episode_0074

Chapter 74 – Death and Resurrection

At that moment, in a vast cavern in front of the passage leading to the deepest part where the heart of the immortal demonic beast Levios was sealed, Necromancer Hersculer and Gion Cruise, the Dean of the Academy, were in the midst of a fierce clash.

Thousands of resurrected undead legions rushed forward with only a single objective.

Gion Cruise, standing before them, was as precarious as a small sailboat facing a tsunami.

However, the moment his greatsword cut across space.

A thunderous explosion!

A massive slash, accompanied by an enormous shockwave, swept through hundreds of undead.

The only entities that could withstand it were bone dragons made from the corpses of sacred dragons, and mages and knights who had achieved exalted realms in life.

─A thunderous roar!

As if to return the favor for the slash, the bone dragon unleashed its breath.

The breath, condensed with corrosive poison, melted everything in its path and engulfed Gion Cruise.

He raised his greatsword.

“Not a chance!”

Body and Sword as One.

The realm of becoming one with the sword.

However, Gion Cruise transcended even that, bringing the ideal weapon, imprinted on his soul, into reality.

The powerful aura covering his greatsword instantly swelled to over a hundred meters in size.

This was Gion’s martial spirit, Amplification.

He lightly slammed the colossal sword down.

Despite its immense size, the colossal sword moved faster than a flash of light. It seemed to defy the laws of physics.

A deep rumble…

Finally, the breath and the colossal sword collided.

The breath’s power was immense, but the colossal sword didn’t budge, simply descending steadfastly and extinguished the breath as if nothing had happened.

As a result of the aftermath, over a thousand undead turned into a handful of dust.

Of course, they were reconfigured through the necromancer’s vast magical power and rose again.

For thirty minutes, the battle continued in this manner.

“Yawn… When will this end?”

Ethan Gloucester, who had been watching the battle beside the necromancer, couldn’t bear the boredom and let out a small yawn.

As he had been negative about this operation from the start, he was fed up with the stagnant situation.

The necromancer reproached Ethan.

“If you’re bored, help out. We need to get Levios’s heart quickly.”

“Why? I was against this operation from the beginning. Weren’t you the one who said you were confident?”

“As an apostle, you have a duty to resurrect Levios. Do your part.”

“That’s ridiculous. I’m satisfied with forcibly activating the Illusion Maze Barrier. I have no intention of stepping forward anymore.”

Intervening in the Illusion Maze Barrier laid deep within and isolating the entire academy would have been impossible without his exceptional spatial magic.

With that alone, it was fair to say that Ethan had fully played his part.

The necromancer stared at him for a moment after his firm refusal, then asked.

“By the way, what’s with that mask? If you have the Jet-Black Veil, you don’t need to worry about your identity being exposed, do you?”

The Jet-Black Veil is an item imbued with the power of the Goddess of Darkness, perfectly concealing not only the wearer’s appearance but also their realm.

This means there’s no need to specifically wear a mask to cover one’s face.

Ethan chuckled and stroked his mask.

“Does it suit me? I just got it.”

“Useless action.”

Ethan, who had been showing off, frowned at the necromancer’s cold response.

To dare belittle the mask he got as a matching couple item with Hyun, indeed, he truly doesn’t get along with the necromancer.

“Ha! I knew it. You just don’t understand. It’d be my loss to deal with you. Think what you want.”

Ethan ignored the necromancer and fell into his own thoughts.

‘What would Hyun be doing right now?’

He didn’t know for sure if Hyun was a student or a professor, but since it was vacation, it was unlikely he’d be at the academy.

He was probably traveling all over the empire to find some useful fortuitous encounter.

Suddenly, his gaze shifted to the necromancer’s side.

There was a female swordsman.

The pale-faced woman, with a sword at her waist and clad in leather armor, was beautiful and noble despite being undead.

She was Yuliana, Cain Klaus’s lover and the necromancer’s guard, the Sword Princess.

Yuliana stood still like a doll, even under Ethan’s gaze. This was because she was designed to only react to the necromancer’s safety.

‘Isn’t it about time for him to arrive?’

Ethan recalled the game’s story and waited for the upcoming event.

Footsteps!

Not long after, a faint human presence was felt from the passage behind them.

A man was approaching from there.

When he finally emerged from the passage, Yuliana’s eyes, which had been waiting like a doll, moved toward him.

“Yuliana….”

The man, Cain, seeing his beloved reunited after ten years, distorted his face into a grimace.

Next, his gaze naturally turned to the necromancer, the root cause.

“You bastard, I’ll kill you today.”

A thunderous crash!

As soon as he finished speaking, Cain’s fist, which had instantly moved close, leaving an afterimage, collided with Yuliana’s sword.

He had aimed for the necromancer, but Yuliana had intervened in time and blocked it.

The moment Cain gritted his teeth.

“I almost died, you know? Be a little more careful!”

Ethan, who had anticipated the surprise attack and moved out of the way beforehand, grumbled.

No matter how strong he was, enough to be considered the strongest among first-years, he couldn’t have escaped Cain’s fist, which was over Level 300, unharmed.

Even if it didn’t directly hit him, the aftermath alone would be fatal.

Of course, Cain didn’t care about such things.

“Yuliana. I’ll free you soon.”

“Are you ignoring me? This is new.”

As the heir to a prestigious European family who even owned businesses, no one had ever ignored him like this. While he found this treatment novel, Ethan didn’t make the mistake of deliberately provoking Cain.

If he had met such a person on Earth, he would have punished them immediately, but he couldn’t do that now.

Ethan was certainly aware of his place.

In this place where the world’s top-tier monsters ran wild, acting recklessly could lead to death without even properly meeting Hyun.

‘That can’t happen.’

Ethan watched the battle between Yuliana and Cain from a distance.

Thwack! Boom-boom-boom!

Cain’s formless, soundless punches aimed for the necromancer. Yuliana blocked him, parrying the attacks solely relying on her instincts.

Upon reaching Level 300, the Upper Dantian opens, and a “special quality” awakens.

A special quality imbues mana with unique properties.

Cain’s special quality was formless, not only invisible to the eye but also capable of freely transforming its shape, allowing for unpredictable attacks.

If Yuliana hadn’t reached an equal realm, she would have been struck down without even perceiving the beginning or end of the fist strikes.

She wrapped streams of water around her sword to neutralize and deflect the destructive power contained within the punches.

A stalemate continued thereafter, and Cain, realizing that he might waste another opportunity if things continued this way, grinned fiercely and placed a hand on his chest.

“I’ll end it here. Everything.”

Thump!

Formless mana was drawn into his heart and spread throughout his entire body along with his blood.

Doing this further enhanced the unity between his body and mana, leading to synergistic effects in physical abilities and all other aspects.

However, as it placed a heavy burden on his heart, there was also a risk of it bursting if overused.

Cain, collecting the overflowing sense of omnipotence from his entire body, rushed toward Yuliana.

A volley of thunderous blasts!

Dozens of fist strikes poured forth from a single punch.

The formless blows transcended human limitations and simultaneously struck every blind spot on the body.

Yuliana swiftly parried the attacks, but she grew more precarious with each moment.

Even after becoming a doll, she maintained her martial prowess from when she was alive, but Cain had continuously grown stronger over ten years.

As her lover, he knew her weaknesses, and how to break her down.

He probably would have easily won even if he had fought without pushing himself.

Despite this, his impatience stemmed from wanting to eliminate even a single percent chance of losing Yuliana.

For that, Cain could carelessly wager his life.

Bang!

Another collision occurred.

With each exchange with Yuliana, memories of her bloomed in Cain’s mind.

There were happy ones and sad ones, but all were precious. Every second with her was hope for Cain, and also a guiding light for his life.

Even this very moment made him feel as if he was being rewarded for ten years of waiting.

And so, after about ten minutes of fighting.

Footsteps!

Once again, from the passage behind them, a silver-haired, golden-eyed man wearing a mask appeared along with a human presence.

“Hyun!?”

At the appearance of Hyun, whom he had not expected to be at the academy, Ethan let out a cheer.

The necromancer, dealing with Gion Cruise and Cain simultaneously, was about to give Ethan instructions.

“I’ll handle Hyun. Don’t you dare touch him! Understand?”

“…Fine.”

That is, if Ethan hadn’t already darted out with a warning before he could even finish his sentence.

The necromancer narrowed his eyes.

“I suppose I’ll have to take some measures.”

He secretly planted a Death Knight in Ethan’s shadow.

*

“Stop right there!”

A heavy rumble!

Barely had I found Cain and approached him in time when, with a crackling mechanical voice, the entire space began to crush me.

When I raised my head, a man wearing a mask identical in design to mine was looking down at me with arrogance.

I guessed his identity.

‘Ethan Gloucester.’

This unique attack method of applying pressure to the entire space was his specialty.

If it were my usual self, I would have been incapacitated by this single blow.

But now, thanks to the Declaration of Rape, my strength was seven times boosted. I felt as if I had merely put on a single sandbag.

As I stood still, confronting him, Ethan smiled, seemingly satisfied.

“Ahahaha! You’re holding up better than I thought! So you really do have a hidden trump card?”

“…….”

“Why don’t you say something?”

Ethan’s current state was peculiar. He seemed a little excited, and also as if he were expecting something.

His sparkling blue eyes gave me an unsettling feeling for some reason.

‘His way of speaking is also strange.’

It was like watching friends who claim to have been born with a female soul in a male body.

After pondering for a moment, I decided this wasn’t the time for it and boldly ignored him, kicking off the ground.

Ethan willingly accepted even that.

“What? You don’t need a conversation? Fine! Come at me!”

I wanted to smash that confident face.

With that wish in mind, I unleashed a crushing blow.

Crackling!

My fist struck the space directly in front of Ethan.

It was a defensive wall created by partially solidifying space itself. The wall shattered easily, but thanks to it, I couldn’t land a hit on Ethan.

As I was about to unleash a follow-up attack, I hastily retreated backward due to a chill felt at the top of my head.

By a hair’s breadth, space itself folded, creating a large crater where I had been.

Ethan floated dozens of spatial spheres above his hand, and grinned mockingly.

“Let’s see you block this too!”

Simultaneously, a bombardment rained down.