Free Web NovelChapter 23: Chapter 23: King of the Stone People
"Ptooey, ptooey! The intel was wrong. It needs to be updated!"
Andre emerged from a cave, spitting repeatedly to clear his mouth of the dust kicked up by the Stone Men’s attack.
Half a month had passed since he had chosen to construct a Magic Heart as his Magic Organ.
Over the past half-month, Andre had fallen into a strict routine: studying in the morning, taking on missions in the afternoon, and practicing his Meditation Technique at night.
"Pah! The Heart of the Stone Giant... finally in my grasp!"
Andre found a clear spring and washed himself, rinsing away all the grime. Then, he took out the rewards from his mission: two stone chunks.
These stones looked unremarkable, but they were the cores of Stone Men—a key ingredient for the Potion used to pacify the bestial nature of an Earth Elemental Bear.
When he had accepted the mission, the description claimed there were only a dozen or so Stone Men in the cave. But when he entered, he found over a hundred of them, showing signs of forming a tribe.
If he hadn’t unleashed every single Witchcraft Scroll he’d personally drawn, he wouldn’t just have failed to get the loot—he would have been torn to shreds by them.
’This is the third time the intel’s been wrong,’ Andre grumbled to himself. ’Can’t those guys in the Task Hall be a little more diligent and update the information about the academy’s surroundings? After I turn this in, I have to let them know.’
After scooping up some spring water and taking a few gulps, Andre was about to leave when the ground suddenly began to shake.
Andre looked back and saw a giant, ten-meter-tall Stone Man clawing its way out of the earth, letting out a guttural roar at him.
’The King of the Stone People! A High Level Limit creature! How long has it been since those morons at the Task Hall surveyed the academy grounds?!’
Thanks to his recent habit of daily reading, especially books on Magical Beasts and wondrous creatures, Andre recognized the giant Stone Man’s identity at a glance.
The King of the Stone People, a being just one step away from becoming an Official Wizard. With no time to think, Andre immediately cast a Gentle Wind Technique on himself, and a faint green light flashed over his body before vanishing.
Andre felt his body become much lighter. Taking advantage of the Clear Wind Technique’s buff, he broke into a sprint.
At that moment, the King of the Stone People had not yet fully emerged from the ground. If he ran fast enough, he could still escape its pursuit. ƒrēewebnovel.com
But when the King of the Stone People saw Andre—the one who had harmed its subjects—trying to flee, it let out a furious roar and slammed its massive hand onto the ground.
As its hand touched the earth, the once-soft soil instantly hardened into solid rock.
’Turning mud to stone... that’s already a Level 1 Witchcraft.’
Hearing the rush of wind behind him, Andre glanced back. The sight of the King of the Stone People’s actions nearly scared his Soul from his body, and he pushed himself to run even faster.
’Damn legs, run faster!’ At that moment, Andre truly hated that he didn’t have two more legs; any slower and he’d be finished.
THUD, THUD, THUD! Huge boulders landed behind Andre, kicking up clouds of dirt.
When the soil rained down on him, Andre glanced back, and his pupils shrank to pinpricks.
The boulders crashed into the ground like cannonballs, gouging out one deep crater after another.
Worse, the boulders were over a meter wide. If one of those hit him, he’d be crippled, if not killed outright.
Andre sprinted relentlessly. By the time he had covered a hundred meters, the King of the Stone People had finally pulled itself free from the earth.
Watching Andre’s receding figure, the King of the Stone People hesitated for a moment before turning back toward the cave. It began carrying its injured kin out one by one to treat them.
With another roar from the King, huge amounts of mud crawled onto the bodies of the other Stone Men.
Soon, the mud solidified, forming new limbs for them. Once all its injured subjects had been restored, the King of the Stone People let out a final roar and led the Stone Men back underground.
Meanwhile, Andre kept running until he was back within the area covered by the academy’s Witch Array. Only then did he finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Haaa... Ugh!" Andre stopped, collapsing onto the ground. He didn’t care about his appearance, just gasped for air. As he panted, a wave of nausea rose from his stomach.
If his stomach hadn’t been empty, he definitely would have thrown up.
Andre forced his breathing to calm down. After glancing back to confirm the King of the Stone People hadn’t followed him, he lay flat on the ground.
’Thankfully, that King of the Stone People was relatively merciful. It knew its subjects were more important and didn’t pursue me.’
’Otherwise, if I had run into a more aggressive one, I would have had to pay a steep price to escape.’
’Now, it’s time to go settle the score with those good-for-nothing bastards at the Task Hall!’
After lying on the ground for a while, Andre pushed himself up. Under the watchful eyes of numerous Wizard Apprentices, he stalked toward the Task Hall, his face a mask of fury.
"You’re back?" The old man, Jonathan, looked at the exhausted Andre and broke into a smile. Andre barely restrained himself from throwing the Mission Token in his hand at Jonathan’s face.
"More money," Andre demanded. "If I don’t get 20 Magic Stones for this mission, I’m not leaving. And what’s more, I’m going to report the Task Hall’s negligence to the vice deans and the dean."
Clutching the Heart of the Stone Giant, Andre glared at Jonathan with a menacing expression.
"Negligence? Andre, even if you are Radak’s disciple, you can’t just accuse our Task Hall of negligence!"
Realizing Andre was there to cause trouble for the Task Hall, Jonathan’s smile vanished. His face instantly turned cold as he issued a stern warning to Andre.
"You think I’d accuse the Task Hall of negligence without reason?"
Seeing Jonathan about to lecture him, Andre slammed his hand on the counter, startling Jonathan and drawing the attention of everyone present.
"Why don’t you take a look at the missions you post? The last two times, the number of Magical Beasts was wrong, but I let it slide. After all, Magical Beasts breed."
"But this time, a King of the Stone People showed up in that cave! How do you explain that?"
Andre stared daggers at Jonathan, nearly spraying spittle in his face as he spoke.
"The King of the Stone People..."
Hearing this, Jonathan blinked blankly for a moment before it dawned on him.
"You escaped from a King of the Stone People? That’s a top-tier War Servant, just one step away from becoming an Official Wizard!"
Jonathan’s eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Andre.
"Just lucky!" Andre glowered at Jonathan, annoyed.
"If you don’t believe me, you can go to the cave right now. You’ll find the rocks it created with its Witchcraft still there."
"If I hadn’t been fast enough, I would’ve been smashed into meat paste by those boulders!"
