Ch.155155. Self (3)

“Those fools, why would they do something so reckless…!”

Grades. Of course, that was where it all started.

Aris detested written exams to the point of disgust, especially when it came to theory.

She couldn’t bear the thought of letting down her other party members who steadfastly maintained their top rankings, and she certainly didn’t want to fall behind and disrupt their schedule.

Thus, her first assignment was given. Education was not an easy process.

Teaching students required the ability to clearly explain what one knew, and the path of instruction demanded further learning.

For Aris, this was yet another assignment that might as well have been poison.

Nevertheless, every night she would tightly tie up her pink hair and reluctantly pick up her pen to start organizing her thoughts.

“Teacher, don’t tell me you brought a cheat sheet again today?”

“Why am I teasing you? Well, because every time I do, your flustered reaction makes me want to tease you more!”

“Let’s start today’s ‘Tease the Teacher’ time!”

They were students of a mischievous age.

They would laugh at Aris’s flustered appearance, finding it amusing. On days when she was caught bringing notes like a cheat sheet, her face would burn with embarrassment.

It became routine for her to deliver light smacks or back slaps to the rowdy students filling the classroom with their voices.

And she, too, laughed. Completely immersed in this daily life.

Although she felt upset when they barely paid attention to her lectures, those times weren’t always filled with disappointment.

She couldn’t hate them.

She couldn’t scold them harshly.

Even knowing they weren’t diligently pursuing their studies.

The time spent together, giving names and nicknames to the familiar faces she had grown fond of, was never just about improving her own grades.

So Aris could only bow her head at this major failure, acknowledging her own mistake in not properly guiding and teaching them.

“It’s those bastards who skipped lectures and slacked off that are the problem! Not us…!”

“We’ll show you properly in the second week, just wait!”

“I’ll show you myself next time. It’s not your fault, teacher! We were the ones who fell short…!”

Aris blamed herself for her inadequacies to the few students who had returned to her.

They denied this, even going so far as to call those who hadn’t attended lectures lazy.

Some even expressed regret for not having applied themselves diligently.

It clearly showed that Aris wasn’t the only one who had grown attached.

But then the incident occurred.

Shortly after, a single student who came to her with concern delivered the truth.

“They went to hunt monsters on their own, saying they wanted to prove that Teacher Aris wasn’t wrong…”

Aris felt her heart sink.

‘Those kids who’ve only ever dealt with small animal-like monsters around here, going off to hunt monsters by themselves…!’

After hearing they had prepared through the night and departed before dawn, Aris had no choice but to leave just a note behind and rush after them immediately.

The difference between someone who has known about hunting monsters through information and experience, and someone who hasn’t.

The gap between these two is like an insurmountable wall.

Why are mercenaries hired? Why do guilds impose such strict conditions? Why does the academy place such importance on practical experience, and why is the third year considered the “demonic third year”?

Because ordinary people who have never properly encountered them don’t understand.

They don’t know what kind of world those who face monsters live in.

“Huff, huff…!”

Aris stopped, exhaling rough breaths.

Human footprints began to appear here and there, and they disappeared where a dome of vines blocked her path.

“This is it.”

She was certain. That they would be trapped in there.

Bang!

A lotus flower bloomed with an explosion, creating a hole in the dome, allowing a beam of light to enter the darkness-filled interior.

She had found them.

“Over here, you idiots.”

“Wh-what…? An explosion?”

“Teacher… Aris?”

“It’s the teacher…! It’s Teacher Aris!!!”

They were all terrified. Scolding them for their actions would have to wait.

What they needed to hear now was…

“Aren’t you going to run? Should I just leave you all there?”

It was the voice they were familiar with from lecture time.

“I’ll keep the exit open, so hurry up and run! You’re all going to get a beating!”

“Yes, yes!!!”

“We’re sorry, teacherrr…!”

Despite rushing over as soon as she heard the news, quite some time had passed, and she had worried she might be too late, but fortunately, no one seemed seriously injured.

‘Still… that’s a relief.’

Although what they did was reckless and driven by emotion, at least they weren’t physically hurt.

Some had visible wounds here and there, but no one seemed to have difficulty moving or complaining of severe pain.

It seemed like they could return without any problems once rescued.

However.

“Huh? Why does the exit seem to be getting narrower…? Is it just me…?”

“It-it is getting narrower. It’s not just you!!”

“What’s happening? Is it regenerating?”

The dome of vines, as if refusing to release its captured prey, was regenerating the dark space.

The wet tree trunks, roots, and vines from the nearby mangrove forest environment were quickly blocking the students’ exit.

“Sixth Lotus, Tilmasia!”

Aris tried to create another exit in the vine dome.

Though the new exit was much larger than before, keeping up with the recovery rate wasn’t easy.

“What… why?”

There are occasionally monsters that are immune to explosions.

So this time, she tried to tear the vines apart with magic focused on physical attacks.

But the result was the same. Even trying various types of elemental magic and other spells made no difference.

Even when Aris used her unique magic to bloom various lotuses to tear, blast, and rip apart the dome, the vines quickly recovered.

“Huff, huff! Teacherrr!!”

“Why are we getting further away…? We’re still running…”

“I don’t know! It’s like we’re not making progress even though we’re running…”

There was an eerie feeling that the distance between her and the students was gradually increasing.

It felt like they were not just standing still but actually moving backward.

‘Why… why isn’t my magic working?!’

They’re just vine trees. If stumps are considered monsters, they would be plant-type monsters, so why do they recover even after explosions?

“Teacher!! Save us!!”

There was no time to think.

Frustrating as it was, her body kept moving forward.

From inside, cries for help continued to be heard.

They were right in front of her.

Yet, despite being so close, she couldn’t reach them.

When she tried to break through, it would regenerate, and with each step forward, they seemed to get further away.

Aris began to feel desperate.

“If only I could… get rid of this dome somehow!”

A magic circle filled with formulas.

Each line was infused with her magic power, containing her sincere emotions.

This magic power, drawn out without restraint, carried Aris’s determination to somehow make a path and reach those children.

BOOM!!!

A thunderous sound erupted, as if it would turn the entire area into wasteland.

But the result.

—Aaaaah!!

“What have I… done…”

Because she had directed such tremendous force straight at an open exit rather than a covered one, not only the outside but also the inside was damaged.

The magic power wielded by the emotionally driven Aris was truly catastrophic for the vulnerable.

The students who had been running toward her were all thrown into the mud, with some flying even further away.

And the vines she had worked so hard to blast apart were pathetically regenerating again, obscuring her view of her disciples.

“No… NO!!!”

Chik- Chiiik-

Sharp wooden thorns scratched her, drawing blood.

Crack, crackle.

She continued to push through the branches blocking her way, forcing her body into the vine dome.

The stinging thorns didn’t matter to her.

Yet, with each attempt, the dome seemed to recede.

As if trying to separate her from her students, the dome adjusted the size of its entrance, frustratingly pushing Aris away.

“Open!! I said OPEN!!!!”

Despite her screams, the entrance continued to narrow.

No matter how much she tried to force her way in or use magic to create openings, nothing worked.

The cries of “Save us!” that she had heard until just now were no longer audible.

Eventually, like breaking off rotten branches, the dome completely sealed itself, and the light reaching the inside disappeared entirely.

Her mind was unusually chaotic.

The voices of those reckless children filled her head one by one.

The playful voices that had resonated during lecture times.

If there was one thing that emerged from her mind filled with memories of time spent with students.

It was self-loathing. For her own powerlessness.

-‘A-ahem! Even if you all tease me like that. You know what? I used to be a mercenary! I might not be good at lecturing, but I’m skilled!’

What kind of skilled person am I?

-‘It’s true! Teacher didn’t just join the Tembris Party by chance, right? You got in after being directly tested by Goden!’

What kind of Tembris member am I?

-‘Of course I’ve saved many people! That’s why we got promoted to a party this time.’

Saved… people…?

When all I did was ride on the coattails of other members.

-‘I promise. If you’re ever in danger, I’ll rush to save you right away.’

A promise?

When I’m so weak!

When I can’t do anything alone!

When I can’t even control my power properly and only cause harm!

What do I mean by saving when I can’t even save the children right in front of me?

“If only it wasn’t me who was here…”

If it had been Cain. If it had been Charlotte. If it had been Erika. If it had been Senia. If it had been Michelle. If it had been Goden.

They could have saved them.

That thought crossed her mind.

“…”

From her hands flowed the liquid of failure, seeping from torn and scratched skin.

From her lips came the liquid of anger, bitten in anticipation of failure.

From her eyes streamed the liquid of grief that she couldn’t shake off.

“I will save them… no matter what it takes…!”

Her beautiful pink hair began to flutter.

The pretty flower ornament gifted by the children swayed along her hair.

The magic power squeezed from her entire body made even the air tremble slightly, causing vibrations throughout the area.

A massive circle began to fill with magic power directly in front of the dome.

Deltis Line. Gamut Line. Vetrinne Line.

Aris’s magic power flowed into the final Alphaid Line.

If she unleashed something this powerful, she herself wouldn’t escape unharmed.

But she didn’t care what backlash her forcibly drawn magic power might have on her body, as long as she could save the children.

She was willing to sacrifice everything to save even one of them.

‘Almost there. Just need to activate the formula…’

No matter how good its recovery ability was, creating a hole of this size would give the people inside enough time to escape.

But at that moment, with a sensation like something blocking a circuit, the flow of magic power that Aris was pouring into the circle stopped.

“What… what is this…”

Slap!

“…Huh?”

Before she could understand what was happening, her head was forcibly turned.

It wasn’t just the magic circle.

Something had happened to her cheek as well.

As she placed her hand on it, only now feeling the rising heat and pain, Aris finally came to her senses and turned her eyes in that direction.

“You fool, what do you think you’re doing?!”

There stood a man she had been afraid to face and had avoided until now, glaring at her with gritted teeth.