Kuro no Maou

The 4 management class students stopped their legs while gasping for breath.

“haa......haa......man, I was really scared.”

“We were totally surrounded, that was damn dangerous.”

“By the way, will that delusional prince be fine if we leave him like that?”

“Seria-chan was there so he should be fine. Those ugly monsters should be easy stuff for her.”

Maybe because they were able to safely escape, the 4 of them were laughing.

They felt absolutely no sense of guilt at the fact that they had left one of their members back there.

But, considering that nobles were born with a status that claimed that they were above normal people, it couldn’t be helped if they’d be happy with saving just themselves after all.

“What do we do now?”

One of the students asked while surveying the surroundings.

This place looked the same as their camp, i.e., it was by the river.

After jumping out of the tents, they had run directly upstream.

Rather than running inside a forest with dense trees and undulated landscape, it was simply easier to run by the river which had no obstacles.

“Ah, I do have a sword, we’ll make do somehow.”

Though they ran away with whatever they were wearing, they still had their basic equipments.

“That’s true, let’s return at our own pace.”

“But I’ve had enough of [Air Walker], kay?”

Though they were scared by being suddenly attacked by a group of monsters, their abilities remained the same which were suitable for someone who had cleared the supposedly super difficult entrance exam for the management course.

They were well learned in both magic and Martial skills of lower level.

But still, they were not ‘skilled’ with it like actual adventurers. They had simply been taught these while they were young under the guidance of a specialised instructor, similar to a sport.

They can fire [Ignis Sagita] as well use [Slash]. But whether they could use them in actual battle, the answer would be definitely NO.

That’s why they were scorned as the ‘Spare Class’.

“We came pretty far away. I can’t even see the camp.”

“I think we travelled about 1 km?”

They were literally fast at running away with the use of [Air Walker].

Though their skill was barely enough to activate it, but as long as the movement-type Martial Skill was activated, they’d still be much faster than a normal human’s running speed.

That’s why, they had been able to instantly break through the encirclement of the Punpuns.

Though the riverside with lots of stones couldn’t be called a good foothold but since it didn’t have obstacles like branches in the forest, one could run away faster as long as he stays careful with his footing.

Blessed with a good terrain, they had been able to run away safely till here with [Air Walker].

Though, the fact that they had lost their breath while just using [Air Walker] like this, it was obvious that it was useless in an actual battle.

“Say, it should be fine to return now right?”

“No, they might still be fighting. Let’s wait a bit more.”

They didn’t know the situation at the camp from here. They could only rely on their intuition to decide when the battle would be over.

“Couldn’t that troublesome delusional prince just die already? ”

“If he does, then I’ll hire Seria-chan.”

“Hah, I’ll hire her.”

After that, the four got fired up while talking about what kind of services they would ask for after hiring her.

But, coincidentally, it was only an instant but,

“Giyahaha——ha?”

One of the boys laughing at a vulgar gag realized a giant black shadow in his vision.

“Ha, what.......is that?”

“Aah?”

The other three also looked in the same direction as the boy who had a frozen expression.

There, a giant beast was standing.

Its giant frame was over 6m but they didn’t know just for how long that beast had been silently standing near the river over there.

Its blackish fur was difficult to see in the night but the deep crimson fur at its arms and chest could be clearly seen as if it was a bonfire.

Especially, the two long and narrow ears above its head looked like swaying flames.

“That’s a monster, right?”

“It’s fucking big.......isn’t this dangerous?”

Due to those ears, they ended up associating it with the earlier Punpuns.

But, the impression it gave was completely different from them.

Arms as thick as a large tree, it’s swelling muscles could be seen even from under the thick fur it had.

Especially, its sharp and ferocious face that looked like a mix between a wolf and a lion was nothing like the comical appearance of that rank 1 monster.

The giant monster that had suddenly appeared was simply staring at those four with its devilish red eyes.

“haha, doesn’t that look a bit impossible to beat?”

“Yup, impossible, definitely impossible.”

“O, okay, let’s run away.”

“Yeah.”

The 4 who quickly came to the same conclusion began to focus their magical energy to use [Air Walker] like before.

At that moment,

——*gujari*

That kind of dull sound came to the ears of the 3 students.

Yes, only 3 of them heard it. The remaining one,

“Ha.......eh?”

Had disappeared after becoming a red blotch on the riverside.

The student who was supposed to be standing there had disappeared and in its place, a big black and red tree was standing there.

No, that wasn’t a tree, it was the arm of the monster.

“Eh, why..........?”

All 3 of them unintentionally switched their gazes repeatedly from the place where the monster was standing and the place next to them.

The place where the monster was standing disappeared like a mirage, and now,

“Ah, a, waaaaaaaaaaahhh!!?”

Was definitely, actually, standing beside them.

Finally, after all this time, they realized what had happened.

One of their colleagues had been completely smashed from the head by the arm of this monster and had become a compressed pile of flesh and blood.

“Uaaaaah!!”

While shouting, trying to run away from this nightmarish monster, the three instinctively jumped away from there.

Because one of them had tried moving back without thinking, his leg twisted and fell down.

One had quickly jumped away and created some distance between them.

The other one had been the only one to have miraculously succeeded in activating [Air Walker] and jumped away into the air by kicking the earth.

But, this one who should have been the most successful in getting away had his body stopped in mid-air.

“Nggunnn~~!?!”

Basically, before he could completely fly into the air, the monster had grabbed him with its arm.

The monster was firmly holding onto the boys lower half. On its right arm, a crimson crystal was glowing brightly. The two who had not been targeted clearly saw it.

Without minding the gazes of those 2 at all, the monster was completely focused on the one it had captured.

It brought its right arm that had captured the boy near its own head slowly at ease.

He’ll be eaten, the other two instantly thought that but reality was different.

He was crushed.

The monster had crushed the boy’s body inside its palm.

As if it was squeezing an orange, blood gushed out of its rock-like palm.

The red blood drops slowly disappeared inside the monster’s giant mouth.

“Uguu, ooeeeeeeeeeeehh!”

Even in the dark night, the two who had witnessed this scene somehow puked with the exact same timing.

Their friend who had been conversing with them only a few minutes ago had become a red juice and was disappearing inside a monster’s mouth. Seeing such a scene that was nothing less of a nightmare, their sheltered minds as nobles simply couldn’t bear with it.

“U, guu, aaaaaaa.”

But still, without becoming unable to move, the one who had been successful in running away could be truly considered as well done!

The one who had fallen down there couldn’t get up and could only release all kinds of body except blood and simply sit there while crying.

The monster, without trying to chase the one that had run away, turned towards the one who was crying near its legs.

After squeezing out as much blood it could, as if throwing away tasteless food scraps, he threw away the pile of broken bones and flesh.

The dull sound of that landing on the ground as well as the sound of the monster pressing its finger on the boy’s leg came at the same time.

But he only heard the sound of his leg’s bone breaking. Or maybe, the scream he made as if bursting his throat.

“Gyaaaaah!! St, stop—–“

After a gap of a second, once again the monster’s finger attacked the boy’s body.

This time, it was the left shoulder.

They were not sharp claws that could cut through human flesh by simply touching, it was simply pressing the shoulder with its fingertip.

Pressured by the rocky ground and the tough finger, a body that had been only slightly trained, broke very easily.

Once again, the scream of pain came. Maybe because it found that reaction amusing, the monsters lips twisted into a smile.

The scream that came every time it pushed its finger, the monster attacked the boy’s body as if playing on a piano.

But soon, that voice also stopped coming.

It was obvious. Not just every bone in his body, every vital organ needed to sustain life had also been completely pulverised.

Towards the completely broken boy, as if slightly complaining, the monster snorted and turned towards its next prey without eating him.

“haa.......haa........He, help me......Help!!”

With shaky footsteps, the last one was running desperately.

But, without activating [Air Walker], he gravely lacked the speed to run away fast with such bad footing.

The monster slightly kicked the ground, no, lightly by its personal standards, the moment the rocks and dust blew away, that black and red giant body was lightly fluttering in the air.

It hadn’t flown. It had simply jumped.

But that jump covered enough distance to be considered as flying and instantly turned the distance between it and the student to zero.

Meaning, the monster landed in front of the student.

“Hi, hiiiiiiiii!?!”

The avatar of despair appeared once again.

Even while knowing he was no match, he still ended up drawing the mithril sword on his waist.

That blade shone with radiance as if warding off the darkness of the night.

“Ki, ki, I’ll kill youuu, I’ll kill you, I won’t be killed by some mo, mo, monsterrrrrr!!”

Seeing that beautiful blade, maybe his fighting spirit came back or he simply gave in to despair, the boy took a stance with the sword.

The next moment, the monster extended its arm casually but the boy couldn’t follow even that properly.

While holding his sword, without being able to move even a single bit, he was wrapped by the incoming palm.

In the time span of a second, his death should have been confirmed but the monster suddenly withdrew his hand.

For a second he didn’t understand what had happened but he realized that the edge of the mithril sword had grazed the monster’s hand and inflicted a small, very small wound.

“ha, hahaha......it, it worked, it’s working!!”

The monster looked at its own palm doubtfully and found the small wound.

That moment,

*GAAOOOOOOOONN!!*

It roared.

That was clearly a roar of anger, a scream of rage.

As the monster roared, the crimson fur stood on its end and its body looked as if it had grown another size.

But, the boy had been unable to see that changed form.

That’s because, the moment it had roared, the boy had fallen unconscious while bleeding from his nose and ears. No, because after only a second had passed, the fist of rage had pulverized his body and he had instantly died.

After becoming a red blotch similar to the first victim, it was clearly dead even in the eyes of the monster.

But, the monster’s fists didn’t stop.

Twice, thrice, the fists that attacked were powerful enough to make the ground tremble and slowly, a crater began to appear.

After that, it continued striking with its fists and let alone corpse, not even a trace of blood remained when the monster finally stopped.

In a matter of time, its red fur returned to normal and its size also lowered to its original. It seems the monster’s anger had settled.

As the monster stopped moving, the night returned to its calm where only the sound of the river flowing could be heard.

But the monster picked up a sound much far away from here with its long ears.

“I cannot leave them alone!”

That was without a doubt, a human’s voice.

The monster laughed.

It confirmed that there were still preys remaining for tonight.