AUTHOR'S REINCARNATION IN A FANTASY SETTING

The next moment I opened my eyes, I was a bizarre scene in front of me. Many loud noises of screaming, crying, and shouting could be heard. The students who were carefree a moment ago were now running here and there like animals.

'This is a bit soon, isn't it? I mean I was only asleep for an hour at most.'

It was reasonable though, we were being attacked by a horde of monsters after all.

I stretched my arms with a yawn and then rose to my feet. I looked around to find that Anya and Ster were fending off one of those monsters. For them, it was luckily an orc but it was not the only monster we had.

Right now, three types of monsters were raging before our eyes. First the orcs, their numbers were so far the highest among the three; around twenty.

Next was a species of plant-type monsters. I don't know what they are called but they looked like a big, Venus flytrap from my world, except they had tentacle-like legs and arms; they numbered somewhere around fifteen.

The next type was like a wolf, a black-furred wolf slightly bigger than the normal size. They numbered the least, five at max.

All of these monsters were currently attacking all the students present here, and though the students were fighting back in their defense it was futile since the monsters outnumbered us by a huge margin.

Now, why was I so calm in a situation like this? Well, I more or less expected this to happen because if we go by what Mr. Halls told us, then this forest was filled with monsters.

While I'm not a hundred percent sure, it's likely that the monsters are naturally drawn toward humans. And if you were to gather a big group of humans in a forest filled with monsters…this was supposed to happen sooner or later.

And it was not like I was the only one who predicted this; just by taking a look around me, I was sure that the majority of the students present here knew this. Then why do they stay here?

It's simple. Because they also knew the true essence of this exam, it was that much of a secret anyway. Just by witnessing a death, you will know what the unspoken rules of this exam are.

"Whoops!"

When I was busy thinking a tentacle cut through the air and made its way toward me, I dodged it by leaping forward but it was a close call. It came from a plant-type monster who now stood before—the human-sized Venus flytrap.

"Now how am I supposed to fend off this thing?"

I can't use my magic openly since there is a good chance someone might be keeping an eye on us and I don't want to reveal I can use magic, if possible. So how should I face this thing?

Then a thought crossed my mind, 'How did Anya and that other student get their swords?'

As I thought of this, I quickly ran to where Anya was. Unfortunately, she was busy in her own battle so I wasn't able to get close.

"Hey, Anya! Where did you get that sword from?" I asked, keeping my voice rather loud.

She turned in my direction, "Huh? It was in my hand right after I teleported here!"

So she says, but I didn't get anything like that. Hmmm, were the students who excelled in sword arts given a sword? Maybe they left out the students who specialized in magic because they can use magic to fight?

'Ah! I told that old man I'm new to magic! Then also he noted me as a magic user?' now this was honestly frustrating.

I could borrow Anya's sword but she was locked in her own battle right now. No, wait for a second, what am I even doing? This is not what I was *supposed* to do.

'Sigh~ Guess I got a little worked up.'

Now that I've calmed down, I can do things the right way. First I turned around to see check on the plant monster, luckily it was not following me. Okay, that's good. Then, let's begin.

I needed to help Anya; after all, I wasn't trying to pass this exam alone. She was currently engaged in a battle with an orc so I have to take care of that, and without using my magic that is.

I say that, but as long as I use magic so that no one can notice, it will be fine. Hence, I leaped toward Anya and the orc.

"Anya! Keep him busy or distract him, whatever. Just make sure he doesn't notice me, I'll try to lend you a hand."

She glanced at me and then nodded. Right after, she changed her attack pattern from offensive to defensive so the orc can press on her, this will allow him to ignore him…at least that's the plan.

'Also, I found out that I'm not good when it comes to giving orders in battle. Well, you learn something new every day.'

Now that the orc's attention was completely focused on Anya, I made my way on toward him from the back, quietly, without giving away my presence. I made a short run to pick up the pace and right after, I jumped and landed on the orc's shoulders.

"Krwha!!" he let out a cry and started shaking his body to make me fall.

But before that could happen, I pressed the palm of my right hand on his head, and then I used elemental magic. A crystal of ice was summoned directly inside his head, destroying his brain completely. The orc's movements went dull instantly.

"Anya, Now!"

Picking up on my call, she launched herself by kicking off the ground and pierced the orc's heart with her sword. His body fell onto the ground and both I and Anya landed next to it.

"That was a close one."

"I bet."

"Are you guys okay?" a male voice called out to us. I turned and saw that Ster was there, standing with a sword in his hand and covered in blue monster blood.

'Hmm, now that I think about blood…I just killed a living organism, didn't I?'

A part of me wanted to grin but the time and place weren't right for that. I wanted to cherish this feeling a bit more but I don't want to go berserk now.

"Yeah, we are fine… somehow," Anya replied as she wiped off the blood from her sword.

"That's good, I also somehow managed to fend off that orc," said Ster, sighing.

And then, when we were not busy in battle anymore, we realized what was happening in our surroundings. The faces of Anya and Ster went pale as they got a look at the living hell.

The students were being killed by the monsters, but that was a far cry from what dried all the expressions on their faces.

What they saw was…that the students were killing the other students, throwing someone in front of the monsters to save themselves, and using someone as a meat shield to buy time. Some students who used magic were even killing the others directly by misfiring a spell.

Even *Inhuman*would be less to describe the scene before our eyes.