chapter 21
One of Xian’s party members, who hid among the trees and bushes and pursued Conrad as if he were tailing him, could not stand the question that arose and finally opened his mouth.
“How far are you going to go, you guys?”
The distance already covered would have been closer to 30 minutes.
No matter how much the hunting festival is said to be the entire Demon Forest, it was already undeniable that Conrad’s party had reached a fairly deep place.
Naturally, uneasy feelings began to rise among her party members little by little.
“Can I just follow you like this? Wouldn’t it be better if we just started hunting on our own?”
“I just heard those kids talking.”
“Your ears are bright. What did you say?”
“A monster that seems to be extremely dangerous will appear within a minute’s distance of running. The prisoner woman said so.”
Xian calmly analyzed the situation and made the most certain decision to win.
The attitude that made him so sure of winning that he rejected his offer.
Conrad’s remarks were never easily overlooked by Xi’an.
“I heard it, and I can feel it too? I’m not sure, but instinctively you have a sense of danger, don’t you?”
The leopard beastman who was running with a spear agreed with her, and Xian added an explanation.
“From what the party leader is talking about, I think that’s probably the end goal.”
“Then, just catching that means winning the hunting festival, right? It’s simple.”
“Okay, let’s move quickly.”
Xian’s party increased their running speed and overtook Conrad’s party.
Originally, it was made up of members mainly based on mobility, so it could move much faster than a party with wizards mixed in.
Within 10 seconds of their run, they were able to grasp what the spearman’s sense of danger was.
“Keee!!!”
A creepy voice like scratching on a chalkboard spread through the forest.
A monster in the form of a giant bear with the face of an owl.
As soon as I saw a monster that far surpassed the size of an ordinary owl bear.
The four people, including Xian, were convinced in unison.
The group that catches and returns to that monster will be the winner of this hunting festival.
“All ready for battle!”
In line with Xian’s command, the bodies of the four people, including her, promptly lined up.
A few dozen seconds before Conrad’s party arrived, the battle between the Great Owl Bear and the Cyan party began.
Without realizing that the individual was a dangerous mutant, not a monster that stopped at a simple Great Owl Bear.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
While running frantically across the Demon Forest, a strange sensation suddenly crossed my mind.
It was about 10 seconds after hearing Lulu’s final target location report.
“Something is strange.”
“what?”
“I can’t feel the magic of Xi’an’s party.”
I was vaguely feeling the energy that seemed to be following us as if it were tailing us.
I felt a sense of incongruity at the sudden disappearance of Xian-senpai from a few seconds ago.
“Come to think of it, it is. I didn’t notice it because I was only heightening my senses about monsters, but all of a sudden, the people around me disappeared.”
The vast magical power of senior Xian was not something that could be hidden just because he wanted to.
Although Xian-senpai is in the archery department, not the magic department, she is an elf from the famous ‘Forest of the World Tree’.
He was also the only elf among the students currently attending the academy.
So even though he had to be able to feel that energy when he was around, with the amount of magical power of senior Xian.
I felt a sense of incongruity at the sudden loss of her magical energy.
“Can’t you just give up on disturbing us and hunt in a different place with your party members?”
“Then I’m glad… .”
Xi’an senior’s party was without a doubt a gathering where each and every one was talented.
Excluding senior Xian, I can’t say that all the other three party members are the strongest in each department, but
Most of the monsters in the Demon Forest were probably able to be dealt with on the party line.
If it is not for the purpose of our party today, ‘mutant great owl bear’.
Even a normal Great Owl Bear would have a level of difficulty comparable to that of Xian-senpai’s party.
The object we had to hunt today was, after all, a variant of it.
If left alone, he would come to the students conducting the hunting festival and cause considerable damage to life and property.
If you attack without proper preparation in advance, no, no matter how well prepared you attack.
Xian-senpai’s party and the guy we were hunting today didn’t get along very well.
… A cool sensation running down his spine foreshadowed a sudden ominous intuition.
“Something is unsettling, let’s move as quickly as possible.”
“yes.”
“all right!”
I increased my speed a little more and broke through as quickly as I could to where he was.
I hope this ominous prediction that popped into my head didn’t come true.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
“Keee!!”
A gigantic monster stood tall on its own two feet and let out a horrifying cry.
Around the Great Owl Bear, as if there had been a fierce battle just now, four people who were still breathing were lying in different places.
Among them, only one green-haired elf archer was able to come to his senses.
‘What happened?’
While his whole body was paralyzed and the pain remained, Xian rolled his eyes and grasped the situation as much as possible.
As soon as the battle started, I remembered until an unknown attack flew.
As a result, one of his juniors, a student in the archery club, was the first to fall.
Likewise, after being hit by the same attack a few seconds apart, the whole body is paralyzed. The appearance of a colleague from the swordsmanship department who was blown away by Owlbear’s heavy hand.
Even the appearance of a student in the spearmanship department who was taken aback by a missing colleague and was unable to avoid the next attack and collapsed in the same attack.
For what reason did the other three collapse without warning?
At first, I couldn’t even figure out the principle.
“Kyaaa… !!”
Eventually, after the same attack penetrated his own body, Xian was able to figure out which attack the monster in front of him used.
A strong, hot blow that seemed to burn the entire body.
A movement without notice that was too much for the eyes to follow.
And even for a brief moment, a flash flashed in front of her eyes.
‘Blitz… .’
It wasn’t long after that that I figured out that the identity of the unknown attack was a thunderbolt.
The war situation had already been completely ruined beyond her control.
‘Careless, I did… .’
I was thinking nonchalantly.
I thought that if it was about the monsters that came out of the demon forest, I would be able to catch them all with my own hands no matter what jumped out.
No matter what attack method appeared, he only knew that with his agility, he would be able to dodge them all.
Similarly, the party that Xian made to win this hunting festival was also made up of people specializing in agility like her.
Being able to fight while dodging attacks was their strength.
Being hit and holding on wasn’t the style of the party she created.
After allowing such a strong blow once, there was no group member who could continue the battle intact.
‘why… .’
I wonder if it’s magic that uses water or wind as a medium.
The fact that it was a monster with an electric attack itself was already far beyond the level of a monster that would emerge from the forest of demons.
Not to mention, the monster called the Great Owl Bear, which uses electric attacks, was an unusual variant that she had never heard of in her entire life.
I shouldn’t have been conceited.
After analyzing the opponent enough, I had to avoid the fight and avoid the seat.
It wasn’t a monster that could be caught at the student level.
It was not an attack that could be avoided unless it was divided into 10,000 pieces of 1 second and moved.
In order to defeat that guy, he would have to bring at least three gold-level monster hunters.
“Keee!!”
The terrifying monster’s voice hit Xian’s ears once again.
It was an approaching move to find the only conscious woman left and finish it off with certainty.
‘Here, you die… .’
Whether it’s getting hit by the same electric shock again, or whether that huge hand crushes Xian’s body.
Perhaps the moment she allowed a second attack, she would surely lose her life.
It was something I had imagined as something I might experience someday, but I didn’t know that I would face my end like this in a place like this.
Xian regretted his arrogance in his heart.
A meaningless death that accomplished nothing was the kind of death she least wanted.
Of course, death doesn’t escape her just because Xian doesn’t want to.
Not wanting to face the lightning that was flying towards her, she quietly closed her eyes and prayed one last time.
If there is a miracle, I hope that at least the other comrades will be safe.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
‘Pajik!’
With a sound, the mutant monster’s attack rode through my magic barrier and scattered in all directions.
In the process of properly grasping the situation right in front of my eyes, the first thing that caught my eye was Xian sunbaenim who was lying down.
The next thing that came in was the shape of a Great Owlbear moving towards her.
Without even a moment to hesitate, I quickly jumped forward and split the gap between her and the monster with my body.
He succeeded in blocking the lightning attack by using the magic barrier he had been preparing right away.
The timing was like a miracle.
With all of Xian-senpai’s party members lying in a state of incapacity to fight, the one who stopped the Owl Bear trying to finish her off.
Even if he had arrived just a few seconds late, Xian-senpai’s body would have been terribly disfigured by the Great Owl Bear’s electric shock.
Or, being crushed by the forelimbs of a monster, met a disastrous end.
“Senior Xian!”
I shouted her name, hoping it wasn’t too late.
The surname Rudflika was too long, so I shortened it a bit.
It seemed that he had passed out, but his eyes were closed, but it was clear that he was alive and not dead.
It was because the vast amount of magical energy she felt right next to her was telling him that Xian-senpai was still alive.
“Conrad Perdalos?”
She opened her eyes and heard my name coming from her mouth.
Those eyes that seemed to be looking at nothingness gradually began to grow as if they were seeing something surprising.
“Did you stop it? how… ?”
“No time to explain! Just answer this one!”
“What… ?”
“The Great Owl Bear variant in front of you, is Xian-senpai’s party going to finish it?”
“… … ?!”
Her head shook violently from side to side.
To the extent that it is clearly recognizable as an expression of denial that anyone can see.
“Really? So even if our party kills him, we won’t talk about anything else later?!”
This time, the head nodded strongly up and down like a click doll.
Since he even got permission from the party leader Xian, there won’t be any room for gossip.
Of course, even if she had refused to help, I would have defeated the monster in front of me.
“Stella, Lulu! Quickly take Xian-senpai and the others to a safe place!”
“Ah Okay!”
“All right!”
While I was drawing the attention of the Great Owl Bear, Stella and Lulu were busy moving.
While checking that senior Xian’s party was being moved to a safe place one by one.
I focused on blocking the lightning attack so that the raging monster couldn’t turn its attention to the other side.
“It’s done now, Senior Conrad!”
When everyone was finally safe, Stella shouted at me.
“Keee!!”
The voice was so loud, of course, that Great Owl Bear’s attention was directed to Stella, not to me.
“Hey, you asshole! Your opponent is me!”
I also immediately let out a louder voice and threw the broadsword inside my cloak at him.
The broadsword flew quickly along the grain of wind magic and pierced the guy’s side, digging into the inside.
“Keee!!”
The guy who let out a strange scream shifted his attention to me.