Alec vaporized the blood and burnt away the corpse under the silent gaze of the students. No one talked. Maybe they were being blocked by the anti-meme from properly reacting. Still, they all had somber expressions on their faces.

"He was a good guy," the one who had asked the question muttered. He kneeled down and rolled the ashes of the student between his fingers. "I don't think he deserved this."

"He probably didn't. Nobody does," Alec said with a bitter expression. While mourning the dead was preferable, he didn't have the time to waste. The professors were obviously not getting involved any time soon.

'The demonification should have caused him to not be considered a student,' Alec guessed. The method of detecting fights between students must have been automatic. Once someone was demonized, the rules wouldn't apply. 'There might be other students in the same situation. Things will quickly cascade. The students with weaker mentalities should have been weeded out in the first incursion. The remaining will hold on a little bit more this time around.'

There were three other teams remaining. Alec couldn't babysit them, so he took out a couple of mental cleansing incense and handed them out.

"Light these up and keep them by your side at all times. See a demon? Crush their head. No hesitation. Understood?" Alec said. The student's stances almost shifted to a salute before they stopped themselves.

"Yes," the one closer to Alec answered. He carefully took the sticks, lit them up, and distributed them to the others.

After handing out the incense, Alec dashed out of the cave into another. No matter what, the only way to stop this mess was to solve the anti-meme. Getting the first place and going into the headmaster's room was the only breadcrumb he had in his hands.

The next couple of caves he went through were already emptied by other students. He only managed to find another medium-grade boss and increase his points up to sixty thousand. The cave cluster he was inside seemed to be empty. Unnervingly so. Where had the people from that challenge gone?

'If one transforms, it will cause a chain reaction. That must be the cause!' Alec guessed. 'There should be a challenge with a lot of participants nearby. I really don't want to use this spell but...'

Taking out The Author's Pen, Alec wrote down.

[Sound Amplification]

This was a very simple spell that picked up on very minute noises and amplified them. It was just too disorienting to use frequently. Once the circle activated, Alec felt his vision spin. Waves of rustles, noises, and footsteps filled his ears. He started sifting through the data, leaving only those he needed behind.

'Footsteps... Shouts... It's far away. Slithering? Fleshy noises too.'

He changed his course once again. He passed cave after cave, each with different designs. There was even one where the ground was made out of quicksand. Alec was almost trapped.

The noises became audible, and they were increasing with every step he took. He finally passed through one more tunnel and found himself on the edge of a literal battleground.

[Would you like to join the teamed capture-the-flag challenge? The fee is 1000 points.]

The notification aside, Alec's mouth hung open at the sight he was met with. There were two groups of students—Maybe a hundred in total, each standing around their respective red and blue flags. The green flag, however, had...

‘The students fused with the flag?’

The moaning, whimpering, and hollering mound of rotted flesh had fused into the flag, looking like a misshapen pyramid. The faces of the students participating in the demonic amalgamation pushed against its purple, necrotized skin from the inside. And they flowed. Their mouths opened and closed, they tried to say something but failed to do so.

And occasionally, they reached out.

Reach out as in, a non-descript face would bubble out of the amalgam and hurtle toward a still-human student with all its might. That happened. A head flew across the cave, slipped through the defenses, and latched onto a student with its toothless, fleshed-over mouth.

When it did, the student immediately burst into flames of heresy. Fortunately, the students of the Lation Magic Academy were not hesitant in their actions against the demons. A bunch of spells, and the body was already gone. Alec gulped and turned his attention back toward the amalgam.

'Why that kind of thing..? He thought for a second. Then understood. 'Their emotions in protecting the flag must have overflowed and caused them to unite in demonic form.'

He accepted the challenge and joined the blue team, dashing to their side while launching a couple of fireballs and magic missiles himself.

"It's Alec Greenwood!"

"He might be able to help!"

A bunch of students noticed his presence. Alec was the person with the highest score in the training period. It would have been weird not to know of him at this point.

Once Alec approached, a student from the fray came out and started talking to him.

"Alec. We have been handling the attacks of that demon for some time, but don't have the power to counterattack. We fear our strength will run out with time, but the thing is not budging at all! The professors are nowhere to be seen. Please help us!" she said. Alec nodded, frowned, and grabbed his chin for a moment. He then looked up at the monster. His eyes narrowed. Turning his head toward the girl once more, he pointed toward his cheek.

"Slap me."

"What?"

"Do what I say. With all your power. You won't be able to hurt me," Alec said. The girl, with raised brows, raised her hand and slapped Alec across the face with all her strength. Which was not much. Alec didn't even budge. In fact, the one who seemed to have hurt was the girl, holding her wrist in pain.

Still, the cave suddenly blared with red alarms.

[Interstudent violence has been detected, dispatching a professor!]

A sudden notification appeared. Alec dismissed it before looking around. This was way beyond the scope of what he could handle. It was a hunch, but a strong one. His spells, even with The Author's Pen, wouldn't hurt that thing. He would have to unleash something at least of 4th circle, and it still wouldn't guarantee success.

Then what was there to do but to invoke a professor?

He probably wouldn't be implicated in this situation even if he were to hurt another student, but he had outsourced the task to the girl just in case. Although it would have been a really scummy move to cause the girl to be eliminated, the situation at hand was way more important than some exam results.

While the fierce battle ensued, Alec joined them by assisting in defense. The aforementioned professor didn't take long to arrive, maybe thirty seconds. It was Professor Simon who came, the head of the previous Earth Magic Review Board. Now conglomerated into Classical Magic. Once the man saw the situation, he frowned and dispelled the earth-riding spell he was using. He settled in front of the students and raised an Earthen Barrier spanning the entire cave with a snap of his fingers. He then turned toward Alec.

"What is going on? Demons?"

"Yes," Alec said. He looked for blue sparks around the Professor's head, but couldn't spot any. The anti-meme wasn't that weak. Not yet.

"I see. I assume the alert was given out because of it. Am I right?" He asked while turning his back toward Alec. He raised his hand, his palm pointing toward the earthen wall he himself had raised. A brown-colored magic circle appeared. The ground under their feet started flowing towards him, slowly accumulating into a large, spiky ball. Once the spiky ball seemed to solidify, the man used his other hand to split the earthen wall and launched his spell.

The spiky ball hurtled through the air, approximately the size of two grown men. It spun rapidly, smashing against the amalgam of demons. The spikes on it exploded in every direction, the ball itself dug into the mound of flesh, leaving a gaping, giant hole right in its middle. Then it exploded too. Fine grains of sand ripped apart the demon amalgam in one go, leaving baffled students behind.

"Umm..." Alec watched the happenings. The professors were not meant to be underestimated, after all. "No. These beings don't seem to alert the system. I think you will have to declare an emergency."

"I see... Then we should cancel the-"

"No!" Alec said firmly, his voice rising. He looked deep into Professor Simon's eyes. He had tried asking Professor Howard for the right to enter the Headmaster's room before. Apparently, it wasn't possible at all. One had to get the first place in this exam. If not, even Professor Howard himself wouldn't be able to enter.

"No matter what happens, the exam must go on!"