<164 - Why is the Professor here?>
Chapter bosses each have their own concepts.
[Chapter 1: The Frenzied Slayer, Hestia]
Appearance – Exam Venue of Group A for Class 981
Event Timing – First Year Midterm Exam
Description – Hestia, the owner of the despised Berserker class. The moment she realizes that the friend she considered a sanctuary is actually the “Answering Door,” her wrath turns towards her classmates.
Feature 1 – Attack power increases as HP decreases.
Feature 2 – Loses rationality and is immune to all mental status ailments.
Feature 3 – Abnormal blood flow grants rapid physical status recovery.
[Chapter 2: ???]
[Chapter 3: Queen of Pets, Camela]
Appearance – Exam Venue of Group B for Class 981
Event Timing – Second Year Opening Ceremony
Description – An emotional sorceress who plays with people’s hearts using magical powers. As her grade rises, she steadily increases her pets and reveals her ambitions for school domination right at the start of the school year.
Feature 1 – Students enchanted by Camela become enemies.
Feature 2 – Students who sign the pet contract must respond to their lord’s requests until they meet the designated contribution.
Feature 3 – If the lord bestows grace upon a pet, the required contribution from that pet increases.
Feature 4 – All lords who use Camela’s pet contracts are considered her pets.
[Chapter 4: The Silent Death, The Forest of Silence]
Appearance – After the Opening Ceremony of Class 981
Event Timing – Second Year Summer Vacation
Description – A terrible calamity born from the accumulation of cursed disposal. The moment you lose the senses you took for granted, you realize the curse discarded by humans has returned.
Feature 1 – Sound does not exist within the forest’s territory.
Feature 2 – The forest devours all living beings that make noise.
Feature 3 – With each increase in the forest’s growth level, new curses are added.
Aside from the changing Chapter 2 boss every time, each chapter boss has diverse gimmicks.
The close-combat slaughtering chapter boss, the frenzied Hestia, who disregards all status ailments and butchers students left and right.
The collective dominance chapter boss, the Master of Masters Camela, who commands countless students like her own limbs and reveals her ambitions for conquering Class 981.
The death-field chapter boss, the forest of death and silence, which could cause enormous casualties if not found and eliminated quickly.
The level of danger, of course, gets higher as you go along.
Chapter 1 is just about handling Hestia.
Chapter 2 threatens veterans with unpredictable variables.
Chapter 3 requires piercing through the distractions of numerous students.
Chapter 4 turns the entire field into enemies.
These bosses grow just like players do.
If you’re out there enjoying a typical academy life and indulging in a harem life! You could easily drop dead to a chapter boss that has become obscenely strong.
“Did you hear about that newbie who went on a picnic with their partner and got eaten by the Forest of Silence?”
Chapter bosses can hit you at the most unexpected moments.
After this video spread, newbies no longer recklessly went picnicking in the woods or ventured deep into the forest looking for rare items to gather for points.
As long as you don’t make loud noises, the distant Forest of Silence won’t come running, but if it happens to be nearby, getting devoured is pretty much inevitable.
“Well, that’s the newbies’ problem.”
[You weren’t surprised by the apparition sent by the Forest of Silence to scare its prey.]
[Courage Experience +1]
[You weren’t startled even when the apparitions screamed not to disturb the branches.]
[Courage Experience +3]
[You weren’t surprised as the apparitions wept blood and begged while bringing a chill from the wind.]
[Courage Experience +5]
[You broke through the apparitions’ relentless interference and gathered the cursed branches that bore the forest’s powerful curse.]
[Courage Experience +10]
[Gathering Experience +10]
[Night Activity Experience +5]
[Fear Induction Experience +5]
If a chapter boss is scared, veterans are definitely not going to be.
“Geez. Why is this one squirming so much?”
The cursed tree thrashed around, bleeding bright red like a person from the ripped-off branches.
I kept hitting it with my sword in its sheath, trying to keep it at bay.
Once the bark splintered, and the trunk bent like a tree being chopped down, its squirming finally came to a stop.
[Strange-shaped fruit]
[Withered animal bones]
[A creepy doll]
Besides the cursed branches bearing powerful curses, I quickly filled my bag with items dangling from the tree like a Christmas tree.
I thought about taking some out to fit more in, but seeing Dorothy shivering pitifully stopped me.
The reason I could loot so many items was because of Dorothy’s 5x item acquisition probability buff. I should at least show her some consideration.
[You and your friend entered the center of the cursed forest and made it out alive.]
[Concentration Experience +10]
[Night Activity Experience +10]
“Alright, now I can speak!”
I lightly tapped Dorothy’s back, prompting her to collapse, having been holding onto her collar tightly.
“Oknodie… I can’t feel my legs…”
“Wanna camp here?”
“Absolutely not!! I’ll get up! I promise I’ll get up! Please just wait a moment!”
On one hand, there are friends who remain unfazed even after experiencing a scary haunted house; on the other, there’s a friend screaming all day and crawling around to escape.
Dorothy seems to be in the latter category.
If I’d known she would be this excited, I should have brought her earlier.
Well, at least I figured it out now.
From now on, I’ll have to bring her here every month!
“Hey? Someone’s coming this way?”
“What is it now? Don’t suddenly scare me like that. I really hate that.”
“Oh, it’s that person, huh? It’s okay. He’s someone Dorothy would like.”
“Really? In a place like this?”
“I’m telling you the truth!”
With a suspicious glare, Dorothy protested.
Shortly after, through the swaying trees, a silhouette began to emerge from the dark forest, catching the moonlight occasionally.
Crack, crack
With every shake of the tree, it produced the sound of cracking bones as the figure approached with heavy steps.
Not even able to scream, Dorothy, who was enjoying herself, clamped her ears and shut her eyes tightly.
“Oknodie… this doesn’t seem like a forest a first-year should be wandering into. How did we get here…?”
“I came to gather materials with a friend!”
“…Did you rob a hut or something?”
A person with dark eyes that shone through long hair looked puzzled.
It’s the #1 person that Dorothy, Titosso, and Jiang would be ecstatic to meet if spotted in the woods.
The person was Professor Sadako, who teaches “Adventurers and Night Activities.”
Kids have immense energy.
When you grow up, you’ll be too lazy to think about running this far, but right now you’re too caught up in expanding your own world.
Most lands have owners, and when you grow up, even just to find a place to lie down, you become a slave to labor. That innocence will disappear.
‘It’s been a while. Seeing such purity again.’
Fearless Oknodie.
An unusual child who embodies both the innocence of a child and the courage of a warrior.
He had run around so much that the bag on his back was about to burst even after carrying the remains of multiple bodies.
“Professor, what did you bring?”
“It’s dangerous if you see it.”
“C’mon, that’s sneaky.”
“…Wanna see?”
“Wow! I wanna see!”
The gigantic bags, as big as Oknodie himself, dragged along the ground.
Inside, there were nailed dolls, glass jars filled with nails and claws, talismans inscribed with blood, and soot-covered books among other items.
These were what people call cursed disposal items.
“What? Why is this even here?”
“…Because I’m throwing them away.”
“You’re the one who disposed of waste in the forest?!”
Dark princess? Lord of Darkness?
Rumors surrounding Oknodie were pretty suspicious.
Didn’t expect them to gaze upon ‘that forest’ too.
Some rumors clearly stemmed from truth.
“…Whatever you know, this forest is originally mine.”
“Gasp. Really?”
If it’s Oknodie, it should be okay.
After all… when the grades go up, he’ll encounter ‘Cursed Studies’ in my class.
One could say this was a good preview.
As for the trembling kid next to him…
Maybe a bonus.
He’s lucky to be able to get a head start on his studies with the professor.
“…Wanna see? The disposal process.”
“I wanna see! I really wanna see!”
I dragged Oknodie, whose excitement was bouncing off the walls, and the reluctant child following as we went after the cursed energy.
After quite a while, the Forest of Cursed Disposal seemed to be in an unexpected spot.
Whoosh
I lightly planted my foot on the ground to issue a warning.
The ground began to tremble, and the curses of the forest shrank back.
“Stay still.”
Centered around the tree serving as a medium, the cursed energy and the presence of apparitions that had spread wide all converged back into the tree.
Shudder, shudder
As I dumped the cursed disposal items from my bag in front of the tree, branches reached out in a panic to snatch the cursed items and promptly shove them into the leaves or eat them through the holes in the trunk, creating chaos.
Taking advantage of the confusion, a few apparitions also pretended to be the branches to steal cursed items.
How hungry must they have been to steal such things?
Slither, slither
Upon spotting the cursed disposal thieves, I reached out.
“…What did you just do?”
“I cursed them.”
“You cursed…? Why??”
“If they’re kids so hungry that they’d go for cursed waste… then… they’d probably be happier receiving a live curse…?”
For some reason, Oknodie trembled even more.
“Are you cold?”
“A little bit?”
“…Let’s head back together.”
“We also have the carriage and carriage pass we came in with…”
“…That’ll have to wait until daytime. If we take the professor’s exclusive carriage, we can leave right away.”
Lost in excitement, Oknodie had completely forgotten about the cold after gathering items vigorously.
Out of consideration for this remarkable kid, I offered my carriage. It seemed to take a lot out of him, as he finally responded with a weary, “yes.”
Recognizing a student’s struggle and extending help, did I just look a little more like a decent professor?
‘It’s a sure thing that Oknodie will be attending my classes next semester.’
With that satisfying thought, I chuckled, and Oknodie’s friend collapsed behind me.
Looks like he’s the one with weaker stamina compared to Oknodie.
