Chapter 51. Midterms (2)
“You guys… aren’t main characters, are you?”
As he flashed a chilling smile, Tyran’s henchmen—who had been full of bravado just a moment before—froze in fear and stepped back.
“Wh-what do you mean by that?!”
“Oh, don’t think too deeply about it. It just means all of you are going to lose to me.”
“This bastard is spouting nonsense…!”
Just as one of the knights lunged at Van, he was a step faster, using Ignition to close the distance.
Van’s blade nearly cut the knight down, but the man barely managed to bring his sword up in time to block.
“Ghk!”
The knight, caught off guard by the sudden attack, stumbled backward. Van’s sharp gaze then shifted to the mage.
“Eeek!”
Van’s wand began to glow as he prepared Fire Spear.
Panicked, the mage hastily poured mana into his staff, while the priest chanted a protective holy spell to buy time.
But Van launched his flaming spear at the mage even as he charged at the priest.
[Serenia Style – Flame Burst]
Fwoosh!
Van’s relentless strikes overwhelmed the priest, who quickly lost consciousness and collapsed.
Meanwhile, the knight steadied himself, and the mage countered Van’s fire spear with an Aqua Spear.
Van flicked the blood from his sword and smirked.
“Well then, just the two of you left.”
Despite it still being two against one, the henchmen’s spirits had been completely broken.
The Van they knew was a failure, someone so untalented that he hated even being lumped in with fellow nobles. He only enjoyed a decent reputation because of Reina and Ridipin—or so they thought.
Clinging to that thought, the knight shook off his fear and roared in anger.
“You lowly trash…!”
With a ferocious yell, he lunged.
“Haaaah!”
Van dodged easily with a light backstep—just as the mage flung another Aqua Spear.
‘Isn’t this too sloppy?’
Though they looked united on the surface, there was no coordination between them. They didn’t watch each other, only rushing to attack, so naturally their moves clashed.
The knight nearly got hit by his ally’s spell.
“Hey! Watch where you’re aiming!”
“You’re the one charging in too close!”
Their squabbling opened a gap in the knight’s guard. Van dove in.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
His fierce, unrelenting strikes forced the knight back step by step.
‘The power isn’t overwhelming, so why…?!’
In theory, the knight should have been able to withstand and counter those attacks.
But Van’s timing was impeccable—he kept breaking the knight’s rhythm before it could build, disrupting every chance for a counter.
“Ghhk! Why… why can’t I respond properly?!”
The knight spotted a huge opening in Van’s left shoulder.
‘A mage with a sword—doesn’t even know the basics!’
Like a starving beast, he lunged at the opening, never once suspecting it might be a trap.
Just before his thrust landed, Van twisted his blade.
[Serenia Style – Flame Release]
He deflected the thrust and swept upward. The knight’s sword flew from his hands as if by magic.
Both men’s eyes followed the disarmed weapon floating in the air—just long enough for Van to hurl his own sword at the mage and snatch the knight’s.
“Waaagh!”
The mage managed to block Van’s thrown sword with his staff, but when Van himself charged in right after, he had no defense left.
[Serenia Style – Flame Discharge]
Van slammed the hilt of the knight’s sword down on the mage’s head. His eyes rolled back, and he crumpled.
Van turned back to the lone knight.
“Well then. Looks like it’s just you.”
“Hiiik!”
As if facing a murderer in a dark forest, the knight collapsed in terror, his legs giving out.
“What was it you said to me earlier?”
The knight’s mind went blank.
‘What… what did I say?’
Regardless, Van advanced step by step. The knight scrambled back until his back hit a tree. With nowhere left to run, he begged desperately.
“W-wait! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
“For what?”
Van smiled innocently, but the knight saw only madness in that grin.
“Anything! Everything! It’s all my fault! Please, just spare my life!”
Tears welled in his eyes, but Van’s steady steps never faltered.
Standing right before him, Van raised his blade high.
‘So this is how I die…?’
Thud!
But instead of striking him, Van drove the sword into the tree behind him.
He crouched to meet the knight’s eyes and smiled sweetly—yet chillingly.
“Come on, you didn’t do anything wrong. You only said you’d beat me up, remember?”
“Y-yes, that’s right!”
“So. Did Tyran send you?”
The knight shook his head frantically.
“N-no, not at all! I was just reckless and attacked on my own!”
“But I already know the truth. You’re lying.”
“Th-that’s…!”
Unable to meet Van’s eyes, he looked away. Van chuckled.
‘Are they this loyal to Tyran because of trust… or because of fear?’
Even in the game, Tyran’s men were blindly loyal. Still, seeing it firsthand like this was almost laughable.
At least the knight looked more panicked than frightened when Tyran was mentioned, so maybe it wasn’t just fear-driven loyalty.
“Relax. I’m not going to kill you. Didn’t you hear what the professor said? I’m not aiming for a zero score.”
“R-right!”
The knight exhaled in relief—only to tense up again when Van didn’t step aside.
“D-do you… have something else to say?”
“You didn’t exactly say the wrong thing, but you did get in my way. So wouldn’t it be fair if I took you out?”
“A-ah…”
The knight closed his eyes in resignation.
Van’s Fire Spear slammed into him.
Boom!
Charred black, the knight fell unconscious. Van stood up, grinning broadly.
“Ahhh, that feels good!”
Every time he saw Dreina or Tyran, he had to suppress the urge to go all-out. But now, he’d finally let some of that frustration loose.
This was the first time he’d fought at full strength without disguising himself.
As the fight ended, teaching assistants appeared from nowhere to collect Tyran’s unconscious henchmen.
Van retrieved his sword just as Reina and Ridipin rushed over. Both had immediately run to him after finishing their own battles.
‘Don’t tell me… Reina came because she was worried about me?’
Ridipin assumed that was the case, but he was wrong. Reina was simply marveling at the traces of battle.
“I thought Ridipin would be fine on her own, so I came to check on you—but it turns out I didn’t need to worry.”
That made Ridipin breathe easier.
“I-I also thought you might need help, so I came first. You were amazing, Van!”
“You two each took down three yourselves.”
“That’s true, but purely in terms of combat ability, we’re still stronger than you.”
Van felt a sting of pride but was satisfied his act was working perfectly.
“Alright then. Let’s go take down the field boss.”
We ran through the forest until we came upon some strange trees.
Unlike the other lush green trees, these were bare and black, like in the middle of winter.
The ground was covered in brown leaves and dead grass.
Reina carefully touched one of the trees. It crumbled like a sandcastle.
That dead?
The game never portrayed the environment in such detail—certainly not to the point of trees crumbling to dust.
Maybe that’s the difference between the game and reality.
Though odd, I’d already experienced such discrepancies. I called Reina and Ridipin over.
“Looks like the field boss Professor Hazen mentioned is just ahead.”
They both swallowed nervously.
“The Giant Dionaea has three main attack patterns.”
Its vines whip and grab—the Capture pattern.
Its roots entangle—the Bind pattern.
And finally, its massive jaws devour—the Devour pattern.
“You two can dodge the capture pattern easily enough. What matters are Bind and Devour.”
The Bind pattern activates if a target stays still too long. Roots shoot up from the ground to restrain.
If caught by Bind, you’re guaranteed to be hit by Capture. And if Capture isn’t broken quickly, Devour follows. Once Devoured, Professor Hazen shows up to rescue you—but you’re eliminated from the exam.
“As for Devour—it only triggers after Capture or when the monster roars. Just keep your distance then.”
“Wow, how do you even know all this?” Reina asked in awe.
“Well… when you mess around like I do, you overhear things about monsters. Hiding after causing trouble gets dicey if you’re unprepared.”
“I see.”
“R-right.”
As usual, they trusted me without question.
“Anyway, let’s move fast before someone else gets there. The boss won’t attack until we face its core body, so relax for now.”
The deeper we went, the worse the trees looked—branches shriveled and twisted, the ground barren, even the grass gone.
And soon enough, we found it.
A towering green stalk, thick and vibrant amidst the dead land, reaching skyward. At its top, a massive carnivorous plant’s maw opened and closed hungrily, large enough to swallow an elephant. Thin tendrils writhed from its base, stretching like serpents eager to snatch prey.
Reina grimaced.
“Ugh, disgusting.”
Ridipin nodded in agreement.
But disgust wasn’t the real problem—the monster looked different from the game.
In the game, the Giant Dionaea was pale green. Here, it was a deep, rich green, like it was brimming with nutrients.
Then, suddenly, the field boss rippled—and grew a second pair of jaws.
“Run!” I shouted.
“What?!”
Startled, Reina and Ridipin followed me in retreat.
But white roots shot from the ground, chasing after us.
Normally, it only attacked once we entered its nest area. Yet even as we ran farther away, it kept attacking.
And in the game, it never had a root attack pattern!
We dodged, but then roots burst up ahead, forming a barrier.
“Ridipin!”
She understood my intent instantly and fired Flash at the wall.
Boom!
A hole blew open—but roots immediately closed it.
“Damn it!”
Roots shot outward from the wall, forcing us toward the main body.
The boss swung its massive stalk at us. We barely dodged again and again, unable to strike back.
“Van!” Reina shouted. “Are you sure we can really beat this thing?!”
“No! The Giant Dionaea I know isn’t like this!”
No root walls. Fewer vine strikes.
The dungeon raid event had surprised me too, but at least it had only been moved forward.
This? This was completely different.
But the reason didn’t matter now.
“Just focus on surviving!”
Forget the exam score. If Reina died here, nothing else mattered.
And Hazen—where the hell was he, after saying he’d be watching?!
While I dodged frantically, Reina tried cutting a vine. Her blade bounced off its unnaturally tough surface.
“What the hell, it’s so hard!”
A vine lunged at her.
Damn. No holding back.
I quickly compressed mana and fired an enhanced Fire Spear.
BOOM!
The vine went up in flames, collapsing. Reina was blasted backward by the explosion’s shockwave.
“When did you get this strong?!” she shouted.
“I can’t stay a weakling forever!”
The situation was terrible—worse than terrible. Yet Reina still smiled, giving me and Ridipin the courage to stay calm.
Ridipin nocked three arrows.
“I-I’ll hit it with a big one!”
“No! Ridipin!”
If she unleashed Tri-Light on the core, the boss would focus on recovering, buying us escape time. But right now, that would be the worst choice.
As she readied the skill, roots shot up and wrapped around her body.
The Bind pattern—faster than in the game.
She twisted desperately, breaking free. But above her loomed a massive carnivorous maw.
Chomp!
The giant jaws closed around her whole.
