Chapter 88

Chapter 88. Search (2)

One day earlier.

The group under Katrine’s charge, which had been transported to the sealed grounds, quickly adapted to the unfamiliar environment.

“Bria and Leonel will take the front. Ride and Jesus will support from the rear. Mirisa, when a monster appears, use your ability on Leonel.”

“Yes!”

Like the other groups, she placed the two students from the Knight Department in the front and positioned the two students from the Inherited Ability Department and Mirisa from the Administration Department behind them.

She had Mirisa use her ability on Leonel, whose ability was lacking among the Knight Department students.

Bria was one of the top three in the Knight Department, and Ride from the Inherited Ability Department was from an impressive house and had excellent ability, enough that he had even taken the new-student pledge.

On top of that, Katrine was protecting the students from behind, so Katrine’s group could fight the monsters without particular difficulty.

Graaaaar!

A blue-furred monster shaped like a bear rose onto its hind legs and let out a roar.

Its face was distorted. Blue flames burned inside its mouth.

Bria and Leonel blocked the monster from the front, and the monster shot out blue flames.

FWOOOOOSH!

The flames that burst from its mouth shot in an entirely different direction, not toward the two students blocking it.

“Well done!”

“I cannot hold it for long because its resistance is strong!”

Ride, who had been stretching his hand toward the monster, gasped for breath.

The two students from the Knight Department attacked the monster during that opening.

The monster shook its head in confusion.

Thanks to that, it could not withstand the other students’ attacks, and it soon collapsed without Katrine needing to step forward.

“Student Ride, good work. Your ability is useful for dealing with monsters.”

At Katrine’s words, Ride smiled bitterly even as he gasped for breath.

“Even so, my house does not acknowledge it very much.”

At his words, Katrine wore an apologetic expression.

That was because Ride’s ability was not his house’s ability, but an ability from his mother’s side, his maternal family.

In any case, Katrine’s group, which had been steadily moving forward while defeating monsters, soon came to a stop.

One old corpse, with only armor and bones remaining, had stopped their steps.

“Is this a knight? It is a fairly old corpse…….”

“Could it be an academy knight?”

“Is it not an imperial knight?”

At Katrine’s words, the students who approached the corpse began murmuring.

“Mm. The emblem still remains on the armor. Judging from the emblem…… it seems to be a knight of House Chaifri.”

All the students looked at Ride.

He approached the corpse and stroked the old armor.

“It is indeed the armor of our knight order. It is probably one of the knights who went on an expedition to the sealed grounds and failed to return.”

The sealed grounds, where the final battle between the Demon King and the Heroes had taken place, and where humanity and the monsters had fought a bloody struggle, had become a restricted zone because of the remaining monsters.

However, even after it was designated as forbidden, many houses, nations, and individuals sent knight orders, mercenaries, and ability users to the sealed grounds.

It was an extremely dangerous place, but for that very reason, it was also a land of opportunity.

In the sealed grounds, the belongings and relics of Heroes, knights, soldiers, and priests buried in this land during the battle against the Demon King continued to be discovered.

It was also a place still filled with remaining dungeons and monsters from which valuable by-products could be obtained.

Ride collected the old sword lying beside the corpse with a calm face.

It seemed he intended to take it as the knight’s relic.

‘It does not seem as old as I first thought. Around fifty years?’

Upon closer inspection, the corpse was not as old as it looked on the surface, but since it was still a corpse over fifty years old, it was highly likely that Ride knew nothing about it. His calm attitude was not especially strange either.

After everyone silently prayed for the corpse, they set off again. Ride, who remained beside the corpse until the end, took a ring out of his bag.

He put the ring on his finger and infused mana into it.

The ring turned red.

After checking the ring, Ride followed the group with a stiff face.

Not long after, after the group defeated another monster, they checked the light at the gathering point at Ride’s request.

Bria, who had climbed to the top of a tree, came down and said something unexpected.

“The direction is wrong. I think we took the wrong path.”

“Are you certain?”

At Bria’s words, Katrine furrowed her brow.

They had taken the wrong path? She had never made such a mistake before…….

However, this was the result Bria had confirmed herself.

The group changed course in the direction Bria had mentioned.

After that, the group continued walking.

Monsters continued appearing, and it felt as though they were entering deeper and deeper into the forest.

As they walked, Katrine checked the direction frequently.

Not only Bria, but Katrine herself climbed trees and checked the direction.

‘The destination is too far. Somehow, it feels as though we are heading toward the center of the sealed grounds.’

There was not much time left before the sun set.

The destination indicated by the light was not far now, but the distance had been much too great.

Even so, she could not cause the students to feel anxious.

“We only need to go a little farther. Everyone, keep going!”

To hurry, she also took an active role in the fighting.

In that way, the group was able to reach the destination indicated by the light around the time the sunset began.

However, that place was neither a clearing, nor was there a box emitting light.

On top of that, the headmaster and the other students were not there either. Instead, monsters were waiting for them.

They were six-legged lizard monsters with red tail feathers.

“What is this?”

“Everyone, fall back! Form up!”

Katrine shouted to everyone, and the students came to their senses and formed up, but there were too many monsters.

‘Do not tell me this is a monster nest?’

There was a broad basin, with a thick floor made of branches and vines. And at the center, a monster several times larger than the others was seated heavily in place.

Kueeeek!

When the large monster let out a roar, all the monsters in the nest rushed at the group.

It was not a number the group could handle.

Katrine stepped forward. Then she spoke to everyone.

“I will protect the rear, so all of you run!”

At Katrine’s shout, the group forced their heavy legs to move.

Slice!

Cutting down the bodies of the lizard monsters swarming in, Katrine protected the group from behind.

She worked hard to cut down the monsters, but Katrine alone could not block them all.

Perhaps he had been separated from the beginning, because Ride disappeared from view early on, and because he was gone, the other students were easily attacked by the monsters.

Jesus, a light ability user, was the first to be swept away by the monsters.

Jesus possessed an ability that attacked the eyes by bursting a light source. Unfortunately, when the monsters attacked him, the sunset had not yet disappeared.

Along with flashes of light, Jesus’s head was torn off by the first lizard monster that rushed at him. The rest of his body was buried beneath the incoming monsters and left behind the group.

When Jesus died, the shocked Mirisa died next.

Mirisa had the ability to amplify the abilities of others, but she herself was only a slightly sturdier ability user who did not know how to fight.

When Mirisa died and the amplified ability returned to normal, Leonel could no longer hold out.

While the students died one by one like that, Katrine desperately cut down the monsters.

She knocked monsters away with her shield and killed monsters her sword could not reach with her rippling blade.

It was remarkable ability and an admirable performance, but her strength alone could not protect the students.

In the end, only after losing most of the students and suffering a serious injury herself did she barely manage to shake off the monsters’ pursuit.

Once the monsters returned to the nest, Katrine and Bria, who had been left alone with her, sank down onto the ground.

“You did well.”

At Katrine’s words, Bria looked at her with a gloomy face.

Katrine looked as though she could no longer walk.

Her body was covered in wounds. She had been torn and split open, and in particular, her side had been ripped apart to the point where her intestines were nearly visible.

Because she was a powerful awakened ability user, she had remained conscious despite such a large wound. If she had been an ordinary person, she might already have died from shock.

“Everyone is dead, right?”

At Bria’s words, Katrine could not say anything.

“And night has fallen. We were supposed to arrive before the sun set, right?”

This time, Katrine nodded.

“We are too late, then.”

“A search party should have departed.”

“But the others will have returned. And we have to spend the night here until the search party comes.”

Unfortunately, Katrine’s words could not reassure Bria.

On top of that, Bria seemed to have studied the sealed grounds and field training to some extent.

Unfortunately, because of the pain, Katrine could not comfort Bria.

Bria had fought very well up to this point. If Katrine were to give her a score, it would have been close to one hundred.

“Ugh, let us wait here for the search party. It is better not to move at night.”

Just as she said, the sealed grounds at night were far more dangerous than during the day. If they acted recklessly, it would be perfect for getting killed.

Katrine forced her arm to move, poured a potion over her chest, and wrapped it with a bandage.

The pain became several times worse. It was because she had poured the potion on it. Potions made wounds heal several times faster, but they also brought pain equal to that effect.

Bria, who had been leaning against a tree on one side with her knees hugged to her chest, also nodded at her words. To be honest, rather than understanding Katrine’s words, she seemed to have nodded without thinking because she was exhausted and shocked.

That was when it happened.

Step, step.

Footsteps sounded nearby.

“Ugh!”

Katrine raised her sword despite groaning.

Bria, who had been in a state close to depression, also came to her senses and rose.

“Huff, huff, i-it is me. Ride.”

The one who emerged from the forest was none other than Young Master Ride, who had been separated first.

“You were alive!”

Bria welcomed Ride with a bright face.

Instead, Katrine looked at Ride, who had returned alive, with a complicated expression.

“I apologize. I was greatly startled and became separated. Where are the others?”

From the darkening expressions on Bria and Katrine’s faces, Ride could tell what had happened to those who were not there.

“Professor said we should wait here. She said a search party will come.”

At Bria’s words, Ride nodded with a dark face.

“How did you survive?”

Bria kept speaking to Ride.

It was because she did not want to think about the dead people, and because she wanted to erase her fear.

“After becoming separated, I carefully moved while following the traces of destruction through the forest. Fortunately, I was not discovered, so I was able to make it here.”

They were the traces left by the group as they fled. Even so, Bria was only grateful that Ride had returned alive.

After they talked like that for a while, Bria rose from her seat with a flushed face.

Even if they were exhausted and in pain, a physiological need could not be helped.

After Bria disappeared into the undergrowth, Ride approached Katrine.

After checking the wound on her side, he tried to return to his place.

When he turned around, Katrine’s voice came from behind him.

“Huff, huff, why did you change the route with your ability?”

He turned and looked at Katrine.

“Hah, haah, why did you intentionally become separated?”

He stared at the half-dying Katrine with a serious expression.

“What are you talking about? Changing the route? I just explained why I became separated, did I not?”

“Hah, hah, Ride, your ability is sensory disruption, is it not? You can disrupt a monster’s sight, hearing, and even sense of smell. It should be more than possible to do the same to people. Haah, whenever we climbed the trees, did you not disrupt our vision and change the light’s location?”

At Katrine’s words, Ride’s eyes shook wildly.

“What in the world were you trying to find by becoming separated? Could it be because of the pouch at your waist?”

Ride let out a sigh.

He approached Katrine again and whispered into her ear.

“I apologize. If you had not noticed the pouch, you could have passed on comfortably.”

He stretched out his arms and strangled Katrine.

Katrine widened her eyes.

She looked at Ride with pity, or perhaps regret, before finally closing her eyes.

A little while later, when Bria returned after relieving herself, she covered her mouth when she saw Katrine lying as if sleeping peacefully.

“She could not hold out any longer and passed away.”

Ride held the dead Katrine’s hand with a sorrowful expression.

And then time passed.

The search party arrived.