Avoid Former Co-Workers

29 – 29. Early Semester Assessment (2)

‘I heard a scream…!’

Damn, things are going faster than expected.

As it is, it shouldn’t happen until I get to the place where the two of them are.

I don’t even want to persuade picky Charlotte to take her.

Really, my heart is like a chimney that I want to throw away and leave. As if it would be enough if I lived alone.

But then what? The moment the demonic beasts arrived from the underground waterway counterattacked, the ratio would be 1:1.

As soon as even one victim comes out, the meaning of spraying Mystellis powder in advance disappears.

Even if Charlotte dies here, she will lose one member of Them Bris. That, too, is a bad decision considering the future.

You have to be patient. If even one member of the Thambris party dies, the power of the duchy will plummet.

“What is that scream…”

“It’s not time for you to be stupid either. First of all, follow me.”

“You want me to follow you? Suddenly, what…!”

– Kii Ik!!

At that moment, it was Kud Rat that stood in front of our eyes, but it was a monster that boasted a gigantic size that was incomparable to the original one.

Giant Kud Rat.

A rat the size of an elephant already sees us as prey, lifts her front paw and slams her down.

“Back off!”

Fortunately, his body is soft compared to his size.

After pushing Charlotte away, I managed to parry her first attack with her magic shield.

However, compared to the human body, my body was clearly massive, so my body had to undergo tremendous recoil.

I’ve only been attacked once, but my ankles are already throbbing.

‘You have to wait at least 5 minutes for the cleanser to work. To hold out until then…!’

Charlotte needed help.

“Do you see the white powder on that guy’s body?”

“One hundred percent…? What does that mean…”

“That’s a cleansing agent made from crushed Mystellis herbs. If you hold on for 5 minutes, it will take effect, so support me until then.”

“…”

For a while, Charlotte was silent. However, if we split up like this, our destiny will be no different from theirs.

Fortunately, he didn’t attack Charlotte, and I caught his attention as I turned his direction a few times.

She probably won’t be so stupid that Charlotte can’t come to her senses even when she hears screams coming from all over the place.

As expected, Charlotte did not disappoint me.

-Keheein!!

Ice wedges were driven precisely into the rat’s jaws. This is Charlotte’s main magic.

“…Instead, explain it straight up later. So that I can fully understand.”

Charlotte’s magic sealed her mouth, her second means of attack other than her limbs. At this level, it is much easier to hunt even if it is that size.

“Yes, yes. I’ll explain later, so let’s deal with that first!”

I don’t have time to explain, of course.

The Giant Kud Rat, which was covered in 100 powder, would gradually weaken as time passed, but even if it was just the two of them, it was worth dealing with.

If I, the avant-garde, let go of the attack and Charlotte casts her magic to neutralize it, I thought that 5 minutes would be enough to last.

-Ki-i-hing…! I’m sorry…

The movement of the giant rat has noticeably slowed down. What is 5 minutes Even before a minute had passed.

Charlotte’s magic must have had the biggest impact on her slowing down to the point where she couldn’t attack me straight before I knew it.

An enormous amount of blood gushed out thanks to the ice wedges that were stuck in all directions of the rat beast’s body.

Thanks to the frozen muscles, even the movement of the body must be difficult.

The rat, unable to make any more sounds, collapsed with a thump and stopped breathing.

“Whoa.”

It was one, but it was the best I could do right now, and it was my first real fight.

I didn’t hunt alone, and I caught it with the help of others, so I couldn’t see it as a very good result.

But… This wasn’t the end.

“Now tell me. You were supposed to explain…”

-Kikkik! Squeak! Snap! What a profit! Key profit!!

─aaah!!!

─What is that… How do you deal with something like this!!

“This is…!”

“You can count the number of sounds you hear, right?”

“…I know you don’t have to say it out loud.”

“Remember what I said earlier? I said that 100% of the effect would be seen in 5 minutes.”

Seeing that Charlotte is speechless, she must have understood the situation now.

It looks like he was trying to clear up my doubts by asking for an explanation that he wanted to hear earlier, but there is no time to talk comfortably.

The screams of the person who touched the eardrum and the echo of these countless rats were definitely a number that could not be handled by just two people.

‘Eighteen.’

Fortunately, those 18 were not concentrated in one place.

─Don’t break the ranks! We take care of the vanguard before they fall!

─Are you making a fuss over something like this?! Cast a spell at that time!

Looking at the sound of something exploding and crashing everywhere.

This means that if you are in a team, you can handle at least two to three people.

However, the more urgent side is where the first casualty of this test comes out.

“What are you going to do?”

“It wasn’t very easy to deal with one with two. So what if there are guys like us who have left the team and are dealing with more than two?”

“That’s right…”

Definitely die.

She can’t say anything because even Charlotte can’t deny it.

“I’m running out of time, so I’ll go first.”

The moment those guys devour even one human corpse, then it’s over.

So I have to help them all the more. If remote vanguards like me are ambushed and the team that has gone deep inside is affected, the casualties will follow the same steps as in the past, with terrible results.

“Wait a minute. Where are you going? No way, you…!”

“If you don’t want to follow me, go your way.”

If my calculations aren’t wrong, the first place to be attacked is the place where there are two people like me who were kicked out for being in the vanguard.

It’s none of my business now, Charlotte. I have to save them first so the number of victims doesn’t increase.

***

– Kii Ik!!

-Quik!! Kick!!

“Sigh… Heavy…”

“But you have to be patient, Noel! If even one of us collapses like this, we’ll die!!”

As Junon expected, the first to be attacked were Noel and John, who were dropped by the team for being on the front line.

Even that, the number is too much. It was attacked by two animals in a yard that was too much for one person to handle.

Unless a request for support is made, the future isn’t very bright for the two.

As if that would happen soon, John’s arms slowly bent, and his legs gave out and he began to sit down.

“Keep!!”

“Noel!!”

Noel’s spear, which had been giggling, failed to flow properly and missed the spear.

“John… I can’t…”

Looking at John, Noel whispered that he was sorry, and stopped moving when he felt that he would soon be trampled on by that heavy foot and his breath would be cut off.

“No Noel!! Stand up!!!”

Twoong-!

That moment. The one who predicted this would happen has arrived.

Not much different from them. No, he was a boy who was treated even more harshly.

“Huh…?”

“Junon…? How do you…”

“Is it time to ask why I came? Grab the spear first and stand up straight!!”

“But… I…”

“If you die, the friend standing by your side will also die. Is that what you want?”

Do you want that to happen?

To Noel, John is a precious close friend with whom he has been together for two years.

Among the friends I made while attending the academy, he was a precious friend who was with me no matter what I did and whose tastes always matched.

It was because of John that we were able to help each other in difficult times and endure the arduous academy life while sharing joy.

“It can’t be… It can’t be!!!”

Noel’s legs stood tall after he had fallen down once, and his blistered hand picked up the blown spear again.

“Okay. That’s enough. John, how long can you last?”

“If you’re going to hold on, 2 minutes is enough!!”

Wrong. Three more minutes must pass before the power of the purifying agent embedded in the Mystellis leaves manifests itself.

‘You have to make sure you stop one first. Only then will all three of them live.’

Junon abandons the way he used to dodge attacks to one side and changes to a posture where he uses both of his shoulders.

And shout. To Noel, who can grab a spear from behind and join the attack.

“I do the defense. Stab it!”

“Attack…? I…?”

“Do you think that I, who has nothing, will be able to attack? If you don’t want to die, put all the magic you have right now and insert it!! You have to defeat this guy to get rid of the ones next to you!!”

Noel, who looked dumbfounded for a while, immediately held onto his spear and followed Junon’s instructions.

“Ahhhhh!!!”

Noel shouted and speared himself to death.

At least the blow went in, and even the rat screamed.

-Kikiiik!!

The beast’s blood gushed out through Noel’s spear, which had been pierced deep into his chest.

The guy immediately changed his target, and his front foot on the opposite side landed heavily on Noel’s head.

But your opponent is not Noel.

-Tuong!

“Switch it to the left! Take a detour and insert it again!”

Junon’s magic shield continues to block the rat’s attack, just as it protects Noel. But time is running out.

It was not two mice who were running out of time, but three people.

I had to deal with one of them somehow, and the three of us had to deal with the next one.

Junon was in charge of defense, leaving Noel to attack, and the two of them were determined to take down one of them.

‘Coming. If you only counter the attack of the bloody, excited guy, then Noel will come back…’

“That way, when can I catch it?”

Pabababak!

In an instant, the ice wedges cut off the life of one who was tired of dealing with Noel and Junon.

‘Ice wedges… That’s all.’

It was the story that Charlotte had been chasing.

Noel stabbed her spear deeply several times, but her blood only flowed and she didn’t take much damage.

Her meager firepower is gone, and with Charlotte’s arrival, she no longer needs to join the attack.

“I want you to buy me some time. That rat seems to be tougher than I thought, so I need to cast something stronger to deal with them all at once.”

In that case.

It’s a bit sudden, but the plan changes. By quickly processing the remaining one.

“John takes turns with me. Similarly, Noel and John go to seal his front legs one by one. If he puts his head in, the one holding the long-range spear will step in and blow the eyes out first.”

“”Okay!””

“Casting time is 20 seconds from now. Can you hold on?”

I lasted for 2 minutes, but to hold on for another 20 seconds.

Even if it seems too much, that’s enough.

“Scream horizontally! I’m just passing this one over, so get out of here!”

Twenty seconds was enough to take care of the remaining one.

***

The two monsters soaked the ground with blood.

Exhausted, Noel and John are leaning against a tree in front of them to catch their breath.

I can’t believe that the survival of those two people, the death of the three rats I’ve met so far, didn’t spread to the next one, but that was the reality.

The evidence is that the screams echoing from the lowlands of Tvesar are slowly dying out.

Because demonic beasts are the most efficient source of magical energy when it comes to eating human corpses.

Because of that, before the return, these three would have taken the lives of Noel and John with a rather late start.

The rats that ate the two corpses gave birth to babies in an instant, and the babies grew to 2/3 the size by eating the mother body containing the human’s magical power.

The size has decreased, but the number is 20 times, a number that cannot be ignored.

There must have been a team without a vanguard behind it, and the situation begins when all members of the team are annihilated.

Tveshar Joint Practice Great Subjugation.

It was an operation to subdue Giant Kud Rats in the past.

In the lowlands of Tveshar, more than half of the students were killed and wounded, and the joint practice turned into a battlefield.

But now, bigger things don’t happen like they did back then.

The vanguard, which was lacking at the time, was prevented by performing its role without any problems thanks to Rhenias arriving at the banquet hall.

It also helped that I placed the Mystellis powder and leaves in advance in the underground waterway, which was presumed to be their haunting area.

Professor Meuniher and Professor Dahlia, who arrived in the duchy, made a hastily created drug that is useful in the present, and the subjugation war is no longer in progress.

“Is this the result you want?”

Charlotte asked Junon, still with her questioning face.

“No, can’t it be expected? Just like that. If it weren’t for you, I would have died. Me, Noel, and John.”

“…I see.”

Then Charlotte took out her handkerchief and put it on Junon’s left shoulder.

Now the tingling pain is coming. Ah. It was Junon who made a noise.

“I’d like you to talk to me for a little while. To stop the bleeding.”

And the thing to come has come.

Something completely alien to the original behavior of Charlotte’s question time.

However, Charlotte’s question time does not continue once again.

“Hey!! You!!”

“Look behind you!! Look behind you!!!”

Thanks to Noel and John, who were screaming in horror, Charlotte turned her head away, but she had already turned the water over.

“Uh…?”

“Cool!”

A handful of fresh blood spurts out of the mouth of the man who hastily twisted his body. Charlotte, her shoulder blades stained with the blood of others, held the man attacked on her behalf in her eyes.