A thin line etched across the Red Fox Mask.
It was the mark left by Eugene's sword as it sliced through.
Before, his blade couldn't even scratch it. But this time was different.
Crack.
The mask split. As the mask, now in two pieces, fell away, Astaroth hastily covered her face.
For a brief moment, a glimpse of blue eyes appeared before disappearing.
Astaroth, hiding her face behind the shattered pieces of the mask, took a step back.
'What? How did he…?'
Just minutes earlier, Eugene had swung his sword.
She hadn't dodged. She could have blocked it, but she didn't. She hadn't needed to.
With Eugene's skill, he shouldn't have been able to leave even a scratch on Astaroth.
Promising as he was, he was still just a student.
And one who had only been at the academy for a month.
To Astaroth, he was as weak as an ant before an elephant, vulnerable to being swept away by a single sneeze.
This time was no different.
She saw his attack clearly. It was so slow it almost made her yawn.
She could have dodged, but she didn't. She could have blocked it with a single finger, but she didn't bother.
To demonstrate the difference between their strength, she intentionally left herself open and took his attack head-on.
And yet, she had been cut.
The mask was broken, and Astaroth was bleeding.
It was only a minor wound.
Just a few drops of blood. A tiny scratch.
But Astaroth couldn't believe it.
Considering the gap between her and Eugene, his sword should have shattered before she even bled.
But the result was the complete opposite. Despite its insignificance, Astaroth was injured.
'Has he…grown?'
Something was different.
The boy before her had changed in just a few minutes.
He was nothing like the boy she'd knocked down with a simple flick of her finger just moments ago.
'Supernatural abilities are driven by mental strength. If his resolve has grown stronger, he may have momentarily boosted his power.'
If he was truly resolved to die, then yes—
He could have grown stronger, even if just for a moment.
But this was no temporary surge of power.
His abilities weren't running out of control, and Eugene's expression was calm.
He was raising his power level with stability. He had broken through his limits and grown.
In mere minutes.
"Hah…haha…"
Astaroth let out a soft laugh.
Covering her face with her parasol, she spoke.
"Humans… they get stronger when they face danger. When they're on the brink of death, they have no other choice. To either grow stronger or to die."
"What are you talking about?"
"Listen, big brother. Every human has a 'limit'. A limit to their stamina, to their willpower, even to their life. It's a line they can't cross. No matter how hard they try, they can't surpass it. It's the biological limit of a living being."
But occasionally—
Someone will come along who surpasses that limit.
Just like Eugene before her.
Just like Angelica, now lying on the ground.
"On the verge of awakening… I can't believe you've already reached this point… You're impressive, big brother. Shall I pat your head?"
"Don't spout nonsense."
"Ahaha."
Astaroth burst into laughter.
When Eugene braced himself to charge, she extended her hand, motioning for him to stop.
She had no time to waste on meaningless fights. Her 'window of activity' was nearing its end.
"Aren't you curious why I'm here?"
"…?"
"I came to cull. I wanted to test the students."
Humans reveal their true potential only in the face of danger.
Look at him. When this boy was cornered, he grew at an astonishing rate. An impossible rate.
"You know, the lab is filled with monsters. They've really captured a lot of them."
Astaroth spun around gracefully.
Turning her back to an enemy was a defenseless action, but given the vast gap in skill between her and the boy, it wasn't a dangerous move.
The fact that he had managed to wound her was indeed surprising. However, that was only because Astaroth had intentionally got hit.
Objectively and subjectively, Eugene was still far weaker than Angelica. Even if he launched a surprise attack from behind, she could crush him with a laugh.
"They were all weaklings, but… anticipating that, I brought plenty of masks. Prepared thoroughly, you see."
"What?"
"My masks, they boost my energy—so much that I can hardly contain it."
It didn't take long for Eugene to understand her meaning.
His face went pale. Just moments ago, she had complained about breaking her last mask.
If that was her last one, then what about the other masks?
Boom!
A distant explosion erupted to answer Eugene's question.
The direction, the location… it was coming from where the bus was.
"You…!"
"Haha, good luck. Don't worry. I won't get in your way."
Eugene lunged forward, his sword aimed at Astaroth's back. But she leaped high into the air, easily avoiding his attack.
"Do you really have time to waste here? You'd better hurry. The students over there won't last long."
The monsters brought for the field exercise were weak, either naturally or made that way intentionally.
Even if dozens attacked at once, a single student should have been able to wipe them all out. Under normal circumstances, there shouldn't have been any real danger, but…
With the enhancement from the Red Fox Mask—
The situation had reversed.
"Big brother, my name is Astaroth. See you next time."
Astaroth waved her hand energetically and laughed.
"Tell Angelica and Lucia, I hope they grow even stronger."
With those words, the girl's form vanished.
It was as if she had skipped through space, disappearing without a trace.
Teleportation? No. She was simply so fast that his eyes couldn't keep up.
Suppressing his frustration, Eugene quickly turned around.
Just as Astaroth had said, there was no time to waste.
Everyone was in danger.
◈
"Raaahhh!"
With a battle cry, a wave of pressure burst forth.
Speed up. Accelerate. Faster again.
A solid strike smashed into a monster's head, leaving it deeply dented.
But it wasn't enough. Even with half its head destroyed, the monster didn't die and lunged at him again.
Leo's face darkened at the relentless persistence that made his skin crawl.
Accelerating in an instant, he threw another punch. Only after ripping the head off completely did the monster finally die.
"What a nuisance!"
Leo clicked his tongue.
Each monster was powerful on its own, and their vitality was maddeningly high.
If you didn't finish them off completely, they would keep getting back up, which made fighting them a nightmare.
Compared to most others, Leo was actually handling it relatively well.
Most of the other students were struggling just to keep up.
A moment ago.
At Arin's warning, everyone gathered to prepare for the imminent "crisis".
Though Lucia and Eugene had disappeared midway, there was no time to go looking for them.
The "crisis" forewarned by the danger sense arrived sooner than expected.
Monsters.
Even though no spatial rift had opened, the monsters began to appear one by one.
They came from the direction of the research lab, and strangely, each was wearing a Red Fox Mask.
No, "wearing" wasn't the right word.
The masks were far too small compared to the size of the monsters. It would be more accurate to say that the masks were attached to their faces.
"Are these monsters from the lab? But if that's the case…"
Arin's sword flashed with light.
Sensing the danger, she waited for the exact moment the wolf monster lunged at her, countering at the perfect instant.
Slash.
Its foreleg was severed. The wolf monster crashed face-first into the ground, growling and scrambling with its hind legs.
Even while scraping its face against the ground, it opened its massive mouth to attack. Arin swung down and finished it off by severing its neck.
"… They're too strong."
At a glance, it might seem like she was handling them easily and just muttering weak complaints, but that wasn't the case.
Arin was giving it her all with each monster she faced. If she didn't fully activate her danger sense to the point of dizziness, she would be at risk.
She was breathing heavily, her uniform drenched in sweat.
"And there are so many of them—way too many!"
It was hard to tell how many there actually were.
Just by rough count, there were dozens… no, likely in the hundreds.
If all the monsters the lab had captured for the field exercise were unleashed, it could reach that number.
One class had 20 students.
Combining Classes A, B, and C made 60 students.
Adding the troublesome D Class brought it up to 63.
Considering that several monsters were assigned per student… if the entire lab's monsters were set loose, there were easily over a hundred.
Arin gritted her teeth.
At this rate, it was a massacre. Her danger sense continued to sound the alarm.
The only reason the students were still unharmed was due to the monsters' abnormal behavior.
Normally, monsters don't fight among themselves. They only target humans and attack them exclusively.
But this time, it was different.
The monsters were fighting each other, consuming one another just as they would devour humans.
Arin didn't know why they were acting this way, but Class A students were still alive thanks to it.
Yet even so, there were simply too many monsters.
The monsters that weren't attacking each other were enough of a threat on their own. There were dozens of them.
The reason Class A was still alive was—
"They're swarming like cockroaches. Disgusting."
The stellar efforts of a few students.
A red heat ray sizzled through the air.
Even from a distance, the intense heat was palpable.
Wherever Frey's gaze landed, destruction followed.
With a single sweep of her head, she scorched a wide area with a wave of heat.
Firepower.
No one in Class A could match her in terms of sheer firepower.
Usually reserved due to her shy nature, her ability was highly specialized in destruction.
Kaboom!
A deep trench appeared on the ground where her heat ray had passed.
It pierced the monsters' skin, burning them from within and emitting a stench of smoke.
Of course, this alone wasn't enough to annihilate the monsters.
The monsters displayed an unusual resilience and a tenacious life force; they kept charging unless their heads were thoroughly destroyed.
Even when scorched by the heat ray, some monsters stubbornly endured, or managed to survive with only partial damage, drooling as they lunged toward Frey.
"Heh, when it comes to numbers, I've got plenty too."
Clones.
With a burst of sound, multiple Anastasias appeared, each holding a weapon and taking on the monsters.
Weakened by the heat rays and now exposing vulnerable spots, the clones' blades struck down the monsters.
It didn't matter if a few got taken down; as long as Anastasia had the stamina, she could create as many clones as she needed.
Arin and Leo were putting in impressive work, but in truth, those two were the ultimate offense and defense protecting Class A.
Weaken with the heat rays, then engage with the clones. Any monsters those two missed, Arin and Leo took down.
And if anything slipped past even them, the remaining students banded together to defeat it.
Under the class president's swift guidance, they moved with precision.
One month was a short time, but it was long enough.
It was plenty of time to conduct a few joint training exercises.
"We should thank Ms. Angelica for this!" Leo said, steadying himself despite his body's fatigue from continuous acceleration.
Although it had been tough—almost Spartan-like—and they thought this level of training might have been too early in the semester, it turned out there was no such thing as early.
They needed to be prepared for anything, at any time.
'We're holding on for now… but if this keeps up, it'll turn into a war of attrition. We'll tire out first.'
Arin scanned her surroundings quickly, frowning.
There were limits to the stamina of Alice and Anastasia, and they couldn't rely on this strategy indefinitely.
The same went for Arin and Leo. Leo's acceleration especially was extremely taxing, making him ill-suited for prolonged battles.
'If only Eugene was here, it'd be a huge relief…'
But he wasn't here.
He had already run off to the scene of Angelica's fight with the girl in the mask.
Would he be okay? What about Ms. Angelica? If Lucia disappeared along with him, it probably meant she went there first…
The only way to turn this situation around was if Angelica returned.
If she did, she could mass-produce golems to eliminate the monsters.
Not a single one of them could be allowed to escape here.
If any of these monsters reached the city, it would lead to countless casualties.
They may not be official heroes yet, but they were academy students.
As supernaturals, they had a duty to uphold.
BEEEEEEP!
At that moment, the "danger sense" struck Arin's mind with a warning.
The alert was so intense it left her briefly dazed.
"What? What is it?!"
Arin quickly looked around. Could it be that Alice or Anastasia had reached their limit?
No, the direction was different.
The warning… it was coming from here!
Her gaze landed on the center of the monsters.
The monsters that hadn't attacked Class A had been cannibalizing each other.
In the middle of them, something was moving.
Crunch.
There was flesh stuck between its teeth.
It swallowed every dripping drop of blood while ripping apart the monsters around it.
It ate. With each one of its kind it consumed, bits of its outer shell began to peel away.
Slip.
Pieces of its skin fell off, and it gave a low, growling cry.
Dark scales, like dried bloodstains.
Eyes as red as burning embers.
Four legs. A Red Fox Mask. A sleek, serpentine body. A long, crocodilian snout, resembling a dragon.
Its teeth and claws looked sharp enough to shred anything in its path.
As it raised its head high and let out a roar, all other sounds abruptly ceased.
"What… is that…?" Leo asked, his face pale.
But Arin didn't know anything more.
Only one thing.
If there was anything she noticed.
"It's dangerous…"
That was all.