*Hrrrgh… Huh…*
*Haah… Haah…*
“Everyone, be quiet.”
Aintz frowned and turned to look back at the commotion.
He couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of his four teammates.
All four of them were stumbling around with glazed eyes.
It was obvious their condition was not good.
“Shall we take a short break?”
“Please… Antidote…”
Aintz sneaked a glance at the glass vial of blue liquid in his pocket.
They were all demanding the antidote due to Mana Energy Addiction symptoms.
However, Aintz himself didn’t feel too burdened yet.
There were two possibilities.
One was that Aintz’s Mana Energy decomposition ability was far superior to others.
The other was that his teammates were just overreacting.
Thinking of the latter possibility, Aintz scrutinized his teammates with a doubtful gaze.
“Here. Just take a sip. No more than that.”
In the end, Aintz handed over the antidote.
If it turned out to be the first possibility, it would be a disaster.
Saving the antidote might ruin the entire practice exam.
He couldn’t shake the thought that it felt like a waste, but he ultimately decided to avoid the risk.
“Everyone feeling a bit better now?”
“Uh, yeah. I feel a bit more energized now.”
“Then let’s keep low and quiet. I spotted some Black Hounds.”
*…!*
The teammates quickly lowered their bodies and hid in the bushes.
Black Hounds? Where?
They couldn’t sense the presence of the Black Hounds at all.
The thick Mana Energy was hindering the flow of Mana.
But Aintz, with his superior vision, could see through the dark fog.
He saw the Black Hounds drooling and running towards somewhere.
“At 1 o’clock. About 50 of them.”
“Uh. I see them.”
“If we catch them all, we’ll definitely pass the exam.”
But did they really need to catch them all?
Catching just 20 would be more beneficial for time management.
Though some team members would be in danger due to their slower legs.
Aintz had such thoughts but didn’t voice them.
As long as he got rid of the 20th and used his teammates as bait to escape himself, it was all good.
“They’re fast. It might be best to use Pinpoint Sniping with all five of us.”
“No. Leave it to me.”
Now it was his turn to step up.
Aintz grinned and stepped forward.
The Black Hounds were completely unaware of his presence, running in a pack.
If he unleashed a Wide-area Magic now, he could wipe out at least 10 of them in one go.
It was a perfect opportunity to make a big impression.
“I’ll wipe them all out in one go.”
“Hey. Just don’t waste your mana too much…”
“What? Waste? If it weren’t for my magic, we’d have been caught by bandits on the mountain.”
*…*
And it was because of you we had to put out a forest fire and walk all the way to Whist Forest.
That thought was on the tip of the teammates’ tongues.
Aintz was starting to get angry, but no one could stop him.
After all, he was the heir candidate of one of the three great noble families and had the most outstanding abilities among them.
“Watch closely. If I line it up just right, I can take out 20 in one go… huh?”
The expression of Aintz, who had his thumb stretched out to gauge the distance, changed.
The Black Hounds, which had been running in an orderly manner, suddenly became erratic.
They scattered in all directions as if they’d encountered a predator in front of them.
“Wha… What the hell?”
*Boom!*
A green figure burst out from behind a large tree.
A couple of Black Hounds that were struck by its swinging club let out whimpers and sprayed blood as they scattered.
As it angrily snorted, the face of the bipedal monster was revealed.
A massive figure, like three or four times that of a human.
An ugly appearance resembling a pig.
And long tusks.
It was a mid-grade magical beast, an Orc.
“Why the heck is an Orc here?!”
“Shh!”
Aintz quickly covered the mouth of the stunned teammate who was panicking.
Suppressing his shaking, Aintz fell deep into thought.
Today, the stillness of the Mana Energy fog meant that the movement patterns of magical beasts were fixed.
In other words, it shouldn’t be possible for a lower-grade magical beast like the Black Hound to encounter a mid-grade one like the Orc.
Did we misread the map and venture too deep?
Or had the Black Hounds gone mad and stumbled into the high-density Mana Energy zone?
Believing that both unlikely events happening simultaneously would be foolish.
The more plausible scenario was a disaster.
“The Orcs… are hunting the Black Hounds…!”
“Will you be quiet for real?”
The turmoil of Mana Energy.
That explained everything.
The Black Hounds fleeing from high-density Mana Energy.
And the Orcs, who were escaping high-density Mana Energy only to encounter and beat up the Black Hounds.
The Mana density in Whist Forest was definitely changing.
And at a considerable speed.
It wouldn’t make sense for two groups of magical beasts to collide without that being the case.
*Haa…*
As if to prove that Aintz’s thoughts were correct, the sky began to darken.
Pitch-black fog started to sweep over the forest.
It was already dark with the dense trees, but now it felt like nighttime.
*Hrrg… Haah…*
*Hah… Hah… Haaah…*
As a cherry on top, Aintz’s teammates were already showing symptoms of Mana Energy Addiction.
He could now be certain.
This was not just smoke.
With their faces turning pale and vomiting, how could that be smoke?
Slowly, Aintz began to feel dizzy as his head spun.
‘Couldn’t I just drink all the antidote myself?’
After all, even if he fed them the antidote, they’d be back to that state within three minutes, whining away.
It’d be more advantageous to retreat all the teammates, drink all the antidote myself, and wipe everything out in top condition.
That would also earn him extra points.
Aintz seriously contemplated such thoughts, but—
– With great power, comes great responsibility. Remember that, Aintz.
Recalling Schlus’s words, he drooped his head.
Great power refers to my superior Mana Energy decomposition ability.
Having such an ability meant a responsibility to show consideration for those who couldn’t handle it.
That’s the proper attitude of a noble.
“Here. After taking a sip, we’ll retreat right away. Be careful not to make any sound while drinking.”
He handed over the vial that was half full.
After taking a sip, there wouldn’t be any left.
But that was alright.
He could withstand Mana better than the others.
So this level of sacrifice was appropriate.
Aintz began to slightly understand the meaning of Schlus’s words.
“Here, Aintz.”
“Then let’s set out…”
As Aintz mindlessly took the glass vial, he blanked out.
There was still half a sip of the antidote left in the vial.
Looking around at his teammates, they were all smiling at him, having improved their condition.
Aintz shook his head and gulped down the antidote.
Though it was only half a sip, it was enough.
His narrowed vision expanded, and his body started to move smoothly without delay.
“Guys, we’re going to charge between those two big trees when we retreat. I’ll intercept the monsters following from the back. When my mana gets low, the person at the front should come to the back and switch places. We’ll repeat this until we get out of the forest. Got it?”
“Okay.”
“Understood.”
The students nodded with a determined look in their eyes.
They couldn’t afford to wait for all the monsters to disappear.
They would soon get addicted to Mana Energy again.
Moreover, with the Mana Energy fog advancing in real-time, the time to get Mana Energy Addiction would have become significantly shorter.
“Run!”
Aintz and the teammates kicked the ground and started running.
At the same time, their Internal Circuits activated, enhancing their bodies to the limit.
Before they knew it, they were racing through the forest at a speed comparable to a horse.
“Ugh! They’re swarming in!”
The Orcs, having noticed, rushed in at breakneck speed.
They were not lagging in speed.
Some of them were even faster than the rest.
“I’ll turn them to dust… huh?”
As Aintz waited for the Orcs to gather behind him, extending his hand to aim for a spell, he was horrified.
The Orc pack was spreading out wide to the sides.
‘No way, are they trying to minimize the damage from my area magic…?’
So the Orcs’ intelligence was incomparably superior to that of Black Hounds.
Aintz clicked his tongue and wiped the Wide-area Spell.
It seemed better to use Pinpoint Magic to take out the Orcs following closely one by one.
“Ugh! An Orc right in front!”
“What?!”
His teammates suddenly came to a stop in a panic.
Unable to keep up with the speed, Aintz dashed out from among them—
*Hrk!*
*Grrraagh!*
He kicked the Orc that appeared in front of him right in the chest.
The creature’s ribs caved in severely as it flew back and fell, never to rise again.
“Damn…”
But it wasn’t just one Orc that appeared in front of him.
There were dozens… No, perhaps hundreds.
They had taken a shortcut and blocked the front.
Now, Orcs were closing in from behind as well.
“We’re surrounded! What do we do?!”
“Calm down, everyone. We’ll break through with precise shots. See that area where the Orcs are comparably fewer? Let’s go there—”
*Hrrg… Hah… I can’t hold on anymore…*
To make matters worse, one teammate was showing symptoms of addiction.
With all their firepower concentrated, their condition was already plummeting to the worst.
‘I have to do it all myself.’
Since I’m the only one still standing here well.
Aintz clenched his fist, thinking like that.
He planned to shoot a light fire spell lightly to create a barrier of flames and pierce through the Orcs over there…
In the midst of formulating such strategies, suddenly—
*Whizzing…*
“Huh?”
An icy chill suddenly began to envelop him.
It wasn’t an illusion.
Frost began forming on the leaves of the bush in real-time.
How could this happen in the summer?
*Zzzzzt…!*
At that moment, a whirlwind swept in, surrounding everything.
Aintz and his teammates shielded their eyes from the gust, only to gasp in shock.
All the Orcs were freeze solid, unable to move.
“Hey there. Trying to burn down the forest, huh?”
*…!*
A playful voice echoed out.
Although he hadn’t felt their presence until now, at this moment, it was a welcome relief.
Perched on a tree and grinning down was Sergey’s teaching assistant.
