Extra's Descent

Bellion stayed at the camp where all the other instructors were mingling or discussing amongst each other.

Only twenty minutes had passed since the training camp started.

But the commotion never died down.

Boom—! Boom—!

Explosions echoed from all sides, completely reverberating the entire forest.

The signs of fighting never ceased. The mana was palpable in the air, and from a distance, Bellion could see flames lashed out from high above the trees.

The reason why they had chosen Aetherwild Woods was because of its known peculiarity.

The trees were known to be sturdy, protected by its own veil of mana.

There were two objectives Bellion wanted to accomplish.

Firstly, to find out why Aetherwild suddenly froze. Of course, after the calamity, the climate had been quite unstable. But never to the point where it would permanently change the entire atmosphere.

The climate would usually change then cease.

But for over a year, Aetherwild stayed frozen. Furthermore…. it wasn't even snowing.

As if the entire terrain was a sheet of permafrost itself.

Secondly, to help the cadets improve. Class A was getting further and further ahead. And while class B only lagged behind quite a bit, the academy wanted to bridge the gap.

Class C on the other hand, they were rather lax in their practices.

Hopefully, this training camp would serve as an eye opener for them.

For everyone to realize where they currently stood.

Especially so, once they realize their fellow cadets won't be the only battles they'll face.

If things continued on like this, then forget about winning the war.

They wouldn't even survive.

At least, these were the objectives Imperial Academy wanted to achieve.

For Bellion he had a personal reason in mind.

To keep Reinhard away from Lianna for the time being, just until he could assess her motives.

Reinhard turned his head to the side, glancing at the woman with purple hair.

"Can you handle things while I'm gone, Field Marshal Cessna?"

"Of course, Field Marshall Van."

He had already debriefed Evelyn that he wouldn't present after the announcement beforehand.

After announcing that Evelyn was in charge for the entire training camp, Bellion left via portal shortly after.

WHIII—

"Evelyn~"

An annoying voice rang from behind.

Evelyn didn't need to look to know who it was.

"...."

For that reason, she remained silent.

"Evelyn~"

A head peaked out. Still, Evelyn blatantly ignored. She had an idea of what Vanessa was gonna ask of her.

"Evelyn~"

Vanessa's head peaked out from the other side again.

Suddenly, she felt a tug on her side.

"Kht."

Evelyn twitched slightly.

"Evelyn~ Evelyn~"

"Kh…."

"Evelyn~ Evelyn~"

"Pfft~ Okay, stop! What is it?"

Evelyn finally acknowledged Vanessa's presence, unable to bear the poking any longer. Evelyn was quite ticklish.

No, she was ticklish.

"Are you okay now?"

Vanessa asked, the look of concern was evident on her face.

Evelyn peered down and looked at her hand.

"It's still unstable, but it's much better than it was a few weeks ago."

"Hmm~ Okay, that's good. You got it checked, right?"

"Yes, my mana core seems to be healing steadily."

For that reason, the doctors told her there were never any problems. Evelyn's mana was abundant and served to self repair her mana core.

At least, that's what the doctors told her.

"I was told to keep using magic so my mana would flow more smoothly."

"Is that so? Then do you plan on going first?"

"Yes."

One of the instructions given to them was that instructors would roam the forest in disguise and ambush the cadets. Each instructor would be on duty for a week before rotating with another.

This procedure would repeat until the two month long training camp ends.

It served as a challenge for the cadets, and assurance.

After all…. this forest….

Dozens of monsters lingered, down from the lower ranks of F to the upper echelons of A.

They would need all the help they could get.

***

Brandon nonchalantly roamed the forest, writing something on his notebook.

There was a faster way to accumulate points.

Instead of finding enemies, it was much easier for them to find him.

For that reason, he continued walking like a gullible target.

Boom—! Boom—!

Of course, from somewhere, fighting rang out. Explosions resounded, and the sound of magic crackled in the air.

It had been like this for the past thirty minutes or so.

However, Brandon had no plans on interfering for the time being.

If he were to pass with flying colors, he wanted to do it flawlessly.

For that reason, as he traversed the forest, he continued drawing a map on his notebook.

From his conclusions, the forest was huge. Much to the point where huge was an understatement.

It was way bigger than the human domain itself.

"Hoo…."

Fading white mists left his breath as he looked around.

"Permafrost."

The layers of snow consistently spanned the entire forest. However, it was evident that there were no signs of snowflakes gently falling on the sky.

Was it possible that the calamity tampered with the forest's climate?

From what he could tell, mana was present everywhere, even on the piles of snow itself.

"Magic."

It was obviously made out of magic.

But the sheer scale of this….

"It's impossible."

Brandon made it deeper into the forest. The mana gradually grew heavy.

And….

—Uooo!

A peculiar creature stood out, dangling from the tree.

It was a monkey.

Its fur—instead of brown—was gray. Its entire color scheme was monochromatic, and as Brandon's gaze lingered on its tail, it looked like a thin layer of ice.

Additionally, it was the size of an adult man. Way bigger than a regular monkey.

"The fuck?"

From what he remembered during the lectures, it was called a frost monkey.

"This must be it."

Its features matched the descriptions.

All of a sudden, the frost monkey screamed loudly.

—Uoo! Uoo! Uaaa! Uaaa….!

It was calling for its tribe.

"Hmm…."

However, Brandon stayed composed.

Frost monkeys ranked around the C to B tier. Something he could handle by himself.

It was getting quite boring anyway. For that reason, Brandon crossed his arms and allowed the frost monkey to call for its tribe.

The frost monkey stood on the branch and pounded its chest repeatedly.

—Uooo! Uooo….!

At that moment, the bushes and leaves started to rustle around him.

Rustle…. Rustle….

—Uooo!

—Uaaa….!

Frost monkeys revealed themselves one after another. Brandon tilted his head curiously.

"I wonder how capable you guys are."

For that reason, he allowed the frost monkey to make the first move.

Swoosh—!

The monkeys were nimble, moving fast and encircling Brandon soon after.

They jumped one after another, their fists aiming to pound Brandon.

However, Brandon easily dodged all of their attacks.

It was nothing too troublesome. Brandon used the opportunity to serve as practice, dodging attacks one after another with his footwork.

No matter what, as long as the opportunity arises, Brandon would always find a way to use it as training.

Swoosh—! Swoosh—! Swoosh—!

—Haaa!

—Haa…. Haaa…!

The monkeys looked exhausted. Their attacks gradually slowed down as their chests heaved up and down.

"You guys done?"

—Uaaa?

A monkey tried to attack him. But Brandon immediately caught its fist and gripped it tightly.

His face darkened and his lips pulled up, grinning.

"Then it's my turn."

—Uaaaa!

The monkey screamed in agony as Brandon tightened his grip on the monkey's fist.

Bang!

Coated in mana, Brandon swung his first forward, dealing a blow on the monkey's abdomen.

The frost monkey he had just struck flew back several meters and all the other monkeys glanced back with wide eyes.

Then, they returned their attention back to Brandon. Their eyes widened further, and for a second, despite the harsh climate, Brandon had definitely seen sweat beading down their forehead.

It looked like a scene from a cartoon itself.

SHIING—!