Academy Entrance Exam (8)

1.

Thud, thud.

The Demon’s head fell to the ground.

“Uh… Um…?”

Hoth’s mouth dropped open.

He rubbed his eyes and checked again.

The Demon’s body, now headless, was disappearing like smoke.

“…It was a fake again.”

Hoth, staring blankly at the smoke dissipating into the sky, turned his head towards the voice.

There stood the Saintess.

The Saintess was tidying her disheveled hair, tucking it behind her ear.

It was a picturesque scene.

There was one thing that marred the beauty.

A sword in the Saintess’s right hand.

The crude weapon created a disharmony.

However, the way she held it so naturally somehow suited her.

No matter how you looked at it, she seemed far removed from swordsmanship.

A soft, rounded figure.

Slender fingers.

Nothing about her suggested a traveler on the path of a swordsman.

When he first saw her, he didn’t sense any formidable aura.

But the girl was strong.

She felled the Demon with a single swing of her sword.

Although it was a fake Phantom body, remembering how they had struggled against just one Phantom body until just now, he knew how amazing it was.

“Oh… You’re hurt?”

The Saintess approached Hoth.

She seemed so much bigger.

Her breasts swayed with each step, large as they were.

It wasn’t just that; the Saintess’s presence, which had felt small, now felt gigantic.

“I’ll heal you.”

“Ugh…!”

“It’ll hurt, but please bear with it. It’ll be over soon.”

The Saintess placed her hand on Hoth’s shoulder.

A hot energy seeped into his shoulder, which had been split by the greatsword.

It felt like molten metal was being poured onto the wound.

But that was only for a moment.

As the hot energy subsided, so did the pain.

“I’ve only done emergency treatment, so don’t use this arm until you get treatment at the temple. Understood?”

The Saintess smiled sweetly.

Hoth shook his head.

He got up and grabbed his hand axe.

“The Demon’s main body is still in the forest. I have to use my arm, even if it’s too much, until I defeat it.”

“Hyung, if the wound gets worse, it’ll be a disaster.”

“A wound is a warrior’s medal… Ugh!”

“I’m telling you, it’ll be a disaster.”

The Saintess grabbed Hoth’s shoulder.

Her grip, unlike her appearance, was so strong it felt like it would crush his shoulder.

“If Hyung gets hurt, my heart will be hurt too.”

“O-Ow… My shoulder…! My shoulder…!”

“So please listen to me. Understood?”

“I-I understand! I understand!”

The Saintess released Hoth’s shoulder.

Hoth clutched his shoulder and stepped back.

A bear-like man was intimidated by a rabbit-like girl.

“Reine, are you alright?”

“Y-Yes…!”

Reine also had a blank look on her face, like Hoth.

“Um… You both look like you have a lot of questions. Please don’t ask.”

The Saintess raised her index finger to her lips.

“What you saw here is our little secret.”

They both nodded.

She was clearly smiling, but…

It felt like something terrible would happen if they didn’t keep the secret.

“Anyway, defeating the Demon is the priority.”

While they were standing here, someone else could accidentally enter the Barrier and become the Demon’s prey. To reduce such casualties, they had to quickly find and defeat the Demon’s main body.

“What should we do?”

Reine, clutching her staff, asked.

“Hmm…”

The Saintess tapped her lips with her finger, pondering.

“Please follow me.”

Honestly, having them follow was a hindrance.

The safest thing would be to get out of the forest, but…

Since they were already inside the Barrier, it was impossible to leave the forest.

The next best thing was to wait here quietly until the main body was defeated, but waiting could make them targets for the Demon again, which was also a problem.

So, it was better to take them along, even if they were a hindrance…!

“Alright! Let’s defeat the Demon together!”

Hoth raised his hand axe, burning with enthusiasm.

“Hey…!”

Reine, who immediately understood that the Saintess meant for them to stay quietly in the back, tried to stop Hoth from stepping forward without any sense.

She didn’t really want to admit it, but…

Their involvement would only be a hindrance to the Saintess.

“Okay. Let’s do our best together.”

The Saintess smiled sweetly.

She quickly accepted it, knowing that she couldn’t stop him anyway.

“I’ll match my pace to yours as much as possible, so you have to keep up, okay?”

“I’ll adjust to you, so you run.”

“Can you keep up?”

“I’m faster than I look for my size.”

After a moment of thought, the Saintess nodded.

“Alright. Then please take care of Reine.”

“I will.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth than—

-Whoosh!

The Saintess began to run through the forest.

The Magical power she unleashed in an instant created a strong gust of wind.

Hoth staggered, taking the full force of the wind to his face.

“Can you keep up?”

Reine looked up at Hoth and asked.

“…Are all Saintesses like that?”

“No.”

Reine shook her head.

It was obvious, but what was happening now was truly absurd.

There had been Saintesses who learned swordsmanship as a hobby, but none who had reached this level.

It was already overwhelming to train Divinity, so when would they have time to train Magical power?

But Saintess Elia had reached a high level in both Divinity and Magical power.

“The Celestial God Church, was it…?”

“Why?”

“If I believe in the Celestial God, can I become that strong too?”

She could answer that question with certainty.

“No, absolutely not.”

That was not a level that could be achieved with faith alone.

2.

Elia glanced back.

“I knew it…”

She had spoken with too much confidence and had been a little hopeful.

But as expected, they couldn’t keep up.

Elia slowly reduced her speed.

It was at that moment.

A huge greatsword flew towards her slender neck.

Elia leaned back to avoid the attack.

“Ah…!”

A few strands of golden hair were cut off.

Elia frowned and swung her sword sideways.

The sword pierced the Demon’s abdomen, who had tried to take her head.

In that state, she lifted the sword, splitting the upper body in half.

It was a fake again.

The Demon’s form disappeared as its head split open like a blooming flower.

…How dare it cut my beautiful hair!

Elia twisted her lips, determined to obliterate the Demon.

“Haa… Haa… There you are!”

Hoth arrived, panting, as she was burning with revenge, staring at the Phantom body dissipating like smoke.

“Put me down!!”

Hoth had Reine tucked under his arm.

Reine was flailing her arms and legs, held like an object.

“More than I imagined… Cough!”

Hoth coughed as if he had choked when he met Elia’s eyes.

“W-What happened…?”

A chilling aura was swirling around.

“No.”

Elia gave a gentle smile.

Hoth flinched at the sight.

It was definitely a beautiful smile, but it was a sinister smile, like an angry predator.

“Let’s go. I’ll run slowly, so please keep up this time.”

“O-Okay.”

They began searching the forest again.

Thirty minutes had passed since they started moving behind Elia.

Until then, Hoth had not had a single chance to step forward.

The Demons kept appearing.

They charged head-on.

They jumped out of the bushes.

Like a trap, several surrounded them.

‘I’ll cover the rear…!’

‘Get out of the way.’

‘Then the flanks…!’

‘I said get out of the way.’

The Demon’s Phantom bodies disappeared every time they appeared.

-Slash!

Elia swung her sword once.

A golden line sliced through the Demon’s neck.

The Demon’s head fell off like a tree fruit.

One at a time.

No, she dealt with everything visible at once.

…What the hell is she?

Hoth, who was witnessing the scene firsthand, as well as Reine, had the same thought.

Even if she was born with a natural talent for swordsmanship, it was hard to believe that a woman who was only twenty years old could defeat Demons alone. And it was even harder to believe that the woman was a Saintess.

They wanted to ask what she was.

But they couldn’t bring themselves to ask because she had told them not to.

It was known that she had been in a rural convent until she became a Saintess.

But maybe she had been an adventurer instead of being in a convent?

Judging from her extensive practical experience, it was entirely possible.

Or…

Had a hero from the past been reincarnated?

Like a great Sword Saint?

Reine immediately shook her head, saying it was nonsense.

A dead person being reborn?

It was an impossible story.

“There’s no end to it.”

The number of Phantom bodies was increasing.

Now, four appeared as a basic.

“The resistance is strong, so it seems like we’ll be able to meet the main body soon.”

One corner of Elia’s mouth curled up.

Seeing that, Hoth coughed again and trembled.

It was strangely scary.

He felt fear instinctively.

“Found it.”

The Demons looked exactly the same.

Their arms were long and they held greatswords in both hands.

But the difference was that they had magic circles on their backs like shields.

The magic circles flickered.

Smoke rose like mist, and more than ten Phantom bodies surrounded them.

“Trying to overwhelm with numbers.”

Elia flicked her Sword Dance back and forth.

“But still, trash mobs are trash mobs.”