Mistress Of The Evil Forest

As soon as she feels the ground beneath her rumble, Chloe swiftly leaps into the air and blows herself straight at the judges' quarter—arguably the best decision one can make right now.

After all, with a repulsive presence of this caliber, even ordinary people ought to be alerted.

Once everybody has finally recognized the anomaly, it is too late.

''What is happening...?!''

''I-It's shaking! It's an earthquake!''

Accompanied by deafening noises and violent tremors that send most tumbling, a massive pillar of dark magic rises in the center of the map. Akin to a ravenous serpent, it promptly devours the remains of Balnok and quickly begins to establish its presence.

[Hihahahahahah...!]

Along with an eerie laughter, the immense amount of ominous miasma gradually morphs into a vague apple-like shape. Then, slowly, like honey dripping on a piece of statue, the true appearance of the assailant is revealed.

Floating in the air is one entity whose entire body is composed of three jester masks, each facing a direction and having a different expression. The moment those bright red pupils behind those masks shine, I can physically see the entire stadium, which has been relatively chaotic, freezes.

bzzt—!

With a crisp buzz, the screens above the arena simultaneously display the entity's silhouette, and once again, the laughter that creeps to the depth of a person's soul resumes.

[Greetings, dear PLAYERS!]

An indiscernible voice resonates through the quiet space.

''...''

Ignoring the gasping Claudia beside me, I calmly activate [Inspect].

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Name: Nuf              

Race: Demon                    Title: The Gamemaster

Level: 65

HP: 277/277                    MP: 266/266

STR: 6.7                     INT: 7.5

AGI: 6.3                    STA: 6.5

Skill: [Servant of ■■■■■],
[Let's play a game!], [Nullification Lv.10],
[Status condition Immunity Lv.10],
[Dark Magic lv.9].

State: Excited.

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Nuf, the Gamemaster.

As one of the demons directly under HIM, the demon king, the Demon Venerate—whatever, it possesses an unnatural and logic-defying ability to force its enemies into playing a deadly 'game.' Without saying, it is all thanks to this skill—

[Let's play a game!: FUN is a must, enabling FUN is a duty, and executing FUN is honorable. Together with us, let's all have some fun!] [Unique]

With such nonsense of a description, one would be baffled to find out that it is a [Unique] skill and that it is extremely powerful. With this, Nuf can pretty much affect anybody who doesn't have a high-level resistance skill. 

Originally, this is a demon who appears during the second semester of the second year, but the demon king must have gotten impatient after not having his goals fulfilled. Or maybe it is just a result of the butterfly effect; I don't know.

''Hey, this mark...!''

Right then, Claudia taps me on the shoulder, pointing to a 'v' mark of purple color shining on her forehead. When we gaze outside, a sea of these purple glitters has already filled the stadium.

Without anyone even realizing it, the whole Evone hall has been engulfed in an unknown aura.

On the screen, Nuf screeches, laughing as if finding this scene hilarious. Whilst its victims are busy acknowledging the situation with terrified expressions, the demon begins to bare its fangs.

[Oh, lovely students of Astra Academy! Don't you think that your daily school life is boring?]

Nuf's distorted voice is like a handsaw, one that constantly grinds and digs deep into your flesh as it goes.

[Then! Why don't you play a little game with me today?! Since there is already an enthusiastic audience, it would sure make for a FUN night!]

'''' .... ''''

Like always, the stadium is completely silent. It's not because nobody wants to talk—they likely can't talk. Claudia's condition suggests that they are probably being bound.

Meanwhile, Nuf seems as enthusiastic as it can get.

[Boom!]

The next second, every living, breathing human beside me moves in unison. People in the audience seats simultaneously sit down while students on the field firmly set their steps forward as if possessed. Even as their expressions worsen, their legs don't show any sign of slowing down.

Chloe...

Chloe seems calm. I feel like smiling all of a sudden. 

It always feels nice when people trust you, be it friends or subordinates.

In any case, even though it is supposed to be a slightly cloudy morning, the sky has turned purple, and the sun has been replaced by a vivid moon. According to magic theories, these types are called provisional territory skills. Historically, they are observed to be exclusive to beings related to gods. 

Alongside gods, those can be high-level spirits, divine beasts, etc.

Conclusively, establishing a temporary territory puts the caster as one who has meddled with the divine.

But of course, one exception to this is demons.

As seen before, even the lousiest of demons have been able to create these sanctuaries. It's a popular theory that this phenomenon happens because the demon king is actually a god, and he has bestowed these abilities on his underlings.

''Ugh...!''

''Oh.''

Hearing Claudia's groan snaps me out of it.

Since she and Alice are relatively high-leveled, they can somewhat put up a fight against Nuf's skill, whether through sheer mental fortitude or physical, but eventually, they'll tire out.

Once again, ignoring her confused red eyes as she stares at me, I leisurely take a step forward.

Since the area I am standing in is already dark, it is now even darker once the sunlight is gone. It's convenient since I want to go unnoticed for a bit more.

I want to observe it.

What is 'it'?

Well...

As I slowly make my way toward the stage, a series of high-energy tunes begins to ring, signaling the start of Nuf's game.

[The start of the game is always exciting, so let's make it just that!]

clack—!

From absolutely nowhere, a spotlight appears on one of the students on the field, and naturally, the camera also shows his nervousness fully.

[Dear player! Please choose a number between one and a hundred!]

''W-What...?''

Nuf's red eyes glow menacingly, yet with the same voice,

[Please don't ruin everybody's FUN! Please choose a number between one and a hundred!]

Stunned yet perhaps feeling obligated, the student utters, ''F-Fifty!''

[Excellent! Just as I want to reduce the number of participants!]

''H-Huh?!''

[From now on, all of the players will fight each other to death! The round will officially come to an end once there are exactly fifty people left!]

In an instant, everybody's faces turn pale. Especially the person who has uttered the number; he seems seriously ill. Understandable. At the end of the day, they are merely first-year kids.

Yet, against the students' will, their hands move, carrying the weapons that will soon end their fellow learners' lives.

[Hihahahahahah!]

Right at that moment, a brilliant flash of gold engulfs the stadium. 

''You... bastard!''

In the sky, a girl with light blond hair and emerald-like green eyes rapidly descends, her body wrapped by a green aura. Dragged after her trail is an enormous sword of light, one carrying humanity's entire hope against these despicable creatures called demons.

''...''

Is she still pursuing that crude swordsmanship of 'Silaerob'?

Either way, I hope she won't be discouraged after this, because—

[Impudent.]

''Huh—ack!''

In an instant, a powerful, almost invisible aura is shot out from one of Nuf's masks, blowing Claire's light magic together with her body away into the distance. Slammed against the wall, Claire stays still for a while as she groans in pain.

The brief flash of hope has ended abruptly like that. Once again, despair returns to everyone's faces.

Well... this is what the development team has to do to balance things out. Nuf's stats are quite lacking as an enemy of the second semester of the second year, but they make up for it by giving Nuf [Nullification]—a broken [Unique] skill that allows it to nullify all elements and most other attacks.

The general strategy of this boss fight is to use pure physical power against it. One way or another, this boss is a stat check, according to Chloe.

Either way, the students aren't equipped to deal with Nuf yet.

So, I have to step onto the stage.