Four male executive candidates attending the Royal Spada Academy came to a halt, breathless.
“Haah… haah… man, that was seriously scary.”
“We were totally surrounded, that was crazy.”
“By the way, is it okay we left the delusional prince behind?”
“It’s fine since Celia-chan was there. Those ugly guys are no match for her.”
Perhaps due to the relief of escaping the crisis, the four laughed among themselves.
There was no sense of guilt regarding leaving one of their members behind.
However, it might be understandable that those born as nobles, who naturally stand above others, could grow to have such a self-preserving sensibility.
“What should we do from here?”
One student said as he looked around.
This place looked just like the site they had designated for their campsite earlier, in other words, a riverbed.
After bursting out of the tent, they had run straight upstream along the river.
It was simply easier to run along the wide-open riverbed than through the densely wooded forest where they could face obstacles, and that was all there was to it.
“Ah, I’ve got my sword, so we’ll manage.”
Though they had fled without any gear except what they were wearing, at least they had minimal equipment.
“Yeah, let’s head back when we find a suitable spot.”
“But let’s skip using ‘Rapid Dash’ this time.”
While they were sufficient enough to have passed the entrance exam for the notoriously difficult executive course, they were also cowardly enough to have fled in fear from a horde of monsters.
Both magic and martial arts were adequately learned at a lower level.
However, those were not the ‘skills’ honed through real-world experience by adventurers, but rather something akin to a sport, learned under excellent teachers from a young age.
They could shoot ‘Fire Arrows’ or execute ‘Quick Slash’.
But whether they could calmly and routinely activate them in an actual combat situation was another question, and the answer would have to be NO.
That was precisely why they were looked down upon as mere ‘substitutes’ by the top performers.
“We’ve come quite a long way, can’t see the camp anymore.”
“Maybe we’ve traveled about a kilometer?”
Their fleeing speed could not only be described as fast, but by utilizing ‘Rapid Dash,’ it could also be considered faster in reality.
Though their proficiency was such that they could barely activate it, once the speed-enhancing martial art took effect, it granted them a pace surpassing that of an all-out human sprint.
That was why they managed to break free from the encirclement so swiftly.
The stone-paved riverbed wasn’t particularly well-suited for footing, but unlike the forest with its trees, they could run straight through it as long as they were careful of their footing.
Blessed with such terrain, they had managed to escape safely so far by fully utilizing ‘Rapid Dash.’
However, if they were already so out of breath just from using ‘Rapid Dash,’ it would be fair to say they had no other practical use for it in combat.
“Hey, doesn’t it seem safe to go back now?”
“No, they might still be fighting, let’s wait a little longer.”
From this distance, they had no idea what was happening at the camp; they had no choice but to rely on a gut feeling to determine when the fighting ended.
“I wish that annoying delusional prince would just die in the crossfire.”
“If he dies, I’ll hire Celia-chan.”
“No, I’ll hire her.”
Then they started to excitedly discuss what kind of services they would make the beautiful maid provide if they hired her.
However, that was just a coincidence, something that happened in a brief moment.
“Gahaha—huh?”
One of the boys who had been laughing at a rude joke noticed a giant shadow out of the corner of his eye.
“W-What… is that?”
“Ah?”
Following the frozen expression of the one staring intently at a point, the other three turned their gazes in the same direction.
There stood a massive beast.
Around six meters tall, the beast stood quietly on the riverbed, and they had no idea how long it had been there.
Its black fur seemed to blend into the darkness of the night, but the bright red fur covering its arms and chest shone with the clarity of a burning bonfire.
In particular, the two long ears stretching out from its head flickered like wavering flames.
“It’s a monster, right?”
“It’s huge… isn’t that kinda bad?”
The distinctive ears involuntarily reminded them of the bear-rabbit they had seen earlier.
However, it bore no resemblance to that cute, four-legged creature.
With tree-like thick arms and muscles that were clearly visible even through the thick fur.
Especially the sharp and ferocious face that resembled a mix of a wolf and a lion was completely different from the comical appearance of a rank 1 monster.
Suddenly appearing before them, this unfamiliar giant monster was simply staring at the four with its menacing crimson eyes.
“Haha, that thing seems impossible to take down.”
“No way, absolutely impossible.”
“L-Let’s run!”
“Right!”
Quickly aligning their opinions, the four concentrated their awareness and magical power to activate ‘Rapid Dash’ as they had done before.
At that moment,
—Gushari
They heard a dull sound in the ears of three of them.
That’s right, only three of them heard it. One of the four had—
“Wha… eh?”
Vanished into a red stain spreading across the riverbed.
The boy who had just been standing there was gone, and in his place was a giant limb painted in red and black.
No, it was not a tree; it was the monster’s arm.
“W-Why…?”
The three of them could not help but look back and forth between the spot where the monster had just been standing and the place next to them.
The large shadow that had originally loomed over them vanished like an illusion, and now,
“Ah! Ah! Waaaaahhhh!?”
Something with a tangible reality appeared right next to them.
At this point, they finally grasped the situation.
One of their companions had been crushed to death in an instant by the monster that had appeared out of nowhere, meeting his end beneath that massive arm.
“Uwaaaah!”
Screaming, the three instinctively jumped back to escape from this nightmare-like monster.
One stumbled and fell due to retreating recklessly.
Another jumped to put some distance between himself.
And the last one, miraculously managing to activate ‘Rapid Dash,’ fiercely kicked off the ground and soared away from the monster at great speed.
However, even he, who should have been the fastest to escape, found himself suspended in mid-air.
“Ungh… nnn~!?”
To reveal the trick, it was simple; the monster had caught his body before he could escape.
With its right hand firmly grasping the boy’s upper body, a crimson crystal embedded in the back of its hand shone beautifully, while the two who were not targeted stared at it in half-dazed disbelief.
Ignoring their gazes entirely, the monster focused on the one it had just captured.
Lifting its gripped right hand above its head with a slow, deliberate motion.
They instinctively thought he would be eaten, but reality was something different.
Crushed.
The monster squeezed the boy’s body in its palm.
Like someone squeezing an orange to extract its juice, blood gushed from its massive rock-like fist.
The red droplets dripped and disappeared into the monster’s wide-open mouth below.
“Ugh, eeeeewww!”
Even in the dark night, the two somehow saw the scene clearly and instinctively threw up at almost the same time.
Their companion, who had just moments ago been chatting happily with them, had been crushed and turned into a red fruit quenching the monster’s throat. It was a scene that could only be described as a nightmare, and it was impossible for them, raised in a sheltered environment as nobles, to bear it mentally.
“U-uh, ughhh…”
Still, one of them, without collapsing, managed to start running straight ahead.
That was quite an impressive feat.
The one who stumbled and fell could not get back up, remaining there, weeping and screaming as he bled uncontrollably from every bodily fluid except blood.
The monster did not pursue the one who had turned his back to run but instead turned its attention to the one crying out at its feet.
Having already drained all the blood, throwing away what was merely useless remains of shattered bones and skin, it discarded the remnants like garbage.
The dull sound of it hitting the ground and the sound of the monster’s finger pressing down on the fallen boy’s right leg echoed almost simultaneously.
However, all he heard was the crushing sound of his own leg bones shattering.
Or perhaps it was the sound of his own voice screaming as if his throat might split.
“Gyaaah! S-stop—”
After a brief pause, the monster’s finger struck him again.
This time it was his left shoulder.
Rather than its sharp claws, which could easily slice through a human body, it intentionally used the flesh of the fingertip to push down on his shoulder.
As it pressed against the riverbed stone and the hard-skinned fingertip, a just somewhat trained human body broke with ease.
Another scream of pain echoed out, and perhaps finding that reaction amusing, the monster’s mouth twisted into a derisive smile.
With each press of its finger, another scream arose, and the monster, as if playing a piano, moved from place to place, continuing to crush his body.
However, soon even that scream ceased.
Of course; not only had all his bones been crushed, but even the organs necessary for sustaining life had been pressed simultaneously, leaving barely any chance for him to survive.
The monster, slightly dissatisfied with the easy work of breaking him, did not eat the corpse but instead focused its gaze on its next prey.
“Haah… haah… h-help me… help me!”
The last remaining one fled desperately with unsteady steps.
However, without activating ‘Rapid Dash,’ it was overwhelmingly slow for a human to run across the treacherous riverbed.
The monster lightly kicked off the ground; or rather, what it considered light.
In the next moment, stones on the riverbed scattered as that red and black form leaped into the air with ease.
It wasn’t flying; it was merely jumping.
But that leap covered a distance more akin to flight, erasing the precious escape distance gained by the boy in an instant.
In other words, the monster landed directly in front of the fleeing student.
“Hi… hiiiiiii!?”
The embodiment of despair reappeared.
There was no way to win, and though he thought so, he instinctively drew his sacred silver sword from his waist.
The blade shone with a divine light that seemed to purify the dark night and nightmare around him.
“I-I’ll kill you! I will kill you! There’s no way I’ll be defeated by a monster!”
Seeing the beautiful light of his shining blade, his waning fighting spirit surged back up, or perhaps it was just desperation, and the boy readied his sword.
The next moment, the monster casually extended its arm, but that single action did not register in his eyes.
Still holding the sword, he could not move at all and simply got enveloped by the approaching palm.
Death would have been decided within a second, but in a moment of instinct, the monster pulled back its hand.
He momentarily didn’t understand what had happened, but he realized the holy silver blade had touched the monster’s hand and had left behind a small, albeit slight, wound.
“Hah, hahaha… it’s… working, it’s working!”
The monster looked at its palm with surprise, noticing the small injury.
At that moment,
GAAAAAOOOORN!!
It let out a roar.
It was unmistakably a roar of anger, a shout of fury.
As the monster roared, its bright red fur bristled, and its gigantic form seemed to swell larger.
However, he was unable to see the transformed visage born from that anger.
The instant it roared loud enough to burst his eardrums, he started bleeding from his nose and ears, and lost consciousness.
No, in the split second that followed, the fist of rage crushed his body, ending his life.
Like the first victim, he became another stain on the riverbed, clearly dead to the monster’s gaze.
However, the monster did not stop its fists.
With two, three punches, alternating strikes, it shook the surroundings with tremendous force, creating small craters from the impacts.
Then, it continued to rain down blows tirelessly, reducing everything to a point where there were not even any remains left, let alone a corpse or signs of blood, and only destruction was left behind before finally the monster stopped.
When it realized, its bristling red hair returned to normal, and its size shrank back to its original form, seeming as if its anger had been quelled.
With the monster finally ceasing its movement, the peaceful sound of the flowing river flowed through the quiet night.
However, it also picked up a different sound, a voice, distant yet unmistakably human, with its elongated ears.
“I can’t abandon them!”
It was undoubtedly the voice of a human.
The monster laughed.
Tonight, it was certain that there were still more prey remaining.