Aside from Megna, everyone was battle-ready.
They turned to the forest and wielded their elements like weapons, waiting for the attack to come.
The trees rustled from deep inside the forest. Every second, the rustling got nearer to the schoolyard.
A figure became apparent within the dark shade of the trees. It slowly exited the forest...
Megna sighed with relief. 'Phew, fortunately, it isn't the lizarck.'
"It's a King Lizern!" A teacher shouted.
'King Lizern, my foot. That's only an oversized lizern,' Megna chided inside her mind.
The so-called King Lizern was about five times the size of a normal lizern, while its wings were twice as wide.
While flapping its disproportionately small wings, the King Lizern roared, spitting all over the students and teachers.
"Take cover!" The teacher hurriedly commanded, forming an earthen shield and blocking the droplets of acid.
"Eek! It burns!" A female student hurriedly washed some acid off her arm with high-pressure water.
Soon, multiple students started screaming, the acid burning their skin whether it be on their legs, torso, or face.
They ran back to the school building in panic.
"With just a simple roar, this beast..." A teacher widened her eyes. She steeled her nerves and shouted, "Everyone, attack!"
The number of people on the schoolyard was whittled down to a measly twenty or so, but every single one that didn't leave meant that they had the determination to defend the school!
Soon enough, they unleashed a full-on assault against the huge reptilian beast! Blades of ice and wind landed on its skin, flames burnt it all around, and earth trapped its limbs in place.
Felum pointed his hand like a gun and shot a beam of concentrated heat towards the King Lizern's eye.
"Grrraaa!" The King Lizern shook itself wildly, one of its eyes disabled.
It spun around, whipping its unexpectedly long tail!
Two teachers hurriedly raised a slab of earth to block the attack, but the tail broke through it effortlessly.
Carra splashed water under the King Lizern. Spikes rose out of the puddle and froze as she closed her fist, sending the spikes towards the King Lizern's belly.
As the ice spikes simply shattered upon impact, Felly followed up by blowing wind against some loose soil directed to the King Lizern's eyes.
"Grrrrrr! Rrraaa!" The King Lizern quickly aimed its mouth at a cluster of students and teachers and spat out acid, forcing them into a passive state.
Gradually, the students and teachers were getting tired as their mana supply began to run out.
They looked at each other, unsure of what to do.
"When are the Master Elementalists gonna arrive?"
"Probably about ten, fifteen minutes."
They momentarily glanced behind them.
"...What about Noele?"
"Are you crazy?! We can't let a student get near this thing, let alone fight it! Besides, look at him. He's scared stiff."
And so, the teachers and the King Lizern continued their scuffle.
Megna gulped. Even though it wasn't the lizarck, the King Lizern was still a major threat to her, especially when her mana hadn't replenished yet.
"N-Noele, let's leave..." When she turned around, she saw Noele, unmoving. Megna found this state of his familiar and bit her lip.
Meanwhile, Felum hurriedly withdrew from battle and approached them. "Noele! You need to run inside... This is no place to be frozen in fear."
As he got closer, he could see Noele's face clearer. "Ah, nevermind."
Noele wasn't moving, yes. However, out of all the emotions in his eyes right now, the most prevalent was not fear, but rather... excitement. With his eyes wide and his breathing arrhythmic, Noele bit his lip to prevent himself from grinning.
His gaze was glued to the King Lizern. 'The perfect target practice.'
Without anyone noticing, Noele started manipulating the elements from a dozen meters away. A group of rocks was compressed and burnt to the point that it melted and became lava. Before it could cool down, he made an air vacuum just millimeters around the viscous liquid.
'Hmm, this should be enough.'
With a casual flick of his fingers, the lava flew towards the King Lizern.
Grinning, he ran towards the King Lizern as well!
The King Lizern, which was starting to suppress the teachers and students, saw a single student rushing towards it from out of nowhere.
After spitting acid on the group, the King Lizern opened its mouth, preparing to spit a huge amount of acid towards the foolhardy brat.
Before it could, however, the King Lizern felt a burning sensation behind his back, piercing through the protection of its thick skin!
"Grrraaa--pfft!"
Noele punched its jaw shut with an earthen fist, causing the King Lizern to flip around and fall on its back!
He then jumped onto its belly. The King Lizern suddenly whipped his tail towards Noele from behind!
In response, Noele simply pushed the tail back with high pressure water and froze it on the ground. He then swiped his hand towards the huge beast's jaw, generating a blade of wind.
The blade of wind was as sharp as a katana, easily penetrating the thin acid sac and reaching the King Lizern's core.
Thump. The King Lizern's head flopped onto the ground, its limbs stopped struggling. It was dead.
'...That's it?'
Noele stared at the corpse for a good few seconds before he sighed and jumped off.
He glanced at the dumbfounded group of students and teachers.
'How did they fight this weak thing for such a long time?'
Walking towards Felum and Megna, he pursed his lips. "Let's go."
Megna had her head down as she quietly followed along with Noele.
There were two things that made her feel bleak.
The first was that the Mana Suppressing Water had no effect on Noele. Maybe, now that his mana had been unleashed, there was no going back?
The second... When Megna saw Noele's expression as he looked towards the students and teachers, she instantly remembered the day he came home after slaying 10 lizarcks by himself.
"These Lizarcks... they're weak and slow. Those people deserved to die for not being able beat such an easy opponent."
And, as she predicted, Noele started speaking.
"These King Lizerns... they're weak and slow. How could they not beat such an easy opponent?"
Megna pursed her lips.
Felum opened his mouth to speak.
"Noele...!"
Before he could continue, the trees rustled once more. Another King Lizern entered the battle. And another. And another, and another, and another...
A total of 5 King Lizerns came out of the forest.
Seeing the plethora of lizern corpses littered around the schoolyard, as well as the fellow King Lizern lying dead right by the forest, the King Lizerns turned furious.