SRS 82

A dazzling halo illuminated Yohan, as if he were standing with his back to a pillar of light. Wrapped in the divine power he had drawn up, Yohan took a step toward the griffin, but the mad griffin backed away.

Yohan met its eyes and reached out. When he didn’t move any closer, the griffin whimpered softly, watching him. After a moment, it slowly approached. The madness in its eyes subsided, and life returned to them. Regaining its senses, the divine beast lowered its head and nudged Yohan’s palm.

–Prrng.

The griffin tilted its head and acted affectionately. Yohan couldn’t help but laugh when he saw the massive creature trying to look small and harmless. He stroked its head and held its cheek.

“You’ve come to your senses now, right?”

–Grng!

“Then let’s go help the others.”

–Prrng!

The griffin purred and lowered its body. Yohan jumped up and down a few times before managing to climb onto its back, and when they soared to the sky together, the students who were watching gasped.

“Wow…”

“That’s amazing!”

“Nice work, Yohan! Show Serdik Agor what you’re made of!”

“Yohan, Yohan, Yohan!”

Cheers erupted instead of envy. Amid his friends’ loud support, Yohan ignored the shouts asking him to punish Serdik Agor or teach Professor Ariel a lesson, and flew toward the direction where Mikael, Suhyeok, and Kylus were fighting with the agrisha.

When the agrisha spread its massive wings and opened its mouth, a sound wave struck Yohan and his group.

“Griffin!”

Yohan gripped the griffin’s feathers, tightening his thighs around its flanks. The giant griffin spun rapidly, avoiding the sound waves.

“Ugh!”

Yohan, holding on with all his might, lowered himself down on the griffin.

“Ram into it.”

At the soft whisper, the griffin roared and flew towards the agrisha.

–Kieeeek!

The divine beast and the monster collided. The agrisha immediately turned its attention to the griffin, baring its jagged shark-like teeth as it lunged to attack.

The griffin dodged by striking agrisha’s face with its wing, then grabbed the back of its neck with its claws.

“Suhyeok!”

While feeding the griffin divine power so it wouldn’t tire, Yohan called out to his friends for help.

“Let’s go, Kylus!”

Suhyeok, who had stopped moving when Yohan and the griffin appeared earlier than expected, came to his senses, changed his weapon, and surrounded the agrisha.

His wire restrained the agrisha’s body, and the griffin bit Kylus sword and stabbed the defenseless monster’s abdomen.

“Thunder.”

Lightning summoned by Mikael struck from the sky. The griffin quickly released the agrisha and pulled back, and Mikael’s lightning bolt hit the monster on the head.

–Kieeeek!

The agrisha screamed. Yohan commanded the griffin to charge again again. As he cast a divine barrier over it, the griffin fearlessly threw its whole body against the enemy.

As the agrisha staggered from the blow, Suhyeok and Kylus attacked again, and and Mikael’s attack hit through the gap created by the two.

After the process repeated several times, the agrisha couldn’t hold out any longer.

When Yohan’s team had only 20 seconds left, the creature, shrouded in shadow, fell from the sky.

The monster, twice the griffin’s size, crashed down. Perhaps because its body was pitch black, the fall looked like night was descending.

Yohan guided the griffin to lower Mikael and the others onto its back, then ordered it to dive after the falling agrisha.

The griffin sliced through the air, seized the agrisha with its claws, and descended.

Boom!

14 minutes and 59 seconds. That was how long it took Yohan’s team to subdue the griffin’s madness and defeat the agrisha.

As the cloud of dust that rose from the fall cleared, the agrisha—alive but unconscious and unable to move—and the griffin standing majestically above it, were seen.

“Whoa!”

The first-year students shouted in excitement as they looked up at the four riders on the griffin’s back.

Hearing the explosive cheers made Yohan’s ears turn red. He looked down, preparing to dismount.

“Hmm…”

It was still too high.

Yohan didn’t have Suhyeok or Kylus’s physical ability, so he couldn’t just jump down like they did. He was about to ask the griffin to lower itself when mana gently wrapped around him like an embrace, lifting him from the air and placing him softly on the ground. He recognized the owner of the mana’s from the calm and stable flow.

“Thank you.”

When Yohan nodded to show his gratitude, Mikael shrugged. Professor Ariel, who announced the end of the test, revealed the score registered for Yohan’s group.

“480 points! Additional points awarded for completely stabilizing the berserk griffin, bringing the total to 500 points!”

It was overwhelming.

It wasn’t just the highest score; it was likely close to a perfect one.

“Wow!”

There were no jealous friends. The first-year students were busy exuberantly congratulating Yohan, who had demonstrated the most ideal and orthodox method for achieving perfect scores.

Hearing the applause and cheers coming from all sides, Yohan suddenly remembered the day he was appointed High Priest.

That day had been just like this one.

A day when the sun in the sky was brightest, the smiles of the people were infinitely beautiful, and the honor of the temple was exalted.

That day Yohan became the High Priest.

‘I bestow upon you the surname Herse, young priest, and from this moment on you shall be the High Priest of Yufir.’

He still remembered the laurel crown placed upon his head. Even the weight of the entire continent resting on his shoulders hadn’t felt heavy. The memory of that moving moment was vivid.

Feeling a slight overlap between that day and today, Yohan looked at his cheering friends and smiled brightly. The students, seeing Yohan’s brightest smile since entering school, fell silent for a moment, then erupted in cheers again.

Their shouts felt to Yohan like firecrackers celebrating the first step in their journey at Fantasiademia.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

“Ugh… I’m dying, I’m dying.”

Suhyeok groaned and collapsed on the bed, struggling like a sick chicken. He’d been dozing off and on since the moment he’d returned from the examination ground after the battle, so it seemed he hadn’t fully recovered from his fatigue.

“Should I give you a blessing?”

“Oh, yes, that’d be nice.”

Yohan drew out divine power for his exhausted friend. He hadn’t seen it himself since he’d been fighting the griffin, but he’d heard that while Yohan was occupied, Suhyeok had used his wire to control the agrisha’s movements, giving their team the upper hand early in the battle.

Controlling that massive agrisha with just a wire? Where on earth does all that power come from?

Suhyeok may seem ordinary on the outside, but you shouldn’t judge people by their appearance.

Yohan took the opportunity to bless Kylus and then looked at Mikael’s bed. If possible, he would have liked to bless Mikael, but unfortunately, he was currently away.

He had said he had some business to attend to.

Yohan recalled the conversation after the test and lay down on the bed, his regrets vanished.

“Haa…”

Only after letting out a long sigh of relief did it really dawn on him that the arduous end-of-month aptitude evaluation week was over.

“I was wondering when this evaluation week would end, but it passed by quickly.”

Suhyeok muttered, as if he had the same thought.

“And then it starts again in three weeks.”

Kylus responded in a neutral tone. Silence fell in the dormitory in an instant, and everyone stared at each other with pale faces. Yohan exchanged glances with his friends and squeezed his eyes shut.

Right, this was a ‘monthly’ aptitude evaluation.

Just because this evaluation was over didn’t mean he could rest easy. Yohan sat up, realizing a reality he’d rather not acknowledge. He walked to the window and looked out, seeing his friends walking around like zombies.

“Hmm.”

Yohan examined the faces of his friends, who looked like they would pass out at any moment, and then recalled the number of first-year students.

“Will a lot of them drop out?”

Now that the evaluations were over, the withdrawal period had opened once again. Applications would be accepted starting tomorrow until the first period on Monday. With that in mind, Yohan turned around just in case.

When he looked at Kylus and Suhyeok with worried eyes, the two exchanged amused smiles.

“Hey, even if the others do, we won’t.”

“…Really?”

He hadn’t even said anything, but his concern must have been obvious. It was a little embarrassing, but hearing that was still a relief. Yohan smiled softly, and Suhyeok sat up on the bed.

“Yes. We’re not planning to withdraw, so don’t worry. Of course, when we say we’re dropping out, we’re joking.”

It seemed like a light remark, but it sounded a bit heavy. Yohan pretended not to notice Suhyeok’s expression, which seemed dejected for a moment, and fiddled with the window’s frame.

Seeing them say things like that, he guessed those two have their own reasons for having to go back.

Everyone at Fantasiademia had their own story, after all.

Yohan, reminded of that fact again, sat down in his chair and waited for Mikael to return.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

As the weekend passed, the number of first-year students at Fantasiademia decreased to a total of 98.

When Yohan heard that Aquador was among his friends who had left, he couldn’t help but feel regret.

But he knew he would have to get used to it.

It seemed like he would have to experience his close friends leaving one by one quite often here.