Leaving Danila and the others in his wake, Rest reached the source of the distress signal to find a trio of Magic Department students—upperclassmen, by the look of them—cornered by a black-furred Horned Bear.
Rest didn't wait for his teammates to catch up. He immediately launched a rescue attempt, firing off a burst of offensive magic.
"[Wind Cutter]!"
"Gyah!"
The blade of wind slashed across the bear’s snout.
However, the damage was superficial; the creature’s thick, matted fur had absorbed most of the impact. Still, it was enough to draw its attention. The Horned Bear turned away from the female student it had been cornering and fixed its glowing red eyes on Rest.
"Come on," Rest beckoned.
"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Whether it understood his words or simply reacted to his presence, the Horned Bear lunged at him.
This particular monster was a high-tier threat, far beyond what any student should be expected to face before graduation.
Did they just have terrible luck and run into something strong, Rest wondered, or are there more powerful monsters than usual this year?
The faculty should have surveyed the area beforehand, so he suspected the former. Regardless, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind and focused on the fight.
"Gah!"
"[Super Accelerator]!"
Rest used the burst of speed to slip past the bear's heavy claws as they slammed into the earth. He circled behind the beast to deliver a counter-strike.
This isn't the kind of monster that goes down to lower-tier magic. If I want to finish this quickly, I'll need a high-tier spell, or...
"[Wind Cutter]!"
It was the same spell as before, but with a crucial difference. This was a Quartet—a composite spell layering [Amplification], [Compression], and [Accelerator] over the base magic.
Strengthened to a level rivaling or even surpassing high-tier magic, the blade of wind decapitated the Horned Bear at point-blank range.
"Good. That should do it."
"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
No sooner had Rest felled the first bear than a second one lunged from the nearby trees, aiming for his back.
"Watch out!" the female student screamed.
Rest didn't panic. There wasn't enough time to be flustered.
"I knew you were there."
"Gyan!?"
The second Horned Bear’s body suddenly lurched downward mid-pounce. One of its legs had plunged into a hole about a meter deep, causing it to lose its balance entirely.
The pitfall was a trap Rest had shaped using [Earth Control]. With [Life Search] active at all times, a surprise attack was impossible.
"[Fireball]!"
He slammed a second Quartet-enhanced spell into the bear’s skull. Its head vanished in a violent explosion of fire.
"Well, that's that."
The presence of the monsters vanished. The battle was over.
Rest turned toward the three Magic Department students, who were staring at him in a daze.
"Is everyone all right?"
"Ye-yes... but who are you?"
"I'm Rest, from the Executive Committee. I saw your signal and came to assist."
The three upperclassmen exchanged looks of pure shock.
"Wait... you're a first-year, aren't you? Taking down monsters like that all by yourself..."
"I knew the Executive Committee was elite, but I didn't think even the freshmen were this incredible. We couldn't even touch them with the three of us together..."
They looked visibly dejected.
"It was nothing special," Rest said humbly before casting healing magic on them.
They had sustained a few injuries, but nothing Rest couldn't handle.
"More importantly, why were you attacked by those? Creatures like that shouldn't be wandering around the entrance to the plain."
The Subnock Plain was a monster habitat known as the "Magical Wilds." Conventionally, the powerful monsters lived near the center, while only the weaker ones inhabited the outer edges. Those Horned Bears were the kind of threats usually found deep within the territory.
"We don't know... We didn't intend to fight anything that strong, but they appeared out of nowhere."
"I thought we were dead. Thank you, really."
"You're welcome. Now then, as for the other—"
"Rest, you bastard!"
Danila finally arrived, panting. Thomas followed a few moments later, looking equally exhausted.
"You're... too fast... quit leaving us behind..."
"You're the one who wanted to make it a race. Anyway, we need to regroup with Senior Yugroot—"
Rest stopped mid-sentence.
A distress signal flared in the sky. Then another. And another. Multiple trails of smoke carved through the air in rapid succession, all coming from deep within the plain.
"Hey, look at all those signals...!"
"They're going up everywhere! All from the inner zones!"
Danila and Thomas shouted in alarm. Rest looked up at the smoke-streaked sky, his brow furrowed.
"This is clearly an emergency. Something is happening."
Even for an event as dangerous as the Maryosai, this was an abnormal situation.
"Danila, Thomas. Both of you, escort these three back to the entrance immediately."
"Wait, what about you?"
"I'm going to regroup with Senior Yugroot for orders. You lost the race, so don't complain and do what I tell you."
Leaving a disgruntled Danila with that final warning, Rest bolstered his physical capabilities with magic and sprinted toward the heart of the crisis.