All four of them started heading toward the center again while taking a detour to avoid the mutated beast.

They traveled slowly to delay their arrival as much as possible so they could avoid fights with other students.

3 PM

All four of them finally reached the center of the island.

The center was an open field, and in the middle of it stood the portal that would allow them to leave the island and complete the test.

The area was filled with signs of battle.

Broken trees, deep craters, and scorch marks covered the ground. Blood stains could be seen in several places, while torn pieces of clothing and shattered weapons were scattered across the battlefield.

Adam looked around nervously and swallowed hard. "Looks like many teams already fought here."

Noah frowned and said, "And some of those fights were intense."

Aria calmly observed the surroundings while keeping her guard up. "Be careful. Some teams might still be hiding nearby and waiting to ambush others before the portal opens."

Asher looked toward the trees on their left and then to the right before saying, "Just come out and stop hiding. If you want to fight, then let’s fight, though it would be better if we could all leave this place peacefully."

Then a group of students walked out from each side.

The first group consisted of six people led by Leon Zevark. The others were either his teammates or followers of the Church who had joined him.

The second group consisted of eight people led by Celestine Voltaris. Alongside him were his teammates and several nobles whom Asher did not recognize.

Behind their group stood about twenty-five undead creatures made from Silver-rank beasts. Asher glanced at them for a second before looking at Kevin and thinking,’ What a waste of corpses’.

Asher then looked at the leaders of both groups and said with a smile, "Never thought I would see you two working together. Aren’t you supposed to be enemies? Your parents would probably be ashamed if they found out about this."

Leon simply smiled in return and said nothing, while Celestine replied in an indifferent tone, "We are not working together. We just don’t want to fight you after exhausting ourselves, so we avoided fighting each other. Nothing more."

Asher looked at them for a moment before glancing at the portal and saying, "You don’t need to fight me. Just let me pass through the portal, then you can fight each other all you want."

Celestine narrowed his eyes and replied coldly, "Do you really think we would let you leave that easily?"

Leon’s smile also faded slightly as he stepped forward. "You are the biggest threat here, Asher. If we let you pass through the portal, then everything we did on this island would become meaningless."

Adam clicked his tongue in annoyance. "So you were planning to fight from the start." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

One of Leon’s followers tightened his grip on his weapon and said, "We outnumber you. Even if you are strong, you can’t fight everyone here at once."

The undead beasts behind Celestine’s group slowly moved forward, their hollow eyes locked onto Asher’s team. The heavy pressure from nearly twenty-five Silver-rank undead spread across the battlefield.

Noah’s expression darkened slightly while Aria calmly prepared her mana.

Asher, however, remained completely relaxed. He looked at the two leaders and said with a faint smile, "So you won’t let me leave without a fight, and you think that all of you together can stop me?"

Celestine stepped forward and pointed her sword toward Asher. Purple lightning crackled around the blade, releasing bursts of energy that scorched the ground beneath her feet.

"We are not underestimating you," she said coldly. "That is exactly why we decided to face you together."

Leon also unsheathed his weapon as golden mana flowed around his body. "Individually, none of us may be your match, but together is a different story."

The students behind them began releasing their mana one after another. Fire, wind, water, and earth mana filled the battlefield while the undead beasts growled and slowly surrounded Asher’s group from different directions.

Adam cursed under his breath. "This is getting troublesome."

Noah tightened his grip on his spear while Aria calmly activated several support spells behind them.

Asher suddenly laughed, and then a wide smile appeared on his face.

It was a terrifying smile.

The smile of a villain.

Then Asher stepped forward and said, "You think you can stop me? If I truly want to do something, who can possibly stop me?"

As soon as Asher said this, a terrifying wave of mana filled with killing intent spread throughout the entire area. Most of the initial Silver-rank students could not even remain standing under the pressure, while all the nearby wild monsters fled the area in fear.

Even the supervisors hiding in secret were shocked by such overwhelming killing intent and thought, Just how many beasts has this kid killed to possess this much killing intent?

Out of the fourteen students, only eight were able to remain standing, and even they would not be able to fight at their full power under this pressure.

Leon gritted his teeth under the pressure and said, "Just how many beasts or people have you killed?"

Asher replied, "More than you have seen. And if you keep getting in my way, then more than you would probably see in your entire lifetime."

Asher then said while turning to his teammates, "Take care of everyone else except those three."

The three he referred to were Celestine, Leon, and Kevin—all three of them at Gold 2-star rank.

"You are being delusional if you think you can take on the three of us alone," said Leon.

Asher said nothing, and soon two identical figures manifested beside him.

These clones were radiating Silver 7-star cultivation, and his real body’s cultivation had dropped from Gold 1-star to Silver 7-star rank.

Then Asher smiled and said, "No need to worry. Now it’s a 1v1—completely fair."