The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

Chapter 58: Midterm Evaluation (3)

A low growl filled the air.

The wolf beast crouched, eyes filled with caution, glaring at me.

I stifled a chuckle as I looked at the demonic beast.

“What’s this? We meet after so long, and you won’t even greet me?”

In response, a fierce roar echoed.

The demonic beast, still eyeing me as if searching for an opening, suddenly lunged at me.

If this were my previous life, I would’ve been torn apart by those terrifying fangs without putting up any proper resistance.

“Man, that’s a bit disappointing.”

Berald’s Martial Arts—Sky Flip.

Thud!

The wolf beast, which had been charging at me, spun in mid-air and crashed to the ground.

“Whimper!”

The demonic beast rolled on the ground, letting out a pitiful cry.

“Huh?”

It seemed it couldn’t even comprehend what had just happened.

The demonic beast wobbled as it got up, staring at me with confused eyes.

“Ah, this brings back memories.”

While the wolf beast was in a daze, I couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh as memories from my past life resurfaced.

Memories of my powerless self—weak and pitiful.

“People say that time beautifies memories…”

But no. Despite all the years that had passed, those memories lingered like a stubborn stain on a shirt, unpleasant and unchanged.

“Guess it’s not always true, huh?”

I clicked my tongue and started walking toward the wolf beast.

“Grrr…”

As I approached, the demonic beast began to retreat, fear visible in its three blood-red eyes.

“What’s wrong? Scared?”

“Whimper…”

“Don’t worry.”

I was too, back then.

Slash!

A sharp strike cut through one of the demonic beast’s front legs, and blood gushed out from the severed limb.

Howl!

The wolf beast writhed in pain, letting out a miserable cry.

I walked up to the fallen demonic beast and raised my sword.

“There, that’s one point.”

Thrust.

I drove the sword down, piercing through the demonic beast’s head.

The sensation of the skull breaking and the blade digging into its brain traveled up the sword.

“Ah, that feels good.”

Who said revenge is hollow?

Stabbing the head of the demonic beast that once bit through my neck—there was no greater satisfaction.

‘Those who say revenge is hollow are just cowards afraid of facing their own reckoning.’

How could repaying a debt, even more than it was owed, ever feel empty?

“Whew.”

Feeling a deep sense of fulfillment, I turned on my Hero Watch to check my score.

But…

“…Huh?”

The score displayed on the screen was 0.

Now that I thought about it, the Hero Watch was supposed to automatically notify me when I successfully hunted a demonic beast, but no such notification had come.

“There’s no way it’s still alive.”

Unless it had some kind of resurrection blessing like me, there was no way something bleeding out from a split skull could still be alive.

‘Is there some kind of error?’

I tilted my head and inspected the wolf beast’s corpse.

“…It’s missing.”

The usual marker indicating it was a test demonic beast wasn’t anywhere on its body.

There weren’t even any signs that the marker had fallen off.

‘The markers used to manage these demonic beasts are attached very securely, so there’s no way it could’ve fallen off without a trace.’

“So, this means this demonic beast wasn’t one of the test demonic beasts prepared by the school…”

With that realization, several oddities started to stand out.

‘This demonic beast… it ambushed me, didn’t it?’

As Professor Lucas had warned, this test was dangerous enough that reckless cadets could actually die.

But that also meant that if you were careful, you wouldn’t have to worry about dying.

‘They would’ve used less aggressive demonic beasts for the test.’

While Professor Bianca’s familiar, the Unicorn, wasn’t completely passive, it certainly wouldn’t ambush someone from the bushes like this demonic beast did.

‘And it wasn’t as if I entered its territory first.’

In my past life, I couldn’t use sensory magic, so I never knew whether I had entered the demonic beast’s territory or if it had chased after me.

But this time, I knew for sure.

‘This thing came here to kill me.’

It had caught my scent from quite a distance.

“So that means… this demonic beast probably came from outside the test area.”

The demonic beast that first introduced me to ‘death’ in my previous life had, in truth, come from outside the test zone.

The realization of this unexpected truth made me chuckle.

‘Should I report this to the school?’

I took a photo of the demonic beast with my Hero Watch and sent it to the school.

“Ugh. I hope this doesn’t lead to the test being suspended.”

It might become a hassle, but what could I do?

I couldn’t just ignore a demonic beast without a marker roaming around the test area.

‘I should capture the Unicorn before the test gets canceled.’

If the test were to be suspended, catching the Unicorn, which played the role of a hidden boss in this test, would likely still count toward my score.

“Now, where could it be…?”

After scanning the surroundings, I jumped up into a nearby tree.

From there, I looked down at the vast forest, focusing my mana.

The most basic effect of mana was body enhancement.

And this enhancement didn’t just make your body stronger—it also amplified your senses.

‘I can’t see it with my eyes…’

The forest was too dense.

Even from this height, I couldn’t spot the Unicorn.

“Well, there’s another way.”

Taking a deep breath, I spread my arms wide.

After spreading my mana throughout my hands, I clapped them together with all my might.

Berald’s Martial Arts.

Thunder Clap.

KABOOM!

A terrifying explosion echoed across the entire mountain.

Birds hiding between the tree trunks suddenly took to the sky, and the startled cries of cadets and demonic beasts could be heard from all directions.

Amidst all this,

‘I\'ve found it.’

A flash of blue lightning flickered above the dense trees.

‘Wind Step.’

This time, instead of my hands, I spread the mana into my legs and kicked off the tree trunk I was standing on.

My body became as light as a gust of wind.

Stepping on the tightly intertwined tree trunks, I sprinted toward the place where the blue lightning had just struck.

"Hiiiiiing!"

After a few minutes of running, I saw a white horse near a small stream.

Its body was covered with pure white fur.

A horn protruded from its forehead, and fierce lightning crackled around its body.

Even through the hologram, the demonic beast appeared intimidating as it raised its front legs and looked around cautiously.

‘Is it because of that sound just now?’

The unicorn stood on alert, its white mane standing on end.

‘Maybe I should wait until it calms down a bit.’

It wouldn’t be a big problem to fight it head-on.

But there was no reason to foolishly charge at a demonic beast that was so tense and on guard, forfeiting the advantage of a surprise attack.

"Snort, snort."

The unicorn, which had been nervously scanning its surroundings, soon lowered the leg it had raised.

Clop, clop.

With graceful steps, the unicorn calmly walked towards the stream.

There was no sign of the sharp alertness it had shown earlier.

‘It’s definitely more docile than most demonic beasts.’

Demonic beasts were usually aggressive and savage because they absorbed demonic energy, which caused their transformation.

This trait was even more pronounced in demonic beasts that absorbed a large amount of demonic energy, in other words, those with more "eyes."

‘But it’s not emitting any killing intent, and it’s controlling the demonic energy within its body well.’

Indeed, it made sense why Professor Bianca would want to use this demonic beast as a familiar.

‘By the way, they say unicorns are particularly fond of maidens…’

In general, demonic beasts often retained characteristics of the animals they were before their transformation.

For example, a demonic beast that was once a wolf might have a pack mentality, or a demonic beast that was once a mole might have a habit of digging and hiding in burrows.

‘Of course, not all of them are like that.’

Sometimes, during the transformation, demonic beasts would develop traits that were completely unrelated to their previous forms.

A prime example of that was the unicorn in front of me.

Among the demonic beasts transformed from horses, the ones with horns on their foreheads—commonly known as "unicorns"—had a bizarre trait: they were extremely fond of human maidens.

"Could it be that Professor Bianca can control this demonic beast because of...?"

Ahem.

I decided to stop speculating any further, for Professor Lucas\'s sake.

"Alright... it seems to have let its guard down."

Time to begin the hunt for real.

"Hoo."

I slowly inhaled and spread mana throughout my body.

Silently, I approached the unicorn.

‘Now!’

When I got close enough to the unicorn, I kicked off the ground and drew my sword.

"Snort?!"

The unicorn trembled in surprise and started to retreat.

"Too late, buddy."

With a grin, I thrust my sword towards the bell hanging from the unicorn’s neck.

Syn Sword

Fourth Form: Flash.

The sword turned into a streak of light and shot forward with fierce momentum.

Just as the tip of the sword was about to cut through the bell,

"Haap!"

With a short yell, a golden sword slash flew straight towards me.

CLANG!

A clear sound rang out as my sword was deflected.

The sword that had been aimed at the bell grazed the unicorn’s cheek.

"Snort, snort!"

The unicorn cried out in anger as blood dripped from its cheek.

"Tsk."

Clicking my tongue, I created some distance between myself and the unicorn.

When I turned to see where the golden slash had come from, I saw Yuren breathing heavily.

"Hah, you’ve caught up already?"

Yuren must have rushed here the moment he saw the blue lightning flicker in the sky.

"But..."

I glanced at Yuren and smirked.

"Sorry, Yuren, but first place is mine."

I was already right in front of the unicorn, while Yuren was over 100 meters away.

Plus, I had already launched the first attack on the unicorn.

Naturally, the unicorn’s attention would be focused on me...

"Snort, snort!"

The unicorn suddenly turned and charged towards Yuren, snorting furiously.

"...What?"

No way.

"Why are you heading that way, you damn horse head?!"

I was the one who provoked you!!!