Joint Practical Evaluation (6)

Fourth gate cleared.

I slung Zhonya's Staff on my back. Everyone had already unsummoned their familiars.

We passed by an unconscious Professor Phillip as we stepped towards the arch-shaped door.

"As expected, the plan worked out just as Sir Isaac said. This is the power of actual experience!"

"We were just lucky."

It had been a long time since I saw Kaya's eye sparkle in excitement.

I responded dryly since we only beat a professor who was heavily handicapped due to the evaluation.

If we fought him at his full power, most of my plans would have been meaningless.

Even so.

'Yesss~.'

All that mattered in the end was the fact that we had passed~.

Either way, we would never need to fight Professor Phillip again. I think. I hope.

"So humble! You're so cool, Sir Isaac!"

"Am I now?"

Too much worship was burdensome, but I grinned like an idiot because Kaya was way too cute. I pretended to scratch my cheek to hide my smile.

"It was more boring than I thought. It would be more fun to fight a full-powered Professor Phillip. Or maybe people like Aria or Headmistress Elena would be okay too."

Lisetta continued to spout bullshit.

Setting aside an unrestrained Professor Phillip, we would get demolished if we faced Hegel Magic Tower's Tower Master Aria or Märchen Academy's Headmistress Elena. We'd be dead before we could even land a single hit on them.

Even so, I didn't want to destroy Lisetta's naivety so I let it slide.

After passing the fourth gate, we were led deep into a dark forest. Only dim lights from lamps were scattered here and there. As such, the forest emanated an eerie atmosphere.

After a certain point, an engraving on one of the lamps fastened to the wall caught my eye.

This was the place.

I stopped in place and blocked Kaya with my arms so that she could not go any further.

"Lisetta, you're free to leave since you've done your part."

We now had to face the frog demon.

Lisetta only promised to help us until the fourth gate, so it was time to send her off.

"I was going to leave even if you didn't say anything. You do you bro."

After saying this, Lisetta walked away from us into the distance. How nonchalant of her.

[Lisetta Lionheart]

Psychology: [Doesn't want to get in your way.]

Sike, I take it back. Her kind psychology was always such a shock to see because of the contrasting nature between her actions and her psychology. What a tsundere. I mean, I guess it was good for me at least.

I tapped the ground with my foot. This place should be good enough.

I stretched my right arm to the ground and sent my rock mana. On top of my head, a light brown magic circle engraved itself into the air.

We're going to go underground. Get ready for landing."

"Yes, Sir Isaac."

"Also, from now on, just ignore whatever you see."

"…What?"

As said before, the frog demon wasn't that difficult to defeat, but the process was sooooo tedious.

In the first place, as could be seen in the UI and cut scenes, the concept behind ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱ was violent fairy tales. Perhaps because of this, all the demons were grotesque.

Even that useless demon, whose sole purpose was to be defeated in order to prevent an Extra Bad Ending, was disgustingly detailed. It seemed like this horror genre was practically a natural setting of the game.

I warned Kaya in advance. However, she exclaimed that she wanted to go with me regardless. She said she wanted to directly experience my hardships for herself.

'Oh well, as the saying goes, seeing it once is more impactful than hearing it a hundred times.'

「Rock Avalanche (Rock Element, ★4)」

Crash—!

A thick stone pillar extended from the ceiling as it demolished the ground.

The ground sank beneath us with a rumble.

Kaya and I felt weightless as we fell deep underground.

「Wind Generation (Wind Element, ★)」

Hoooooo—!

Kaya brought forth a light green gale that densely swirled around our bodies.

As if we were on an invisible elevator, we slowly glided into the underground.

"Uh, uh…?"

An endlessly vast expanse of land lay within this underground chamber.

It was like we journeyed to the center of the earth and ended up in an entirely new world. It was hard to believe that this unbelievable view was actually a cave.

Ssak–.

Within this underground cave, there were countless guillotines organized in rows.

Numerous blades from these machines sliced through the air as it fell.

Shortly after, an indecipherable power tugged the blades back up.

The blood on the blades was purple as it dried like a rusty scab. Every time the guillotines fell and were pulled back up, fresh blood could be seen splattering the wooden platforms.

[Ribbit–.]

[Ribbit….]

[Ribbit! Ribbit–!]

Tied to the guillotine was a human-shaped figure with arms and legs. However, instead of making any discernible human noises, it was ribbiting like a frog.

The skin was a pale green. The head seemed to be forcefully stretched apart laterally. The face was swollen and the lips were torn apart so widely that it matched the length of its hair.

It was bent over naked, with only the head tied to the guillotine. It seemed to be groaning in pain.

Squirm.

The guillotine easily decapitated the frog creature. Every time it did so, the body that was firmly restrained on the guillotine squirmed.

The head flew away as it landed on the ground to join its comrades.

When this happened, the stump, which used to house a head, started to wriggle like a worm as something popped out. The head grew back, once again ready for the inevitable conclusion.

Shortly thereafter, the blades of the guillotine mercilessly fell as it cut off the head once again.

"What is this…"

Kaya covered her lips in shock. Her eyes were trembling.

See, I told you she would be like this.

A sloppy sound echoed as we stepped on the ground. This was obviously the case. After all, the ground was littered with the heads of a grotesque frog creature.

And in between every head, purple-colored blood flowed like a river.

It was a bit grotesque, but as one of the OG try-hards of the game, it didn't impact me that much. I already knew it would be like this from seeing it multiple times in ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱.

…Yeah, but I had to admit, it's still pretty disgusting.

"Are you o-?"

Right when I turned towards Kaya to reassure her, I flinched at the sight of her expression.

As she slowly let her hands fall from her mouth, I was able to clearly see her face. A transparent liquid ran down the corners of her mouth.

She was drooling.

She looked like a person who had found a bountiful feast after starving to death from hunger. As if mesmerized, she continued to unblinkingly stare at the heads flying off the monsters' bodies.

An ominous chill ran down my body.

'Why is she like this?'

Is she okay? Did you eat something wrong? What's wrong with her? Heh?

"Kaya?"

"Ah, yes, Sir Isaac. Slurp."

As if she regained her sanity from hearing my voice, she quickly slurped back the drool around her mouth.

"I apologize for showing such an embarrassing sight. The drool just started coming out so suddenly…"

Okay, this was not normal.

Is this reaction a result of Dark Kaya hiding deep inside her heart?

"…Let's just go."

For now, killing the frog demon was my top priority. I'd have to think about Kaya's situation at a later date.

"Y-yes…!"

I started walking together with Kaya. Every time we took a step, the floor of heads squished with a disgusting texture.

In our ears, we heard continuous squishes as each slice decapitated another head.

Short screams similar to the ribbiting of frogs echoed throughout the chamber.

I ignored this and continued to march forward.

This was the unique magic of the frog demon. Usually, the frog demon appeared in different locations every day, However, at least for the day of the joint practical evaluation, he seemed to want to mark its territory while enjoying the torture of his own subordinates.

The area was unable to be magically perceived similar to the illusion magic that Leafa the Illusive and Marlog the Envious used. However, the amount of mana contained was far less.

How tedious. This demon was so weak that I shouldn't have even needed to bother with him. Besides the Extra Bad Ending that he caused, his existence meant absolutely nothing. The game developers probably put him in just to farm content… I mean, it doesn't make any sense. Even the upcoming conflicts with the Floating Island, Pillar Demons, and the Abyssal Monster don't cause Extra Bad Endings! Why was this bastard lucky enough to get one?

Whatever. Let's just move on. Oh, by the way, it seemed like the frog demon finally noticed that there were intruders.

On this vast platform made of heads, the bastard's subordinates finally regained control of their bodies after having their heads continuously blown off. Individually, they were weak, so they must be trying to gang up on us as a group.

For reference, these subordinates were fake existences made of mana, so they did not provide any EXP. As such, I only need to eliminate the frog demon, 'Milo the Yearner'.

"Sir Isaac, is it… that?"

"Yep."

As we walked past the guillotines, we finally saw an amphibian that was draped in elegant garments.

Standing at a height of 2m, his face was stretched wide to the sides and his arms and legs were identical to a frog. He was naturally bipedal, just like a human.

His skin color was a green so dark that it was closer to black. A little crown was on his head and the red cape on his shoulders blew in the wind.

His attire did not suit the surrounding environment of blood, heads, and guillotines.

The bastard stopped in place and looked at us with pupilless eyes.

[Milo the Yearner]

Lv: 100

Race: Demon

Elements: Dark, Water

Danger: High

Psychology: [Wants to be off with your head.]

'As expected, I found him quickly.'

It was the frog demon, Milo the Yearner.

[RIBIIIIIIIIIIIT!!]

Milo the Yearner opened his huge mouth and let out an explosive cry.

Does he want to burst his vocal cords or something? If you want to hurt yourself that badly, do it when on you're own time. My ears hurt, you bastard.

Whatever, forget it. All I needed to do now was eliminate him and I would complete my goal.

Click─.

Click─.

Click─.

After Milo the Yearner's cry, the restrained frog creatures were released from their guillotines.

[RIBIIIIIIIT!!!]

The frog demon Milo opened his mouth even wider to let out a sound similar to a gargle. It was a signal to attack.

His subordinates started to charge towards us, combining blue and black magic circles to create joint spells.

Is this all they got? I could beat them in my sleep.

[The demon has been recognized as an enemy.]

[The unique trait [Hunter] is activated!]

[Your level and stats are temporarily greatly enhanced!]

[Your skill tree temporarily becomes +10!]

The only thing this useless demon could do anyway was dirty up the mood with his ugly face.

Eh, I'll just quickly deal with this clown, so that I can go back home. I don't even need Zhonya's Staff to put him in his place.

「Ice Spear (Ice Element, ★4)」

Pshook! Kwaaah—!

The pale blue magic circle above my head blasted a thick ice spear toward the frog demon.

Pale blue cold air left after images in the form of flames.

[Ice Spear] instantaneously approached Milo's body before he could even blink.

Boom—!

A sound similar to a bomb exploding reverberated.

As the shockwave spread, a huge hole could be seen in Milo's torso. It was the place that was pierced by [Ice Spear].

Milo fell down after letting out a [Ribbit…].

I absolutely fodderized him.

"…Hm?"

…What's that?

Before Milo turned to dust.

As he twitched while awaiting death, a pool of blood suddenly appeared underneath his body.

Gururururu—.

Blood magic was healing Milo. However, it was only to the point of preventing death.

It was the magic of Dark Kaya.

I looked towards Kaya. Her eyes were bright red. Dark Kaya had switched into her body.

As if she was in a fever dream, she swallowed her drool as she stared hungrily at Milo.

"Ka-?"

"Hah."

A sticky breath was released from her both.

Both of Kaya's cheeks burned red, as she excitedly gushed out breath after breath.

And then.

Kuaaaahk—.

A skull made of blood burst out of the puddle underneath Milo the Yearner and swallowed him completely. His existence disappeared without a trace.

Booom—!

Shortly after, waves of blood exploded out from the ground like a geyser.

"The fuck? What's happening?!'

The magic condensed the blood, creating numerous skull-shaped figures.

"Hap."

Fuoooooooo—!

When Kaya opened her mouth, the blood skulls copied her action and began to swallow the frog creatures.

Like a tsunami, blood spread widely and roughly devoured the decapitated heads scattered on the ground.

Her intense blood-colored magic feasted on everything, from the ceiling and floor to the guillotines that remained.

The grotesque surroundings disappeared as an empty cave was all that was left behind.

Kaya suddenly started chewing something in her mouth, while letting out both crunches and squishy sounds. As if she was eating delicious food, she continued to savor the taste until finally swallowing it down her throat.

"Fuah…"

Kaya rubbed her flushed cheeks as she let out a satisfied smile.

Her expression was reminiscent of a starving individual who was finally able to fill their stomach.