Doggone Academy

Chapter 45 Entrance Exam (6)

The man in the mask did not respond to Lilith’s question. He merely looked her over slowly with an expression as if he were observing an inanimate object.

Does he remember? Or is he pretending not to remember, despite doing so?

Or does he genuinely not have any recollection of Lilith in his mind at all?

It was unclear whether he lacked social skills or just lived by his own rules, indifferent to the world around him.

Staying at the waypoint for a day or two more would probably allow Lilith to join a group with ease, but at this moment, this man in the mask was her only breakthrough.

“It’s okay if you don’t remember. I saw you fight back in Rigved.”

Whatever else was true, it seemed certain he was listening to her. That was enough.

“You’re not trying to go on by yourself without a team, are you?”

“…”

“You’re just like me. I’m not exactly looking to find a team either.”

It felt odd, like talking to a statue.

‘Are you even listening?’

Cecil could at least get a nod from him, but with Lilith, there was nothing.

Despite the nail being driven into her pride, Lilith suppressed her irritation.

“So I plan on following the path you’ve blazed. That’s okay, right?”

There was no need for a sense of camaraderie. Since he refused Cecil’s proposal, he clearly wasn’t expecting anything.

The man neither confirmed nor denied. He simply turned his head away from Lilith.

As if it wasn’t a matter needing his permission.

Lilith gave up trying to talk any more. It didn’t seem like he would listen.

She steeled her mind to simply take what she needed from him and part ways when the time was right.

Lilith sat down quietly, maintaining appropriate distance from the man, and hugged her knees to her chest.

The air grew cold as night descended in the deep forest. She felt so hungry her stomach seemed to stick to her back.

Being treated coldly by someone else was not something she was accustomed to.

It was like she was an ousted noble left to sit on the cold ground.

She spent the night curled up like a squirrel facing winter.

***

Early at dawn, Trisha woke Cecil with a shake.

“Sister, sister!”

“Uhh, ugh.”

“Get up quickly!”

Cecil rubbed her eyes and struggled to sit up.

“…Ugh. Why?”

“Sister, isn’t the man in the mask your friend?”

Cecil yawned as she responded.

“Haaam, yeah… a friend.”

“He’s heading toward the gorge right now. Shouldn’t we stop him?”

“…What?”

Cecil was fully awake now.

Heading to the gorge? Did he find some team members? Does he have a strategy for the gatekeepers?

“Where is he right now?”

Trisha pointed in a direction.

“Sister, over there, he’s going in right now.”

The man in the mask was making his way deep into the direction of the gorge, becoming just a speck in the distance. The woman from the previous night was following behind him.

As Cecil had assumed, the two of them were indeed traveling together.

Yet apart from them, there were no other companions in sight.

Cecil puffed her cheeks with displeasure.

“Ugh, forget it.”

She lay down again and covered herself with a blanket.

“Sister?”

“There was a reason I tried to recruit him. He’s really strong. He’ll probably take care of himself.”

“But sister…”

Trisha seemed restless, despite Cecil’s reassurance.

“What nowww.”

“Gale and Luna’s groups gave up on that route and detoured. Are you sure it’s okay?”

“What’s the difference between a detour and the gorge?”

“Well, since the front route through the gorge is the fastest, I’ve heard the Plantaras guarding there are much bigger and stronger than those on the detours…”

“What? Why are you telling me this just now?”

“Well, we weren’t going through the gorge… no one has used that path until now… what to do.”

By the time Cecil looked again, the man was already gone with no trace.

It was too late to chase after him.

“…He made his choice, so we’ll just have to watch for now.”

Perhaps he knew what he was getting into.

“Is it really going to be alright?”

“I don’t know…”

Even Gale’s group and Luna’s group had failed, it would be a stretch for just those two to take down the gatekeeper.

‘…But if it’s Candy.’

Somehow, she had a feeling if anyone could pull it off, it would be him.

***

“You… are you sure you should be going this way?”

Lilith realized she wasn’t in any kind of partnership with the man, so she coughed awkwardly and held her peace.

She unfolded the map and checked their path. True, the gorge segment was the shortest route. However, during her time at the waypoint, none of the contenders had dared to set foot in this gorge.

There were surely talks among the vanguard about it. She couldn’t shake off a sense of foreboding.

Without any hesitation, the man cut through the dark gorge, advancing with purposeful strides.

Steep cliffs flanked both sides of them, extending long and tall.

Though the width of the path was broad enough for four or five carriages to pass, making it not feel narrow.

However, the winding and dark nature of the gorge instilled in her the constant fear that something might jump out at any second.

The thought of leaving the man behind and retreating crossed her mind.

They went on in silence for about an hour.

Though morning came, the gorge remained shadowed.

Suddenly, strange sounds echoed through the gorge.

Koong! Click clack click clack.

“Aaack!”

Startled, Lilith immediately covered her ears with her palms.

“What is it. What.”

Even with her ears blocked, the sounds reverberated through Lilith’s entire body again.

Click click clack koong! Click clack koong!

The ground shook. This was something entirely different from what they had encountered before – a massive heaviness. It felt as if the entire gorge trembled in fear of this gigantic thing before them.

There was definitely something up ahead.

And the sound was getting closer.

The man stopped in his tracks and drew his wooden sword.

Koong! Koong! Koong!

The massive object was rapidly approaching.

And the first thing they encountered was a gigantic hand clutching onto the cliffside.

It looked strong enough to crush a bull with one hand, massive in size.

Then, around the curving road, a Plantara the size of a house revealed itself.

Click click clack

The wooden joints rubbed together, producing a chilling noise.

Its long legs and feet blocked the path through the gorge.

“…!”

Lilith was petrified by the sight, unable to make a sound.

The man also seemed to have not anticipated the Plantara to be this gigantic as he hung his arms limply and stared dumbly up at it.

The Plantara saw the man and immediately showed hostility.

“Why are you just standing there, run!”

Lilith yelled from behind him.

A lengthy arm swooped down horizontally, aiming at where the man stood.

Whoosh!

The man swiftly ducked low, dodging the sweeping palm of the Plantara.

The hand that passed by kicked up a strong wind like a giant fan.

Lilith’s instincts screamed a warning.

‘This isn’t something to fight against.’

She began to back away slowly.

“You idiot! Just run away!”

To Lilith, the man seemed out of his mind. He stood his ground, waiting for the next attack.

Was he really aiming to fight this thing? What power did he think he had?

He launched himself out of the way again, avoiding the Plantara’s fist and deftly striking with his sword, but it made only a slight scratch – no significant damage was done.

‘This is futile. A wasted effort.’

The way he fought was recklessly foolhardy. This was a hopeless fight.

‘Did I misjudge him?’

In some way, she felt he was downright foolish.

Suddenly, the wooden sword the man held began to wriggle and then transformed into a sapling with thick stems and lush leaves.

Lilith was shocked at the sight.

“What, what is that?”

What was he planning to do with that when a sword’s blow seemed barely sufficient?

The Plantara’s palm swung from below as if to overturn the entire ground, narrowly missing the man on its way up.

As the palm swept by, the sapling clung to it like a web.

The man, like a monkey swinging on vines, grabbed the sapling and was lifted into the air by the palm’s trajectory.

The sapling then returned to the form of a wooden sword, and he kicked off the palm, jumping onto the Plantara’s shoulder.

All his movements flowed seamlessly like water.

“What the…”

From a distance, Lilith watched with eyes wide at his spectacle.

He stood on the Plantara’s shoulder and thrust the wooden sword forcefully into its arm joint.

It seemed he was trying to sever the joint, the Plantara’s weakness.

However, due to the Plantara’s massive size, no cracks appeared in the joint. For the Plantara, the sword might as well have been no more than a toothpick.

He repeated stabbing the shoulder joint a few times. It seemed a futile gesture, entirely useless.

“Why is he fighting so recklessly?”

And then, the Plantara’s fist struck the man’s entire body directly.

Thwack!

It was a blow powerful enough to leave an ordinary person in a near-death state from just a single hit.

“Kyaaak!”

As though she had been hit herself, Lilith clasped her hands over her mouth in horror.

He was sent flying behind the Plantara into the depths of the gorge, plummeting helplessly.

The fight ended as abruptly as it began.

Having dispatched the man, the Plantara fastened its gaze on Lilith.

“…!”

She was the next target.

Drurg, thump!

The Plantara started heading toward Lilith.

Gradually stepping back, she soon turned and ran with all her might.

But the Plantara, with its long strides incomparable to Lilith’s, caught up to her in just a few steps.

Lilith tripped over a stone and fell.

“Kyah!”

She tried to pick herself up, but her arms and legs shook so violently she couldn’t support herself.

Tears poured down her face as she was paralyzed with fear.

The overwhelming disparity in strength left her without the courage to attempt any magical resistance.

“Sob, Mommy…”

She turned her body around and looked up at the Plantara.

The Plantara, having caught up to Lilith in moments, was winding up its arm and body for a strike, bent on dispatching her.

“I don’t want to, no, please no.”

Terrified, she pushed her body back.

Just then, a piercing light burst from the shoulder joint of the Plantara.

Whirring.

The Plantara lashed out with all its might.

Lilith tightly closed her eyes.

An explosion followed immediately.

Boom!

After the blast, silence fell. No other sound could be heard.

Lilith, who had been crouched down, sensed something was off and slowly opened her eyes.

“…!”

The Plantara’s palm was frozen in place right in front of her.

Something cold clung to her face. With trembling hands, Lilith brushed it off her face.

It was white frost.

An unbelievable sight unfolded before her eyes.

“How? This can’t be.”

The right upper body of the Plantara was frozen solid, a stark white.

The Plantara trembled violently as it tried to move despite being half-frozen.

Lilith recalled.

‘Those magic explosives?’

The man hadn’t just been poking around with his sword— he had planted a magic bomb inside its shoulder.

Something was visible through the fingers of the immobile Plantara, seen from the depths of the gorge. The man was getting up and approaching from there. As he swung his arm, a dazzling light flared up all at once.

That light charged at a ferocious speed, hitting the Plantara squarely.

Kaboom!

“Kyaaak!”

Startled by the blast, Lilith curled up.

The frozen upper body of the Plantara was completely shattered into pieces.

The fragments scattered everywhere, and cold splinters rained down on Lilith.

What remained of the Plantara’s right upper body was obliterated, and the remaining left arm hung tattered before finally falling.

The Plantara lost its strength and collapsed to the side.

Thump!

Lilith hastily cleared away the remnants of the Plantara that had sprinkled over her.

“Panting, panting, panting.”

In the blink of an eye, it was all over.

Her heart was still pounding furiously.

“How on earth, how did he…”

The man in the mask was staggering back from a distance, holding a mysterious sword that shone with a strange, bright light in his hand.

***

Cecil struggled up onto a bulging rock on the mountain ridge.

Looking up from below, Trisha asked her.

“Sister, are you okay?”

Cecil dusted off the dirt attached to her clothing.

“Yeah, could you throw me the telescope?”

“Here, catch!”

Cecil caught the telescope Trisha threw up to her and climbed to the highest point of the rock.

From there, she had a clear view over Grace Mountain.

The evening glow painted the forest red, and a refreshing breeze blew.

“Sigh…”

She wasn’t here just to enjoy the scenery.

Cecil aimed the telescope towards the entrance of the cave detour, monitoring the situation.

Above the dense forest, she could see the upper body of the Plantara guardian violently thrashing about.

Silver wolf spirits, likely Luna’s, were tearing at the Plantara’s shoulders and arms.

Even so, the accompanying mages’ fervent casting of flame magic didn’t seem to inflict any significant damage.

The battle had been ongoing for three whole hours.

“Looks like Luna’s group is still struggling.”

Messages then began flying in towards Cecil.

She took her eyes off the telescope and collected the notes brought by the Stitches.

Her compatriots, who had gone out on reconnaissance just like her, were reporting the situation.

“Hmm… Gale’s group is making progress…”

She read a note from a colleague who had scouted towards the gorge, then her face went blank with astonishment.

The note contained unbelievable news.

It said that the gorge gatekeeper had been shattered to pieces.

That was right exactly where Candy had gone, taking just one other person with him.

Cecil muttered to herself, staring dumbfounded at the note.

“Candy really is strong.”

He had managed to defeat the gatekeeper faster than any other contender.

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