The Forest Where Monsters Lurk (4)
"Just break through it somehow!"
"It's impossible, Chief Examiner!"
"Damn it!"
The examiners threw everything they had at the barrier. Nothing so much as scratched it. The only clue they possessed was a single, grim fact: the thing had been woven from black magic.
"Has any black mage infiltrated the kingdom?"
"At this scale… it would have to be at least Transcendent-class."
"The only Transcendent-class black mage alive today is Saryeong-wang of the Demon King's army!"
A massacre. If they failed to stop this, it would be a massacre.
Why the Demon King's army had laid groundwork beneath an Academy entrance exam was beyond anyone's comprehension — but the situation was already underway, and it had to be stopped. The only force that could stand against a Transcendent's power was another Transcendent.
The kingdom's sole Transcendent — the Swordmaster — was in the Northern Region. Even factoring in a teleportation circle, it would take far too long for him to reach the Academy.
The Chief Examiner raked through every corner of his mind, the lives of the students who would die in this exam flashing before him. Then a plan surfaced. Yes. This was the only way. If this failed, they were all dead.
"Summon the priests! Every last priest in the Academy and the surrounding area — all of them!"
"E-excuse me?"
The examiner staring back at him clearly didn't understand. The Chief Examiner snapped.
"A Transcendent cannot be overcome by individual strength. Our best hope is for priests to borrow the power of the gods and punch even the smallest hole through that thing! Why are you still standing there?!"
"Understood!"
The examiners scrambled to scrape together every priest they could find.
If even the priests couldn't overcome this, the only remaining hope was the Hero. But expecting a young Hero who hadn't even received the Holy Sword to turn a situation like this around was a tall order.
"Please… let there be a Saintess-level priest somewhere nearby…"
Even a priest would have limits when it came to breaking that barrier. It would take someone of Saintess caliber at the very least. They would have to pray for the miracle of such a being happening to be near the Academy at this very moment.
The Chief Examiner was no believer. But in that moment, he prayed with everything he had — to prevent the worst possible outcome, the examinees under his charge being slaughtered to the last.
"So it's either breaking through the forest on our own, or joining up with the Hero?"
The Sword Saint echoed my plan back as a question. Laeli offered her own thoughts.
"Wouldn't joining the Hero be better? If mid-rank demons have us surrounded, it'd be easier if the Hero punched through first."
A surface-level take. Frang, having given it more thought, had a different answer.
"No. The Hero is actually the more dangerous option."
The Sword Saint agreed.
"She's right. That would be even riskier."
"H-huh? Why?"
Laeli alone couldn't follow, looking puzzled. From her perspective, sticking with the strongest person around seemed like the obvious choice. In reality, it wasn't.
"Think about it carefully. This isn't the only Academy exam there's ever been. The one thing that's different about this particular exam is just one."
"The Hero's enrollment."
She'd hit the key word. Yes — the only variable was the Hero. The Hero alone had changed, so why had it produced a result like this?
There was a mastermind we already suspected. The Hero's nemesis. The Demon King.
This entire incident was a trap the Demon King had designed. Thought of that way, the Hero was far too dangerous right now. This was a pit the Demon King had dug specifically to kill her. What would happen if we walked right into it alongside her?
"Which is why we'd be better off escaping the forest with the forces we have."
The Sword Saint's voice was cold and measured. His mind was already working through how to punch through the mid-rank demons.
Frang shook her head.
"There's a problem, though."
"What?"
"There's an incredibly powerful spell wrapped around this entire forest."
That caught me off guard. I'd thought I was the only one who knew. Frang had picked up on it too.
"It's black magic, isn't it? And the scale is just… absurd…"
Frang was rambling, but she had every right to. Even with her skill, the caliber of this black magic defied explanation.
The Sword Saint asked,
"What kind of problem does this black magic cause?"
"We absolutely cannot get through it. A barrier of this level was clearly created with a Transcendent's power."
"Then joining the Hero is our only option."
As their conversation shifted, Laeli only grew more confused.
"Wait, you just said we shouldn't join her, and now you're saying we have to?"
The Sword Saint explained it calmly.
"The only ones who can break a barrier created by a Transcendent are another Transcendent, a Saintess or Saintess-level cleric who can borrow divine power even for a moment — or someone equivalent. The Hero."
"No matter how hard we try to break through, we'll just wither and die at the edge. We can't pierce the barrier."
"I-is that how it is?"
The conclusion they'd reached was that joining the Hero was their only choice. Both of them had read the situation precisely and made the call without hesitation. It was the kind of intellect you'd expect from the man who would one day join the Hero's party — and Frang, for her part, was every bit the mage who'd spent her life accumulating knowledge.
But there was one fact those two didn't know.
That I possessed the power to break that barrier.
I was wrestling with it too. I had to account for the worst-case scenario.
What if we left the Hero and she died? Losing two existing S-rank combatants would introduce far too many variables. The Hero dying was the worst of the worst — it would be like shattering the only sword capable of killing the Demon King. She hadn't even received the Holy Sword yet, so in theory another could be drawn, but a Hero who was supposed to survive all the way to the final battle dying here would unravel everything.
It was better to cover Frang and Laeli, who might actually die, as thoroughly as I could. I already knew the Spear Saint and the Sword Saint would survive this crisis, so I could leave them be. Those two girls, I'd keep alive even if it cost me my life.
And so, I made my decision.
"We're going to rescue the Hero."
I chose not to mention that I could break the barrier. The Sword Saint especially — given his personality, the moment he knew there was an escape route, he'd argue we should run. And the current Sword Saint, who had no obligation whatsoever as a companion of the Hero, would be even more inclined to do so.
That same Sword Saint let out a dry chuckle.
"Us going to rescue the Hero who saves everyone else… the phrasing is pretty strange."
"So what? The Hero is in danger. Of course we go save her."
"Argal, I'll protect you! Just rain down fire from the back and wipe them all out!"
Watching them steel their resolve was, I had to admit, rather heartwarming.
And then someone had to go and ruin the mood.
Step. Step.
Footsteps approached from the other side. Everyone tensed, assuming it was a demon or a monster — but I already knew it wasn't, so I simply watched. At last, the figure walking out from beyond the trees came into view.
"…Hi."
It was the Spear Saint.
Even now she was faithfully keeping our bet, greeting me the moment our eyes met. What kind of coincidence was this? I never expected to run into the Spear Saint here — wandering the forest alone, having received no party invitation whatsoever.
The problem was her condition. Scrapes covered her from head to toe, and her clothes were half-destroyed. She was using her spear like a walking stick, as if something hurt with every step. Had she gotten into a fight with a demon and come out looking like that?
Frang asked,
"Asel…? Never mind that — why are you so banged up?"
The Spear Saint answered with a gloomy face.
"I rolled down a hill…"
…A reason that was so very like her.
Blash, second son of a count's house, had spent every minute and every second of this exam complaining.
"Do we really have to suffer this much?"
He was a noble who had never once dirtied his hands in his entire life. He was also a second son, with no claim to inherit the family. But a title elevation — an absurd opportunity to raise a count's house to a marquisate. And if he earned that kind of merit, he wouldn't remain a nobody second son. He could become the head of the family in his own right.
The people around Blash were in much the same position. Birds of a feather flock together — they'd hit it off at the dormitory the night before, and now they were talking among themselves as they took the practical exam.
"You should dump some of that luggage too. We're walking for five days, not five years. Do you really need a pack that heavy?"
"It's not like we're the ones fighting the monsters anyway. The Hero's up front taking care of everything."
The noble beside him said this as he discarded heavy bandages and healing potions. Blash raised the possibility that something might go wrong.
"And if we actually get hurt?"
"Just ask a commoner to share."
"What if they refuse?"
"Toss them a few coins and they'll hand it over happily enough."
He wasn't wrong. What commoner wouldn't hand something over if you waved a little money at them? The commoners they knew would grit their teeth and endure even if they themselves were injured.
Blash sighed, thinking of the distant destination still ahead, but decided this much was bearable. He swallowed the sweetness of exhaustion rising in his throat and kept walking, thinking only of the rewards a title elevation would bring.
That was when it happened.
The examinees walking ahead began to stop, one by one.
"What, is something going on?"
"A rest stop already?"
He muttered as much, but something felt off.
The Hero's face had gone pale. She was staring up at the vast sky.
"…Nothing has changed."
Blash muttered uneasily. To his eyes, that clear sky looked exactly the same. If anything, a cool breeze was blowing through, drying the sweat dripping down his face, and his mood had actually improved.
"Right, Mikaron? The Hero's just worrying over nothing…"
"H-hieek!"
He called his friend's name, trying to settle his own nerves. The answer that came back was a shriek of pure terror. A crawling sensation ran down his spine. He turned his head.
Grrlk. Grrrrlk.
A monster stood there.
If it had been one, that would have been a number you'd expect to see. They'd seeded the forest with monsters on purpose — it was about time they ran into some.
But it wasn't one.
Two… three… five… twenty…
Grrlk.
KRAAAAAAH!
GRRRRRRLK!
Monsters poured forth.
"A-aaagh!"
"Monsters!"
"There's too many of them!"
Screams erupted from every direction. Blash yanked his sword free. He had a decent talent for the blade — that was why he'd come to take the Academy's practical exam in the first place, and he'd earned a B-rank against demons. He had more than enough in him to cut down a mere monster.
"Nngh!"
He knocked aside claws that were weapons in their own right and severed a throat. But there were too many. Another monster came crashing toward him. He held. And held again. Until the Hero could resolve this crisis. Blash believed that with everything he had.
"The flare! Fire the signal flare!"
Someone had already raised a flare high toward the sky, ready to abandon the exam. Yes! Fire the damn flare. However much Blash coveted a title elevation, he had no intention of dying for it. He wanted an examiner to come running and pull them out of this right now.
Others tried to stop them.
"Giving up already?"
"Didn't you come here ready to die?!"
While Blash wasn't willing to stake his life on a title, there were naturally examinees who were. Even as monsters poured in, opinions split down the middle, and the student holding the flare was caught in the conflict.
The one who decided it was the Hero.
She already knew exactly what kind of situation this was. The exam was over. A catastrophe in which the majority of the examinees could die was imminent.
"Fire the signal flare!"
At the Hero's cry, they pulled the trigger.
The flare did not respond.
"Ah…"
A small gasp of despair. Someone else raised a flare and pulled the trigger. Same result. Not two people. Not three. Ten people. Flares pulled, and nothing.
"Gyaaaaah! Help—!"
A wet crunch. Bone giving way.
In the midst of it all, someone died.
Blash thought: Where did this go wrong? He didn't even know what kind of conspiracy he'd fallen into. The examiners had warned that this exam would be dangerous, but this wasn't danger.
Death lurked in this forest. A death that would swallow them all.
"Anyone."
He said it. Desperately.
A few short words. But no one came to help. Even the Hero, who should have been the one to save him, was drowning under more monsters than she could handle.