Never Die Villain

"Huh. Isn’t this thing from the North?"

Ilya stopped walking.

Standing several dozen meters ahead of him was a Rabbit Mammoth, a magical beast that, as far as he knew, could only be found in the North.

Despite the ridiculous name, there was very little about the creature that resembled an ordinary rabbit besides the long ears rising from its head, considering the thing was nearly as large as a horse and covered from head to toe in thick white fur.

"Did they actually bring one all the way here, or did they breed it somehow? What the hell?"

He had seen plenty of Rabbit Mammoths growing up.

They were hardly among the most dangerous creatures in the North, but they were still magical beasts, and seeing one calmly wandering around an academy-controlled hunting field hundreds of kilometers away from its natural habitat was strange enough to make him pause.

The Rabbit Mammoth noticed him soon afterward.

Its head rose from the grass, followed by its enormous ears, and the two stared at one another from opposite sides of the clearing. Ilya remained still for a few seconds, wondering whether it would simply ignore him if he did the same.

Apparently not.

The Rabbit Mammoth lowered its body.

"Ah."

Its hind legs slammed against the ground.

Ilya immediately threw himself aside as several hundred kilograms of fur and muscle launched through the space where he had been standing, passing close enough that he felt the rush of air against his clothes.

The Rabbit Mammoth landed several meters behind him, tore through the grass as it struggled to stop its momentum, then turned around remarkably quickly for something so large.

"Definitely real."

Ilya pushed himself back onto his feet and brushed the dirt from his sleeve. His eyes moved toward the identification seal for a moment before returning to the beast as it prepared to charge again.

He couldn’t remember how many points a Rabbit Mammoth was worth.

There was only one way to find out.

Ilya planted his feet and raised both hands as the Rabbit Mammoth turned toward him again. His fingers moved through a short sequence of practiced signs.

"Ignis. Forma. Multiplica."

Heat gathered around his hand.

Ilya completed the final sign before extending his index finger and thumb toward the Rabbit Mammoth.

"Glandes Ignis."

Bang——!

A small ball of compressed fire shot from his fingertip.

Bang—bang—bang——!

More followed immediately, each one no larger than a marble as Ilya tracked the charging beast with his finger.

The fire bullets struck its shoulder and chest in rapid succession, bursting through its thick fur until the Rabbit Mammoth stumbled, collapsed onto its side, and finally stopped moving.

Ilya lowered his thumb once the clearing settled and walked over to make sure it was actually dead. A moment later, the identification seal reacted on its own, and when he took it out to check, the number displayed across its surface had already changed.

[Points: 3]

Not particularly impressive, but considering how little effort it had taken, Ilya wasn’t about to complain.

If Rabbit Mammoths were common throughout the hunting field, he could probably accumulate a respectable score just by moving quickly and killing whatever crossed his path.

"I wonder what they put in here for twenty-five."

Ilya left the dead Rabbit Mammoth behind and continued deeper into the hunting field.

If Holy Trinity Academy had somehow brought a northern magical beast all the way here just for a first-year exercise, then he was beginning to wonder what else the professors had managed to collect.

"...!"

Almost immediately, Cold Sense responded.

There was something moving inside the Whiteout.

Ilya couldn’t see much through the blizzard, especially at that distance, but Cold Sense didn’t rely entirely on his eyes.

The snow and freezing air surrounding him gave him enough information to make out the movement within it, and whatever was approaching was considerably larger than the Rabbit Mammoth he had just killed.

"...That’s big."

Ilya turned around and started moving in the opposite direction.

He had come here to earn points, not throw himself at the first oversized magical beast he encountered without knowing what it was.

There were three hours on the clock, and getting himself injured within the opening minutes because he wanted to satisfy his curiosity would be embarrassingly stupid.

Then the movement accelerated.

"Of course."

Something enormous tore through the Whiteout behind him, its weight sending vibrations through the frozen ground as it rapidly closed the distance.

Ilya glanced over his shoulder, but between the snow and the trees, he could only catch pieces of its silhouette whenever it moved through a gap.

Whatever it was, it had already noticed him.

Ilya clicked his tongue and changed direction, moving between two trees as he brought his hands together.

His fingers began moving through the familiar sequence of signs while he ran, mana circulating through the path he had drilled into himself until he no longer needed to stop and think about it.

"If you’re going to chase me..."

A heavy crash sounded behind him as one of the trees shook from the impact. Ilya glanced back toward the movement he could sense through the Whiteout, his fingers already moving through another sequence of hand signs.

"...At least be worth twenty-five points."

He finished the last sign and spoke a short incantation.

"Ignis, surge et devora."

Mana rushed outward.

An explosion erupted exactly where Cold Sense told him the approaching figure was, followed immediately by a pillar of fire that tore upward through the Whiteout. For several seconds, the entire area was illuminated by an orange glow as the fire swallowed the enormous silhouette inside.

Ilya stopped running.

He couldn’t see what had happened through the steam and snow, but Cold Sense was already giving him the answer.

The figure had stopped moving, and for several seconds, nothing else disturbed the Whiteout around it.

"Did that get it?"

Then it moved.

The silhouette stepped out of the pillar of fire.

"...Of course not."

Ilya finally caught his first proper glimpse of the creature as it emerged through the flames, and whatever amusement had been on his face disappeared.

It was considerably taller than him even on all fours, with a massive body covered in coarse fur that had been scorched away in several places, revealing the thick gray plating beneath.

The spell had hurt it.

It just hadn’t hurt it nearly enough.

A low growl echoed through the Whiteout, and Cold Sense immediately picked up the shift in its body as it prepared to charge again.

Ilya raised his hands, but now that the creature had finally emerged from the flames, he could make out enough of its body to recognize what he was looking at.

"...A Titanframe?"

Eight massive legs carried the spider-like magical beast, its body protected by a thick gray carapace that looked less like ordinary armor and more like overlapping plates of steel.

That explained why the spell had barely done anything.

Titanframes were notorious for their durability, particularly against attacks that struck the exterior directly.

Their carapace wasn’t actually made of metal, despite its appearance, but it was hard enough that poorly aimed spells could simply break against it without reaching anything important.

Ilya took another step back as the Titanframe spread its legs wider.

"Okay."

Its front limbs dug into the ground.

"That’s definitely worth more than three points."

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