SRS 15

“The time limit is one hour, and the banquet will be held in the new students hall. Now, let’s begin.”

Snap.

The moment he finished speaking, Serdik Agor snapped his fingers.

-Kieeeek!

-Grrr!

“Wh-whoa!”

“Hey, hey! What’s happening!”

“Maximus! Snap out of it!”

Then the griffins—which the students had spent the past month taming with passion, sincerity, and even blood, sweat, and tears—lost their minds.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

Soon after, the crazed griffins began grabbing students one by one and flying up, cutting across the sky.

“Wh-where are they going?”

When friends asked in confusion as the griffins carried them away, the vice principal explained without any change in expression.

“They’re taking you to the Cliff of Wailing. You must tame your griffin there and travel to the banquet hall.”

“…….”

Just because the vice principal was calm didn’t mean the students’ reactions were mild. The students looked at the vice principal as if he were insane, but thanks to Serdik’s quick silence curse, they couldn’t utter a single complaint and were carried off by the griffins.

Yohan grew a bit anxious as he witnessed even Suhyeok and Kylus disappear from his side.

All the griffins had been consumed by madness, attacking their masters and flying to the Cliff of Wailing. Only Yohan’s griffin alone maintained its reason, gazing innocently at its master with bright, sparkling eyes.

…Shouldn’t I be getting captured too?

It would be troublesome for Yohan if he couldn’t take the test this way. After pondering, Yohan eventually climbed onto the griffin’s back.

Since the griffin wasn’t taking him to the Cliff of Wailing on its own, he figured he should persuade the griffin to go himself.

At that moment, the vice principal confirmed that Yohan remained alone even after all the students had flown away, and approached with an intrigued expression. He examined Yohan’s griffin and exclaimed.

“The curse was blocked.”

“…Yes.”

“Did you give the griffin divine power?”

Perhaps because it was a one-on-one situation, or perhaps because it wasn’t a question in an official setting, the vice principal used informal speech. The words felt even more intimidating than usual, causing Yohan to tense up slightly.

“…Yes. I heard griffins are divine beats, so I tamed it by giving it divine power.”

“Clever.”

The vice principal adjusted his small glasses and bent down to meticulously examine the griffin’s feet and feathers.

“From its claws to its wings, it’s filled with divine power. You didn’t just give it for a day or two, did you?”

“No.”

“You injected quite a vast amount over a long period. And since you gave it high-purity divine power, your griffin won’t be affected by ordinary curses from now on.”

-Purrr!

Perhaps realizing it was being praised, Yohan’s griffin happily flapped its wings. Yohan felt awkward as the divine beast looked at him with sparkling eyes, seemingly asking to be praised.

“…But don’t I need to be cursed right now to take the test?”

“That’s right.”

“Then….”

“So I’ll cast a more powerful curse to drive your griffin mad.”

“…Pardon?”

It was a sentence with quite an ominous structure. Yohan looked at the vice principal in disbelief at words that didn’t sound sane even when heard with a sane mind.

What kind of person is this?

Perhaps interpreting that look somehow, the vice principal confidently produced an ominously dark mist above his palm.

“You don’t need to worry. This curse is powerful, so it will definitely show results.”

-Pirrr…

The griffin trembled in fear, crying in a voice it had never made before in its life. Yohan, feeling responsibility as its master, stepped forward.

“Can’t I just go to the Cliff of Wailing by myself?”

“Request denied.”

But at the end of the day, Yohan was just a student. With the vice principal, not just some professor, being so determined, he couldn’t refuse.

“…Yes.”

As Yohan gave up and stepped back, the griffin looked at its master with eyes mixed with betrayal.

“…Sorry.”

Yohan murmured quietly and apologized sincerely.

He didn’t like this situation either. But that didn’t mean he could take down the vice principal as a mere student to save his griffin.

How could he take down that highest-ranked demon in the first place?

Even though Yohan had been a high priest in his past life, his use of divine power in this world was still clumsy, so it was clear he’d lose more than he’d gain if he tried to fight.

Realizing there was no hope, the griffin walked dejectedly toward the vice principal on its own. The heartless vice principal paid no mind to the thoroughly dejected griffin and cast his curse.

-Kieeeek!

Yohan’s griffin went out of control.

He really was a demon.

Yohan, once again acutely realizing the vice principal’s identity, dismounted from the saddle himself and let himself be caught by the griffin’s claws as it tried to throw him off.

“Yohan. I have high expectations for you. As long as you pass, this test result won’t affect your grades, so take it easy.”

The vice principal encouraged Yohan as he floated up into the air. Yohan couldn’t give any response and was dragged to the Cliff of Wailing.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

“Serdik Agor, you crazy vice principal! Is there no imperial family in the Nameless Realm? No royal family either? I’ll report you somewhere, anywhere!”

“…Drop out, I want to drop out…. I can’t do this anymore…. Hng….”

“Don’t cry! Instead of crying weakly, curse the vice principal!”

Countless students were precariously positioned on cliff ledges, crying out. Yohan empathized with his friends’ shouts coming from all around as he swallowed, looking down at the cliff below. It was a height from which one wrong step would mean instant death.

Pressed tightly against the wall seeking safety, some objects suddenly came into his view. A piece of paper was flying above them.

<Unbreakable Fishing Rod: Will not break no matter what you attach to it.

Sturdy Rope: Will not break unless cut using magic.

*Both magical tools are provided free of charge by the Academy, so please feel free to use them if needed.>

Yohan blinked as he read the text on the paper attached to the objects on the wall.

A fishing rod and rope? What am I supposed to do with these? Am I supposed to subdue the griffin with the rope?

-kieeek!

“Whoa… Calm down.”

Yohan placed his hand on the griffin’s head and poured divine power into it. However, the vice principal’s curse was stronger than expected. No matter how much divine power he poured in, he couldn’t lift the curse.

“Tsk… If I had learned more divine power training methods, I might have succeeded.”

There was still quite a generous amount of divine power circulating around his heart. But it was frustrating that he couldn’t draw it out as much as he wanted and use it.

Yohan felt regret at his lack of skill and first hugged the irrational creature with both arms to calm it. Perhaps the divine power wasn’t completely ineffective, as Yohan’s griffin, though mad, didn’t show behavior as violent as the other creatures.

“Aaaah!”

“Kyaah!”

On the cliffs above and below Yohan, several students were already being rammed by griffins and falling, so Yohan’s situation was actually quite good in comparison.

“How do I tame this…”

Yohan fell into thought while hugging tightly the griffin that kept trying to bite him, having only instinct left.

Attempting to tame it rashly in this situation could have the opposite effect.

It was while he was pondering with a serious face.

“Wahahahaha! It’s working! It’s working!”

At the boisterous laughter, he raised his head to see a new student flying away, using something like a fishing rod to hook another student and dangle them in front of the griffin, utilizing the griffin’s movement as it tried to eat the student.

“Aaaah! Save me!”

The desperate cry of the student used as bait echoed throughout the area before vanishing futilely into the clouds.

“……”

At the scene that passed in an instant, Yohan wondered if he had briefly seen a hallucination.

Does that method count as taming too?

Moreover, there was no rule saying one must tame one griffin per person, so both the student used as bait and the student riding the griffin might pass as long as they reached the banquet hall.

Yohan, who had been puzzled by the ambiguous criteria, soon dropped his curiosity.

After all, he wasn’t going to use such an insane method, so there was no need to think about it.

Using a friend as bait. Everyone was already exhausted from life at the Resurrection School as it was. He didn’t want to use precious friends, practically comrades, for such cruel acts.

Probably only a few would make such choices.

“Im Suhyeok! Aren’t you going to untie this?”

“Sorry, sorry. Kylus! But you saw it earlier too! There are more than one or two people moving like them, right? We’d be idiots not to!”

“But why do I have to be the one dangling!”

“Ahaha! Well, your sword pointed at you. You were the one who suggested deciding the imperial way, right?”

Familiar voices passed through the air above. Yohan, who had reacted reflexively, confirmed Kylus and Suhyeok flying away in the distance in the exact same manner as the previous students, and fell silent.

After that, about three or four more teams flew past using the same method to break through the test. At this point, even to Yohan’s eyes, flying using the fishing rod and rope seemed like the orthodox method.

Of course it would, they wouldn’t have prepared them for nothing.

…Should I do it too?

Yohan swallowed and agonized between his conscience and his desire to pass.

It was then.

Unlike the other students, he saw one student flying leisurely while petting a griffin that had returned to normal.

Medium-length white hair fluttered gently in the wind. As far as Yohan knew, there was only one first-year with that hair length and such pure white hair.

“Mikael!”

At the call, the griffin’s movement stopped briefly. The griffin, which had been flapping its wings in place, turned around. Yohan, making eye contact with the young man riding on it, asked.

“You broke the curse?”

“Yes. …From the looks of it, you haven’t.”

Mikael’s griffin flew close to the cliff where Yohan was positioned. Yohan looked back and forth between his still-mad griffin and Mikael’s peaceful griffin in admiration.

He knew Mikael handled griffins well, but he never imagined he’d break the curse.

“How did you break it?”

“Wouldn’t telling you be cheating?”

“Hmm…”

Now that he thought about it, that was true. As Yohan, convinced, closed his mouth, Mikael rode his griffin down to eye level and stared at Yohan’s appearance before smiling with curved eyes.

“Should I help you?“​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​