Point of view — Dand:

"What was that killing intent?" "How can someone our age release that kind of pressure?" The voices of my classmates echoed behind me, full of questions like that. Professor Maki's bloodlust froze us all — no one would dare to disobey his orders.

My lower lip bleeds from the pressure of my teeth. It's an old habit, biting my lip whenever I feel useless like right now. I want to help, to be of use to my classmates or the professor, but if I go with him, I'll only get in the way.

"Dand? What should we do?" Serti pulls on my clothes. "Come back to us, you're in charge of our class." I slap my cheeks lightly to bring myself back.

"We already have orders. Each captain, help me watch over your group members. No one must leave this protective sphere, and we have permission to force the exit. If things get worse, we'll leave without hesitation." I scan everyone's faces — some look sad, others shocked, even scared. I'm glad to see everyone understood.

"Aren't we going to help Professor Maki?" Agur's hand is bleeding; he's digging his nails into it.

"No, we can't. I want to be useful too, but you have to understand — we'd just get in the way." Some ogres have already stepped out of the trees. We can see around fifty of them clearly, but that's not the problem; more are definitely coming behind.

Our professor stands before them, his body covered in perfectly fitted ice armor. He's holding two fantasy-like swords and radiates an intense pressure. Even from this distance, I can feel his bloodlust.

The pressure suddenly increases. Some ogres open a path, and from the depths of the forest, a much larger and disgusting ogre appears. What is that? A Lord Ogre? How is it possible to see a grade 4 monster here?

All my classmates freeze in fear at the sight of that monster. I don't blame them — I can't move either. A grade 4 monster is something we can't defeat. Now I understand why our professor gave those orders — he already knew about that monster.

What is he planning to do? Fight that thing while being a sapphire rank? That's suicide. He has no chance against a grade 4 monster. The only person in this school capable of something like that is Lady Areci.

What is the school maintenance staff doing? How did they let an ogre evolve inside a grade 3 dungeon? That completely breaks the balance. My brain is the only thing moving; my body remains completely paralyzed.

The Lord Ogre roars and disappears from sight. Our professor moves too, at incredible speed. In the middle point between them, the ogre swings his enormous sword horizontally, and the professor brings down both his blades to meet it. What is he doing? He'll be blown away or cut in half.

A heavy sound reaches us from the clash of weapons. My eyes widen, and my mouth falls open at what I see — neither of them has moved from their spot. They're locked in a deadlock. The Lord Ogre begins to laugh, then swings his sword again — but the professor vanishes.

His left sword stops the ogre's momentum, and the right one slices the monster's right thigh. I can see the look of surprise on the grade 4's face. It must be as shocked as we are to see a sapphire rank surpass it. The Lord Ogre roars, and all the other monsters charge forward.

The ground trembles under the heavy footsteps as hundreds of monsters try to surround our professor. He reacts instantly, moving toward the least crowded area. Two dozen ice swords appear above Maki in an instant, and a second later, they pierce through the ogres in front of him. How incredible! Hope floods back into me. Professor Maki might actually win!

Point of view — Maki:

That muscle-headed idiot, when he realized he had no chance of winning against me one-on-one, called over that ridiculous number of ogres. I can notice a clear difference between the monsters in this dungeon and the ones in Sus's — these are slightly stronger in every general aspect.

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That doesn't change the fact that they're still just ogres to me. If I could handle them back when I was Emerald rank, now, with my new rank and so many improvements, killing them is simple. The problem is that big idiot — the cut on his thigh regenerated almost instantly, almost at the same rate as my own ability. I can't deal real damage while these fools keep chasing me everywhere.

I don't know if this is the only grade 4 monster here. I'd better save some mana; I've already had bad experiences running out of it in battle. Creating so many Joyeuse would be a waste. My crushing zone appears at a safe distance, and my swords are fortified with mana, Imra, and my new banner.

The first ogre loses its arm and head for getting too close. The second one loses its leg and stomach for being careless. Little by little, I'm causing chaos within their formation. Every strike sends a limb flying; my Thundersnow blades are cutting them like butter.

I keep retreating slowly. If I let them surround me, I won't win. I can take a few hits and even regenerate if I'm injured, but being attacked from every direction by countless ogres isn't exactly a nice way to die.

They've realized that attacking one by one is useless, so now they come at me in groups. My strikes are now focused on avoiding being pierced by their blades or crushed by their clubs. Every few moments, I manage to land a deep cut on one of them and have to finish it off with magic. It pains me to waste mana, but if I don't, they'll just heal, and I'll have done nothing.

After several minutes of playing cat and mouse, something changes — some ogres begin to cast spells from a distance at the exact moments I retreat, when their allies aren't in range of the spells. The boss must be tired of watching me massacre his followers.

The ogre mages' attacks come from inside the forest. The grade 4 ogre is smart, directing them so efficiently and precisely. Too bad for him — those surprise attacks can't hurt me, and his melee fighters are nothing but moving sacks to me.

"What do you think you're doing, idiot?" I shout, using two charges of my electrified steps to move toward the protective sphere. That enormous ogre is slowly walking toward it, as if I can't see him. I don't know if the sphere can withstand a strike from a grade 4 monster, and I don't want to find out while I'm far away.

I create three Joyeuse as soon as I'm close enough. They fly straight toward the Lord Ogre, who barely manages to block them with his swords — the impact pushes him several meters back. I reach him just in time to stop him about ten meters from the shield, slashing him twice across the stomach before the ogres behind me catch up.

The Lord Ogre retreats a little. I've left ten ice swords at full power near the protective sphere. He's understood the danger of approaching again — all those swords will strike anyone foolish or brave enough to come near.

A few minutes later, I've already finished off over a hundred ogres. The rest now look more cautious. The Lord Ogre must be tired because he lets out a horrible roar and charges at me. When he's only a few meters away, I increase the pressure of my crushing zone; the new gravitational force stops him for a moment.

I use that slowdown to trap him in a cage and move in at the same time to try to finish him in one strike. Spells of acid, rock, and earth fly toward me, keeping me from aiming for his head. I reach him just as he breaks free from the cage.

My body twists in midair to dodge more spells. I gather enough strength to slice off his left arm and leg. The ogre screams and collapses after losing a limb and breaking free. I end up surrounded by a group of enormous monsters but manage to escape a little with my movement skill.

"Damn it, get back, you idiots." They're breathing down my neck — every hit has clear killing intent. I can only keep moving, swinging my blades to defend myself. Luckily, the spells from afar have stopped, but I still can't shake them off.

I fail to dodge a club strike, and the impact sends me a few meters to the right. I manage to recover at the very last moment and step back to avoid four more attacks. The Lord Ogre is already regenerating — that bastard heals far faster than his smaller counterparts.

Why am I smiling? Every one of my abilities is being pushed to the limit by the number of monsters and that Lord Ogre. My body and mind are in perfect harmony; they move like flowing water. I haven't felt this focused in a long time — right now, I feel like I can do anything.

I only need about fifteen meters to put some distance between us. If I can get that far, I can return to the cat-and-mouse game. I glance at my ankles and wrists — a risky idea comes to mind. I shouldn't risk myself like this when my students' lives are at stake, but in the worst case, we can force the dungeon and destroy it.

I move slowly toward the grade 4 ogre while all the others chase me. I make a sudden feint to make them think I'm going in another direction, but my real plan is to appear right in front of their leader.

My body becomes wrapped in the mana and Imra I've used thousands of times. The exact amount of mana flows into my bracelets, activating them — and I disappear from their sight.

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