The Unrecorded Extra



The room was spacious, featuring a meticulously designed layout to accommodate a myriad of monitoring stations.

Dominating the room were multiple display monitors, each arranged to provide a comprehensive view of the monitored group exam captured by the drone camera.

These high-resolution screens, with their sleek bezel-less designs, spanned across the walls, forming a mesmerizing digital tapestry. The vibrant glow emitted by the screens illuminated the room, casting an otherworldly ambiance.

Interwoven with the array of digital screens, holographic projection in the middle of the room danced throughout the space, adding an ethereal touch to the surroundings. Intricate and lifelike, these holograms projected real-time 3D models of the Artificial Forest, including the students taking the test there.

Dozen of supervisors—who were the heroes of the Omega Association, dressed in professional attire, worked their 4ss off to study the students through the monitors.

With focused attention, they analyzed the information streaming across the screens and holographic projection, evaluating and studying the group of students in real time.

Among the supervisors, an odd-looking individual wearing a full-face mask was watching one particular monitor only. That very monitor was displaying a group of three students led by the red-haired girl and would occasionally switch to the two students who were resting under the trees.

Every time the screen switched to the two students, the supervisor would straighten her posture, a hint of excitement and anxiety were clearly there.

"Is there any group that you set your eyes upon?"

The supervisor was startled as the voice rang coming behind her.

She quickly turned around to find another supervisor standing behind her. This supervisor, dressed in a sleek black suit, exuded an air of authority and confidence.

"Raja. Do that again and I'll show you what it feels like to live in hell," the masked supervisor said, recovering from her surprise.

Before her stood a colossal man, a magnificent specimen of brawn and stature. His towering figure exuded power, each muscle meticulously sculpted to perfection. Yet, amidst his imposing presence, his shining bald head broke the illusion, making the masked supervisor let out a chuckle as she examined his head.

Raja is his name. He took 27th place in the hero ranking as a <S> rank hero.

He shrugged in response to the masked supervisor's threat, thinking it was a joke and her usual banter. "Well, sorry."

"So, who is it? Who's the student that catches your attention? Is it the flame brat?" Raja inquired.

The masked supervisor turned her attention back to the screen, waving her hand at Raja dismissively. "Mind your own business, baldie."

"Hey! It's not like it was my intention to be bald, someone scammed me!"

"Bla, blah. Keep talking, baldie."

…

Lupus-8's attacker division consisted of three people; Ember, Niah, and Hulio had finally found their first target.

They weren't sure which group was it camped around their base with only two guards. But, that didn't matter as long as Ember and the other could steal the flag.

"Uhh, Ember, what's our strategy?" Niah asked, standing right beside Ember.

"No strategy. Just attack them when they are vulnerable," Ember replied.

"I'm not sure about this… but hey, we got top student among us, so I'll trust your judgment," Hulio added.

The three of them were hiding behind the trees close to their target's base. Noticing that the two guards didn't even react to the mana Ember had emitted, she was sure that those two were low-ranked.

'As if there's someone competent except the top 100…' Ember thought.

As she said that, she suddenly recalled someone's face. A boy with jet-black hair and eyes as dark as outer space.

'Mmm. He would be in the top 100—no, top 10 if the event he told me didn't happen…'

Ember closed her eyes and then looked at her companion.

  "There are only two guards over there. You guys should be able to handle them," Ember said, briefly pausing to sigh before continuing to mutter, "That's what he wants, right?"

"Sorry, I can't seem to hear your last sentence. Can you repeat it?" said Niah while fidgeting her fingers.

Ember shook her head slowly. "It's nothing."

Niah and Hulio looked at each other and gave each other an approving nod before looking at Ember with renewed confidence.

"Okay! So, we just have to take those two down, right?"

Ember nodded silently.

"Will you help us if we failed to do so?" said Niah, smiling sheepishly afterward.

Ember responded with another silent nod.

With that, the two low-ranked officially began their conquest for their first flag. Ember watched them in silence as they made their way toward the enemy's base.

Startled by the sudden appearance of two intruders coming to their base, the two guards who were talking and laughing in a conversation stood up and pointed their weapons at Niah and Hulio.

"W-who are you guys?!" one of the guards yelled.

Niah and Hulio maintained a confident stance despite the guards' aggressive response.

Niah stepped forward, still behind Hulio's sword and shield protection.

"We are members of Lupus-8," Niah declared firmly. "And we've come to claim your flag!"

The guards exchanged a skeptical glance, clearly underestimating Niah and Hulio due to how clumsy their stances were.

One of the guards sneered and lowered his weapon slightly.

"Ha! You think you can take us down? You're just a couple of rookies," he scoffed.

"Hey! You're also a rookie! I can see by how you just run your mouth instead of attacking us, you're probably even lower than us in rankings!" Niah provoked them, and Hulio knew very well where Niah learned that trait.

"What did you say?!"

He looked toward his companion and both of them nodded in understanding, suddenly rushed to attack Niah and Hulio.

"We'll show you who is the rookie here!"

That marked the battle of the century, the rookies' battle!

Hulio charged forward to meet the guards' attack with his shield, while Niah released a volley of arrows at her pace, aiming to disrupt and distract the guards. 

Hulio engaged the guards head-on, his shield providing a stalwart defense against their attacks. With each swing of his sword, he somehow managed to deflect the guards' strikes and did a bit of counterattack.

Niah, not only gave Hulio a defense buff, but she also provided cover fire, luckily hitting the guards on the shoulders and thighs.

The battle somehow favored Niah and Hulio, though their attacks were clumsy, it seemed the Goddess of Fortune helped them, especially Niah with her bow and arrows.

At the end of the short battle, Hulio delivered a powerful blow with his shield, knocking one guard to the ground, while Niah mercilessly knocked out the other one by striking their neck with her bow. The guards lay defeated, their weapons scattered around them.

As they pulled the flag out of the flagpole stand, they cheered for themselves.

"We did it!!"