that their only chance was to take out the leader, hidden somewhere in the horde. Romantica groaned—it was like finding a needle in a haystack. But Desir had a plan. He made himself bleed and used his blood to reveal the commander. The “dumb little rat” finally showed itself, and Romantica dropped it right out of the air.
Of course, the rat didn’t die. Desir reminded her that even a tiny rodent was still a monster, with magical resistance high enough that Romantica couldn’t take it down in a single blow. As more rats kept coming, Desir ordered a retreat. But Pram Schneider, in true reckless style, leaped straight into the swarm. His teammates yelled at him to stop, but he just grinned—because apparently, common sense isn’t a top-tier skill in his repertoire.
Elsewhere, other teams were equally struggling. The Red Team faced a giant rat horde, but their leader confidently told them to stand back while he unleashed a fire spell. The Green Team, clueless as ever, thought it was “just a tiny mouse.” One idiot even tried to shoot it away—but the mouse let out a battle cry and immediately swarmed them.
Back with our heroes, Pram was in the thick of it, determined to locate the real leader. He knew it had taken damage from Romantica’s spell and was set on finding the “Little Critter.” After a tense fight, he finally detected it on the outskirts. Desir frantically tore at the rat mountain to rescue him, while Romantica debated attacking with her airballs—but Desir wisely warned that she might hit Pram too.
Panic set in for Desir, fearing he might lose Pram again, just like in the future. But then, with a triumphant roar, Pram emerged from the pile and obliterated the killer mouse. Their survival quest was officially over. Exhausted, Pram received praise from his friends and immediately took a nap under a tree. Desir, amazed at how terrified Pram was of rats, instructed Romantica to watch over him, and then walked away silently.
Alone, Desir was furious with himself—he should have cleared the quest without putting Pram through that ordeal. He realized he had gotten carried away by their improvement and let his guard down. Meanwhile, Tesser punched his own face as a reminder to never lose focus again. Returning to his friends, they worried about him, but he waved it off: “It’s nothing.”
Desir Herrman’s team was surprised when he insisted on traveling in the rain. He simply explained that they had located the previous Clock Tower and needed to head there—but first, he reminded himself of one thing: he would take the perfect route to reach his goal and vowed never to repeat past mistakes.
Elsewhere, the Red Team was in awe as their leader burned an entire area just to eliminate their rat horde. The Green Team also won their skirmish, thanks to Azest Kingscrown using ice magic to wipe out their enemies.
Finally, Desir’s team reached the Clock Tower. All the remaining team leaders stared at the eerie structure. It was explained that whoever stopped it first would win. The leaders were confident—until a sudden gust of wind picked up. Azest quickly realized it wasn’t just any wind; a relentless barrage of magical attacks hit them, even taking out two of her teammates. Clearly, another team was responsible.
Azest noted that the detection and attack had been nearly simultaneous—only one person could pull off such a stunt. As it turns out, Romantica Eru was up in the tower. Two more participants were eliminated, leaving only 15 players.
Zod Exarion and his two goons began climbing the tower, fending off waves of air attacks. Romantica was at the top, performing brilliantly, but apologized to Desir, since the other team’s defenses were blocking most of her attacks. Their cover was blown—but Desir wasn’t worried. “No problem, we’ll just focus on another team,” he said.
Romantica stared at him, incredulous. “Are you insane? That will make all the teams converge here!” she demanded. Desir just smiled and revealed that gathering everyone was part of his plan. “Trust me,” he said.
With that, Romantica opened fire on the Green Team. The two members had no idea what was coming, and were swiftly eliminated. Thirteen participants remained. Desir prepared something using his abilities on a wall. Meanwhile, Azest ordered Dante to open the tower door—but were shocked to see the Red and Green Teams already facing off.
The Red Team’s leader, Gabriel, wondered if Azest’s team had been the attackers outside, while the Green Team claimed the same. Both accused Azest of the despicable act. She demanded proof, and Gabriel explained, “No one else could use that many high-level spells at once—except them.”
Azest realized that no one would believe her if she explained it was a Beta-class student—and finally understood that this was Desir’s plan. Everything was working perfectly. Gabriel, furious and ready to retaliate, was momentarily held back when Azest told her goons to stay behind. She confidently declared she’d handle them—but it only made Gabriel more annoyed. He unleashed a ferocious fire attack, while one of his fanboys raved, “Our leader is the strongest flame mage!”
The fanboy got absolutely obliterated by Azest Kingscrown, and she even froze another one of them for good measure. The Green Team decided to team up with the Red Team, seeing it as their only shot at becoming single rankers—but Desir held them off effortlessly. The battle echoed throughout the tower, but it ended sooner than expected.
Surprisingly, Desir revealed that his plan hadn’t actually worked—no announcements had been made, meaning no one had been eliminated. Tension built as the team heard someone ascending the stairs: it was Azest’s team. She explained that she had only locked the other teams in place. Desir had hoped they’d destroy each other, but Azest ruined his plan. She thought it was “dumb” and suggested everyone pair off against their counterparts.
Azest declared, “If you really think you deserve to be single rankers, prove it!” She then used her ice magic to isolate everyone on the next floor, and the fight officially began. Dante charged straight at Romantica, while Percival Acegunits reminded Pram Schneider that he had his own opponent to face.
Desir seemed in bad shape, but Azest assured him that the attack hadn’t been enough to end him. She was right—he had just been faking. He used a spell called Stone Break, turning the stone that hit Azest into a dangerous snake. Azest froze it just in time, but Desir followed up with his inversing magic, shattering her ice and filling the area with dust. He wasn’t taking the offensive yet, simply hoping that reinforcements would arrive in time.
Down below, Pram had taken control of his fight. He switched swords, confusing Persal, who angrily lunged at him. He expected to destroy the little kid—but couldn’t land a single hit. Persal quickly realized that Pram was now a completely different fighter. With a swift kick to the chest, Pram left Persal wondering how he had gotten so strong in such a short time. Pram refused to reveal his secrets, which only made Persal enraged. “Beta trash!” he yelled.
Meanwhile, Dante was having an easier time. He fended off Romantica’s attacks with confidence, wondering if that was all she had. Romantica realized her mana was dangerously low and that she was at a severe disadvantage in close combat. Dante was ready to end her. Luckily, Desir’s magic destroyed an ice pillar, temporarily obscuring Dante’s vision. He thought it wouldn’t be a problem—but Romantica nearly landed a hit. Her attacks continued, leaving Dante baffled. “How does she know my location?” he wondered. Romantica realized she would have to end the fight herself.
While fog still lingered, Dante had an item that cleared it, instantly retaking control of the fight. He nearly sliced Romantica Eru to pieces, and she immediately recognized the necklace around his neck—it was the gift she had returned to him after rejecting him.
Dante sneered, “This little necklace is far too good for a commoner!”
Romantica, growing sassy, snapped back, “We’re all students, regardless of status. We’re all human, and that will never change!” She was exhausted from the endless segregation, but Dante looked disgusted at the thought of a noble being compared to a commoner.
“Tell me, what’s the difference between us?” she demanded.
“For me? Everything,” Dante spat. “Class, strength, talent. You were different from the moment you were born!” Memories of what commoners did to his father fueled his hatred, and he refused to see them as equals. Romantica, unaware of his past, just thought he was a lunatic. Dante knew she wouldn’t understand, so he decided to make her learn the hard way.
He surrounded the battlefield with fire. Romantica countered with wind magic, but Dante was too skilled, knocking her back. Pram Schneider rushed to her side, and she revealed she had barely survived. Dante told Percival Acegunits to stand back as he prepared to slaughter all the “filthy commoners.”
Romantica needed time to restore her mana, so Pram tried to buy her some—but he was quickly swallowed by Dante’s attack. Dante charged directly at Romantica, only for Pram to free himself and rescue her, which made Dante even angrier. Percival reminded Dante that Pram was his target, but Dante had completely lost his mind and declared he would end them both.
Pram realized that Dante tunnel-visioned on Romantica, so he used that to his advantage. Romantica knew she couldn’t defeat Dante in her current state and would only slow Pram down. She came up with a plan: lure Dante somewhere else. Pram refused—he wasn’t letting her sacrifice herself.
“All three of us will become single rankers,” he proclaimed. “None of us will be left behind!” He remembered the words of their fearless leader, Desir Herrman, and reminded Romantica how much stronger they were now. She told him to stop smiling—it reminded her too much of Desir’s stupid face—but he couldn’t help it.
Thanking him for the inspiration, Romantica prepared for battle. Meanwhile, Azest Kingscrown told her team that this fight wouldn’t end like the entrance ceremony. Desir was ready too. Azest unleashed insanely powerful magic, only for Desir to destroy it effortlessly. She tried to enhance her mobility, but Desir countered that as well. Her next attack was obliterated with just a snap of his fingers.
Even when she encased herself in ice to avoid his follow-up fire magic, Desir was impressed—she had no scratches at all.
