It’s a reckless act. Even the professors at the Academy could easily end up dead on the battlefield.
However, Ariel doesn’t stop running. Dressed in platinum starlight, he grips his sword.
Starlight is basically a superior version of mana. It allows him to do most things that mana can do, but even more.
There’s a difference in base firepower right from the start. Even if he uses the same amount, starlight is stronger than mana.
But Ariel can’t produce that level of firepower.
Starlight requires a great deal of skill to unleash its immense power.
If he can’t handle it properly, it becomes harder to wield than mana.
The weak output of starlight was etched into the sword.
Ariel swings his sword, leaving a platinum-colored afterimage in its wake.
Pash!
Ariel’s sword hit the monster’s front paw.
But it doesn’t cut. It’s not just large, but its thick skin makes it resistant to both sword and magic.
The monster’s eyes narrow. It looks at Ariel as if to say, “You think you can stop me with that little strength?”
The wolf-like monster opens its mouth wide. It’s ready to bite down on the weak challenger who has lost all sense of fear.
The seed that grew monstrous now possesses terrifying biting power. Its large, sharp teeth pierce flesh and crush bones.
Ariel steps back and slips his sword into the monster’s mouth, defending himself.
If it were a normal sword, it would have broken by now, but the star-etched sword holds firm. Ariel braces himself against the monster, even as he’s pushed back.
No professor before him managed to do this. It was only possible thanks to the power of the stars, but for the first time, he blocked the monster’s movements.
However, the monster didn’t stand idle. The purple horn on its forehead glowed.
Gyaaaaak!!
The monster roars, pushing back Ariel.
Then, several black lightning bolts fell from the sky. It was the monster’s own magic, something that had caused the professors so much trouble.
To avoid the falling lightning, he had to retreat. A single strike would mean a fatal injury, as magic infused with magical energy destroys the human body from within.
As Ariel distanced himself, the monster gathered fire in its mouth.
“Don’t! Get back!”
One of the professors watching shouted.
The professor who had faced the monster before knew what it was about to do.
If the distance between them increased, the monster would unleash a massive wave of flames.
There was no blind spot in its immense range, making it impossible to evade.
Now that Ariel was within range, there was no way for him to escape the flames.
Most of the humans present expected Ariel’s death. It was inevitable.
After all, he was up against a living disaster, while Ariel was just a human.
To minimize damage, Ariel wrapped himself in starlight. He knew it wouldn’t be enough to block the firepower, yet he shouted anyway.
Just then, before the massive flames poured down on him, a human yanked on his sleeve.
“…Huh?”
The human pulled Ariel forward and stood in front of him.
Red hair flew in the wind.
Fwooosh!!!
Right after Ariel was pushed back, a massive flame engulfed the two.
However, Ariel was spared from most of the damage. The human standing in front of him absorbed most of the flames with their body.
Once the flames subsided, a woman with severe burns wiped the blood from her mouth.
It was a relief that it ended there, as her strong resistance to fire allowed her to survive.
Had she been an ordinary human, there would have been nothing left but ash.
“Sera?”
With half her clothes burned and soaked in blood, Sera exhaled a heated breath.
“That’s lukewarm fire. If you want to kill me, you’ll have to try a lot harder.”
The one facing the disaster, fearless, was not just Ariel.
Though she was on death’s door from her injuries, the determined Sera stood beside Ariel.
Still holding the flames from the previous blast.
She converted her lost blood into mana, increasing the firepower of the flames.
Utilizing the flames the monster had spewed, she sent it right back at it.
Sera’s mana intertwined perfectly with the monster’s flames, and the output surpassed its original intensity.
“Hell Flare.”
She swung a fist filled with massive flames into the air, and this time it engulfed the monster in an even bigger fire than before.
At this moment, Sera unleashed more powerful magic than any human present.
She had mastered techniques to control flames to perfection.
She had gathered the flames the monster unleashed and simply redirected them. Mixing in her own mana to increase the firepower was merely a bonus.
Overwhelming flames now burned the monster’s skin. Unlike before, this flame clearly inflicted damage.
It marked the first successful hit against the calamity.
Of course, after releasing such a huge fire, Sera’s arm suffered burns due to the strain.
It was severe, almost unrecognizable as the skin of a young woman.
Burnt skin gave off the scent of charred flesh, and blood flowed from her wounds onto the ground.
Though she had boasted about the flames being lukewarm, her damaged body told the truth.
Turning her head in that state, Sera looked at Ariel.
Despite her disheveled appearance, she managed a faint smile.
“See? I told you not to act recklessly.”
“…”
“Get up, Ariel. It’s been a while since we’ve stood like this, hasn’t it? Just like old times, you’re in the front and I’m in the back.”
Sera extended her hand, and Ariel took it, rising to his feet.
He straightened his sword, while Sera converted her spilled blood into mana and prepared a spell.
*
It was the students, not the professors of the Academy, who stood against the disaster.
It was impossible to defeat the calamity-like monster with the remaining forces.
But even if it was impossible to conquer it, they couldn’t just not fight. They couldn’t allow the seed of the Demon King to rampage in the Academy.
For the students still unable to evacuate, they needed someone to hold the monster at bay.
And now two students were fulfilling that role.
Ariel, raising the output of starlight to bind the monster’s movements, while Sera aimed to intercept from behind.
As she carved sword strikes into the half-melted skin, she could inflict damage, albeit slight.
You might wonder what they could achieve with that, but it was enough.
By embedding starlight into the tiny wounds, Ariel made it possible to destroy the monster’s body from within.
After stabbing the sword into a wound, Ariel unleashed the starlight.
Gyaaaaaak!!
He inflicted damage to the monster’s front paw. For a moment, the balance of one of its feet faltered.
And it was an opportunity. The professors, who had been idle, sprang back into action.
“It…it’s down?!”
“Now! Kill it!”
They realized they could no longer rely on the students.
Professors are meant to teach and protect students. They couldn’t leave the work to those they needed to protect.
Some took up weapons, while others prepared spells.
The elite forces of the Academy unleashed a barrage of attacks against a single monster.
With attacks raining down on the defenseless monster, what was once thought impenetrable began to crumble.
The attacks that had previously made no impact now connected. If things continued this way, they could actually defeat it.
Ariel charged his starlight, ready to inflict as much critical damage as he could.
But Ariel’s sword strike never made it to the monster.
Sensing danger, the monster released a dense cloud of magical energy around it.
“What…what is this?!”
“I can’t see anything!”
The black magical energy descended like fog. Human eyes lost their sight, spiraling into confusion.
Amid the pitch-black backdrop, the wolf’s howls echoed.
Then, from the shadows, the wolf hunted down the disoriented humans one by one.
A professor holding a sword had his body ripped apart by the monster’s paw, while another preparing a spell was swallowed whole by its jaws.
The garden was filled with the scent of blood. The calamity that swallowed the seed of the Demon King had slaughtered the approaching humans in an instant.
As the black mist lifted, the purple horn on the monster’s head glowed ominously.
The monster’s red eyes shone brightly.
The garden was enveloped in black magical fog, like shadows clinging to everything.
