The Forest Where Monsters Lurk (2)

The examiner left them with one last remark.

"For every ten monster traces, or for each demon ear, we will award bonus points."

There was no reason not to go for it. At the end of the day, the Academy ran on grades. Special classes like Class 1 existed, which meant the higher your scores, the better. No matter what crisis might come crashing down later, you still had to do what needed doing.

Fran, in particular, was on fire.

"Let's wipe out the demons together!"

We weren't the only ones motivated. The other parties were already bustling about, hunting monsters, most of them greedy for even a handful of extra points. The Hero, on the other hand, was moving in a straight line — pushing through the forest at a hurried clip. I had a pretty good idea why. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠She'd felt the same ominous pull I had.

But while I was certain of it as a black mage, the Hero wouldn't have that same conviction. If she had, she would have stopped the practical exam by any means necessary. There was no reason for her to sit back and let a catastrophe unfold that could kill most of the examinees.

"By the way, which direction should we go to find monsters?"

"Maybe we should've picked up a scout too?"

I raised a finger and pointed.

"Over there."

Laeli and Fran both made dubious faces.

"There are monsters over there?"

"Are you serious?"

No need to worry. There really were monsters there. Demons, too. The radar net mapped out in my head showed me exactly where they were, and how many.

"Just trust me."

The written exam was a matter of trusting Fran's brain. If we also locked down a top rank on the practical, that would mean first place overall. If we were going to enroll in the Academy anyway, we might as well take the top seat. The benefits that came with being ranked first were considerable — scholarships, of course, plus actual authority the school would place in your hands.

Fran and Laeli moved in the direction I'd pointed, still looking half-convinced. We walked through the rustling undergrowth, and soon five monsters appeared.

These weren't the goblins and orcs you'd normally run into. These were monsters that had truly lived steeped in Magi. They looked familiar, too — the kind you saw all the time in the Demon King's territory. Twisted, grotesque forms, just as you'd expect from creatures soaked through with that corruptive energy.

"...Why is this actually real?"

"That's insane."

Fran, crouched low like a cat, turned to me.

"Is there actually a way to just... know where monsters are? I've never even heard of something like that."

When you devote your entire body to black magic, it just happens. You become one with Magi, and sensing it becomes second nature. Even after regressing, something once learned doesn't simply vanish. You just have to die a few dozen times along the way, that's all.

"I've got my ways."

"It's probably some personal secret technique. No reason to pry."

Laeli drew her sword first. Maybe because she'd been on the receiving end last time, her eyes were full of raw hatred for those monsters. Fran stopped her.

"Laeli, wait a second."

"Why?"

"In a situation like this, you're supposed to open with magic."

As long as the enemy couldn't sense the flow of mana, magic had an enormous advantage as an opening strike. Fran began to chant. A magic circle formed at a slow, careful pace as she quietly murmured the incantation. It was far slower than mine, and it wasn't a chantless cast either — but having seen plenty of mages, I could tell she had considerable talent.

Laeli watched in awe.

"So that's what magic looks like."

It wasn't the first time she'd seen Fran use magic. Fran had used it during the test to take down a lesser demon. But watching from right beside her was different. You could see every careful movement a mage made — how she drew the circle, how she chanted, and where it all came together.

She used the exact same spell I'd used in the rank evaluation — a magic that concentrated intense light to melt the enemy. She even demonstrated a variation, dispersing the light to handle multiple monsters at once. That said, the level was inevitably a step below mine. The techniques she'd employed were different, and so was the amount of mana she'd brought to bear.

"Ah, I couldn't kill them outright."

Fran looked disappointed. Compared to me it was genuinely modest work, which only made the gap feel that much wider. And then Laeli twisted the knife.

"What was that spell? I've never seen it before — that was amazing!"

To be fair, reducing most of the monsters to near-death with a single cast was worth praising. The problem is, Laeli, the spell I used yesterday was also Lightning Beam.

Having thoroughly rubbed salt in Fran's wound, she immediately charged out to finish the monsters off.

"N-never seen it before...?"

Fran wilted in shock. I sighed. At this rate, they were going to start fighting again. I figured I should at least try to comfort her.

"That was an excellent spell, Fran."

"Really?!"

The dejection from a moment ago vanished. Fran looked ready to leap for joy. Did my praise really mean that much to her? I didn't know anymore. I'd thought I was starting to understand emotions, but they were still completely beyond me.

"The deployment speed, and the instant activation on top of it — it was nearly perfect."

"H-heh... heheheh."

Whether my praise felt that good or not, Fran kept nodding ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with a grin plastered across her face. Meanwhile, Laeli came back after beating down every last monster. She stuffed the traces into her bag as she spoke.

"What are you two doing? I took them all down by myself."

Even after taking that hit to her pride, Fran was fairly impressed that Laeli had swept up a whole pack of monsters on her own. Fran and I were on another level, sure — but even Laeli was well above average.

"Laeli, you're more capable than I expected."

"Than you expected?"

"No, I mean that as a genuine compliment."

While Fran was paying her back in the same coin, I found myself thinking. It really was remarkable. In the span of a single month, she'd gone from knight-aspirant level to something you could reasonably call a full-fledged knight. Last time, she'd taken a goblin's head off in a single stroke. Even with me holding the thing down, that wasn't easy — not when it was packed with Magi, and not when a goblin's neck bones were that dense.

...Was she the type whose skill surged after surviving a crisis?

Either way, Laeli had considerable talent, however you looked at it.

"Shall we move on, then? Argal?"

"While we're at it, let's make a bet. Whoever hunts the most wins."

"A bet?"

I'd just come off winning a wager against Changseong, and now someone was proposing another one. I turned Laeli's suggestion over in my mind.

"What's the stake?"

"The winner gets a wish granted!"

"Isn't that a little much?"

"We'll keep it to something small, then."

Fran nodded, as if that didn't sound half bad. I sighed at the two of them and read the direction of the Magi.

"Then I guess we'd better take this seriously."

Whoever hunted the most monsters. Honestly, this wasn't a fight I could lose. I looked at the two girls burning with competitive fire and let out a quiet chuckle. I had to wonder what kind of wish they were so eager to spend.

Humanity's hope. The savior of the world. The Hero was drowning in anguish.

In the dream, she was already a Transcendent — the Hero who had received the Holy Sword. Every day she fought the Demon King's army, crossing blades with its executives, holding back their forces. And then urgent news arrived.

"The Capital has been invaded."

"...That's impossible."

Even so, you couldn't pull forces from a desperate battlefield. Only the Hero was dispatched in haste, returning to the Capital. She raced toward it with desperation clawing at her chest.

Every teleportation circle had been disabled, somehow. No matter how fast she ran, it would take a week to reach the Capital. Even at a speed that transcended humanity, that was the limit.

And what she found was a Capital already burning. Undead that appeared to be Saryeong-wang's forces were tearing down ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the walls and smashing what structures remained. The homes where people had lived were nothing but ash.

The worst of it was the royal palace. The symbol of the kingdom, the object of absolute protection — it had been half-destroyed. The royals who hadn't escaped... their lives could not be guaranteed.

And sitting there, quietly watching that horrific scene, was a man. The Hero knew it instinctively. It was him. The one who had led that undead legion and annihilated the Capital wasn't Saryeong-wang, nor any other executive of the Demon King's army. It was that unremarkable-looking man.

A curse of black magic covered him. And the Magi that even a black mage would have to gather in one place — he had piled it across his entire body. It was a wonder he was still breathing. The mark of a demon was carved into the back of one hand, as if he'd made a contract. On the other — his left — a hideously gouged wound festered. It hurt just to look at.

What kind of hatred was he carrying? What would drive him to bear that kind of agony and set the Capital ablaze?

The Hero was curious — and furious. Her enemy was right there. She drew her sword and approached that being.

"So you've come."

"You are..."

Even looking again, it was strange. A living, walking corpse. And yet, not undead.

"How are you alive?"

That was the greatest question. A being that should not be alive... was alive. He stated his identity.

The her inside the dream was startled by those two words. But strangely, the Hero watching the dream could not hear them. Argal murmured.

"That is who I am."

"Can such a thing exist in this world?"

"It exists. That's why I'm here."

She asked another question.

"Then why did you let them go?"

As if his sole purpose was to destroy the Capital itself, Argal hadn't gone after the people fleeing. This was not the Demon King's army's way. Their way was the extermination of the human race. Argal answered.

"They are not my target."

Then what had his original goal been, that he would bring down only the Capital and the royal family? What had he accomplished, to wear a face that looked so unburdened? The Hero wanted to ask more, but the conversation ended there. Because Argal had drawn a dagger.

He smiled with a look of madness — as if the fight about to unfold pleased him immensely. Matching him, the Hero moved her sword.

And with that, the dream ended.

She'd thought it was just a dream. But then she saw the being called Argal — not in a dream, but in reality. Not in a burning Capital, but at the Academy. Not as a black mage, but as Argal the mage. And the Magi she could faintly sense from him. The dagger, identical to the one from the dream.

Back in the present. The Hero, advancing through the forest with the other examinees, murmured quietly to herself.

The one who would destroy the kingdom in the future. The one who would become an executive of the Demon King's army. Should she cut him down in advance, based on nothing but a single dream?

The Hero was still wrestling with the question.