Chapter 54

The ground was torn apart as white snow was being trampled everywhere.Rockfeller stood on the wall, looking down at the scene with his staff in hand. Ice oxen, with their crystal-like horns shining, were charging like waves. Schlaphe Hall students stood with their backs to the wall, preparing for the defensive battle. “Hmm.” The second and third-year students held their stances skillfully. The first-year students, as expected, were clumsy, but for those who hadn’t even been trained, they didn’t look too bad. At this rate, they might not be able to subjugate the enemy, but they could at least manage the defense without significant damage. If they killed about 40 of the leading ice oxen, the rest would likely retreat. “…It doesn’t look like they need help.” The dawn air was cold. Rockfeller turned to head towards the warm shelter with a stove. But then, a woman’s sharp voice pierced his ears, making him turn around again. “What are you guys doing? Are you crazy? Join the formation immediately!” It was Athera, the representative of Schlaphe Hall and a third-year student from the Knights Department. She was yelling at three men who were leaving the formation. “We’re going to hunt the leader now. Anyone want to come? It’s a chance to earn some coins.” “The leader? You, a freshman?” “Well, if you don’t want to, that’s fine.” “Hey! You crazy idiot! Didn’t you hear me? Stop fooling around and join the formation now!” “Good luck, then.” “Hey!!” Rockfeller’s eyes glinted with a cold light as he watched the golden-haired head shining even from the top of the wall. “Hersel Ben Tenest…” He called out his name like an enemy, veins bulging on his forehead. Rockfeller conjured a chair with shaping magic, sat down, and gritted his teeth. “Alright, let’s see how good you really are.” He had confirmed through his orb that this guy was fine even after taking a hit from a sentinel. With his skills, he could easily take down the leader, but Rockfeller was curious about what kind of outrageous things he would do to annoy people this time. He wouldn’t be doing something ridiculous like spraying water again, would he? Ricks ran through the snowfield. His friends, following behind with frightened faces, also traced the footsteps of those who had gone ahead. “Ricks! It’s not too late to turn back now!” “What? Didn’t you come to earn some coins?” “Coins? We’re here to drag you back, man!” If things look too bad, they can retreat then. Ricks grinned at his friends. Just then, Gravel, who was running beside him, stopped in her tracks. “Hey! There’s red smoke over there.” “Smoke?” As Gravel said, there was red smoke in the sky. The smoke began to settle quietly, landing over the herd of ice oxen. Then, the leading ice oxen stopped and started banging their heads against each other. But it was an opportunity to attack. The herd of ice oxen now had clear openings. The friends who were following behind said with wide eyes. “What’s going on?” “Actually… If we handle this well, we can catch them.” “What?” “Look, their formation is broken.” Ricks smiled satisfactorily and spoke. “Felix is right. If we surround and attack one by one, it won’t be too difficult.” Ricks said this while observing the scattered charge of the ice oxen. Their terrifying feature was that they charged like a solid wall without giving any gaps. From the opponent’s perspective, they had no choice but to take the full frontal attack with the ice ox’s weight behind it, which was a disadvantageous structure. Normally it would be like that, but now it was different. You just needed to dodge the frontal attack and surround them to attack their bellies. Ricks joked to his friends. “You said you came to drag me back? Should we head back now?” His friends shook their heads frantically with urgent faces. “N-no. I was going to say we came to earn coins and drag you back.” “Ahem, you weren’t wrong after all. Thanks.” “Thank that guy.” Finally, while running, Ricks saw Hersel throwing a bottle in front of him. When the small guy shot the bottle with an arrow, red smoke spread again. He approached to greet them. One ice ox, breathing roughly, charged at Hersel. But he didn’t even think of drawing a weapon, simply extending his bare hand. Thunk! The ice ox fell to the ground without even making a sound. Blood mixed with brain matter flowed from a hole in its head. Hersel nonchalantly wiped the blood off his index finger. Ricks got goosebumps all over his body. Is that even possible? He hadn’t heard of such a magic spell. And since there was no mana visible, it was purely physical skill. While Ricks was in a mental turmoil, Gravel spoke. “See, I was right, Ricks.” Eventually, Gravel’s words turned out to be true. Ricks apologized with a face full of shame. “S-sorry for not believing you, Gravel…” His other friends seemed equally astonished by the sight. “Did he do that with just one finger?” “Gravel’s words were true. Unbelievable.” Then, Hersel looked this way. All of them froze in place. *** Limberton spoke, sensing that this moment would be a story he’d tell for the rest of his life. “There’s a woman’s scent. Hersel, are there girls behind you?” “…No, there aren’t. They’re all guys, so focus and don’t look back.” Despite being told there weren’t any, he wanted to show off and his arrow-firing speed increased. At first glance, it looked like he was shooting haphazardly, making me want to say something. But every arrow he shot landed precisely in the eyes of the ice oxen. He was hitting them incredibly well… While the two focused, I approached Ricks’s group. But they all seemed a bit stiff. “Didn’t you come to earn coins? If that’s the case, you can’t just stay put here.” “Y-yeah…” Gravel mumbled, and Ricks snapped out of it. “Ahem, sorry for tagging along.” He smiled, but he still looked a bit flustered. “Don’t feel burdened and just hunt.” That way, my mana will increase quickly. [Devoted Sage’s Favor] When those with goodwill subjugate monsters together, mana capacity slightly increases. “Oh, and when you catch an ice ox, retrieve the horns immediately. Anything left on the ground afterward will be ours. Understood?” Ricks nodded seriously and took out his staff. “That’s more than enough. I appreciate your consideration.” Then, Ricks’s group began slaughtering the scattered ice oxen one by one. Blocking the charge with shields and repeatedly stabbing with swords and magic from the sides. Dividing into three teams of three, they hunted, and joyful notifications kept appearing on my retina. [Mana capacity slightly increased.] [Mana capacity slightly increased.] [Mana capacity slightly increased.] If Ricks had taken the third exam, he would have gone straight to the Adelle Hall. Well then, shall we start moving too? “Aslay.” When called, Aslay slammed his shield into the ground, leaving just enough to cover Limberton’s entire body. “Limberton, remember to support Aslay from behind the shield.” “…Hersel, are you really going to do this?” “I’m the one who said I’d do it. I need to set an example.” Of course, it was also to monopolize the 1,000 coins given exclusively to the one who takes down the leader. I passed Limberton, who was shooting arrows, and Aslay, who was overpowering ice oxen with sheer strength. The ice oxen in front were too busy fighting each other to charge at me. As I walked, the number of fallen ice oxen, trampled and collapsed while fighting, began to increase. Since they were all money, I happily looked for gaps in their formation and moved forward. Finally, I spotted the leader standing tall in a spacious area. It was larger than the others, with thick horns and white fur like a lion’s mane around its neck. The leader stood alone in the open space, snorting roughly. Fwoosh! The ice oxen around it formed a circle, surrounding us. It was a common sight in warlord battles. The leader needed to prove its strength. If the enemy came alone, the leader would also fight alone to show its dominance. That’s why it was respected by its subordinates. In this world, it was called the “Leader Battle.” – Oh, so there are monsters that know this tradition even now. – Not always. But those forming warlord groups often had Leader Battles. Listening to Donatan’s historical lecture, I approached the leader. It scraped the ground with one front hoof. Just like before, I intended to pierce it with my index finger. Wham! The leader charged, putting its massive weight behind it. I extended my finger towards its head. But an unexpected pattern emerged. Fwoosh! The leader easily twisted its neck to avoid my finger and struck me with its massive horn. Crack! [Physical attack detected.] [Attribute activated.] [1-second invincibility cooldown: 59 seconds.] Naturally, one of its horns broke. Yet, as befitting a leader, it seemed indifferent to pain and began to lift me with the other horn. Oh, damn it. In a desperate attempt to survive, I leaped and placed my foot on its horn. Feeling my weight shift upward, I jumped again. The higher I soared, the smaller the ice oxen below appeared, like ants. – What is your plan? seaʀᴄh thё novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Donatan asked, seemingly confused. I smiled in response. As I reached the peak of my ascent, I pulled out my staff and began drawing a spell formation. I checked the notifications I had been ignoring. [Mana capacity slightly increased.] [Mana capacity slightly increased.] [Mana capacity slightly increased.] The mana, which had been almost nonexistent, now felt more substantial. I could use it now. The unique spell that only a few could perform due to its high mana requirements. – Recovery magic is a unique spell, right? When I asked, Carmelo had replied: – Even if you draw the spell formation precisely, there are inherent spells that you cannot perform. Elemental magic, for example, is typical of those whose senses have blossomed first. Your unique magic, Master, would be recovery magic. Before that, I quickly drew a telekinetic spell to adjust my landing point towards the leader. Holding my staff in my mouth, I drew my longsword. To pierce through its head, I positioned the blade downward and gripped the hilt with both hands. As my body accelerated downward, the ground came closer. I drove the longsword straight into the leader’s forehead as it looked up at me. Thunk! With the weight of the fall behind it, the longsword pierced through its skull. Despite its hard skull, it was only natural that it would be pierced. Additionally, one of the gauntlet options was ‘Significantly increases the durability of items held,’ making the longsword incredibly sturdy. Before my feet even touched the ground, I activated the lightweight magic engraved on the gauntlets to mitigate the fall’s impact. Still, the pain in my ankles was intense enough to crack the bones. “Ugh!” To heal quickly, I drew a recovery spell hastily. A warm sensation enveloped my ankles, and the pain disappeared in an instant. Of course, the mana consumption was so high that it quickly drained my reserves… – Don’t be ridiculous! You killed it with a sword! The first and last steps were magic, so it counts as magic. The sword was just an accessory. Therefore, it was a magical attack. “Regardless of the process, the subjugation is successful.” I pulled out the longsword embedded in the leader’s head. As it lay dead with its tongue out, the surrounding ice oxen quickly retreated. In the distance, voices could be heard. “Boss!” “Hersel! Are you alive?” It was Aslay and Limberton. I gestured to the leader’s corpse to indicate I was okay. “What the hell happened? You suddenly flew into the air, and it scared the hell out of me.” “It was magic. I used magic to kill it.” “Is there really flying magic…?” “By the way, did you have a good hunt?” Limberton hesitated and pointed back the way we came. There were crushed and arrow-riddled ice oxen corpses everywhere. While calculating how much we would earn, Ricks’s group approached, looking at the fallen leader and me in shock. “Hersel, there was a girl here, right…” “Limberton? I always thought you were a cool guy. You might seem pathetic sometimes, but when it matters, you do your job.” “Hey, stop saying such embarrassing things.” “But when you talk about girls, it’s just off-putting.” “Ahem.” While Limberton wisely kept quiet, I approached Ricks. “Did you collect the horns?” He smiled faintly, shaking off his stunned expression. “Thanks to you.” “Alright, now that it’s over, let’s head back.” I took out a rope from my backpack and tied it around the leader’s body. “Boss.” Aslay shook his head as if to say it was unnecessary and simply slung the leader’s body over his shoulder. With the subjugation complete and the horns collected, we walked back toward Schlaphe Hall. *** Meanwhile, Athera, the third-year knight representative of Schlaphe Hall, stared blankly at the ice oxen. “What… What is this number?” Only 19 ice oxen had made it this far. Even then, they all had arrows stuck in one eye and were staggering. The poor students wouldn’t have left them alone. It was more of a one-sided slaughter than a defensive battle. When the last ice ox fell weakly, Athera realized what this situation meant. The group that had left the formation was returning. The leader’s corpse was tied to a huge barbarian’s back, who looked at the blond man with reverent eyes. Straining her ears, she heard their chatter. “Wow, I didn’t think he’d actually do it alone.” “Limberton, Aslay. This one’s mine. Remember that.” Did he really take it down alone? “Who the hell is that guy…” Although she wasn’t expecting an answer, someone spoke. “Ah, that guy is Hersel Ben Tenest, the eldest son of the Tenest family.” Athera’s eyes widened. “Is he the one rumored to have survived that monster?” “Yes, there are such rumors.” At first, she didn’t believe it, but maybe there was some truth to it. A freshman took down the leader. Athera couldn’t help but smile brightly. It had been a while since Schlaphe Hall had such a valuable asset. With him, they might just win against the duo bringing disaster soon.