Accidental Harem: Let's Kiss Again!

38: Valaha

'Could it be that Zann is Aranea's familiar, too, and that she had summoned him earlier than me?'

When this thought ran into Leonel's mind, he could not help but make a few assumptions of what happened in the past to the present.

Zann disappeared from their realm when they were around 15-16 years old. Since then, he had not returned to their home.

It made people in their world think that he got summoned earlier. But with the possibility of being called at a young age, which rarely happens, they thought that Zann could have run away from home.

Leonel saw Zann for the first time after not seeing him for 2-3 years. With him knowing that Zann enrolled in Mystic Academy, could he have stayed here?

"Leonel."

Aranea called his attention. The moment she did, Leonel snapped out of his thoughts, looking at his Summoner as he smiled at her.

"What's up, Aranea?" Leonel asked, Aranea cocking her head to the side.

"Are you okay? You seem to be preoccupied with something," she commented, stealing a look at Zann as well. "You seem to be glaring at Zann. Do you know him after all?" she said and asked, Leonel's lips turning into a tight line.

"I don't know if I could say," he answered, Elenea, looking at him with curiosity plastered on her face. "I'm not sure if I could say, but maybe someday if I--"

"Okay, gather 'round, everyone!"

When Professor Gertrude called everyone's attention, it had interrupted the words Leonel was about to say. Thankfully, it had diverted the attention of the twins from their topic, making the familiar sigh in relief.

"Since everyone now had checked the things that they needed for the ordeals, we would now officially start the yearly event."

When students usually hear this, they would get excited doing their yearly ordeals. But since this year's ordeals were not easy as it seemed like it was years ago, they were silent--as if not excited at the start of their school year at all.

"Remember that we are going to do this in batches. Once the time limit for the first batch has ended, finished or not finished with your ordeal, you would have to go out of Stygian Forest."

All of the students mumbled and nodded when they heard the last reminders of Professor Gertrude. When the professor felt assured, she heaved a sigh, gave everyone an encouraging smile as she raised her hand to signal everyone to start.

"Let the ordeals commence!"

With that, the students in the first batch ran to enter Stygian Forest. Aranea, Elenea, and Leonel are a part of the first batch. So the three of them entered the forest together.

The moment they entered the forest, everything felt different.

It was heavy, it was dark--so overbearing, that it may affect the mentality of someone if they stayed inside the forest for too long.

It was eerie, it was creepy. Students would see different, odd movements, along with sounds that went along with it.

Sometimes, even the strange sounds were unusual, one that could not be deciphered. Even the higher-ups who have encountered other kinds of beasts felt nervous the moment they set foot in Stygian Forest.

They knew that this forest inhabited different creatures that are not present outside of the Stygian Forest. Even though some of the beasts were present in the bestiary, they were still nervous and scared of seeing one of them.

Heck, some beasts were even rumored to not be part of the bestiary! If they encounter one of those beasts that are not in the book, then they would feel more uneasy about being inside this notorious forest.

The dark woods release the sounds of a plethora of nocturnal ghosts, of they who may move safely within the hug of grey shadowed night.

At the same moment, a screech was heard from the bushes from their side, making Elenea and Aranea cling to Leonel, the familiar, chuckling as he felt the two girls embracing him for dear life.

"Hey, it's alright," Leonel said, the two girls still not letting go of him. "We are going to fight the beasts together. So there is nothing to--"

Suddenly, a large muscular four-legged beast appeared in front of them. His mouth was agape, its drool falling to the ground as it snarled at the three the moment its black eyes locked with theirs.

Sparks of fire came out as he breathed, its large six horns on its back protruding and hardening as if it were steel. The beast's paws contained sharp claws that can penetrate through flesh.

With the beast eyeing them as if they were prey, Aranea instinctively got her crossbow from her back, readying her arrow as Elenea hid behind the two, scared out of her witts.

"What the hell is this creature?" Aranea asked, Elenea, answering her question as she did an advanced reading.

"That creature is a Valaha. It has high strength and magic, and it uses an attack called Flame Ball, which is fire-based. His special attack usually hits everyone in sight, but he needs a turn before he could unleash it."

Elenea always had a good memory. Whenever she read it, even for the first time, she would remember what she had seen and read. With her photographic memory, it would be very advantageous if she is out on missions with other people.

With the information given to them, a smug grin appeared on Leonel's face. The moment he opened his palm, his spear appeared on his hand, turning him into a different person once more.

The personality he had when he was sparring with Aranea days ago.

With the twins sensing the sudden change of attitude in Leonel, they suddenly felt courage.

Since they know that Leonel is powerful once he set his mind to it, the twins know that they could depend on him. Still, they would also have to support him at the same time.

Since this is going to be an ordeal that they would have to face together.