103. Academy (16)
103. Academy (16)
Lambert didn't reduce his hostility toward Leah, who was right in front of him.
No matter how much he thought about it, the essence he saw before him was not normal.
'She's not human.'
Until now, through visualization, any human at least had some form of a person.
No matter how trashy a person was, they could still be considered human.
But the monster before him had no trace of human form.
Even though its actual appearance visible to the naked eye was human, its essence was a monster itself.
The moment Leah smiled as she saw Lambert's unique ability through the status window, Lambert was certain.
That the monster before him was not human.
Trusting his instincts and his ability, Lambert without hesitation grabbed the hilt of the sword he always carried by his side and drew it.
"Lambert?"
Lambert's sword, which had been steadily maintained to always be in top condition, reflected the light from the ceiling lamp of the clubroom and shone on Leah.
Flashㅡ
As the flash suddenly filled her vision, Leah reflexively closed her eyes.
At that moment, Lambert's sword swung at Leah's neck.
"Lambert!!!"
Charlotta tried to stop Lambert as he swung his sword at Leah, but the sword that Lambert had swung with sincere intent at Leah quickly slashed at her neck.
Crunchㅡ!
"No!?"
"Wh, whatㅡ!?"
The sword that couldn't cut Leah's neck and was devoured instead.
Lambert had thought she wasn't human, but when his sword could do nothing and was eaten, he was greatly flustered.
Such a thing had never happened before.
Lambert's sword was not just made of iron; it was a very expensive sword crafted from high-grade monster materials.
The sword that had never gotten a scratch from attacking any monster before had its blade devoured in an instant before his eyes.
Charlotta was also flustered, just like Lambert.
However, unlike Lambert, she was flustered at the fact that Leah was not human.
"Im, impossible..."
Charlotta covered her mouth at the monstrous appearance, not the pure and beautiful Leah she had seen until just a moment ago.
It was only a split second, but Charlotta saw it.
That a mouth full of sharp teeth had appeared on Leah's neck and bitten off Lambert's sword.
'Leah hoobae-nim wasn't human?'
Charlotta's mind became dizzy.
She had known Leah for less than a month, but she thought they had become quite close.
But that Leah had shown an appearance that no human could show.
'Did something take over Leah hoobae-nim's body? Or was she originally a monster? Was the reason Leah hoobae-nim was strong because she was a monster? Then from the moment she entered the Academyㅡ'
Charlotta's thoughts ended with Lambert's shout.
"Charlotta!"
"Report this to the professors right away!"
"Got itㅡ!"
"I'm sorry, but from now on, no mana can escape from here."
Leah said with a gentle smile.
"Lambert. It's just as Leah hoobae no, that thing said. The communication magic tool won't work."
"Damn...."
Lambert regretted showing hostility toward Leah, even if only slightly.
That regret didn't last long.
There was no way a monster like this would be here so casually.
Thinking about safety, it would have been right to not show hostility, quietly let it go, then inform the professors and gather everyone's strength.
But the moment he saw Leah's essence, he realized that he couldn't let her wander around the Academy even for a single minute.
==
Leah also had no intention of letting Lambert live the moment he realized her identity.
She had a lot of mana after tearing out countless human hearts, but in a body that had only known mana for less than a year, the spells she could use could be counted on one hand.
Even those were at the level of a ten-year-old's magic.
That's why, like last time, she isolated this space itself through a magic tool directly crafted by Yui, the current mage of the Legion.
'Phew... I'm nervous, huh?'
Leah placed a hand on her chest and stroked her pounding heart from the tension.
The reason Leah was nervous now wasn't because she had to kill the human in front of her.
It was because she was about to move her own body.
Not as a human, but as the Queen of the Creatures.
As for killing or eating humans, she was so used to it that it was no different from stepping on an ant that crosses the path.
In a word, she didn't even care.
There was no need to think about killing humans.
Just like when humans eat pork, they don't pity the pig or think about what kind of life it lived; they just eat it deliciously.
Leah slowly began to move the Queen's cells within her body.
As Leah's physical form awakened, the Raksha that had been attached to her body was forcibly transformed into the dress that was Leah's original clothing.
"...Wh, what is this."
"Fuck."
Charlotta and Lambert watched as Leah's appearance transformed in real time before their eyes, unable to close their mouths.
Her face and torso were human, but everything else was unmistakably a monster to anyone who saw it.
They couldn't even figure out what to call it.
That thing? Human? Living creature? Monster? Demon? They didn't know what to call it.
There was no way to describe it except as a monster.
As creatures that made one's skin crawl just by looking at them began to erupt from its entire body, Charlotta also didn't stay still.
She grabbed her rapier and thrust it toward Leah's heart.
"Ughㅡ!"
Charlotta urgently tensed her body and stopped the sword.
Because the mouth that had eaten Lambert's sword on Leah's neck was also on her chest.
She stopped her attack because the moment she struck toward that mouth, there was a high chance it would be devoured just like Lambert's sword.
"Then!"
Charlotta and Lambert's eyes met.
Having sparred and fought together for a long time, they could read each other's thoughts without speaking.
Lambert abandoned his sword and immediately picked up a sparring sword.
This clubroom wasn't just a place for laughing and chatting together.
It was a clubroom that was a training ground for improving skills.
Since the actual training grounds were used by the entire Academy, it was impossible to go and train at any time.
That's why there was a club that only S and A class students could join.
That place was exactly where Charlotta, Lambert, and Leah were now.
Though it's called a clubroom, it's just a training ground.
Therefore, numerous weapons were here, and Lambert grabbed one of them.
"Raaaaaagh!!!"
Lambert ran at Leah, shouting louder than ever.
Lambert's attack, which could be mistaken for a screaming charge with lost fighting spirit.
Leah's eyes turned toward Lambert, who was running and screaming.
The moment Charlotta confirmed that Leah's gaze was fixed on Lambert, she instantly moved behind Leah.
From the front, some of Leah's human form remained, but from the back, only a monster's form greeted Charlotta.
Just as Charlotta tried to thrust her rapier into what she thought was the heart area of Leah's human-form body.
An eye emerged from the monster form behind Leah's back, and the moment Charlotta met that eye, she immediately jerked her head back.
Crunchㅡ!
A creature, aiming to eat Charlotta's head, bit at the empty space where Charlotta's head had been just a moment ago.
'It can see behind too!?'
Charlotta first swung her rapier to cut down the form that had tried to tear off her head.
'Ughㅡ! It's too hard!'
The rapier couldn't fully cut through the form that had emerged from Leah's body.
It only barely scratched it.
'I need to pull outㅡ!'
Teeth appeared where the rapier had dug in.
The exact same situation as when Lambert's weapon was devoured.
Charlotta urgently pulled out her weapon and retreated.
Lambert threw the weapon whose blade had been devoured to the floor.
Weapons with only handles remaining had already exceeded ten.
'Damn! Does it eat everything, weapons and mana alike! Is something like that even allowed to exist?'
No attack was effective.
Every time they attacked, a mouth just appeared and devoured the attack.
If they barely managed to land an attack, teeth appeared at that spot too, devouring the weapon, and the attacked area showed not even a scratch, as if nothing had happened.
'It's impossible to face this with just Charlotta and me.'
Lambert made a quick judgment.
What he prioritized most while living as a hunter on Earth was his life.
No matter how much money he earned or how much people looked up to him, the moment he died, nothing was of use.
Life must always be the top priority.
'The problem is how to escape from here. And avoid that monster while doing it.'
'A return scroll? I don't have anything like that.'
'No one would bring a return scroll, which even the country barely has, into the Academy.'
"Catching a moving object is quite difficult."
'I think I understand why there were tens of thousands of eyes in that thing's essence.'
'Inside the body of the monster using the name Leah, there are countless monsters.'
"How should you be caught by me? First, I should kill our Charlotta seonbae who's skulking behind."
As the tentacle-like monsters that had been targeting him instantly turned backward, Lambert shouted.
"Charlotta, dodge!!!"
Charlotta quickly threw her body backward from the monsters pouring in from all sides.
But behind her, there was a creature with a massive open mouth.
'It can detach from its body too!?'
Until now, all attacks had extended from Leah's body.
So naturally, they had only focused on Leah's body.
But a creature completely separate from Leah's body was waiting behind Charlotta.
She had no balance in her urgent attempt to dodge the attack.
Changing direction in midair was impossible.
She thought to urgently twist her body and block with her rapier, but Charlotta knew.
That this couldn't be blocked.
'I'm, I'm dyingㅡ'
Thud!
The moment she closed her eyes tight and prepared for death.
Lambert, pushing his strength to its limit, struck Charlotta's body hard and shoved her away.
"Lambert!?"
Charlotta was able to avoid the attack of the waiting creature, but Lambert was instantly within the creature's range.
'Damn. But at least I saved Charlotta.'
In all his life as a hunter, he had never once risked his life for someone.
Lambert, who had always lived with his own life as the top priority, decided to sacrifice himself for Charlotta.
Living as a hunter and as an Academy student, he had experienced what family was and what love was for the first time.
And he thought that risking his life for the one he loved was a pretty good thing, more than he had imagined.
However, he worried whether Charlotta would be able to escape that monster after he died.
"You must survive."
"No!!!"
Lambert grinned at Charlotta, and Charlotta screamed toward Lambert as he was pulled into the creature's mouth.
As death drew near, Lambert and Charlotta looked at each other, regretting that they hadn't grown closer until now, but...
Lambert didn't go into the creature's mouth.
Because the creature suddenly closed its mouth and returned to Leah.
Thud!
In the end, both Charlotta and Lambert fell onto the clubroom floor, not into the creature's mouth.
Charlotta and Lambert urgently got up, ran toward each other, and then together raised their weapons at Leah.
They didn't know what had happened, but they felt grateful to be alive and quickly assessed the situation.
Lambert thought as he looked at Leah, who had stopped her attack even though she could have killed him.
'Come to think of it, the monster said this earlier.'
[ How should you be caught by me? First, I should kill our Charlotta seonbae who's skulking behind. ]
And just now, in a situation where it could have killed him, it didn't.
'It doesn't intend to kill me?'
He found a way to escape from that monster.
More precisely, a way to make Charlotta escape from that monster.