Lily’s POV

[You have activated the Skill [Mana Sense]

My awareness of Mana immediately improved as I activated the Skill, gritting my teeth as I saw that the Penanggalan’s aura was sucking out all the Mana in the area.

‘I can’t use my wires in this environment.’

As my metal wires interacted with the natural Mana in the air, without a sufficient amount, I would be unable to activate my main fighting weapon.

[Metal’s Second Step: Akali Reaction]

I let loose a torrent of metals. As the name implied, they were all Akali, which exploded upon contact with air.

As the differently colored metals pierced the hide of the Penanggalan, it shrieked, as sudden runes began appearing on the places of impact.

[You have activated the Skill [Explosion]

BOOM.

I was sent tumbling back at the impact. Groaning as I thrashed my body around, I unsteadily lifted my head.

‘Wh-what? How?’

The hideous creature wasn’t the least injured, just screaming from the shock of the blast. There wasn’t even any blood.

‘That was one of my most powerful combos…’

Startling back to reality, I barely managed to deflect a quick lash of the tentacle- intestines with my arm. Muffling a scream as blood poured from the hit - the sharp impact that shattered my arm bones - I tried to stagger up when meaty insides began curling around my leg.

Shakily looking around the destroyed hallway, I found the Ensnare curled up inside a mound of wreckage. She was knocked out from the loss of too much blood on her leg. Seeing that she wasn’t going to help, I activated another Skill.

[You have activated the Skill [Pain Remover]

As I sighed in relief from the respite from the pain, the Penanggalan leaped at me. Quickly, I reached into my Storage and deflected the lashing organs with a buckler I had found inside a Seeker-controlled dungeon.

The medieval-styled shield crumpled under the stress, but gave me enough time to use my Skill Tree again.

[Metal’s First Step: Erosion]

I lashed out my hand and waited till the sharp smell of rust began covering the room. The monster screamed as orange rust began covering its body. However, it began twisting around, magic circles appearing around it. From it, dark-colored hands reached out, snagging the wasted material, and threw it away.

Gritting my teeth in frustration, I propelled myself forward, deflecting multiple thrashing organs.

However, as I sprinted, I didn’t notice the piece of intestine right behind me.

It punched forward, catching me in the back. I gasped as I felt my spleen explode and my ribs break from the impact.

I fell forward, coughing out darkly colored blood. A long tentacle of flesh curled around my leg, lifting me.

‘Think, Lily!’

The only way to kill a Penanggalan was to destroy its Mana Core, but that was only possible if you used the spiritual arts. I wouldn’t be able to defeat it.

‘Is there no way out?’

But just as I was about to give up, a sudden figure appeared flying towards me, hitting the monster with a sharp sidekick.

Falling as the monster’s grip on me loosened, I scrambled up as a boy quickly finished up the monster, a pale blue energy crackling from his legs.

“Hey, Tariz.”

I had only seen him during lunch hours, and he was always reading a book in the corner, so I didn’t know him well.

Tariz nodded, saying, “You take Astarte and run. There are more powerful monsters than that around here.”

Nodding, I complied.

***

Leon was jerked awake by the pulsing alarms.

Scrambling to get out of his twisted covers, he finally managed to crawl out.

Pulling on his uniform, he dashed out, stopping a pale boy running in the opposite direction.

“What’s happening?”

The poor guy was so scared it took him a couple of seconds to get his words out.

“Th-there are monsters!”

Jerking his hand from Leon’s grip, he began running again, his pounding footsteps slowly growing further.

‘What’s happening?’

Leon pulled out his falchion, and linking it to his belt, he quickly ran to the hallway where Elvis was sleeping.

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Kicking open his door, he found the boy scrambling for his glasses, which Leon shoved up Elvis’s nose and hastily helped him get dressed into his uniform.

“Hurry up!”

“What's happening?!”

Hearing Elvis’s retort, Leon shouted back, “Some kid was blathering about monsters. I’m not taking any chances. C’mon, we need to find a teacher.”

The duo dashed out the door, only to be halted in their tracks by a couple of glowing insects.

Elvis threw his hand out, stopping Leon from advancing any further. “These are Glowflies. They aren’t supposed to be here. They're from the Animal Studies class.”

Leon’s face behind the mask tightened. “Are you saying that animals just escaped from that class?”

The other boy nodded. “Probably.”

Leon twisted his body around, putting his face up to Elvis’s. “Are there any dangerous beasts in that class?”

Upon the question, Elvis’s face paled in realization. “There’s a couple of higher-grade monsters, but they aren’t that dangerous if we’re in a group. But…”

“What?”

Elvis’s face turned impossibly more pale. “There’s a Wendigo.”

“What exactly is that?”

“It’s one of the most dangerous creatures in all the World Tree. It kills higher-tier beasts for fun. And we’re exactly in the ideal environment where it hunts. Inside a cave that is filled with secret passageways.”

Suddenly, an icy cold presence bore down on them. It was so fast, that the temperature change was immediately noticeable.

Elvis slapped his hand over Leon’s mask. “It’s coming. We need to hide.”

They both dashed back into their room, leaping under the bed. As they both tried to mask the sound of their breathing, the coldness in the air became much more prominent. Leon could see his breath fog in front of him.

A sharp shadow flitted across the floor, showing the outline of a hideous creature with an arched back and deer-like antlers.

As it slowly walked across the hallway, it opened the door of their room. It crept forward, the shadow growing closer and closer. Suddenly, it screamed, a shrieking noise that sounded unnervingly like a human.

Leon reached for his sword, hand quietly grasping the handle. But just as it looked like the Wendigo would see them, it turned around and silently walked out of the room.

After waiting a couple of minutes, they quietly slid out the bed, wincing at the tiniest of sounds.

“What was that scream?”

Elvis grunted, sliding further out of the bed. “Wendigos can mimic the last screams of its victims.”

Leon turned to Elvis, whispering, “What do you know about Wendigos?”

Elvis shrugged. “We barely covered it during class. But I do know that it’s weak against a metal called iron. But it’s not even that weak to that anyway.”

‘Iron?’

Elivs sat on the bed, massaging his head. “It knew we were here. We’re just lucky that the Wendigo's personality is to stalk its prey. It's waiting because it finds it fun. If we can just last until the teachers can get here…”

Leon nodded, trying to drag a bookshelf in front of the door. “We need to barricade ourselves in before it comes again.”

Elvis waved the advice off. “There’s no point. It can cleave even a griffin in half without even trying. A bookshelf isn’t going to do anything to it.”

“Then what should we do?”

Upon the question, Elvis’s face brightened. “There’s a couple of weapons that do some damage to Wendigos that the teachers kept inside the classroom. But we need to get there first.”

“So where’s the Animal classroom?”

Kneeling, Elvis drew a map on a piece of paper. “We’re right here. The fastest way would be to run straight down, out of the hallway, duck into the lunchroom, then pass the Potions room.”

Leon surveyed the map for a second, engraving it into his memory. “Alright. Let’s go.”

“Wait.”

Elvis concentrated, a shining Mana circle circling him. “There’s three monsters between us. A Banshee, an Oni, and a Werewolf.”

“Where exactly are they?”

“Luckily, they're all separated. The Banshee is right outside in the hallway, the Oni is in the lunchroom, and the Werewolf is inside the Potions room.”

“So how do we deal with them?”

Scrambling up, Elvis brought out his Animal Study notes. “We can deal with Banshees by giving her a gesture of kindness. I’ll tell you about the Oni after we defeat her.”

They then creeped out of the room, Leon clutching his falchion, and Elvis activating his Mana circles.

As they walked down the silent corridor, a shriek rang down the hall. Jerking back in surprise, Leon activated a Light spell, lighting up the room with bright radiance.

There, about a couple of meters away from the two, was a young girl standing alone, black hair swept to the front. She shook it away, revealing a pale, beautiful face that smiled as blood dribbled down her full lips.

For some reason, Leon felt a bit of unexplained nostalgia.

“H-hey. I’m here in peace.”

Leon unsteadily walked forward, kneeling as he put his sword down on the ground.

‘How the fuck do I do a gesture of kindness?!’

He tentatively reached out his hand, gesturing for the Banshee to shake it. “C’mon. I’m peaceful. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

The girl tilted her head, obviously a bit confused. She shakily reached out a hand, trying to touch Leon’s skin.

“Are you okay?”

Elvis stepped out of the shadows, walking softly towards them. However, as he did so, the Banshee transformed. Her face was deformed, her jaw loosened, and she let out a shriek that made the walls shake.

“Wait! We’re peaceful!”

Unaware of Leon's shout, the Banshee leaped towards Elvis, ripping a good chunk of his arm with a quick slice.

“No!”

Leon desperately tried to help, but the girl simply threw him hard into the wall. Coughing up blood, he could only watch in horror as the Banshee began ripping apart the screaming boy.

‘No, no, no!’

But as Leon tried to contain the pain and stand up, a thought rang through the fog of pain.

‘Why hadn’t she killed me?’

Leon had been much closer to her than Elvis, and she could have easily killed Leon with that throw to the wall…

Wait.

Her clothes.

The Banshee had been wearing a uniform that…

That was why Leon had that feeling when he first saw her.

Leon screamed a shout of panic. “WAIT!”

As the monster turned over for a split-second, Leon deactivated his mask Skill.

The mask slowly folded back in itself, exposing Leon’s face. Seeing this, Banshee knelt, pausing her attack. The boy slumped down to the ground in a puddle of growing blood. She crawled towards Leon, her arms shaking.

As she got closer, Leon paused to look at the marking on her uniform.

[California Private Schools]

The Banshee’s face slowly fitted back into its regular human one. She reached out and nuzzled Leon’s cheek with a cold hand.

Sighing in relief, he pulled her into his arms, hugging her deeply. Leon would never know what had happened to this poor girl, but at least she would finally be able to rest.

This was why she had attacked only Elvis. Because he wasn’t a human. She must’ve been forced to suffer under the demons for not being like them, turning her into this.

Her body slowly began crumbling to dust, tiny black ashes being lifted to the heavens. As her body deteriorated, she nuzzled in closer, Leon’s warmth replacing her icy coldness. She began to cry, tears rolling down her face and wetting Leon’s sleeve.

Soon, all that remained in his grip was a pale black orb.

Pocketing it, he hurried over to Elvis, force-feeding him a healing pill.

“C’mon…”

With a startling gasp, the boy awoke, the magic healing his boy. “What was that?!”

Realizing something, Leon quickly covered his face. He still wasn’t prepared to share his deepest secret with anyone.

[You have activated the Skill [Hunter’s Seal]

With the mask covering his face again, Leon hugged Elvis. “You stupid! Why did you have to interrupt me?!”

The smaller boy coughed. Smiling, he said, “I've never seen you so emotional.”

“C’mon. Get up. We need to beat the Oni now.”

Groaning, he stood up and fixed his torn clothing. “I'm taking your money to buy a new uniform.”

Leon smiled. “Let’s see you try.”