The Academy’s Ankle Reaper

The two-headed fierce dog, Orthos, unleashed flames that surged with a tremendous aura.

The flames spread at an incredible speed, devouring the barricade placed right in front of the three with unwavering force.

Flames powerful enough to consume all three closed in right before them.

“Stone Wall!”

As the intense heat of the flames pressed in, a thick wall of rock erupted from the ground.

Rio, seeing Orthos with flames in its mouth, had prepared the spell just in time.

It all happened so quickly that had there been even a slight delay, they would have been turned into roasted meat.

But the danger was far from over.

– That won’t hold it back.

A companion whispered in Amy’s ear.

The stone wall created by Rio wasn’t just a simple rectangular barrier; it was a rounded half-spherical defensive wall.

Unlike a flat wall, it had a shape that could deflect the fierce flames pouring out in all directions, and even now, the flames were visibly dispersing at the edges of the wall.

The solid rocks seemed to hold back Orthos’s flames remarkably well, yet the intensity of the fire didn’t diminish; instead, it continued to heat the rocks more and more.

“Ugh… Clay Wall…!!”

Rio’s expression twisted as he cast another spell.

Clay sprung up from the ground, encasing the sturdy rock wall as it quickly climbed over.

The intent was to cool the surface of the rocks with the moisture from the clay and reinforce the wall’s durability.

The effect was impressive.

The now thicker wall seemed to block Orthos’s flames with ease thanks to the clay.

‘We’ve got it blocked!’

– No, there’s still ‘one head’ left.

Before the companion’s words had even finished, the intensity of the flames they thought they might have blocked suddenly doubled.

Until now, the two-headed Orthos had only been using one mouth to spew flames, but now it unleashed fire from both heads.

“Wahhhh?!!”

The already heated air became unbearably hotter, to the point that just breathing felt like it would burn their throat.

The clay protecting the rock wall cracked, and the rocks behind it began to heat up in an instant.

“Rio, let’s dodge together!”

“Got it!”

Convinced that they could no longer hold it back, Amy picked up Rio and, along with River, quickly fled while the defensive wall held.

As they were exposed to the heat spilling out from the wall, it felt like they were going to burn up, but it was far better than taking a direct hit from those flames.

Strengthened by their auras, the two quickly got out of harm’s way, and right after, the heavily heated rocks crumbled to ash under the flames.

Both Stone Wall and Clay Wall were excellent defensive spells that would normally perform outstandingly against elemental fire magic, but they proved insufficient to handle Orthos’s flames.

“What the hell is that monster…?”

Amy’s team, having escaped to the trees, watched the ground engulfed in flames created by Orthos.

The scorching heat surrounding them made everyone sweat profusely.

And at the end of their gaze, Orthos, the very cause of this fiery inferno, leisurely walked atop the hell of flames it had created.

It seemed that it hadn’t noticed them yet.

Upon closer inspection, its eyes appeared unfocused, and with a growl echoing from all around, it raised questions about whether it even had any awareness at all.

“There’s no way we can handle that… Why is such a monster in the Hunting Festival…?”

Rio was significantly shocked to find that his dual defense magic had been broken.

Rio, who specialized in earth element magic, had spells with much greater resistance to fire than average water element spells.

Yet, those powerful defenses were utterly shattered due to pure force alone.

An output that transcended elemental affinities… it meant facing a being far beyond his own capabilities.

It was an enemy he couldn’t hope to contend with.

“… Can we escape?”

River briefly recalled Orthos’s speed and the flames it spewed.

Even if they turned and fled from here, it was uncertain whether they could safely escape.

Even at a distance, they wouldn’t be free from the flames spewed from its two heads.

They might not have been detected yet… but how much longer could they last?

“This is… an accident. Let’s all take off our rings and go back before it gets more dangerous.”

“… If we stop here, we won’t have a chance to win.”

The Hunting Festival usually starts in the morning and goes on until sunset.

Though they had hunted many monsters, if they gave up now, they would be quickly overtaken by other students who would continue hunting for several more hours.

“Amy, that’s not the point right now. With something like that showing up, this Hunting Festival is already abnormal. We could die if we stubbornly hold on.”

“What if we were just unlucky and met it first? If we hang on, the professors might come and deal with it, allowing the festival to continue.”

She spoke confidently, yet Amy was just as anxious beneath her surface.

She knew about the monster Orthos but had never seen it in person.

The overwhelming speed that could close the distance in an instant, the fierce flames that couldn’t be blocked even by proper defensive magic—clearly, it was a powerful creature that was beyond her ability to handle at present.

She didn’t particularly enjoy fighting.

Life was precious, and she hated getting hurt or feeling pain.

She wasn’t one to feel joy in battling strong opponents like River did.

Amy tightly gripped the mithril alloy sword in her hand.

It was the sword Atlas had given to Amy, encouraging her that she could surely win the Hunting Festival.

She wanted to repay that expectation.

“As optimistic as that sounds, it’s still too naïve. If it weren’t for you, we would have suffered serious injuries.

If we were a team without a magician, we’d be dead.

There’s no way the Hunting Festival could proceed with something like that around, right?”

“If they were thinking straight, they wouldn’t have said to prepare the festival in two weeks.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I… I…”

Rio was troubled.

He deeply felt the significant gap between himself and Orthos.

If they were discovered here, he wouldn’t have the confidence to run away.

But he was desperate enough to risk his life.

If he didn’t win here, if he couldn’t claim the prize, it would be as if he was dead.

He wouldn’t be able to graduate from the Academy or pay for his tuition and would end up on the streets.

Without paying tuition, he’d be kicked out of the dormitory, thrown out of the Academy grounds, and if he wasn’t an Academy student, he wouldn’t be able to take the regular ship, forcing him to walk across the bridge.

Even after leaving the Academy, he’d struggle.

Her house was far away from the Academy.

If she weren’t a student anymore… she might never return home.

“I don’t want to end things here… I’ll at least try to hide as best as I can…”

As Rio expressed his reluctance to give up here, River clutched her throbbing head.

She understood their mindset, but it all became pointless if they died.

Yet, she couldn’t simply toss away her ring alone either.

“This truly is a suicidal act… But if you’re so confident, then you must have some way to figure this out right now?”

“Well, aside from just hiding so I don’t get spotted, there’s really nothing else…”

River grabbed Amy’s hand as she bluntly stated without changing her expression.

“Get your fingers away from me this instant.”

“Ahhhh, I was just joking. The atmosphere is too serious, so I tried to lighten it up a bit.”

Amy quickly pulled her hand back and spoke.

“I do have a plan; first, we need to call others here for a joint attack…”

“Calling other students over will just mean we all die together, right?”

They were facing a monster that even a top-tier team in the Academy felt they couldn’t handle.

Bringing other students would only add to the number of charred remains.

But Amy had a different meaning in mind.

“I’m not talking about calling students. Since we’re in trouble, we need to call the ‘professors’ watching the Hunting Festival.”

It didn’t look like something prepared for the festival, so there was no need for the students to deal with it.

If they summoned the professors, they would handle it diligently.

They weren’t in a life-threatening situation yet, so if they could hold out until the professors arrived, the aggro would turn toward them.

“Then they need to be called…”

[Grrooooor…!!]

As Amy was about to explain the plan, a sudden scorching gaze was felt from below.

“Did it see us?”

“No way, right?”

“I think it did…?”

Did it truly see them? They all directed their gaze downward.

[Grrroooor….!!]

Then their eyes met Orthos, who had lifted its head.

“It definitely saw us!!”

Fiery red flames spewed out once more from Orthos’s mouth.

——————————The professors of the Academy, including Principal Gordon, were closely monitoring the situation of the Hunting Festival near the Black Forest.

At the start, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual.

They found signs of the ‘Ring of Records’ being used in multiple places, and the surveillance crystal orbs they had scattered were functioning well.

“No irregularities so far…”

The scores coming through the Ring of Records were being updated on the blackboard.

The most notable were the Swordsmanship Research Club and Lemnos’s team.

Having won two years ago, the Swordsmanship Research Club showcased their experienced skills again this time.

Lemnos’s team, the only team formed with five pillars, was also impressive.

Lemnos, successful in forming a team of elves and beastmen, hunted monsters with astonishing speed.

Unless something unexpected occurred, one of these two teams was predicted to take home the victory.

Then, anomalies began to unfold.

“… Principal, the crystal orbs in Zones 3-A and 4-X have gone offline.”

“Go replace them with new ones.”

A few crystals had malfunctioned.

Such incidents occurred frequently, and he dismissed it casually, instructing them to just get replacements.

Sometimes crystals broke when students fought and occasionally due to monster interference.

There was no need to panic; the issue would be resolved by bringing new ones and setting them up.

“Zones 3-B and 1-E have also gone offline.”

“Just go and…”

“Zones 5-C through 5-F have sequentially gone offline.”

“…..”

It was sudden.

The crystal orbs began malfunctioning all at once, and the speed at which it was happening, along with the simultaneous occurrences in multiple locations, caused the professors to feel unsettled.

As they saw the crystals breaking down one after another, the professors grew increasingly alarmed.

“This… is bad… something has gone wrong again…”

The principal let out a deep sigh and rose from his seat.

Among the professors watching the principal, one person held their breath.