Chapter 98: Relentless Rescue
When Rest arrived at the location where the distress signal had been sent up, he found a trio of upperclassmen from the Magic Department—a mix of two men and a woman—being attacked by a Horned Bear with black fur. Without waiting for his companions, Rest immediately sprang into action to rescue them, unleashing an attack spell.
“Wind Blade!”
“Gyaaaah!”
The blade of wind slashed across the bear’s face. However, the damage was minimal; its thick fur had absorbed most of the impact. The Horned Bear, previously focused on the female student, turned its attention toward Rest, glaring at him with its glowing red eyes.
“Come at me.”
“GAAAAAAAH!”
Though it didn’t understand human speech, the Horned Bear charged at Rest. This creature was among the stronger types of monsters, far beyond what a student on the verge of graduation should typically face.
(Perhaps they encountered an unusually powerful monster by sheer bad luck, or maybe this year has seen an increase in the strength of monsters compared to previous years…)
The faculty must have conducted their own research beforehand, so it was likely the former. Rest pushed aside these thoughts and focused on the battle.
“GAAAH!”
“High Accelerator!”
He dodged the bear’s claw swipe with a burst of speed, maneuvering behind it to deliver a counterattack.
(This monster isn’t something I can take down with Basic Magic. It’ll require Advanced Magic, or perhaps…)
“Wind Blade!”
This time, the spell was the same Wind Blade, but it was enhanced through a Quartet of spells: Amplification, Compression, and Acceleration. The blade, now strengthened to the level of Advanced Magic or beyond, severed the Horned Bear’s neck at nearly point-blank range.
“Alright, that should do it.”
The Horned Bear fell, defeated. However, just then, another Horned Bear emerged from the nearby woods, lunging toward Rest’s back.
“Watch out!”
The female student cried out in alarm. Yet, Rest remained calm; there was no time to panic.
“I knew it.”
“Gyaaah!?”
The bear that had been about to attack stumbled as one of its legs fell into a pitfall Rest had created using Earth Control. The sudden drop caused it to lose its balance. Thanks to Rest’s constant use of Life Search, the ambush had failed.
“Fireball!”
He unleashed another enhanced spell, striking the second Horned Bear squarely on the head. Its upper body exploded, scattering its remains.
“Well, that takes care of that.”
With the presence of monsters now gone, the battle came to an end. Rest turned to the three students from the Magic Department, who had been watching in shock from a distance.
“Are you all alright?”
“Y-yes… and you?”
“I’m Rest from the Executive Committee. I saw the distress signal and came to help.”
As Rest introduced himself, the three exchanged surprised glances.
“Um… you’re a first-year, right? You took down that monster all by yourself…”
“Wow, so it’s true that students in the Executive Committee are amazing, even if they’re first-years… We couldn’t defeat it even as a group of three…”
The trio looked somewhat disheartened. Rest shrugged off their praise modestly before casting Healing Magic on them. Each of them had sustained a few injuries, but nothing Rest couldn’t handle.
“More importantly… how did you end up being attacked by that monster? There shouldn’t be such creatures near the Plain Entrance…”
The Subnock Plain was known as a habitat for monsters, referred to as the Demon Realm. The further one ventured into the plain, the stronger the monsters became, while only weaker ones resided at the edges. The Horned Bear they had just faced was typically a creature found closer to the center.
“I don’t know… We didn’t intend to fight such a strong monster, it just appeared out of nowhere.”
“I thought we were going to die… thank you so much…”
“You’re welcome. Now, I need to check another location…”
“Rest, you jerk…!”
At that moment, Daniya finally arrived, followed shortly by another companion, Thomas.
“Y-you’re fast… don’t leave us behind…”
“You were the one who suggested a race! More importantly, we need to regroup with Yugroot-senpai quickly…”
Rest halted mid-sentence as a distress signal flared up in the sky. Multiple lines of smoke were rising, not just one but two, three, and more in quick succession.
“Hey, more distress signals…!”
“They’re coming from deeper in the plain!? What’s going on!?”
Daniya and Thomas exclaimed in shock. Rest looked up at the sky, his brow furrowed in concern.
“This is clearly not normal. What in the world is happening…?”
No matter how dangerous the Monster Hunting Festival was, this was an abnormal situation.
“Daniya, Thomas. You two stay with these three and escort them back to the Plain Entrance.”
“Hey, what about you…?”
“I’m going to regroup with Yugroot-senpai and seek further instructions… Since I lost the race, just follow my orders without complaint.”
Rest shot a warning glance at the dissatisfied Daniya before enhancing his physical abilities with magic and sprinting off.