Never Die Villain

"Fulmen."

Lightning flashed through the forest and struck the Common Beast in the chest before it could finish its charge.

Elise lowered her hand once she was certain it wouldn’t be getting back up, then glanced at the identification seal around her wrist as another notification appeared.

[+3 Points]

[Total Points: 96]

"Ninety-six... I suppose that’s not bad."

Elise continued deeper into the forest, stepping around the fallen beast without paying it much more attention.

She had no idea how many points everyone else had accumulated, but with time still remaining in the examination, she was fairly confident that ninety-six was enough to place her somewhere near the upper end of the first-years. She hadn’t needed to take many risks to get there either.

Most of the magical beasts she encountered simply weren’t difficult enough to cause her much trouble.

Common Beasts could usually be dealt with using one or two spells, Lesser Beasts barely required any effort at all, and even the stronger creatures she had encountered hadn’t forced her into a prolonged fight yet.

It wasn’t particularly surprising.

Elise had been learning magic for most of her life, long before she ever became a student at Holy Trinity Academy.

And as the daughter of House Beaumont, she had received an education that most aspiring mages could never have afforded, complete with private instructors and practical training that had started when she was still a child.

Another beast emerged from the vegetation ahead, but Elise barely slowed down when she noticed it.

The creature lunged the moment it saw her, crossing several meters in a single leap before another bolt of lightning struck it in the middle of the air and dropped it onto the ground.

[+1 Point]

[Total Points: 97]

"One point again?"

Elise sighed as she continued walking, beginning to wonder whether she should stop bothering with Lesser Beasts.

They were easy points, certainly, but the time she spent searching for them could probably be better used finding something worth three, ten, or preferably twenty-five.

"Where are all the Elite Beasts when I actually want one?"

As though something had heard her complaint, an explosion sounded somewhere in the distance.

Boom——!

Elise stopped and turned toward it, waiting for a moment before another explosion followed from the same general direction.

That alone wasn’t particularly unusual when dozens of first-year mages were wandering around a forest throwing offensive spells at anything worth points, but the shouting that followed was enough to catch her attention.

Several voices were yelling at once.

Then someone screamed.

"That doesn’t sound like an Elite Beast I want."

Despite saying that, Elise changed direction and began heading toward the noise.

She wasn’t particularly eager to involve herself in someone else’s fight, but there was no harm in seeing what was happening, especially if a valuable beast had attracted several students to the same area.

The signs of a fight became increasingly obvious as she approached.

Broken branches covered the ground, scorch marks ran across several trees, and entire sections of vegetation had been flattened by something much larger than any of the beasts Elise had encountered so far.

Before she could get much closer, a student came running through the trees directly toward her.

"Hey, what happened?"

"Don’t go that way!"

The student barely slowed down before passing her, which left Elise staring after him with a confused expression.

"Why not?" she called, but he was already disappearing into the forest.

The only response she received was another distant crash from the direction he had come from.

"...How rude."

Elise continued forward.

She didn’t get far before another group appeared ahead, four students this time, all heading away from whatever was happening deeper in the forest, and one of them was clutching his injured arm against his chest.

"What happened over there?"

"There’s a monster back there!"

Elise blinked at him. "Of course there is? We’re in a hunting field."

"A huge monster, Beaumont!"

The student pointed back toward the forest, clearly in no mood for her response.

"There were eight of us fighting the damn thing and we barely scratched it, so unless you feel like breaking your seal early, don’t go anywhere near it!"

That caught her attention.

"Eight of you?"

"At least. More people showed up after we started fighting it, but everyone eventually gave up."

He looked over his shoulder when another heavy crash sounded behind them, then immediately began moving again.

"I don’t even know what it is. Some kind of basilisk, I think."

"A basilisk...?"

"Go look yourself if you’re that curious. I’m done with it!"

The group hurried away, leaving Elise alone again.

She watched them disappear between the trees before turning back toward the direction they had fled from, suddenly much less interested in whatever Lesser and Common Beasts might have been wandering elsewhere in the hunting field.

A basilisk capable of forcing eight first-years to retreat was probably something she should avoid.

Elise knew that.

But she also wanted to see it.

"...Just one look shouldn’t hurt."

With that excuse settled, Elise continued forward and began paying closer attention to her surroundings.

The damage became worse the farther she went, with several trees having been knocked completely over and deep marks covering the ground where offensive spells had struck during the earlier fight, but there was still no sign of the beast itself.

Then the ground moved.

"...."

Elise stopped as loose stones shifted across the dirt, and several seconds later another impact traveled through the earth, strong enough this time that she could feel it clearly through the soles of her boots.

Whatever was approaching wasn’t moving particularly quickly, but each step was heavy enough to make the nearby branches tremble.

"...How big is this thing?"

Something crashed through the forest ahead before she received her answer.

One of the trees leaned sharply to the side and fell, followed by another as an enormous reptilian head emerged through the vegetation.

Thick scales covered its face and continued down its neck in overlapping layers, with several old scars visible between them and a pair of curved horns extending backward from the top of its skull.

Elise slowly stepped back as more of the creature emerged.

It was enormous.

The basilisk’s body was thick enough to make the surrounding trees look thin by comparison, and its heavy legs sank into the dirt with every step it took.

Several fresh wounds and scorch marks covered its scales from the students who had fought it earlier, but after everything they had apparently thrown at it, none of the injuries looked deep enough to seriously hinder it.

"So that’s what they were running from."

The basilisk turned its head.

Its eyes found her almost immediately.

Elise had only intended to take a look, and now that she had satisfied her curiosity, turning around seemed like a perfectly reasonable idea.

She already had ninety-seven points, there were plenty of easier beasts elsewhere in the hunting field, and challenging something that had just driven away an entire group of students would be taking an unnecessary risk for no reason.

Then her identification seal reacted.

[Special Target Detected]

[Basilisk Tyrant]

[Point Value: 100]

Elise looked down at her seal, then slowly raised her eyes toward the enormous creature again.

"One hundred points...?"

That was more than her entire score.

The Basilisk Tyrant lowered its body as a deep growl rolled from its throat, and another tremor passed through the ground when one of its claws dug into the earth.

Elise watched it for several seconds before taking a slow breath and raising her hands, allowing mana to gather as thin arcs of lightning began running between her fingers.

She had been planning to leave.

Really, she had.

But one hundred points was one hundred points.

"Fulmen—"

Thud!

Elise had barely begun the incantation when something slammed into her from the side and throwing her on the ground.

Someone landed on top of her before she could even understand what had happened, and almost simultaneously, the Basilisk Tyrant unleashed the attack it had been gathering inside its mouth.

A torrent of sickly green flames swept across the place where Elise had been standing.

The breath tore through the forest with enough force to rip branches from the surrounding trees, while the vegetation caught in its path withered near instantaneously.

Elise could feel the temperature even from the ground, and she stared as the attack continued past them and carved a path through the forest behind her.

"...What the hell?"

"That was close!"

Elise froze.

She knew that voice.

Elise slowly turned her head and found a chestnut ponytail hanging beside her face, followed by a pair of narrow green eyes staring down at her from much closer than she was accustomed to.

"S-Solenne?!"

Solenne had practically thrown herself on top of Elise to get her out of the attack, and judging from how hard both of them had hit the ground, she hadn’t exactly had time to think of a more graceful way to save her.

"Yes, hello."

Solenne pushed herself up enough to look toward the Basilisk Tyrant, which was already raising its head again after finishing its breath attack.

"I would love to explain why I’m lying on top of you, but I think getting away from that thing should probably come first!"

"Eh?"

Solenne rolled aside, and Elise immediately scrambled back to her feet before brushing the dirt from her clothes.

The enormous beast had turned toward them again.

"Ah, watch out!"

Elise grabbed Solenne by the wrist and pulled her aside just as one of the basilisk’s claws came crashing down where they had been standing.

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