Ch.218Chapter 218: Age of Chaos (2).

# Chapter 218: Age of Chaos (2)

Inside the Academy Chancellor’s office, the situation continued after the bombshell news of continental chaos had just been dropped.

Dozens of magical communication devices were still flashing red warning lights and sending urgent signals, while the Chancellor and high-ranking professors of the Academy processed the flood of reports with grim expressions.

Though the emergency alarm had stopped, outside the office, the entire Academy was filled with urgent noise—hurried footsteps for damage control and response, frantic instructions, and the voices of anxious students all mixing together.

It was a state of near paralysis caused not by physical attack, but by an information bombardment.

The Chancellor barely caught his breath and turned his gaze to Valt and Riemann, who were still standing in front of his desk.

Valt’s expression remained calm, but his eyes revealed a recognition of the shock and gravity of the situation no less profound than the Chancellor’s.

Riemann also stood with a serious face, gripping his sword.

“Chancellor,”

Valt spoke in a low voice. His voice was unwavering, but the will contained within it was clear.

“A rebellion in the Empire? Wouldn’t that affect the Academy as well? We must help the Imperial Court immediately…”

Riemann nodded, reinforcing Valt’s words.

“Even the Imperial Court is facing the Dark Assembly, Chancellor. We must lend our strength, however small…!”

The Chancellor gazed momentarily at Valt and Riemann, and the team members standing behind them.

A brave and capable team that had survived Gerantia and reported the existence of the Dark Assembly and their theft of components.

Their abilities had long surpassed the category of students. However, the catastrophe now facing the Academy—no, the entire continent—was too massive to handle even with their capabilities. Fatigue and anguish crossed the Chancellor’s face.

“Valt… Professor Riemann.”

The Chancellor spoke in a low voice. His tone contained both regret and firmness.

“What you’ve experienced is certainly remarkable. Standing against the Dark Assembly and resolving the issue is not something that can be done with ordinary ability.”

The Chancellor smiled despite the chaotic situation.

“However, the Empire has its pride. Do you think His Majesty the Emperor would fall to forces that have raised rebellion?”

The Emperor was certainly strong.

But…

“Still, we don’t know what vicious methods they might employ.”

The Chancellor briefly looked at the reports continuing to flood his desk.

“The Empire will be fine. What you need to do now is rest. You’re not the only ones in this world.”

The Chancellor turned his gaze back to Valt’s group.

Valt and his team members felt conflicted between wanting to defy the Chancellor’s orders and recognizing the overwhelming reality.

The catastrophe before them screamed that this was no time to rest, but perhaps, as the Chancellor said, it would be better to let the Empire handle its own affairs.

The instruction to conserve strength for later sounded like a hint that they might need to play an even greater role in the future.

Valt remained silent for a moment, then finally nodded.

“…Understood, Chancellor.”

His voice remained calm, but his eyes held a determination that couldn’t rest.

Riemann also appeared to follow the Chancellor’s opinion.

They withdrew from the center of the Academy’s emergency system and began moving to the evacuation area or quarters as directed by the Chancellor.

The chaos within the Academy continued, and people’s anxiety had reached its peak.

In the designated evacuation area within the Academy, students and some professors gathered, trembling with anxiety or listening for the latest news.

Valt and his team members took a moment there to catch their breath and reflect on what they had experienced and what was now happening.

At that moment, Lisa, the Academy’s capable informant, approached Valt.

She brightened upon spotting Valt’s group among the bustling people, but soon approached them with a serious face.

Lisa had her own information network separate from the official reporting line, and she had grasped more vivid and shocking information about the current situation.

“Valt! You’ve returned safely! I heard you completed your report to the Chancellor! But… what’s happening now… is it true?”

Lisa’s voice was urgent.

“Lisa. It’s been a while. Have you been well?”

“Me? Well, hehe. It’s quite a mess, isn’t it?”

Even the usually vivacious Lisa wore a bitter smile in this situation.

“Yes, continent-wide… terrible things are happening.”

“Terrible doesn’t begin to describe it. This is unprecedented.”

Lisa lowered her voice.

She looked around and whispered more shocking information to Valt’s group.

“From what I’ve gathered… the Dark Assembly’s infiltration exceeds imagination. The leaders of the rebellions in various regions weren’t simply disgruntled factions. They were high-ranking officials, military commanders, and major merchant guild leaders who had been secretly recruited or blackmailed over decades. They’ve seized key facilities and turned armies!”

She shared more details, especially about the situation in the Empire.

“The report from the Imperial capital is the most shocking. The Imperial Chancellor and several high-ranking nobles close to the Emperor… conspired with the Dark Assembly to attempt a rebellion. They even targeted the Imperial Palace! His Majesty the Emperor detected this and personally intervened… He’s now suppressed all rebel forces, but… rumors say he executed the core figures, including the Chancellor, with his own hands. To think that the heart of the Empire, considered the safest place, was so deeply infiltrated by the Dark Assembly… I can’t believe it…”

Lisa’s face was colored with fear and shock.

“The rebellion has already been suppressed?”

“Yes, that’s what they say. Really quick, right?”

“That’s fortunate.”

The Imperial situation Lisa described delivered an enormous shock to Valt’s group.

“There are also stories suggesting they moved knowing they would fail… Were they sacrificed for another purpose of the Dark Assembly?”

“A demonstration, perhaps… showing that even the Empire can’t escape their grasp.”

The Dark Assembly’s infiltration power exceeded imagination to the point where even the continent’s strongest empire could be shaken from within.

The fact that they had recruited someone as high-ranking as the Chancellor showed how deep and wide the Dark Assembly’s influence was. And the suggestion that they moved knowing they would fail demonstrated the Dark Assembly’s cruelty and cold-bloodedness in sacrificing for a bigger picture. The threat facing the entire continent was far more massive and terrible than they had vaguely guessed in Gerantia.

Lisa promised to share more information as it came in and hurriedly headed elsewhere.

Valt pondered the shocking information Lisa had left. The Academy’s emergency situation continued, and as per the Chancellor’s orders, they were supposed to “rest.” But his mind couldn’t stop.

Valt returned to his quarters.

There, Victor was just unpacking his belongings.

“Oh, Brother Valt. Just arriving? I heard you did amazing things in Duron?”

Seeing the carefree Victor somehow made Valt feel deflated.

“Aren’t you worried?”

Victor scratched his head.

“Well? I don’t like complicated things. In the end, we just need to beat those Dark Assembly bastards, right?”

The simple explanation made Valt’s head feel clearer.

“Where have you been, by the way?”

Victor’s expression brightened at the question.

“I visited the south.”

“The south? I was just there too.”

Victor shook his head.

“No, further south than Gerantia. Have you heard of the Engila Forest?”

Engila, the tropical rainforest further south than the south.

A dangerous forest known as the Demon Realm.

“I encountered a strange tribe there, and it was interesting. Quite enlightening. I feel like I’ve gotten stronger?”

Indeed, Victor was different from before.

Now he was close to reaching Master level with a bit more training.

“You’ve worked hard, Victor.”

“I was lucky. Met a fortuitous encounter in the Engila Forest. I wonder if I can fight alongside you now, Brother Valt.”

“You will, whether you like it or not.”

“Heh heh, looking forward to it, Brother.”

After finishing his conversation with Victor, Valt sank into thought.

The once-peaceful Academy grounds visible through the window now seemed shadowed by catastrophe.

The Dark Assembly… an organization that declared itself a state and conducted simultaneous operations against the entire continent. The meticulousness and cruelty to recruit even the Imperial Chancellor and instigate a doomed rebellion.

And the otherworldly device they had encountered and lost in Gerantia, which had caused the magical energy explosion.

‘In the end… all of this is part of the Dark Assembly’s plan to use that device. The artifact collection, the rebellion… all must be preliminary work for a terrible plan using that device…’

Valt reasoned. He had the terrible certainty that the device could bring nothing good to humanity.

But… he, who needed to stop that device… had barely broken through a battle entangling 5 Obscurants and hundreds of Great Warriors, and he intuitively knew he would struggle to directly face those Master-level powerhouses.

If there were even higher beings in the Dark Assembly, like the Assembly Head or Generals… he wouldn’t even be a match.

The overwhelming gap between the scale of the catastrophe before him and his current capabilities. It was a massive wall.

The System Window.

The power he had deliberately ignored and sealed away due to his past feeling of “being manipulated by fate” and his aversion to the system.

He had briefly used it when cornered during the Death Knight battle, but that was only a fraction.

At this moment, no aversion or pride mattered.

He remembered what Victor had just said.

‘We just need to beat them, right?’

With countless lives heading toward destruction and the entire continent about to turn into hell, to overcome this situation and stop the Dark Assembly, he needed the power provided by the system.

Whether it was the system’s manipulation or the role fate had given him, there was no choice now.

Valt closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

In his mind, he recalled the System Window he had long ignored.

The internal conflict was brief.

What was needed now was not hesitation but resolution. To escape this desperate situation and confront the massive catastrophe ahead.

‘System Window… open.’

Valt finally resolved to face his destiny once more.