"What do you mean by 'head instructor'? Can't you just reward us?" Nick asked, his voice carefully controlled, masking his growing unease. He desperately wanted to avoid drawing more unwanted attention.
Elina shrugged, a slight tremor in her hand betraying her own apprehension. "Sorry, I can only award points for the original mission parameters. These ogre corpses? That's above my pay grade. It's not every day students deliver *four* Class-A beast carcasses to my doorstep. Frankly, it's unprecedented."
Before anyone could respond, a wave of energy washed over the mission hall, a shimmering distortion in the air that preceded the arrival of the most unexpected guest. The light flickered, the air crackled, and then, *he* simply appeared – fully formed – in the center of the room. He didn't walk in. He materialized.
The three boys recoiled instinctively. The sudden shift in the atmosphere was palpable; a wave of awe, fear, and something almost unnerving rolled over them.
"Teleportation magic?" Ethan muttered, his voice barely a breath. His eyes were wide, reflecting the shimmering afterimages of the man's arrival.
The newcomer was clad in the deep navy blue uniform of the Academy's Healing Department, the silver trim gleaming under the hall's subdued lighting. The insignia on his shoulder pulsed with a faint, internal luminescence. His raven-black hair seemed to shift and shimmer, catching the light in an unnatural way. One eye—a startling, vibrant violet—held a mesmerizing intensity, a depth that seemed to pierce through their very souls. The other, a normal blue, provided a jarring contrast, adding to his unnerving aura. His smile, though charming and disarming, was far too perfect, too precise – a mask carefully crafted to conceal something unknown, something deeply unsettling.
A ripple of hushed gasps and awestruck whispers swept through the hall. Several nearby students openly swooned.
"Wow," Asher breathed, his usual bravado momentarily silenced by genuine awe. "Who… *is* that?"
Even Elina, typically unflappable, sat straighter, her expression a mixture of surprise and wary respect. This was no ordinary Academy instructor.
"I understand there are students who claim to have slain ogres," the man said, his voice a smooth, melodious counterpoint to his unsettling appearance. His tone was casual, almost amused, yet his gaze held a keen intelligence, assessing them with unnerving precision. "That would be you three, yes?"
They nodded, unsure whether to feel a surge of pride or a chilling premonition.
He strolled towards the ogre corpses, his movements fluid, almost graceful, yet strangely menacing. He knelt beside one, his violet eye meticulously scanning the wounds and burns. His fingers, long and slender, traced the jagged edges of a particularly brutal gash.
Then, abruptly, his amiable façade shattered. His expression twisted into a mask of profound horror and outrage.
"What in the name of all that is holy have you *done* to them?!" he exclaimed, his voice rising to a near shriek. "You've *ruined* them! Couldn't you have found a less… *destructive* method of killing them?! Look at this one – charred! Mangled! Do you realize how incredibly rare it is to find an intact ogre corpse in this… condition?!"
He grabbed Asher by the collar, his grip surprisingly strong. Asher yelped in surprise.
"You have destroyed a priceless scientific treasure! I could have learned so much from their intact physiology! Their regenerative capabilities! The secrets to their phenomenal strength! But no, you had to resort to such… *inefficient* violence!"
He released Asher with a frustrated scoff, his face a mask of grief. He sank to his knees beside the corpses, his shoulders shaking with what appeared to be genuine distress. A wave of discomfort spread through the room; several students exchanged nervous glances, unsure how to react to this emotional outburst.
His gaze fell upon the female ogre. His whole demeanor changed. A look of almost ecstatic fascination spread across his face, replacing grief with a disturbing enthusiasm.
"At least… at least *this* one is… relatively intact," he whispered, his voice barely audible, yet charged with an almost religious fervor. His finger traced the precise point of entry, the wound where a blade had pierced the ogre's heart.
"Now *this*… this is artistry. Precision. A clean strike. Sufficiently deep to reach the heart without collateral damage to the surrounding tissue. Exquisite." He paused, as if in contemplation. "Hmm. She's carrying… something." His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, his violet eye glinting with feverish anticipation. "Yes… yes, yes, *YES*!"
He laughed, a loud, unrestrained, manic burst of sound that cut through the stunned silence of the hall.
"A fetus! A developing ogre fetus! A chance to study ogre biology from conception to maturity! A trove of invaluable data! Imagine the possibilities!"
His voice soared with unbridled excitement. "I simply *cannot* wait to begin the dissection!"
Asher leaned urgently toward Elina, his whisper strained. "Okay, seriously. Is this guy for real?"
Elina sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "He's… eccentric. But he's also known as the Elemental God of Healing. Yes, *that* Elemental God of Healing."
The boys stared at her, completely dumbfounded.
"The Elemental God?" Ethan echoed, his voice a mixture of disbelief and dawning horror. "Like, the actual title? The one from the legends?"
Elina nodded grimly. "One of the few to achieve it in a century. And not just for talent, but for incredible feats of healing. It's rumored he single-handedly healed an entire battalion in a major war. He's... a legend, alright. But a bit unhinged."
"I preferred him before the ogre-gut breakdown," Asher muttered.
The man rose, wiping away a stray tear with the back of his hand. Then, with a casual flourish, he scooped up the female ogre corpse, as if it weighed nothing at all.
"Well, then, I'll be taking this. It's vital for my research."
"Wait, *what*?!" Asher yelled, his voice rising in protest. "You can't just take it! Aren't you going to pay us or something?!"
The man paused, his violet eye fixing on Asher with unsettling intensity. His smile returned, but it held a distinct chill – cold, calculating, utterly devoid of warmth. Asher immediately regretted his impulsive outburst.
"I've already expended all my academy points on essential research materials," the man said, his voice flat, unyielding. "And... I wasn't *asking* for permission." He paused, his gaze lingering on Asher. For a fleeting moment, Asher felt a prickling sensation on his skin, a phantom touch, as if a scalpel were already tracing lines across his flesh.
Nick instinctively stepped in front of Asher, shielding him.
The man chuckled, a low, rumbling sound that sent a shiver down their spines. "Relax. I'm not going to dissect your friend... *yet*."
"Yet?!" Asher shrieked.
"Let's make a deal," the man said, his voice smooth, yet laced with an underlying menace. "From now on, any high-value corpses you retrieve on missions—bring them to me. In exchange, should you ever require my services, and my research schedule permits... I will heal your injuries. No charge."
Before anyone could respond, he vanished – a flash of light, a ripple of energy, and he was gone.
Silence descended, heavy and suffocating.
"...Is it just me, or was that guy a completely unhinged genius?" Asher asked, his voice still trembling slightly.
Elina sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Not just you. But congratulations – you've just made a deal with a legendary, slightly unhinged, genius. Hope you live long enough to regret it."
The three exchanged uneasy glances, a mix of disbelief, awe, and sheer terror settling over them. They had survived their ogre encounter, only to stumble into a far more dangerous kind of beast.