After a few minutes of rest, Urie, Celeste, and Elicia left the cover of the large rock and resumed their walk. At first, they went at a slow pace, wary of the presence of mana beasts and of the dangers that lurked within the area.

Eventually, unused to being constantly on guard, they unconsciously lowered their shoulders and continued on a straight path towards the central pillar.

“Ya, isn't this just like when we entered the forest?” Elicia asked, kicking up a cloud of dust and leaving a small footprint on the barren ground.

Urie scolded, “Don't say it. Be thankful we're not seeing anything.”

Just before the shadow wolf appeared, Elicia was complaining. Urie didn't want a repeat of that. Though he did agree that being in the most avoided area, he'd expected to see more than just rocky outcrops and tumbleweeds.

—It really does look the same...

There was only a short walk left before they were at the pillar, and seeing the structure up close—it shared a dilapidated resemblance to the Erden's Tower outside. Urie tried to look for a door of some kind like but couldn't spot anything but a weird protruberance on its side.

“Huh?” Approaching the gigantic structure, Urie suddenly paused. There was a slight tremor within his consciousness as his mana seed's fluctuations suddenly grew irregular.

—What is it...

It was a feeling hard to explain. He continued with a step forward and felt another wave of heat throughout his body. The sensation only seemed to grow stronger the closer he approached the central pillar.

—Is there something calling out to me? Or is there something warning me to keep away?

Urie wasn't sure whether it was caution or excitement, but an itch gradually forming at the back of his neck urged him forward.

“Ya, what's wrong, Urie?” Elicia immediately noticed that something was wrong. The ashen-haired boy in front had stopped for a moment and started to walk as if in a trance. Her hands started shaking as she thought that maybe Urie had detected a magic creature nearby.

“C-Celeste... I-I can't...” Reaching for Celeste's arm, she needed something to hold to keep her hands from trembling. Elicia's chestnut-amber eyes shook as her confidence wavered, and she mumbled, “I'm sorry. This time as well...”

Feeling like a burden the entire trip, Elicia's mind had drifted back to how excited she was about seing a magic creature. But in front of the snarling shadow wolf, “I was lucky to even hit it, I could barely move after that!” She felt helpless.

“What if another one showed up? We would have... No!!! This is all the headmaster's fault! If only he hadn't left us alone!” She was in a state of disorder.

“Just you wait, when we get back, I'll tell aunt Merea everything!” The thoughts rang loud in Elicia's head—a child, thrown into such a situation without warning—she was trying her best not to be a hindrance to her companions.

“Urie had taken charge from the start while Celeste always kept calm.What about me?” The young girl felt troubled, glancing at the fear visible on her hands.

Both of Urie and Celeste were at the same age as her; she assumed that belonging to one of the named Houses, they were setting the level of standard one had to be at to represent it.

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Elicia was quickly growing frustrated at her own cowardice—her inadequacy—but she knew the time wasn't right to be engaging in self-pity. She dismissed her thoughts and tried to look around once more.

“Hmm?” Her attention was drawn to the direction of the rock formation near the central pillar. Something about its appearance struck her as familiar.

“Ya, aren't they alike?”

Celeste heard her mutter and asked, “What do you mean?”

“That—over there—the huge rock looks the same as the one from earlier. Where we took a break, I mean.” Of course, rocks would have the same appearance as other rocks, but it was the arrangement of it that felt peculiar to Elicia.

“It... does?” Sounding a bit unsure, Celeste still nodded in agreement.

“Hey, Urie!” Elicia tried to call out to Urie, but he didn't answer. Without paying attention, Urie resumed walking forward. In the same manner from earlier, Urie was silent—though what felt different about this time was that he wasn't responding.

Elicia tried call again but was suddenly yanked forward as she was still holding on to a certain crimson-haired girl's arm—hurrying to follow Urie's steps.

“C-Celeste, don't you think something's wrong with him?” she whispered, but Celeste didn't answer. Elicia cried out in resignation and could only reluctantly allow herself to be tugged along.

Just a quarter of a kilometer left to the pillar—a startling change to the quiet atmosphere had occurred. The air around them had begun to tremble, and within the entire area, a low hum began to resonate resoundingly.

“Y-Y-Ya, I knew something was going to happen!” Elicia exclaimed, her head burying into her shoulders. She and Celeste steadied themselves as they kept a cautious eye on the pillar in front. The loud sound of something crumbling, however, had caused them to turn their gaze towards another direction as the rock formation a dozen meters away grew limbs and detached itself from the ground.

Elicia's mouth opened wide enough to place an egg, “W-W-What is that!?”

“A rock drake!” The sight of the lumbering creature snapped Urie back to his senses. It was as huge as a single-story house. Covered in hard and stony armor—what he'd read in a bestiary was that it was supposed to spend most of the day sleeping.

The ground beneath them quaked as the rock drake used its bulky tail to slam below it and balance itself. As it had just awoken from its slumber, it was awkwardly getting up on its feet. It was no wonder that they weren't able to spot one earlier, the rock drake was hiding in plain sight.

“Ya, Urie! Is-Is it the same with that place we were at earlier!?” Elicia referred to the rock formation where they were provided a brief respite.

“Most likely, but I heard these guys were usually docile. They wouldn't attack anyone without provoca—“ At the end of his sentence, Urie caught sight of the eyes of the huge creature, partly visible within the recesses of its craggy exterior—it was glowing. Similar to the shadow wolf from their earlier encounter, the rock drake's eyes were afflicted with madness.

“Never mind! Everyone, quickly run toward the pillar!” Urie yelled, his heart pounding aggressively in concert with the pulsating heat from his mana seed.

The three children bolted for the pillar and another loud slam shook the ground again. The mana beast's heavy front limbs dug into the ground so close behind, causing Urie's feet to momentarily hover a foot off the ground.

“Quickly!” He urged the other two in panic. They couldn't beat it, nor had the thought of fighting it cross his mind. Unlike the smaller shadow wolf, the rock drake was bulkier and covered with stone. And its size alone was on another level.

“Hah...” Celeste was too busy trying not to stumble. When was it last that she had run like this? Coupled with the fact that she was feeling lethargic from basking under the blinding light from the ceiling—she was just a small mistake away from tripping over her own feet.

“Aah!” Elicia didn't think she could do anything to it. Wind magic? A gust of wind won't even scratch it. Earth magic? She hadn't learned a thing about it. Managing to reach the foot of the central pillar, she looked over her shoulder.

“The rock drake was slower than I thought,” Elicia heaved a sigh of relief as they were able to outrun the huge beast. She asked, “Ya, what now Urie?”

They were at the pillar. What do they do now? There was no headmaster in sight, and the rock drake's rumbling steps were catching up.

“Urie doesn't plan on running around the pillar to play tag with it, does he? No way,” Elicia thought.