Academy Entrance (2)
The students jumped in alarm at the sudden appearance of the lycanthrope. Without a moment’s hesitation, they began scrambling in a frantic rush.
“Kyaaaaaah?!”
“What the hell?! Why is a monster here?!”
“What is the academy even doing?!”
Everyone was clearly trying to flee the lecture hall. But unfortunately…
“What?! Why won’t it open?! Fuck!”
“Who locked this?!”
“Are you insane?! Open it!”
“It’s me! I’m from the Crow family! Open this right now!”
The lecture hall door didn’t budge an inch. In the end, every last student was trapped inside.
In an unexpected crisis like this, most students would fall into despair. But—
-Whoosh!
The main characters I had seen earlier began responding with surprising calm. The three of them stared at the lycanthrope while radiating their mana.
Just as the trio prepared to move—
-Whoooosh!
One woman kicked off the ground and swung her sword at the creature. The lycanthrope furrowed its brow in clear annoyance. It lashed out with its claws, but—
-Grrrr?!
Its attack sliced through nothing but empty air. My eyes widened at the sight.
'What? She actually dodged that?'
It wasn’t for nothing that the students were desperately trying to run. A lycanthrope wasn’t like a goblin. These things were fairly intelligent. Most freshmen would have been knocked out cold by that strike. Yet the woman in front of me had evaded it without much trouble.
'Who is she?'
I focused my gaze on her, curious about her identity. That’s when her appearance became clear.
'I’ve never seen her before. Why does she look so familiar?'
Golden-blonde hair that flowed down to her waist. Striking blue eyes that matched it perfectly. Sharp, flawless facial features. And a figure with curves in all the right places and none in the wrong ones. She was so perfect that if she appeared in modern times, I would have assumed she was an actress.
A student with looks like that should definitely be someone I recognized. So why did she seem completely new to me? I was sure I had seen her somewhere before.
As I stroked my chin, lost in serious thought—
-Fwoooosh!
A wave of intense heat flared behind me. When I turned, I saw Sheri—the one who had entered as second place—creating an orb made entirely of flame.
'Seeing it in person is insane.'
It looked like she had created a miniature sun. Maybe it was because of her appearance, but…
'It suits her ridiculously well.'
Her fiery red hair and crimson eyes paired perfectly with the blazing orb. Cool, elegant features and a generous chest that matched. It wasn’t just me who was stunned—every guy around us was staring at her in awe, completely mesmerized.
The next moment—
-Kwaaaaaang!
A mass of flame erupted from the orb and swallowed the lycanthrope whole. A cloud of dust billowed up inside the lecture hall.
'Her mana control is impressive.'
Normally the fire would have spread, but she had contained it perfectly. Thankfully, there was no secondary damage.
As everyone held their breath and waited—
-Kyaaaaaoooool!
The beast let out a furious roar, clearly enraged. The sound momentarily paralyzed our ears. While everyone covered their ears and closed their eyes, the lycanthrope charged straight at Sheri.
Just before its claws could reach her—
-Whoosh.
Her body scattered like an afterimage. The lycanthrope tilted its head in confusion at the sudden disappearance.
But at that exact moment—
“I believe you owe me now, don’t you?”
Sheri appeared beside Lillia out of thin air. She looked at Lillia’s seductive smile and replied with an indifferent expression.
“Hmph! I would have dodged it even without you.”
“Yes, yes, of course~”
Lillia shrugged her shoulders and seductively swept her brown hair back.
'As expected, illusion magic really is overpowered.'
No one here except me had noticed. Lillia had been using illusion magic the entire time.
'Honestly, if she felt like it, she could have easily taken first place instead of second.'
That was how exceptional Lillia’s talent and potential were. It made sense that she was the daughter of the Eldorado Merchant Guild.
I was still inwardly marveling at Lillia when—
-Shiiiiing!
A sharp blade of wind shot toward the lycanthrope from behind. Each individual blade was razor-sharp, carrying an enormous amount of mana. It seemed Shannon had been gathering her power this whole time.
But—
-Kyaaaaaoooool!
Contrary to expectations, the lycanthrope shattered every single wind blade with its claws. The surrounding students’ eyes widened in shock.
“It broke all of them?”
“How are we supposed to win…?”
“This is crazy! Why aren’t the professors coming?!”
Everyone was staring in utter despair when—
-Whoooosh!
As if she had been waiting for this exact moment, the woman who had charged in first launched a surprise attack from behind the monster. Her sword moved with flawless, economical precision. At this rate, her blade would surely reach the lycanthrope’s neck.
However…
Had the lycanthrope been waiting for this too?
-Claaaaang!
It turned its head and blocked her sword with one hand. Her eyes widened in shock. She clearly hadn’t expected her ambush to be stopped so easily.
If things continued like this, the lycanthrope’s claws would soon tear into her.
'No choice, I guess.'
The reason I had stayed quiet until now was simple. I didn’t want to get involved with them. Getting tangled up with these characters could easily trigger a butterfly effect. Especially since things had already gone completely off-script.
That’s why I had planned to stay out of it as much as possible. The problem was, I still had no idea who this woman was. I couldn’t just let her die.
'I don’t know exactly who she is, but it’s better than letting her get killed.'
I channeled the mana throughout my body into my circuits. Then I condensed it in my hand, forming a bow and arrow made purely of mana. The weapon was completed in an instant.
“Hoo…”
I shifted my gaze toward the lycanthrope and focused. But at that moment—
'Huh?'
An unexpected energy radiated from the creature’s entire body. Normally I should have felt demonic energy. So why… why was I sensing mana instead of demonic energy from it?
I felt a brief sense of unease, but there was no time to dwell on it. If I didn’t act now, the woman in front of me would suffer a devastating blow from those claws.
I released the bowstring without hesitation.
-Whooooooosh!
The mana arrow tore through the air. Just before the lycanthrope’s claws could reach her—
-Thud!
My arrow struck its shoulder. The beast’s attack veered off course.
-Drip.
A trickle of dark red blood ran down the woman’s cheek. She turned toward me with a startled expression. I ignored her gaze and continued staring at the lycanthrope.
'As expected, no real damage.'
It was only natural. My current level was barely 6. In contrast, the main characters attacking it were all around the late 20s. Even so, they weren’t dealing proper damage. So piercing its hide with my attack was nearly impossible.
Anyway, that was beside the point.
'Something feels off.'
I had clearly hit its shoulder. A lycanthrope should have charged straight at whoever attacked it first. That was their nature. Yet it wasn’t coming after me. Instead, it wildly swung its claws at the woman again.
'No matter how I look at it, something’s wrong.'
The mana I sensed from it, and the way it was behaving… I scanned my surroundings. Was I the only one feeling this unease? All the students were swallowing nervously as they watched the lycanthrope.
'Wait a second.'
That’s when I spotted Lillia in my field of vision. She was smiling leisurely. No matter how relaxed she usually appeared, this was clearly a life-or-death situation. If things continued, she and every other student here would die.
'Don’t tell me…?!'
In a flash, a single hypothesis crossed my mind. I glanced at the door that still refused to open. Students were still pounding on it desperately, screaming to break it down. Yet it didn’t move an inch.
'Yeah. I thought something felt strange.'
Now that I thought about it, this entire situation made no sense. A monster appearing in the middle of the royal capital was already absurd. But a mere monster—not even a demon—appearing inside an academy with such tight security? That was even more ridiculous.
'Looks like the professors created this monster themselves.'
No wonder I only sensed mana from it instead of demonic energy. Everything clicked now.
'The professors are probably eating popcorn and watching the show right about now.'
To think the class placement test would be conducted like this. Even though the game had a lot of variables, I never dreamed an unknown route like this would appear. At this point, I was starting to think the author was deliberately screwing with me.
'Now that I know this is the test, I suppose I just have to wait it out.'
The professors would probably intervene once enough time passed. Just as I was thinking that and preparing to stay put—
Main Quest Activated
📍 Objective: Sabotage the Class Placement Test
🎁 Description: The class placement test is currently underway. Depending on your performance in clearing the test, you will receive significant rewards.
A main quest had appeared. The same system that refused to give me anything when I desperately wanted it a month ago only showed up at times like this. Staring at the quest window, I made a solemn vow from the bottom of my heart.
“One day, I’m going to smash that author bastard’s skull in.”