Chapter 94 - Belgard Academy! (2)

"Are manticore's that strong?" asked Arya, still not understanding what all the fuss was about.

"Are manticores strong? Think about it this way. All manticores have a minimum 5-star core. And that's the minimum."

"They are one of the only species that are capable of using all four basic elements, and some of them have variant elements as well. Even among the mythical beasts, they are referred to as Guardian beasts, the lesser species that were only ever second to the dragons."

"And now we have to fight one of those," said Trent as he got to his knees in defeat.

"It seems we aren't alone," said Yuuki as he turned to look at another group charge the manticore.

The fight was over in a flash, as soon as the group shoot out their first fireball, the ground beneath opened up and swallowed them. The scale of the attack was larger than anything Arya had ever seen.

"There's no way I'm fighting that," thought Arya, for the first time he knew that regardless of what methods he would think of, he wouldn't win.

"Do you think you could take it?" asked Arya, wondering if the dark figure could beat it.

"The manticore has a tier-4 5-star mana core. The fact that it's not masking its core means that it's confident that it's the strongest being around." replied the dark figure.

"Thanks for the information, but that's not what I asked." 

"Of course I can take it. The only creatures on earth that I would've feared are dragons and the Sentinels, and one of them is long dead, while the other might be leagues away"

"A demon of my status wouldn't even be bothered by a mere manticore, of course, if I were in my full form. Right now, there's nothing I can do." replied the dark figure before going silent again.

While Arya was having his conversation with the dark figure, the group was thinking of a plan.

"There's no way we can fight it. I think we should just give up, we can always try next year," said Trent, unwilling to even get close to the manticore after he saw what had happened to the previous group.

"I-I agree," replied Sheela. 

"We have to try," said Averos, however her face seemed to be saying something else.

Abby, Marya, and Calder were still in a daze after seeing what had happened.

"Look, it's another group"

"There as well,"

"Are they trying to storm it?" 

What started as 2 groups attacking the manticore simultaneously, turned into almost 50 groups trying to attack it at the same time, firing their spells in a barrage.

"They must be trying to defeat it with numbers. However as mages, they should know that number means nothing in front of a powerful spell," said Yuuki as a strong wind pushed back the massive group's charge.

Followed by a gigantic pillar of fire, that was made even stronger due to air magic being used. The almost 250 mages that had charged were wiped out, and during all this, the manticore hadn't even moved a muscle.

"There's no way that the headmaster would make an impossible test like this. There has to be a way," thought Yuuki as he stared at the manticore.

That's when a group of three people, all wearing black hoods walked up to the manticore.

"What are they doing they don't even have any spells ready," said Trent as he watched the group going to meet its end.

Just as the group was getting closer to the manticore, one of the hooded figures started chanting something, and the group disappeared from plain sight.

"Illusionary magic? Are there light mages of that caliber that are trying to get into Belgard as students?" asked Trent as he realized what the group had done.

"Illusionary magic?" it seemed like Arya knew almost nothing about the world.

"At this point, I'm not surprised. Only a few people would know about it since it's so rare."

"You know how you can use ice magic that's basically just a different form of water magic. Well, illusionary magic is a sort of variant of light magic, however, it isn't actually a different element on its own. It's just a rare sort of magic that can only be used by a select few light mages." explained Trent.

"Interesting," thought Arya as Yuuki finally spoke up.

"I think I found a way," said Yuuki, looking at the manticore eyes.

"Those guys may have disappeared from our vision, but the manticore can still see them. Look at the way it's following their movements," said Yuuki, looking at the way the manticore's eyes were moving.

"If it can see them, then why isn't it attacking them?" asked Trent, not taking Yuuki too seriously.

"Maybe it isn't here to attack people. Think about it, everyone who has tried to get to the portal thus far has tried using force."

"What if the beast is just standing there, what if the test is to not attack it, but to use our wits," said Yuuki, making Arya's face brighten.

"He's right. Now that I think about it, the manticore never attacked first. If it wanted to it could cull everyone hiding in the trees, but it hasn't." thought Arya as he thought back on it.

"So what are you saying? Don't tell me you want us to walk past that?" asked Trent.

"It's the only way, or that's the way I see it. It's not impossible, we just have to walk past it," added Arya.

"N-no way, you guys are crazy." shivered Trent, not willing to follow their madness.

"If it's what Yuuki thinks, then I'll trust in him," said Abby, shivering in fear as she said this.

"It's decided, we will walk past the beast. I will take the lead," said Averos, trying to hide her fear by masking it with courage.

Averos walked out of the trees and marched towards the portal, Yuuki, Abby, Marya, and Calder following close behind.. Arya made sure to be last in the line, in the case that Yuuki was wrong he wouldn't be the first to be punished for it.