CHAPTER 13
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I crossed a field.
The black bull should have been beyond this ocean of reeds, but I felt exhausted because of my terrible physical attributes. We were running along the seaside coast where the Dome is located.
The 1 hour was not yet up, but my stamina was at rock bottom. I finally collapsed and the team had to stop.
Why did the land of this damn school have to be so big?
Almost 5 kilometers of it was just for us students to train.
We were going to fight against puppets made by expert-type mana users.
"It's okay. The important thing is whether we can kill the monster or not."
Yeon handed me a water bottle while I was panting on the floor. The tall girl handed it to me as I was lying on the ground. She had a small smile on her face. Her face was flat and bony, disappearing under broad shoulder pads. Her light brown hair and complementing hazel eyes made me feel like she didn't belong here.
"Yeon is right."
As William supported me, I glanced sideways at the European-looking boy.
His blond hair was parted down the middle, the salty winds of the ocean whipping it this way and that. He leaned against his double-edged sharp axe, almost to his waist, and took a breath.
I felt grateful to both of them, but Eleine's reaction worried me the most.
Contrary to my expectations, she didn't seem too displeased. She sat modestly on the floor and read the information about the black bull with black spots on her watch.
I pulled out the information in my head.
Since it was their first year, they didn't know much about monsters. The characteristics of each monster were a mystery, although some of them had been educated by their parents since childhood.
Maybe Eleine would know a few facts thanks to her father. He was the current head of the Council.
As I rested, I thought of the black bull from the book I had burned, a bull driven mad by mana. He could hardly move with his mass, which could reach almost 4 tons.
Wizards always attacked his eyes and head, but his weak point was right at his back knee.
The problem was not that the bull was agile but that if any of its attacks hit me I would probably be dead.
He could also squirt a black liquid out of his mouth. It had to be some kind of neurotoxic. A liquid that can paralyze you for a certain period of time.
Exposure to the liquid would cause us to be seriously injured, which I knew when he was going to do that.
The Black Bull's fluids had a paralyzing poison, but since this was a model I had no idea how effective the poison would be. I also had to be careful with the horns.
The sum of all this would have been an insurmountable task for a weakling like me.
Of course, as a writer, there was a weak point that I put on the monster.
I put that in most of the monsters in my novel. And the reason for that was so that when Arthur was in a difficult situation, he could use those weak points to win the battle. If a sword is sharp enough, the first person to be wounded should be the one holding it. It was a rule I kept for monsters.
"While you two keep the black bull busy, I'll aim for the beast's head and shoot it."
Eleine turned off her smartphone and gave orders to Yeon and William. She had almost finished her research and seemed to have at least a plan on how to take down the monster's weak point.
Even if it was completely the wrong strategy, Eleine was determined to implement it.
She didn't ask my opinion for a second.
As soon as that thought crossed my mind, lightning flashed in my brain.
Now I understood.
From the beginning, Eleine pretended I didn't exist.
I was on the same level as air, so she didn't scold me or seem displeased.
I was literally a speck of dust in her eyes, a speck she had to put up with.
"Let's go now."
I forced myself to stand after his aggressive treatment.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I'll go first. Ah!"
I ran ahead of them. I was much faster than before, but after 10 seconds I found myself far behind them again.
This body was worthless.
"There."
When my legs had almost given up, we found our target. In a cave near the beach, the Black Bull went crazy when he saw us.
"I'm ready."
Eleine hid her body in the bushes while Yeon and William took out their swords and axes respectively.
"You two hold it off long enough and run when the bull opens its mouth and sprays liquid. I'll aim for the beast's head in that opening. When that happens, you two should retreat. Warriors should save their magic power as much as possible. The bull has high regeneration, so we need to take it out in one hit..."
Eleine continued her explanation. To be honest, there was nothing I could do here.
I could maybe do some minimal damage to the bull, but nothing more than that.
My mana was low and I hadn't yet learned my special ability to neutralize mana. I was a spreader but I had a pistol.
so I just stood there and avoided yawning.
The story mission would end with Eleine's absolute victory.
"So let's begin."
As soon as the words left her mouth, Yeon and William charged. After William got closer, he let out a deafening roar.
" Kueeeeek! "
" Kyaaak! "
My ears were throbbing, but it had the desired effect. When the black bull noticed us, he lowered his head and leaped towards us, puffing out his big back.
BOOM!
I watched in silence as William blocked the attack with his big axe.
William found an opening and hit one of the horns with his axe.
The high-pitched sound echoed across the beach.
The beast shuddered in pain as purplish blood flowed from where he struck it.
On the side of the beast, Yeon was chanting incantations while wounding the bull with her sword.
When her spell was complete, a whirlpool of water came out of her sword and hit the black bull.
The bull could no longer move in the muddy terrain. But this only increased his anger several fold.
I watched Eleine out of the corner of my eye as she was placing mana on her arrow and trying to find a suitable position with slow steps.
When I looked at Yeon, she, like William, was trying to damage the bull's body with her sword. Her attacks were superficial and she couldn't make a finishing move.
Should I shoot for support from a distance, I still hadn't decided what my role in this novel was. Should I just let the story go on as usual without interfering? If I didn't interfere, they would fight the monster for 20 minutes.
Or should I change everything from the beginning to the end.
This might not be a good ending...
I said to myself
Eleine's behavior was exactly as I wrote in the book. She was selfish and impulsive, which made her underdeveloped at the beginning of the book.
I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to raise an arrogant selfish girl.
I pulled out my gun and pointed it at the monster.
I pulled the trigger and the gun recoiled.
My mana bullets punched tiny holes in the monster's arms.
After wasting a magazine of bullets, I stood up to change its position.
At that moment the body and black head of the black bull rose above the mud and the beast and I locked eyes.
Yes... It probably sees me as a target for it to destroy....
Excellent.
Why, of all targets, did he have his eye on me?
At that moment, I remembered another passage I'd written in the novel.
Arthur was already the strongest, and it wouldn't make sense to jeopardize his health on a mission like this. If a monster could injure Arthur, it would kill all the first years. Instead, I programmed the monsters produced by the Dome to do one thing: attack the weakest target among them. This way Arthur could control his power by protecting only the weaker wizards. On the plus side, it would make him the most benevolent of the first years, and he would be respected by all the upperclassmen.
In this situation I was in, the black bogey in front of me had set me as his target. Because I was the weak link here.
The beast had been raging all this time and it was no surprise that it attacked the first creature it laid its eyes on.
"What are you doing, you don't need to do this!"
Eleine yelled at me, but it didn't matter. The bull started running at me with all its might.
I managed to dodge to the side with a sudden relfex, drew my gun and fired two more bullets.
Come on, fucking hold it.
Even if the bullets hit the bull, I didn't hit his weak point. I'll have to train more with the gun from now on.
I made a note of it.
The bull had completely turned his body on the dry ground. I swallowed a throatful of saliva as he lifted the earth with his feet.
Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.
Just then one of my bullets luckily hit the beast in the eye and it screamed in pain.
- ğaaaaaaarrrrrrh
Screaming with rage, the bull opened its mouth.
He's going to release poison. There was no time to think.
I turned to Eleine and shouted.
"Kill him NOW!"