Sword, Magic and Academic Society
Vol. 1 - Ch. 233 - Area 81 (4)

Leaping out of the underground lake, the enormous frog landed with a heavy thud, shaking the ground beneath it, just as its massive size suggested.

Its shape was the same as a Steinfrosh, but its size was far beyond anything that could be compared to the one that Parry had earlier faced. This creature was large enough to swallow a cow whole.

Its eyes were odd, one blue and one brown, and as it emerged, more and more of the smaller Steinfrosh tadpoles began to follow it out of the water.

"Dio!"

"I know!"

Ignis jumped to action almost instantly, while also signalling Dio who, too, broke into a dash straight toward the giant frog. 

"What the hell is that...? It's too big to be a Steinfrosh. No, i-it looks like that manifestation of atrocity, Steinberge, that brought a disaster to Dragreid 500 years ago..."

Bull muttered in disbelief, but at that moment, the stonemason, who had locked eyes with the gigantic frog, froze and then screamed.

"I-It's a monster!!!"

The gigantic frog took its landing on the ground, and began to wriggle its throat. Then, seemingly reacting to that shriek, it inflated its throat, launching a water ball, as big as 1m in diameter, at terrifying speed.

Seeing this, Ignis hastily wedged himself between the water ball and the petrified stonemason, barely making out in time.

Seeing this, Ignis unhesitatingly leapt between the helpless stonemason and the water blast, narrowly intercepting it, and taking a defensive stance with his left arm.

With a heavy *thud*, the water blast exploded against Ignis left arm, sending him flying several meters and rolling across the ground.

" "Boss!!! " "

It had been the first occasion stonemasons had ever seen Ignis, an A-rank explorer and the undefeatable king of Bufu, go tumbling to the ground, and this put them in complete shock.

"Ugh... this beast's magic packs a hell of a punch."

Ignis groaned and quickly sprang to his feet, shouting to try and regain control of the situation.

"Snap out of it! Move your legs and get out of here now! This is undeniably a S-rank monster, and, I dare say, the legendary Steinberg! Any sighting of such a monster would have immediately moved the knight order to subjugate it, but we're out of the option! Dio and I will stop the monster! Guards and Parry help out in everyone's evacuation. Satowa-san will lead the situation! Ren, back up everyone!"

Parry had reflexively moved his feet in the direction of the giant frog, and halted as soon as Ignis's instruction flew out. 

Parry clenched his jaw tightly, biting down on his teeth.

Dio made a follow up, his eyes still locked on the giant frog. 

"I commend you for the courage to step forward despite the horror of the monster. Hey, tell me... what does it mean being a knight? What's the reason that drives you to swing your spear? Is it to defeat the atrocious monsters, and showcase your might?"

Parry remained quiet, but gave a single nod, his hesitation vanishing, and turned on his heels. Then, he lunged at the small frog, Steinfrosh, that was about to target stonemasons.

Affirming that, Dio then turned to Ignis. 

"Haa. It's... definitely a dual attribute holder mutant from those eyes. It seems we both will be on this together, Ignis."

In a seemingly pre-planned fashion, Ignis and Dio broke into a dash, and charged at the giant frog, seemingly to catch it in pincer, while leaving ample room in their movement to allow Allen to support them with his archery. 

"...Well, we gotta try to check that out, but... this is one heck of a place to try it out. ...Let's not try hard, and focus on other's evacuation—"

But, despite his words, Ignis stepped forward.

Steinberg, now gathering an even denser magical energy than before, had just opened its massive mouth toward the fleeing stonemasons.

In the split second before the magic was fired, Ignis dove underneath the giant frog's jaw, getting into a crouched position with his hands on the ground, and kicked upward.

The Steinberg’s jaw jerked slightly, causing its missile-like water blast to veer off course and slam into the wall, shaking the mine.

"If that thing unleashes a big spell and the pillars collapse, we’ll all be finished!"

◆◆◆

After dealing with the Steinfrosh tadpole near himself, Parry quickly scanned the mine and, without hesitation, made his way in the opposite direction of the exit.

With Ignis immediately taking reign of the situation and passing out his command, the situation had been saved from spiralling into chaos. Against a crisis, the survival instinct of high-ranking explorers posing as guards, and stonemasons to say the least, took priority and had them immediately seeking the exit, causing them to miss out on the situation.

Consequently, the guards who had been stationed farther from the exit, protecting the stonemasons, had left their posts. The mismatched movements gave the small frogs room to block the paths, trapping those still working in that area.

Parry aimed for the Steinfrosh that had surrounded the stonemasons working farthest from the exit and impaled one of them from behind.

"I will provide cover! Follow me!"

"Th-thank you! The only problem is the variants, as long as they're taken care of, we also can tackle those normal Steinfrosh ourselves!"

It appeared the stonemasons to work in the Area 81 were also chosen with their combat experience as criteria. And the silver lining was that except for the variants, the rest of the steinfrosh weren't particularly strong, which could be disposed of by those stonemasons. 

Most of them, measuring over a meter in length, seemed to be the commonplace variety, though they had a slight greenish hue due to the water of the lake. Presumably, the lake’s water caused them to undergo mutations after exposure.

These variants only made up less than a fifth of the total number, at most.

—Why do you swing your spear?

—Why does it mean to be a knight?

While reflecting on Dio’s words, Parry shielded the stonemasons behind him and sprinted toward the exit.

Just as Allen had pointed out before, Parry's spearmanship was a textbook example of how to swing one, rather too faithful to the point to be mistaken for a machine programmed to do only one thing.

He would slowly take his stance, drop his waist, and thrust his spear forward as soon as he had pulled enough distance between him and the opponent, and then quickly retrace the spear back into position.

In one-on-one combat, the beauty of his technique could make it easier to predict, a potential flaw. But of course, there were advantages as well. 

It was a form the Abenil family had spent centuries perfecting it. And having spent efforts beyond the words could describe to assimilate it into his body in his ideal form, along with his own abundant mana, each strike of his spear carried an absolute crushing force. 

Had it not been due to lack of his experience that pushed him to falter, his skill was more than enough to handle Steinfrosh's unique species.

Even if his spear was blocked by mana guard, he remained calm, deftly countering the enemy’s retaliation and delivering additional strikes, precisely sweeping out any variants. 

Parry's gaze quietly glanced at Allen. He had completely shed the relaxed demeanor he had earlier, now responding to his movements and covering the weaker spots in their formation.

Perhaps to conserve arrows, he mostly relied on a dagger for close encounters. But every so often, he would shoot long-range arrows, crossing the mine’s expanse, providing support for critical timing.

His ability to perceive the entirety of the vast Area 81 was nothing short of extraordinary—a view of the battlefield that seemed almost limitless.

Lately, Allen had been garnering attention for his exceptional detection ability, but an expertise of this level couldn't be explained with simple words. He was still impeccable as ever in this pressuring situation.

«Age is irrelevant here. This is something that people are just inherently born with.»

Dio's words resurfaced inside Parry's mind. And to be truth, he had realised that as well.

He, Allen, was born with that. Just like Fey he admired, he had his conviction he adhered to, no matter how much he was ridiculed or looked down upon.

«You will die half way into your journey if you can't find what makes that heart of you.»

So, Dio's words were like a needle that prickled his heart. 

He had realized it long ago. He was never in the leagues of Fey or Allen. He was simply scared of admitting it. Because if he did, he would lose his privilege to stand next to his admirable Fey-sama, or to support her in her endeavours. 

—Why do you swing your spear?

—Why does it mean to be a knight?

Ruminating over Dio's words, he continued to wield his spear with straightforward determination.

As a matter of fact, he had heard Dio—no, Dio Ringart's origin, the kind of person he was via that intel gathered by the Dragoon Intelligence Department. 

His father spoke of Dio with unreserved praise, even admitting to feeling envious of him.

And he agreed with him. Dio was certainly remarkable, and the exact knight figure he chased. 

But at the same time, seeing how much his father had sacrificed to contribute to the country, Parry couldn’t help but feel a dark emotion stir within her heart. Similarly, he was also clinging to the nonsense pride of his, that he was the child of Nix Von Abenil.

All of a sudden, Parry began to see the true visage of himself which he failed to do until then. There was something about Dio's words that strangely stirred the depth of his heart. 

The incomprehensible haziness that had started to erode away his spirit ever since his encounter with Allen had ever so slightly dispersed. 

For he realised. What that he lacks. The future that lies beyond the haziness. 

«A drill can refer to repetitive training meant to refine a specific skill. It also means a tool that pierces through tough materials. And since Parry-kun is stubborn and single-minded, I figured he’d tackle any obstacle head-on and break through it!»

A steel like determination, and a heart to pierce through obstacles huh...

A chuckle escaped his mouth as he recalled that idealistic crap of Allen. 

—So you're saying that I have what it takes, huh, Allen Rovenne?

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