The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

58. Midterm Evaluation (3)

“Growl.”

A low, rumbling growl.

The wolf beast crouched low, glaring at me with wary eyes.

I looked at the wolf beast and stifled a laugh.

“What, you won’t even greet me after all this time?”

“Graaah!”

Instead of a response, a ferocious roar returned.

The beast, which had been watching me for an opening, kicked off the ground and charged at me.

If it were my previous life, I would have had my neck bitten off by those terrifying fangs without even a proper rebellion.

“Well, that’s quite disappointing.”

Barreld Martial Arts.

Sky Flip.

Boom!

The wolf beast that was charging at me spun in the air and crashed into the ground.

“Yelp!”

The beast rolled on the ground, screaming.

“Grunt…?”

Did it not even realize how it got hit?

The wolf beast staggered to its feet, looking at me with confused eyes.

“Ha. Memories, memories.”

While the wolf beast was in confusion, I stifled a bitter laugh as memories of my past life resurfaced.

My powerless self.

Memories of my weak and pathetic days.

“Someone said that memories are always beautified over time.”

Well.

Even though an immeasurable amount of time had passed.

The memories of that time remained unpleasant, like a stain on a shirt.

“Maybe not always?”

Tsk.

Clicking my tongue, I moved towards the wolf beast.

“Growl, growl!”

As I approached, the wolf beast started to back away hesitantly.

Fear appeared in its three blood-red eyes.

“Why, are you scared?”

“Yelp… yelp.”

“Don’t worry.”

I was too.

Slash!

A sharp slash of the sword cut through the front leg of the wolf beast.

Blood gushed out from the severed cross-section.

“Graaah!”

The wolf beast let out a pitiful wail, writhing in pain.

I approached the beast that had fallen to the ground and raised my sword.

“Alright, that’s one point.”

Thud.

I thrust the sword down, piercing the beast’s head.

The sensation of the blade breaking through the skull and digging into the brain was transmitted through the sword.

“Ah, that feels so refreshing.”

Whoever said revenge is futile was talking nonsense.

In my previous life, I was helplessly bitten on the neck by this beast, but now, driving a sword into its head felt incredibly satisfying.

‘Anyway, those who say revenge is futile are just scared of getting their own comeuppance.’

How could paying back what was done to you, or even more, be futile?

“Hoo.”

Feeling a deep sense of fulfillment, I turned on the Hero Watch.

I checked the section labeled [Score Status] to see my increased points.

“…Huh?”

The score displayed on the screen was 0 points.

‘What?’

Come to think of it, the Hero Watch was supposed to automatically recognize and alert me when I successfully hunted a beast, but there was no such alert.

“It can’t still be alive.”

Unless it had awakened some kind of ‘blessing of resurrection’ like me, there was no way a creature with its brain split in half and bleeding profusely could still be alive.

‘Is there some kind of error?’

I tilted my head and examined the corpse of the wolf beast.

“…It’s not there.”

If it were a beast used for the test, there should be a mark somewhere on its body indicating it was a test beast, but there was no such mark.

‘There’s no trace of the mark falling off either.’

The mark used for managing beasts is usually tied very securely, so it couldn’t have fallen off without leaving any trace.

“Then this means it’s not a beast prepared by the school for the test…”

Thinking about it, a few strange points caught my eye.

‘This beast… it definitely ambushed me.’

As Professor Lucas warned, this test is dangerous enough that candidates who don’t know their place could actually die.

In other words, as long as you ‘know your place,’ you won’t die.

‘They must have used relatively less aggressive beasts for the test.’

Professor Bianca’s familiar, the ‘Unicorn,’ wasn’t completely non-aggressive, but it rarely jumped out of the bushes to ambush like it just did.

‘I didn’t even enter its ambush spot first.’

In my previous life, I couldn’t sense whether I had entered the beast’s territory first or if the beast had chased me.

This time, I could tell for sure.

‘This guy came here to kill me.’

It even smelled me from quite a distance.

“That means… this beast likely came from outside the test area.”

The beast that first introduced me to ‘death’ in my previous life had actually come from outside.

I let out a hollow laugh at the truth I hadn’t even considered.

‘Should I report this to the school?’

I took a photo with my Hero Watch and reported it to the school.

“Ugh. I hope this doesn’t lead to the test being canceled.”

It seemed like it would just make things more troublesome, but what could I do?

I couldn’t just ignore a beast without a mark wandering around the test area.

‘I need to catch the Unicorn before the test gets canceled.’

Even if the test gets canceled, catching the Unicorn, which plays a hidden boss role in this test, would likely be recognized in my grades.

“Let’s see….”

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I looked around and then kicked off the ground to climb a nearby tree.

I focused my eyes on the forest that spread out like a green sea.

The most basic effect of magic is physical enhancement.

This enhancement not only strengthens the body but also amplifies the senses.

‘For now… I can’t see it with the naked eye.’

The trees were too dense, so even climbing high, I couldn’t see the Unicorn.

“Then there’s a way.”

I took a deep breath and spread my arms wide.

After spreading the magic power throughout his entire body into both hands.

He clapped his hands with all his might.

Berald Martial Arts.

Hand Thunder.

Kwooom!

A terrifying explosion echoed throughout the entire mountain.

Birds hiding between the tree trunks flew up all at once, and the cries of startled cadets and beasts could be heard from all directions.

In the midst of it all.

‘Found it.’

A blue lightning bolt flashed above the dense trees.

‘Wind Step.’

This time, instead of his hands, he spread the magic power into both legs and kicked off the tree trunk he was standing on.

His body became as light as a gust of wind.

Stepping on the densely intertwined tree trunks, he sprinted towards the place where the blue lightning bolt had leaped.

“Heeeeeee!”

How long had he been walking like that?

He saw the figure of a white horse near a stream where water was flowing gently.

Covered in pure white fur.

A horn protruding from its forehead and fierce lightning flames burning around its body.

Even the three pairs of eyes covering its face.

Through the hologram, he saw the beast raising its front legs threateningly and looking around.

‘Is it because of the sound just now?’

The unicorn was on high alert, with its white mane standing on end.

‘Should I wait until it calms down a bit?’

There wouldn’t be a big problem fighting it head-on.

But there was no reason to foolishly engage in a frontal battle against a beast that was so on edge, giving up the advantage of the first strike.

“Purrrrr.”

The unicorn, which had been looking around warily, lowered its raised leg.

Clip, clop.

With elegant steps, the unicorn leisurely moved towards the stream.

There was no trace of the sharp vigilance from earlier in its appearance.

‘It’s definitely very docile for a demonic beast.’

Demonic beasts were creatures that had undergone mutations by accepting demonic energy into their bodies, so they were mostly ferocious and savage by nature.

Especially, such traits were more pronounced in demonic beasts that had accepted a large amount of demonic energy… In other words, those with many ‘eyes.’

‘It’s not exuding any killing intent around it, and it’s controlling the demonic energy inside it well.’

It was definitely a demonic beast that Professor Bianca had a reason to use as a familiar.

‘By the way, I heard unicorns are really fond of virgins.’

Generally, demonic beasts often retained the characteristics of the animals they were before mutation.

For example, a wolf that had mutated into a demonic beast might have the characteristic of forming packs like wolves, or a mole that had mutated might have the habit of digging and hiding in tunnels.

‘Of course, not all of them are like that.’

Sometimes, demonic beasts would acquire peculiar traits that had no relation to their previous nature.

A prime example of this was the unicorn right in front of me.

Among the demonic beasts mutated from horses, those with a horn on their forehead… commonly called ‘unicorns,’ had the bizarre trait of being extremely fond of human virgins.

“Ah, no way… Is that why Professor Bianca can use this demonic beast as a familiar…?”

Ahem.

Let’s stop this speculation for the sake of Professor Lucas.

“Alright… It seems like it’s let its guard down.”

Shall we start the real hunt?

“Hiss.”

I slowly inhaled and spread my magical power throughout my body.

Silently, I approached the unicorn.

‘Now!’

When the distance between the unicorn and me had closed.

I kicked off the ground and drew my sword.

“Neigh?!”

The unicorn, noticing my approach, flinched and stepped back in surprise.

“Too late, you fool.”

With a grin, I thrust my sword towards the bell hanging around the unicorn’s neck.

Sun Sword

Form 4, Flash (閃).

The sword, transformed into a beam of light, shot out with fierce momentum.

Just as the tip of the sword was about to split the bell.

“Haap!”

With a short shout, a golden sword energy flew straight in.

Kaaang!

With a clear sound, the sword bounced off.

The sword, which had been aimed at the bell, grazed the cheek of the unicorn.

“Purururu!”

The unicorn, bleeding from its cheek, let out an excited roar.

“Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue and distanced myself slightly from the unicorn, thinking I could break the bell in one strike.

Turning my head towards the direction from which the golden sword energy had flown, I saw Yuren, panting heavily.

“Ha, you chased me all the way here?”

Yuren must have run here as soon as he saw the blue lightning bolt shoot up into the sky.

‘But.’

I looked back at Yuren and smirked.

“Sorry, but I’ll take first place, Yuren.”

Compared to me, who had already approached right in front of the unicorn, Yuren was still more than 100 meters away.

Moreover, I was the one who had first attacked the unicorn.

Naturally, the unicorn’s attention was focused on me….

“Fuhiiiiing!”

The unicorn suddenly turned its body and charged towards Yuren, snorting fiercely.

“…Huh?”

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No way.

“Why are you going that way, you stupid horse head!”

I was the one who drew the aggro!!!