Once I got close to the manticore, I slashed at it with my sword. However, it effortlessly blocked it with its tail.

Even when I managed to get a hit, I barely did any damage because of those armor parts on its body. But I didn’t stop as I kept swinging my sword to try and get a clean hit on it.

Not holding back, I used a lot of power in my attacks and kept hitting the manticore's body. I was slowly pushing it back as the beast retreated but still tried to hit me as well.

It launched its stinger at me, to which I deflected it in time before cutting its face. My blade slid diagonally across its right eye, to its nose, and right on the edge of its lips.

The manticore roared before flapping its wings to push me back. To prevent that, I summoned a giant sword and stabbed the ground behind me. My back was knocked into the blade, but it did its job of keeping me in place. Once the gales were seized, I went back on the offensive.

Getting close, I summoned two more blades and launched them at the Manticore wings. The creature then retracts as they were folded back onto its body. But, I figured it would try that, so I went with another plan. Once my blades went past the thing, I mentally changed their trajectory as they turned and plunged into its back.

The beast was surprised by this as it stumbled a bit in pain while howling. It tried flapping its wings, but my two swords were not only stabbing its back but also those as well. Now it can't use its gust attack again.

The Manticore then raised its paw and slammed it against me. Thanks to my reflexes, I was able to block the attack with my sword.

However...

"Not now...!"

After that message showed up, my blade broke under the pressure and I got thrown back from the attack. I tumbled across the ground before my back hit a rock, stopping me.

“Ow…” I groaned in pain.

Although my body was hurting, it didn't seem like I broke anything. So, knowing I couldn't sit around, I got back up, albeit sluggishly, and tried to get back in the fight. My sword was done for, so I decided to try and use [Arsenal] to make up for that.

Unfortunately…

Dammit!

“Ngh?!”

Just before they could manifest, I once again got a headache and lost focus, making them disappear in the process. Not only that, but it took a bit out of me and I was more tired than before. Then the manticore rushed at me, trying to attack with one of its claws. I used what little strength I had left to back away in time…

Of course…

Suddenly, its tail appeared as it rushed at me, ready to sting my body. Instinctively pointing my finger, I managed to fire a magic bullet and deflected the tail.

Sadly, I forgot about the claws and got hit in the shoulder before I fell to the ground again.

“U-ugh…” I groaned.

Yeah, this wasn’t really working out as I wanted to. I was making some good progress...but my rotten luck started kicking in. But, this was better than getting the others involved.

If they fight along with me, it'll only make things worse. So, I needed to at least hold this thing off until Luke got ready to put it down for good.

The tail once again appears before me as it once again goes on the attack.

“Crap…!” While on the ground, I pull out my finger gun move and was ready to defend myself.

Then, out of nowhere, the tail got knocked back by something that sounded like bullets, giving me time to move away. I then turned and saw Tyra aiming her guns at the manticore. Her barrels were smoking, showing how she just fired them.

No…why did you help me?!

“I thought I told you to wait?!” I shouted in anger.

They can’t get involved in this fight…they’ll just get themselves killed! I know that my curse will affect them if they try and help me!

“We’re a team, idiot!” Tyra said. “You seriously think we’re going to let you face that thing on your own?!”

You don’t have much of a choice if you don’t want to get cursed too! I wanted to shout this but kept my mouth shut.

While I was busy arguing with Tyra, the manticore showed back up and tried to attack again. I was prepared to dodge when it suddenly stopped moving. It looked like it was frozen in place…that’s when I turned back and saw Naomi was using her talent on the thing.

“Hit it, now!” She yelled.

Just then, Beiste and Min appeared and jumped on the manticore, giving it a barrage of punches and kicks. The monster roared in anger while taking all the hits.

The monster then started to move slightly while under Naomi’s talent. Noticing this, the fighting pair stopped their assault and jumped away in time before the thing broke free from its restricted gravity.

Tyra proceeds to shoot at it to keep the thing at bay. She then yelled at me.

“What are you doing?! Help out like the rest of us, dammit!”

I was speechless…

I didn’t want these people to get hurt so I pretty much used myself as a sacrifice…and yet they still helped me.

I guess that’s to be expected from the major characters. I knew they wouldn't just sit around, but I hoped that they would at least listen to me so I could fight without getting worried about them.

Instead, they did what I should've known they would do...

I should be angry, but, something about this just made me feel fuzzy. Not only that…but I felt glad that they were helping me.

I…wonder if they would do this if they knew I was cursed?

No, there’s no time to think about that. It was time we ended this.

Feeling determined, I joined in the fight and started using [Arsenal] and launched a lot of magic bullets at the manticore. Tyra did the same and kept her bullet volley going as well.

Once she was out of bullets for the moment, Min and Beiste joined back in and fended the monster off while I rushed back to her.

“When I give the signal, get ready to use your talent, got it?”

Tyra looked a bit surprised but gives a firm nod while smiling. Meanwhile, the fighting pair kept going at it on the manticore, hitting its leg and body with everything they had. Beiste even used his [Beast Shift] talent to transform into a humanoid bear and clawed at it like a wild animal. This was actually doing some damage to it.

But, the monster stomped its foot, shaking the ground and making Min and Beiste lose their balance for the moment. Using that opportunity, it used its tail to wrap around Min and then tossed her at the pride of the RB.

After dealing with them, the monster proceeded to move to us.

“I got it!” Naomi shouted.

She then used [Gravitation] to keep it from moving…

But it happened again…

“A-augh…!?” Naomi grunts as she held her head.

Thanks to that, she stopped using her talent and the manticore was free to attack us. I couldn’t let Tyra get hurt, so I stepped in front of her and made a sword wall.

I used a lot of mana to make a giant sword and used it as a barrier of sorts. The Manticore looked surprised by this and tried to move around.

But, Tyra was one step ahead of us and fired multiple bullets at its head. Surprised by this attack, it backed away to not get hit anymore.

But that was its fatal mistake. Attacking from behind, the fighting duo returned as they jumped in the air and delivered a double-fist attack on the beast.

Beiste’s fist was covered in scales and Min’s was engulfed in an orange aura. As they both attacked, the force they delivered caused its legs to buckle as it couldn’t stand the power, causing it to get pushed into the ground.

Not only that, but I noticed how this caused some of the Manticore’s armor to separate, making revealing gaps. That’s when I knew it was time…

With it in the sitting position, I summoned two giant swords and stabbed them through its two front paws. The manticore roared, trying to break free from my restraints.

That was when…

“Tyra, now!”

“On it!”

Tyra then rushes to the manticore’s side and aims her two guns at it. Sparks started to course through them as a loud humming noise got louder and louder, showing that she was charging up her attack.

And when she was done…

BANG!!!

As soon as she fired, a loud bang could be heard as two electrically charged bullets zoomed at the Manticore, actually piercing through gaps in its armor and damaging it a lot. Blood bursted as the beast made another roaring sound, making it practically echo throughout the forest.

We were able to cause a lot of damage. It was now or never!

“Luke!” I called out our trump card. “Are you ready?!”

“Yeah!” He says while holding his weapon that gave off a very bright yellow glow.

It was like he was wielding a weapon made entirely of holy light. It was quite an amazing scene.

Getting into position, Luke then jumped in the air and lunged for the Manticore. As he did, his spear left a trail of light particles in his wake, making the scene even more divine. Like a divine angel making its descent to attack.

Bringing his spear down, Luke thrust it into the Manticore’s body, piercing right through and causing an explosive light to erupt in the process.

All of us were blinded for a few moments until the light faded. As it did, what was seen before us was the main protagonist himself, standing on top of the dead Manticore with his spear still inside of it. Although he looked tired, the way he stood there while looking triumphant was quite the sight to behold.

Yes, we managed to take it down!

Once we were victorious, Luke pulled out his spear and jumped off the monster before collapsing on the ground and breathing heavily.

“That took…a lot out of me…” Luke huffed.

“Yeah…you’re not the only one…” Beiste said while breathing heavily as well.

Considering that we went up against an A-Rank monster, I'm not surprised that all of us were pretty tired.

“But at least we won…” Min states, looking just as tired. “I wonder how many points we’ll get from this?”

Oh, yeah, I forgot about the points.

If it goes by the Novel, we’ll be getting twenty or so points from that Manticore. Then again, this was a mutated version that was a high-ranking B-rank threat, so we'll likely get more than that. Though, considering what we had to go through, I didn’t care about the points. I’m just glad this bastard was taken care of.

I really thought that things were going to get a little dangerous…huh?

Hang on…was that thing…glowing?

While distracted by the glowing manticore, the damn blue panel showed up at the worst time...

Goddammit, no!

The fight wasn’t over…! It’s still alive!

Which meant…[Potential Boost]! It somehow got unlocked!

“Guys…!” I called out to the others in a panic.

Before I could warn them of what was happening, I saw the Scorpion tail of the manticore raise up before bolting for one of us. Using [Speed Boost], I rushed in to save that person…

“W-wha…!” Naomi was shocked as I pushed her out of the way of the tail.

And just as I did…I got stung by the stinger in her place. It sunk deep into my chest while injecting its venom into my body. I could feel a burning sensation course through my body like something was pouring fire in me.

“E-Ethan!” Luke and the others witnessed what had just happened and they all started panicking and getting into battle formations.

I was still pierced by the stinger as the Manticore raised its tail along with me still attached and…flung me away sending me crashing into a tree.

Between the stinger wound, the venom, and getting thrown into the tree, I think I can say that [Pain Resistance] was doing its best to mitigate the searing pain I was experiencing right now, but it was still pretty bad.

“Ethan!” I could barely hear Luke call out to me as my consciousness was slowly fading away.

Before I fully lost consciousness, I needed to see how bad the situation was and quickly used [Appraisal] on the Manticore…and I was more or less not all that surprised.

Yeah, that’s…pretty bad. I was left with this horror as everything slowly went black. The last thing I saw was Luke rushing over to me and looking at me with a worried expression.

After that…everything went dark.

...

Jeanne and her group were currently roaming around Agoge Forest and trying to gain some points. Their guards were up as they kept a keen eye out for any threats that may come their way.

"How many points do we have right now?" One of Jeanne's teammates asked.

"I believe thirty," The other answered. "Do you think we'll find a C-rank monster here, Jeanne?"

"I don't know..."

For a while, the group has only encountered F-rank monsters and a couple of D-rank ones. None of them were all that tough to defeat, even for Jeanne.

When Jeanne and her group were formed, Jeanne was tasked with being the leader, with no objections from either member. In fact, they basically nominated her as the leader.

This was because they believed that having someone who could see the future would be better to lead so they can make all the calls. And although she was nervous, Jeanne still accepted her role.

"I wish we could fight a stronger enemy," One of the teammates groaned. "That way we can get more points and win."

"I'm pretty sure that's what we all want, but we shouldn't push our limits."

"That's right," Jeanne states. "We can't be greedy and get ourselves in trouble. Not unless we want to lose."

Although this training session was a sort of competition, it wasn't smart to push your luck. The students may be saviors-in-training, but they were far from the experienced and strong heroes that they inspire to be.

Which is why they needed to be cautious. Take things slowly.

The trio kept walking around through the forest, wondering what kind of threat they'll face next.

And then…

“Ah…!” Jeanne gasps before her eyes gave off a yellow glow.

She started to see something. A vision. It was showing her a fight with a dangerous monster. A beast with crimson red fur and armored spikes protecting it…and students including herself fighting it with all they had.

It looked like things were getting dire for them. The beast kept attacking and was beating all the students like they were nothing. It was clear that they were about to die…

And then she saw something else…one of the students rising up…and summoning a thousand blades out of thin air. The forest was filled with a blue-tinged light as the student aimed all those magic blades at the monster.

And She knew who this person was that was summoning all those blades.

“Jeanne?”

Before her vision could continue, Jeanne was brought out of her vision by one of her companions that she got grouped up. She breathed heavily before looking around in horror.

“J-Jeanne, what’s wrong? Are we about to get attacked? Is it bad?!” One of her groupmates asked in alarm.

The group has already witnessed Jeanne see visions of the future. Due to this, they were aware of when she has those moments. But this was different.

Knowing how violent her vision was this time, her teammates were terrified at what could happen next.

“W-we need to move…!” She declares before walking forward frantically.

“W-what do you mean? Did you see something?!”

“I did…and we need to hurry before it's too late!”

If her vision was right…then something was going on in this group training session. And they needed to get where she saw that person who summoned all those blades.

Following her lead, her group trailed behind her with haste. But, just before they could go any further, a new party had joined them.

“Oh? Looks like we ran into another group…and it’s the blond beauty as well~!”

Turning to the source of the voice, Jeanne saw a girl. She had white hair that covered her left eye, leaving one eye revealed that showed her crimson iris. And as she smiled while looking at Jeanne, you could see shark-like teeth, making her look menacing.

However, Jeanne wasn’t all that fazed by her. If anything, she knew she would show up…since she saw this person in the vision as well.

“Oh, why are you staring at me like that, blondie~?” Thea asks, somewhat curious.

Jeanne said nothing as she continued staring at Thea Lochmann. It was then she realized that her vision was beginning to unfold…