Chapter 8

"It's a matter decided by the will of this world."

***

After my schedule with Alice ended, the day passed quickly.

I spent most of my after-school time alone.

It would be nice to quickly make friends I can talk to freely in this unfamiliar world, but unfortunately, the closest people to me right now are two people with strong TMT (Too Much Talker) tendencies and a regression character.

I felt that if I continued to stick with them, I would only get more tired, so I ended my day with evening training, which involved handling the black dragon, absorbing the memories of the engraved iron knuckles, and doing lower body exercises.

"If the information I know has changed..."

After returning to my dorm, I wracked my brain thinking about the 'change in causality' until I fell asleep from exhaustion, thus ending a tough day.

The next day, during the first period of Monster Studies.

"Everyone, have you changed into your activity uniforms?"

– Yes!

Our Class A headed to the Sealed Forest, a practical training ground located at the southern end of the school.

The Sealed Forest is a large experimental and practical training ground where 'Sealed Trees' form a forest, and monsters captured for research by the school are sealed using magic.

Today's practical training involves breaking through the monster dummies that pop out in the forest, reaching the void designated by the female professor, and defeating the elite monster dummy waiting inside.

Although it won't affect our grades, the professor promised to award points to the top three teams based on the fastest time to defeat the dummy: 70,000 points for first place, 30,000 points for second place, and 10,000 points for third place.

After the explanation, my group with Alice set off, and we moved forward without hesitation, checking the location of the void on our smartwatches.

Squeak!

─────

Name: Alice von Grifen

Date of Birth: November 9, 2014 (currently 17 years old)

Height: 170cm

Weight: 50kg

Blood Type: A

Stats: Strength 260 / Stamina 200 / Magic Power 150 / Agility 200

Mana Attribute: Dark

Skills: Arnold-style spear techniques, Rapid Thrust...

Talents: Bloodlust, Revival...

Traits: Vampire [View Details]

─────

Alice's weapon is a spear.

She is an excellent spear wielder, a disciple of the 'Empress' who uses spears.

Even though deer-like monster dummies kept popping out, we were protected by Sim Deokhee's reinforcement skills, and Alice and I managed to fend them off.

"Mr. Kang Daeyong!"

As we progressed, we were soon just before the void.

Alice, who was passionate about the prize, shouted loudly to me, who was lagging behind due to low agility.

"Please run a little faster! There's a prize at stake!"

"I'm doing my best!"

"Daeyong! I'm fine, so take your time!"

Finally, Alice, who was waiting for me at the entrance of the void, turned her head with a worried expression.

In any case, we arrived at the void quite comfortably and entered it without any preparation.

"That's the one!"

Alice pointed to a large dummy resembling a carnivorous plant and told us.

With its disgusting tentacles and roots wriggling, it has a very repulsive appearance.

"I'll go in first according to the plan. Mr. Daeyong, protect Ms. Deokhee from the dummy's attacks."

"Got it."

"I'll do my best to support!"

Alice charged at the dummy with the momentum of a jaguar.

This dummy, no matter how elite, will probably be finished quickly.

Alice is an elite among elites, having ranked second in the entrance exam for our school.

She must have gone on many monster hunts and knows the weaknesses of plant-type monsters accurately.

"Grgh...!"

What the hell.

Why does her expression look so bad?

There's no way Alice would struggle this much against a mere practice dummy.

And the answer from Alice was almost despairing.

"...My attacks aren't working."

"What do you mean? Alice's attacks can tear through adamantium."

Something is off.

This dummy... now that I look at it, the aura it emits is different from the artificial mana of a dummy.

No, it's not just different; it's emitting a very sinister aura.

"This is..."

Damn. Why is this thing in the training ground?

This practice was supposed to be about defeating a dummy. Why is it here?

─────

Monster Name: Dark Blackplant Nepenthes

Growth Stage: Adult

Preemptive Attack: ○ (Very Aggressive)

Danger Level: B+ (Elite)

Monster Attributes: Wood, Dark

Monster Type: Plant

Stats: Strength 200 / Stamina 300 / Magic Power 180 / Agility 0

Skills: Vine Whip, Self-Healing, Spit Digestive Fluid...

Traits: Flower Rooted in Darkness [View Details]

─────

...We need to run.

I quickly assessed the situation and shouted to my teammates.

"Let's run. We can't defeat that thing."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a Dark Blackplant Nepenthes. It has an outer layer that absorbs dark mana, so no matter how many times you hit it, your attacks won't work."

"But it's just a dummy. It should be much weaker than the original."

I frowned as much as possible and spoke in a serious tone.

"What if it's not a dummy but the real thing?"

"...What?"

"R, real?"

"Yeah. So let's run. It's too dangerous."

I pointed to the entrance we came in.

Sim Deokhee, who seemed to want to live, ran off first, and I followed.

"Th, this, this is!"

But her actions were unusual.

Sim Deokhee, who arrived first, was punching the air as if blocked by something.

"It's a barrier! A barrier has been created!"

"What?"

"What?"

What the hell is going on?

The creeping sense of unease stopped my thoughts, and a status message appeared next to me.

Again?

No, let's see.

To be continued in the next episode.

Episode 3: Variables and Accidents (3)

Sealed Forest, Western Starting Point.

In the now quiet area where all the students had departed, Professor Namiseon, who teaches Monster Studies, and Instructor Kwon Chan-young, who oversees practical training, were projecting the CCTV footage from inside the void onto a large screen in the air to monitor the students.

"It's been years since students like these have come in."

"Indeed. I thought students with such talent wouldn't appear after the 'Eight Dragons' generation."

Kwon Chan-young stroked his beard and watched the students' battles as if they were a movie.

Pointing to one of the ten divided screens, Namiseon began to chatter.

"I actually had some doubts about student Yun Heejin. He was dozing off from the first class, and I thought, 'Ah, this kid won't become a great hero.'"

"But if you look at Yun Heejin's middle school data, you'll see that his written test scores are very low. He has no aptitude for theory and doesn't like it. However, as you can see, once he enters practical training, he transforms into a fighter on par with the famous battle maniac 'Silver Wolf' among the Eight Heroes."

Kwon Chan-young, who is also quite talkative, got along well with Namiseon.

Knowing this, Namiseon continued to point to other screens and converse with Instructor Kwon.

"Student Hwang Jaebeom's sword skills are extraordinary, like his sister. His traits also seem unique."

"I heard that until the first year of middle school, he was considering giving up on the hero's path, but he grew rapidly after meeting student Choi Yuseong. It only took him three years to reach this level... He was actually a genius from the start, just lacking in technique."

On the screen, Hwang Jaebeom was overwhelmingly dominating the elite dummy on his own.

Namiseon, watching with interest, then turned her eyes to the screen of Baek Seol.

"Baek Seol is also a very promising student. She's completely different from her brother."

"Yes. 'The brother, a pinnacle of physical prowess, and the sister, a prodigy in magic'... When Baek Seol entered elementary school, such headlines made her a topic of discussion. During the entrance exam, we confirmed her traits, and if she continues to grow like this, she has the potential to become a 'Great Mage' or a 'Magical Weapon' level hero."

Namiseon nodded in agreement.

Next, she pointed to the screen of Alice, the most promising among the new students.

"And then there's Alice, the second-ranked student... Hmm? Why is her group struggling so much?"

"...Something seems off. The dummy Alice's group is facing looks different from the others."

"Kwon Instructor, is that a Dark Blackplant Nepenthes? It's a B+ elite monster. Why is it there!"

"I'll check."

Kwon Chan-young quickly operated his smartwatch and touched the 'radio' menu.

The radio function, unlike a 'call' that requires the recipient to answer, is designed to connect immediately in emergencies.

"B Void responsible officer! Respond. B Void responsible officer!"

– Static...

But if there's no response, it's useless.

Kwon Chan-young, sensing a bad omen, narrowed his brows and reported to Namiseon in a low voice.

"I can't connect with the responsible officer."

"...What's going on?"

Namiseon turned her eyes back to the screen.

The three students running around looked very precarious, but for some reason, they weren't escaping outside.

"There's no reason not to retreat, yet they're just running around inside the void."

"...They must be blocked by a powerful sealing magic like a barrier."

The two, having a rough idea of what was happening, immediately took action.

Kwon Chan-young called all the other officers to head to B Void, and Namiseon called someone on her smartwatch.

"Mr. Lee Instructor? Mr. Lee Mansu Instructor! It's an emergency! Please stop what you're doing and head to B Void in the Sealed Forest immediately!"

***

Boom!

Trapped inside the void with the entrance blocked, we are running around to avoid the tendrils and tentacles the creature is swinging.

I, with low agility, have already taken a few hits and am enduring the pain, while Sim Deokhee and Alice, though not hit yet, are breathing heavily and on high alert.

We eventually spread out as far as possible from the creature and began to discuss how to survive.

"We're going to die... We'll be eaten by that monster..."

"Pull yourself together, Sim Deokhee!"

"What do we do now? My attacks don't work, Deokhee is specialized in support, and Daeyong..."

Damn, there's no plausible solution.

Is there really no other way but 'that method'?

I have to use it much earlier than I expected...

"...Pretend you didn't see or hear anything from now on."

"Huh?"

"Stand behind me. And Sim Deokhee, catch this."

I took off my knuckles, shoes, and socks and threw them to her, then rolled up the sleeves of my activity uniform.

Damn middle school kid.

After cursing inwardly, I took a deep breath and shouted as loudly as possible.

"...Come to me from the endless depths of darkness! O dragon clad in black flames!"

As I chanted the spell, my body rapidly transformed as it did yesterday.

One of the two people watching from behind gasped, and I clenched my trembling hands as tightly as possible.

Then I slowly turned my head to check their expressions.

Sim Deokhee was staring with wide eyes behind her glasses, and Alice was glaring with a fierce expression.

"You... What is that? Are you a...?"

"I'm not a half-demon, we'll talk later."

Alice showed unmistakable hostility towards me with a growling expression.

But it was only for a moment; she then closed her eyes tightly and nodded upon seeing the giant enemy in front of her.

"...I understand."

She managed to swallow it.

Alice has very traumatic memories of half-demons.

『Squeak!』

But her trauma isn't the priority right now.

First, we need to take down that monster.

Boom!

The giant tentacle of the Nepenthes, which had crept up behind us, lunged at us.

We split into two directions to avoid the attack, and Alice asked me.

"...What do we do now?"

"I'll give the signal. When I do, start attacking. The creature's outer layer loses its effect when exposed to fire mana."

"Got it."

"Sim Deokhee, cast all the reinforcement spells you can on us. Keep it up until your mana runs out!"

"Y, yes! Leave it to me, Daeyong!"

I left those words and started running.

Is this a desperate struggle to survive, or a charge to win the battle?

...I don't know. But what's certain is that I don't want to die yet.

I ran straight ahead and then turned towards the creature's weakness, its 'roots.'

The creature seemed to notice and tried to block me with its tentacles and thorny stems, striking me.

Pssh!

I was scratched deeply by the thorns, and blood spurted out.

The impact from the solid tentacle felt like my muscles were being torn.

But I endured the pain with my talent and finally reached the roots.

Flare!

I activated Blazing Fist and quickly circled around the creature's roots.

While circling, I didn't forget to continuously punch.

『gg. oj.』