The Monster Wave from the Forest of Darkness
The ogre unleashed a roar that seemed to rip the sky itself apart, wildly swinging the massive log it had ripped out to use as a club. A terrifying whoosh tore through the forest's thick black fog.
"Professor, dodge!" someone screamed desperately from behind me. I fought down the wave of exhaustion and moved my feet with deliberate slowness. Dark fighting spirit rippled over the cheap iron sword in my hand. If I poured in nothing but raw power, the weapon would shatter like the wooden practice sword from yesterday's training.
I concentrated the energy into an incredibly thin, razor-sharp layer across only the blade's surface. Just as the ogre's log came crashing down toward my head, I kicked off the ground and shot into the air.
"All size, no speed," I muttered, twisting my body mid-leap and slashing the iron sword diagonally.
Schlick.
I barely felt any resistance as thick hide and tough muscle parted. The thin blade, coated in dense fighting spirit, sliced cleanly through the ogre's thick neck.
BOOM!
The headless giant collapsed, sending up a massive cloud of dust. Dark crimson blood gushed like a fountain from the perfectly smooth stump. I'd already landed far away before the spray could reach me, my robe still spotless.
Silence fell.
The twenty freshmen who had been screaming in terror moments ago now stood frozen, not even daring to breathe as they stared at the scene.
"Uh..."
Denin dropped his sword with a clatter and sank to the ground, face completely blank. After risking their lives to form a proper formation and barely taking down three wolves, watching me cut down a monster dozens of times larger and stronger with one casual swing must have been quite the shock.
I flicked the blood from my blade into the air and turned to face the students.
"Did you all see that clearly? When a monster like that appears in front of you, the best choice isn't to clumsily raise your shield. It's to throw away your weapon and run without looking back. Try playing hero and you'll end up in its stomach with your bones unrecoverable."
Several students swallowed hard at my harsh advice, nodding vigorously with pale faces. That was more than enough of a show of force.
I was about to make up some excuse and get us out of the forest when Eien, standing at the front, slowly approached me using her staff for support. Not a trace of fear showed in those red eyes—only burning curiosity and an unpleasantly sharp suspicion.
"That was truly impressive, Professor. But isn't something a little strange?"
"What?"
"When you cut the ogre's neck just now, your strike was nothing like the crude, rough style of back-alley mercenaries. You controlled your power with incredible precision, targeting only the vital point in a single blow. And the way you thinly coated just the surface of that cheap iron sword to keep it from breaking... that delicacy seems far closer to a mage's mana than a knight's fighting spirit."
She really was eerily perceptive. To catch the subtle difference in energy texture from that distance, in the heat of the moment—it was almost monstrous.
I hid my frown behind the mask and answered gruffly.
"Don't talk nonsense. When you swing a sword your whole life just to eat, controlling your strength becomes as natural as breathing. It's because you kids haven't experienced real bloody combat that you spout such—"
Before I could finish, the damp ground beneath us began to vibrate.
Uuuuung.
This wasn't just one creature. Countless presences were surging toward us from deep within the Forest of Darkness. This wasn't a few beasts wandering after losing their territory. The forest's thick fog churned violently, turning the air thick and metallic with the scent of blood.
"P-Professor... what in the world is that vibration..." Denin stammered, face drained of color.
Even Eien, who had been glaring at me with suspicion, went rigid and gripped her staff tighter.
I clicked my tongue harshly while staring into the forest's depths. Lucy, you vicious woman. If you're going to pull a prank, at least know when to stop. She hadn't just driven one ogre in here to sharpen the students' real-combat instincts. She'd stirred up an entire colony of monsters from the deepest parts of the Forest of Darkness and pushed the whole rampaging horde toward the outskirts. All to see how far I could protect these twenty burdens by myself.
"Everyone, put your weapons away right now!" I gripped my iron sword firmly and shouted. "Today's practice ends here! Maintain formation and run for the forest exit immediately!"
The moment my command rang out, the fog parted and nightmarish shapes came pouring forth. Dozens of shadow wolves with bloodshot, mindless eyes. Spider-like venomous monsters with razor claws raised. Massive trolls charging forward while snapping thick tree trunks like twigs. It was a full-scale monster migration, as if the entire forest had been overturned.
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Run! Someone save us!"
The twenty freshmen abandoned all formation in the face of that overwhelming terror. They screamed and bolted toward the forest entrance, slipping and tumbling through the mud in their desperate struggle to survive. The same kids who usually prattled on about family honor were now fighting with everything they had just to stay alive.
I stayed at the very back, roughly shoving along the slowest students.
"Professor! What are you doing? Run!" Denin, leading from the front, looked back and shouted urgently. The sight of me standing alone against the tsunami of monsters must have been shocking.
"Shut up and watch where you're running! If even one gets eaten and our numbers don't match up, the dean will drag me to her office and lecture me all day!"
I clicked my tongue and swung at the first wave of wolves. A single diagonal slash of sword energy cut five leading beasts in half at once. Black blood and guts splattered across the ground, but the monsters behind them charged on madly, completely ignoring their comrades' deaths.
There goes my chance at an easy life.
I took a deep breath. I couldn't use mana openly. Even without Elena here, that sharp-eyed Eien kept glancing back while she ran. I had to hold off this chaos using only fighting spirit, maintaining the wild, beast-like movements of a rough swordsman.
A giant troll leaped at me, boulder raised high. I twisted my wrist lightly, slipped into its blind spot, and severed the knee joint with perfect precision.
CRASH!
I used the falling troll's thick neck as a stepping stone to leap again, slicing off the legs of the spider monsters closing in from every direction. Minimal movement. Minimal force. Every strike followed a trajectory that severed only windpipes and joints without a single wasted motion.
The problem was the weapon. Taking on this nightmare horde with one cheap iron sword was pure torture. The blade had already lost its edge and turned jagged like a saw. Forcing fighting spirit into it was starting to make my wrist throb.
But if I retreated even one step, the students running frantically behind me would never make it.
"Run faster! I'll abandon anyone who falls behind!" I roared at the receding group.
Forcing more dense energy into the iron sword that was screeching on the verge of breaking, I drove it straight through a charging troll's solar plexus. In the middle of that blood-soaked forest, I ground my teeth.
Then—crack.
The moment I'd feared finally arrived. A thick fissure split down the center of the blade that had forced its way through the troll's dense bone.
"Ah, seriously. My luck today is absolute garbage."
Before I could withdraw the fighting spirit, the blade shattered into pieces and scattered in every direction. In that instant when my only weapon vanished, a venomous spider leaped clean over my head and shot like an arrow toward the fleeing students.
If it sprayed poison on the stragglers, it would be a catastrophe.
I hurled the broken hilt to the ground and kicked up the troll's club that had been rolling nearby. The crudely carved log felt heavy in my grip. Swordsmanship didn't matter anymore—this was pure brute force.
"Where do you think you're going?"
I concentrated fighting spirit in my lower body, slammed my foot into the ground, and leaped high. I brought the club crashing down onto the venomous spider's back.
SQUELCH!
The spider burst, spraying disgusting fluids as it was flattened into the dirt. Beating these beasts using only pure muscle and fighting spirit without freely using mana made every bone in my body feel like it was screaming.
"Professor!"
From far ahead, Eien's urgent voice called out after she'd spotted the academy's main gate lights. It looked like they'd reached the safe zone without any casualties.
"I heard you! Don't look back—just keep running!"
I swung the club brutally, smashing the heads of the charging wolves one after another. Then, without a shred of hesitation, I turned and sprinted toward the gate.