Magic Academy Mayhem: A Class Full of Maniacs - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The two of them glanced at Cynthia, and when they caught sight of the wound on her back, understanding dawned.

Vernel looked calmly at Richter and Eli and said bluntly, “If you two keep arguing like this, is there even any point in taking turns to rest?”

At those words, Cynthia felt as if, in that very instant, she had met a true angel out of legend.

After knocking back an incoming fireball, she cast Vernel a moved, grateful look.

Her gaze was far too intense. Vernel shifted her eyes away slightly, not quite used to it.

Seeing that going crazy had worked, Cynthia reined herself in a little.

Like a master of changing faces, she returned to a calm expression in the very next second. “Since I’m the captain, I can set a rule, right?”

She gave them no chance to answer and simply laid out her demand in a sinister tone. “From now on, this team’s guiding principle has only one rule: if you want to fight, brawl, curse each other out, or anything of the sort, please do it away from me. As a pacifist, I can’t stand such extreme scenes, so I hope everyone will cooperate.

“If you really can’t manage that, then you might as well all stop living. By the way, I may not be your match in other areas for the time being, but when it comes to making poison, I have more than enough confidence.”

She gave the two professional contrarians a sidelong look, her attitude so indifferent it didn’t seem like she was joking.

Eli and Richter truly fell silent.

Not because they were scared, but because they felt that… their captain might not be entirely normal either.

After a moment, Richter spoke first. He pressed his palms together in an apologetic gesture. “Don’t be mad, Captain. We were only joking. I promise ‘I’ won’t do that again.”

He deliberately emphasized the word “I.” What he was implying went without saying.

Eli gave a cold laugh. He didn’t expose him, but he also didn’t speak again.

Everything finally quieted down. The skin on her back was still aching faintly. Expressionless, Cynthia took a Healing Potion, already planning to find an opportunity to loosen her defenses as well and let the two of them suffer a bit.

She was petty.

There was nothing more to say.

However, before she could do anything, the two of them fell into the trap on their own.

Two soft groans of pain rang out. Cynthia smiled faintly. “I told you not to let your guard down~”

Richter’s fingertips curled slightly, and his expression chilled for an instant. When Cynthia looked over, he immediately turned into a teary, pitiful picture. “Captain, Eli did that on purpose!”

Eli’s expression didn’t change. “I’m tired. It was an accident. Sorry about that.” His brow lifted slightly. “Of course, if you’re unhappy, you can do it instead. I’ll rest.”

“…” Richter curved his lips. A moment ago, he had looked like he was about to collapse from exhaustion, but now his attitude changed at once. “Sure. Then I’ll take over. (^-^).”

Cynthia could already imagine what the scene would look like a few minutes later.
Half a minute later, deliberately suppressed cries of pain kept spilling out.

Expressionless, Cynthia scattered the Feather Blade attacks.

She had overestimated them. They didn’t need a few minutes.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the two of them as they stubbornly endured the pain. It was honestly a little funny.

It had only been a minute, yet Eli and Richter already had several holes in them from being pierced by the Demon Bird’s Feather Blade.

One was deliberately not defending. The other was deliberately getting in the way.

Were they enemies or teammates?

Cynthia felt it was the former.

At least, that wouldn’t be changing anytime soon.
Two hours had already passed since they arrived on the island. Just when everyone was doing their utmost and nearly unable to hold on, the monsters suddenly scattered as if they had received an order.

After confirming they had left, Cynthia sat down on the spot, drained of strength.

Had they cleared it?

Cynthia no longer believed this was a class. How was this any different from a death escape game?

Oh, there was a difference. In a game, you could revive after dying.

But as students, they couldn’t.

“I’m so tired.” Richter’s condition gradually worsened, the red tint at the corners of his eyes becoming even more distinct from fatigue.

“The second lesson has only just ended. Don’t forget there are still four lessons left.” Cynthia bent her knees, closed her eyes, and rested against her arms. “The third round is training related to spiritual power. While we have time, hurry and treat your injuries.”

Their magic was restricted, and their energy consumption had been too great. Right now, even defeating a First Order Magical Beast would be somewhat difficult for them.
Richter slumped in defeat. “Got it…”

–

The group waited in place the entire time.

And yet, even deep into the night, nothing happened.

It was so calm it made their skin crawl.

The pitch-black night came with the howling evening wind. The stench of blood lingered in the seawater, and all sorts of strange noises from the dark forest sounded especially distinct at this hour.

The time reached 10:00 p.m.

Cynthia picked up some dead branches and started a fire.

A long-lost glow appeared on the dim beach.

Seeing this, Vernel took the initiative to gather firewood nearby.

Sangmo caught some edible fish, shrimp, and crabs from the sea.

As for Eli and Richter, seeing the other three cooperate so smoothly, they very consciously went to gather wild fruit and coconuts from the trees.

The fire gradually grew larger, and the rack for roasting food was finished as well.

Everyone tacitly said little, silently eating their crude breakfast, dinner, and lunch all in one.

That was right. Only now were they finally eating their first meal of the day.

They had been tense the entire time and had never imagined things would be this peaceful after noon.

Another hour and a half passed.

11:30 p.m.

According to the schedule set by the course earlier, their studies for the day should have ended half an hour ago. Class should have been completely dismissed.

However, up until now, Instructor Griffin had not sent even a single word.

Richter stared at the firelight swaying in the wind and said faintly, “Looks like that evil Jellyfish Head plans to dump us here and leave us to fend for ourselves.”

Vernel lowered her eyes. “Could this also be a method for raising our mental power threshold…?”

Eli lifted a hand and pressed his brow. “Who knows what he’s thinking? Is there even a normal person in this academy?”

Sangmo still said nothing, quietly staying in the corner and maintaining his silence.

As the team captain, Cynthia leisurely ate her grilled fish and quietly listened to her three teammates talk.

Psychological pressure, emotional collapse, excessive terror, and so on could indeed, to a certain extent, become one of the possible methods for raising one’s mental power threshold.

Instructor Griffin was probably trying to use this method to train them.

But there was no way something of this level could push them into that kind of state.

Cynthia was long used to this sort of outdoor camping slash survival adventure.

On the edges of Blue Star’s borders in her previous life, there had also been alien races known as monsters hiding in the shadows.

Before she turned thirteen, she had often followed her master to eliminate them, and so she had grown accustomed to camping wherever she happened to be.

To the point that, for her, this current situation was practically no different from everyday life.

As for her teammates, they were clearly only resentful and confused about it. Fear? There wasn’t the slightest hint of that.

“Whoosh!”

As they were talking, a sudden gale swept past, and the fire went out abruptly.

The five people present instantly went on alert, ready for battle.

But after looking around, they saw no magical beasts anywhere.

Were they overreacting?

At that instant, the same thought crossed all five of their minds.

Cynthia tried to relight the fire, but the moment it ignited, the flames went out again, not even leaving behind a faint spark.

This clearly was not the work of an ordinary wind…

The previously calm sea began to rumble with the sound of waves, and a fine drizzle started falling from the sky. The entire beach sank into a gloomy, oppressive darkness.

“…”

Cynthia suddenly felt something tugging at her leg.

The rain abruptly changed from a light drizzle to a torrential downpour.

At the very instant thunder cracked and lightning tore across the sky, Cynthia happened to lower her gaze.

In the next second, countless eyeballs burst out of the ground.

Murky, blood-colored eyeballs were covered in dark green mold, with shreds of rotting flesh and bloody veins clearly stuck to them.

They were everywhere, their crimson pupils constantly rolling.

Pale hand bones also emerged out of nowhere, waving with strips of scarlet, rotting flesh. Large amounts of foul, viscous liquid oozed from the decayed meat, nauseating to behold.

One of the skeletal hands was struggling to grip her ankle, trying to drag her down into the lightless sand below…