Chapter 87

Part 12: Search (1)

My words made the knights stop in their tracks.

It was hard to believe.

"Is it true?"

"It's hard to believe."

The knights, whispering among themselves, pushed one of them toward me.

"No, why me?"

"You're the youngest."

"Damn."

"Just check it roughly. The sun has set."

The young knight grumbled as he stood in front of me.

His plate armor was tinged red by the sunset.

"We need to check your skills since we have to go together... that's what I'm saying."

He raised his sword, and I gripped the sword on my back.

"Wow, you're lifting it with one hand?"

The young knight turned around.

"With that much strength, we could just take you along."

"Stop trying to trick us and check quickly."

"Tch."

The knight who had been muttering stood in front of me.

"Come on, attack."

Perhaps because there were no other people around, or because they were academy knights, they spoke to me, a noble, casually.

Other nobles would have said something.

But I didn't mind. In fact, I found it more convenient.

More importantly, they didn't seem to believe me at all. They didn't even hold their swords properly, and their stances were relaxed.

"Then, let's go."

After performing a salute.

Thud!

I kicked the ground with my mana-filled foot.

Swoosh.

The knight's surprised face quickly approached.

At the same time, I swung my sword.

Whoosh.

The sound of the greatsword cutting through the air echoed in the forest.

"What?"

A surprised voice came from right in front of me.

At that moment, the greatsword was thrust toward the knight's neck.

Damn, why aren't you blocking it!

It was a horizontal swing, but at this speed, his neck wouldn't be intact if it hit.

Gritting my teeth, I stopped the sword urgently.

Clank.

Right next to the knight's neck, the sword barely stopped.

Thud.

The knight, surprised, fell to the ground.

For heaven's sake, they're so incompetent. Stopping the sword was harder than swinging it.

I sighed, looking at the knight who had fallen to the ground.

They were even more incompetent than I thought.

Looking at the other knights, they didn't seem much different.

I had the wrong idea. These were knights of the academy.

I had been thinking of the standards of ducal or royal knights, so this result was inevitable.

Even without the royal knights, the Duke of Gresia's knights are among the best in the kingdom.

Thinking of their standards...

I almost sent a knight to the afterlife.

"The test seems to be enough."

The knights, looking at me with surprised eyes, nodded reluctantly.

"Sure, you're a noble."

"What kind of inherited ability do you have to be so strong at your age?"

"Since you have the skills, the dean must have allowed it. It was a pointless test."

The knights looked full of jealousy.

'No matter how well I do, it's blamed on the inherited ability.'

These were different from the knights I had seen in the duchy.

But I could understand. My past self, who hated the rich, was no different from them.

"Whether it's an inherited ability or effort, the skills are sufficient, so there's no problem. Welcome anyway."

The middle-aged knight, who seemed to be the leader of the group, spoke.

The muttering knights closed their mouths at his words.

"Since the number of people is right, we can split into two groups."

The knights nodded at his words.

There were five knights left, and with me, six. So, we would move in groups of three.

"Is it okay? To split into two groups?"

"There's no choice. We're here to find people, so even if it's dangerous, we need to search many places quickly."

The knights, who had bad expressions and were muttering, were risking their lives to save people.

The knights discussed and split into two groups.

I moved with the middle-aged knight, who seemed to be the leader, and the youngest knight who had sparred with me.

The other three knights bowed to the middle-aged knight and quickly disappeared into the forest.

"Let's go."

The middle-aged knight led the way, and we followed him.

The young knight, walking next to me, scratched his head and introduced himself.

"Even though I'm a mess, my name is Axel. The person in front is Senior Knight Miro."

"I'm Alex."

I also introduced myself.

"I didn't think you'd come in so quickly. If I had been prepared, I wouldn't have been caught off guard like that."

He seemed a bit disappointed with the sparring earlier.

At his words, Senior Knight Miro, who was walking in front, warned him.

"Your lack of preparation is also part of your skill."

"I know, but..."

Axel shrugged his shoulders.

Strangely, Miro was walking quickly without looking for a path in the forest.

"By the way, do you have a way to find the stragglers?"

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't seen anyone looking for them separately."

At my question, the senior knight walking in front answered.

"Just now, we confirmed which direction the other groups came from. We plan to move in the direction they didn't come from. The maximum distance they could have scattered during the teleportation was told to us by the dean. After moving that distance, we plan to search in a circle."

I thought there might be a different method, but they were using a simple but thorough approach.

"So the other knights went in the opposite direction."

"By moving in a circle around the starting point, we should be able to find them roughly."

"If they're alive."

At Axel's words, Miro nodded. Or maybe he was being realistic.

"Before that, we need to survive."

Axel looked around seriously.

We hadn't moved far, but it was already night.

The sky was full of stars and the moon, but the forest inside was pitch black due to the dense trees and vines.

"Do you know how to load mana into your eyes?"

"Yes."

I answered and pushed mana into my eyes.

The dark surroundings started to become visible again.

Kyaa! Kyaa!

Squeal! Squeal!

Grrrr.

As night fell, the monsters' cries echoed through the forest.

Indeed, as others had said, the night in the Forbidden Zone was completely different from the day.

"Even at the outskirts, it's a mess."

"It wasn't this bad before, and the monsters seem stronger during the day too."

"There are stragglers too."

The knights whispered quietly.

They had to keep their voices down because it was night.

I looked at the greatsword in my hand. It would be difficult to use the greatsword now.

I put the greatsword back on my back and took out the hidden dagger.

"It's too dark. Even with mana, I can only see what's right in front of me."

Unlike nobles, the knights found it difficult to use mana.

I could see as clearly as during the day, but the two knights could only see what was right in front of them.

I looked at the direction the knights were moving and clicked my tongue.

'This is why they risk their lives to survive.'

A monster was staring at us from a distance.

'I have no choice. I'll have to be their eyes.'

"Monster. Distance 30 steps straight ahead. Monkey-like monster."

It was an ugly humanoid monster, about the size of a boy. It looked like the goblins from the fantasy novels I read in my past life.

At my words, the young knight looked at me with surprise, but the senior knight lowered his body and raised his sword.

"Is it just one?"

"Two now. No, three. They keep increasing."

It seemed they were trying to surround us.

"Surrounded?"

It was as I thought. The senior knight seemed to have a lot of experience.

"Preemptive attack would be better."

"Okay."

"Good, three, two, one."

With the word "now," we rushed forward.

Mana flowed into the dagger, and a long red aura rose from it.

A sword aura made of mana, invisible to others.

Thud!

I thrust the dagger into the head of a monster that was forming the encirclement.

Then, I pulled out the dagger and thrust it into the chest of the monster next to it.

Squeal!

The monster's scream echoed.

The monster that was cut by the senior knight's sword was screaming.

Unlike me, who had sharp night vision, the knights were swinging their swords at the dim shapes.

Since they couldn't see clearly, it was difficult to kill with one strike.

But they wouldn't fail to handle such weak monsters.

The problem was the numbers.

More monsters appeared than we killed.

"Keep moving while killing. If you stop, you'll be surrounded!"

The senior knight was right.

The three of us swung our swords frantically and rushed forward.

After a while, we no longer saw any attacking monsters.

"Huff, huff, did we take care of them?"

Axel, who had injuries on his arms and legs, panted and said.

"We left their territory."

The senior knight shook his head. Fortunately, he wasn't badly injured.

"Thanks. I owe you my life."

He bowed to me.

It seemed he realized that I had killed more than twice as many monsters as the two of them.

"It's because I could see clearly."

The senior knight nodded at my words.

"Huff, huff, can we rest for a bit?"

Axel, with a tired voice, asked.

The senior knight thought for a moment and nodded.

"Since we seem to have reached the distance the dean mentioned. We can search after resting a bit."

Axel leaned against a tree and sat down.

The senior knight also leaned against another tree.

"Alex, you can rest too."

"More importantly, how will we search from now on?"

"There's no other way. We have to search in a circle. Fortunately, you have sharp night vision, so you'll be a big help."

"Then, can I search separately while we rest?"

Miro looked at me intently and nodded.

I climbed the tree next to me.

It was a dark night, but I had no trouble climbing the tree.

When I reached the top, I couldn't help but exclaim.

The sky was full of stars, and mana flowed across it like waves.

It looked like an aurora, with mana flowing like paint.

In the darkness, I could see the source of the mana flow.

It was probably the center of the Forbidden Zone, where the Demon King was sealed.

A place that was hard to approach due to the swarming monsters.

I stared at it blankly for a moment, then regained my composure. Now wasn't the time to be distracted by such a place.

I climbed to the top of the tree and looked around.

From nearby to the distant forest.

Unfortunately, I couldn't see any light.

Honestly, I didn't expect to see any light. The monsters would have seen it first and attacked.

So, I gave up on the light and instead focused on the mana.

A place where the mana was different from here, or where the mana had moved violently.

I kept looking for such a place.

After a while, I found such traces far away.

There were traces of violent mana movement, indicating a fight.

And between those traces, I felt a slightly different mana. Mana without any demonic energy. The mana of a noble.

It might have been a mistake, or the traces of someone who had already returned to the academy, but now I had to follow those tangled mana traces.

It was better to grab a straw than to head into the unknown.

I came down and told Senior Knight Miro. He thought for a while and decided to follow my suggestion.

After a short while, Axel, groaning, got up from his seat, and we ran toward the destination I mentioned.

Crossing the forest at night was a very tiring and exhausting task.

Moreover, we encountered monsters several times while running.

Not only Axel but also the senior knight was injured while killing the monsters. We finally reached our destination just before dawn.

There, I saw two living students.

And the body of Katrin.