The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 115

If a decision is made, actions must be taken swiftly.

When I told Andy, I was already sprinting toward the Black Forest, having gathered my things.

For the past two weeks since the Hunting Festival began, I hadn’t stepped into the Black Forest even once, and today I intended to check it out.

With the Hunting Festival set for tomorrow, it made the most sense to scout the area the night before.

The shallow parts of the Black Forest were currently heavily guarded by the Academy professors, who had installed plentiful Alarm Magic, making it impossible for me to enter alone.

If there were no Alarm Magic, all sorts of students would have tried to charge into the forest, so it was a necessary precaution.

“What am I, a living access card!? You drag me here and just leave me behind! What am I supposed to do!?”

Andy shouted furiously.

He seemed a bit flustered, having woken up, thrown on some simple gear, and been dragged all the way to the Black Forest.

But what could be done?

“I’m heading straight into the depths. Did you want to come along?”

“No, I’ll be waiting here, meaning I hope you have a safe trip!”

As I mentioned entering, Andy swiftly sealed his lips and waved his arms to wish me well.

If I was heading to the most dangerous center of the forest, he’d better wait quietly if he wasn’t coming with me.

“Shall I go take a look at what’s going on…?”

The interior of the Black Forest, where the Hunting Festival would take place, was surprisingly well organized.

Considering only two weeks had been allotted, it was almost miraculous.

“I’ll take care of the monsters lurking near the boundary…”

Any monsters close to the boundary that might inadvertently cross paths with the students during their hunting tomorrow were dealt with as soon as I spotted them.

Basilisks and ogres are dangerous monsters, but they’re all considered risks strictly from a civilian’s perspective.

Several corpses of monsters were left wandering around the perimeter.

I couldn’t examine them thoroughly.

It was a priority to assess the situation within the Black Forest, so I merely skimmed the area before pressing further inside.

Deeper and deeper I plunged into the black, hole-like depths of the Black Forest.

The further I went inside, the thicker the darkness became, blocking even the moonlight, and the danger posed by the creatures residing within increased.

Then, at some point, I began to sense that I had reached the center.

My breathing felt different.

I didn’t know the cause, but the concentration of mana in the air seemed to increase the deeper I went into the Black Forest.

This was one reason why ordinary people shouldn’t enter the Black Forest.

Too much of anything can be poison.

Experts or sorcerers with special techniques to store and use the mana in the atmosphere might consider this dense mana a blessing, but for normal people, a concentration like this makes it difficult to breathe.

Now that I had genuinely ventured into the heart, the first thing I wanted to confirm was the corpse of Orthos, which I’d had to chop up while training Shaara.

I hadn’t examined it properly since then, but with all this time having passed, only bones would remain.

I considered myself fortunate if I found even a trace of it when suddenly the direction of the wind changed.

– Boom!!!

The spot I had just occupied moments before erupted in a gigantic explosion as if hit by a mortar.

Realizing the danger, I quickly dodged, but the destructive power was astounding.

Black soil soared high into the sky as a rather sturdy tree was smashed at the base and crashed to the ground with a loud noise.

It wasn’t someone casting magic or firing a cannon.

He was simply stomping with all his might.

[Human… It’s a human! How dare you enter this place with such courage!!]

What appeared was an immense giant.

The trees of the Black Forest were taller than a typical three-story building, but this giant was even bigger.

His shoulders protruded over the trees.

I wondered if he could even see his feet from up there.

From below, I struggled to catch a glimpse of the giant’s shoulder.

Physically, aside from his size, he resembled a terribly muscular human but there was one key difference.

Upon closer examination, a single enormous eye was set squarely in the center of his massive face.

An ancient one-eyed monster, a Cyclops, far superior to an ogre.

“Hey, kid! Is that how you greet without courtesy?”

[Hahaha! It’s been a while since I’ve tasted human flesh!!]

The Cyclops bellowed with laughter and stomped his foot once more.

Dirt and shards shot up into the air as the ground of the forest was overturned again.

‘He just keeps stomping. Should I cut his legs off?’

This monster could also speak, much like Orthos.

The Cyclops, looking like a middle-aged man, continued.

[Though it’s a bit small for a meal, it’s all the same to me…]

– Slice!

[Arggh!!!]

The Cyclops’ leg, thicker than a building’s pillar, was severed at the knee.

In my hand, I was holding the Squirette, which I had no idea when I’d drawn.

Seeing his rude behavior, I decided to take action.

“Who said it was small?”

Though one leg was gone, the Cyclops, clutching a nearby tree with one leg, looked down at me.

His large eye, glowing fiercely, was bigger than my entire body.

[H.. Haha! It’s been… a very long time since I was injured by a human! I wonder… what you are doing here.]

“What the hell do I care about that?”

I had already racked up the first stack from the first attack, a second from the second, and a small pile from his comments about size. It had been a while since someone pissed me off so easily.

Attempting to converse would hardly lead to a meaningful dialogue with someone who’d attacked me on sight.

I was ready to chop him up like I had with Orthos when suddenly I sensed a new presence nearby.

[Hiii… Strong-willed human… It’s been a while since someone like you has entered this place.]

Another monster emerged.

A giant serpent with nine heads slithered towards me, flicking its tongue.

The bizarre sound created as each head spoke in turn was unsettling.

It was the Hydra, the quintessential immortal monster typically heard of in legend.

‘Oh? Three heads too many, I think?’

I finally noticed something odd.

I had distinctly killed one before, but how were two more here?

Clearly, it was a good thing I had come early.

The Cyclops and Hydra were not ordinary monsters but rare and powerful beings often found only in myths and legends.

The fact that such creatures dwelled within this forest seemed utterly strange.

Why? Because beings like them typically claimed territories and ruled alone.

[Grr… Human… Strong human… Have you come again!]

“What? You were still alive?”

Out walked Orthos, the two-headed giant hound from the deep cave.

The last time I saw him, he’d been salivating at the sight of Shaara, and now there were no visible wounds on him.

[It’s true that Orthos cannot die so easily!]

[Oh, so Orthos, was that your buddy here?]

Apparently, despite their appearances, they had incredibly strong regeneration capabilities.

The Cyclops had, at some point, reattached the leg that had been severed.

I had known Hydra possessed impressive regeneration skills, but I hadn’t expected that these creatures would also share such capabilities.

Creatures discovered elsewhere had a record of not displaying such extraordinary healing.

Could it be that the specimens here were somehow unique?

“Well, isn’t this just perfect.”

Though I was surrounded by legendary monsters hundreds of times larger than myself, I felt no anxiety.

I simply summoned my Aura Blade with all my might while wielding the Squirette.

A brilliant flash filled the pitch-black forest, almost blinding.

“I could just turn you all into trophies and sell you off to magicians.”

Who knows? Perhaps there’s a clue to my growth hidden among these ancient monsters?

[W-wait!! Are you actually planning to come all this way just to kill us…?!!]

Just as I was about to slice the Cyclops’s neck, Orthos shouted in a panic.

“He started it! Isn’t he the one attacking first?”

[That old man… can be a bit uncomfortable at times. I’ll apologize.]

[Hiii!! Orthos!!] [What do you mean by that? You don’t speak so lightly to the elder!!]

The Hydra and Orthos treated the Cyclops as though he were far older than them.

[Strong human… Why are you breaking your promise? We had a pact with humans!]

“What promise?”

[Yes, that promise. We vowed not to leave this forest. If we are not disturbed in our territory, we would not harm any humans, as promised with a human who came before you. We’ve adhered to our oath, and yet you come into our domain attacking us…!!]

Orthos complained, upset that they would remain here quietly while I barged in and made a mess.

It seemed inappropriate for a monster that had previously been so overly arrogant to be complaining now.

“That’s not my promise but one made by someone years ago.”

[I can’t recall how many years back… But the human who made the promise was a knight named Reiner of the Tiger Knight Order.]

“Reiner…?”

Reiner of the Tiger Knight Order… I didn’t memorize every name of the old knights, but I knew that they served the same Royal family I did.

They were rugged individuals that often found themselves on the battlefield, so I had encountered them often.

If the promise was made with the Tiger Knight Order, there was likely a record of it in the Royal archives.

If it was recorded, as part of the Royal Knight Order, it couldn’t simply be neglected.

“Hmm… So just where does your territory extend to?”

[From the spot where the concentration of mana rapidly thickens.]

If I based it on that criterion, I was far from the shallow part… which meant it had nothing to do with the area where tomorrow’s Hunting Festival would occur.

With a swift swing of my glowing Aura Blade, I spoke again.

“… If that’s the case, then I will withdraw from here. However, there will be a lot of humans entering this forest tomorrow. They’ll just be playing around in the shallows, and they shouldn’t come anywhere near the inner parts, so don’t touch a single hair on them.”

[Hiii!! This forest is sacred ground to us. What do you mean by standing aside and watching as you ruin it!?]

“Then just die.”

The Hydra’s nine heads flicked their tongues at me threateningly, but I stood firm and stared straight at the Hydra while holding my sword.

The Aura Blade had already been activated.

If the Hydra dared rush at me in this state, I could sever all nine heads in one strike.

According to legend, each time a head of the Hydra was chopped off, two would emerge from the wound.

I was curious just how much I could cut off.

[That’s not a difficult condition. I accept.]

[Hiii!! Orthos..!!] [Are you really going to allow these humans to dirty your father’s grave?!!]

[The shallow parts aren’t graves or anything! If this human and I fight here, it’ll get wrecked! Are you trying to destroy father’s grave!]

‘Father’s grave?’

Contemplating who they could refer to as their father, the answer quickly emerged in my mind.

The father of all monsters.

The god of monsters.

“Is this the grave of Typhon?”