Clop.
Clop.
Clop.
A vast cavern with no ceiling in sight.
From somewhere far off came the sound of something charging closer.
“Grrk?”
A cave goblin wandering the passage peered into the darkness with a puzzled tilt of its head.
That instant.
Crunch.
A hoof burst from the shadows and caved the goblin’s skull in.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
It was a massive, snow-white horse.
With enormous wings spread across its back.
A summon on par with an A-rank monster.
A Pegasus.
Riding atop it was Seo-yeon.
She ground her teeth against the anxiety clawing at her chest.
*Damn it…!
How did this happen?!*
The summon she’d stationed to watch over the students had gone silent roughly ten minutes ago.
A Demi-Lich.
An irregular near-S-rank undead, out of a C-rank Gate.
She’d read about it in reports before.
Cases where irregulars emerged from zones with high residual mana.
But a gap this extreme in rank—that shouldn’t have been possible.
*The students….*
Seo-yeon urged the Pegasus forward.
“Pegasus, just a little faster!”
Hiiieee—!
The Pegasus beat its great wings and surged ahead.
The entrance to the boss room came into view in the distance.
***
The oppressive aura that had been crushing the air vanished.
Se-ha blinked.
Darkness.
Where the Demi-Lich had stood, there was nothing.
“Where did Da-hong unni go…?”
I-sol asked.
Se-ha looked around, but there was no sign of the summon anywhere.
Jin-ho grabbed his trembling arm and said,
“W-where did they both go?”
“I don’t know.”
No one had noticed.
Da-hong had clearly been there right up until the moment the Demi-Lich deployed its magic circle.
Then, at some point, they’d both vanished at once.
*…Was there some kind of forced-teleportation spell?*
Meanwhile, Ha-rin seemed to have lost all strength in her legs—even with the oppressive aura gone, she couldn’t get up from where she sat.
“Are you okay?”
“…Yeah.”
She nodded at I-sol’s question, but her face was still pale.
Having been directly exposed to the Demi-Lich’s terror, the effects were clearly still lingering.
“Let’s send out a rescue signal for now. We don’t know when it’ll come back.”
At I-sol’s words, everyone reached into their pockets and pulled out a long crystal.
Snap.
The moment the crystal was broken, a faint light spread outward.
This would send a rescue signal to the outside.
Maybe their teacher was already on her way, having seen it through her summon.
That was when it happened.
Wriggle.
Something moved on top of Se-ha’s head.
“Oh.”
Se-ha raised his hand and grabbed whatever was sitting there.
Fur.
Long, soft fur.
He carefully brought it down in front of him.
It was the baby Behemoth Da-hong had left perched on him.
He flipped it over to see its face, and a pair of golden eyes gleamed back at him.
From the outside, it looked just like a black long-haired cat.
That is, if not for the red gemstone embedded in its forehead, the two small horns, and the tiny wings folded timidly against its sides.
“…What do I do with this.”
The baby Behemoth bristled in Se-ha’s hands.
Its golden eyes swept over the group one by one.
Then.
“Hssss.”
It stretched its tiny mouth wide open and hissed with all its might.
Not threatening in the slightest.
“It’s the offspring of an S-rank monster. We need to put it down.”
Jin-ho raised the mace he used as a secondary weapon.
“But….”
“Think rationally. When it grows up, it’ll cause enormous damage.”
“….”
Se-ha said nothing.
Jin-ho turned to the other two.
“What do you guys think?”
But no one spoke.
The baby Behemoth squirmed and thrashed in Se-ha’s hands, clearly trying to break free.
“Cheep—!”
Its fluffy little body wriggled and writhed.
That was when it happened.
“…It’s cute.”
“?”
“…?”
The out-of-nowhere remark made everyone turn toward the same spot.
There stood Ha-rin, hand pressed over her mouth, face turned away.
“….”
“….”
“….”
Ha-rin seemed unable to bear the silence, and finally turned back, face flushed, and shouted.
“What?! I just like cats, okay?!”
“I mean, nobody said anything….”
Jin-ho let out a long sigh.
“I’m washing my hands of this. Don’t blame me if it causes trouble later.”
“….”
That was when it happened.
Click.
Click.
Footsteps echoed from the darkness.
Group One raised their weapons in unison.
“Who’s——” This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
“It’s me.”
It was Da-hong.
Everyone relaxed.
Da-hong was unharmed.
Not a speck of dust on her clothes.
Se-ha asked,
“…What happened to the Demi-Lich?”
“It’s dead.”
“….”
Silence settled over them.
Ha-rin was the first to speak.
“How…?”
“Just.”
“What do you mean, just….”
Jin-ho pressed her, but no further explanation came.
I-sol asked,
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No.”
Da-hong answered briefly, then lowered her gaze.
Toward what was in Se-ha’s hands.
A pair of golden eyes met a pair of red ones.
The baby Behemoth bristled.
“Hssss.”
Da-hong slowly extended a finger.
The baby Behemoth latched onto that finger and bit down with everything it had.
Crunch crunch crunch.
But Da-hong didn’t flinch.
She simply lifted her finger, and the Behemoth dangled from it, swinging in the air.
The baby Behemoth flailed its limbs and wings, then went limp.
“Heh.”
Da-hong smiled.
Then tucked it against her chest.
“…Are you taking it with you?”
Se-ha asked.
“Mm.”
“For real?”
“Mm.”
Jin-ho let out a hollow laugh.
That was when it happened.
Hiiieee——!!
Prrrr….
The sound of a horse’s cry came from the passage.
And then—
“Is everyone okay?”
A snow-white horse burst into the boss room.
Its great wings beat, sending a gust of wind through the chamber.
Seo-yeon leapt down from its back.
“That’s….”
Jin-ho went rigid.
A Pegasus.
Snow-white body.
Enormous wings on its back.
Light rippled through its mane.
A divine beast, classified alongside the Unicorn.
“It’s A-rank….”
I-sol murmured under her breath.
“So our teacher was a Summoner….”
Se-ha said nothing.
He was staring at the Pegasus.
The way its wings folded.
The mana seeping from its mane.
The thickness of the mana thread connecting it to its Summoner.
*…Incredible.*
It was the admiration of one Summoner for another.
Seo-yeon swept her gaze over Group One.
Thankfully, they all looked unharmed.
She exhaled with relief.
“The Demi-Lich?”
“Da-hong took care of it, apparently.”
“…What?”
Seo-yeon turned to Da-hong.
Da-hong met her eyes.
“How did you take care of it.”
“Just killed it.”
“What do you mean, just——”
“Killed it until it died.”
Seo-yeon’s expression turned incredulous.
A Demi-Lich possessed near-immortal vitality and mana reserves thanks to its Life Vessel.
That alone was enough to place it in the S-minus classification.
And she’d done it alone?
In this short a time?
Seo-yeon’s gaze slowly traveled over Da-hong.
Not a speck of dust on her clothes.
Not a strand of white hair out of place.
Not a single scratch on her skin.
There was absolutely no sign that she’d fought a Demi-Lich at all.
Just as Seo-yeon was about to ask another question—
“…Hm?”
She noticed the black bundle of fur cradled in Da-hong’s arms.
A pair of golden eyes gleamed back at her.
“…A cat?”
“Mm.”
It was not.
Black long hair.
A red gemstone on its forehead.
Two small horns.
Tiny wings folded timidly against its sides.
“That’s a baby Behemoth.”
“Technically, yes.”
“Why are you holding it.”
“I’m taking it with me.”
“Taking it with you?”
Seo-yeon was at a loss for words.
Da-hong, entirely unbothered, slowly stroked the Behemoth’s fur.
The baby Behemoth seemed to sense Seo-yeon’s gaze—it narrowed its golden eyes and let out a low growl.
“Hssss.”
“Now, now. Be good.”
“….”
Seo-yeon closed her eyes for a moment as if fighting off a headache, then opened them.
“What?”
“You can’t take a living creature from inside a Gate—especially the offspring of an S-rank monster—out without authorization.”
“Don’t want to.”
“Wanting doesn’t change anything.”
“Don’t want to.”
“According to regulations——”
“Don’t want to.”
Seo-yeon’s brow furrowed.
Da-hong held her gaze.
Their eyes met in the air between them.
“Even if you don’t want to, it can’t be helped. Those are the rules of human society. If you want to live quietly, you’d do well to comply.”
The red eyes regarded Seo-yeon steadily.
Then—
“Se-ha.”
Da-hong called his name.
“Yes?”
“Come here.”
Every pair of eyes shifted to Se-ha.
Se-ha shuffled forward toward Da-hong.
Da-hong held the baby Behemoth out toward him.
“Make a contract.”
“…Pardon?”
“A summoning contract.”
Se-ha blinked.
“With me?”
“Mm.”
Seo-yeon’s eyebrows rose.
*A summoning contract.*
Her mind ran the calculations rapidly.
Living creatures from inside a Gate were prohibited from being removed unless specifically authorized.
But summons were not classified as Gate creatures.
The moment a contract was formed with a Summoner, the monster was no longer registered as a monster—it became a summon.
*So that’s the angle.*
Seo-yeon looked at Da-hong.
Da-hong hadn’t taken her eyes off Se-ha.
Se-ha looked down at the baby Behemoth.
The golden eyes looked back up at him.
Wary eyes.
Its fur was slightly on end.
A failing student who had never once succeeded in a summoning—except for Da-hong.
And now he was supposed to form a summoning contract with an S-rank monster?
He swallowed.
“Don’t be nervous.”
Da-hong said.
“Being nervous is only natural.”
“You’ll be fine.”
“What are you basing that on?”
“Nothing in particular. I’m trusting my own eyes.”
“….”
Se-ha looked at Da-hong.
Her expression held nothing.
Not the look of someone brimming with certainty.
Just the look of someone stating the obvious.
Se-ha drew a breath.
He held out both hands.
Da-hong placed the baby Behemoth into his palms.
The baby Behemoth thrashed.
“Hssss——!”
Se-ha didn’t let go.
And he drew up his mana.
Deploying only the contract formula without a summoning formula—this was his first time.
The theory was perfect.
*This part and this part, and I don’t need the seventh incantation either….*
He could do this.
Mana spread from his fingertips.
The baby Behemoth went still.
It seemed to sense the mana.
The golden eyes looked up at Se-ha.
*Please.
I’m begging you.*
Se-ha prayed silently.
The baby Behemoth stirred.
Then— it pressed its nose to Se-ha’s wrist and breathed in.
Snap.
He felt a mana thread connect.
“It worked!”
Se-ha cried out in surprise.
It was thin.
A thread as fine as silk.
But.
Unmistakably.
Connected.
Light etched itself onto the back of Se-ha’s hand.
The shape of a gemstone with horns and wings.
The mark faded almost immediately.
“…The contract is sealed.”
I-sol murmured in disbelief.
Jin-ho stared at the scene, frozen.
Ha-rin was speechless.
The baby Behemoth climbed up Se-ha’s arm and settled itself on his shoulder.
Then it rubbed its face against Se-ha’s jaw, as if showing off to everyone watching.
“…Haha.”
Se-ha laughed.
His expression was one of someone who couldn’t quite believe it himself.
Seo-yeon’s eyes went wide.
“That’s impossible….”
“Why?”
“Forming a contract with an S-rank summon is extraordinarily difficult. Even more so when it’s a monster rather than a divine beast, spirit, or angel. And a first-year Academy student just did it?”
“But he did, didn’t he?”
“…Good grief.”
Seo-yeon was silent for a long moment.
She stared blankly at the Behemoth and Se-ha.
“Teacher.”
“…What?”
“We can leave now, right? It’s a summon.”
“….”
Seo-yeon let out a short sigh.
“Yes.”
Da-hong smiled, slow and satisfied.