The ride to the zone with the A-rank demonic beast, [Tentacle Lilith], was a bit bumpy, but we eventually arrived.
“Hey, are all of these [Tentacle Lilith] over here?”
Yunia, clutching her staff with both hands, pointed ahead.
Before us stretched a forest, and from the entrance, an unpleasant aura filled the air.
“Miss Yunia, an A-rank demonic beast that’s plant-type, right? Would you prefer if all those countless trees in front of us were the boss itself?”
“So, they’re all separate entities?”
“Exactly. Like the countless Black Storm Wolves the Wolf Boy kept with him, all of those are offspring of [Tentacle Lilith].”
“Ugh…”
The trees, towering 2-3 meters high, stretched skyward.
The part that made Yunia grimace was the tree trunks. Rather than bare, spindly branches, these were thick, bristling with thorn-like protrusions.
“Miss Yunia, did you know?”
“S-Senior?”
From behind, Yurha leaned in, whispering into Yunia’s ear.
“Why do you think those [Tentacle Lilith] offspring are left alone like this?”
“Well, that’s….”
“With so many of them gathered there, beasts that might threaten people if approached, why do you think they’re allowed to thrive in that area?”
“Because… they aren’t a threat?”
Yunia, pointing her staff forward, answered Yurha’s question.
“Even if they form a cluster, they can’t cross the Great Wall, and they’re rooted in place, unable to move.”
“Correct. That’s exactly the reason.”
Plant-type demonic beasts.
Since they are firmly rooted to the ground and unable to move, they are far easier to deal with compared to animal-type demonic beasts.
“A bombardment from afar can easily wipe them out. Whether using explosion magic or widespread neutralization spells, a few attacks on stationary targets will efficiently yield cores.”
“Cores… farming the cores.”
“While eliminating demonic beasts is important, the progress of magitech and the convenience of human civilization require an enormous quantity of magic stones. You rode the magic train to the Academy, right, Miss Yunia?”
“Well, I transferred to a bus after that…”
“If there were twice as many cores available, the number of train lines could double, the intervals between departures could decrease, and more jobs could be created. More cores mean more resources.”
It wasn’t wrong.
The world of Bread Academy, influenced by the developers’ ego, was indeed capitalist in nature.
In a capitalist world, having money and resources made life significantly easier.
If there were a straightforward way to make money in the capitalist market while controlling the associated risks, anyone would try their hand at it at least once.
“We call hunting relatively easy demonic beasts for their cores ‘mining’.”
That’s how it is with cores.
“It’s like the mindset of miners extracting gems from a mine. There’s always the risk of a collapse or accident, but once you sort through the extracted materials and realize they’re gems or magic stones, everyone celebrates. It’s the same with areas like this, filled with demonic beasts.”
Yurha gestured toward the forest entrance.
“What do you think is the biggest difference between where we’re standing and the natural habitat of [Tentacle Lilith]’s offspring?”
“Well, for starters, the grass height is different.”
Yunia provided the first correct answer.
“Why do you think that is?”
“Because the demonic beast habitat shows signs of being burned.”
“And why would it have been burned?”
“…Maybe to do something like this?”
Yunia responded to Yurha’s continuous questions by raising her magic staff and aiming it forward.
“Since they’re plant-type demonic beasts, they should be weak to fire. Using fire magic to burn them all down would likely kill the beasts along with the ground itself.”
And as she prepared to unleash fire magic to sweep them away—
“That’s a no-go, Miss Yunia.”
“Phoenix?”
“Using fire there would cause a huge problem.”
I stopped Yunia from casting the [Firestorm] spell by holding her staff.
“Fire magic, being the ultimate counterattribute, would not only burn their bodies but also destroy their cores, leaving them melted or empty.”
“Exactly right, Phoenix.”
Yurha raised her hand to make a circle in the air, then clenched her other hand, pretending to crush it.
“Cores and magic have attributes. This is something all special class students should know well. Fire counters wind, wind counters earth, earth counters water, and water counters fire.”
“Shouldn’t we have learned this even before admission? It’s basic magic theory.”
“Yes, you’re right, Miss Yunia. So if you consider the basics, burning all those plant-type demonic beasts with heavy wind attributes would result in no cores being recovered. The fire attribute magic would disperse the wind-imbued magic within the cores, causing the magic to return to nature.”
“…Doesn’t that seem contradictory?”
Yunia extended her hand to conjure a fireball.
“There are traces of burning, but now we’re told not to use fire magic.”
Though Yunia seemed ready to unleash a fireball at any moment and burn everything to ashes, she kept glancing back and forth between the rest of the team, Instructor Esta, and me, hesitating to cast the spell.
“Miss Yunia.”
Ludmila stepped forward, taking out her spear.
“The scorched ground over there is a result of the aftermath—after extracting all the cores, the demonic beasts’ remains were incinerated.”
“So… to extract the cores, we’ll have to face them directly?”
“That’s correct.”
“Those tentacles?”
“Harvesting must always be done by hand.”
“Ugh…!”
Yunia grimaced and clung to me.
“Dealing with things like that…!”
Despite how grotesque they looked—like those kinds of things—we had no choice but to directly confront the tentacle trees.
Yes.
Those countless, upward-reaching trunks, thick and rounded at the top, resembling long rods, were—
“They look like trees with dozens of fingers attached to each, making them quite repulsive. But demonic beasts like these exist, Miss Yunia.”
Indeed, they resembled human fingers.
Hmm? You’re wondering if they looked like something else?
Of course not.
They’re tentacles, aren’t they?
If they had been any more suggestive in shape, the Academy would never have designated this area as a training site.
‘After all, these demonic beasts are born from those infused with the will of angels.’
[Tentacle Lilith]—its essence is “lily”.
Although my knowledge about this beast is significantly lacking compared to Ludmila or Yurha, as someone with 100% clear save data of Bread Academy, I can make educated guesses about its ecology.
‘Those finger-like trunks are entirely stamens and pistils. The petals and sepals have evolved out, leaving only the reproductive organs needed to scatter pollen, resembling the fingers of angels fondling women.’
The lilies in the demonic beast zones were corrupted by angelic energy, giving rise to their grotesque forms.
Otherwise, we would have been looking at a vast lily garden, a pure, beautiful scene instead of this forest-like area. If they were mere lilies rather than demonic beasts, they could’ve been transplanted near the Great Wall, forming a breathtakingly gorgeous garden visible from the sky.
But the angelic energy transformed them, replacing petals with countless fingers extending in all directions like dandelion seeds.
Any woman caught by those finger-like trunks would be transported to the main body of [Tentacle Lilith] to endure unspeakable horrors.
Now that I think about it, stamens and pistils are essential for flowers—
“Let’s start planning our strategy.”
While I was lost in thought, Instructor Esta checked the time on her magical panel and drew our attention.
“The [Tentacle Lilith] we need to hunt this generation is located 1,800 meters ahead. It has a similar size and stature to the other tentacle trees but hides its body among the surrounding trees it has propagated.”
“This generation…”
Yunia murmured quietly to herself.
The term “this generation” implied there were previous generations and, perhaps, future generations of this A-rank [Tentacle Lilith] leading its colony of tentacle trees.
It made sense.
[Tentacle Lilith] offspring weren’t left unchecked but would eventually mature from C-rank individuals to establish their colonies as full-fledged [Tentacle Lilith].
Therefore, the optimal way to eliminate this colony of tentacle trees was to annihilate everything, cores and all.
While that would be the most efficient solution, neither Yunia nor the others wanted to resort to such measures.
“Does anyone have a good plan?”
“Yes, I do.”
At least until the Apocalypse officially begins and humanity recognizes the need to remove the angelic energy infusing [Tentacle Lilith’s] colonies, our priority was core farming. That was the most pragmatic choice for now.
“As long as we avoid fire magic, we should be fine. A large-scale annihilation spell that doesn’t damage the cores will work.”
Fire magic was out of the question, but fortunately, our team had someone capable of wide-area annihilation spells comparable to Yunia’s explosive magic.
“We’ll use [Turbulence] here.”
