One of Sian’s party members, who had been hiding among the trees and brush as they tailed Conrad’s group, finally voiced the question she could no longer hold back.
“How deep are those kids planning to go?”
They had already been running for nearly thirty minutes.
Even if the entire Demon Forest served as the venue for the Hunting Festival, there was no denying that Conrad’s party had already ventured quite deep into it.
Naturally, unease slowly began to spread among her party members.
“Are we really fine just following them like this? Wouldn’t it be better for us to start hunting on our own?”
“I heard what those kids were saying just now.”
“You’ve got sharp ears. What did they say?”
“They said an incredibly dangerous monster is going to appear about a minute away if we keep running. That beastfolk girl said it.”
Sian coolly analyzed the situation and settled on the surest course of action for winning.
That attitude of his, so certain of victory that he had rejected her proposal.
Sian had never taken Conrad’s words lightly.
“Now that you mention it, I can feel it too. I’m not sure what it is, but I’ve got this instinctive sense of danger.”
The leopard beastfolk running with a spear agreed, and Sian added an explanation.
“Judging by what that party’s leader said, I think that monster is probably their final target.”
“So if we kill that one thing, we win the Hunting Festival? Simple enough.”
“Yeah. Let’s move.”
Sian’s party increased their speed, overtook Conrad’s party, and raced ahead.
The group had been built around mobility from the start, so they could move far faster than a party that included a mage.
Less than ten seconds after they surged forward, they understood exactly what the spear wielder had meant by that sense of danger.
“SKREEEEEECH!!!”
A chilling cry like nails scraping across a blackboard spread through the forest.
A gigantic bear-shaped monster with the face of an owl.
The moment they saw a creature that far exceeded the size of an ordinary Owlbear, all four of them, Sian included, became certain of the same thing.
Whichever group killed that monster and returned would win this Hunting Festival.
“Everyone, prepare for battle!”
At Sian’s command, all four of them swiftly formed ranks.
With only a few dozen seconds left before Conrad’s party arrived, the battle between the Great Owlbear and Sian’s party began.
None of them realized that the creature was not merely a Great Owlbear, but a dangerous mutant.
***
As we raced frantically through the Demon Forest, a strange sensation suddenly flashed through my mind.
It had been about ten seconds since Lulu reported the location of our final target.
“Something’s strange.”
“What is?”
“I can’t sense Senior Sian’s party’s mana.”
Until just moments ago, I had faintly sensed the presence of people who seemed to be following us as though tailing us.
But a few seconds earlier, it had suddenly felt as if Senior Sian had vanished, and that discrepancy bothered me.
“Now that you mention it, you’re right. I was so focused on sensing monsters that I didn’t notice, but the presences around us suddenly disappeared.”
Senior Sian’s enormous mana reserves were not the sort of thing she could conceal simply because she wanted to.
Although Senior Sian belonged to the Department of Archery rather than the Department of Magic, she was an elf from the famous World Tree Forest.
She was also the only elf currently attending the academy.
With that much mana, I should have been able to sense her unmistakably if she were anywhere nearby.
The sudden disappearance of her mana naturally felt wrong.
“Could they have given up on interfering with us and gone hunting somewhere else with their party?”
“That’d be a relief, but....”
Senior Sian’s party was unquestionably made up of skilled individuals.
I could not say that the other three members, excluding Senior Sian, were each the strongest in their respective departments.
Even so, their party should have been fully capable of dealing with most monsters in the Demon Forest.
As long as it was not the Mutant Great Owlbear that our party had come to hunt today.
Even an ordinary Great Owlbear would have been an almost evenly matched opponent for Senior Sian’s party.
But the creature we had to hunt today happened to be a mutant.
If left alone, it would approach the area where the students were holding the Hunting Festival and cause considerable loss of life and property damage.
If they attacked it without proper preparation—no, even if they challenged it after preparing as thoroughly as possible, Senior Sian’s party was still a horrendously bad matchup against the creature we were hunting today.
...A chill ran down my spine, warning me of an ominous possibility.
“I’ve got a bad feeling. Let’s move as fast as we can.”
“Okay.”
“Yes, understood!”
We increased our pace and pushed toward the creature’s location as quickly as possible.
I prayed that the ominous possibility in my head would not come true.
***
“SKREEEEEECH!!”
A gigantic monster stood upright on two legs and let out a chilling shriek at the top of its lungs.
Four people were sprawled in different places around the Great Owlbear, all still breathing, as though a fierce battle had taken place only moments earlier.
Of the four, only a single green-haired elf archer remained conscious.
‘What happened?’
Even with her entire body paralyzed and pain still coursing through it, Sian moved her eyes and tried to grasp the situation as best she could.
She remembered an unknown attack flying at them the instant the battle began.
She also remembered one of her juniors from the Department of Archery being the first to fall because of it.
A few seconds later, her companion from the Department of Swordsmanship had been struck by the same attack, paralyzed from head to toe, and sent flying by the Owlbear’s massive paw.
Then the student from the Department of Spearmanship had panicked after the others disappeared from sight, failed to evade the next attack, and fallen to the same blow.
At first, Sian could not even understand what had caused the other three to collapse one after another without warning.
“AAAAAARGH...!!”
Only after the same attack pierced through her own body did Sian understand what sort of attack the monster before her was using.
A powerful, searing blow that felt as though it would burn her entire body away.
Movement with no warning, too fast for even her eyes to follow.
And a flash of light that had flickered before her eyes, however briefly.
‘Lightning....’
It did not take her long after that to realize the mysterious attack had been a lightning bolt.
But by then, the battle had already fallen apart beyond anything she could salvage.
‘I let my guard down....’
She had been complacent.
She had believed she could kill anything that emerged from the Demon Forest with her own hands.
She had also believed that no matter what sort of attack came at her, her agility would allow her to evade all of it.
The party Sian had assembled to win this Hunting Festival was likewise made up entirely of people who specialized in agility.
Their strength was fighting while evading attacks.
Enduring blows head-on was not the style of the party she had created.
After allowing even one strike this powerful to land, not a single member remained capable of continuing the fight properly.
‘Why...?’
Magic mediated through water or wind would have been one thing.
But a monster capable of electrical attacks was already far beyond the level of anything that should have appeared in the Demon Forest.
What was more, a Great Owlbear that used electrical attacks was an unprecedented mutant she had never once heard of in all her life.
She should not have been arrogant.
She should have analyzed her opponent thoroughly, then avoided the fight and fled.
This was not a monster students could kill.
Unless someone could divide a single second into ten thousand parts and move within them, its attack was not something that could be dodged.
Killing that creature would require at least three Gold-Grade Monster Hunters.
“SKREEEEEECH!!”
The monster’s chilling cry struck Sian’s ears once more.
It had noticed that she was the only one still conscious and was approaching to finish her off for good.
‘I’m going to die here....’
Whether she was struck by the same lightning again or crushed beneath that gigantic paw, Sian would undoubtedly lose her life the moment she suffered a second attack.
She had imagined that this might happen to her someday, but she had never expected to meet her end in a place like this, in this way.
Inwardly, Sian regretted her own arrogance.
A meaningless death without accomplishing anything was the kind of death she dreaded most.
Of course, death would not avoid her merely because she did not want it.
She did not want to face the lightning strike flying toward her head-on, so she quietly closed her eyes and offered one final prayer.
If there is a miracle, please let at least the others survive, even if I don’t.
***
‘CRACKLE!’
With the sound, the mutant monster’s attack scattered in every direction along my Magic Barrier.
As I took in the scene before me, the first thing I saw was Senior Sian lying on the ground.
The next was the Great Owlbear advancing toward her.
There was not even time to hesitate. I shot forward, threw myself between her and the monster, and immediately used the Magic Barrier I had prepared, successfully blocking the lightning strike.
The timing was nothing short of miraculous.
Every member of Senior Sian’s party had been incapacitated, and I had stopped the Owlbear just as it was about to finish her off.
If I had arrived even a fraction of a second later, Senior Sian’s body would have been left in a horrific state by the Great Owlbear’s lightning.
Or she would have met a gruesome end beneath the monster’s forepaw.
“Senior Sian!”
I shouted her name, hoping I was not too late.
Her surname, Rudflica, was too long, so I shortened it a little.
Her eyes were closed as though she had lost consciousness, but she was clearly still alive.
The enormous amount of mana I could feel from right beside me confirmed that Senior Sian had survived.
“Conrad Ferdalos?”
My name left her lips as she opened her eyes.
Her eyes, which had looked as though she were seeing an illusion, gradually widened as though she were witnessing something incredible.
“You blocked it? How...?”
“There’s no time to explain! Just answer one question!”
“What...?”
“Does your party still intend to finish off the Mutant Great Owlbear in front of us?”
“......?!”
She shook her head violently from side to side.
It was such an obvious denial that no one could have mistaken what she meant.
“You’re sure, right? Then if our party kills that thing, you won’t say otherwise later?!”
This time, her head bobbed vigorously up and down like a bobblehead.
I had even received permission from Sian, the party leader, so there should be no room for objections later.
Of course, even if she had put on a show of bravado and refused my help, I still would have taken down the monster in front of me.
“Stella, Lulu! Get Senior Sian and the others somewhere safe, quickly!”
“O-Okay!”
“Yes, understood!”
While I held the Great Owlbear’s attention, Stella and Lulu moved frantically.
I kept blocking its lightning attacks so it could not look elsewhere, all while confirming that Senior Sian’s party members were carried to safety one by one.
“Everyone’s safe now, Senior Conrad!”
At last, Stella shouted to me once everyone had been secured.
“SKREEECH!!”
Her voice was so loud that the Great Owlbear’s attention naturally shifted away from me and toward Stella.
“Hey, dumbass bear! I’m the one you’re fighting!”
I immediately shouted even louder and hurled the Broadsword from beneath my cloak at the creature.
Carried on the currents of wind magic, the Broadsword flew swiftly through the air, pierced its flank, and sank deep inside.
“SKREEEEEECH!!”
The creature let out a bizarre shriek and turned its attention back toward me.