Serne made a face of disbelief.
"Doesn't it sound ridiculous even to you? Why should I help you?"
Simon climbed onto the back of Lorraine's skeletal horse and replied, "I'll consider it a debt."
With that, Simon nodded at Lorraine.
As she pulled the reins, the skeletal horse soared into the sky without hesitation.
'...
Nonsense.' Serne raised a feather with a cold expression.
The feather disassembled into a magic circle and transformed into a large siege ballista.
- Politics are clumsy, aren't they?
In that moment, Simon's voice echoed in her ears.
- Your method only increases the enemy.
'.......' Serne gritted her teeth.
It was absurd.
She had always been the strong one.
The weak had only two choices: to be taken or to die.
For someone whose mental abilities had reached their peak, the thoughts of others were never a significant consideration.
Yet,
'My method is clumsy?'
Her gaze turned back to the sky.
She saw Simon and Lorraine chatting amicably on the skeletal horse.
"So, the monster went berserk?"
"Yeah."
Simon nodded and continued, "Have you heard anything about me from Lady Nephthys recently?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Lorraine blinked, her confusion evident.
Nephthys had never mentioned anything about the legion to Lorraine.
It was a secret between Simon and Nephthys.
Of course, one more person had learned about it this time, but that couldn't be helped.
"Nothing much. Actually, a famous treasure hunter visited Class A as a guest lecturer, and the monster was mentioned in his materials. It wasn't in the guidebook."
Lorraine thought for a moment before speaking.
"It could be an artificial monster that doesn't originally inhabit this island."
"That’s possible."
As Simon briefed Lorraine on the information he had gathered, they drew closer to the rampaging fake Bickroom.
The current rampaging fake Bickroom had grown to nearly 20 meters tall.
It had now crossed the river and entered the southern island.
"What the hell?!"
"What is that?!"
Students who had been quietly hunting monsters in the outskirts were now busy fleeing from the sudden appearance of the giant monster.
As Bickroom stomped through them, the ground shook, and trees were uprooted.
It was truly a walking disaster.
"Ahhh!"
Bickroom stopped and looked down at a screaming female student.
Then it lifted its massive foot.
"Ah...!"
As the giant's foot loomed over her, the girl froze in terror.
Whoooosh!
At that moment, a man bravely soared toward Bickroom's foot.
Taking a deep breath, he swung his fist with all his might.
Bang!
The massive body of Bickroom swayed momentarily, losing its balance and staggering back.
- Ooooh!
- Brother Bred! Nice one!
The identity of the man was not Bred, but Erzevet transformed into Bred.
She had a magical signal device in her ear, allowing her to communicate with the command center and other instructors.
As she landed, the female student shouted with a grateful face.
"Thank you for saving me! Instructor!"
Erzevet lightly tapped her finger on her forehead and made a playful gesture.
"It's dangerous here, so stay back."
"Yes!"
The girl, her cheeks flushed, glanced back at Bred before fleeing into the forest.
'Oh no, this isn't Bred's style.'
Bred was just a simple musclehead.
After taking a moment to reflect on her own concept, Erzevet placed her hand on the magical signal device and said, "This is Instructor Bred. I will relay the information gathered from the battle."
Even she thought it was a perfect imitation of Bred's voice.
"The monster is sensitive to sounds made by humans. While sounds made during escape are fine, screams or shouts are dangerous. Please relay this to the students."
- This is the command center! Good work.
We will relay it immediately.
- You figured that out already? Why are you so competent today?
- Right? I thought you were all muscle and no brain.
From the reactions of the other instructors, it seemed that Erzevet was not the competent type at work.
Clearing her throat, Erzevet spoke bluntly.
"All instructors under me, keep your mouths shut."
- Hahaha! That's my brother!
And from the command center, there was one more message.
"Avoid combat at all costs and focus on rescuing the students..."
While Erzevet was speaking, another instructor was flying toward Bickroom.
"Hey, Bred! It's Karis from the Black Mechanics department."
- I know what you're thinking, but there’s no one among the students who can take this down.
I'll handle it!
He swung his scythe roughly as he rose into the air.
A crescent-shaped blade over 10 meters long flew and slashed Bickroom's back.
- Okay! I'll catch it...!
Bickroom turned around, seemingly unscathed, and threw a lightning-fast punch.
Boom!
The speed was incredible! Karis was sent flying hundreds of meters, crashing to the ground.
- Ugh! Cough cough! Damn! This thing hurts like hell!
From the signal device, a cry filled with pain could be heard.
"So I told you, Karis. Command center, relaying again."
Erzevet raised her head and continued, "The creature has regenerative abilities. Avoid combat at all costs and focus on rescuing the students."
- Copy that.
Erzevet had once been a comrade of Bickroom, so she knew this much information.
After turning off the communicator, she wore a complicated expression.
'In the end, our commander.
Looks like things have gotten tangled.'
If Bickroom completely rampaged, no one would be able to stop it.
It seemed persuasion had failed, and now the only option was to eliminate it with minimal damage.
There was a risk of casualties leading to an investigation by the Kizen command center, which could complicate matters.
'For now, I need to join the commander.'
"Hold on tight, Simon!"
Lorraine reached back from the skeletal horse.
The empty air split open like the monster's mouth, revealing silhouettes with the same red eyes as hers.
Whoosh!
From within, pillars of crimson light shot out, piercing Bickroom's body one after another.
With holes now riddling its body, Bickroom raised its right arm.
"Ugh!"
She pulled on the reins.
The skeletal horse quickly descended, narrowly avoiding Bickroom's arm as it sliced through the air.
Whoosh!
It was a close call.
Simon brushed his wildly flying bangs aside to regain his sight.
"Lorraine! To the side!"
"......!"
Before they knew it, Bickroom's leg was approaching.
With its heavy body, it was about to kick! She urgently pulled on the reins, but the skeletal horse was slow to respond.
"Simon! Brace for impact!"
As Simon wrapped his arms around his head, feathers suddenly flew in front of them, spreading out in the form of a defensive magic circle.
Bang!
As the golem's leg collided with the magic circle, it slowed down, allowing the skeletal horse to escape the attack range safely.
'This ability, could it be...?'
Simon turned his head.
Countless feathers were whizzing past Bickroom's body.
Slash!
Blood gushed from the numerous wounds inflicted on Bickroom's body.
The feathers returned to a girl with platinum hair floating in the air.
"Serne!"
"Hmm."
She rested her chin on her hand, wearing a troubled expression.
"It seems physical attacks won't work."
Bickroom's body was quickly healing the wounds inflicted by Lorraine and Serne.
There was no sign of damage at all.
"Then how about this?"
The feathers wrapped around her hand shot forward, piercing Bickroom's body with a series of 'thunks.' The emotions carried by the feathers were 'calm.' A total of twenty calming effects.
For an ordinary human, it would not be strange to become a vegetable instead of just calming down.
However,
- Aaaaargh!
Bickroom became even angrier and swung a fist at Serne.
She scrunched her face and ascended to a higher altitude.
"This is why I dislike ignorant undead."
Even Lorraine and Serne, who possessed outstanding skills among the first-year students of Kizen, had no proper way to deal with it.
As their attacks momentarily ceased, Bickroom began to search for the students on the ground again.
"This is going to go on forever."
To buy time for the students to evacuate, they had no choice but to distract Bickroom with attacks.
Lorraine unleashed firepower to forcibly divert Bickroom's attention, and Bickroom swung its arms irritably.
Whoooosh!
The skeletal horse flew as low as possible to evade the attack.
The forest was now visible just below them.
Just as Lorraine was about to pull the reins to ascend again,
- This is the command center.
A voice came from the communication device.
'They can't be thinking of halting the exam like this, right?'
Simon waited anxiously for the next words.
- The Kera army is also under attack from an unidentified monster on the southern island.
Students on the southern island will be forcibly teleported to another island.
After teleportation, they will receive a five-minute immunity assessment.
Simon let out a sigh of relief.
He thought this was a reasonable decision.
- Students who wish to refuse teleportation should input a rejection signal on the command pad.
In this case, the command center will not take responsibility for any issues that arise.
Lorraine and Simon immediately input the rejection signal.
"Simon!"
Lorraine looked surprised.
"You need to return to the center and continue the exam! This is a Kizen issue..."
"No. I'm staying."
This was clearly partly his fault.
Simon's face hardened as he gazed at Bickroom.
He could see blue lights rising from various places on the southern island as teleportation was taking place.
"Siimoooon!"
At that moment, Simon heard a voice calling him.
Erzevet, transformed into Bred, was waving from atop a tree.
"Lorraine! I'm just going down for a moment!"
"What? Wait! How far do you plan to go on your own...!"
Before she could finish, Simon had already jumped off the skeletal horse.
"I'll signal again!"
"Simon!"
As Simon descended from the sky, Erzevet immediately leaped off the tree.
She caught him in a princess carry and landed gracefully on the ground.
"Tada!"
"......"
Suddenly finding himself in the arms of a muscular man, Simon sighed.
"I could have come down by myself."
"Hehe, even the commander is quite shy."
As she set Simon down, a turquoise orb fell from the sky.
Simon reached out to catch it.
- Simon! Can you hear me?
It was Lorraine's voice.
When Simon looked up, he saw Lorraine on the skeletal horse, holding the same equipment.
- It's a magical communication device.
Just press the button below and speak.
The mana reserves are low, so use it sparingly.
"Ah, okay."
Lorraine immediately led the skeletal horse toward Bickroom.
"By the way, Commander, what's going on?"
"Oh, that."
After turning off the communication device, Simon detailed the current situation to Erzevet.
She nodded.
"So it's a fake Bickroom."
"Yeah. We need to deal with it before things escalate."
"But how do we deal with a monster with regeneration and giant abilities...?"
[Hehehehe!]
The two looked down.
A clone of Pier, clinging to Simon's uniform, wore a meaningful smile.
[I have a way!]