Magic Academy Mayhem: A Class Full of Maniacs - Chapter 31

Chapter 31

The scent of roses on the young woman was gradually drowned out by the smell of blood.

Blood ran down her face and dripped onto Vernel’s.

Pinned tightly in Cynthia’s arms, Vernel lifted her toxin-stiffened fingers and brushed the dampness on her cheek.

In an instant, a smear of crimson entered her vision.

“…”

Vernel stared at the blood on her fingertip, blood that did not belong to her, and found it hard to understand.

She could have escaped just now. Why take the risk to save her?

Did doing this benefit her in any way?

Suppressing her confusion, Vernel said, “Captain, put me down. I’ll hold it off while you go find support.”

Cynthia lowered her eyes and glanced at her. “In your current state, you’d probably be chewed into bloody scraps before I even made it ashore.”

That was the most likely outcome. Vernel fell silent.

“Why did you just stand there earlier? You even dispersed your Spirit Weapon.” Cynthia truly couldn’t understand it. “Do you want to die?”

There was no sarcasm in her tone. Cynthia was genuinely curious.

In that instant, Vernel had given her the impression of someone who had long been waiting for death-so calm it was almost eerie.

Would a normal person really be that calm in the face of death?

No matter how composed or indifferent someone usually was, surely they wouldn’t go that far. She had even given up resisting…

Vernel had not expected her to notice that. She lowered her gaze, her emotions hard to read. “I don’t. But compared to pointless resistance, accepting it calmly seems less ridiculous.”

It was an absurd answer, yet she looked so serious that Cynthia had nothing to say.

After a moment of silence, Vernel said, “At least let me walk on my own.”

Cynthia had no spare attention for chatting right now. She set Vernel down, then grabbed her wrist and ran with her.

Vernel was currently affected by the toxin, so naturally her speed was nowhere near what it had been.

Since they had come out on this mission together, Cynthia couldn’t truly abandon her and leave on her own.

She didn’t even need to think too hard to know how irritating the charge of abandoning a teammate to save herself would be.

Cynthia entered the Coral Forest as quickly as possible, originally intending to use the opportunity to evade the Demon Shark and swim ashore.

But the Demon Shark had clearly thought of that too. It used magic to seal off the entire upper area above them.

Cynthia had no choice but to give up on that idea and come up with another plan.

She was dizzy from blood loss. Even after taking invisibility water, the Demon Shark could still pinpoint their position with terrifying accuracy.

Cynthia’s gaze swept over their surroundings as she considered how they could avoid it…

Vernel suddenly said, “Hide in the fissure first.”

She pointed toward an underground crack at the border between the Coral Forest and the magma.

Cynthia hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she chose to trust Vernel’s judgment.

After having Vernel take a hemostatic potion, an antidote, and a potion to mask the scent of blood, Cynthia released a clone to lure the Demon Shark away.

The instant they slipped out of the Demon Shark’s line of sight, she immediately pulled Vernel into a fissure deep within the Coral Forest. It was extremely narrow, but exceptionally well hidden.

“Roar-!”

They had only just hidden inside and taken their potions when the Demon Shark sensed something was wrong and came after them.

Having lost track of them, it let out a furious roar.

The seawater was churned into something like blades, and every place it scraped across their bodies hurt. Cynthia gritted her teeth and endured it, holding her breath and focusing completely. It felt as if a knife had been suspended over her heart, her entire mind stretched taut to the limit.

She subconsciously held Vernel even tighter. In that moment, Vernel could even hear the thudding beat of her heart.

Vernel loathed skin-to-skin contact with other people, but for some reason, at this moment, she couldn’t bring herself to feel even the slightest repulsion…

Cynthia had no idea what she was thinking. She devoted all her attention to the movements outside. Only after the seawater calmed and the Demon Shark’s aura completely vanished from the area did she finally let out a breath of relief.

Considering the Demon Shark’s cunning nature, Cynthia did not leave the fissure right away. She waited nearly two hours, until her legs were almost numb, before using her skill to release another clone and controlling it to scout the situation outside.
Cynthia’s clone wandered outside for half an hour without being attacked, and the sealing barrier the Demon Shark had cast earlier had dissipated as well.

Only after confirming there was no danger and that the Demon Shark had truly left did Cynthia climb out of the crevice.

Standing at the edge, she looked around. The place was a complete mess, but at least it was safe.

Cynthia recalled her clone, then reached down toward Vernel, who was still in the crevice. “It’s safe now. Come on up.”

Vernel paused slightly, then raised her hand and took it.

Cynthia pulled her up. “The poison should have worn off by now, right?”

Vernel said, “Mm.”

Cynthia took her hand and led her toward the Nightmare Beast nest from before. “The Nightmare Beasts over by the Coral Forest were attacked by the Demon Shark too. More than half of them are dead or wounded. We can just go pick up what’s left.”

Vernel said nothing. Cynthia assumed she was worried about the Demon Shark and was just about to tell her she had already checked that area and it was fine, when she noticed Vernel’s gaze had been resting on their clasped hands the entire time.

Realizing they were already safe, Cynthia snapped back to herself and immediately let go, somewhat embarrassed. “…Sorry. I didn’t think.”

Was that really something she needed to apologize for…?

Vernel gave a soft laugh. “It’s fine.”

“…”

In all the time they had known each other, this was the first time Cynthia had ever seen her smile.

Normally, Vernel always looked as though she had no emotions or desires at all, as calm as a dead tree sealed in ice and snow after losing its soul.

But in this moment, she truly resembled a springtime spirit freed from the shackles of ice and snow, alive once more.

Her smile was so gentle it made Cynthia lose focus for a moment.

Perhaps the contrast was too great, but for the first time, Cynthia felt moved by someone’s beauty. It had nothing to do with love or anything else. It was simply pure appreciation.

Cynthia pressed down that strange feeling and followed the original route toward the Nightmare Beasts’ nest.

Just as she had seen earlier, the Nightmare Beasts had been caught up in the disaster too.

Corpses littered the area outside the cave. Cynthia used vines to gather all the bodies into her Storage Ring, then was just wondering whether she should risk going into the cave to check.

But Vernel had already stepped inside.

Cynthia was about to follow when Vernel’s vines blocked her path.

Vernel said, “I’ll go in. Captain, you stay outside and keep watch.”

Cynthia did not exactly agree with that suggestion. “What if you run into a Second or Third Order Magical Beast?”

Vernel said, “I’ll handle it.”

With that, her figure swiftly vanished from where she stood.

Cynthia looked at the vines blocking her way. After thinking it over again and again, she finally chose to cooperate.

She kept watch at the cave entrance for nearly half an hour. When Vernel still had not come out, Cynthia grew worried something might have happened, so she raised a hand and burned the vines away, then got up and headed into the cave.
The inside of the cave was not as pitch-black as she had imagined. On the contrary, it was exceptionally bright.

The rock walls were covered in glowing moonlight vines, and vibrant flowers and grasses grew everywhere. The scenery was rather pleasant.

The cave was very deep. Cynthia walked for nearly ten minutes before she finally sensed Vernel’s presence.

After stepping through the final door woven from vines, she successfully found traces of Vernel.

At that moment, Vernel was holding two curved blades, her figure weaving among several Nightmare Beasts.

Compared to a month ago, her close-combat ability had improved by leaps and bounds.

Her blades pierced precisely into the beasts’ spines, splitting the struggling Nightmare Beasts in half and spilling their organs across the ground.

Mountains of corpses were piled everywhere, and pools of blood formed from the gathered flow stained the entire ground red.

Blood splattered across her face, yet she did not even blink. She simply flung aside the corpse skewered on her curved blade.

Cynthia watched the scene in silence, and suddenly remembered that from the beginning of school until now, Vernel had always been the one with the highest realm in the team.