Agnes was kneeling on her knees, looking with sparkling eyes at a small white rabbit inside a small cage near one of the stalls.
Leonard was also kneeling beside her, but he wasn't looking at the small rabbit; instead, he was looking at Agnes with boredom.
"How long are you going to keep staring at the rabbit?"
Agnes looked at him, then tilted her head thoughtfully.
"Hm…"
She lightly returned her gaze to the cute little rabbit and smiled gently.
"Just a little longer."
Leonard stayed silent for a moment, then tilted his head in confusion and asked curiously,
"Why don't you buy a rabbit of your own if you like it so much?"
Agnes's expression softened, and she looked into Leonard's eyes for a moment, then smiled weakly and spoke.
"I don't have things that belong to me."
Leonard was confused, but just as he was about to ask what she meant, Agnes suddenly stood up and spoke while making an angry expression.
"That stupid Ira, why does she always get herself into trouble?"
She lowered her head with a frown.
"…We were supposed to enjoy the festival together."
Leonard spoke, trying to comfort Agnes.
"It's fine, you'll meet after sunset."
Agnes nodded, then asked him with some curiosity.
"Don't you also want to spend time with Eveline?"
Leonard raised his eyebrows.
"Spend time with her?! Tch, impossible."
He shrugged and spoke indifferently.
"That annoying girl is better off being punished so she doesn't act like a justice warrior again."
Agnes chuckled lightly.
"Hehe, yeah, the three of them acted like justice warriors."
A second after she said that, Leonard and Agnes heard the screams of some students.
"Aaaaaah!"
The two looked at each other with confusion on their faces, then both ran quickly toward the source of the sound.
There were some students running quickly in the opposite direction of Agnes and Leonard, panic clear on their faces as they screamed.
"There's a C-rank monster behind us!! Everyone run!"
When Agnes heard this, she started to panic.
'A C-rank monster?! What's happening? How did it enter the academy??'
When Agnes and Leonard reached the scene of the commotion, the sight was horrifying.
There was a huge octopus, about three meters in size, emitting an aura that made Agnes tremble and feel disgusted.
Not only that, but it was waving its eight arms while destroying the stalls, and it was holding three students—one girl and two boys—each tightly restrained by one of its arms.
The girl was crying while the boys were terrified and screaming. The octopus's arms were wrapped around them so tightly it felt like their organs were about to burst out of their bodies.
There were also five students fighting the octopus monster, their bodies shaking with fear.
But their attacks were useless, as with one arm, three students were thrown at once, smashing violently into the stalls and destroying them upon impact.
The remaining two students looked at this in terror, but they didn't retreat. How could they retreat from fighting a monster? If they ran now, how would they face their families who encouraged them to enter the academy and trusted them? They couldn't run from danger; they had to face it to one day deserve becoming heroes.
Agnes looked at the chaos, covering her mouth in shock.
"Leo… Leonard!! Oh my god, what's happening?"
Leonard also looked grimly at the chaos before him, not understanding what was going on.
Agnes quickly ran toward one of the students who had been thrown and began examining him.
'Good, none of his bones are broken. He's just unconscious, and he has some wounds, but they're not very deep. I can treat them.'
Agnes nodded to Leonard, signaling that she would treat these students and that he should help the others.
Leonard nodded after understanding her gesture and turned toward the monster.
He noticed that the three students held by the monster were unconscious, and the arms holding them were moving wildly. At any moment, they could die.
'Damn it. If one of those arms crashes into anything, their skulls will shatter.'
Leonard closed his eyes in thought.
'This monster… I've studied it before. No matter how many times you cut one of its arms, it regenerates within a minute. And when it senses danger, it releases ink—hot ink that causes corrosion.'
He opened his eyes, bent down, and touched the ground. The moment he did, a massive hammer suddenly formed, half the size of an adult man.
Leonard lifted the hammer easily, as if only its size was large, not its weight, and charged toward the monster.
As Leonard approached the octopus, he noticed one of its arms swinging violently toward a nearby wooden stall, and the female student trapped in it was about to have her head smashed against the sharp corner of the stall.
'There's no time to think!'
Leonard jumped quickly and raised his massive hammer, striking the swinging arm with a powerful horizontal blow, diverting its path just moments before impact.
Baaam!
The arm was deflected, but the octopus turned its huge eyes toward Leonard. Suddenly, something strange gleamed on the monster's head—a black gem embedded in its forehead, pulsing with dark demonic energy that sent chills through Leonard, the same chills Agnes had felt earlier.
'What is that…?'
There was no time to think. The octopus let out a terrifying hiss, and the black gem began to glow intensely, releasing thick black fog.
Fsssshh…
The demonic fog spread around the octopus like a protective shield, and its arms began moving faster and stronger than before.
'Huh?! The gem released black fog? How is that possible?!'
One arm lashed toward Leonard like a whip.
Swoooosh!
Leonard dodged by jumping aside, but two other arms attacked him from both sides at the same time, wrapped in black demonic energy.
Leonard frowned.
'Its strength increased too? How is this possible?!'
Leonard slammed his hammer into the ground, and a stone wall rose from the earth in front of him as a temporary shield.
Dooom! Craaack!
The arms coated in demonic energy pierced through the stone wall far more easily than expected, as if the dark energy shattered the rock.
Leonard's eyes widened.
'Impossible! Is this demonic energy?!'
Leonard retreated quickly, his eyes fixed on the black gem.
'That gem is the cause. It's enhancing the monster's power!'
Leonard quickly looked behind him at Agnes, who was healing one of the injured students, a warm golden aura emanating from her hands.
An idea came to his mind.
'Yes… light!'
He shouted loudly.
"Agnes! Can you launch a light attack at the octopus's head? Aim for the black gem!"
Agnes looked at him with wide eyes.
"B-but I'm not good at attacking! I can only heal!"
Leonard shouted while dodging another arm.
"It doesn't matter!"
"Just release any light you can! Light is the opposite of darkness. Even if it's not offensive, it might weaken that demonic energy!"
Agnes hesitated for a moment, then nodded firmly. She closed her eyes and extended her hands toward the octopus, focusing all her energy.
Shooooon…
A bright golden aura gathered between her hands, brighter than usual.
"Go!"
A beam of pure golden light shot toward the octopus's head.
Flaaash!
When the light touched the black gem, the two energies collided.
Craaack! Bzzzzzt!
The gem began to crack, and the demonic fog around it gradually dissipated.
"Gwooooaaah!"
The octopus screamed in intense pain, its movements slowing and its arms trembling.
'Now!'
This was the opportunity Leonard had been waiting for. He rushed forward at full speed, slipping past the confused arms. As he ran, he touched the ground with his free hand.
Several stone pillars erupted from the ground, striking the three arms holding the students from below, lifting them upward and pushing the students out of danger.
Leonard looked toward the two remaining students, who stood frozen in shock, unable to even intervene.
"You two!"
Leonard shouted.
"Now! Carry the students!"
The two remaining students moved quickly, cutting the weakened arms and carrying the three students away from the battlefield.
The octopus, now without hostages and weakened by its cracked gem, tried to release its scorching ink in self-defense.
Fsssshh!
The black ink shot toward Leonard, but he was ready.
He slammed his hammer into the ground, creating a thick earthen barrier.
Doooom!
A thick stone wall rose, blocking most of the ink aimed at Leonard.
As the ink subsided, Leonard jumped high over the wall, raising his hammer with both hands. His eyes locked onto the cracked black gem that was still faintly pulsing.
"This… is the end!"
Just as the hammer was about to strike the shattered gem—
Fwoob!
An arm slammed violently into Leonard, sending his body flying toward the wreckage of the destroyed stalls.
Leonard hissed in pain.
'Damn it… even weakened, the monster is still stronger than me.'
Agnes screamed in worry as she ran toward Leonard.
"Leonard!! Are you okay?!"
She bent down, trying to help Leonard stand up. When Leonard reached out his hand for Agnes's help, his eyes suddenly widened and he shouted loudly.
"Agnesss!! Watch out behind you!!!"
Agnes quickly looked behind her and saw two of the monster's arms rushing toward her. She couldn't dodge in time, so she instinctively closed her eyes in fear.
After a short moment, she heard a loud impact. When she realized nothing had happened, she slowly opened her eyes to see what was going on.
In front of her stood a student no taller than 163 cm, with black hair like the night sky, holding a spear and blocking the octopus's arms.
It was David.
He forcefully blocked the arms, then slightly tilted his spear, redirecting the force of the monster's arms away.
He then spun his spear quickly, stepped forward, and cut both arms in a single diagonal slash.
Before the arms could regenerate, he rushed toward the monster. As he approached, he leaped toward its head where the cracked gem was.
With a swift motion, he rotated his spear and swung it horizontally at the octopus's head, severing it and shattering the gem into thousands of black fragments. As it shattered, a wave of demonic energy exploded in all directions before fading into the air.
Thud!
The octopus collapsed heavily onto the ground, completely motionless.
When Agnes saw the monster stop moving, she sighed in relief and approached Leonard to heal him.
(Author: David got the final hit 😂😂)
After Agnes finished healing Leonard, Leonard stood up and checked on Agnes to make sure she wasn't hurt.
David looked toward some rubble where a student wearing only the white academy uniform shirt was resting, its top buttons undone, without the black jacket over it.
Nathan was sitting there, looking toward David with amusement.
David walked toward him with a frown.
"What's going on?!"
"We dealt with that monster that looked like a mantis, and now there's another monster here too!"
"How did they suddenly appear?"
Nathan smiled and tilted his head.
"It's those wooden dolls."
David was confused.
"The ones we collected?"
Nathan nodded.
David's eyes widened.
"Wait a second!!"
"So Stephen took all those dolls that were going to turn into monsters?"
"If that's true… then Stephen is in danger!!"
David was extremely nervous and was about to run off to look for Stephen when Nathan stopped him, placing a hand on David's shoulder.
"Wait, wait. Don't worry."
David looked at him angrily and shoved Nathan's hand away forcefully.
"Stephen took 31 wooden dolls! We barely survived one monster—what will happen if there are 31 monsters?!"
"There won't even be anything left of his body!"
(Author: David calm down, calm down—do you know who you're talking about?)
Nathan laughed mockingly, then explained, trying to calm the child down.
"Don't worry, don't worry. He said he would destroy them, so by now he's probably already done."
David asked, raising an eyebrow doubtfully.
"Really?"
Nathan nodded confidently.
"Really, really."
Suddenly, they heard another commotion from farther away.
David frowned.
"What?! How many monsters are there here?"
Nathan shrugged.
"I don't know, but that's what makes it more fun."
David frowned upon hearing this and shook his head.
Then the two headed toward the growing sounds of chaos around them.