Demon King of the Royal Class

“Hmm... So you’re saying that someone is also missing from Class B...”

Vertus, after having heard my report, nodded slowly.

“I think it’s a bit absurd to think that a student from each class both coincidentally lost their way in the jungle.”

It seemed that Vertus had come to the conclusion that searching for the survivors on this island was the right course of action to take.

“I thought we had it bad...”

Vertus could not hide a bitter laugh upon hearing that Class B’s camp had been completely devastated, and that our situation was somehow better.

“Alright. Someone is attacking us, and whether we like it or not, we have to catch that bastard. It’s probably the ‘specific condition’ that the teacher mentioned. But, of course, we’ll still need food to keep going in this situation,” Vertus said.

The first order of business was the search for the culprit, and the second was the collection of food. Just one task on its own was overwhelming, but now we had to tackle both simultaneously.

“In this urgent situation, the only ones who can properly wield force are probably just me, Cliff, Ellen, Granz, and you...”

Harriet required casting time for her magic, and Adelia had not learned any offensive spells. Heinrich’s abilities were not yet at a level where they could be used for offense, and Connor Lint and Erhi were not yet capable of fighting.

Therefore, only five people had actual combat abilities, and we still couldn’t determine who our opponent was.

“It looks like Ellen is the only one who would be able to move on her own in this situation, right?”

“Probably.”

“Good. Fortunately, we have Heinrich, who can ignite flames even in the rain, so cooking our catch shouldn’t be difficult. If we end up not finding anything, we might have to just scrape the coconut shells.”

With that, Vertus headed towards the camp and shouted, “Everyone! It’s tough to be out in the rain, but I need all of you out here!”

At Vertus’s summons, everyone began to crawl out of their huts, looking shabby.

Kaier was gone, and there were a total of ten of us remaining. We were all standing in the rain, and since none of us had slept from the time the storm hit, our faces were all haggard.

***

Vertus laid out the situation methodically.

Kaier Vioden was missing, and additionally, one person from Class B was missing too. Both seemed to have been abducted by another survivor who was on the island. This was presumed to be part of the mission, and it was likely that from now on, each night, we would be targeted, or those wandering alone in the jungle would be hunted down.

Before we fell victim to the survivor again, we needed to find and subdue them. Otherwise, we’d be picked off one by one and fail the mission altogether.

“From now on, Reinhart, Ellen, Granz, Cliffman, and I—these five—will be split into three teams to search the forest and hunt. The rest of you should tidy up this camp and repair the damaged huts. If possible, create as many rain collectors as you can to secure drinking water, but do not go too deep into the forest. We don’t know what might happen.”

After assigning tasks to those staying behind, Vertus gathered those who had been called on to enter the forest.

“Ellen, it looks like you’ll have to go in alone. Are you okay with that? If that seems too much, you can move as a team of three.”

“I’ll go alone.”

Ellen prepared a short bow, arrows, and a single knife. That was sufficient for her.

“Good. Cliffman, you’re with me.”

“Okay.”

“Granz, you move with Reinhart.”

“Got it.”

In this manner, three teams were formed.

“Don’t just subdue any survivor you find. Try to identify who it might be then come back. We’ll formulate a plan then. Let’s prioritize securing food for now.”

Everyone nodded in agreement with Vertus’s words.

“Let’s go.”

Gush, gush, gush!

Through the pouring rain, we entered the jungle.

***

Riana was a bit different than the rest of the Class A students who had entered the forest just now. She was a superhuman. Of course, I was also superhuman, but my abilities were more attuned to combat.

“Huff... Huff...”

Consequently, Riana had significantly less stamina compared to the others, and with the ongoing rain causing her body temperature to drop, she was struggling.

The orb that Harriet had made for us had timed out. As it flickered out, Riana struggled even harder to move through the rain.

“... Should we go back?”

“No, let’s keep going.”

Although she was exhausted, it seemed she disliked the idea of being a burden, and she gritted her teeth and continued walking with determination in her eyes. That moment made me realize how much my stamina had improved, but also how weak Riana’s was.

Of course, if a combat situation arose, her lightning abilities would be far more helpful than mine.

After walking for some time, I inevitably had to stop.

“We can’t keep going like this. Let’s rest for a bit.”

“Huff... Huff...”

Too weary to speak, Riana slumped down against a tree stump as if relying on it for support. Because of the torrential rain, the ground had turned to mud. Her lips were turning blue, a sign that her body temperature had dropped significantly.

“Hey, are you okay? Maybe we should head back.”

Instead of responding to my suggestion, Riana lifted her hand weakly.

“Give that here.”

“Huh? Oh, this?”

“Yeah, that.”

Taking the machete from my hand, Riana suddenly began to focus her gaze intensely on it.

After a moment...

Zzzzzzt!

The raindrops falling onto the blade began to evaporate. It seemed Riana was running a current through the machete, heating it up. She then cooled the heated blade in the rain, and hugged it like a hot pack. She was already applying her ability in a practical way.

“I just want to burn it all down,” Riana muttered irritably.

It seemed she disliked the idea of trudging through the jungle in such conditions. Of course, who would actually enjoy this?

After a while, color returned to Riana’s face, and she handed me the machete.

“You should do the same.”

The blade was warm, heated to just the right degree.

“Oh, o-okay...”

The more I looked at her, the stranger she seemed—seemingly unkind, yet oddly considerate.

***

Due to Riana’s stamina issues, our progress was much slower compared to the other teams. We had to take breaks intermittently, using the machete as a hot pack, hugging it to recover some body heat before moving forward again.

“What happens if we get lost? As a matter of fact, aren’t we already lost?”

The heavy rain seemed to have caused Riana to lose her sense of direction. I pointed up to the sky.

“We can climb a tree to check.”

“Ah.”

Climbing trees was simple, and even if we got lost, we could regain our bearings from a higher vantage point. If we really couldn’t find our way, we could just keep going in any direction until we reached the sea, then follow the coastline. Riana seemed content with that plan, quietly clinging to the jungle machete as if it were a cherished doll.

“But how are we supposed to find an animal worth hunting in this rain—” Riana was grumbling when her eyes suddenly widened. “Isn’t that it, over there?”

I followed where Riana was pointing, and saw a deer drinking from a puddle of rainwater that had collected in a small depression in the ground.

I placed a finger over my lips, gesturing for silence, and Riana nodded with a tense expression.

The deer hadn’t noticed us yet.

It was about fifteen meters away, beyond the range of Riana’s abilities. I had a javelin, but I wasn’t accustomed to throwing spears. Even with the aid of my supernatural powers, could I bring it down with one blow?

“Let’s approach it slowly,” I whispered.

Riana nodded silently. Luckily, because of the heavy rain, the deer didn’t detect our footsteps.

We managed to close the distance to about ten meters. It seemed easy enough to hit it from this range.

However, if we didn’t land a fatal blow, it would just run away.

‘What do I do?’

We only had one javelin, which meant we only had one chance. I took out the javelin and showed it to Riana.

“Can you create an electric current and make it linger inside this?”

I was wondering if, instead of simply heating the metal with electricity, it was possible for her to leave a residual current in the javelin itself. Normally, it would be impossible, but she had already shown an aptitude for applying her abilities in a practical manner.

In simple terms, it was like applying a lightning enchantment to a weapon.

“Yeah, I think I can do it.”

Riana concentrated and began to run a current through the blade of the javelin.

Then...

Zzzing!

“Ughhhrrrghr!”

“Oh, right.”

Of course, running a current through the wet javelin would electrocute the person who was holding it, something both Riana and I had completely forgotten about.

***

Thankfully, I wasn’t killed.

However, it was a natural consequence that the deer had run away, scared off by the strange scream I’d let out as I was electrocuted.

We were just a pair of clowns...

Both of us stood there in the rain, soaked in a sense of self-loathing for having carelessly let the deer escape.

“Hey, shouldn’t you, an electric ability user, have known better?”

Riana glared daggers at me for my audacious retort.

“Oh, and how did you manage to place first in class with that kind of brain?”

“Did you just make a comment about my brain?”

“Be glad I didn’t call you a noodle-brain. Oh, it would actually be fortunate if you were indeed a noodle-brain, since at least it wouldn’t conduct electricity. What a pitiful, clumsy brain you have.”

That was how she differed from Harriet.

As stubborn as she was, the real difference was that not only did my jabs not affect her, but her retorts hit me even harder. If the argument went on, it might actually escalate to a physical scuffle, so I backed off.

“... Okay, I admit defeat. Let’s drop it.”

“Fine.”

Getting into a tussle with someone who wielded electricity on a rainy day? That was basically like begging for a heart attack to happen.

In any case, we had both gotten overly excited at the prospect of securing our prey, and had lost our ability to make rational judgments. Upon reflection, I realized how stupid it had been for me to ask for a lightning enchantment during a downpour, and how it was just as crazy that Riana had complied.

I sighed. “Let’s try to find it again.”

“It’s probably run far away.”

We began to walk in the direction that the deer had fled. The heavy rain had turned the ground to mud, and it was impossible to make anything out. We had neither the talent nor the technique for tracking. Apparently, watching a few episodes of “Survivor” or Bear Grylls didn’t equip one to track down animals.

We had no choice but to walk aimlessly.

“Maybe it’s gone far off—”

“Shh.”

Fortunately, the deer hadn’t gone far. After about ten minutes of walking, I saw some bushes twitching in the distance.

Rustle!

The bush was shaking unnaturally. There was something there, but whether it was the deer or not, we couldn’t tell. Both Riana and I approached stealthily, maintaining silence, holding the javelin ready in case an immediate response was required.

Kyaaaah!

A chilling, low roar that seemed to stiffen every muscle reverberated through the air.

It was a wild beast.

As we drew closer, we saw a jaguar. It was growling in a threatening manner and standing over the deer it had just caught—the same one we had been pursuing.

“!”

Riana was petrified by the sight of the beast, and so was I. The sight of the animal alone made my body go rigid.

This was crazy.

There wasn’t anything like this in the original work.

Or perhaps there had been, but the original story simply hadn’t touched on it?

I gently grabbed Riana’s stiff arm and started to back away slowly.

The jaguar had spotted us, and if we got any closer, it would charge. Whether I could react in time to match the agility of a member of the cat family was uncertain.

Riana looked at me with terror-filled eyes and silently mouthed some words.

—Why is that kind of thing even here?!

—It is what it is.

Riana seemed on the brink of a mental breakdown, as if questioning the absurdity of this mission, while I calmly guided her backwards, beating a steady retreat.

The beast had caught its prey, and was unlikely to chase after us.

There were two options...

—Should we fight it and steal the prey, or should we just retreat?

—Is that even something worth pondering?

Riana glared at me, hurling verbal abuse at me with just her eyes alone, as if I were some sort of lunatic.

—We can drive it off by throwing the javelin, using electricity, like before.

A pause.

—Are you actually a noodle-brain? Did you already forget you got electrocuted earlier?

Riana seemed genuinely concerned now, as if she thought there was something seriously wrong with my head.

—No, not me. You.

Of course, I hadn’t forgotten the shock I’d received earlier on. We had to throw the lightning-enchanted javelin somehow, but she had to be the one to throw it, since she was immune to electricity.

—Me? You want me to throw the javelin and hit that thing? Do you think that’s doable?

—You thick-skull, who said anything about hitting it?

I pointed to a puddle near the thicket where the beast lurked.

—Just aim for that puddle over there.

The whole place was dotted with puddles due to the rain, and the place where the jaguar had caught the deer was almost certainly covered in water.

Only then did Riana seem to grasp what I was suggesting.

—But what if it dodges? It might attack us.

—If it charges at us, I’ll try to do something about it.

—What can you possibly do?

—Just do it. I’ll handle it somehow.

My physical abilities might not be as quick as a beast’s, but if the jaguar charged, it would enter Riana’s range. If I could attract its attention for even a moment, Riana could attack it with her electricity.

It didn’t seem like a life-threatening situation, so I was willing to take that risk.

Riana seemed uncertain, but eventually, she took the javelin. To avoid any possibility of me getting shocked, she stepped back a bit and, with a doubtful expression, threw the javelin with all her might.

Then...

Thwack!

“... Oh.”

“... Did that really just happen?”

The javelin had missed the large puddle completely, and buried itself directly into the trunk of a tree. It was so spot on that it looked as if she had intentionally aimed for it, which made the miss all the more frustrating.

Kyaaahh!

Sensing the attack, the jaguar charged.

“W-What do we do now!”

“What do you mean?!”

I grabbed the machete and held it out in front of me, facing the charging jaguar. The beast rushed toward us with alarming speed, almost too fast for the eyes to follow.

If I tried to stab it, it was going to dodge. So I switched my grip, holding both the handle and the blade horizontally, the way Ellen sometimes did when demonstrating her half-swording technique. Instead of stabbing it, the idea was to block and fend off the attack.

“Just slash it!”

I deceived myself.

This time, it was not about physical enhancement.

‘My body will become an insulator!’

Clang!

As I thrust the jungle machete horizontally into the charging jaguar’s jaws, a blue spark flashed in Riana’s eyes.

Kyaaah!

“Ughhh!”

I felt an agonizing surge of electricity contracting and relaxing my muscles from my head to my toes.

The jaguar, repelled by the force, stumbled. I couldn’t miss this opportunity.

Forcing my unresponsive body to move, as if awakening it, I charged towards the jaguar.

Thud!

I brought the machete blade down, right on the beast’s head. It did not feel like I was slicing through something. It was more like the sensation of something breaking, jolting straight through my hand.

“Huff... Huff...”

The fight had lasted less than five seconds.

Yet, thanks to the quick activation of abilities by both Riana and me, and the fast response time of our supernatural powers, we had managed to achieve this outcome, which would have been impossible otherwise.

“Are you... are you okay?”

“Phew...”

I looked at Riana and gave a wry smile.

“Sometimes you’ve got to get electrocuted like that to kill off any parasites that might be in your body.”

“What... What are you even saying?”

Riana gave me a look of serious concern, clearly wondering if being zapped by electricity twice in rapid succession had scrambled my brain.

Damn...

A wild beast had just charged at me. It was a wonder I’d managed to react to it at all.

One wrong move and I could have been eliminated right then and there.

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