Cullings and the Divine Beast's Descent
Thirteen minutes into the Divine Beast game. Forty-seven minutes remain until it ends.
Some students were thrown into confusion by Zeke's earlier words: "If the bell rings one more time, that means an hour has passed!" But the sharper ones quickly realized the truth. This bell toll signaled Zeke's entry into the Instant Area as a monster.
It couldn't have been an hour already, anyway.
"What's that sound...?"
"Probably Uncle Zeke mobilizing."
"Oh, got it..."
"Let's just hunt monsters, Lur. We've dropped back to third place."
"Y-Yeah..."
Good, right on plan. Let's hold third place like this. Dropping to fourth could work too.
But the biggest variable is that Divine Beast. It's a total wildcard. It hands out its crystal if it feels like it, and won't budge even if you die if it doesn't. Like a picky little cousin.
Difference with a cousin? You can't win favor by lending it your favorite figurine or game console.
And its location? No clue. Simple terms: I'm negative energy, it's a lump of positive energy. We can't detect each other.
'If it suddenly gives its crystal to the team stuck at the bottom, that's 50 points added.'
Suddenly, those kids below overtake us and snatch third? Our owner's and class president's scores plummet to B in a flash. They'd be devastated.
Too many variables. My head's gonna explode.
"Teams 2 and 3 are out."
"Team 2 got lucky. Thought they'd be first out and get F for sure."
"Team 3 must feel robbed, though."
"Poor Team 3..."
Even in this mess, worrying about other teams' feelings. She's a real angel.
Of course, the real angel I saw was... Ugh, too gross to even think about. Lur's the angel. That wasn't one.
"We're at 39 points now. We've dodged F-rank at least."
"Thank goodness."
Peros even gave Lur and Liz thumbs-ups. Then a massive earthworm appeared, and with a thumbs-up still raised, it pulverized the thing into doughy paste.
"Now 40 points. Still third. Looks like we've cleared all monsters around here. Time to move."
"Okay...!"
[Team 9 (Bini, Closu) - 12 points acquired - Currently 9th]
"Why can't we see any monsters?!"
"Tell me about it."
Bini and Closu were on edge. Luckily, their Toad and Mantis, killed in the fight with the class president, had revived quickly enough to join the team evaluation. But ninth place meant a C-grade. Might as well not have bothered.
"If only we had Melle's Wood Golem..."
"What? So my Mantis is useless, Bini?"
"Honestly, fucking useless."
"You bitch!"
Crisis bred conflict. The rules said a team was out if all its summons died. But nothing banned infighting.
It helped no one, but to these two, lost in rage, that didn't matter.
-Sssslither...
Suddenly, a slain monster stirred. The earthworm corpse Bini and Closu had killed twitched. Green vines sprouted from the slit in its belly where Mantis had carved.
"Wh-What...?"
Not just that—roots burst from the hedgehog and bat corpses too. The bodies tangled wildly. Spikes covered its form from the hedgehog. Its belly bulged with earthworms. Bat wings let it fly. A massive mushroom crowned its head.
"T-Toad...! Attack!"
"You idiot, Bini!"
Bini's Toad lashed its tongue, but hedgehog spines pierced it instantly.
"Ack...!"
"Can't you tell it's bad news? Got vision problems or what?"
"Then what, just sit and die?!"
As they bickered, the abomination flew at Toad. It hopped toad-style to flee but took a body slam. Spikes riddled, it died.
"Toad...!"
"Mantis, slice that mushroom on its head!"
Mantis dove at the beast, now low to earth after killing Toad, and severed the mushroom. The hybrid crumpled, dead.
"My Toad's gone..."
"But we got it. Instant Area boss? Never heard that rule."
Closu checked her book. No points despite the kill.
"What the hell was that thing...?"
As Closu flipped pages for info, the dead Toad rose. Tongue regenerated in seconds. It snatched waiting Mantis.
"Bini!"
"N-No...! I didn't give any orders!"
A red flower bloomed in Toad's left eye. It gulped Mantis whole.
[Team 9 (Bini, Closu) - 12 points acquired - Currently 9th*Eliminated (No more points; heading to Professor Ellie)]
"Ahahaha! My Monster Plant's the best here!"
"You two are out too. Time to leave the Instant Area."
Adam and Eve approached the despairing pair. A goldenrod bloomed on Adam's shoulder, shaped like a human skull.
"I'll borrow your Toad for a bit."
At Adam's gesture, Toad obeyed like he'd always been his.
"Where to stick this toad?"
"That 'tree' you're making? Hmm..."
"Haha, Team 10!"
"Z-Zeke?"
"Big trouble! Attack!"
Team 10's summons assaulted fiercely. Zeke uprooted a massive tree with one hand, using it as a shield.
"What...?"
"A summoner like that? No way! He's a tank!"
"Summoners, see—they're dead weight in fights. Useless after summoning. Total team liability."
Zeke hurled the tree-shield at the summons. One burst like a balloon. The tree kept flying like a cannonball, smashing trees, rocks, even ground, carving a massive path across the Instant Area.
"Don't become summoners like that, kids. Every summoner needs strength matching their summon."
Zeke strode to the last summon and petted the cat's head.
"Aww, what a cutie~"
Then he grabbed its neck, snapping it from the body forever.
"I prefer dogs. Attacks its own master? Piss-poor kitty."
[Team 10 (Abyss, Veronica) - 20 points acquired - Currently 7th*Eliminated (No more points; heading to Professor Ellie)]
"Heartless bastard... Sniff... Sob..."
"Not a summoner—a summon itself. What kind of monster does a guy like that even call...?"
Team 10 trudged toward Professor Ellie.
"Ahem, surviving teams: 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Fifteen minutes in. We can take it slow."
Zeke lay on the ground like a dad watching TV, waiting for the 20-minute mark.
"Teren, you've already wiped four teams. At this rate, our first place is in the bag, right?"
"Damn straight! With you and me teamed up! Who else could take it!"
"Puhahaha! You bet!"
Teren and Kim Eunhasu sat at 129 points—overwhelming first. Teren had solo-hunted to hold second, but after Team 2 (former first) dropped, she joined in. Points skyrocketed to 129.
Second place: 61 points. Third (Lur, Liz): 45. More than double the gap to second.
"Kim Eunhasu, try not to use your summon too much."
"Scared or somethin'?"
"Uncle Zeke's loose now. Your summon makes a huge boom—you can't help it."
"True that."
Teren knew: once Zeke chased you, game over.
"Plus, yours is in 'space.' As long as you don't attack, you might never get eliminated."
"Genius, huh?"
"Kinda am!"
"Puhahaha!"
-Grrrumble...
Then, monster noises from behind. But not ordinary.
Wearing Wear Wolf heightened all senses: smell, hearing. Yet this one appeared silently, scentless, soundless.
"Wh-What the...?"
"Divine Beast...!"
Behind them loomed a being so sacred, you'd believe it a lion sent from the gods. A massive white cow. Spiral horns curved skyward. An aura like moonlight filled the air around it.
The Divine Beast—Apis—gazed down at flustered Teren with its six eyes.