Emil Ashdown

I moved deeper into the forest soon after my first hunt.

I was surprised to spot another student as I jumped from tree to tree.

The Monster Forest was vast, extremely so, which is why I'd never seen others in any of my hunts.

The student was a boy, a few inches taller than me with a large build, i could tell he was a well-trained Knight.

His hair and eyes were brown, with a small scar running down his left cheek. Perhaps he received it in battle.

Despite my initial surprise i kept my cool and moved on.

The boy kept glancing at me, as if he was struggling to recognize me, but beyond that nothing happened.

I was slightly alarmed at first, but put my worries aside after giving them some thought.

Attacking students outside of the academy was prohibited. I didn't believe he, someone i didn't even know and had any grudges with would risk expulsion by assaulting me, all for no reason.

I was being paranoid, i knew. But i couldn't help it.

Up until this point, i didn't have a good experience with any of the academy's students.

I wouldn't be surprised if the person next to me suddenly decided to have a go at me, that's just the way things been.

The both of us continued our run, our paths yet to diverge.

I glanced at the boy again, catching him glancing at me, and our eyes locked.

He showed me a smile, which radiated no ill will.

He seemed like a friendly person.

In a way, he reminded me of Piers with his smile, and Arne with the energy behind it.

It elevated my impression towards him.

Maybe we could've been friends if not for the circumstances.

Friends.

I chuckled inwardly.

There was no room for friendship in my life. Not at this time, not in this place.

After a while my eyes caught sight of something.

It was another Kurmush trap.

Stopping at my tracks, i looked at the ground below and began preparing for battle.

The boy moved on after I jumped down into the trap.

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Not even a minute later, i could hear sounds of battle not too faraway from me.

He'd found his target too, or so it seemed.

Refocusing my attention on my enemy, i cast a Fireball spell and dug my hand into the ground, to no avail.

The beast was alone, but strong.

It was at the peak of the first stage, just one step away from breaking through.

Sensing slight tremors underneath me, i lifted my foot and dodged the mole's claw before stabbing my sword at it.

The opponent was too fast for me to catch though.

I cursed internally as my weak physique and lack of augmentation held my powers back.

I had to find a way to strengthen my body even more, the sooner the better.

I was weak, far too weak for my own good, specially as a Knight.

Once again i jumped into the air to dodge an attack.

I kept dodging as I cast Fire Sword.

My Physique wasn't the only thing weak, my magic was too, with how long it took for me to cast and the level of power behind it.

Whatever it was, it was be more than enough to deal with the likes of this beast.

I thought, as a sword made of flames burst into life within my hand.

However, while my concentration was on maintaining my spell, my foot slipped on the muddy ground and I fell down, leaving myself open to the beast's claws.

Panicked, i cancelled my spell and unsheathed my dagger to block the incoming attack.

But just as the beast was about to slash me, it froze, and soon retreated to the ground.

I could swear I saw a look of fear in its eyes as it did so, leaving me befuddled.

I'd never seen a Kurmush so terrified before.

What could the reason be?

Whatever it was, it didn't give me a good feeling.

I hurriedly jumped out of the pit and looked around.

There, I could see the boy from earlier running towards me, his smile long gone, replaced by a look of panic.

"Run!"

He yelled as he ran past me.

Looking behind him, i could feel a powerful presence approaching.

My eyes caught sight of a large body of green as i turned away and started running.

However, i was a tad too late.

*Whoosh*

A powerful gust of wind hit me from behind, propelling me forward dozens of meters.

I was airborne for a good few seconds before hitting the ground and rolling on it for who knows how long.

My body hurt, but i was used to that.

Not wasting a second of time, i got up and started running again as soon as I was able to reorientate myself.

I was lucky there was nothing in my trajectory when the attack hit me, otherwise i could've been a corpse by now.

That large body, element of Air, in this part of the forest, i could only think of one lifeform.

Giant-Winged Butterflies.

They were butterflies with a wingspan reaching the height of a person, able to create winds powerful enough to rattle even the strongest trees, making it virtually impossible to attack them from close quarters.

Their bodies were fragile and their speed was slow, but in this case the insect was more than fast enough to threaten our lives.

I couldn't gain an accurate gauge on its power, but i reckoned it was in the peak of the third stage.

Not me, nor the other boy running next to me were its opponent.

All we could do was run and pray.

*Swoosh*

Another gust of wind shot from behind.

I docked to the left to dodge it, but the boy who was closer to the attack fell victim to it.

I watched as he crashed into a tree and fell to his knees before starting to cough vomit blood.

I looked behind me, at the approaching Magical Beast, and then at the boy, weak and vulnerable.

My eyes wavered and my feet hesitated.

He was gonna die if I left him here, for certain.

But that wouldn't be bad for me.

While the beast busied itself finishing the boy I could take my time and run away from it.

I knew it was my best chance of survival, I knew nobody would blame me even if I ran away.

After all, i didn't even know the boy, and I couldn't even save myself let alone him.

But i still couldn't bring myself to abandon him.

I looked at the ring in my hand.

All my morales, all my values would be shattered if I sacrificed somebody to save my own skin here.

I would perhaps never accomplish my dream if I moved on with that burden on my shoulder, I knew that for a fact.

So, as stupid as it was, I took out a Body Strengthening Potion, gulped it down and rushed to the boy's aid.

A sense of relief washed over me, knowing I wouldn't regret this decision, Even if it was the end of me.