NOVEL NEXT Chapter 968
<968 – Experience Points Doubled (5)>
Academy students were feeling stuffed.
They had once thought that being pushed hard by professors under the guise of a cutthroat competitive society was the epitome of an unhappy life, but that was just the whining of students who hadn’t faced society yet.
True misfortune came after graduation.
The ‘Main House’ of the Wahyhiemhai Foundation Director.
The students, who had seen the secretly hidden mansion unlike the stronghold encountered during the recent Foundation Workshop Battle, had their mouths agape at the rugged scenery.
The Director’s Mansion was an island.
A fortress-like terrain on a sea filled with numerous reefs and swirling eddies.
Seeing all the whirlpools scattered about, all of them [Mana Disasters], the detection magic wrapped around the whirlpools, spiraling and twisting like a child’s doodles before abruptly cutting off could only make one realize that.
“Being 6th-tier is utterly useless.”
“Upper class kids, do something about it.”
Even the third-year upper class students, using their 7th-tier detection magic, could only get past a few whirlpools; they were simply inadequate to break through all of them.
“Wrong.”
“We can’t even enter inside.”
“Is this it? The so-called ‘Intruder Repellent Security Device’ that Oknodie activated?”
Indeed, the mansion of a giant faction that had seized control of the world made even landing on the island a tough challenge.
“How about flying up into the sky and soaring over the whirlpools?”
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
One student gifted in divination shook his head.
At that, a summoner, hoping against hope, commanded his flying summoned beast to soar above the island’s heights.
The summoned beast, which continuously carried out orders until the mana infused into it ran out, lost its wings one moment and plummeted from the [Sky].
“Ugh, my Concorde No. 1!”
“What the heck was that?!”
“Is that a barrier?”
By adding protective magic to the magical projectile they launched, the students finally understood.
What looked like the [Sky] to their eyes was not the real sky at all.
Clouds above the sky.
A bright-colored background.
All of it was the entrance to ‘another dimension’, a dimensional-cutting trap that opened and closed with every moment, slicing anything that touched its boundary.
Following the standard response measures for students above fourth-year flying up to steer clear of the whirlpool mana disasters would immediately result in their necks or upper bodies getting sliced off in gross coupling traps!
Ultimately, students skilled in [Domain Expansion] estimated the height of the cutting surface, trying to determine a safe height to pass between the mana disasters and dimensional cuts.
“We can’t escape the disaster’s influence, but we have to maintain an ambiguous height where we might not be able to shake it off with our strength.”
If they recklessly tried to dodge the mana disaster, their heads would get chopped off, and if they were frightened and descended, they would get swept away by mana whirlpools like a cat thrown into a washing machine, spinning around in the seawater, getting torn apart by whirlpools coming from different directions!
At this point, many third-year lower class students raised their hands with uncertain faces.
“Mandela. Thanks for inviting us, we’ll cheer hard from here.”
“I think a person should know their place. If a small bird follows a stork, it’ll tear its legs.”
“The bond of us third-years lives in our hearts. Even if we don’t go together, our hearts will land with you as you land on that rugged island!”
Riding the wave of emotional meta, they relied on others’ feelings to only use words to gain the benefits of special training—sending their souls!
“Ahhh-ha-ha! Of course, while I appreciate your hearts, I would be much happier if your bodies joined as well. Considering everyone’s hardships, I graciously make this path for you!”
Mandela deployed reverse domains to calm or push back the flow of mana disasters with her thousand-voice skill.
Even students lacking techniques could join hands to continuously maintain flight magic. So, lower class students turned sulky.
It wasn’t just the first-year talents of Class 981 that suffered from having a powerful ally; Class 980 under Mandela was the same!
“Ugh, I’m drained.”
“Can we land now?”
Once they spotted the sandy beach beyond the sea whirlpools, the tension fell away as students stopped their flying magic to land, only to find themselves forcibly buoyed up into the air.
It was the work of upper class third-year students following behind.
“Use the soft technique.”
“Soft technique?”
Lower class students with the spying technique broke into a cold sweat, seeing the mana reactions densely covering the sandy beach.
“No way?”
On someone’s question, Irene, who had easily crossed over with the third-years, showcased her skills in return for Mandela’s kind bus ride.
Ice spikes pierced the terrain where mana reactions were detected on the beach.
Boom! Ka-chak!
A column of fire erupted.
The fragments of what had been spikes evaporated into thin air.
“…”
“Isn’t that lethal?”
“With a full blast of protective barriers, we could survive.”
It was a mine with firepower capable of engulfing not just a person but even a vehicle in flames should it land!
“‘Cottage’ or ‘Main Building,’ they’re quite similar.”
The commentary from Jiang, a seasoned cottage-goer, left the third years looking incredulous.
“Is this for real?”
“Did you really experience this last year?!”
“Nothing else, but there were mines on the beach.”
“How did you enter? Did you fly until the sandy beach ended? First-years wouldn’t have even known flight magic.”
“No. I just barreled in on a cruise ship as it rammed into the coastline.”
“…”
The ground assault rush technique that had become the signature move of the Jigoku Pirate Group!
Sadly, due to the sea whirlpools, this ultimate technique was sealed off this time.
But they did gain a hint.
“It’s area magic. The ones with spare mana, activate area spells to trigger all the beach mines!”
Large and small area magic blasts detonated the beach mines one after another.
Finally, the third years, who landed on the beach, could breathe a sigh of relief.
“Now it’s really okay…?”
“If we go through the woods and up the hill, we’ll reach the mansion, and if we get to the cliff, there’s a lighthouse.”
“Why is there a lighthouse when no ships can enter?”
“I’m so anxious… What if the lighthouse light hits us, and we’re swept away by mana rain, crash, and get caught in a disaster…?”
“Creepy! You’re being oddly specific, so please don’t imagine too precisely?!”
Hearing the cowardly conversation among the third years, Irene thought to herself.
That’s actually real.
What a perceptive upperclassman.
I guess by the time they reach third year, even lacking skills, their awareness enlarges inevitably.
Or not?
Could it be that the clueless upperclassmen all died, hence why the aware ones have survived?
Be that as it may, there was still one wrong part.
They hadn’t overcome the risks on the sandy beach yet.
Rustle!
Suddenly!
From the ground, on the beach covered in area magic, long-necked creatures resembling meerkats peeked out.
One female student gaped in wonder.
“So cute! I want to take it home!”
“Stop! There’s no way an animal living under a minefield surrounded by mana disasters can be normal!”
“Right?!”
When the girl halted her steps, the meerkat-like creature smacked its lips and stood up.
Underneath its small, insignificant neck, there was a gigantic five-meter long shell of a fossilized conch or a wrecked ship, kind of moving like a crab.
Below its unassuming appearance was a big, sharp claw that did not look trivial at all.
Snap!
Ka-kaaah!
The claw reaching for the female student was barely deterred by the sword strike from the Knight Department student.
Mahapunch!
Quick Sword – Peak, Flash!
Only by launching a lethal blow with the utmost mastery of swordsmanship did they narrowly manage to block that punch!
“Aakk!”
“Help!”
“Crap, everyone join in!”
“The ground is shaking… More are coming!!”
“Block the ground with magic!! If we lose our solid ground, we’ll get dragged into the earth and all die!!”
Ziang, who came along to play with Titosso, screamed and fled into the woods, terrified by the powerful claws that could rival Professor Buzhaar’s monsters.
“Ugh, that dumb second-year!”
“Quick, let’s go save them!”
A few third-years dashed back to rescue Titosso.
With great difficulty, they defeated the pursing claws and soon realized the pursuit halted at the boundary where the sandy beach ended and grass started in the woods.
“Hey, what are you doing dashing off like that in unfamiliar terrain?!”
“Thank goodness the claws suddenly stopped as if they’d entered some predator’s territory.”
“Wait? What did you just say?”
“The claws suddenly stopped as if they had entered a predator’s territory…”
Midway through speaking, the third-years stopped as if they had reached an unthinkable taboo.
Reluctantly casting outwards, a technique that should not have been deployed.
The woods rose before the third years’ eyes.
Once part of the World Tree that had been ‘pruned’ and fallen away, now grown together into the [Offspring of the World Tree].
An existence that could also be called [The Draft of the Corrupted World Tree] manifested as a giant forest formed of mana.
The Offspring of the World Tree, having grown by absorbing the mana of corpses swept by disasters near the island, drooled in anticipation as they approached.
“Ahhh! Jiang, you fool! You said Oknodie was inviting us over for summer vacation!”
The heart-wrenching screams echoed from the Director’s Main House.
Far away, at the pirate ship anchored near the island, Jigoku leisurely savored the sea breeze while slurping on drinks as if enjoying someone else’s house tour.
One of the remaining crew members, hearing the unsettling screams from the island, cautiously asked.
“Is the captain not going over? It seems like something really troublesome is happening.”
“What difference does it make if I go? Avoiding that kind of thing is best from the start.”
“Is that so?”
The second-year crew members, with their poor vision, didn’t know, but to Jigoku’s eyes, the ruckus from the claws and the commotion of the Offspring of the World Tree were all visible with his mana-enhanced sight.
Better to lounge around the ship than deal with all that trouble.
As he idly thought this, Jigoku suddenly heard a thud as the cruise ship sounded.
“Did we hit a reef?”
Casually spreading his spirit beneath the surface, Jigoku froze up.
“What’s wrong, captain?”
“There’s a claw with no home.”
“Huh?”
“There’s a massive claw that’s quite seriously massive.”
“Ah, it’s a meerkat.”
One crew member, excited to cast a net for the water-type aquatic meerkat, stopped in shocked surprise, staring eye-to-eye with a claw that extended all the way to his height.
That wasn’t a meerkat at all.
It was a house-sized, clawed giant masquerading as a meerkat.
The reason the claw wrapped around the cruise ship was obvious—it coveted the giant nest called the cruise ship.
The summer vacation of 982 found the Jigoku Pirate Group embroiled in a forced training they couldn’t escape from.