Saikyou Mahoushi no Inton Keikaku (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 6

Sixth Chapter 

Outer World 

Meanwhile, as for Alice... 

After she and Tesfia parted ways, Alice’s group advanced down their designated route. So long as they hadn’t taken the wrong way, currently they were headed in the direction of the headquarters, which was located 4 km southeast of the starting point. 

Quite some time had passed since they’d split up and entered the forest, but they still hadn’t encountered any Fiends. 

Alice felt like she was being crushed by the pressure as she walked. 

Considering the goal of the lesson, she knew combat couldn’t be avoided, but somewhere deep down she still hoped that maybe she wouldn’t have to face any Fiends. 

“Ms. Alice, you don’t have to be so anxious.” 

Suddenly, the supervisor approached, calling out to her. She spoke in a calm tone full of compassion, having seen how rattled Alice was. 

In terms of ranking, Alice’s group’s supervisor, the second-year student Senniat, had a similar ranking to hers, but having had more training and a position of seniority she was more composed. 

Moreover, being in the back of the group, she had an overview of the group and had seen the state Alice was in from there. 

“Thank you very much,” Alice earnestly thanked her for her kindness. The next moment, she looked away, embarrassed over her unease. 

Compared to the other groups, Alice’s group was slow. That was in part because Alice, in the front, was moving very carefully, but that couldn’t be helped in the Outer World. Roots of abnormally large trees blocked their path, and with the overgrown shrubbery it was hard to see much around here. 

It was even hard to tell if they were walking straight, so it was only natural that they’d lose confidence in their ability to reach headquarters. 

Alice used her naginata to clear away the obstacles, receiving scratches on her arms and legs, while she advanced on their path. 

This kind of formation, where the highest-ranking student led the way, wasn’t particularly unusual among the groups. While there wasn’t any hard and fast rule, being affiliated with the Institute, the students tended to depend on a top-to-bottom structure based on rankings. In fact, it was only natural that a group of young people would rely on that kind of transient order when stuck in a situation that filled them with anxiety. 

An hour after starting their march, the group finally reached a clearing. Their speed had been less than half of normal, and they were only halfway to the headquarters. Compared to where they’d just been, where the big trees were closely bunched together, here they had a much more open view from this clearing. 

They decided to stop and take a short break. 

In front of them was an especially tall tree. The sight of the thickly abundant leaves, rustling in the wind and with sunlight filtering through them, was mysterious. If they hadn’t become Magicmasters, they’d never have seen this sight. 

There were forests in the human domain as well, but they were artificial. Unlike these trees that were left to grow freely, there was nothing moving about them. 

However, their admiration of the natural trees was suddenly cut short, and they were pulled back to reality because something unexpected happened. 

“—!” 

A grating dissonance, like strange laughter, rang out next to them. 

A reflexive wariness surged up in the students, their bodies tensing. 

Before long, it casually appeared from behind a tree, showing no signs of caution at seeing Alice’s group. 

It wasn’t a stray dog. It had the black body color unique to Fiends. Its abnormally well-developed canines looked to be as sharp as a knife. 

“Eep...?!” Somebody behind Alice let out a fearful scream. 

It wasn’t because of its repulsive appearance, but rather because of the Fiend’s red eyes suddenly coming into focus, glaring at the students. It looked to be starving. A delighted howl sounded out, as if it had found some delicious prey. 

And then... “No way!” 

Those words instinctively came from Alice’s mouth. 

Behind the Fiend was another silhouette. It was yet another Fiend. They were likely of the same kind, but the second Fiend’s thick neck was a little twisted, and its eerie, wolf-like face was unnaturally tilted diagonally. 

Senniat flinched, and said in a panicked voice, “Two E-classes! Dire Wolves! We should retreat, Ms. Alice.” A class surpassing the F class, and two of them at the same time! 

But Alice shook her head at Senniat’s proposal. “That’s impossible. They’d catch up right away,” she answered courageously, but her voice trembled. Even so, her brain maintained a minimum level of composure, allowing her to analyze the situation. 

Right now, with the time she’d spent training under Alus and her modest amount of pride supporting her, she was just barely preserving her self-control. 

She quickly realized that it wouldn’t be so easy to escape in this unfamiliar terrain. Especially so against the Fiends, who lived here. Moreover, in trying to escape into the woods, where it was hard to see, the worst-case scenario was that the group would lose sight of each other. 

Most of all—the opponents were wolf-type Fiends. They were obviously adept at pursuing their prey. Even if they desperately tried to get away, they’d most likely be caught in short order. 

“Then I’ll buy some time, and you can use that to escape.” Senniat, feeling a sense of responsibility as the supervisor, offered to serve as a decoy, but Alice turned that down as well. 

That was in part due to her disposition of not wanting anyone to get hurt, but there was a bigger reason at play. Alice had a plan in mind, and was convinced it would succeed. She firmly declared, “I will take this. You can use defensive spells, can’t you? That’s why I want you to please use those to buy time if the worst happens.” 

“Huh?! You alone won’t be...” 

There was almost no difference between Senniat’s and Alice’s rankings. That’s why Senniat had tried to say it would be even more difficult for Alice on her own, but Alice didn’t let her finish. “No! I’ll be fine. And if I handle only one of them, it shouldn’t be too hard. That’s why I want you all to lend me your strength after I’ve defeated one of them,” she finished gently, turning to the other members of the group. 

The first thing Alice needed to do for her group members—who were trembling in fear—was to give them confidence. Especially since there would likely be more battles after this. She felt like someone once said this was the most important thing to help Magicmasters who were about to give in to the fear of the Fiends. 

No, more specifically, she had heard him casually mentioning it during her training. Never underestimate the power of a Fiend, but the truth remained that they could be defeated by your own power. 

By burning that into her memory and beating it into her body, it served as a source of courage, albeit a temporary one, becoming a driving force that let her control her mana and move her body. 

That’s why Alice could close in on the Fiends, naginata in hand. 

Her heart raced... her legs were shaking. All she could do was step forward without stumbling. Her reasoning for stepping forward despite her fear was her sense of responsibility as a higher ranker, and her self-confidence from having trained for this moment. 

After getting closer, Alice stopped. As if to show how confident she was, she took a deep breath. She was still trembling, but tried to pretend she was relaxed. Of course, it wasn’t enough to fool herself, but it did help to calm her beating heart. 

With firm resolve, Alice poured mana through her AWR. “—!!” As she did, her expression turned to surprise. 

For a moment, she was mystified by how smoothly the mana was flowing, but she soon realized why. Now that I think about it... I did do my best. She could physically feel the results. Happy, despite the situation, she smiled to herself. 

At the same time, a mysterious confidence welled up inside her, helping to ease her fear of confronting the Fiends. Yes, I’ll be fine! 

She encouraged herself to help bolster her fighting spirit, and felt her mana fluently take on the shape of her blade. She then stepped forward reliably as she closed in on her opponents, the fear from before nowhere to be seen. 

Alice began slowly spinning her naginata, the initial speed soon becoming faster to the point of causing the light of her mana on her AWR to create an optical illusion of light orbs surrounding her. 

She smoothly moved her feet, unaffected by the weight and centrifugal force of her spear thanks to the spearmanship beaten into her body. On top of her magic, she also had overwhelming skill with her naginata. 

The Fiends ferociously pounced on Alice after she took her next step. Their sharp claws at the ready, they flew at her in a straight line. 

“‹‹Reflection››” 

She didn’t call out the spell’s name because her incanting technique was inferior. It was a manifestation of her fighting spirit, intended to encourage herself and help clearly visualize the spell, thus strengthening its effect. 

Reflection’s original function was to reflect mana itself. Its effect on physical attacks was negligible. However, the rapidly approaching claws bounced off of an invisible wall. 

Relieved, Alice recalled Alus’ words. It was something he’d told her during her mana control training. 

For starters, many Fiends are constantly generating mana in their bodies. In their cases, their black bodies themselves are an AWR. That’s why you could say that the surfaces of their bodies are always wrapped in mana. 

He’d also said that because of that, simple physical attacks had no effect on them. 

That’s why Alice figured that if their entire bodies were covered in mana, Reflection should work to nullify their attacks to some degree. 

It wouldn’t be strange for active Magicmasters to have learned that from firsthand experience, but the only students who noticed that were those with potential. 

Of course, this alone wasn’t enough to defeat Fiends. 

So as a follow-up, Alice limited her target to one of the Fiends jumping backwards. She poured strength into her legs, dashing across the ground with fluent motions, quickly closing the distance. 

The next thing she did was to unleash a slash, by adding her own kinetic energy onto the spin of her naginata. 

As the Fiend landed, she swung her blade at it horizontally, followed by another swing going up from its leg to its back. 

Screaming out a creepy cry, the Fiend’s black body was deeply gouged twice. It was lifted off of the ground by the impact of the attack. Ignoring its split skull, it forcibly jumped and desperately attempted to counter attack. 

But in the next moment, its instinct warned it that leaving the familiar ground to leap up into the air was fatal. 

“Now!” 

Alice didn’t overlook her chance. She had pored over all of the live combat lectures she’d received from Alus. 

A quick slash from her naginata was followed by her spinning it freely—thoroughly chopping up the Fiend. 

Feeling a good hit from her final swing, Alice stopped her AWR perfectly still after slicing through the Fiend’s body. As expected, her strike had destroyed the Fiend’s core. Its battered body gradually crumbled apart. 

“I did it! ... Everyone, there’s only one left...!” Alice turned to look at her group with joy. If they all jumped it together, they should be able to beat it... but having dropped her guard for a moment was a blunder she would pay the price for. 

Magicmasters accustomed to the Outer World didn’t lower their guard until their enemies had been fully destroyed. The instant they stepped out into the Outer World, all other thoughts were pushed into a corner of their minds. 

“Look out!” 

Immediately following that shout, the remaining Fiend behind Alice let out a muffled shriek. 

As the voice shouted, the Fiend’s claws and fangs had bounced off of a semicircular barrier placed around Alice. 

This was Senniat’s specialty, Spiral Veil. 

As expected from someone in a supervisor’s position, a thick barrier made from wind and the vibration of air was created in the blink of an eye. 

“... Thank you very much.” 

“You have guts, along with the ability to respond and apply what you’ve learned. But... you can be a little absentminded.” Senniat seemed less like a supervisor and more like an older sister as she pointed out Alice’s oversight with a small smile. 

But she then turned to look at the remaining Fiend. “All of you should join in, too. Are you going to have Ms. Alice do everything on her own?” 

Despite Alice being reprimanded, her actions had inspired the rest of her group, relighting their fighting spirit. They firmly gripped their AWRs, no longer with fear in their eyes. 

They positioned themselves around Alice. The remaining Dire Wolf was at a numerical disadvantage, and thanks to teamwork between the group members, they safely completed their first elimination. 

* * * 

Having received the news that the extracurricular lesson had started, headquarters finally kicked into high gear. The preparations were perfect. 

Equipment like the kind used by the military had been brought in, and was being operated by veteran teachers. On top of that, they had upperclassmen on standby as reinforcements. 

Loki didn’t have to tell the teachers anything, but that wasn’t the case regarding the reinforcements waiting outside. With her personality, Loki wasn’t particularly eloquent when it came to giving a speech to others. However, she would much rather do it than betray Alus’ expectations. 

Stepping out of the headquarters tent, she could feel the unease in the air. That atmosphere was coming from the students serving as reinforcements. Though upperclassmen, they were still students, and some of them had a very pronounced tension in their expressions. 

The eyes of nearly 50 students focused on Loki, who came in front of them. “The extracurricular lesson has commenced as of now. As discussed before, I will give you instructions through the Consensor. You will be left on your own to make detailed assessments of the situations.” She then continued, “Please make sure to operate in pairs. Also, headquarters accepts no liability for any unreasonable actions you take. Do understand that the results of any such actions will be your own responsibility.” 

Her tone made it clear that headquarters wouldn’t concern itself with anything the students did on their own that would put themselves in danger. 

Of course—it was just a threat. Loki recalled what had happened at the principal’s office. There was a chance that there were students, not just among the supervisors, but also among the reinforcements, that sought fame and glory. It was doubtful that her threat would be enough to repress them, but from personal experience, she could expect it to have some effect. 

They were expecting some casualties to occur in this extracurricular lesson in the first place. A rescue squad had even been prepared. And Loki preferred to prioritize the students who followed the rules and not the others. 

Though it sounded cold, both Alus and Loki had grown up in that kind of environment, so this was only natural to them. And the principal had asked Alus, knowing this. 

Most of the students gasped at Loki’s one-sided declaration. Not only was the silver-haired girl before them a Triple Digit Magicmaster, but also the headquarters commander that even the teachers had to obey. 

There were no longer any that gazed at Loki with love or interest. On top of that was her unchanging expression and monotonous tone, and all of the students understood what it meant to go against her, feeling cold chills running down their spines. 

“Well then, Teams 1 through 10, move out. Please spread out as planned.” 

With the headquarters being located in the Outer World, there was a risk it would be attacked. As Loki and Alus had gone ahead and eliminated any threats ahead of time, she didn’t think there would be any problems for the time being, but the teachers wanted to be extra sure. Because of this, 20 people split up into 10 pairs would patrol the surrounding area. 

Loki had turned around after finishing her instructions, when one of the reinforcements called out. 

“Excuse me... won’t we lack firepower against the Fiends if we’re only in pairs?” a second-year student said. She was implicitly asking to be allowed to play it by ear, and use larger numbers against the Fiends. All the students present knew it was a question born from an excessive fear of Fiends. 

However, the answer had already been decided. Loki simply stated the unabashed truth. “Currently, there are only D-classed Fiends and below in the area. For reasons of confidentiality I can’t tell you how I know, but it’s a certainty. You were chosen by the principal herself as having the ability to do this. It’s also her decision that two of you will be enough for a D class.” 

“The principal said that...?” the students whispered amongst themselves. One of the strongest Magicmasters had acknowledged their ability. That encouraged some of them. 

“But...” However, it didn’t help the pale face on the second-year girl. Things might’ve been different if she had actual combat experience. As expected, there were differences between individuals, and a firmly-rooted unease wouldn’t be so easily alleviated. 

“It’s true you can never tell what will happen in the Outer World, even when going up against a D class. That’s why I said you will have to make a detailed assessment of the situation on your own... that also includes retreating alongside the first-years if you can’t eliminate the threat.” 

“... I understand.” 

They had permission to retreat from Fiends that were out of their league. That came as a relief, not only to the girl in question, but to all the students that were anxious about fighting Fiends. 

In reality, that was yet another matter that had been decided beforehand. Loki secretly lamented the poor quality of the students if they couldn’t even grasp that from what she’d said without her having to explain it further. Despite knowing it was an inevitability with novice Magicmasters... 

“Loki!” Suddenly, the deep voice of one of the male teachers came from inside headquarters. 

“I will be right there.” 

With that as their signal, the reinforcements moved into action. 

Loki had two Consensors. One was to give directions to the reinforcements, and the other was a direct line to Alus. 

The teacher reported that the detectors had picked up on something. As their goal was to defeat Fiends above a certain class, they had a tendency to miss weaklings below it, but they were lucky this time. 

Loki put her hand over one of her Consensors. “There’s a reaction to B- and C-class Fiends near the area border. 4 km to the northwest. There’s 17 in total.” 

“They must have picked up on the blood of their kind. I’ll head over right away,” Alus quickly responded. 

“Please do.” The reason Loki had said there weren’t any Fiends above D class was because Alus was here. 

Loki wrapped up their discussion and focused on the Consensor in her other ear. “Team 13, please head 1100 meters southeast to the coordinates 1981/6145. Teams 14 through 17, please head 500 meters east over to 1123/4579 and support Groups 34, 60 and 79.” 

“Understood.” 

“We’re on our way.” 

“Team 12 is on-site, we have injured. Requesting backup.” 

“I understand. Team 22, after your current job, move north and support Team 12.” 

“Understood.” 

Despite the hectic situation, Loki gave precise orders to the reinforcements. Even the teachers admired her abilities. 

That’s when one of the teachers, a male Magicmaster in front of a big screen monitoring the situation, hurriedly raised his voice. “Group 4 has stepped out of the operation area.” 

“—!!” 

A tense atmosphere immediately filled the headquarters. 

Loki had already taken into account that amateurs would be reckless. And if it was just one group, she could deal with it. Her expression showed no sign of panic, though her eyebrows furrowed in anger and irritation over the reckless fools. 

According to the original plan, the operation area was considered to be everything within 7 km of headquarters. This fact had been pounded into the students participating in the extracurricular lesson. 

By the way, thanks to Alus’ secret help, none of the Fiends within the area were above D class, making it relatively safe. But they had a severe lack of information on the situation outside the operation area. 

“What do we do, Loki?” 

“Please calm down. Where are they right now?” 

“They’re 1650 meters northwest of the operation area.” 

“I understand. Teams 7 through 10, please head to coordinates 2377/7467, 1650 meters northwest of the operation area, and support Group 4. After that, please bring them back to the operation area,” Loki gave her orders through the Consensor. 

The reinforcements hesitated for a moment before giving her an “... Understood,” one after the other. 

“Teams 1 through 6, please bring the warning before the border line closer in.” 

First, she’d need to swiftly deal with the situation as best she could. Exasperated by it all, she then continued to ponder whether the groups would make it back in time. At the same time—she felt something was off. Now that she thought about it, the first-years’ movements had been unnatural recently. 

She figured they would be more reserved in their advance, picking fewer fights since it was their first time. But contrary to her expectations, they were being aggressive, and the battles were too frequent. 

It was strange—and as if to back up that sensation— 

“Groups 11, 46 and 5 have left the operation area!” 

The reports continued. “Group 37 has left as well... Wait a minute! Reinforcement Teams 17 and 22 have ignored orders and left the area!” 

“Why!! Why is this happening?!” 

The first-years were one thing, but the upperclassmen reinforcements doing the same was completely abnormal. Moreover, there weren’t even any first-year groups in the direction they’d gone in. 

One of the teachers panicked, screaming into a Consensor, “Please respond! You’ve left the area, return right now!” 

Everyone, including Loki, tensely listened in on the conversation. 

“Did you hear me?!” 

Without any response, the only thing coming through the Consensor was static. 

Loki closed her eyes, pausing for a moment. The current number of reinforcements wouldn’t be enough for an irregularity of this scale. 

Meanwhile, another report came in about a group that were diverting largely from the route. 

What did this mean...? “Please keep up the monitoring.” 

“But...” The teacher looked at Loki with a troubled expression. 

Loki quickly stopped the teacher from continuing. “It will be fine... We’ll manage somehow.” As she said that, she was starting to get really fed up, and felt dark emotions welling up inside. 

Normally, in this type of situation, the ones causing the trouble should be left to die. At the very least, the upperclassmen that knew better should be abandoned as a lesson for their transgression. It was clear that the students were acting on their own, so she believed it was their own fault if something happened. 

They were overestimating their abilities, and reacting to the Fiends too aggressively. At the same time, their lack of restraint and caution was intolerable coming from novices. 

That said, considering the position she was in, Loki spoke heavily into the Consensor exclusive to him as if it were her own blunder. “I am sorry. The following five groups have left the operation area. As have two of the reinforcement teams... it’s too much for...” 

An answer came back before she could finish. “I thought so.” 

“—! You noticed too?” 

“It was just a hunch, though.” The sound of something collapsing onto the ground with a boom came through the Consensor. “Don’t worry. I’ll head over there.” 

“I’m sorry for causing you trouble.” 

“I’ve got an idea of what it is, so send reinforcements to the edge of the area.” 

“I understand. The coordinates are...” 

* * * 

Alus pulled at the chain of his AWR as he cut off the comms. 

Around him were the remains of the Fiend he’d killed moments ago, in the form of gray ash. 

Before heading to the location, he first closed his eyes and expanded his vision. Using space distortion magic, he searched for any powerful Fiends in a 1 km range. 

Alus was able to project a map of the area in his brain. With that, he was able to get a clear grasp of a Fiend’s size and shape, but of course there were limits as well. Strictly speaking, it didn’t distinguish between Fiends’ mana like Loki’s detection ability could. As such, it lacked information to accurately class them. 

That’s why Alus had to class Fiends according to their shape, his previous experience and instinct. With his wealth of experience, his expectations were usually never off. 

After confirming there were practically no Fiends around, he opened his eyes. “So this group is the closest.” Confirming only the location, Alus quickly moved out at extreme speed. Not even the Outer World’s dense forests could obstruct him. In fact, he used the trees as footholds, practically flying forward. 

The closest group was easily 2 km away, but it didn’t take Alus even three minutes to reach them. 

But to the students, a mysterious masked man had suddenly appeared before them, so it was only natural they’d be wary of him. 

“Who the hell are you!” a male student, apparently the leader, raised his voice. He had short dark brown hair, and in his hand was a decorated and expensive-looking sword AWR. 

“... I’m reinforcements dispatched from headquarters.” 

While he was exasperated by the situation, Alus stuck to the role of being a plain staff member, telling himself this was the only time he’d do it. 

“Tsk! So they’ve already caught on.” Perhaps underestimating Alus as being a student rather than a teacher, the young man rested his sword on his shoulder. 

“You are all currently out of the operation area. Please return immediately.” 

“Sorry, bud. We’ll be moving on out of here. In fact, it was never even declared that we’re not to leave the area.” 

Faced with this insolent display, Alus suspiciously asked him, “You’re a supervisor, aren’t you?” 

“What of it?” He wasn’t just watching over the first-years, he had the gall to act like their leader. 

Alus quickly realized the heart of the matter from his attitude. They were most likely not working under the premise of the extracurricular lesson anymore. If he were to guess, the supervisor was the one hunting Fiends, forcing the other students to go along. The supervisor, who was supposed to support the first-years, was instead taking the initiative and defeating Fiends to raise his own rank. He was going against the very point of the extracurricular lesson. 

This was probably the true goal of the upperclassmen that had been in Sisty’s office. And this male student in front of him was most likely one of them. 

The first-years behind him looked fearful. One of the male students timidly spoke up. “Sir, I think we should do what he says...” 

“Shut the fuck up, don’t tell me what to do!! Don’t you losers want to raise your rank too? Fighting for real like this will accurately calculate your ranking. If you get it, then keep behind me!” The young man was acting as aggressively as your average street thug, shouting at his group. 

The student who’d spoken up flinched, and shut his mouth. 

While that was going on, Alus had slowly rolled his shoulders. That kind of claim might be acceptable for a Magicmaster in the military—if he was acting alone, that is. That way he couldn’t cause anyone else trouble if he got full of himself and lost his life. 

But right now, they were in the middle of an educational extracurricular lesson. Moreover, he was forcing the first-years to tag along, risking their lives. 

“Oh... I see how it is.” 

“Huh? ...Gah!!” 

Grabbing hold of the supervisor’s shoulder and spinning him around, Alus rammed his elbow into his solar plexus. He followed up with a chop to the neck, knocking him out cold, then picked him up by the shirt collar and put him under his arm. 

“It seems not even the supervisors are any good...” Alus said, glancing around him before turning his masked face back to the students. “You guys get back inside the area. You should be able to get to the headquarters if you go due west.” 

Alus’ tone had already changed from what he’d started out with. The students all looked dumbfounded, but quickly nodded at him one at a time. 

“T-Thank you very much.” 

“I’ll take this idiot with me. Just follow after me and you shouldn’t encounter any Fiends.” 

“U-Understood!” 

Not bothering to reply to the first-year students, Alus headed straight west. 

He instantly eliminated any Fiends around while carrying the unconscious supervisor. Mana was gushing out from his AWR, covering the blade and sharpening it. 

They were only a few hundred meters from the operation area. It took less than a minute for him to reach it. 

A reinforcement team was standing by. Wary of the masked man, the two readied their AWRs, but Alus raised a hand to stop them. He pointed at the unconscious body of the former supervisor, letting them get a general understanding of the situation. 

“A group of first-years should be coming through here in a couple of minutes. I’m going to the next ones, so you guys take this guy back with you to headquarters. If he causes you any problems, you can just throw him into a bush or something.” 

“Wha—!” 

Their eyes shot wide open in surprise, but Alus had thought about doing that himself several times along the way. He then muttered into his Consensor, “The problem with Group 46 has been resolved. As I thought, it was the supervisor.” 

“I see...” 

“Loki, pick out someone from the reinforcements for their new supervisor.” 

“I understand... however, we’ve lost contact with several of the reinforcements.” 

“Tsk, right. Well, they still need a supervisor, so we’ll just have to put up with it.” 

“Certainly.” 

After some time, Alus turned back four groups, as well as forcibly returning an additional two. A similar situation had happened with all of them, where the upperclassman had taken over the group. 

Once he’d dealt with a couple of them, Alus got sick of hearing their excuses and just knocked them out right away. He even seriously considered reporting them as missing in battle and leaving them in the Outer World.

Finally, quite some time after noon, the extracurricular lesson was supposed to end soon. 

Once it was time, the students would return to the starting point or gather at the headquarters. After that, those who volunteered could remain from sixth period until evening and continue the lesson. 

Because of the idiots and their rash actions, the lesson had been a little turbulent, but the procedure itself wouldn’t be changed. 

Alus was running through the Outer World after receiving a report, heading for what was likely the last group out of control. Having headed straight out of the area, they were proceeding deeper and deeper into the Outer World at considerable speed. 

They were already quite a distance away from the area that Alus and Loki had cleared of Fiends early that morning. A-classed Fiends were likely not there, but harder to detect B- and C-class Fiends might have snuck in. 

“Group 11 is requesting reinforcements.” 

“I’m already on my way.” They must have already encountered a Fiend and were in over their heads. Alus was fed up, thinking ‘this is what you get,’ but a mission was a mission. He picked up more speed. The face beneath his mask was reaching the limit on how much crap he could take. It felt like even bothering to make an expression was a waste of effort. 

Contrary to his low spirits, the robe made of anti-magic fiber fluttered in the wind as he sped forward. 

With that speed, he completely left the small Fiends appearing from time to time in the dust. 

* * * 

Shortly before Alus received the report of an out of control group... 

“Mr. Cabsol, if we go any further we’ll step out of the area boundary.” 

“Just follow me.” 

Tesfia and her group had eliminated three Fiends since their first encounter. But each and every time, Cabsol insisted on finding stupid faults. Finally, Tesfia lost her temper and said, “Then why don’t you show us how it’s done?”—which was the start of it all. 

He then played around with an unfortunate F-class Fiend he happened to find, and began looking for his next target. “Come on... Come on out. I’ll murder you!” 

Fortunately, they hadn’t come across any Fiends so far, after exiting the operation area, but Cabsol continued heading in a straight line into the Outer World, his eyes bloodshot. 

Tesfia and the rest of her group felt how abnormal and dangerous he was, but they couldn’t leave him behind and abandon the extracurricular lesson. As there was no precedent for this lesson at the Second Magical Institute, they might be suspended or even expelled. She was the highest-ranker among the first-years, but she couldn’t make such a decision. 

“With this, I’ll be a Triple Digit. I’m not going to lose to some first-year Fable whelp,” Cabsol muttered to himself. As if possessed by a deep-rooted delusion, he swung his sword AWR around, cutting down branches in his path. 

While Cabsol Denvel’s family didn’t interact with Tesfia Fable’s family, there’d been a time when their parents had held similar positions. That was why the head of the Denvel family concerned himself over Cabsol’s abilities, frequently comparing him to Tesfia. 

Eventually, her name had become a fetter for him, and he’d cornered himself, saying he would never lose to her. As such, he felt a sense of rivalry toward her, but when she enrolled at the Institute and earned a rank close to his as a first-year, that rivalry turned into hostility. 

And having seen her abilities, Cabsol began feeling panic and resentment. 

Of course, Tesfia had no idea how he felt. 

To him, this live combat training pretending to be an extracurricular lesson was the perfect chance for him to slay Fiends and raise his rank. He didn’t have any experience either, but seeing that cheeky Fable girl deal with one, his sense of rivalry flared up and he defeated one too. 

And having successfully eliminated a Fiend, he lost any semblance of restraint. 

“... It really is strange,” a female student mumbled. Her puzzled expression showed slight unease and fear. 

By ‘strange,’ she wasn’t just referring to Cabsol’s behavior. They were already outside of the operation area, but hadn’t encountered any Fiends yet. It had been quite a while since they defeated their last Fiend. The chances of encountering a Fiend lowering the further you went in was something that went against common sense. 

Everyone in the group had the same misgivings, and the girl’s mumbling spread unease among them all. 

“Yeah...” Tesfia also felt something was off. She could feel something like a Fiend around, so she readied herself for what would likely be their final Fiend. 

Her group had already eliminated three Fiends. Since then, Cabsol had eliminated two by himself. Tesfia figured she would be able to persuade him to turn around once he’d slain a third Fiend for himself.

Before long, the sixth Fiend appeared by the bank of a lake. 

Though, in reality, it wasn’t worth calling a lake, nor was it all that deep. At best it was a somewhat big pond. There was clear blue water inside, with rainbow-colored light bouncing off of the surface. This plain and normal pond was giving off a magical, mystical impression. 

At most, the pond was as deep as Tesfia was tall. The water was so blue it could be mistaken for the sky. She could easily see the bottom of the pond. 

Only tall trees were crowded around it, as if all the short ones had been intentionally removed. Sunlight came filtering down through the trees in rays of light. 

But Tesfia was only captivated for an instant, as the sound of it came from above them. 

Remembering they were in the Outer World, they all looked up together. 

Facing them, near the top of what had to be the oldest tree in this grand forest, was a giant Fiend hanging upside-down from a very thick branch. 

It looked like a giant spider. Its many eyes glared ferociously at them. 

“!!” 

“What... is that...?” One of the female students cowered in fear, pointing at it, before stumbling backwards onto the ground. 

“Ho... How could we... possibly...” 

“No way no way no way... w-we’re going to die!” 

“Aaaaahhh!!” 

Panic descended on the group in an instant. 

Without even looking at the female student who’d fallen down, the group turned on their heels and took off running without even looking where they were going. 

Cabsol was also completely stricken with fear, but it froze his legs. 

Tesfia, with her feeling of pride and responsibility as a high ranker, courageously chose to stay. Her legs shook as she stared at the massive evil incarnate hanging in the tree. 

Meanwhile, the students, desperately running in an attempt to escape, unfortunately found themselves stopping, too. 

“—!!” 

“Why... Why the hell are these here?!” 

It was less of a question and more an expression of despair. 

Tesfia glanced over in their direction, hearing their voices... and in the next moment, her body froze with fear. 

“How...” Of course, there was nobody to answer her question. The word had simply escaped her lips. 

A group of abnormal beings had appeared in the way of the students that were running from the spider. 

Before they knew it, a multitude of Fiends appeared from their surroundings. Their looks varied, with nothing in common, like a group founded on chaos. And worst of all, more and more appeared until the students were surrounded. 

The situation was clear, but panicked as they were, it took time for the reality to sink in. In short, they’d been lured in. 

It was a hopeless situation. 

While Tesfia and the others didn’t have the knowledge to identify the Fiends, the spider Fiend in the tree was a B-class at least. Due to the region they were in, there were likely no A-class Fiends, but a B-class was a ridiculously hard mark for a novice Magicmaster. 

The surrounding Fiends were probably of a lower class than the spider, but still a step up from the weaklings they fought before. 

Suddenly, the ground shook. The big spider had jumped down from the tree. 

It exceeded eight meters in length. Tesfia could feel the evilness and pressure exuding from its entire body. Moreover, while it was in the shape of a spider, it was different from a normal spider, with more legs than she could count. The shape of each one differed, ranging from various beasts to insects. It looked like they’d just been haphazardly attached. 

A round something stuck out from its body. It was impossible to determine if it was the head or the tail. 

No, it was its face. The many red dots on it were most likely compound eyes. 

And below that—a blank part. Tesfia thought it was part of its black skin, but then it slowly opened, showing a sticky string within. Considering how smoke was rising from the ground where the string had dropped onto it, it was probably highly acidic saliva. 

In other words, that was its mouth. However, its dark teeth, that you could see behind what were likely its lips, weren’t as sharp as a carnivore’s teeth. Instead they were flat, to crush their prey. Despite the Fiend’s grotesque appearance, its row of teeth looked creepily human, stirring up an uncanny atmosphere. 

Its evil-looking appearance, its predatory nature exuding from its body, ripped away the students’ will to fight for their survival. 

“This can’t be happening... I can’t die in a place like this,” Cabsol said, putting on a bold front as he tightly gripped his sword AWR. Mana timidly flowed into it, as he unleashed today’s third Burning Shot spell. 

As he swung down his sword, several balls of flame flew at the spider Fiend. It was an intermediate attack spell that created multiple fireballs at the same time. Being propelled forward, the fireballs absorbed and burned the surrounding air as they flew. 

The giant spider didn’t even try to avoid the attack, ferociously opening its mouth as if to intimidate them. 

The fireballs’ explosions were meaningless against the Fiend. At best, some smoke rose from its slightly scorched skin. 

It was clear that Cabsol’s spell was severely lacking in firepower against the Fiend’s overwhelming size. 

“Aaaaahh!!” Seeing that his spell had no effect, Cabsol broke down, staggering and falling down on his rear. His AWR slipped out of his hand, and he covered his head with his now-free hand, trembling. 

Tesfia also stared at the Fiend with a pale face. The only attacks she could use right away were on the same level as Cabsol’s. Her Icicle Sword was stronger, but it wouldn’t make much difference against that skin. She wouldn’t get the chance to use it, though, due to the time it needed to cast. The spider was surprisingly agile for its size. It wouldn’t be strange for it to attack if it sensed a spell being cast. 

However... 

All of the students understood that this was true despair. “It’s all over...” Their tears of fear were proof that they’d lost their will to struggle. Faced with the gates of hell opening up before them, everyone collapsed to their knees, listening to the Fiends’ screams of delight with drooping heads. 

“Not yet, we still have a chance. Don’t give up!” Tesfia’s words of encouragement were awfully weak. She knew how desperate the situation was, so there was no power behind her words. 

“But... how?” the students asked, as if blaming Tesfia for saying something so irresponsible. 

Tesfia bit her pale lip. Of course, she didn’t have a plan in mind. Defeating a B-class Fiend was impossible for them. That much was clear from the level of the spells they could use. 

But Tesfia just couldn’t give up hope. She didn’t think she could be forgiven for that. “I don’t know... but if we give up here, we’ll die!” 

As if to ridicule their anguish, the Fiends gradually closed in toward them. The overwhelming pressure from these predators stopped them from thinking clearly. 

There was no time to waste. The only thing on her mind was we can’t give up. 

I know!! Tesfia remembered something, and rushed over to Cabsol. She forcibly rummaged through his pockets, feeling the Fiend’s compound eyes casually staring at her back. 

Right now, all she could do was cling to the memory of what the principal had said at the start of the extracurricular lesson—that the supervisors were equipped with an emergency signal. 

“Here it is!!” The device was a hemisphere that fit in the palm of her hand. Recalling what the manual said that she’d read beforehand, she poured all of the mana she could into the finely-cut jewel. 

In an instant, it started flickering white. Next, Tesfia felt some form of mana wave filling their surroundings. 

That’s right, with this, help will come... probably. “Help is on the way, so until then...” 

However, nobody listened to what she had to say. The reason was clear to all. There was no time. No one was going to make it to them. They were outside of the operation area, and far from headquarters at that. 

There was no way they could hold off the Fiends until the signal reached the headquarters, and reinforcements could be sent. They were still in a desperate situation. All of the students apart from Tesfia had given into their fear, even letting go of the symbol of a Magicmaster, their AWRs. 

They’d lost the will to fight and were turning their eyes away from reality. 

They’d yielded to the world. 

Only Tesfia remained, and she poured all of her strength into her hand as she grabbed Cabsol’s collar and shouted, “You’re our supervisor, so give us a hand!!” 

But Cabsol’s eyes had teared up, and his pupils dilated from fear weren’t even looking her way. She suddenly looked down at her feet and saw Cabsol’s trousers stained with a lukewarm liquid. 

“...! Why?! ... If you hadn’t taken us all this way...” 

Tesfia ground her teeth, tears finally forming in her eyes as well. 

The giant spider, capable of attacking at any moment, was simply watching over this pathetic scene. Even the countless Fiends around them stopped moving, as if waiting for their king’s descent. Perhaps it was due to their instincts as predators to assess their prey’s strength, but they’d at least had the intelligence to lure them in. 

Or maybe they just enjoyed playing with their foolish prey. 

Tesfia mustered up her will and told the group to gather in one place, even dragging those that couldn’t walk there herself, including some who were unconscious. 

“Fine. I will struggle until the end.” 

Her tears wouldn’t stop now, no matter how many times she wiped them away, so she gave up trying. 

She put strength into her legs, stood up and raised her head. 

Pouring mana through her katana, she faced the Fiend, feeling pitch-black despair. Then her heart filled with determination. Victory or defeat no longer mattered. 

That’s why her mana responded to her. 

The giant spider showed no signs of moving. It let out a creepy sound, shaking its large frame up and down as if mocking her. 

In that case... Tesfia thought to herself, and dashed toward the pack of Fiends. Just from what she could see there were several dozen D- and C-class Fiends. But she could no longer accept waiting for her death. 

The Fiends, stirred up by her reckless act, let out deep growls in response. 

“Haaaaaaa!!” 

Tesfia froze the ground and stopped the Fiends. But it was just for a moment. As for the C class-looking Fiends, simply moving a little was enough to break the ice and free themselves. 

But Tesfia showed no signs of panic. She hadn’t imagined the effect would be so weak, but to begin with, she didn’t even have the composure to come up with a plan. All she could do was lose herself in a desperate struggle. 

Dodging the Fiends’ attacks, she swung her katana. 

The difference in outcome was vast between these D and C class Fiends compared to the E-class and below Fiends she’d defeated before. It wasn’t so much a matter of power, as it was a matter of their bodies not letting her blade penetrate. 

While her attacks left scratches on their black skin, it was a far throw from being able to pierce through to their core. Even if she limited herself to the D-class Fiends, their numbers made it difficult to accomplish anything. She could feel herself exhausting her mana in her attempt to buy time. 

“—!” 

Suddenly, a Fiend’s sharp claw approached her face. She somehow managed to deflect it with the back of her katana, but— 

“Ahh!!” Her world turned upside down. The Fiend’s massive strength easily sent the delicate Tesfia flying. 

She rolled and bounced off the ground, finally stopping a little ways into the pond. Her mind was muddled... her eyes weren’t settling. As she faintly drew breath, she noticed the corners of her eyes were stained red. 

She touched herself with a trembling hand, and when she looked at it she saw blood. It seemed her face had gotten cut at some point. But it wasn’t a life-threatening injury, so Tesfia told herself that she couldn’t give up yet and used her katana as a support to get back up. 

A red globe appeared before her. 

That magic fireball lit up her body. She felt as if her skin would be burned by the heat emitted by the fireball. It was a manifestation of evil, a spell unleashed by one of the Fiends unwilling to let Tesfia rest for even a moment. 

The fireball—about as big as Cabsol’s Burning Shot—was right on top of her. 

Readying her katana right away, Tesfia prepared a spell. 

“‹‹Ice Wall›› ...!!” 

However, before the ice wall rising up from the ground could complete, the fireball crashed against it. The resulting explosion of fire and ice clashing sent Tesfia’s body flying once more. 

Smoke rose from the explosion, as the girl flying through the air finally landed on the ground with a thud. Moss at the waterside served as cushioning, but Tesfia barely remained conscious. 

Her mind no longer worked. Pain pulsed through her head. 

But she was fortunate. If the fireball had hit her directly, the damage would have been far worse. 

Still lying on the ground, Tesfia raised her head. Her hand was slightly scorched, but she was still okay. As proof of that, her fingers and body twitched and moved as she put strength into them. 

“Aaagh...” Tesfia let out a groan, enduring the pain. Her hair was a mess, her face dirty and her uniform was burnt here and there. Having taken the full brunt of the explosion, she couldn’t tell exactly where she was hurting. 

Despite that, Tesfia staggered up to her feet and readied her katana. “Aaaaaa!!!!” Wringing out a scream, she moved her legs forward. 

She could see the Fiends turn their attention to her group unable to fight, closing in on them. 

Their numbers were only increasing. So far, her attacks had barely affected them, and she’d been unable to finish any of them off, as she couldn’t destroy their cores. The Fiends she’d injured were squirming and crawling, readying themselves. Their eyes glowed red with anger. 

“No, stop... I won’t let you!!” 

Tesfia desperately swung her katana around. She wouldn’t let anyone die. While knowing it wasn’t something she could stop, she would fight until the bitter end. 

She poured her desperation into a single swing. However, that swing had no technique behind it. She just merely swung her weapon. 

The Fiends showed no signs of flinching from her action, but rather collected themselves, and Tesfia looked down at her AWR. It was the spirit of the Fable family given form, something she’d used since childhood. However, now, there were no traces of mana running through it. 

She collapsed onto her knees. The mana she’d been so desperately using had finally run dry. 

She’d put up a brave front on her own. But in the end, it wouldn’t change the reality of the hierarchy between Fiends and humans, one of predator and prey, a fact that was now clear to her. 

Before she knew it, the giant spider approached her to finish it. Letting out a loud cry, it raised several of its legs up high. And as if presenting a sacrifice to an evil god, it let loose a creepy and ridiculing roar. 

As it did, droves of somethings came falling down from the tree. They were like miniature versions of the giant spider before her. These smaller spider Fiends, likely the giant spider’s children, appeared to have been waiting for their prey to weaken. 

Tesfia no longer had the willpower left to be surprised by the situation worsening. Thinking about it, her resistance had just been out of desperation. Having forced herself past her limits, her mind could no longer feel shock over something like this. 

Standing was the best she could do... When she realized the state she was in, she felt her pain grow distant. 

Finally, the giant spider Fiend attacked Tesfia as if to torment her. 

With her wavering legs, she couldn’t evade the attack. 

Her vision was starting to fade, and the Fiend’s attack didn’t seem real to her, as all she could see was something moving in the corners of her eyes. 

The next moment, the Fiend’s claws tore through the sleeve of her uniform and ripped off her hairclip, scattering it and some crimson hair up into the air. Having lost her balance, Tesfia saw her torn hair tossed up in the air seem to float down in slow motion. The red of her hair showed a red glow, though not similar to that of the Fiends’ red eyes. 

Those were a creepily dark red color. Instead, her red hair absorbed the light, unleashing it from within itself in a scarlet color. 

It was the color of the sun and life, a powerful light that couldn’t allow her to give up. 

However... that glowing red eventually disappeared, and Tesfia’s body slumped onto the ground, on her back. 

Shifting her glance, she could see most of her group deeply shocked and in a trance, or passed out from fear. How fortunate she would be if she could do the same... 

She couldn’t even move a finger. She wouldn’t be able to close her eyes before the end. 

Fiends approached her. She could tell from the ground trembling. Death was stepping closer to her, but it didn’t feel like it concerned her. The grating, creepy cries sounded like they were coming from somewhere far away. 

It’s over. But I did what I could... She gave herself comfortless praise. 

She was captivated by the Outer World’s blue sky that she caught glimpses of between the branches. 

It’s beautiful... 

But that sight was soon blocked. The Fiends’ limbs, claws outstretched, approached her face. And stopped just before it, as if to measure the necessary angle and distance. 

Though even now, Tesfia was thinking of something else as she lay on death’s doorstep. 

Even in this desperate situation, I can feel my magic responding to me. I won’t let you say I’m not suitable to be a Magicmaster ever again! 

For some reason, she smiled. The blood running down her cheek mixed with her tears. 

The sharp claws that would send her to the afterlife slowly rose to gather enough force. In the next moment, her weakness welled up, and she tried to cling on, unable to give up her life. 

She didn’t want her end to be in the middle of nowhere. 

She’d only just gotten started. 

There was still so much that she wanted to do. Having made her peace and praising herself was just a bluff. 

The moment she thought that, her teeth began chattering. That wasn’t fear. She was rejecting fate. 

No! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die! 

Speaking her mind, she cast everything else aside and rejected the hard reality. 

She mustered what little power she had left to get up. Tears overflowed from her eyes and distorted her sight. 

But reality was cruel, and that sorrowful cry in her mind was ignored. 

The Fiends’ claws finally reached the optimal height, and after a brief pause, mercilessly swung down. 

Al... “—!” 

Tesfia couldn’t understand what happened in that moment. Even though she’d been unable to close her eyes, she couldn’t see what happened. 

The tips of death that were swinging down toward her had suddenly disappeared. 

She heard a distant pained scream from a Fiend, and a loud heavy thud rang out, as the giant spider was slammed against a tree. 

And it wasn’t just the Fiends about to finish her off. The small spiders, as well as all the other Fiends had been blown into the same direction, as if gravity itself had flipped. 

“I see I was a little late.” 

A quiet, familiar voice reached her ears. 

It was the voice of a young man whose tone was arrogant and insolent, not even trying to hide how fed-up he sounded. 

Raising her face while trembling, Tesfia saw a strange mask that was impressively white. Before long, she felt an arm on her back and was slowly lifted up. 

“... You can say that again.” 

The arms that could be described as thin and not muscular felt awfully reassuring. 

Tesfia smiled, and wiped at her wet eyelashes. Another tear came out from her eye and dripped down her cheek. She realized who it was. Or rather, she didn’t even need to think about it. 

They were far from headquarters, and the truth was that reinforcements would never have reached them fast enough after they sent the emergency signal. 

She knew that better than anyone. That’s why she knew there was only one person in the world who could pull it off. 

“If you have enough sense left to be that cheeky, then you’ll be fine,” Alus said, having already checked to make sure she wasn’t seriously injured. She had a small cut on her forehead, and the cut on her cheek wasn’t as deep as the bleeding made it look. Her burns weren’t minor, but were well within the realm of treatable. 

Not having the aptitude for healing spells was regrettable, but these were the frontlines. This kind of thing was the norm, so Alus quickly changed gears. Since his role was as an instructor, he didn’t mind if Tesfia surrendered to the fear and harshness that was the Fiends. 

However, that didn’t mean he wanted her to die. Which was why he had a slightly relieved expression under his mask. 

He carried Tesfia and her katana over to the rest of the group, then picked up what was likely the supervisor’s AWR and stuck it into the ground to use as a backrest. “As a reward, I’ll show you how to defeat Fiends, so don’t fall asleep.” 

He had meant it in an aren’t you glad you survived kind of way, but wasn’t sure if she got it. He even began thinking it may have been a little too harsh for her when she was covered in injuries, but Tesfia earnestly stared at him and nodded. 

Having confirmed Tesfia was all right, Alus drew the short sword from underneath his robe and looked at the Fiends. “As I thought, that wouldn’t be enough to finish you off.” 

It was possible to rely on just the directionality of kinetic energy to use Morshonell Link, the hidden power of Alus’ AWR, Night Mist. 

In other words, it was possible to use the kinetic energy on the direct line the short sword was thrown in, and amplify, duplicate, and apply it to all targeted Fiends, blowing them away in the same direction. This was yet another applied use of space distortion magic. 

However, as it was a relatively weak spell, the Fiends that had been blown away were already showing signs of getting back up. 

“One B class, eight C class, thirty-eight D class or lower, huh... How nice of you all to gather round in a place like this,” Alus said, exasperated, as he scrutinized the giant spider in the center of the crowd of Fiends. That spider was likely making this pond its nest. Higher-classed Fiends having lower-classed Fiends following them wasn’t all that rare in the Outer World. 

Meanwhile, Tesfia looked on from some distance away. 

Not only had Alus counted all of the Fiends in an instant, he even identified their classes. On top of that, the chain of that ominous-looking short sword he held was giving off an eerie presence. 

Despite being on the verge of losing consciousness, her racing heart wouldn’t let her. It was as if her instincts as a Magicmaster were telling her not to miss a moment of what was about to happen. 

“It seems many-legged ogres and I are connected by fate. Well, no matter, this is a lecture for beginners, so don’t think you’ll get to die easily.” 

Alus grabbed hold of the chain and threw it out into the air. 

In that instant, mana flowed into it. Alus’ heart froze, erasing any emotions such as anger and hate immediately. If anything, he once again became aware of the slight joy and destructive impulses deep down in his heart. 

That’s why he had no way of knowing what kind of face he was making right now, and he was fine with that. 

Ahh... how irritating. 

He unconsciously put his fingers on his mask. Removing what felt like shackles, he put it away inside his robe. His face, touching the air of the Outer World for the first time today, was very cold. 

His stare was nothing less than inhuman, and a brutal light resided in his eyes. 

Those again, Tesfia thought to herself. She recalled those eyes when Alus glared at her from the roof that night. This time, those eyes... from an onlooker’s perspective he was simply staring expressionlessly at the Fiends. Yet to Tesfia, those eyes seemed to go beyond being emotionless, not even seeing any of the colors of the world... they looked hollow and desolate. 

That’s why the chill she felt running down her spine was probably feeling that portion of his humanity he was missing, that perfect emptiness in him. It pained her heart. 

It was an absolute hollowness, making her feel like she was going to be crushed just by looking at him... and her heart was shaken as she faced that abyss. 

Whether aware of Tesfia’s feelings or not, Alus threw the short sword in his hand. Half of the black blade burrowed into the ground without resistance. 

With the sword as its origin point, the ground froze over in an instant. 

Just what happened to the world after that? 

When people blink their eyes, their vision turns dark for an instant. That instant becomes a blind spot in their consciousness, and they have no way of knowing what occurred in the world in that time. And as long as people aren’t consciously aware of it, they don’t know how many times they blink in a minute. 

However, this time, Tesfia was able to confirm the change in the world before and after blinking. The scene before her completely changed as if the freezing had spread outward like a ripple in water. 

The Outer World landscape overflowing with life had turned into a frozen silvery waste in the blink of an eye. 

It was a world where everything had stopped. The several dozen Fiends had all frozen over in an instant, with icicles covering them. 

Tesfia had knowledge of what spell that was. Freeze, a spell that froze the ground and sealed Fiends’ movements. However, that was actually an incomplete spell. 

Unleashed before her eyes was the strongest spell of that kind, Niflheim. 

Tesfia was speechless... For a moment, she thought Alus had the same affinity for ice as she did. But she quickly reconsidered, realizing she had the wrong idea. He had shown off his ability in the past to use advanced spells of all attribute kinds without any trouble. 

However, Alus hadn’t intended for this to be seen as some deeply meaningful guidance. While he used the same attribute as her, he’d only chosen the spell because it was the easiest of the ice affinity spells he’d learned, and because it led well into the next spell he would unleash.

Right now, only Alus and Tesfia were left in this frozen world. 

Alus kicked the handle of the short sword buried in the ground, hard. 

Tesfia, with her keen senses, could feel the mana vibrations similar to a sound wave spreading. But when she glanced at the trees around her, she saw they weren’t swaying even a little. 

Railpine—a spell that created powerful vibrations inside the body. Moreover, it was possible to make it devastatingly powerful by limiting its effect to a specific area. 

The frozen Fiends were smashed to pieces by a vibration from inside, destroying their cores at the same time. 

After Alus picked up his short sword, the frozen landscape returned to normal in an instant, and everything that had made up that wintry scene dispersed as particles of light. Once everything was done, not even any remnants of the Fiends remained. 

“... Amazing.” 

It wasn’t like Tesfia was so overwhelmed, she couldn’t speak. But because her jaw had dropped so far, she couldn’t even try to speak. When it came to sheer ability, Alus was in a different dimension from her... and she likely would’ve been unable to put her astonishment into words even if her throat hadn’t been parched. 

Alus suddenly turned. Not towards Tesfia, but to the giant spider that still remained. Its massive frame had been frozen, but it hadn’t shattered into pieces. And once the ice started to melt, it began squirming again. 

He glanced over at Tesfia, with a look that said he was just cleaning out the trash, and said without really expecting a response, “Then let’s begin. You’d better still be awake.” His eyes were a deep black, his expression blank. 

Tesfia had no idea what he was really thinking. But even then, she muttered to herself, “There’s no way I could fall asleep after seeing that...” with an exasperated tone. 

Short sword in hand, Alus adjusted the length of the chain and wordlessly began moving. 

However, Tesfia couldn’t tell how fast he had moved. She’d never intended to blink, but before she knew it he was right in front of the Fiend. 

“Your friends are all gone now.” 

The Fiend wasn’t going to answer his mutterings. Alus had merely intended his remark as a report to the Fiend that all the other Fiends were dead. He was checking to see what his opponent would do, like a hunter joyfully looking to see what his prey’s next move would be. 

Its answer was an enraged howl. Despite its bug-like appearance, drops of its saliva splashed out of its mouth that was full of human-looking teeth. It raised dozens of legs above its head and stomped down in a reckless, continuous attack towards Alus. 

The giant spider kicked up the muddy ground at a fierce pace. And finally... the several hundred attacks were all dodged, and ultimately stopped even hitting the ground. 

Noticing that, the Fiend’s legs stopped moving, still raised in the air. Its red compound eyes blankly stared. 

“Haha, what were you going to do with that?” 

Alus’ expressionless face finally moved a little. The edges of his lips raised into a twisted smile. 

Out of the Fiend’s dozens, or even hundreds of legs, only the bare minimum to stand remained, with the rest cut off halfway through. With those short legs it couldn’t even reach the ground. 

Its compound eyes trembled with rage. “Gigigigiii!!” A poisonous breath leaked through the gaps in its teeth. Body parts rose up from the joint of its neck alongside a strange sound, and before long it had sprouted new legs. Of course, it was a far cry from the number it had lost. 

“Oh, so you can even do that? Then you don’t need the rest either.” 

Alus threw his short sword. Flying in a straight line, the chain wrapped around the dozen or so legs on one side of the Fiend. He pulled hard on the chain with the light of mana within it. As he did, the Fiend’s legs were squeezed and an unpleasant sound rang out. 

Pouring more mana into it, Alus didn’t hesitate to pull even harder. The legs cracked with a crunch. Dark green body fluid dripped onto the ground. The Fiend let out a scream as its giant body listed. Using its newly-replenished legs, it attempted to support its weight, but that only bought a little bit of time. 

Not wanting to miss a moment, Tesfia kept her eyes peeled open. Just a little while ago that Fiend had been playing around with her, and now it was Alus’ turn to play around with it. 

Alus wordlessly cut off the legs on the other side of its body. 

With nothing to support its body remaining, the Fiend fell to the ground. 

Alus stared down at it. 

Seeing him completely expressionless—like he was staring at garbage, but at the same time looking somehow melancholy—Tesfia held her breath. 

“... Are you finished?” 

Emotionless eyes stared at the Fiend. There wasn’t a single bit of concern in his stare, as if he was looking at a dead insect at his feet, one he likely wouldn’t even commit to memory. 

“...!!” The Fiend made a sound. 

Alus looked a tinge disappointed. The Fiend’s stomach then swelled up a little. 

At first, that looked like it would be the Fiend’s last breath, but Alus’ lips quirked. Showing interest in the resistance the Fiend was showing on the verge of death, he jumped backwards. 

In the next moment, a slight amount of black liquid leaked out of the Fiend’s mouth. When it touched the ground, it created a great deal of smoke. At the same time, the Fiend’s stomach grew more than twice in size. 

The instant its swelling ceased—the black liquid came surging out of its mouth towards Alus. 

It was like highly concentrated acid, but not a single speck of it reached him. Considering how elegantly he’d dodged it, he must have been expecting a surprise attack of this level. 

The reason he hadn’t finished it right away was likely in part to teach Tesfia a lesson. Even for average Magicmasters there were plenty of means to deal with a powerful opponent like this one. Of the many that existed, Alus had chosen the method that would best serve as an example for Tesfia. In this case, he’d relied on a practical application of an existing spell, and created a new spell from it. 

The ring he’d chosen from his chain was the one engraved with the formula for the spell, Niflheim. Mana flowed into the ring and brightly lit up the shrunken-down magic formula. He’d also purposefully canceled the advanced spell partway through its construction. The construction of the magic formula had been fully formed in his mind, but the reason he canceled it was so he could add his own touch to the construction. 

Leaving the formula that defined the ice attribute as it was, he took over the formula construction that had been stopped partway through. More accurately, he’d deliberately left Niflheim, a spell that changed the laws of the world around it, in an indefinite, degenerated state. 

Alus then built up new structural elements, and his AWR swiftly took over for him. It was an action that required complete understanding of the magic formula and delicate skill, but to him it only took as much effort as building something with clay. There were no theoretical components that could fail in his mind. 

He slowly raised his short sword overhead. 

A sparkling, crystallized something was unleashed from the tip of the sword. 

As it touched the air, a crackling sound rang out as it changed into a veil of mist, facing down the spray of acid. 

However, the difference in mass was overwhelming, and that wall of mist didn’t look like it would be enough to stop the acid current that melted everything. Yet despite the impression, reality showed a different phenomenon. Niflheim’s instant freezing affected a large area by changing the laws of the world. But the applied version of the spell Alus had used didn’t work the same way. 

Instead, it functioned by chaining solely across the air. 

Niflheim worked by freezing on the level of liquid nitrogen, compressing magic particles into crystals. It also had the property of being amplified and scattering when clashing with something physical. 

As a result, when Alus’ spell came into contact with the current of acid, the effects explosively expanded and engulfed it. The harsh freezing chained across all of the acid in an instant, freezing it solid in the air as the arch it had been unleashed in. 

Tesfia didn’t know a spell that created a phenomenon like this. She had committed all of the ice affinity spells that existed to memory. However... when she scanned through her knowledge, she couldn’t find a single spell that could do what just happened. 

She was still a novice Magicmaster. And each and every superhuman feat Alus was showing off was infinitely expanding the possibilities of magic. She trembled in elation. 

Tesfia was completely entranced, her eyes wide open so she could burn what she was seeing into her memory. 

Now the expanding wave of freezing had frozen all of the acid, making its way to the giant spider. The spider’s cells were instantly put into a form of suspended animation. 

The giant spider stood in the same pose it was in when it spit out the acid. Like it had turned into a statue. 

It was this phenomenon that showed why the spell was a degenerated form of Niflheim. Niflheim’s instant freezing wasn’t actually freezing; it worked by stopping even the activity of cell nuclei. 

In other words—it suspended the activity of body and substance, and instantly killed smaller Fiends. 

However, this spell was different. When it came to freezing a target, it looked to have the same effect as Niflheim. But it didn’t only suspend life. It also stopped even mana from working, thus belonging to the restriction type of magic. Its nature was to turn mana, and all of the cells that contained mana, into ice. 

It wasn’t just a freezing wave of cold; it completely restrained any mana it touched. That’s why the giant spider Fiend’s body didn’t crumble into dust, but instead turned into ice that would melt away. 

The Fiend was in suspended animation, still alive. If a Fiend were to have a conscious mind, it would’ve been able to identify the situation it was in. 

Alus casually stared at the statue with the massive ice pillar coming out of its mouth. After that, he jumped on top of what had been a torrent of acid, stepping across it. That rainbow-like arch led all the way to the Fiend. 

“... How boring.” His impression escaped his mouth. 

Those black eyes emotionlessly lorded over the Fiend. For some reason, that robed back looked melancholy again to Tesfia. Alus’ fear-inspiring, chilling voice even seemed to contain some grief over the mundanity of the world. 

To think there was such a gap between them. She’d said she would catch up to him one day, but the difference in power was just so vast. He was simply too far away from her. No matter how much effort she put into it, she’d never be able to kill Fiends so calmly and without hatred. It was like Alus had no emotions when he fought. 

While Tesfia held her breath, Alus slowly walked across the pillar of ice until he reached the Fiend, and swung his short sword down. 

A Fiend’s power originated from its source, and until that was destroyed it wouldn’t die. Even now the giant spider in front of him was simply frozen at the cellular level, its animation suspended. The flow of mana supplied by the core to the Fiend so it could move was just stopped. 

The spell restraining the mana and cells was temporary. It didn’t change the rules of the world like Niflheim did. Both spells appeared to have the same effect, but the cause was greatly different. 

By deceiving the laws of the world, Niflheim supplanted reality, encasing it in ice; as such, its period of effectiveness depended on the deterioration of the information of mana. 

Meanwhile, this new spell suspended the Fiend by sealing the flow of mana, but the ice around it was physical ice; and if left alone it would eventually melt away and reawaken. 

Of course, Alus wouldn’t let that happen. 

The blade of the short sword didn’t have the length to cut across the entire span of the giant spider, but that was a trivial problem to him. A massive blade of mana appeared as he swung his short sword down, easily splitting the eight meter-long statue in half. 

In the exposed cross section was the core, looking like a crystal. In the next instant a crack formed in it and it began to crumble. 

As Alus jumped off the creepy statue, it... and the ice encasing it... cracked and fell apart. 

“You all share a collective responsibility,” Alus suddenly muttered, and he grabbed hold of two of the rings in his chain, as if to say that his work wasn’t over yet. 

“‹‹Real Trace›› ‹‹Auto Chase››” 

In an instant, the entirety of the chain was coated in mana, and Alus threw it. 

There were no Fiends in sight in that direction, but the short sword weaved its way through the trees at a frightening speed, pulling the chain with it. Many Fiends should still be gathered and hiding over there. 

This automatic tracking spell worked by combining two types of spells. That said, neither of them were all that special to Alus. 

The length of his chain, its range, was a mere fifty meters, though not every ring in the chain had a formula engraved on it. That’s why he used the Real Trace spell to replicate the chain, giving mana a physical shape. As a result, the chain continued on without end as the short sword chased after its targets. This meant the range wasn’t fifty meters, but as long as Alus’ mana lasted. 

And with Auto Chase, the short sword itself became a ruthless murderer, independently eliminating all Fiends that entered Alus’ field of view. The sword tracked the mana wavelengths unique to Fiends, and continued giving chase until it disappeared. 

With the distances involved, he couldn’t rely on the sword to take the shortest route and destroy just the core, but since the Fiends’ cores were responsible for the mana wavelengths, it would complete its mission even if it took some time. 

This was a technique among Magicmasters that made use of summons, sacred beasts or familiars. 

It was also possible to do the same thing by using a freely controllable underling, molding its form as magic, and adding an autonomous process to it.

“We’re going back,” Alus said bluntly. 

However, Tesfia’s answer came in the form of a genuine question, as if she hadn’t realized the battle was over. “What... was that?” Having avoided any serious injuries, her consciousness had cleared by now. Though she didn’t fully understand what Alus had done, she had a passionate curiosity as a Magicmaster about unknown spells. Especially so when her own specialty, the ice affinity, was involved. 

Her earnest eyes already had the light of intelligence back in them. The injuries she’d sustained from the Fiends weren’t minor, but she’d recovered a little from her exhaustion from overusing her mana after resting awhile. 

Tesfia’s complexion looked a lot better than before, and her cheeks even had a hint of red to them, though that might have been less related to her health and more due to intellectual excitement. In fact, she was getting excited over seeing a new spell for the first time. 

However, she had something she needed to say before pursuing the matter. She looked straight at Alus, aware that her hands were trembling, as she was finally released from the nonstop tension. 

It was a reaction to fear. She felt like she’d walked across thin ice, shaken to her core as she realized she’d just barely survived by the skin of her teeth. 

Her lips tried to form words, but her mouth closed instead, like she was trying to endure a wave of emotion. “Phew,” she forcibly exhaled. With that, she was finally able to squeeze out the words... “Thank you.” 

“Hm?” Alus looked at her suspiciously, as her face was turned down and her voice was hard to hear. 

“I said thank you!” Tesfia raised her head, revealing a slightly reddened expression. She’d finally been able to give him words of gratitude. Controlled by overwhelming fear, she’d retreated back into her shell, and her pride had also kept her from honestly expressing herself. Her blushing face was proof of how conflicted she was. But she still told him what she had to. Though awkward, she possessed the ability for it as a daughter of the Fable family. “Thank you for saving not just me, but everyone else too!” 

Once she’d made her decision, she was able to frankly speak her mind. And after she’d finished saying it, she felt exhilarated for some reason. A bright and refreshing smile appeared on her face. 

So she can make faces like these, Alus thought to himself, while comparing it to her usual provoking expression. 

However, Alus was puzzled by what she did next, raising the corners of his mouth. “... What’s that supposed to mean?” 

Tesfia had made a V sign at Alus with a satisfied look. “I was able to fight against Fiends, too!” 

So that’s what she meant. Alus smiled wryly as he covered her two raised fingers with his hand. “Don’t get full of yourself over something like that.” 

“?!” Having her hand held by him, Tesfia repeatedly blinked and looked up at his face. 

“... But, well, I guess you get a passing grade.” 

“Alright!” Tesfia said with a joyful smile. But the moment she relaxed, she felt her body hurting all over and scowled. Willpower and mana were one thing, but the damage her body had taken wasn’t going to go away anytime soon. 

As she looked at him with a smile to hide her embarrassment, Alus asked her, “Can you stand?” He shifted his hand from her fingers to grasp her hand more fully to pull her up. Tesfia blushed for a moment as they held hands, but went with the flow and nervously stood up. 

Getting on her feet, adjusting her posture and giving her head a shake to clear it, she hesitatingly called out to Alus, “S-So, well... about that spell you used...” 

Alus was confused. He didn’t know which spell she meant. Niflheim, Railpine, Real Trace, Auto Chase... none of them were anything special to him. 

He wasn’t opposed to revealing the trick to Niflheim, either, despite it being such an advanced spell. Defeating the Fiends with an ice affinity spell had been in part for her sake. 

Seeing his expression, Tesfia hurriedly added on to her question. “The one where you froze things in an instant! What was that? It wasn’t Niflheim.” 

While smiling wryly at her shoddy explanation, he was finally able to understand. He was also unexpectedly impressed and his evaluation of her improved a little at her knowing Niflheim by name. With those thoughts in mind, he purposefully put his fingers on his chin as he answered, “That one’s still too early for you... but well, if I were to give it a name, I guess it would be Mistlotein.” 

“—!! So that means it is a new spell, right?” Just as she thought. Even she knew that a deep level of magic knowledge was required to create new spells. However, that was the extent of what she knew. But that was only natural, since modern-day Magicmasters didn’t understand every single tidbit there was to know about magic, even about the magic formulas they used themselves. But even if they didn’t know the fundamental principles behind them, they could still use them, like with Mana Chariots. 

“Then, could you, uhm, tell me... please?” Tesfia hesitatingly asked. And with her unusual use of polite expressions, her sincerity really came through. At the same time, she became aware of how unprincipled she sounded, and the blush on her cheeks spread all the way to the tops of her ears. But she stuck to her eagerness. 

“Well, one day... More importantly,” Alus said, moving his gaze from Tesfia to a certain spot in the clearing. In that spot were the other students curled up and bunched together out of fear. Many were still in a trance or unconscious. 

When Alus pulled out his mask from his robe, Tesfia understood what they needed to prioritize. 

Pushing the topic of the new spell aside—though she still had half her mind focused on it—Tesfia staggered over to the others to tell them that rescue had arrived. 

“Guys, we’ll be fine now,” Tesfia said cheerfully, while enduring the pain of her injuries as best she could. 

However, the only group member that responded to her voice was the female student who’d first spotted the Fiend. She’d been curled in a ball until now, but finally came out of her extreme shock. Her shoulders began trembling. 

Meanwhile, the male students were pathetically motionless. 

Hearing Tesfia’s gentle voice, the female student awkwardly raised her head. “...” Her vision seemed to be blurry due to her tears, as she repeatedly looked around her surroundings. Unable to believe she had survived that predicament, she couldn’t relax until confirming with her own eyes that it really was safe. 

“Like I said, we’re fine now.” Tesfia gently touched her trembling, stiff shoulders. 

After glancing at Tesfia’s hand for a moment, large tears poured out of the female student’s eyes, and she embraced Tesfia, burying her face in her neck. She began letting out a muffled sobbing. Tesfia wobbled, but supported her with her small body, patting her trembling back. 

“Now then, what to do with this guy.” Having put on his mask a while back, Alus looked at the passed-out Cabsol. 

He turned him around with his foot. That short hair looked familiar... this was the second time Alus had seen this person. He was the arrogant third-year leader of the group that had stormed Sisty’s office the other day. 

“Alright! Let’s leave this guy behind.” 

“...!” Tesfia panicked for a moment when she heard Alus say that so casually. She quickly reconsidered, realizing it was probably a joke, but then she couldn’t tell what kind of expression he wore underneath his mask. 

In fact, his eyes which she could see through the mask’s eye holes were looking at Cabsol like he was just a pebble on the side of the road. His tone sounded like he’d had enough. 

In reality, Alus was ready to abandon him if he had to. The unexpected was always a threat in the Outer World, but it was different if the situation was purposefully created. 

“He did cause trouble, after all...” Alus said. 

But Tesfia hurriedly intervened. “Wait a minute! That’s going too far.” 

“Hmph, then either way is fine, but carrying this guy will be a bother.” That was more or less how Alus really felt. He truly believed it would be wasted effort. 

Tesfia struggled to figure out how Alus assessed things. When weighing a human life against the labor of carrying him, he seemed to immediately eliminate pointless effort. 

Then again, considering what Cabsol had done, that might not be all that unexpected. 

“It’s his fault that this happened, so letting him die would be irresponsible,” Tesfia said, trying to help Cabsol. She thought it was a good idea, but when she thought of the pain she went through because of him, and the anger it caused her, she knew it was a bit of a stretch. 

Opinions differed when it came to measuring a person’s sin against their atonement. For example, in Alpha, the general judgment toward a murderer was to have them live and atone for their sins. 

To Alus, paying with your life for murder was the correct decision, as well as being the more effortless judgment. Which was why he tilted his head at the point Tesfia was making. “Is that so?” It was the kind of judgment he couldn’t understand, but he ended up accepting it. He was somewhat aware that he was a little off at times, or rather, he’d finally started to realize it as of late. 

In the military, being abandoned in the Outer World for committing a major violation against orders was a natural punishment. It was a betrayal, not only against military regulations, but also against humanity. As long as there was proof, it was a serious enough violation to justify an on-site judgment. 

While Cabsol was just a student, there was a limit to how far you could push it. His sins weren’t serious enough to immediately pay with his life, but Alus would be fine with at least abandoning him in the Outer World. 

If he’s lucky enough... No, I guess he’d die. 

As Alus sighed, Tesfia continued appealing to him. “Besides, it’s not like I can’t understand how he feels... Well no, I don’t understand, but...” she said evasively. 

She, vexingly enough, felt something that wasn’t quite sympathy or compassion, but... 

Magicmasters were all more or less bound by rank. The means Cabsol used this time couldn’t be overlooked, but young Magicmasters running off on their own with the ambition to raise their rank was unavoidable. 

In fact, Tesfia herself had been more fixated on increasing her rank than most in the past. The people around her expected it, especially considering her status as a noble. She couldn’t properly put it into words, but she saw a glimpse of her past self in Cabsol. 

Alus took this to mean she felt sympathy for him. That’s why he continued for her, “I understand, you could say this guy’s been punished enough. No, he should be receiving more punishment. I guess... this guy’s probably not going to make it as a Magicmaster.” 

In other words, he’d be branded as a failure. That said, it didn’t mean he’d be treated horribly for the rest of his life. However, someone branded as a second-rate Magicmaster would be treated and recognized differently from a first-rate Magicmaster fighting on the frontlines. 

It was the difference between contempt and respect. An unspoken rule of differentiating between ranks. 

Suddenly, the sound of rustling leaves. Tesfia readied herself. 

Next, a silver-haired girl jumped out from a grassy place. After gliding through the air, she softly landed. 

“Loki.” 

“I’m sorry. I was, uhm...” Loki faltered. Some time had passed since Alus headed out to help the last group, and with no report coming in, she probably just couldn’t contain herself. 

“Sorry, I forgot about reporting.” 

“No, I’m just happy that nothing happened.” Loki was relieved. While she believed he would be okay, she couldn’t push aside the unease she’d felt. Freed from her distress, her expression softened. “The main extracurricular lesson for the first-year students has ended. The principal has expressed her intent to continue the lesson, and all groups aside from this one are already moving on to the next stage.” 

“Got it... Thanks.” Alus put his hand on her head as if praising a puppy. 

Her eyes were downcast, and her cheeks blushed, but when she realized a certain red-haired student was there, Loki quickly returned to her senses. Her softened expression turned into its usual emotionless one. 

“What about the Fiends?” 

“I’ve wiped out all of the ones around here.” 

“I thought that was you, Sir Alus. I could see the chain.” Loki nodded her head in understanding. 

That’s when Alus suddenly asked her, “How many are on their way?” 

It was an abrupt question, but Loki answered immediately. “Three teams are on their way. I believe they’ll be here soon.” 

“Okay. I’ll leave the rest to you.” 

“Yes!” Loki politely bowed. Her appearance was neat, tidy and cute. Despite her having rushed over from headquarters, there was not a speck of dirt on her uniform. 

But casting his gaze upon a point—he brushed off her shoulders with an exasperated expression. The next moment, green leaves fell to the ground. 

“T-Thank you very much.” 

Alus said nothing. That was just how quickly she’d come running. 

“About where we left off...” Tesfia said. It wasn’t just because she didn’t like feeling left out. She was interested in the new spell, but more than that, she realized how ignorant and short-sighted she had been. 

She also regretted not stopping Cabsol. Considering her position, it might have been hard, but she had made light of the dangers of the Outer World. 

Man was very weak in this vast and mysterious world. Tesfia now understood the terrors of the world and accurately grasped how feeble her abilities really were. 

The essence of defeating Fiends that Alus spoke of was likely not about skill, but mental attitude. And she was overwhelmingly lacking in that determination and power to refine her mind the way she was now. 

“Hurry up and tell me, please. I want to become stronger. I’m sure I’ll see the world differently then...” That’s why she wanted to hear the answer to her question from before that had been left up in the air. No, she was already beyond wanting to know only that. It would exceed simple knowledge or technique. Tesfia felt like it would lead her into the future, a clue leading her to her own path as a Magicmaster. 

However, her enthusiasm wasn’t rewarded. “What are you going on about?” Alus casually said, as if he’d forgotten their conversation. He pulled back his short sword’s chain. The chain of the AWR had finished hunting its prey, wiping out all the Fiends around, and returned to its scabbard. 

“Like I said... s-start with that spell...” Tesfia was embarrassed by Loki staring at her unreasonableness, and was unable to continue clearly. 

But Alus brushed her off. “It’d be a pain if anyone else were to see. And don’t get your priorities wrong. Treat your injuries first. If you’re falling behind against opponents on this level, you still have a long way to go.” 

He had said it lightly, but in an instant Tesfia’s strong will returned and she glared at him. With traces of tears still on her face, she said, “I said I want to get stronger! Besides, you’re planning on running away, aren’t you?” 

Tesfia firmly grabbed Alus’ robe. Her eyes were serious and she looked headstrong, not going to let her chance slip away, even though she was injured. 

“Fine... Loki, I’m taking her with me.” 

“Wai—Ahh!” 

Suddenly Alus reached out with his arms. Tesfia was astonished for a moment, having suddenly been lifted off the ground, but then let out a small scream. She’d wrapped her arms around Alus’ neck by reflex when she was picked up, but shame assaulted her, so she let go and awkwardly held her hands over her chest. 

“I-I can walk on my own...” Her movements in his arms were very meek. That was probably because she hadn’t recovered yet. 

That said, Alus wasn’t planning on waiting for her to recover and return at her leisure to headquarters. “Just shut up if you want me to teach you. I’ll instruct you in a way where no one can interfere.” 

He didn’t need to say any more. Like a child wanting to play with a new toy, Tesfia had no choice but to obey. “O-Okay...” 

As if to protect her dignity, the proud noble girl banded her hands in front of her modest bosom. 

* * * 

In the end, Group 11 was rescued, with only Tesfia being injured. 

The majority of the group either fainted or were unable to move, meaning they didn’t resist or do anything unnecessary. The remaining members, taken in by three teams for a total of six people, had no external injuries. 

However, the supervisor, Cabsol, had a haggard look on his face. His arrogance and dignity as a noble seemed to have disappeared, and he was gasping for breath upon his return to headquarters. 

In total, the supervisors of seven groups and four reinforcement teams had acted independently... in other words, they’d gone against the rules of the extracurricular lesson, and defied orders. 

While some fault lay with the Institute, they would still face serious punishment. Some of the first-year students were traumatized because of their actions. Moreover, the fact that they ignored warnings from headquarters meant they’d be given even more punishment. 

Most of the groups, though, including Felinella’s group, finished the extracurricular lesson without any problems. 

Normally, it took time before a verdict was handed down, but this time it was swift. Even so, this was the most problematic task for the principal among all that had happened during the lesson. 

On the other hand, Tesfia wasn’t publicly rewarded for the injuries she sustained, but they weren’t for naught. 

Just before the extracurricular lesson ended, Alus kept his promise and taught her the details of the structural elements of Mistlotein... while dashing through the Outer World with Tesfia in his arms. Though it was questionable if she was able to understand everything. 

Her enthusiasm stumped even Alus, and if she’d had a notebook with her, she’d surely be writing down every single word he spoke despite the extreme speed they were moving at. 

In the end, the only way to get her to calm down was not only to reveal the entire magic formula, but Alus even promised to keep her company once they got back to headquarters so she could write it all down. Of course, he felt strange having to compromise despite being the one teaching the tricks of the new spell. 

However, since Tesfia forgot about her pain while they were at it, Alus was fine with it. At the very least it was better than having her cry out and flounder in pain while moving at high speeds. 

Once Alus made that promise, Tesfia gripped the sleeve of his robe and mumbled, “Thank you...” 

“You’re welcome.” 

Alus’ answer was plain, but Tesfia’s face turned red as they picked up speed, and it was unclear if she’d even heard him. Relieved by the promise he made, she was finally able to realize the situation she was in and was very shaken up. 

That’s right—this pose she was in right now was very similar to that fantasy all girls of age had dreamed of at least once in their lives. 

Either way, Alus decided not to tease or be sarcastic with Tesfia upon hearing her be so meek. Wanting to hurry on ahead, the genius Magicmaster kept his mouth shut and accepted her gratitude.