The Last Apprentice of Magic

CHAPTER 6 — THE THING IN THE FOREST

The creature moved.

Fred barely had enough time to react before the instinctive warning left his mouth.

"RUN!"

The trees around them seemed to explode as the creature surged forward. A massive claw tore through the darkness and swept across the clearing with enough force to send branches and leaves flying in every direction.

Kael reacted instantly.

He shoved Elara out of the claw's path, but the movement left him exposed. The enormous limb struck him across the body with tremendous force.

BOOM!

Kael's body was thrown backward and slammed into the ground hard enough to crack the earth beneath him.

"Kael!"

Elara immediately raised both hands.

"Flame Lance!"

A spear of fire erupted from her palms and shot toward the creature. The spell struck the monster directly in the chest, and for half a second, the entire forest was illuminated by the resulting explosion.

Then the flames vanished.

The creature stepped through the smoke without a single visible injury.

Elara's face gradually lost its color.

"That's not possible."

Fred stared at the monster as the Codex activated before him.

[High-level magical entity detected.]

[Threat assessment unavailable.]

The creature threw its head back and roared.

The sound was so powerful that Fred felt it vibrate through his bones. Branches shook violently overhead, and several dead limbs broke free from the trees and crashed into the undergrowth.

Simon stood completely frozen, while Nia remained rooted to the spot, unable to take a single step.

Fred grabbed both of them by their collars.

"Move!"

The creature lunged toward them.

Fred shoved the two students away just as the monster's claws tore through the ground where they had been standing. Soil and shattered roots erupted into the air as the force of the attack ripped apart the forest floor.

Fred threw himself behind a tree.

A second attack struck the trunk moments later.

The entire tree shook violently beneath the impact, and Fred could feel the force traveling through the bark into his body.

He pressed himself against the trunk and looked toward the creature.

This was no longer a first-year examination.

Whatever rules the academy had established no longer mattered.

They were being hunted.

---

Kael slowly pushed himself upright and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

Despite the injury, his eyes had hardened with determination.

"I'll hold it."

Fred turned toward him.

"You can't."

Kael gave him a faint smile.

"That's never stopped me before."

Lightning erupted around his body.

Magical energy surged through his limbs, causing the muscles in his arms and legs to tense as electricity crackled across his combat gear.

Then Kael charged.

The creature swung one of its claws toward him.

Kael ducked beneath the attack and drove his weapon into the monster's side.

CRACK!

A violent surge of lightning spread across the creature's body.

For the first time, the monster staggered.

Kael's eyes widened in surprise.

"I hurt it!"

The creature responded with a furious roar.

Its tail whipped around with frightening speed.

Kael raised his weapon to block the attack, but the impact was far too powerful. His body was launched backward once again, and he crashed through two trees before finally landing heavily on the forest floor.

Fred clenched his fists.

They couldn't continue like this.

Trying to defeat the creature through raw power would only get them killed.

He activated Magical Observation.

The world around him changed immediately.

The creature's body became a complicated network of glowing lines. Mana flowed through its muscles and organs, constantly shifting as magical energy moved through its body.

Somewhere inside its chest, Fred could see its core pulsing.

He focused on it.

[Analyzing target...]

The Codex flickered.

[Analysis: 12%...]

The creature suddenly stopped.

Its head turned.

Those black eyes locked directly onto Fred.

Fred's blood ran cold.

It could sense him.

Before he could move, the creature charged.

Fred threw himself to the side.

The monster's claws smashed into the tree behind him, and the impact shattered the trunk. Pieces of wood exploded outward as Fred hit the ground and rolled through the leaves.

The Codex flashed again.

[Unable to analyze.]

Fred stared at the message.

"No."

He forced Magical Observation back into focus.

[Reattempting analysis...]

The magical structure twisted before his eyes.

It wasn't behaving like ordinary magic.

The creature's mana pathways were constantly changing, shifting their positions and patterns before Fred could properly understand them.

[Target exceeds current analysis capacity.]

Fred's breathing stopped.

For the first time since the Codex had appeared, it had no answer for him.

He looked at the monster, then toward Kael and Elara.

His mind raced as he tried to find another approach.

Until now, he had survived by understanding things.

If he could understand a spell, he could identify its weakness.

If he could understand an opponent, he could predict their movements.

But this creature did not fit anything he knew.

It was stronger than anything a first-year should have encountered. It was faster than he could comfortably track, and its magical structure was apparently beyond the current limits of the Codex.

Fred swallowed hard.

I don't know how to beat it.

The realization frightened him more than the creature itself.

---

"Tell me where to hit!"

Kael's voice cut through the chaos.

Fred looked up.

Kael was standing again, although blood was running down his forehead and one side of his uniform had been torn open. Lightning continued to crackle around his body as he stared at the creature.

He wasn't asking whether they could win.

He was asking Fred to show him how.

Fred looked back at the monster.

Maybe that was the answer.

He didn't need to understand everything.

He only needed to understand enough.

"Left shoulder."

Kael didn't hesitate.

He immediately charged.

The creature raised one of its claws to intercept him.

"Now!"

Kael struck.

Lightning exploded across the monster's left shoulder.

At the same moment, Elara seemed to understand what Fred was trying to accomplish.

"Move!"

She thrust both hands forward.

A concentrated wave of fire slammed into the same location.

BOOM!

The creature staggered.

Fred's eyes widened.

Something had changed.

He activated Magical Observation again.

The Codex flickered before his eyes.

It still couldn't analyze the entire creature, but this time, it revealed something.

The glowing lines inside the monster's body had shifted.

One section of its magical structure was flickering.

Fred stared at it.

"Again."

Kael looked back at him.

"What?"

"Same place."

Kael immediately attacked.

Elara followed without hesitation.

Lightning and fire struck the monster's left shoulder at nearly the same moment.

The creature screamed.

Its entire body shook violently as the magical energy inside it began to fluctuate.

Fred's eyes widened.

"It's working."

Elara landed beside him and looked toward the creature.

"What is?"

Fred pointed toward the monster.

"We're not just damaging it."

The creature stumbled as the mana pathways beneath its skin flickered wildly.

"We're destabilizing its magical structure."

Kael looked down at his weapon before turning his attention back toward the monster.

"So we don't need to overpower it."

Fred shook his head.

"We need to break the structure holding its power together."

For the first time since the creature had appeared, something resembling hope appeared in their eyes.

Then the monster stopped moving.

Fred's expression immediately changed.

"Wait."

The creature lowered its head.

Its entire body began to tremble.

Kael raised his weapon again.

"Is it dying?"

"No."

Fred took a cautious step backward.

"Something's happening."

The creature's chest suddenly split open.

It did not look like flesh being torn apart.

Instead, it looked as though something hidden inside the creature was unfolding, forcing its body apart from within.

A violent wave of dark mana erupted outward.

Everyone was thrown backward.

Fred struck the ground hard, and the impact left his ears ringing. For several seconds, his vision blurred as he struggled to understand what had just happened.

When he finally looked up, the monster had changed.

The wound across its chest had opened completely.

Something glowed inside the cavity.

Fred stared.

There was another magical structure hidden within its body.

Another core.

His blood turned cold.

"That's..."

The Codex appeared before him.

[WARNING.]

Fred's vision blurred again as the system continued processing the information.

[Target has entered secondary form.]

The creature's second core pulsed.

The entire forest responded.

Trees bent away from the monster as though trying to escape its presence. Cracks spread across the ground, racing outward from its feet.

Then, somewhere beyond the trees, the magical barriers surrounding the sector began to collapse.

One barrier vanished.

Then another.

And another.

Kael slowly pushed himself upright.

"Fred..."

Fred didn't answer.

He couldn't take his eyes away from the creature.

The Codex displayed another message.

This time, there was no analysis percentage.

There was no identified weakness.

There was no instruction telling him what to do.

There was only a single number.

[Estimated survival probability: 3%.]

Fred stared at the creature.

For the first time since the Codex had awakened inside him, he felt something he had never allowed himself to feel.

Fear.

Then the monster slowly raised its head.

A second pair of eyes opened beneath the first.

All four eyes fixed on Fred.

And the creature smiled.