Party Combat
Party Combat
Two monsters resembling black panthers.
The two monsters, one large and one small, stood some distance apart.
'They're too far apart to deal with at the same time.'
I glanced back over my shoulder.
"Ah, there are two of them. Just as well! Student Alex! You must block at least one of them!"
Professor Niel shouted at me, looking angry.
She hadn't even wanted to speak to me earlier, but now she was actually calling me by name.
The appearance of two monsters seemed to have caught her by surprise.
"I will block one of them."
At that moment, Manuel stepped a little forward.
He glanced at me and held out his hand.
Crackle.
Sparks shot from his hand.
Aaah!
Struck directly by the electricity, the monster curled up and shrieked.
Just as he had said, he managed to stop the monster from approaching.
He struck a cool pose and kept pouring electricity from his hand.
At this rate, he looked like he might pass out from exhaustion any moment.
Still, thanks to him, the other monster lowered its body into the bushes. For his first time facing a monster, it wasn't a bad response.
It was a hundred times better than Piar, who was cowering in fear behind the professor.
The Princess had turned pale as well, but she kept hold of her sword, while Balea nodded toward me.
To be honest, I still couldn't rely on Princess Aisha in a fight, but with Balea here, it seemed everything would be fine.
I wondered just how skilled the professor was.
With that thought, I turned my gaze back to the monster.
It seemed I'd only have to deal with one of them, just as the professor had said.
Raaah!
The monster, which had paused at the sight of its counterpart being fried by electricity, began to move again.
Leaping out from the bushes, it bounded from tree to tree as it charged toward me.
'A mere monster doing parkour?'
It wasn't merely darting from side to side; it was moving in three dimensions. Still, that was no reason I should miss it.
I gripped my sword with both hands.
It had been a while since I'd wielded a greatsword. It had no special abilities and wasn't a famous blade, but it was extraordinarily sturdy.
Martin came to mind—the dead, illegitimate son of Marquis Hierro, who had bragged that the sword would never break.
I circulated mana using the mana cultivation technique I'd learned and infused the blade with it.
My body grew lighter, and the blade grew sharper.
There was no need to use any other abilities.
I swung my greatsword at the black monster leaping down from above my head.
Whoosh.
Ten elongated, sharp claws descended toward my head, but before they could split my skull, they collided with my sword.
Mana flowed through the monster's claws just as it did through my sword.
In the past, dealing with monsters had been tough because of their hard, mana-infused claws, but things were different now.
Slash.
The greatsword sliced right through the monster's claws. Following through, it severed its legs and sliced its head clean in half.
Thud.
The monster crashed down where I had been standing.
Using the momentum of my swing, I rolled aside to avoid being crushed by the carcass.
I flicked the black blood from my sword and checked the monster.
It was definitely a corpse now.
As expected, the dead monster was a normal animal that had been corrupted and mutated by mana.
It still moved according to the instincts it had before becoming a monster, but its mistake was leaping into the air when it couldn't fly freely.
"Ugh!"
Raaah!
The moment I cut the monster down, Manuel ran completely out of mana.
His skill was decent, and his power was respectable, but using it so recklessly meant his mana was bound to drain in an instant.
The remaining monster, smoke still rising from its wounds, shrieked and leaped forward.
I was about to hurl my sword at the charging beast, but caught myself immediately.
The ground beneath the charging monster rippled.
Balea had already expanded her domain.
But Balea merely made her preparations and didn't attack the beast.
'Is she trying to hide her strength?'
Or maybe, like me, she just wanted to observe the other students' abilities.
The black monster pounced right up to the group.
At that moment—
Snap!
Professor Niel snapped her fingers.
Bang!
The instant she snapped her fingers, a loud blast went off, hurling the charging monster backward.
'Did she detonate the air?'
Where the monster had been thrown back, the bushes were flattened in a circle, and a gust of wind rushed all the way to where I stood.
Aaargh!
The offensive power didn't seem terribly high.
Blown back quite a distance, the monster charged again.
But when the professor snapped her fingers once more, the monster's body split open with every snap, spattering blood.
It was as if invisible spears were grazing across the monster's hide.
'Looks like an ability that manipulates air or wind.'
It seemed like a good ability. It was great for defense and capable of ranged attacks, and since the weapon was invisible, an opponent would find it hard to defend against.
Aaargh! Whimper!
The charging beast could no longer advance, forced to dodge back and forth to evade the invisible strikes.
At the sight, the Princess took a deep breath.
She seemed intent on joining the fight.
Just as the Princess was about to dart forward, the professor yelled at Piar.
"What are you doing? Can't you see the other students fighting?"
At the professor's words, Piar, who had been trembling violently, snapped out of it.
"Ah, y-yes!"
He hurriedly looked around, then extended his arm toward the Princess.
Now, let's see what kind of ability this Spare Bomb actually has.
"Am-Amplify!"
Piar thrust out his arm and chanted something that sounded like an incantation.
It seemed to be a keyword for activating his ability, but even hearing it made me feel a bit embarrassed for him.
I could see mana gathering around Piar's outstretched arm and extending toward the Princess.
The faint glow surrounding the Princess's body and sword grew brighter, and even the Princess, who had been about to rush off, looked at Piar in surprise.
"Wow, I feel like I'm overflowing with power!"
"Now, go and fight."
Professor Niel, who continued to keep the monster at bay, gave the Princess a light push on the back.
"Yes!"
The Princess charged forward with vigor.
Watching the scene, I couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.
Judging solely by how she treated the Princess, Professor Niel was a truly wonderful educator.
'Is she secretly related to the Princess or something?'
I was so bewildered that I even had thoughts like that.
The Princess reached the blood-drenched monster.
Since it had been black to begin with, it didn't look drastically different, but smoke billowed from its body, and blood streamed everywhere from its split hide.
'She'd really served it up to her on a silver platter.'
Whether thanks to Piar or not, the Princess seemed full of power.
The Princess swung her sword—which looked practically like a greatsword compared to her small stature—at the monster.
The sword descended toward its head.
Though battered to a pulp, the monster could still move.
It frantically raised its foreleg to block the blade.
Slash!
But a monster already on the verge of death couldn't possibly channel mana into its body.
The monster's severed foreleg flew up into the air.
"I did it!"
The Princess rejoiced at the sight of the severed leg.
But losing a single leg didn't mean the monster was dead.
"It's dangerous!"
With the professor's shout, the monster pounced on the Princess, spewing blood.
The startled princess widened her eyes, and just as the professor hurriedly moved her hand—
Clunk.
With its maw agape right in front of the Princess's face, the monster suddenly came to a screeching halt.
Before anyone realized what was happening, vines sprouting from the ground had completely wrapped around the monster's body.
Slash.
At the same time, I decapitated the monster.
"Are you alright?"
A startled Professor Niel rushed over, and the frightened princess hiccuped, but—
Flicking the bloody sword, I glared at Balea.
She's supposed to be a 'Power-Hiding Loser', but relying on Balea almost resulted in a disaster.
No, was it my fault for trusting Balea in the first place?
Balea clasped her hands together and gave me an apologetic look, but no matter how I looked at it, it seemed completely intentional.
"What a relief. It's thanks to Balea."
But Professor Niel and the other students, unaware of her true nature, praised Balea.
From the outside, it looked as if Balea had stepped in during a crisis to save the Princess.
Fortunately, the Princess regained her composure quickly. This, too, was mature beyond her years.
Once the Princess had calmed down, the professor looked around at the students and let out a sigh.
"The monsters were stronger than expected. Everyone did well, except for Piar."
When the professor inspected the students, she skipped over me entirely. Was it because I'd performed better than expected? Thanks to that, Piar ended up getting scolded twice as hard.
Even though he had trembled in terror at the sight of the monster, he'd still pulled himself together and offered support—wasn't that good enough for an administrative faculty student?
Manuel had also exhausted all his mana without pacing himself, getting knocked out early, and the Princess still wasn't skilled enough to fight properly.
On top of that, Balea hadn't even shown her true power and was just messing around.
No, strictly speaking, did that mean I hadn't fought properly either?
When you broke it down, all the other students had issues.
Even Professor Niel had put the Princess in danger under the pretext of giving her combat experience.
But I had no intention of stopping the professor from scolding Piar.
While it wasn't entirely Piar's fault, considering all the trouble I'd gone through because of him, he deserved to be scolded even more.
"...Next time, pull yourself together!"
After giving Piar a thorough scolding, Professor Niel kept us moving forward.
"Originally, almost nothing from a monster goes to waste, from its hide to its blood. In particular, monster by-products make perfect materials for the equipment of nobles or knights who use mana."
The professor's lecture resumed. Just as before, she directed it straight at the Princess.
"Right now, we don't have the time or means to transport them, so we'll leave them behind. Ideally, you should return with others to collect the corpses, or obtain something like an artifact bag."
She must be talking about the 'artifact bag' said to be in the Kingdom's treasury.
A bag capable of holding an enormous amount without increasing in weight.
It sounded like an inventory or subspace item I'd seen in games, but since I'd never seen one, I couldn't be sure what it was really like.
Listening to the professor's lecture, our group moved on again.
We encountered monsters along the way, but this time, we handled them safely.
I stepped out front to block them, while Balea expanded her domain to protect everyone.
Piar got his head together and cast amplify on everyone, and the Princess assisted me from behind.
'Although Manuel turned into an unwanted nuisance after running out of mana...'
Manuel seemed deeply displeased, but his aristocratic honor prevented him from complaining when he was the one who'd messed up.
'He might try to pick a fight behind my back later, but...'
I could cross that bridge when I came to it.
"Now, let the team leader take command."
Once our fights with the monsters were under control, the professor handed command over to us.
"Ah, y-yes! Everyone, assume formation!"
Following the Princess's directions, we dispatched the monsters that attacked us.
The Princess led the group without any issues.
Professor Niel showered her with praise, calling her amazing, but honestly, with a party like this, it wouldn't have mattered who the leader was.
After fighting through several encounters and walking for a few hours, we arrived at the gathering point.
The Headmaster and the students were gathered in a wide clearing.
Standing in front of the Headmaster was an open wooden box with light shooting upward from it.
The light we'd been following came from that wooden box.
"The fifth group has arrived."
We weren't in first place, but it was by no means a bad result.