Ch.328328. Guardian Deity of the Academy

BANG!

While listening to the intense battle noise erupting from below, Owen continued to strike the keys.

A small piano.

It was an item of such low quality that it couldn’t even be compared to what he used in the royal palace.

Yet Owen knew that he was playing more cheerfully now than ever before. He was feeling alive.

The music resonating from the tiny piano reached not only the battlefield but also the academy, spreading throughout the entire city.

This stemmed from the ability of the boy named Owen Baltani.

His playing had the power to attract the dead and monsters.

Souls had gathered around him.

Most of them were souls accompanying Deus.

“Please help me.”

And according to Owen’s wish, they were spreading the boy’s music widely through the mana contained in their souls.

The sound amplifies.

The piano was old and small, with keys that didn’t press properly. The creaking pedals were irritating.

But the boy now felt that he wasn’t playing alone, but with everyone.

Beyond the keyboard.

He turned his eyes toward the Robern Academy.

The towering main building.

‘Will my music reach there?’

From Deus Verdi, the Spiritmaster and his teacher, to the Dark Spiritmaster and Stella who had taught him.

Owen wanted all three to hear.

The evidence of his chosen path, his realizations, and his growth.

That’s why.

Owen continued to play without rest for the souls he had gathered.

He wanted to let them know.

Even if it was a bit early, he wanted to answer confidently.

Even if you leave.

He would comfort the souls of this land.

The boy immersed himself in the performance, striking the keys more passionately.

Connecting with the souls that came to him, he became more clearly aware of what he could do.

A smile slipped across Owen Baltani’s face.

It was okay if he couldn’t handle necromancy.

It didn’t matter if he couldn’t shoulder great achievements.

The position of Spiritmaster.

It was a place to comfort the souls of the dead.

As Owen continued his performance, he felt he had found where he belonged.

And this.

Was the true debut stage of the boy who would later be called the Second Spiritmaster.

The boy sincerely asked the approaching souls.

“Please help me.”

Please.

“Help my melody reach him.”

* * *

I wondered what kind of situation this was.

If I had to describe it plainly, it felt exactly like being a toy in a child’s doll play.

“We’re being pushed back! Retreating!”

“Damn it! What the hell is this!”

“Hold the formation! Don’t fall back!”

The fact that even soldiers considered elite across the continent couldn’t overcome just two girls.

It was so bizarre and unrealistic that it seemed like someone’s impromptu prank.

“……”

The black-haired girl who had been shouting somewhat frivolously until just now, Aria Rius, was now acting like a completely different person.

Her mouth, which had been chattering away, was now firmly shut, as if the fiery energy had transferred to the tip of her sword.

The girl’s sword was asserting its presence in a way that was both flashy and passionate.

“Beautiful.”

The woman in white robes leading the warriors of an empire, Ju Orong, sighed as she spoke.

As a warrior, watching the girl’s swordsmanship filled her with profound admiration.

It was almost regrettable that she had to defeat this girl.

“How could one so young reach such a level?”

One couldn’t reach that level of mastery with talent alone. Ju Orong found it difficult to gauge how much tragedy and effort to overcome it Aria Rius had experienced.

“Can you really afford to be so relaxed?”

At the question from the Black Mage Coltman beside her, Ju Orong frowned.

It felt like being interrupted in the middle of watching a masterpiece play, but he wasn’t wrong.

“Half of the Valestan Duchy’s armored soldiers are already gone. Can we afford to be held back by these girls?”

While Ju Orong had been watching Aria Rius, Coltman’s attention was beyond her, focused on the girl who had covered herself completely with a mask and hood, holding a staff.

“The magic that girl is casting from behind makes this a difficult fight. I think we should target her first.”

Coltman was right.

Elenoa’s magic wasn’t directly harming the army, but it was giving wings to Aria’s movements.

The girls who had been growling at each other were surprisingly well-coordinated in battle.

“I’ll go.”

In the end, it was the 3rd Prince Serhul Zerman, leading the desert warriors, who stepped forward.

They hadn’t even encountered the souls controlled by the necromancer yet, nor had they passed the academy entrance.

It was troublesome to be delayed here like this.

Serhul and the desert warriors attached wires with hooks to the outer walls of nearby buildings.

Like assassins, they quickly climbed the walls to reach the rooftops, then began jumping from building to building.

They carefully passed by the battle between the armored soldiers and Aria Rius, then rushed toward the mage wielding her staff from behind.

“Got you!”

Serhul and the desert warriors leaped down from the rooftop. His ominously gleaming sword was drawn and swung toward the mage.

CLANG!

As if she had been waiting, the mage swung her staff to counter Serhul’s attack.

‘She’s not particularly strong. Her stance is sloppy too. But there’s something about that staff.’

It was obviously no ordinary staff, and it seemed to have magic that activated automatically in close combat.

But they had numbers on their side.

Just as the desert warriors were about to rush at her.

Serhul caught a subtle yet familiar scent. A woman’s fragrance that calmed his heart and made it race at the same time.

‘Could it be?’

Though she had nearly brought the Zerman Kingdom to ruin, Serhul’s feelings for her were genuine.

The memory of pining for her night after night was still fresh in his mind.

Though she wore robes and a mask, comparing her to Elenoa, their builds were quite similar.

“P-Princess Elenoa?”

When Serhul cautiously called out, the mage holding the staff against him flinched.

And then he was certain.

“W-what are you doing here of all places!”

She was indeed Elenoa Luden Griffin.

The desert warriors were already charging.

Serhul urgently pulled Elenoa, who had momentarily frozen at his question, saving her from danger.

“Your Highness?”

“Why suddenly?”

As the confused desert warriors’ gazes fell on him, Serhul gulped and tried to find an excuse.

“Ugh!”

Princess Elenoa urgently swung her staff to push Serhul away.

“It’s not me!”

“At least change your voice! It is you! What are you doing here…!”

Serhul’s voice was cut off. Aria Rius, who had been fighting the armored soldiers, leaped toward them.

“Y-Your Highness!”

“Block her!”

The desert warriors desperately grouped together to block Aria, but they were pushed back by a single swing of the former hero’s sword.

Aria was about to swing her sword at Serhul to save Elenoa, but.

“Wait!”

Elenoa stopped Aria’s sword.

“It’s okay. Let this person go.”

“What?”

Confused by Elenoa’s unexpected words, Aria looked at Serhul for a moment. Then the corners of her mouth curled up beneath her mask.

“Fine. I’m good with that. Agree! Strongly agree!”

“…What are you thinking?”

“I’m going to tell the professor you have a boyfriend.”

“Don’t talk such nonsense! He saved me once, so I’m saying we should spare him!”

Elenoa shouted angrily, while Aria continued to snicker in response.

“Elenoa’s defeat route confirmed.”

“You’re the one who’s defeated, you bitch! Forget it! Just kill him!”

Elenoa was about to swing her staff at Serhul, but Aria rushed in, put her arm around Elenoa’s waist, and dragged her away.

“That’s enough. Now’s the perfect time to escape. Don’t take unnecessary risks, let’s get out of here.”

“Argh! It’s really not like that! If you tell Deus, you’re dead!”

As Aria and Elenoa disappeared into the darkness of the streets, bickering, Serhul realized he had learned a secret he should never utter aloud for the rest of his life.

‘Well, anyway.’

Sensing the failure of his first love, Serhul took in the now clear path.

The obstacles were gone.

The tip of his curved sword pointed toward the academy, and with that, the army resumed its advance.

It would be quite troublesome to dwell on the fact that they had been thwarted by just one person, but given the sheer size of the army, they were still formidable.

Just delayed a bit.

Though they had lost the shield of the Valestan Duchy’s armored soldiers, they still had Griffin’s Magic Judges.

With Tairn and the Magic Judges at the forefront, they entered the academy.

“This is…”

“Insane.”

Only upon entering did they see the souls.

The sight of souls covering the sky and using the academy as their playground was like the afterworld reincarnated on earth.

“Keep moving forward!”

A purple veil covered their heads.

The magic created by the Zerman Kingdom’s Black Mage Coltman to block interference from souls.

Given the sheer number of souls, it probably wouldn’t help much, but it was better than nothing.

‘It feels like invading the land of the dead while still alive.’

Tairn ran inside with this unsettling thought, but.

“Chief Judge, isn’t something strange?”

“Yes, the souls aren’t blocking us.”

As the other judges pointed out.

The souls were merely looking down at them or passing by, offering no resistance.

What did it mean?

What was the intention?

They pondered various possibilities.

But it didn’t take long to find out the reason.

They didn’t want to get involved.

The coolness instantly transformed into a chill.

The temperature suddenly dropped like an uninvited guest, creating the illusion of being on a snow-covered mountain.

At the center of it.

A woman sitting on the steps at the entrance to the academy’s main building.

With a massive halberd called Baekseol resting on her shoulder, her face filled with intense irritation.

Tairn knew her too.

Deus Verdi’s maid, Findenai.

A former member of the Republic of Clark’s resistance, a woman who rivaled Gloria, the captain of the royal guard.

But what he didn’t know was.

“Huff.”

That she had now become a guardian deity beyond human, to protect one man.

The tiger’s tail extending from Findenai’s back. A fierce chill swirled around her, creating the illusion of a snow-covered mountain.

Yet somehow.

“You fucking bastards.”

She was more furious than anyone had ever seen her before.