⌓ 𝕤𝕝𝕚𝕞𝕖𝕕𝕖𝕞𝕚𝕒 ⌓ ᵗᵗⁱᵍʳᵃᵃˢ ⁺ ᵐʰᵃ

III. Start Line

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06.19.20

bruh dis chapter kinda goes in all sorts of directions🧍🏻‍♀️enjoy this jumble-n-wumble of my ideas for a chapter lmao.

- troosh

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HONNIE STRETCHED HIS SEMI-ACHING BODY ONCE HE WAS ABLE TO GET UP. He was promptly separated from Rimuru to go to their respective exam areas, which he didn't mind all too much. His group stopped in front of the training field where they all stood in awe of its size.

'I guess this fake city is where we'll fight robots,' he thought and sighed. 'Everyone around me seems so tense. Well, that's normal for a test.'

"Okay, START!" Present Mic's booming voice echoed from the top of an overlooking tower. Everyone turned to the tower and let out a questioning 'huh?'. "What's wrong?! There are no countdowns in real fights!" His arm swung around in circles at a frightening speed. "Run, run!!! The die has been cast, you know!"

After his yell, everyone shoved and pushed past each other to begin claiming robots. Thanks to his own training, Honnie was able to cover a longer distance in a shorter time than how he usually ran. He cursed under his breath after hearing crashes and yells in different directions, indicating people had already found robots.

A huge tremor suddenly shook the earth, making the boy snicker as he ran past people who fell from it. "Rimuru overused it, huh?"

Honnie rounded a corner and let out a triumphant 'whoop' when he found a 3-pointer robot. He abruptly stopped his mini victory because it noticed him as well and he still had no idea what creature to summon.

'Shit! What would be good for this situation??' he stepped back to make distance. 'Would a water creature fry its circuits or should I summon a fire based creature to melt its outside? No, I don't know if it's waterproof or fireproof or not!' his teeth clenched as he realized he was running out of time to think. "Screw it, accept!"

As the robotic arm inched closer, something simultaneously dropped from the sky. It landed on the arm and melted through it. The droplet of lava manifested as a large fire creature. It quickly grew, making it able to engulf the robot in flames.

Honnie let out a relieved sigh at seeing the summoned creature before him. 'This is one of the lower creatures, but I'm so glad that I summoned one of its larger forms!'

He once again felt grateful for the training he went through before taking the exam. He called for the flame creature to follow him to find more robots. Moving their way throughout the fake city, they found a few robots simply waiting for students to come and get them. A fireball incinerated three of the robots, earning Honnie six more points. He huffed happily, but the noise of the fireball caught the attention of the other three robots. They flung themselves at the flame creature, crushing it.

It gurgled in what appeared to be pain. In its last few seconds in the dimension, it bursted in a grand show of flames, which fortunately destroyed the three on top of it.

Honnie frowned, but ran on, doing his best to find more robots to destroy or immobilize. Before he could get around another corner, another robot ran in front of him. Honnie gasped and tried his best to call upon another creature. However, he knew he was too slow. He closed his eyes for the impact, but snapped them open when he heard a crash in the direction of the robot.

There, he saw a couple of students beat down the robot for him. Once the robot was beaten, they stood motionlessly.

'They're like... puppets...?'