Chapter 59 · Human Hunting (9)

Monsters—grotesque living creatures born from combining with mana.

Monsters appear all over the world, and it’s impossible to predict when or where they’ll emerge. But since there are regions where they appear frequently, people can live with some degree of preparation.

For example, near the ‘Dark Forest’ in the northern part of the continent of Tranquillum, and the border region of the Rivanus Mountains that divides Santra and Kalisa. The royal family stationed many soldiers in those areas, and when the standing forces alone were helpless, the Dinitas and Veritas knight orders would be dispatched.

However, since it took time to reach those places, there were often cases of great damage. So people feared monsters as they would natural disasters.

‘But I know when and where monsters will appear. Only for the next four years, though.’

There were no dangerous monsters in Mount Bifio that harmed people, but there were monsters living quietly in hiding.

“Eek! What is that?!”

Ark, who had turned his head toward the scream, recoiled in horror.

“It looks like a leech… But I’ve never seen a leech that looks like that.”

Melvian said, narrowing his eyes.

On every patch of exposed skin—faces, hands, legs—of the students who were screaming, huge, white, grotesque worms were attached. The worms had no eyes but instead sprouted red horns, and they were wriggling as they sucked the students’ blood with a slurping sound.

“Aaaagh!”

“F*ck, get off! Get off!”

The students thrashed violently to tear off the horrifying creatures, but they wouldn’t come off at all—they must have been incredibly strong. And using magic was dangerous since the target was their own bodies. Especially in such a frantic situation.

“Aagh! It hurts!”

Because they were monster leeches rather than ordinary ones, the teeth that bit into the skin were much larger. At the sight, other students nearby also ran about in confusion, screaming, but the giant leeches went slick-slick, crawling quickly across the ground and latching onto their bodies as well. Ark, Melvian, Freesia, and Mila recoiled and took up a defensive stance.

“It’s fine. They won’t come to us.”

I said with a bright smile.

“Huh?”

“They react to pintac powder.”

“…Now that I think about it, they’re only biting those people.”

The people we had blown the powder onto. Those leech monsters, designated ‘Hirudo,’ don’t normally bite humans. They live hidden in the forest and drink only the blood of animals. But the pintac powder had caused a powerful confusion in them. To them, the humans with that powder on them now felt like the most delicious prey in the entire world.

This fact was originally discovered about a year later by Professor Florence of Naritas, an eccentric scholar who studied monsters. He carried around powders made from all sorts of herbs and grasses, ran into that predicament at Mount Bifio, and then published his research findings.

‘Mount Bifio is known to be safe, but after it became known that such monsters lived there, there was a huge uproar.’

In the end, the students requested rescue with their communication stones. Seeing the students who had insulted and tormented Freesia bleeding profusely and suffering, there could be nothing more satisfying.

“Don’t pay them any mind, let’s just go our way.”

I pushed along my companions, who were staring blankly at them. While they hunted humans, we had our own hunt to do.

◇ ◆ ◇

Quite some time later.

The midday sun that had been blazing hot had passed, and it was becoming late afternoon.

“We need to find the portal quickly.”

Ark was grunting as he carried the deer I had caught for me.

“It should be somewhere around here…”

Freesia said, looking around.

“I think we’ve come into the middle of the mountain. There’s a valley over there.”

A fairly deep-looking valley was flowing below our feet. Searching for game and climbing higher and higher, we had ended up here before we knew it. Still, thanks to memorizing the geography beforehand with the map Melvian had given me, I could figure out our current location.

“Let’s rest a bit, Princess!”

Mila, who seemed to have terrible stamina, plopped down under a tree. We had caught quite a lot of animals. At this rate, first place didn’t seem out of reach.

“All right. Let’s rest a bit!”

The moment I lightly sat on the ground, Melvian came over and whispered to me.

“Princess, you did that again, didn’t you?”

“Did what?”

“The foresight.”

Ah, Marquis Laselles believes I have prophetic visions.

“Um… Yes. Something like that.”

Melvian stared at me with sparkling eyes, which was a little embarrassing.

Goodness, such a pretty face. He shouldn’t fall for a swindler like me… Could he just worship me, if possible?

“Hey, don’t cling to the princess so much!”

At Ark’s shout, Melvian whipped his head around.

“I don’t want to.”

“…Don’t? Don’t?! What did you just say?!”

“I clearly said to use honorifics.”

Just as they looked about to go at it, Mila, who had been sprawled out, grumbled.

“Ugh, Lord Ellenoa! I could understand Lord Laselles since he’s still young, but why does someone of considerable age keep acting so childishly? Isn’t that right, Miss Ishtar?”

Freesia, suddenly pulled into the conversation, flinched and glanced around.

“Um…”

“Freesia’s ideal type is someone mature and kind. Right?”

I said in a teasing voice.

“What does that have to do with me…!”

Ark’s face flushed bright red as he shouted, then soon grumbled and bowed his head. He really is so easy to read.

I decided to look for the portal while the others rested. I couldn’t have Ark carrying a dead deer around forever.

“I’ll just look around a little ahead.”

“I’ll come with you.”

Ark stood up, but I waved my hand.

“Ark, you’ve used up almost all your mana, haven’t you? Ugh, see, I told you to pace yourself. Rest, so you can recover even a little.”

He grimaced as if his pride was wounded, but had no choice but to sit down. In fact, all of my companions were nearly out of mana.

“Don’t go too far!”

Mila’s voice came from behind. I too was exhausted, and my legs and feet were aching.

‘How many points do I have now? About 120?’

Still, the hunting competition would soon be over, and I would finally achieve my goal. I caught another squirrel on the way and hummed as I walked, and before long I found the portal.

“Ooh! Good thing I found it quickly.”

As I approached to throw the squirrel I’d just caught into the portal, the hairs on my head stood on end. I sensed mana. And clearly malicious mana at that. I quickly formed a shield with divine power. Then—clang!—I heard the sound of magic being canceled out with a burst of blue flame.

“!”

When I turned my head, I saw a figure behind a tree dashing away. I quickly shouted toward the figure.

“Préssĭo!”

The person I hit with the spell was Giselle. She was pinned flat to the ground, her body twisting under the pressure magic. I glared at her coldly and spoke.

“You were trying to push me in there, weren’t you?”

She didn’t answer and just gritted her teeth. Giselle was a complete wreck. Her hair was a mess, her whole body was soaked, and there were monster bite marks all over her skin.

‘She must have thrown herself into water to wash the powder off. Lucky her?’

“…This is clearly your doing!”

She said, trembling.

“What do you mean, my doing?”

“The monsters only attacked us! Almost everyone was disqualified! Someone as cunning as you must have done something!”

“Ha! So you’re saying I commanded monsters to bite you?”

I shot back mockingly.

“Then go tell Dean Roktania that. Let’s see what you get told.”

“…”

Giselle’s eyes reddened to the edges, as if she couldn’t bear the humiliation. Because I was pressing down harder and harder, her breathing grew ragged too.

“A bastard can’t do this to a noble!”

“Aren’t you going to think about what you did?”

Being bitten by leech monsters a bit doesn’t kill you. There were healing priests waiting outside the mountain, too.

But Giselle had tried to do something that could actually kill me. If a person with mana enters a portal made with a magical tool, chaos arises and the whole body can crumble to dust.

“Why don’t you test it yourself? Whether you die or not?”

Perhaps sensing the sincerity in my voice, Giselle’s face went pale. Just then, I sensed another person’s mana behind me. I quickly turned and recited the activation word.

“Préssĭo!”

Because I was much faster, the one aiming at my back collapsed without managing to cast his spell.

“Kuh…”

It was Frederick, also completely battered. His clothes were soaked in blood.

“You’re still holding on too. What tenacious creatures!”

I widened the range of the pressure magic. Using this kind of magic on two people at once required an enormous amount of mana.

‘Still, my mana detection must have improved a lot. I can even avoid surprise attacks.’

As I shrugged, praising myself, Frederick’s humiliated voice reached me.

“That’s impossible…! Our combined mana is less than that little brat’s?!”

“You’re the ones acting up when your mana’s almost depleted. If you want to fight me, come back in top condition and bring three more.”

As I pressed down on them with enough force to crush them, wearing a triumphant smile—

“!”

I saw something and gasped, releasing my magic.

“Kuh-hah…!”

“Hah, hah…”

They gasped out the breath they hadn’t been able to take and looked toward where my gaze was fixed. There, a creature resembling a lizard was tilting its head and watching us. The differences from a lizard were that it stood on two legs and had red eyes and a long tail tipped with a stinger.

‘That’s definitely…!’

I had seen it in a past life. Not directly, but through the illustrated guide distributed nationwide. When I was eight, there had been a huge uproar because of that monster.

Its name was Baranus, an A-rank high-risk monster whose venom spreads through the body when you’re stung by the stinger on its tail or bitten by its fangs, making you lose your reason in an instant.

“It’s a monster! If we catch it, we get double points!”

Frederick’s eyes flashed as he shouted.

“No!”

I tried to cast magic again to stop him, but unfortunately this time that fool Frederick was faster. The monster collapsed, struck by his lightning magic. It must have been a baby whose shell wasn’t fully formed yet. Because that monster is immune to all magic except aura.

‘But that thing isn’t supposed to appear until around the end of this year…’

The monster subjugation expedition where Ark had gone out and drowned. The target of that subjugation had been exactly this monster.

‘Has the future changed?’

I was confused, but I pulled myself together and turned to run back the way I had come. If a pack of those monsters existed on this mountain, I had to get my companions and leave the mountain at once.

“Hahaha! Are you running away? It seems your mana has finally run out!”

Frederick’s mocking voice stuck in my back. I ignored it and tried to keep running, when—crunch—I heard something piercing through.

“Kyaaaaaa!”

The moment I turned around, Giselle’s tearing scream filled the mountain. A massive Baranus was biting Frederick’s neck.