I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 809 - Side Story 82: Unknown Danger (3)

-Crack!

A tree fell. It was a thick tree that even an adult man with arms spread wide couldn't embrace.

The sight of them falling in a chain reaction like pushing over dominoes was as overwhelming as a natural disaster occurring.

Roooaaaaar!!!

The creature approaching while toppling trees revealed its enormous presence vividly.

Soon, they could confirm the appearance of the creature that had been hidden deep within the dense forest.

"Is that the one?"

The first thing that caught the eye was the sharp scales covering its entire body.

When the scales caught the light, they glittered. They looked like blades that a blacksmith had painstakingly sharpened with a whetstone.

The creature covered in blade-like scales all over its body had the appearance of what is commonly called a pangolin.

Sharp claws grew on its developed front legs, and a scale-covered tail extended behind its long, streamlined body.

At the end of the tail was a blade-like protrusion similar to the scales, but looking even sturdier.

'Truly a beast whose entire body is covered in sharp blades.'

It was immediately understood how the creature had toppled those thick trees.

Looking at the path the creature had passed through, everything had been cut down as if ground by countless blades. Not only trees but also large and sturdy-looking rocks were in the same state.

The giant pangolin spirit beast openly displayed hostility as if it would not tolerate those who dared invade its territory.

"Brother. What should we do? It seems the creature is quite angry."

Hans tried various ways to calm the spirit beast, but it was insufficient to quell the creature's anger once its fury had risen.

"This doesn't look like it will be easy."

Veronica also seemed quite flustered by the monster she was seeing for the first time.

A giant spirit beast standing over 4m tall and reaching 13m in length from head to toe.

Its size aside, the scales with a special metallic luster looked like they would cut skin just by looking at them.

Unlike ordinary pangolin scales that have a dark, deep brown color, this creature's scales were dazzlingly bright, like looking at diamonds.

Even for her, who had reached the realm of Master, the spirit beast was not an easy opponent.

Rather, as her senses had become more acute, she could vividly feel how strong and troublesome an opponent this spirit beast was.

The spirit beast's angry eyes were surveying the intruders, but that gaze lingered particularly long on Hans.

'Is it because Hans possesses the spirit beast factor?'

The reason the creature had reacted violently in the first place was because Hans had spread his empathy ability widely through the forest.

From the spirit beast's perspective, which had established its territory in this forest, it was no different from an external presence suddenly barging in and exerting its influence.

Considering that beasts react sensitively to their territory and domain, this reaction was natural in a way.

The spirit beast recognized Hans as not just a territorial invader but as a kind of nemesis.

Hans himself seemed to feel this and felt quite troubled.

"No, I just tried to get some information moderately, but it seems to be reacting too sensitively."

Rather, since it was getting so angry, Hans wondered if he had really committed such a grave mistake.

Honestly speaking, he felt wronged.

However, he couldn't say it wasn't the case at all, as this Hyperborea was a land of the unknown and wilderness untouched by human hands.

Naturally, the spirit beast dwelling there reacted sensitively to external existences, unlike spirit beasts in other regions.

For them, there had never been anyone coming from outside until now.

Roooaaaaar!

The creature opened its mouth wide and let out a roar.

Not only was its voice enormous, but that cry was mixed with mana.

Hans involuntarily stepped back. Veronica and Cassie's expressions also stiffened.

From just the roar, they could feel with their skin how strong the creature was.

Thoom!

The spirit beast moved. When the creature took a step, the ground caved in. Its weight was absurd.

'Is it because of the material of the scales? It's different from a body made of ordinary flesh and muscle. Since its entire body is as hard as metal, its mass is also large.'

The blade-like scales made the noise of metal interlocking as they rubbed against each other.

At that moment, Veronica drew her sword and rushed toward the spirit beast.

Charging forward like lightning and closing the distance, she emitted streams of aura from her sword.

The aura containing cold air projected intense chill throughout the surrounding area.

-Crash!

The sound of metal clashing with metal rang out as the sword and scales collided.

The aura blade struck the pangolin's scales. The aura used by a Master-level knight could easily cut steel. However, the pangolin's scales didn't budge.

The pangolin's body shook greatly, but that was merely being staggered by the impact the aura delivered.

The pangolin's gaze turned toward Veronica.

Shrrrrrrr!

When the creature shook its body threateningly, the blade-like scales moved together.

"My goodness. I did attack somewhat seriously though, but to think it would be this unscathed."

No matter how much of a spirit beast it was, she felt her pride was slightly hurt.

However, now was not the time to indulge in such peaceful impressions.

-Slash!

The spirit beast swung its tail toward Veronica.

The tail flying horizontally at length was like a whip, but because of the sharp scales, it was more threatening than a blade.

What's more, its speed was so fast it was difficult to react to unless one was quite skilled.

If Veronica hadn't bent her waist backward, her head would have been cleanly cut off by it just now.

The spirit beast tried to add an additional attack. Veronica pulled out her aura long and swung it vigorously.

The cold-attribute aura bursting from the sword spread out in a fan-shaped width.

Crackle crackle crackle.

The cold air spreading while freezing the surrounding grass and earth engulfed the spirit beast's body.

The spirit beast frowned. Every time the creature exhaled, white vapor rose.

Veronica's cold air seeped into the body through the skin, making movements sluggish.

An ordinary enemy could be subdued with just this, but the opponent was a spirit beast.

Fwooosh!

Mana began to burst from the spirit beast's entire body.

Spirit beasts weren't spirit beasts just because of their strong physical abilities. What made spirit beasts dangerous was that despite being beasts, they contained mana and caused phenomena similar to magic.

Just like now.

Shhhhhhhhhhk!

The spirit beast's scales grew even longer. It didn't even take 3 seconds for the creature that had been a pangolin to transform as if becoming a porcupine.

The sharp spines made of mana glowed in a bluish color. Since they possessed resistance to aura on their own, the spirit beast could move unhindered even on the frozen field.

Veronica let out a groan. She judged that doing things moderately wouldn't be enough to subdue that creature.

Just as she was re-gripping her sword, prepared for a fairly fierce battle—

"I'll handle the rest."

Rudger was talking to her from beside her, though she had no idea when he had approached.

Veronica's eyes widened in surprise. Rudger walked slowly toward the spirit beast without paying attention to her reaction.

Grung?

The spirit beast felt puzzled seeing a human approaching it.

In a situation like this, he should be wary and afraid of it, but Rudger's expression was too calm.

Acting tough to not appear weak was something beasts did too. However, Rudger didn't even have that.

Rather, he was so natural that one might wonder if he had been living in this area from the beginning.

However, the spirit beast knew that wasn't the case.

Whatever the case, he was an intruder and an enemy who had properly gotten on its nerves.

It was unexpected that he was approaching on his own, but that didn't change what it had to do.

The spirit beast shook the spines all over its body and charged at Rudger.

Just by passing by, the mana-made spines left current energy in the air. The crackling sparks were quite threatening.

The spirit beast planned to trample Rudger as is and then tear him to shreds.

"I don't want to waste time on things like this here, so let's finish this quickly."

Rudger muttered in a calm voice toward the spirit beast.

His blue eyes shone as brightly as stars in the night sky.

At the same time, a shadow suddenly rose behind Rudger.

The monster with the face of a giant crow was so enormous it could look down on the spirit beast.

The charging spirit beast stopped without realizing it. The shadow cast by Aether Nocturnus stole the light from the spirit beast's face.

In the center of Aether Nocturnus' chest was a huge, pitch-black hole reminiscent of a black hole.

Upon facing it, the spirit beast felt the illusion that its existence was being sucked in as is.

However, the spirit beast was also the ruler of this region. Knowing that being overwhelmed by fear meant defeat, the creature emitted mana even more strongly.

The scales all over its body and the sharp spines protruding through the gaps glowed blue.

It was like seeing a comet shining brilliantly alone in endless darkness.

However, no matter how brilliantly stars shine, they cannot illuminate the entire universe.

Aether Nocturnus extended its giant arm.

The arm, which at first was about the size to grip the spirit beast's head, gradually grew larger as the distance closed.

The spirit beast felt that the sense of perspective was strange.

An arm extending right before its eyes was approaching slowly yet growing large enough to engulf its entire body.

It tried to resist as much as possible, but it was useless.

Thoom!

Enormous pressure crushed the spirit beast's body.

The sharp spines and blade-like scales were useless.

Like Sun Wukong caught under Buddha's palm, the spirit beast was crushed under Aether Nocturnus' grip and pressed flat to the ground.

Crackle crackle. Thoom!

Cracks formed in the ground and the floor was deeply carved out. The spirit beast struggled, but it was meaningless.

The spirit beast activated the hidden trump card it had saved for last.

The spines covering its entire body shot out in all directions like missiles.

Some of them, as if equipped with a homing function, twisted their trajectory in the air and aimed for Rudger.

It was an instinctive judgment that since Aether Nocturnus was a magic beast, it would suffice to defeat Rudger, its master.

"Not a wrong judgment, but regrettable."

Rudger extended his index finger toward the air and then dragged his finger from left to right.

Boom boom boom boom boom boom!

The mana-filled spines flying toward Rudger caused spectacular explosions in the air.

The compressed mana reached its critical point and burst blue spherical flames in the air.

The spirit beast's eyes widened at the sight.

At that moment, the spirit beast's body was greatly lifted. Aether Nocturnus had gripped the creature's body and lifted it up as is.

Aether Nocturnus' blazing eyes met the spirit beast's eyes.

The spirit beast was properly terrified for the first time.

The creature's scales drooped. Its expression as if giving up resistance looked pitiful.

Toward such a spirit beast, Aether Nocturnus extended its left hand.

The spirit beast's body trembled in fear.

Aether Nocturnus extended its brutal-looking hand as if it would crush the spirit beast as is, then—

Pop!

It plucked out one of the creature's blade scales and put its body back down on the ground.

The spirit beast seemed quite surprised by the fact that the opponent hadn't killed it, as it remained frozen still.

Regardless, Aether Nocturnus, having obtained the scale, handed it to Rudger and then disappeared, melting into his shadow.

The area where the light had disappeared brightened again.

Rudger approached Hans, who had been blankly watching the process, and held out the scale.

"Take it."

Hans accepted the scale. It was closer to receiving it since it was being given.

"...Brother. I'm asking out of curiosity, but why exactly are you giving this to me? Where would I even use something like this now?"

Since Hans was no longer active, he had no great need for things like spirit beast teeth or such.

Even without that, the spirit beast factor dwelling in his body was sufficient.

"Didn't we discover a rare spirit beast? Since we've encountered it like this, it's better to take what we can take."

"...Am I some kind of gene repository or what?"

"What does it matter? There's nothing bad about having it."

Rudger looked at the spirit beast, which had barely grasped the situation.

When Rudger looked at it, the creature visibly trembled and wisely lowered its head.

Though a spirit beast with high pride, it had realized that Rudger was a vastly superior powerhouse.

Rudger nodded satisfactorily.

"Since it's come to this anyway, let's try to make use of it. Hans, can you communicate with the creature?"

"Yes, well. When it was really angry, it didn't listen properly, but it seems possible now."

"Then tell it to guide us to the ancient ruins inside there."

The iron-armored pangolin spirit beast couldn't refuse that proposal and so the creature became a guide of the forest.

"This is quite convenient."

Cassie muttered. Her gaze was directed at the back of the iron-armored pangolin making a path.

Though it was a dense forest, once the iron-armored pangolin stepped forward, a path was created. Because whether it was trees or rocks in front, everything was ground down.

Other beasts fled on their own when the iron-armored pangolin appeared. Since spirit beasts were rulers of a region, even powerful beasts wisely preserved themselves.

As the spirit beast was advancing like that, it stopped walking. The creature looked back.

"Why is it doing that?"

When Veronica wondered, Hans answered instead.

"It seems from here on is another one's territory."

"Another one meaning there are more spirit beasts in this forest."

"It seems so. Brother, what should we do?"

Since it was actually Rudger who was commanding that spirit beast, Hans asked for his opinion.

Rudger conveyed his will to the spirit beast.

"Bring that one here too."