For this test, the professors had not placed any particular restriction on “cooperating with other classmates.” In other words, doing this was not especially a problem.
Had he not seen her, that would be one thing, but it was difficult to simply let a classmate walk fearlessly into a place where there might be Grade 3 monsters. Moreover, knowing Rona’s personality as a plant fanatic, he was also well aware that she would almost certainly prioritize her curiosity even if it was somewhat dangerous.
“Ah, so Rona, you want to become a scholar?”
Ruite asked while casually dealing with a Grade 4 monster that had suddenly leaped down from a tree.
“Yeah. My dream is to research plants that possess magic and make books about them. To do that, I have to become a mage, so I enrolled here.”
He had known Rona had an unusual affection for plants, but he had not expected her to have such a clear dream.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“No, you just seem different all of a sudden.”
“How did I usually look to you?”
“……Can I say it?”
“No, don’t. I don’t want to ruin my relationship with you.”
The unexpected cooperation with Rona went smoothly. As they headed deeper into the mountain, Ruite subjugated every monster they encountered and accumulated points, while Rona examined the flowers and plants that appeared here and there, diligently writing down their characteristics in her notebook.
The deeper they went, the more the air gradually seemed to grow heavy. On top of that, the faint mist spread around them certainly heightened the tension. But Rona seemed not to feel any of that at all, her eyes sparkling as she said they would surely be able to discover rare plants.
Ruite focused all his attention on his senses as much as possible. Honestly, rather than it being a question of whether he could deal with a Grade 3 monster or not, he simply did not want to encounter one. Since he had already earned a decent number of points, it was only natural that he did not want to touch anything dangerous for no reason.
Walking in the direction Rona led him, Ruite did not forget to watch his surroundings. At that moment, an unfamiliar sensation brushed past the back of his neck, and Ruite sharply turned his head.
“Ruite? What’s wrong?”
Rona approached Ruite, who had stopped in place.
“Huh? No, it’s nothing.”
Ruite scratched his head and shook it.
“Rona, how about we only go up to that point ahead and stop there? The test time is probably almost over.”
“Hmm, then Ruite. Do you want to rest here for a moment? I’ll just go take a quick look around that bend over there and come back.”
When he said it was fine for him to go with her, Rona waved her hand and said no. She told him that, to begin with, he should already be in a safe range for points, so there had been no need for him to come this far inside, and since she did have a conscience, he should just rest for a moment. Ruite could not say anything in response.
Rona disappeared, saying she would be back in five minutes. In five minutes, it seemed they would be right on time if they slowly headed back toward the mountain entrance together.
Ruite kicked at stones rolling over the dirt ground and blankly looked up at the sky. Near the base of the mountain, he had still run into quite a few other classmates, but now that they were definitely deeper inside, the number of familiar faces had sharply decreased. Most of them had probably realized there were Grade 3 monsters in this area and deliberately avoided coming here.
Starting tomorrow, I’m going to sleep sprawled out.
Now that the tests were over, there would be no need to force his sleepy eyes open and cling to studying at the library. Even if it was temporary, he intended to savor that sweet sense of freedom.
“She said five minutes……”
How many minutes had passed since Rona went in there? Ruite lifted his head. Perhaps because of the faint mist lingering in the air, the sky looked gloomier than usual. Clouds drifted through the hazy view.
“……”
At that moment, Ruite narrowed his eyes and kicked off the ground. He immediately veered right and entered the path Rona had taken.
The instant he heard a presence, Rona’s back came into view. And standing boldly in front of her was a Grade 3 monster. The wolf-like monster was not particularly small. It was one of the more commonly seen Grade 3 monsters.
Rona was touching the ground with one hand, her expression slightly troubled. Vines extending from her hand tried to bind the monster’s legs and restrict its movement, but when the creature let out one great roar, the vines shattered at once.
And in that instant, Ruite felt goosebumps rise all over his body. There was no basis for it, but a sense of danger reared its head. His instincts were screaming at him to get out of this place quickly.
“Rona, run! Let’s get out of here!”
The moment Ruite shouted, Rona turned and immediately began running. Ruite ran with her. At any rate, Grade 3 monsters did not persistently chase once a certain distance was created. Moreover, Harold had added that the Grade 3 monsters managed inside this mountain had been designed so that their physical speed and part of their strength would be reduced.
That was the iron shackle tied around the monster’s ankle. That too was probably one of the magical tools.
If he were told to deal with a Grade 3 monster, it was not as though he could not. But strangely, his instincts did not want him to. Even while running, Ruite kept checking on Rona whenever she fell behind. He had known she was slow at running, but he had not known it was to this degree.
“Hah…… Ru, Ruite……!”
Rona’s urgent voice rang out. The moment he turned his head to ask what was wrong, Ruite’s eyes widened. Even though they had created sufficient distance, the monster was still chasing after them. And that was not all. Compared to when it had first begun chasing them, the monster’s speed was becoming noticeably faster.
“……”
The moment he realized that, Ruite stopped his diligently moving feet. His soles scraped against the dirt ground, kicking up a loud cloud of dust.
“Ruite, what are you doing!”
“Rona, something’s wrong with this.”
“What?”
“That thing…… is it really Grade 3?”
“What are you……”
It was just as Ruite was frowning.
The wolf monster that had been chasing them also stopped in place and began straining its entire body. From all over its body came the chilling sound of bones twisting. The monster, which had been moving on all fours, slowly raised its body and stood with two legs planted on the ground. At the same time, two more legs burst out from its back, supporting its body steadily.
Its ordinary mane grew fuller and longer as its appearance underwent a transformation. And Ruite felt it. Not only had its appearance changed, but the monster’s magic had also increased drastically.
“Ruite, this couldn’t be……?”
“Looks like monster evolution.”
Even as he said that, Ruite quickly looked overhead. The crystal magical tool the professors had said would be monitoring them was nowhere to be seen. The only words that came to mind were, Why now, of all times?
“Monster evolution? Why would such a rare phenomenon……”
Monster evolution meant exactly what the words implied: a monster underwent a special physical change, and at the same time, the magic it possessed increased drastically. In other words, if a Grade 3 monster underwent such an evolution, it could very well gain power comparable to Grade 2 or even Grade 1.
However, monster evolution was not a phenomenon that occurred often. It was known statistically that if there were one hundred thousand monsters in the world, only about five to ten of them would undergo monster evolution.
And yet now, this phenomenon had occurred in a monster specially managed by the academy, of all things.
“Should I call this good luck, or bad luck?”
He was sure that when they had learned about monster evolution during lectures, the professor had said it was an extremely rare phenomenon and that the probability of seeing it was terribly low.
In any case, what was certain was that the monster before them was no longer a Grade 3 they could subjugate with a bit of effort.
“Is this really the time to make jokes? We need to run! We need to go tell the professors!”
“Hmm, can we run away?”
At Ruite’s words, Rona flinched. Whether because of the evolution phenomenon or something else, the shackle meant to regulate the creature’s physical speed had clearly already lost its function. Even if they widened the distance to a certain point, that thing would keep trying to chase them. If that had worked, they should already have escaped its sight by now.
In that case, the best option would be to run for their lives somehow, find a crystal magical tool overhead, inform the professors of this, and continue fleeing all the way to the entrance. The problem was whether Rona’s stamina would allow that.
If they found other classmates nearby, they could try cooperating somehow or do something, but with the test almost at its end, most students were probably near the entrance at the base of the mountain rather than this deep inside. That was another problem.
Moreover, this was not the time to spend thinking. Even while he stood still and agonized, the evolved monster was glaring down at him and Rona with rolling eyes.
Its gaze was no different from that of a beast that had found prey. At the killing intent that seemed determined to trample and devour them no matter what, Ruite scratched his head.
“Stop saying strange things and hurry……! At this rate, both of us will be in danger!”
“Rona, let’s do this.”
Ruite lightly shook off Rona, who was trying to grab his hand and pull him away, and clapped his hands together. Rona stared at him, her eyes shifting anxiously.