- Urie Loeth -

“Where are they!? I thought this place was supposed to be full of them?”

Elicia started whining about not seeing any magic creatures. Rifling through almost every bush we would pass, I was worried she might tire herself out. Bouncing about from side to side, however, it didn't look like she would run out of energy any time soon.

“Celeste, give me your bag.”

“No need, I'm fine.”

I offered to carry Celeste's bag since she started falling a bit behind. She seemed to be struggling with the increased brightness bathing us from the ceiling. She was sweating, breathing in and out more heavily than the rest of us. Even though she declined, I took the sling bag from her shoulder and continued to walk across the forest shrubbery.

“Thanks Urie...” She whispered.

I smiled at her words of gratitude.

“Hey, guys, did you see where the old ma— where the headmaster went?” Elicia suddenly stopped and asked.

What she said had prompted me to take a quick look around. Even though I was trying my best to be careful, we still got separated from the headmaster.

How? Did he leave us behind? I didn't say that out loud as I didn't want to alarm Celeste and Elicia.

“He's probably just past those trees in front.” I said a few words to reassure the two of them and continued to walk in front.

Failing to see any signs of the headmaster, I did my best not to let the nervousness show on my face. Immediately, I broke out into a cold sweat. Leaves had begun to rustle from behind us. Low growling sounds coming from a large bush stopped us in our tracks.

“Y-You d-d-d-on't t-think he's playing another prank on us, do you?” Elicia's voice was shaking as she stood next to Celeste and latched onto her arm.

“I don't know but—“ I quickly urged both of them to move.”—get behind me!”

A magic creature on all fours, with sharp fangs, claws, a bushy tail, and jet-black fur, a shadow wolf. None of us had ever seen one in person before but what emerged from the bushes fit the description perfectly. What struck me the most, however, wasn't its ferocious appearance but the unusual glow coming from its eyes.

This wasn't just a simple magic creature. It was a mana beast. Magic creatures that got drunk with mana and driven mad by it. Even the most docile one would become ferocious and show hostility to anyone nearby.

Although it was just this one in front of us right now, we did learn in class that they would usually hunt in packs. It was likely that its pack might not be far behind it.

“Stay back! I'll handle this guy, try shouting for the headmaster!”

I yelled towards both of them before rushing towards the beast baring its fangs. I didn't have time to think about why a mana beast, something that only appeared in Arinndra's Forest, appeared in Erden's Tower.

I had no weapon, nothing on my person to fend the beast off. We only just moved on to our 2^nd year in Daerin Academy, so we've yet to have any formal training in combat. I only had one plan of action in mind. Do the same thing I've tried not to do for an entire year.

As the shadow wolf launched its body towards me, Without holding myself back, I gathered mana from the surroundings and I burst into flames, just as the beast was upon me. The shadow wolf was hit by the sudden conflagration and howled in pain as its fur caught fire. I felt my consciousness waver as the recoil from the sudden loss of mana inevitably came.

“Urie dodge it!”

I raised my head to see two rows of sharp fangs in front of my face. The shadow wolf had gotten back up and pounced towards me for a second time. Feeling a powerful gust of wind approaching from my back, I forced my body to move and jumped to the side. I rolled on the ground a few times while the body of the shadow wolf was flung across the air like a doll, and hit a tree with a loud noise.

“Are you okay!?” Celeste came and helped me to my feet, she looked agitated.

“Yeah, thanks to Elicia.”

Elicia had fired off her wind magic after she warned me and was also feeling the drain. She followed behind Celeste, taking shallow, quick breaths. I glanced at the direction of the shadow wolf and saw it quivering at the foot of the tree.

Its body scorched by fire, it tried to get back up but couldn't muster enough strength to stand. The red glow in its eyes slowly disappearing. A few seconds later, it took its last breath and shut its eyes.

My heart was racing, and there was this heat coming from my chest. An unusual sensation, the first I've experienced.

“Is-Is it dead?” Elicia stuttered.

“Asking something like that is trouble you know?” I thought.

Elicia inspected the shadow wolf for signs of life, throwing rocks at its body while preparing to fire off another blast of wind. Thankfully, it stayed down. We all felt relieved. We took a few seconds to try and calm ourselves down before our brief moment of respite was cruelly ended.

“AWOOOOOOOO!” Distant howls resonated one by one and had started getting closer.

“Wha—What should we do?” Leaping onto Celeste's arm, Elicia once again held on tight as she trembled with fear.

“Maybe we should head for the central pillar.”

Celeste pondered for a bit before speaking, I could tell from her face that she was trying her best to keep herself composed.

“The headmaster did say we were supposed to go there.” I said.

“—AWOOOOOOOO!”

More howling. Again, my body pulsated with heat as if it was itching for another fight. However, I hesitated. Behind us were an unknown number of shadow wolves and in front of us was the dangerous center area.

Even if we stayed here to make a stand, I wasn't confident in being able to burn all the shadow wolves down before I collapsed. Just fending off one shadow wolf already had our work cut out for us. A whole pack of them? Not a chance.

“Let's go, quickly.” Left with not much of a choice, we picked up our bags that were dropped on the ground ran towards the direction of the central pillar.

We passed through a bit more greenery before finally exiting the area with trees and entered a large area with barren land. Glancing towards the edge of the forest, I could see the shadow wolves arriving one by one under the shade of the trees.

One of them was about to step forward to chase us but was stopped by a larger looking shadow wolf. I noticed the absence of the glow of mana in its eyes. When I checked the others, it seemed that only the one that had attacked us turned into a mana beast as they were also lacking the unusual glow.

Seeing that they stopped pursuing us and were avoiding the central area, it served to increase my wariness as I knew that we were still in hot water.

“Be careful.” I cautioned.

The two girls nodded their heads and kept a close eye on our surroundings for any hint of peril.

Everyone was tense. I wondered, did my brothers ever come across a situation like this? If so, then how did they handle it? How would we be able to make it back across the forest and get home safely?

With the shadow wolves barring our path, we couldn't even walk back the way we came. We might even come across other magic creatures if we took another route back. And since there was already one, then surely there will be other mana beasts in this forest.

I tried looking around for something, anything that could help us. In the end, all I could see were rock formations, as well as a few tumbling weeds. Nothing, save for the huge stone pillar visible from afar.

“Urie?”

My silence had made the girls uneasy. Celeste was behind me and pulled on the hem of my shirt. I felt apologetic, I was worrying all by myself when I haven't even asked about how the two were feeling.

“Sorry... Let's take a break, shall we?”

I led them towards a rock formation that looked like it could provide us with some cover, and found a spot for us to sit on the ground.

“Here.” I took out a bottle of water and a few bread rolls from my bag and passed them to Celeste and Elicia.

“Keep an eye out for the headmaster, he might be lurking in one of the rocks somewhere around here.” I stated.

“That old man must be watching us with that creepy smile on his face.”

Elicia spoke while angrily biting into her bread roll. I tried to use humor to ease a bit of the tension, but that only made her angry.

“You're bleeding!” Celeste noticed a small gash on my right arm.

I must've gotten it from the shadow wolf. We were so busy running away that I wasn't aware of it. Only when she pointed it out did I start to feel the wound sting, although, it didn't hurt as much as it looked. Heat was still continuing to pulse through my body, soothing most of the pain.

“Give me your arm.” Elicia took out a roll of bandages from her bag. Looks like she was well prepared. I was curious, how did she know how to clean and dress up a wound?

“When did you learn to do this?” Gesturing towards the bandages wrapping my arm, I asked.

It wasn't too tight, my arm still felt comfortable and it didn't look like it would easily unravel. It was like it was done by a professional. I was impressed.

“Aunt Merea taught me. She said a basic knowledge of first aid is a necessary skill when fighting on the wall. I originally didn't want to, but I'm glad she insisted I learn it.”

She puffed up her chest as usual and spoke with a bit of pride. She was looking pale earlier, but having something to do appears to have helped as the color had started coming back to her face.

I looked towards Celeste. She was holding a bread roll to her mouth while watching as Elicia dressed up my wound. With only a single bite taken from it so far and her mouth unmoving, I wondered what Celeste was thinking.

“Are you alright, Celeste?” I asked.

She shook her head and indicated she was fine before chomping down on the bread roll.

Elicia, having finished wrapping the bandage, stood up and said,

“Don't worry, once we get out of here, I'm gonna ask aunt Merea to give that old man a piece of my mind.” She held her hand up with a clenched fist while she spoke in a determined tone.

“What's with that?” We all chuckled at her words and started badmouthing the headmaster together.

After a bit of rest, we left the cover of the large rock and resumed our walk. At first, we went slowly because we were wary of the presence of mana beasts but soon picked up the pace as it didn't look like there was anything in the vicinity. Letting down our guards, we went in a straight line towards the central pillar.

“Isn't this just like when we entered the forest?” Elicia asked.

“Don't complain about it, just be thankful we're not seeing anything.” I scolded.

Elicia was complaining earlier when the shadow wolf appeared, I didn't want a repeat of that.

We were almost at the pillar and I had to say, seeing it up close, it really did look like Erden's Tower, albeit more worn out. I tried looking for a door that might be like the one we entered from earlier but there was none that I could see.

Approaching the gigantic pillar, I paused. I felt a slight tremor within my consciousness. The feeling, I couldn't explain it. The heat that had somewhat died down had started pulsating again. I noticed where it had been coming from. My mana seed. With every step we took to getting closer to the pillar, the tremor had gotten stronger. Was something in there calling out to me?

Or maybe... telling me to stay away?