The two-meter pitch-black snake curled around Joe's neck which had been quietly gazing at everything that was happening finally acted.

Its body moved so fast that it seemed like it teleported.

The black snake flashed before Arlo, its eyes glowing like stars.

The occult sign which had appeared on Joe's palm shone a black light, and before Joe could react, all his mana was sucked up, causing him to fall unconscious.

A massive snake-like image formed around the pitch-black snake.

Its body was long to the point that it easily covered tens of thousands of kilometers and spanned the entire outer region of the mountain forest before stopping a few hundred meters into the academy.

There were two lines of protruding horns from its skull to the tail region.

The two-meter pitch-black snake was resting within its head.

The shadowy image opened its mouth wide revealing countless stars that shone with different lights.

A suction force formed within the mouth and before anyone could react, the fireball which was starting to explode was sucked into it.

Then the shadowy creature collapsed.

It all happened in a mere instant.

No one had the time to react.

Arianne who was still roaring, the fire bird which was still facing Arlo and waiting for his death, the black steel spider, and the others.

None of them understood what happened.

The same was for Arlo as he immediately when the sense of death gripping his body disappeared, he was forcefully pulled out of his trance.

"SCREEE!"

The firebird released an angry cry.

Its last-ditch effort to kill all its enemies was in vain.

It wasn't willing to die like that

At least, it wanted to take the small boy before it to the grave.

"Universal devouring!"

A sweet voice echoed above it and before it could react, its body was almost enveloped; the dying flame around it was not able to put up any struggle.

It released an anxious cry and tried to resist only for Arianne to appear before it.

She grabbed the firebird's head and roared at it.

A spiritual wave spread out with her roar and stunned the firebird, causing it to go still.

Not only that.

The blood leaking from the firebird's eye sockets seemed to boil as it resonated with Arianne's anger.

A second later, Anita enveloped the firebird completely.

.....

About five minutes earlier.

Within a hall the academy.

Grim sat on a seat in the silent hall.

There was no light within the hall, and Grim who was covered in a dark cloak seemed to passively blend with it.

The formation before him suddenly lit up.

This wasn't the first time the formation had shown a reaction.

In fact, over half of the students had already returned by using the bracelet given to them.

He couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.

He lamented the current ability of the first years.

As greenhorns with no real combat ability, how would they fare against the upcoming war?

Suddenly his eyes furrowed.

Sol, James, and Lysa appeared before him.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

He never imagined they would also fail his mission.

Grim suddenly sprang to his feet.

The trio who had appeared before him fell to the ground as painful groans escaped from their lips.

He quickly approached the fallen students and checked on their condition.

Their wounds were healing thanks to their traits as vampires albeit it was slow.

'The mana of a master realm beast.'

Grim's face hidden underneath the dark hood hardened as he judged the situation.

He sent his mana into the student's bodies and expelled the foreign beast's energy that was interfering with their healing.

James gained consciousness when the excruciating pain he felt weakened.

His vision was blurry but he could still barely make out Grim's figure.

"Ric...in danger...master realm beast...wind..." he murmured a few words with all his strength before fainting once again.

Grim placed him down gently and merged with the darkness in the hall.

Outside the Academy, before the mountain forest, Grim's figure appeared slowly.

Even from the far distance, he could still hear the sound of explosions coming from two directions.

He could barely make out the yellow lights that lit the sky above the tall trees.

The sound of explosions coming from there was very intense.

He looked in another direction and noticed a storm raging high in the sky.

The tall trees as massive and strong as they were, were pulled out from the ground.

Not only that, the distance was significantly closer to the academy than the other one.

He remembered James's words.

'Wind.'

Grim's figure slowly faded away.

While the distance from where the storm was raging was closer than the fiery light that lit the sky, the distance was only relative.

Grim was able to cross tens of thousands of kilometers in less than three minutes.

He silently appeared beside the raging storm and surveyed the area.

The surroundings were a mess.

The trees were uplifted and wood splinters filled everywhere.

Facing a nine-meter tall bear with a fierce storm raging around it was Ric, who was half kneeling on the ground.

His chest rose and fell heavily and his body was covered in blood.

There were a few corpses of students littering the ground but Grim ignored them for now and focused on saving Ric.

The black bear looked down at Ric in contempt.

It was merely taking its time to enjoy its prey.

What it didn't notice was that a figure had appeared quietly behind it.

Grim passed through the storm around the bear effortlessly, and without alarming the beast.

In fact, Ric who was looking at the beast grimly didn't notice his presence.

He placed his hands on the back of the head of the beast, causing the bear to stiffen and widen its intelligent eyes in horror.

Smoothly and effortlessly, Grim dislodged the master realm's head which was as big as his waist off its neck.

This was the true terror of Grim who used his natural affinity with darkness laws to become a fearsome assassin.

Ric's eyes widened from the unexpected development, but before he could even recover and as the blood of the bear spurted out like a fountain, a massive image suddenly formed above the forest.

The image spanned the entire forest till the Academy, stunning even Grim.

He turned his head in the direction of where the other explosions were coming from.

He noticed the fiery light had disappeared and in its place was the head of the snake-like image.

He had never seen such a domineering snake before.

Even the strongest magical beast in the central continent, the royal Basilik couldn't compare to it.

Before Grim could react, the image disappeared.

He was stunned once again.

It appeared and disappeared instantly.

It was to the point that he was unsure if it was even real.

'I need to investigate what is going on!'

Grim looked at the corpses of a few students in the surroundings and sighed in pain.

His cold heart couldn't help but ache.

'What a mess!'

"Use the bracelet immediately!" he said to Ric before disappearing once again.

He had to check the other battlefield.

He knew he was going to be punished for endangering the students, but he didn't care and instead focused on resolving the mess.

'I have yet to see the princess, and a few other elites. Even that human boy and the Basilik beast.'

He hastened his pace.

.....

Anita's body shook slightly.

Even for her, devouring a master-level beast that far surpassed her in level wasn't an easy thing to do.

It would take time and effort on her part.

When the feeling of death escaped his senses, Arlo's tired body slowly fell.

Contrary to what he expected, Arlo felt a warm embrace, and judging from the long black hair falling on his face, he figured out the person.

'Arianne.'

He looked at the pitch-black snake beside him and felt grateful.

It had saved his life.

Arlo didn't know about the state he fell into in the face of death, but he wasn't sure if he could have survived the firebird's last attack.

So he felt grateful.

"SHRIEEEEK!"

The black steel spider that had frozen in place because of the fire bird's origin flame and then the appearance of the strange snake image finally escaped the grip of fear.

It was sure that the pitch-black snake was unconscious.

Under the allure of consuming the snake, and possibly evolving into a greater beast, the black steel spider overcame its fear.

It shrieked and suddenly moved.

Its massive figure climbed down the trees at such a speed that would allow it to reach Arlo's side in five breaths.

Two breaths away from Arlo, Anita who was quiet for awhile suddenly released a loud cry comparable to that of a Phoenix.

A fiery essence erupted from her, and soon her body started changing into a bird.

<< Stop her!>> Old bro who had been silent in anger since the pitch black snake interfered to save Arlo suddenly screamed.

Arlo's consciousness was slowly fading away from the mental fatigue but when he heard Old bro's anxious shout, he quickly reacted and stopped Anita's transformation.

Anita didn't know why Arlo instructed her to stop but she trusted him. Besides she couldn't refuse his command in the first place.

Her changing body slowly reverted into a slime while the fiery essence around her retreated into her body.

Arlo was just about to un-summon her when he heard old bro's voice once more in his head.

<< It's too late.>>

The black steel spider which had stopped briefly upon noticing Anita's sudden transformation exploded, causing a bloody shower to rain down.

Arlo, Arianne, Rosaline, Judi, and Bon looked at the black steel spider's previous position and slowly saw Grim appear.

However, Grim didn't look at anyone else and had his entire attention fixed on just one presence.

It was Anita.

"What are you?"

A question resounded in the now silent forest.

*****

AN: Support the novel by adding it as a favorite and rating it if possible. Thank you.