Chapter 80: Gajia Academy 10 - Now it begins!

The group led by the two instructors of Gajia Academy finally arrived at the mountain. After walking for some time, they reached a special area deep within the forest where various types of beasts could be found.

Willow stepped forward and looked at the students who had gathered around her. "This place currently has Tier 5 up to Tier 3 beasts, and as I explained before, your objective is to hunt as many of them as possible. Bring back their horns, eyes, or any other part that can prove you successfully hunted them."

She paused for a moment before continuing. "If you get injured, that is your own responsibility, and if you unfortunately die, the academy will not be held responsible either. If you’re afraid of getting hurt, you may withdraw now."

The students remained silent, with most of them already eager to begin. Willow looked toward the sky and pointed upward.

"Return here when the sun is directly above us. Now, you may begin."

The moment Willow gave the order, the students rushed into the forest. Some immediately split away from the group, while others moved together, believing that hunting in numbers would give them a better chance of finding stronger beasts.

The strongest creatures they could encounter here were only Tier 3, so there was no need to worry about encountering a truly overwhelming threat. Tier 5 beasts could generally be hunted by experienced hunters, and considering these students had already survived the first trial of the entrance examination, most of them should have little trouble dealing with one.

Tier 4 beasts, however, were a different matter.

Their bodies were considerably stronger, while their speed and agility were enough to overwhelm ordinary hunters. Anyone who wanted to defeat one would need enough physical ability to either match its speed or overpower it directly.

Tier 3 beasts were even more dangerous because some possessed special abilities. These creatures were often referred to as magical beasts, and their abilities could make them far more difficult to deal with than their physical strength suggested.

Beyond them were Tier 2 beasts, which possessed extraordinary abilities powerful enough to threaten entire villages. A single Tier 2 beast could require several Tier 3 individuals to defeat, with creatures such as the Antuans being among the strongest descendants of the Ant King.

As for Tier 1 beasts, they existed on an entirely different level. Their immense bodies and overwhelming abilities gave them enough power to completely destroy kingdoms, with dragons, the Giant Sea Turtle, and the three rulers of the sea being some of the most powerful examples Liam had named the Sea Tiny, Defensive Swimmers, and Aggressive Swimmers.

Meanwhile, Akuma had already disappeared into the forest, eager to test the abilities he had developed during his week of studying magic.

"Let’s try a Tier 5 beast first," he muttered.

A few minutes later, he heard the sound of branches snapping behind him. Akuma turned around and saw a beast covered in red fur, with a pair of sharp horns protruding from its head and large fangs filling its mouth.

The beast was only about half his size, but that did not stop it from immediately charging toward him.

Akuma calmly stepped aside.

The beast rushed past him without even getting close.

"It’s much slower than I expected."

Akuma closed his eyes and focused on his magic. He formed a link through his feet, sending it beneath the ground until it reached the area underneath the beast.

Suddenly, the earth erupted.

A sharp stone shot upward and pierced straight through the beast’s body. Akuma immediately connected another link to the stone, then began using his Fire Magic to heat it from within.

The rock quickly became scorching hot.

The heat spread through the beast’s body, burning and melting the flesh around the stone until the creature finally stopped moving.

Akuma opened his eyes and looked at the corpse.

"This Tier 5 beast is faster than the one from the examination, but it’s extremely weak. I didn’t think it would be this easy to kill."

He looked at the heated stone before releasing his link.

"Though I’m still not used to Fire Magic. Constantly creating and reconnecting the link just to generate enough heat is extremely exhausting."

Akuma then formed another piece of Earth Magic, creating a sharp stone in his hand. He crouched beside the corpse and carefully cut off one of its horns.

He looked at the horn in satisfaction. "One down."

But he knew that one beast would never be enough.

Akuma continued deeper into the forest, searching for stronger opponents and more opportunities to test his magic. Before long, the sounds of battle reached his ears.

He followed the noise and eventually saw several students fighting a magical beast.

There were only two of them, yet they were clearly struggling.

The creature stood nearly four times the height of a human, its body covered in thick silver fur. Lightning crackled across its body before several bolts shot toward the students, forcing them to desperately dodge.

Akuma watched from a distance.

"Should I help them?"

Before he could make a decision, the sky above them suddenly began to brighten.

Dark clouds rapidly gathered overhead, covering the forest as the air became charged with magical energy.

Akuma looked upward.

Someone was already floating high above the battlefield. Ragnir Rootil hovered in the sky with his arms raised, his palms facing each other as the clouds continued gathering around him.

His eyes remained fixed on the magical beast below.

"The way to beat a lightning beast is to have much more powerful lightning yourself."

A powerful flash illuminated the clouds.

Ragnir smiled. "Cloud Burst!"

The lightning struck the Tier 3 beast directly, engulfing its massive body in a brilliant flash. For a moment, everything disappeared beneath the light, but when it finally faded, the beast was still standing.

Instead of being defeated, the attack only made it more furious. It dug its paws deep into the ground, cracking the earth beneath its feet as an enormous amount of magical energy began gathering inside its mouth.

Akuma watched from a distance as the beast’s mouth slowly filled with concentrated lightning. The pressure coming from the attack continued to rise, and even from where he was standing, Akuma could feel that something was terribly wrong.

"That’s really bad."