Chapter 44
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Mock Hunt Domination
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Right after the mock hunt began.
Ullan and Dilia headed into the forest ten minutes earlier than the other students. It was Stella's consideration, securing a monster-only outpost for them.
How much time had passed?
As they walked for a while, Ullan came to a stop.
"Hmm, this spot will do."
While carefully observing his surroundings,
he cut down the longest vines hanging thickly from the trees. Seeing this, Dilia asked with a curious look on her face.
"What are you going to do with those?"
"Tie them."
"Tie what?"
"You and me."
Huh? What did he just say?
Dilia tilted her head in confusion.
It wasn't long before she understood what he meant.
"Huh?"
Dilia's eyes widened.
Suddenly, Ullan had hoisted her body up effortlessly. The world flipped upside down before her eyes, and the scenery shifted in an instant.
A short while later,
she realized her current position.
"...!?"
This wasn't the ground.
Broad, solid muscles. It was Ullan's back.
'What? What's going on?'
Why am I being carried like this?
Flustered, Dilia wriggled her body.
To get off Ullan's back. But strangely, she couldn't move anything except her arms.
And soon enough,
she figured out why.
Whirr!
Tough vines wrapping tightly around her body.
It was Ullan's doing.
He had bound himself and Dilia together with the vines, as if he didn't want them to be separated.
"U-Ullan?! Wh-what are you d-doing...?"
"The others will come soon."
Unlike the thoroughly flustered girl,
Ullan replied in a calm tone.
"So it's safest if you stay like this on my back."
Dilia stopped struggling.
She had grasped the situation instantly.
Unable to use magic right now, the safest place for her was by Ullan's side.
But there was one problem.
"Y-You're too close."
"Gotta be close to protect you easily."
"Th-that's true, but..."
Still, this is way too stuck together!
A silent scream echoed beyond her flushed red face.
Meanwhile, Ullan kept wrapping the vines without a care. Soon after, an unbreakable binding knot was complete.
With things having come to this,
Dilia had no choice but to resign herself.
So she quietly entrusted her body to Ullan's back, and that's when she noticed something new.
'Huh? It's actually pretty comfortable.'
She'd thought it would be uncomfortable, but surprisingly, it wasn't bad.
Probably thanks to Ullan's broad back.
Poke, poke!
Dilia prodded his back muscles with her fingers.
Much firmer than she'd imagined.
She wondered just how much training it took to build muscles like these.
'Are all men's backs like this?'
As she pondered that silly thought,
suddenly, her ears twitched.
Twitch!
Her pointed ears trembled faintly.
Soon, Dilia's eyes narrowed.
"...Someone's coming."
"How far?"
"Pretty close. They're stopped now, though."
Probably students chasing after them.
Carefully observing the flow of mana, she quickly grasped their actions.
"Looks like they're setting traps."
Cracks appeared in the mana of the earth and forest.
They were probably using those materials to craft a trap to capture Ullan.
"What do we do?"
"Lure them out."
"Lure them?"
"Not planning to step into their traps on purpose."
A decision with some logic to it.
Dilia asked curiously.
"But how do we lure them?"
"Plug your ears first."
"My ears?"
The moment she made a puzzled face,
Ullan suddenly took a deep breath. Right after noticing his chest muscles swelling rapidly,
"...!?"
Dilia's eyes widened.
A bad premonition hit her.
"N-No way! Like at the entrance ceremony...!"
Recalling the auditorium incident,
Ullan grinned. As if to say she was right.
Seeing his smile, Dilia squeezed her eyes shut and hurriedly plugged her ears.
It was the right call. The moment she did, a thunderous roar exploded outward.
"I—! Am right here—!"
Kraka-ka-ka!
A powerful shout that shook the surroundings.
So intense that the shockwave made the tree branches sway.
"Come hunt me—!"
Once the roar faded,
Dilia furrowed her brow. She'd blocked it, but her ears still rang.
'Should've used magic instead.'
In a situation like this, wouldn't they have allowed a spell to protect her hearing? Swallowing her belated regret, she spoke up.
"But will they come just because of that?"
"They definitely will."
The mock hunt had a time limit.
If 30 minutes passed, the monster won.
In other words, to win, the hunters had no choice but to come to Ullan, whether they liked it or not—even if it meant wasting their carefully set traps.
"Here they come."
Right on cue, presences approached.
Footsteps of six people total. Facing the students now in sight, Ullan pulled out his stickers.
Time to hunt.
Meanwhile, at that moment,
Stella raced through the forest at full speed.
Her movements light like a cat's. She heightened all her senses to the max, detecting the students' presences.
"Mm-hmm, everyone's doing well."
The students had already set traps around areas where Ullan might be.
Then they'd lure him into one and swarm him all at once, no doubt.
"Good intentions, but..."
Still a bit sloppy.
Not the trap quality.
The plan itself was crude.
"At this level, they could handle maybe 3-star monsters or lower, but..."
Her opponent was Ullan.
A real deal who'd hunted 5-star monsters. No way he'd fall for those traps.
"Heh, curious to see what he'll do."
The monster role had violence restrictions.
Plus the penalty of protecting someone. Under those conditions, he'd have to unleash his hidden strength without holding back.
As anticipation lit Stella's eyes,
'Found him.'
She sensed Ullan's presence.
She erased her own as much as possible and moved to where she could see him.
A short while later,
'Huh?'
Stella tilted her head.
Because of the scene unfolding before her.
'Why are they like that?'
Dilia on Ullan's back.
The issue wasn't just being carried—it was that they'd bound themselves tightly with vines.
It looked uncomfortable at a glance. Stella kept tilting her head.
Then, in that moment,
"Huuuuh!"
Suddenly, Ullan inhaled deeply.
Soon, a thunderous roar swept the area.
"I—! Am right here—!"
"...?!"
A shockwave slamming through the forest.
Tree branches shook wildly, making Stella grimace too. The massive volume had rung her ears momentarily.
'Ugh, good thing we're outdoors.'
And at a decent distance, too. If she'd been closer, her eardrums might not have survived.
Huh? Closer?
'Wh-what about Dilia? Is she okay?!'
She was right next to Ullan.
Stella hurriedly looked at her.
Fortunately, she didn't seem to have fainted. Probably because she'd plugged her ears just before the shout.
'Which means...'
The roar was pre-planned.
In other words, part of their strategy. A bit unexpected, but not bad.
'There are monsters like that.'
The kind that dig traps and mimic human screams to lure people.
Ullan hadn't dug traps, but by announcing his position, he'd rendered the students' preparations useless.
The situation was getting more and more exciting.
As Stella's lips curved up slightly,
Tatata!
Suddenly, multiple presences rushed in.
Six students charging toward Ullan from all sides. Holding large stickers, they shouted to each other.
"Ignore that barbarian!"
"Target only Dilia Arpen!"
Simple but solid plan.
And Dilia was bound up.
If they could pin Ullan down even briefly, they could stick her.
'A suicide squad, basically.'
Six-man suicide squad. Sounded kinda cool.
But with just a dozen steps left,
Thud! Rumble-rumble!
Suddenly, the ground shook.
Like an earthquake. The squad looked panicked at the abrupt change.
"Wh-what is it?"
"Fall back first!"
It was a powerful tremor.
Too much to keep balance.
So they decided to retreat. But Ullan was much faster.
Slap!
A loud smack like a backhand, and red stickers plastered the squad's faces.
Not a single one missed.
"H-how in that gap..."
With their dazed mutterings,
the six-man squad was subdued in an instant. All with blank expressions. They hadn't even grazed his clothes, let alone stuck him.
Meanwhile,
Stella stared in bewilderment.
Having watched from afar, she'd seen everything.
'Gauging the distance to the enemy...'
The moment the squad closed in,
Ullan stomped the ground. It erupted like an explosion, sending earthquake-like vibrations through the area.
Once their formation crumbled,
Ullan sprang into action. The result was right there before her eyes.
'I knew he was strong, but not this strong.'
Creating vibrations by stomping.
What, was he some mythical giant?
As she let out an incredulous chuckle,
Whoosh!
Multiple presences with it.
Numerous students appeared.
But in a peculiar spot. Not on the brush or ground—all on the trees.
'They thought there were ground traps.'
The squad had two goals, probably.
One: stick Dilia. Two: check for possible traps.
So one goal achieved, technically.
"Team 1, grab the barbarian!"
"The rest, go for Dilia Arpen!"
After exchanging words,
the students leaped down at them all at once.
Over twenty in number. Even Ullan couldn't handle that swarm.
Stella's eyes sparkled.
'Come on, show your true power...!'
The moment she thought that inwardly,
Rip! Tear!
Suddenly, the vines binding Ullan snapped.
Did they break that easily?
As that thought crossed her mind, Ullan roughly grabbed Dilia by the scruff.
"U-Ullan?"
Startled by the sudden move, had she gotten anxious?
Dilia asked in confusion.
"What are you d-doing... right now..."
But she couldn't finish.
Ullan, gripping her with both hands, hurled her into the air with all his might.
"...!?"
Totally unexpected.
For a split second, everyone's thoughts froze.
Seizing the massive opening, Ullan dove in like lightning.
Slap! Slap! Thwack!
Stickers landing in the blink of an eye.
Achieving his goal in a flash, Ullan casually caught the falling Dilia. She, of course, was half out of it.
It had all happened in an instant.
The students on the ground blinked vacantly, unable to process what just went down.
'Ah, it's over.'
Stella laughed hollowly.
She'd finally realized. The students had lost the will to fight. And beyond that, every single one had a sticker on their face.
But she wasn't disappointed.
Quite the opposite—excited.
'Way stronger than I thought!'
Strength and agility far beyond common sense.
By Military Department's standards, he'd measure up to an upper knight.
The fact that she could train such talent as a hunter thrilled Stella.
'Alright, now then...'
Time to call the test over.
Stella revealed her presence. To declare the mock hunt's end.
But a problem arose.
"Huh?"
In that brief moment of distraction,
Ullan had vanished without a trace.
"Where'd he go? He was just here."
As she scanned around,
Chill!
Goosebumps erupted over her body in an instant.
"...!"
A chilling sensation crawling up her spine.
Soon, her hunter instincts screamed a warning.
A feeling she hadn't had since solo-hunting a 7-star monster in the eastern jungles.
The terror of death.
Stella hastily leaped back. But the attack was faster.
'No! Too late...'
Her eyes bulged wide—
Smack!
"Ow!"
Pain bloomed on her forehead.
Like a flick to the head. Moments later, Stella realized something was stuck there.
"Th-this is..."
A bright red sticker.
As she stared at it blankly,
"That ends it."
A familiar voice suddenly rang out.
Ullan, now right in her face.
In other words, the source of her instincts' warning was Ullan himself. Stella blinked in a daze.
"Wh-why me...?"
"Said it before the hunt started. Stick everyone except me."
That's all.
His bold reply came right after.
Stella burst out laughing without thinking.
"Pfft! Ahahaha!"
Ridiculous.
A freshman better at hiding his presence than a professor with over a decade on the battlefield.
Stella corrected her earlier assessment.
'Ullan isn't upper knight level.'
Because she was upper knight level. And Ullan was much stronger. So, to be precise...
'Expert realm.'
Beyond upper knight, on the verge of master. That was probably where Ullan stood, she guessed.
'Gotta report this up the chain.'
He'd been reported as mid-to-upper knight strength initially.
Moments later, snapping out of her thoughts, Stella turned to the gathered students and said,
"This mock hunt's result is beyond dispute. Everyone agree?"
Of course, no objections.
Stella grinned.
"Your victory, Ullan."
The abruptly started mock hunt ended in Ullan's overwhelming triumph.
After Stella's lecture ended,
Ullan turned to attend the last remaining class. Of course, not before weathering Dilia's fierce anger.
"What if you just throw me like that!"
Dilia fumed, face red.
She had every right.
During the students' assault, Ullan had tossed her into the air without a word.
But he had his excuse.
"No time to explain."
Explaining the plan risked her getting hurt. So he'd handle it first, explain later.
And it had worked out fine.
When he laid out the reasoning, Dilia nodded, face still flushed.
"...I get the situation."
Good that she understood.
But she still seemed upset.
She wouldn't meet his eyes.
"Still, I was really shocked, so..."
With fidgeting fingers,
an out-of-left-field line dropped.
"Have dinner with me, and I'll forgive you."
"Dinner as in tonight?"
"Yeah. Tonight."
Her small face bobbed up and down.
While sneaking glances his way.
He'd expected more anger, not soothed by one meal. Ullan replied with surprised eyes.
"Got it. Let's eat together."
"R-really?"
"Yeah. By 6?"
"Y-yeah."
Dilia's face brightened.
Her anger seemingly subsided.
"I have something to say, so you have to come, okay?"
"Huh? If it's something to say, just tell me now..."
"No, later. I'll tell you then."
She shook her head vigorously,
then vanished from sight soon after.
He didn't know what was up, but her anger was gone, so that was a relief.
Not that everything was perfect, though.
"I'm late."
While talking with Dilia,
he'd passed the next class time slightly. Sensing he'd be tardy, Ullan broke into a sprint.
Thud-thud-thud! Thud-thud-thud!
Full-speed dash kicking up dust storms.
Destination: today's final class, the Military Department's armory.