Ch.293293 – The Assassin from the Academy

<293 – Assassin from the Academy>

Leive Professor applied for an inter-class competition, determined to bury Oknodie in the midterm exams.

His plan to isolate Oknodie by telling others to stay away from her because she was the reason they had to face unreasonable opponents backfired completely.

Standing alone as the final contestant in the winner’s streak and achieving 70 consecutive victories, Oknodie became the class hero, gaining overwhelming popularity in the “Basics and Understanding of Mana Usage” lecture.

-They say stay away from Oknodie because she’s a SaltyDarkPrincess who grows by drinking human tears, but who cares? It’s not like we’re the ones crying!

-It’s good for us if she only extracts tears from our competitors. Protect our baby SaltyDarkPrincess at all costs!

The students had become Oknodie’s devoted followers after their midterm scores skyrocketed!

‘There are quite a few people around Oknodie who benefit from her and enthusiastically interact with her.’

It was so bad that even he, as a professor, struggled to find a moment when Oknodie was alone.

Even when he came to a deserted beach to ambush her while she was building sandcastles, a friend appeared out of nowhere and greeted her cheerfully.

-Oknodie, why are you building sandcastles?

-Well-built “castles” randomly generate treasure chests containing stat stones!

-Heeh~ So that’s the game setting? I want to play too!

The girl who had been learning about bikini armor from Oknodie started building sandcastles with her!

-Oknodie, it’s dangerous, nya! The teaching assistant told me that tree is cursed by seniors and is actually over 1000m tall despite its appearance, nya!

-But if you climb it, you can get eggs from the monster bird’s nest. They’re rare cooking ingredients!

-That’s unfair, nya. Trying to eat such good food by yourself. Good things should be shared, nya!

Zenya, who had been watching Oknodie climb the tree with anxious eyes, was now raiding the monster bird’s nest with her!

Since people everywhere were drawn to her out of interest or protective instinct, Professor Leive made a decision.

He would endure and wait until after the final exams when summer vacation arrived.

At the Academy, she had many connections, making it difficult for her to be alone, but the journey back to the Foundation after vacation wouldn’t be so crowded.

Anyone returning with the Foundation’s top scholarship student could be marked as a potential Foundation scholarship student.

Actual scholarship students wouldn’t take such a risk.

Even non-scholarship students would be deterred by the Foundation’s subtle notoriety from accompanying Oknodie on her journey home.

It was a perfectly logical deduction.

‘Just to be absolutely certain, I’ll drive the point home.’

He secretly approached someone suspected of being a Foundation spy.

“I’ll provide information about the Academy. In exchange, I want information about Oknodie’s whereabouts during vacation.”

The Foundation spy confirmed the deal was made.

Oknodie would board a ship returning to the Foundation.

If he could just accompany her on that ship, he would find plenty of opportunities to target her.

“Wow. Oknodie’s papa must be really rich.”

“Hieek! There are so many lights brighter than my spotlight!”

“…”

He never dreamed his logical plan would be utterly shattered by a procession of 128 people.

[Ice Field]

Professor Leive froze the bottom of the ship to delay its departure, then used nearby pirates to switch one of the containers being loaded onto the ship.

After getting on board, he used the incompetent pirates to collect food from the storage and gathered information while avoiding the crew.

Then he learned about the uninhabited island auction, and his plan was finally complete.

He would attack when Oknodie’s allies were at their fewest on the uninhabited island, just before she was eliminated.

‘The remaining participants who haven’t returned from the uninhabited island are the Hero, the Saint, Oknodie, and Zhang. The only Foundation personnel are Butler Jona and two maids who just help with odd jobs.’

The advantage was already decided.

Here, there was no Principal or frontier professors to interfere with him.

There was even the Hero who had quite a grudge against Oknodie.

He chose today as the day to execute his plan precisely because he feared the Hero might eliminate Oknodie first, so he could essentially consider the Hero and the Saint as allies.

That was certainly his calculation.

“Professor. What are you doing right now?”

At least until the Hero blocked him as he was creating an ice-sniper spell targeting Oknodie.

“Do you feel a pang of conscience? If so, just look the other way. It wouldn’t be bad for you either if you didn’t have to see Oknodie from the second semester onward.”

“Oknodie is an evil that must be destroyed by my own hands. I have no intention whatsoever of yielding to anyone else.”

The Hero’s unexpected stubbornness!

Ishtar’s orange hair resembling the sunset light had never looked so detestable as it did now.

“Oknodie is a cruel child. If you’ve been deceived by her appearance, you’re making a grave mistake.”

“A professor killing a student is not righteous.”

“And a hero killing a child is righteous?”

Ishtar’s stubbornness was logically weak.

But there was a reason she was called the Hero.

*Shing*

When she couldn’t win with words and logic, the Hero drew her holy sword first!

“Righteousness ultimately stems from power. In my childhood, I didn’t know this fact, so I relied on territorial law and the conscience of petty administrative officials, expecting fair judgment. I am the Empire citizens’ hero, but not the Empire’s hero. Do you understand? ‘Professor of the Empire.'”

A shocking declaration from Ishtar, the second-ranked student who had divided the imperial faction led by the Imperial Princess!

When the Hero’s reckless temperament—which even Oknodie had struggled with—blocked his path, Professor Leive felt his heart tighten with frustration.

Loosening his tie and letting out a deep sigh, his eyes settled calmly.

Like the stillness before a storm.

“Then I’ll teach you one more lesson today.”

The ground began to freeze from beneath Professor Leive’s feet.

Plants froze, BlueMetal rats froze, and a bird trying to fly upward fell to the ground with its wings spread, shattering with a crash.

Ishtar, who had quickly created a domain to protect herself and Yufi, widened her eyes at the ice wall that now surrounded the entire uninhabited island.

“When a powerful person with much to lose takes action, they have already prepared for the consequences. The powerful never move carelessly. Disappear with regret for the opportunity you’ve lost, foolish Hero.”

* * *

BlueMetal rats are threatening.

They reproduce freely through division, so if you see one on the surface, there might be a hundred hiding underground.

After consuming all resources underground, they devastate the surface, and their vicious habits mean you never know when the ground might collapse.

-If you encounter BlueMetal rats, abandon the area.

-If you don’t exterminate them completely, the damage will rapidly spread to nearby areas.

Stone badge. Top 90%. Pushover.

Copper badge. Top 50%. Monster.

Iron badge. Top 10%. Dangerous target.

Silver badge. Top 1%. Regional evacuation order.

Gold badge. Top 0.1%. National disaster.

Platinum badge. Top 0.01%. Global crisis.

BlueMetal rats proudly boast a silver badge danger level in the monster classification system!

They’re on a completely different level from copper badge Nueain or iron badge Nueain queens.

But even these BlueMetal rats have an unexpected advantage.

‘When over a thousand rats feel their lives threatened and face extinction, they have a habit of combining!’

The BlueMetal King Rat is born when BlueMetal rats, which had divided for species preservation, all merge into one.

Unlike the Nueain queen, which is only as strong as the 5th layer of the famous world’s highest mountain <Garden of Gods> where monsters get stronger with each 1000m layer, the BlueMetal King Rat has been spotted as high as the 7th layer.

Just as coal becomes diamond under long periods of pressure and heat, the BlueMetal King Rat can evolve when it overcomes intense stress and survival instinct.

This was what I had been secretly aiming for on the island!

‘I was planning to gather a thousand rats, make them combine, raise it as a pet, and have it evolve to cut through the ship!’

Trophies that can only be obtained by climbing to the 7th layer of Mount Shinjeong are virtually impossible to acquire before becoming an upper-year Academy student.

I was excited about getting ultra-rare materials in just my first year, but that opportunity was snatched away right before my eyes.

Those rats are freezing to death in real time.

The freezing mana is so severe that it’s completely freezing the life mana of these mineral rats, whose rare metal bodies normally make them nearly impossible to kill.

Just as no person can live without blood flowing, no monster can live without mana flowing.

“Tch. Who is it! Who killed all our cute rats!”

“…Miss. BlueMetal rats eat people too.”

“I was fine because I’m strong!”

“In any case, an invader has appeared. Would you like to go greet them together?”

Jona’s reaction surprised me.

“Can I go with you?”

“Why would you think you couldn’t?”

“During an auction, the event supervisors don’t take sides with anyone.”

Summer vacation rare event <Uninhabited Island Auction>.

An auction event with a 9.9% appearance rate that randomly appears in sea-related events.

This event, only available on ships that require special “rumors” and “qualifications” to board, allows participants to return to the cruise ship if they give up during the auction, but the hosts never help protect against attacks from others.

I recently learned that what was just a lucky random event in the original game is actually orchestrated by the Wiheomhae Foundation in reality.

But even if I discovered this new fact, if the hosts in the game and in reality are the same, then the principles shouldn’t change either.

Why is Jona trying to help me by breaking the rules?

“Because I am your butler, Miss.”

“Even though you’re a butler assigned by the Foundation?”

Likability 100.

A testament of trust that never decreases.

Can such firm trust remain unshaken in the real world where even the strongest trust can change?

The butler knelt down to meet my eyes at the same level.

“A butler is born from an employment relationship. Currently, the Foundation puts me in debt and pays my salary. However.”

The man named Jona Wiheomhae clearly expressed his will.

“I believe that someday you will be able to take over my employment. I think that time is not far off. So I will protect you.”

“What if the Foundation doesn’t allow it?”

“There’s a loophole. A chance that you, in your cleverness, created yourself.”

Jona took something out of my pocket.

A troublesome item I purchased for 90,000 boarding points.

An item labeled [One-time Assassin Detection Service].

“The enemy has attacked the uninhabited island auction site. Before the Foundation could detect the assassin, you anticipated the assassin’s arrival and purchased this, which means the Foundation’s service did not precede your ability.”

“So what happens then?”

“Usually, when a product provided by the Foundation fails to deliver its intended value, they return it upgraded by one level. In this case…”

The Foundation’s eyes flashed fiercely.

“It gets upgraded to a one-time assassin elimination service.”