Chapter 81: Spring of Rudera (2)

The Next Morning

One of the two entrances to the academy, the front gate, was guarded by security staff. 

Behind them, dark shadows began to loom.

The moment one of the staff members, sensing something amiss, tried to turn around, something leaped out from within the shadows and clamped over his mouth.

“Mmmph! Mmmph!”

“Shhh…”

A figure covered in shadows strangled the staff member while keeping his mouth covered. 

The staff member struggled to break free, but he couldn’t do it alone.

Before long, his body went limp. 

He had fainted.

Soon after, other staff members also collapsed, having lost consciousness, subdued by the intruders.

The first shadowy figure that had emerged pulled out a small, spherical communication device from their pocket and brought it to their lips.

Beep.

After a brief moment, the connection was established.

“Front gate team here. All targets have been subdued.”

“Bind them so they can’t move, but keep them somewhere safe,” came the command from the other side of the device.

“We did not come here to conquer, but to liberate. All of them might join us, so no one should die.”

“Understood,” the intruder replied.

The assault team gathered the security staff in the front gate security office and restrained them.

“Move to the veil point,” one of the figures commanded.

The shadows expanded, and several of the intruders vanished.

***

The Operations Room in a Remote Corner of the Academy

In a darkened room, Yeomhwang stood alone, surrounded by multiple screens as he monitored the progress of the operation.

“The back gate has been secured,” a voice reported.

“Good. Well done,” Yeomhwang responded.

Both of the academy’s entrances, the front and back gates, were under their control. 

The next step was the deployment of the ‘Veil.’

This was a barrier deployment device to isolate the academy completely from the outside world.

The Veil is the most advanced isolation barrier currently in existence, but it cannot be deployed in reality.

It is a new technology designed and developed in Rudera, and the environment of Rudera is required for its deployment.

To deploy the Veil, the domain of Rudera must be expanded before the deployment device can be activated.

Yeomhwang glanced down at the small capsule resting in his palm.

They said if I channel my mana into it, the Rudera device would activate.

“North team, veil deployment device installation is complete.”

“South team, complete as well.”

“This is the East team. Installation complete.”

Reports of completed installations came in one after another.

“West team, done here.”

With the final report, the veil deployment devices were set up at the four boundaries of the academy.

“Good.”

Yeomhwang stood from his chair and placed the capsule on the conference table.

As the domain of Rudera is deployed, so too will the Veil.

If that happens, the academy will be completely cut off from the outside world, and no cries for help will reach beyond it.

The academy will be taken over without any hindrance.

But, once Rudera’s domain is deployed, everyone within the academy will know.

The eminent professors in the academy would sense the anomaly and rush to stop them.

Even though they were the elite filtered out from the organization, capable of subduing all students and staff, there was one person that even Yeomhwang was wary of…

“Wakapha.”

Wakapha Harknuwong, the archmage who served as the head of the academy. 

Despite being an old and decrepit being, she appeared in the form of a little girl — a perverted old hag.

However, she was also a monstrous mage scholar who had overturned battlefields multiple times during the Great War.

She was the greatest variable in this operation and the reason why Yeomhwang came in person.

“…”

The tense young man closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and placed his hand on the capsule.

The moment he infused it with mana, the operation would begin. 

This was the turning point in history to expose the unjust rule of GM and rally the continent to fight against him.

Just as Yeomhwang opened his eyes again and began to channel mana into the capsule—

Thud.

“…!”

A staff suddenly appeared from the side and struck his hand upwards.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but I cannot allow it,” a voice said sternly.

The academy’s headmaster, Wakapha, had suddenly appeared and knocked his hand away.

“Wakapha!”

“You brat, you look young, but you’ve got no manners. Tsk…”

Clicking her tongue, Wakapha stomped her staff on the ground, and the mana around them froze solid.

“These days, youngsters have all gone astray. There isn’t a shred of decency left,” she muttered.

“My mana…”

Yeomhwang tried to raise his mana, but the frozen mana wouldn’t budge.

“This is my domain. To dare trespass into the realm of an archmage… You must be prepared for the consequences,” Wakapha declared, stretching her short body and attempting to strike a dignified pose.

Though she had been performing her duties as the headmaster as usual, she had sensed a faint and unfamiliar flow of mana. 

After scanning the entire academy, she discovered the covert assault.

Fortunately, none of the staff had been seriously injured or killed yet, but the actions of the assailants seemed dangerously suspicious.

Mysterious objects had been placed at the four corners of the academy, and another device, which appeared to be their core, was about to be activated.

She didn’t know exactly what was happening, but her instincts told her it couldn’t be left unchecked. 

She appeared quickly to subdue Yeomhwang, who seemed to be the leader.

“An archmage’s domain…” Yeomhwang smirked. 

“This has turned into the worst-case scenario.”

They say mages are those who prepare. 

Generally, in a one-on-one fight between a knight and a mage, assuming they are on a similar level in skill and mana, seven out of ten times, the knight would have the upper hand.

But if the battle took place in a mage’s full-fledged dungeon, even if the knight’s skill level was higher, it would be considered wiser to bet on the mage. 

A well-prepared mage was a feared opponent.

Especially if it was an archmage like Wakapha, with her level of practical experience and mastery.

In this situation, without the environment of Rudera, Yeomhwang had no chance of victory. 

It was a hopeless situation.

This old hag knows my abilities; if she fights me with all her strength, I won’t be able to win, let alone activate the capsule.

But…

The plan needed to be adjusted, but there was one piece of good news:

She doesn’t recognize me.

Despite countless encounters on the battlefield in the past, she did not recognize Yeomhwang’s changed body.

If that’s the case, things change.

Fwoosh.

White flames ignited from Yeomhwang’s chest and spread throughout his body.

“Flames?”

Impossible.

I froze the mana!

Even though all the surrounding mana had been frozen, preventing any use of abilities, the flames burned quickly, catching Wakapha off guard for a moment.

“Hah!”

Seizing the brief opportunity, Yeomhwang rolled forward and grabbed the capsule.

It happened in the blink of an eye, just as the flames began to burn.

“Those flames…! You are Yeomhwang!”

“So, you figured it out, old hag?”

Seeing the unique flames that had no equal on this continent, Wakapha realized who she was facing.

“But how…?! You were supposed to be a woman!”

Still, she found it hard to accept that he was Yeomhwang, given the completely different appearance of the boy before her.

‘It wasn’t a magical transformation. The mana freeze remained intact, even with the flames covering his entire body. Had his body changed completely?’

“I’ll explain later, once this is all over,” Yeomhwang replied.

Fwoosh.

Mana surged from the center of the boy’s chest. 

The flames had made the frozen mana move again.

“No!”

Wakapha, driven by her instincts, knew the device had to be stopped, but the capsule activated faster.

Buzzing sound.

The device began to hum as a dome-shaped barrier rapidly expanded outward from the capsule.

“Oh dear!”

The shockwave caused by the expansion made the building explode, and Wakapha was thrown backward.

“Huff… huff…”

Standing atop the debris of the shattered building, the boy cloaked in flames muttered.

“Equipment, engage.”

Buzz.

At his murmured command, the equipment from Rudera began attaching itself to his body, as if he had stepped into a game world.

“Veil deployment successful. Commence the staff subjugation operation,” reported his comrades.

Hearing the reports from his comrades, the boy smirked.

“What have you done…”

Across the rubble, Wakapha regained her footing.

“Merely bestowed a blessing. A blessing for us all.”

“A blessing?”

She had forbidden the staff from even mentioning Rudera and made it a taboo, so she had no idea what was happening now.

However, she knew something had gone terribly wrong.

Moments later, Wakapha lost consciousness and collapsed.

“You’ll soon understand our great cause,” the boy muttered, laying her gently onto an intact chair.

***

Meanwhile, in a Classroom at the Academy

“Yawn…”

Albus let out a loud yawn while attending a lecture.

The previous night, he had stayed up playing with the suit he had received as a gift from Carthesia.

Though he wielded divine powers inside Rudera, those were merely within the confines of a virtual world.

Now, he could use the special powers he had only dreamed of in reality, and he couldn’t help but be excited.

Whir.

“…Huh?”

At that moment, Albus felt something strange.

It was as if the very air around him had completely changed.

“Huh? What is this feeling?”

“No way…”

Not only Albus, but other students in the academy seemed to sense something was off, as they all began to stand up.

“This is…”

The professor, too, felt something was wrong and began touching different parts of his body.

“Wait… This feeling…”

It was a sensation that felt all too familiar.

The feeling of a space where he had spent about half of his days over the past ten years.

This is…

“This is Rudera!”

“Is this really Rudera?”

“No way! The status window just appeared!”

Indeed.

This was Rudera.

‘Command window.’

Ding.

As if responding to Albus’s will, a command window that seemed like the power of a god appeared before his eyes.

Albus pinched his cheek, finding it hard to believe what he was seeing.

This was reality.

But why?

Why is there a command window…?