章節 43: Monster Hunt [1]
[Celine's POV]
Lying on my bed, I couldn't stop myself from remembering the guttural sounds of Ray's fists mercilessly trashing his sparring partner in an otherwise completely silent sports hall. Naturally, I also couldn't help but think about what would have happened if Ray had chosen to use those fists against me when we sparred.
'...would I even have stayed at the academy? No... would I even be alive?'
Hugging my pillow tightly, it would be a lie to say that it didn't scare me, the thought of Ray's use of nothing but pure, unadulterated violence.
Ray wasn't particularly physically strong, and neither were his punches, but due to the fact that he could use that weird skill of his to move wherever he wanted with a speed that was impossible to catch with one's eyes, how was one supposed to not be caught by surprise?
Also, although it was a bit crude, he was also able to use external mana augmentation, which more than covered his lack of physical strength.
But what was the most terrifying was his complete lack of empathy while fighting, how he completely lost himself in the moment while seemingly finding immense pleasure in pummeling someone to a pulp.
There was no doubt that there was something wrong with Ray. Even if a lot of students thought fighting was interesting, even fun sometimes, I had never seen someone fight like him before, or rather, I had never seen someone find so much pleasure in fighting.
'What kind of life did he live before getting to the academy...'
From the way he tortured himself with training, to how he didn't seem to have a clue about... well, anything, to now showing us this horrible side, he was just incomprehensible to me.
'And he also chose to not attack me...'
I had no idea as to why, but it was a fact that Ray had consciously chosen to not use his fists against me, proving that he knew that if he did, he wouldn't be able to stop himself.
That's the reason why I had thanked him earlier, as I realized that he had forcibly held himself back to make sure that he didn't hurt me.
'Does he not like that side of himself...?'
As far as I knew, Ray had so far not been the one to challenge someone, always being the one on the receiving end. But if he loved fighting that much, why didn't he just go around picking fights with everyone?
'Does he not like that side of himself?'
It was a tragic theory, but it was also the only explanation that I currently had. Ray didn't want to fight because he enjoyed it too much, likely scared of what he would do to his opponent, but at the same time, he couldn't allow himself to decline a challenge either.
'...it's so confusing.'
In the end, there was no way for me to know what went on in his mind, and at this point, I doubted I would ever truly understand him. But knowing what I knew now, I was at least going to give it an honest shot.
****
[Ray's POV]
The third week at the academy had already come around, and while time moved extremely slowly, it still felt like time passed by in the blink of an eye.
Just like every morning, our day started with homeroom with Mr. Folm. Unlike every morning, there was no doubt that I was getting looks from pretty much every single one of my classmates, very likely as a result of the spar against Wyll.
"Good morning everyone. This week will be a bit special as you will all be going to your first monster hunt on Wednesday. In other words, you will get your first chance to fight monsters."
'...huh?'
The very normal Monday suddenly became pretty crazy as our teacher dropped a bomb on us, as it didn't just surprise me but from the whispers between my classmates, it was pretty clear that no one expected it.
"Teacher! Isn't the first monster hunt supposed to happen in our second term?"
The very diligent Frey spoke up with a bit of a shocked face, too riled up to even remember to raise her hand. However, our teacher calmly answered her without changing his expression.
"That is true. Usually, freshmen don't get to experience real combat against monsters until their second term. However, as many of you might know, these last years have come with a very steep increase in monster activities. Therefore, after a lot of discussions, we have decided to change the curriculum. The new curriculum is currently being structured and processed but you should get them in the following weeks."
As Frey sat down, next to Fatima, Evan, and Daiki, a male spiritualist who was able to use spirits to conjure spells, I wasn't able to quite see her face as I sat in the back as usual, but I suspected that she wasn't very happy.
"Now, this also means that you will begin to form your teams. Most often hunter teams consist of five members, but the composition of teams around the world can be a lot different. What is important to remember is balance. A balanced team of average hunters and heroes are more effective than five strong individuals who all want to fulfill the same role."
'...do we have to form these teams by ourselves?'
After listening to our teacher explain what we had to do, I very quickly saw a pretty big issue that might arise for me. Unlike my other classmates, who all had found friends and created small cliques, I was very much alone. A fact that wasn't particularly helped by the fact that I arguably might've gone a bit overboard in my spar against Wyll.
"Also, we will be using today's and tomorrow's morning sessions to give you time to develop and plan team strategies. Naturally, as you are still going to attend your secondary courses, you won't have that much time, but it should still be enough to gain a moderate understanding of what roles you should fill in the teams and how you want to approach fighting together. With that said, please use the time designated for homeroom to form your teams and report them to me when I come back."
Leaving us to our own devices, it was clear that Mr. Folm didn't want to risk having any sort of influence on the teams. Luckily for me at least, we were exactly fifteen students in class 1-A, and although I didn't know if he did it on purpose, he had emphasized the fact that a team most often consisted of five members, meaning that it was very likely that I would be included somewhere simply because a team would 'lack' a member.
'But I guess I just have to wait and see.'
Thinking that there was no reason to take the initiative here, as I found it very unlikely to make a difference, I simply waited in the back of the classroom, looking down on my classmates who very quickly began to find their teammates.
A lot of the time, the teams appeared to be created on the basis of already-established cliques. For example, I could see that Frey, Evan, Fatima, and Daiki had already decided that they would team up, and the same went for Cerus, Celine, Jacob, and Rose.
As the rest of my classmates were divided into smaller groups, like how Samuel and Ken had become friends, things had suddenly become a bit more interesting. Because now, choices had to be made.
It didn't take long for there to exist three groups, Frey's team, Cerus' team, and a third team consisting of Samuel, Ken, Joseph, a male swordsman, and Rachel, a female wind mage. Therefore, there were now three students who hadn't found a team.
These three were me, Ayan, a female swordsman who used a katana, and Jessie, a female water mage. Although I suspected that these two girls were not quite as isolated as me, there was no question that they were still weren't as social as the others, hence why they hadn't been part of a clique yet.
With her glasses and long bangs, as well as the fact that she was always carrying several books, I sort of understood that Jessie was a bit of a nerd, meaning that if one judged her based on the stereotype, she was probably quite shy as well.
Ayan, on the other hand, just didn't seem to enjoy being around other people, a quiet and cool dark-skinned woman with one eye covered by a long, dark bang with the other half of her hair being a lot shorter.
"-Hey, Jessie. Do you want to join our team? We could use another mage."
"-...sure!"
Even though it was impossible to see her expression, the bright voice that came out from her was very clearly a voice of joy, happy that she was asked by someone to be a part of their team.
'Ah, now there's only two of us.'
Me and Ayan were the last ones standing, but it didn't take long for Samuel to take the initiative, very likely due to him not wanting to be in a team with me.
"-Yo, Ayan. Want to join our team?"
"-Okay."
Unlike Jessie, Ayan's voice was a very neutral one, as she likely didn't care which team she ended up with, nor did she feel happy that someone asked her to join.
'...of course it ended up like this.'
From below, a lot of eyes were now placed on me. Very unsurprisingly, I could see Cerus' looking at me with a very strained face, probably unsure whether or not he should ask me to join them.
A sort of stalemate arose, with no one saying anything, but with everyone knowing that there was only one logical outcome. Cerus, as the unofficial captain, would have to ask me to join, unless he disliked me to the point where he would consciously make things harder for his teammates just to avoid me.
Surprisingly, before he got the chance to speak up, another voice pierced the silence.
"What are you doing, you idiot? Just come down here already."
In the end, it was Celine who 'invited' me into the group and although she used some harsh words, her eyes were quite different from the other team members. Because although she looked a bit annoyed, there were a lot of warmth in those eyes.
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