Episode 58. Midterm Evaluation (3)

“Grrrrrr.”

A low growl.

The Wolf Monster glared at me with a wary gaze, its body tense.

I chuckled softly as I looked at the Wolf Monster.

“What’s this? You won’t even greet me after so long?”

“Grrraaaah!”

Instead of a response, a fierce roar echoed.

The monster, which had been eyeing me for an opening, lunged forward with a burst of speed.

In my past life, I would have been torn apart by its terrifying fangs without even putting up a fight.

“Tsk, you’re really making me feel unappreciated.”

Berald Martial Arts.

Sky Flip.

Whoosh!

The Wolf Monster, which had been charging at me, spun mid-air and crashed to the ground.

“Kkiiing!”

The monster rolled on the ground, letting out a pained scream.

“Grrr…?”

Was it unable to comprehend how it had been defeated?

The Wolf Monster staggered to its feet, looking at me with a confused expression.

“Hah. Memories, memories.”

While the Wolf Monster was still disoriented, I swallowed a bitter laugh as memories from my past life flooded back.

The helpless me.

Weak and pitiful memories of those days.

“Someone once said that memories tend to get glorified over time.”

Well.

Even after so much time had passed.

Those memories remained as unpleasant as a soup stain on a shirt.

“Maybe it’s not always like that?”

Tsk.

Clicking my tongue, I took a step toward the Wolf Monster.

“Grr, grrrr!”

As I approached, the Wolf Monster began to back away hesitantly.

Fear flickered in its three blood-red eyes.

“What, scared?”

“Kii… kiiing.”

“Don’t worry.”

I’ve been there too.

Swoosh!

A sharp sword slash cut through the Wolf Monster’s front leg.

Blood gushed from the severed limb.

“Grrraaahh!”

The Wolf Monster writhed in pain, letting out a pitiful roar.

I walked over to the fallen monster and raised my sword.

“Alright, first point.”

Thud.

I drove the sword into the monster’s head.

The sensation of the blade piercing through the skull and into the brain traveled up the sword.

“Ah, that feels satisfying.”

Whoever said revenge is futile must have been full of it.

In my past life, I had been helpless as this monster tore into my neck. Now, I was the one driving a sword into its head. Nothing could feel more satisfying.

‘People who say revenge is futile are just scared of getting what’s coming to them.’

There’s no way paying back what you’ve suffered—or even more—could be futile.

“Phew.”

Feeling a deep sense of fulfillment, I turned on the Hero Watch.

I checked the [Score Status] section to see my updated score, but…

“…Huh?”

The screen displayed a score of 0.

‘What’s going on?’

Come to think of it, the Hero Watch was supposed to automatically recognize successful monster hunts and give an alert, but there was no such alert.

“It can’t still be alive.”

Unless it had awakened something like the “Blessing of Resurrection,” there was no way a monster with its head split open and its brains spilling out could still be alive.

‘Did something glitch?’

I tilted my head and examined the Wolf Monster’s corpse.

“…It’s gone.”

If this were a monster prepared for the exam, it should have had a mark indicating it was a test monster, but there was no such mark.

‘No sign of the mark falling off either.’

The marks used for monster management were extremely durable, so it was impossible for them to fall off without a trace.

“Then this monster wasn’t prepared by the school for the exam…”

Thinking about it, a few oddities began to stand out.

‘This monster… it definitely ‘ambushed’ me.’

As Professor Lucas had warned, this exam was dangerous enough that careless candidates could actually die.

In other words, as long as you ‘understood the theme,’ you wouldn’t die.

‘They would have used monsters with relatively low aggression for the exam.’

While monsters like Professor Bianca’s familiar, the “One-Horned Beast,” weren’t completely non-aggressive, they rarely ambushed you from the bushes like this one did.

‘I didn’t even enter its ambush spot first.’

In my past life, I couldn’t tell if I had entered the monster’s territory first or if it had chased me, but this time I knew for sure.

‘This thing came here to kill me.’

And it had tracked me from quite a distance.

“So that means… this monster likely came from outside the exam area.”

The monster that had given me my first taste of ‘death’ in my past life had actually been a monster that had wandered in from outside.

I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly at the unexpected truth.

‘I should report this to the school.’

I took a photo with the Hero Watch and reported it to the school.

“Ugh. This isn’t going to get the exam canceled, is it?”

It felt like things were about to get more troublesome, but what could I do?

I couldn’t just ignore a monster without a mark roaming around the exam area.

‘I need to take down the One-Horned Beast before the exam gets canceled.’

Even if the exam were to be canceled, taking down the One-Horned Beast, which acted as a sort of hidden boss in this exam, would likely still count toward my score.

“Let’s see…”

Looking around, I leaped up onto a nearby tree.

I looked out over the forest, which stretched out like a green sea, and focused my Magic Power into my eyes.

The most basic effect of Magic Power was body enhancement.

Beyond simply strengthening the body, it also amplified the senses.

‘At least… I can’t see it with my eyes.’

The trees were too dense, and even from this height, I couldn’t spot the One-Horned Beast.

“Then there’s a way.”

I took a deep breath and spread my arms wide.

After channeling Magic Power throughout my body and into my hands.

I clapped as hard as I could.

Berald Martial Arts.

Hand Thunder.

Boom!

A deafening explosion echoed throughout the mountain.

Birds hidden among the trees took to the sky, and the cries of startled candidates and monsters could be heard from all directions.

And in the midst of it all.

‘Found it.’

A flash of blue lightning flickered above the dense trees.

‘Wind Step.’

This time, I channeled Magic Power into my legs instead of my hands and kicked off the tree trunk.

My body became as light as a gust of wind.

I dashed through the dense trees toward where the blue lightning had flashed.

“Hiiiiing!”

After a few minutes of running.

I spotted a white horse near a babbling stream.

Its body covered in pure white fur.

A horn protruding from its forehead and fierce blue lightning crackling around its body.

Three pairs of eyes covering its face.

The hologram I had seen earlier showed the monster raising its front leg threateningly, looking around.

‘Was it because of the noise just now?’

The One-Horned Beast had its white mane bristling, on high alert.

‘Maybe I should wait for it to calm down a bit.’

While I could take it on head-on.

There was no reason to give up the advantage of a surprise attack when the monster was already on edge.

“Purrrr.”

The One-Horned Beast, which had been looking around warily, lowered its raised leg.

Clip-clop, clip-clop.

It moved gracefully toward the stream.

The sharp wariness from before was nowhere to be seen.

‘It’s surprisingly docile for a monster.’

Monsters were creatures that had undergone mutation by absorbing Magic Power, so most of them were ferocious and aggressive.

Especially those that had absorbed a lot of Magic Power… in other words, monsters with more ‘eyes’ tended to be even more aggressive.

‘It’s not radiating any killing intent, and it’s controlling its internal Magic Power well.’

No wonder Professor Bianca had chosen it as her familiar.

‘By the way, I heard the One-Horned Beast has a thing for virgins.’

Generally, monsters tended to retain traits from the animals they had mutated from.

For example, a monster mutated from a wolf would have a pack mentality, or a monster mutated from a mole would have a burrowing habit.

‘Of course, not all of them are like that.’

Sometimes, monsters would develop completely unrelated traits after mutation.

A prime example was the One-Horned Beast in front of me.

A monster mutated from a horse with a horn on its forehead… commonly called a ‘unicorn,’ it had the bizarre trait of being extremely attracted to human virgins.

“Ah, could it be… that’s why Professor Bianca can use this monster as her familiar…”

Ahem.

Let’s stop this line of speculation out of respect for Professor Lucas.

“Alright… it seems to have calmed down.”

Time to start the hunt.

“Deep breath.”

I slowly inhaled and spread Magic Power throughout my body.

I approached the One-Horned Beast, muffling my footsteps.

‘Now!’

When I was close enough.

I kicked off the ground and drew my sword.

“Purrr?!”

The One-Horned Beast noticed my approach and flinched, taking a step back.

“Too late, buddy.”

I smirked and thrust my sword toward the bell around the One-Horned Beast’s neck.

Sun Sword.

Fourth Form, Flash.

The sword transformed into a streak of light and shot forward.

Just as the blade was about to cut through the bell.

“Haap!”

A short shout accompanied a golden sword aura flying straight at me.

Clang!

The sword was deflected with a clear sound.

The sword I had aimed at the bell grazed the One-Horned Beast’s cheek.

“Purrrrr!”

The One-Horned Beast let out an excited roar, blood dripping from its cheek.

“Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue and took a step back from the One-Horned Beast.

I turned my head toward where the golden sword aura had come from and saw Yuren, breathing heavily.

“Ha, did you catch up already?”

Yuren must have rushed here as soon as he saw the blue lightning flash in the sky.

‘But.’

I smirked as I looked at Yuren.

“Sorry, but first place is mine, Yuren.”

I was already right in front of the One-Horned Beast, while Yuren was over 100 meters away.

On top of that, I had already made the first move against the unicorn.

Naturally, the One-Horned Beast’s attention should be focused on me…

“Puhiiiiing!”

The One-Horned Beast turned its body sharply and charged toward Yuren, snorting fiercely.

“…Huh?”

Wait, what?

“Why are you going over there, you skull-headed bastard!”

I was the one who pulled aggro!!!