<200 - Interval Control>
Now that the hero has turned against them, does that mean they’re not hesitating to reveal their true colors?
Warrior Ishtar gritted her teeth as she sliced through the Mamok blocking her path, feeling the resistance travel through her hands.
[Release of the Holy Sword - Holy Strike]
With the immense power to eradicate the unclean, she cleaves the Mamok in two.
As the bisected Mamok screamed in agony and became particles of light mixed with the dark mana constituting its existence, the darkness shadowing Ishtar’s face remained unhindered.
“Yufi. Did you involve Oknodie in this exam?”
“Don’t worry. Skola will only step in during the 3rd section when the competition starts.”
“We need to stop this.”
With a mighty swing of a large guillotine, Yufi smashed one Mamok, splattering its black blood onto her face. There’s no way the dark mana contained within the blood of a mere demonic beast could invade the body of a Saintess class.
That’s common sense.
It’s an obvious law.
A fundamental that must be observed for the world to continue.
Yet that fundamental is challenging the divine protective barrier shielding her skin with ominous black smoke.
Yufi felt an unease that something that should not happen was unfolding.
It was akin to the wise old man’s fear, foreseeing nature’s wrath from long experience.
Something utterly horrific was about to happen here.
These Mamoks were exceedingly different from ordinary ones.
It’s not a phenomenon that should arise from low-level monsters.
Deflecting the energy attempting to permeate her body, she drew on her holy power and frowned as she wiped the blood from her face.
Splat
A single drop of blood that hit the ground caused the grass to wilt and die.
This level of dark mana density is a reaction only detectable in the blood of high-level monsters.
Could it have been something the professors did?
No, that’s impossible.
Even if professors are reckless, there are limits.
Even if it seems unreasonable at first encountering it, they wouldn’t subject students to trials beyond what they could handle.
High-level monsters are different.
This was beyond what ordinary students could endure.
If non-combat students were to face the concentrated assault of the monsters, no one could guarantee how many corpses would arise in this forest.
“Even Skola is a descendant of the archers, though?”
Still, Skola isn’t just an ordinary non-combat student.
“What we should be worried about isn’t Skola; it’s the other students.”
“No. The other students are fine. The dangerous one is Skola. Oknodie isn’t acting like herself today. The chain that restricted her actions while pretending to be an ordinary student has come undone.”
If it’s against Oknodie, who had leisurely enjoyed her life at the academy while giving a lenient view, then even challenging her with ambushes from mounts could be easily tolerated.
If Oknodie were that child, she would think, ‘this is fun’ after receiving such challenges.
But what about her now?
Would she think, ‘I should stomp on this because it’s annoying’ after being challenged again?
The clash that was prevented by Myung So.
A one-on-one match for real swords.
Ishtar remembers that moment.
“Oknodie’s potential… if that child were to unleash her true skill, even the top combat experts of the upper class couldn’t guarantee safety.”
“Then if Skola were to inadvertently upset Oknodie…”
“She might lose her life or suffer a permanent disability equivalent to that.”
The urgency to break through the Mamoks intensified.
*
“Hero, you’re incredible.”
It was Lotto speaking, but Hestia and Jigoku also nodded in agreement.
“So many traces of the Mamoks being smashed here.”
“Because they’re the hero.”
“Sounds like a dirty attribute quarreler. If I piled up enough attribute pellets, I could do that too.”
Oknodie, who had been stalling the second-year students, saw her tyranny come to an end as Warrior Ishtar advanced while crushing the Mamoks. It was, of course, only a partial victory. As Ishtar and her Warrior Party comrade, Yufi, advanced by annihilating the Mamoks, the other Mamoks followed Oknodie’s command and passed by the stairs together.
“Wahh!”
“Ugh! There’s still a Mamok hiding!”
Was Oknodie’s control lost in the process of the hero rampaging?
The twisted, fearsome shapes resembling the fiends of hell softened, and the sprouting branches looked rather tame.
“What kind of trick did she pull? Transforming ordinary Mamoks to something that just sprang from hell like a Hell Creature?”
Hestia felt uneasy.
Oknodie’s power seemed too abnormal.
Normally, the amount of dark mana involved in monster enhancement isn’t ordinary.
Let alone control.
Let’s not even mention handling such numerous monsters.
This isn’t something that could be completed in a day or two.
It makes no sense unless she possesses a mana amount transcending humans or harbors extreme dark, death, or necromancy resistances allowing her to wield pure dark mana.
“Uwaah, Hestia! I’m alive, I’m alive!”
“Dorothy? You were definitely… Oknodie’s friend, right?”
“Yup! Let’s go together. I thought I was going to die evading those second-years to get here!”
“…Sorry. Can I ask you for a favor?”
Bright and cheerful apprentice Forest Guardian Dorothy, resembling Oknodie.
The eerie and unsettling skilled swordsman Rockbell always hovering around her.
Now that the battle lines between the first and second years were drawn, there was no reason to hesitate inviting fellow first-year competent students to join.
“Let’s go together.”
At the top of the stairs, students from the Imperial faction were indiscriminately attacking others trying to pass through the stairs, seemingly intending to repeat what Oknodie had done.
This was why Hestia, Jigoku, and Lotto hesitated to step over the stairs.
“Can five people take this challenge?”
“Guess we’ll have to see.”
One cannot rush into this battleground with hurried breaths and exhausted bodies.
Dorothy and Rockbell, who joined urgently, had time to catch their breath and prepare before the clash.
“A Mamok? That thing must have learned how to act.”
Dorothy, who had been overly vigilant about the Mamoks for a while, unexpectedly mentioned as if she had an insight.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean Professor Sadako’s cursed pet tree, Poppy. There’s a crazy tree that roams deep in the academy forest.”
“…You mean you guys encountered something like that?”
“Yeah. In hindsight, Oknodie went to the forest from the beginning to find that tree. Selling bloodstones to buy carriage passes and gathering materials was all part of her plan to transform Mamoks into something like Poppy for use in the midterm exam!”
As they listened to the detailed story about Poppy and Professor Sadako, the expressions of everyone darkened.
There was too much information.
This was beyond what an ordinary student should possess.
The foundation’s assistance was now an undeniable fact.
Tasks like enhancing and manipulating Mamoks with this discomfort are undoubtedly orders issued by the foundation.
The study of monster enhancement isn’t an easy discipline that can be casually tackled with just collecting materials.
If even the attributes are incorrectly assigned, physical balance collapses, and enhancement could end up worse than not enhancing at all.
Blocked veins can choke the breath out of them and uncontrolled violence can lead to assaulting sorcerers.
To successfully enhance monsters while taking all those risks and even dominate many simultaneously requires outrageous trial and error and specialized training.
It’s early education. Once again, the foundation has done something.
Another agenda was added to Oknodie’s grim past.
“Oknodie, is there a student she wants to eliminate? If she’s trying to set records by herself, there’s no reason to keep dragging around so many Mamoks.”
Dorothy’s question was reasonable.
The monsters are strong.
But competent individuals can overcome them.
The Northern Grand Duchess from Group A froze the Mamoks solid.
The Warrior from Group B smashed them with holy power.
The Lightning Sorcerer from Group C zapped the ground with lightning and blasted the Mamoks away.
“Could it be a curse?”
“A curse?”
“The Poppy Oknodie used as material for monster enhancement was a tree plagued with cursed waste hanging from it.”
A sense of foreboding intensified.
“You shall not pass!”
“I’ll eliminate everyone here who isn’t loyal to the Empire!”
Swinging a spear threateningly was Horner Fried Chicken, a member of the Three Great Meritorious Families of the Empire. Mischievously harassing others, Hestia found herself oddly reluctant to fight.
“You guys, it’s not the time to be standing around here. You saw Oknodie took the Mamoks to the river.”
“Who cares? We’re not scared!”
“There might be a curse added to the Mamoks.”
“…A curse? There’s no such lecture in the first semester?”
“Maybe she’s trying to apply something learned from the foundation.”
“Why tell us about it?”
“Oknodie… seems like she’s going to do something really bad. If we can stop it, I want to join forces.”
Dark Princess Oknodie.
Chief Scholarship Student of the Foundation.
That dangerous child is intent on something.
“…Hmph. Only until the next interval.”
Unable to suppress the inner dread, Horner Fried Chicken accepted Hestia’s peace agreement.
As they passed the stairs and reached the Ironman Triathlon’s second interval, a whirlpool swirled in the river.
Horner sincerely thought it was a relief to have accepted the proposal.
“What’s everyone doing here?”
“I can’t cross the river.”
Most of the students who got to the river before them were crouching by the bank in their swimsuits, staring blankly across, looking desolate.
“Why?”
“There’s a whirlpool above that pushes you down.”
“Then just go down.”
“The Mamoks went under the river.”
“What!?”
“They’ve extended their branches to block the way.”
“What! That means people will die!”
“That’s the problem.”
“Murders?! That’s grounds for disqualification!”
The instructor guarding the river met Horner’s gaze and revealed a shocking fact.
“It’s not disqualification.”
“Why?!”
“Because it’s the Mamoks’ doing.”
“Huh? The Mamoks are being controlled by Oknodie!”
“You don’t get it, do you? Oknodie stopped controlling them.”
“What?”
“It means she released the Mamoks and let them roam freely from the riverbed.”
“That’s… that’s unfair!”
“There’s no stipulation against releasing Mamoks to obstruct students crossing the river. Furthermore, Oknodie is helping students to cross the river without assaulting them.”
“You’ve got to be trolling, calling that help!”
“Oknodie is currently controlling the Mamoks to prevent them from attacking those passing by.”
The first-year students who had just reached the river belatedly realized why the other students were in a state of partial surrender.
Oknodie had blocked the way.
And raised the difficulty.
All through clever methods that didn’t breach the rules.
“Horner, don’t slack off. Come sit with us.”
“The water’s rather clear…”
Horner couldn’t hide his astonishment at seeing the other two heirs of the Three Great Meritorious Families of the Empire, Cheddar Potato Pizza and Leff Iron Charcoal Barbecue, who had already arrived.
“You guys are stuck here too?”
“Not ‘you guys.’ It’s just us.”
“Us?”
“More accurately, we need to say it’s the Imperial faction.”
At last, the remaining students surveyed each other’s faces.
They realized.
“Those guys… aren’t friendly with Oknodie.”
Oknodie was intentionally picking out which students were to advance to the third section and which ones to remain stuck in the second section from across the river.
