Ch.52Chapter 52. Side Effects (3)

“What the…”

Whoosh-

I didn’t have time to finish my sentence as flames suddenly flew toward me.

When Cain, surrounded by fire, thrust his fist forward, flames shot out.

A formless, crude but powerful blaze.

BOOM-

The flames that missed me fell to the ground and exploded on impact.

This wasn’t ordinary fire.

The flames Cain emitted had explosive power.

They exploded upon contact with anything.

“Hey!!”

Until just a moment ago, Cain had at least been shouting, but after becoming completely engulfed in flames, he stopped making any sound.

When I shouted, Cain spewed more fire in my direction.

BOOM- BOOM-

Heat waves crashed over me from all directions as explosions erupted around me.

‘There’s no way this is a technique.’

No matter how I looked at it, Cain’s current state wasn’t that of someone using a secret magic he’d been hiding to defeat me.

It was too extreme for that.

Cain was simply losing control, unable to properly manage his mana and going berserk.

As the Black Shadow Corps commander, I’d seen countless spells, but I’d never seen a mage’s physical form change like this.

“Hey, what is that?!”

Whoosh-

Instead of answering, Cain shot flames at me.

Anyone could see he was completely out of his mind.

By this point, I could feel how serious the situation had become.

I thought he was just attacking me out of anger like he did a few days ago, but this was different.

BOOM- BOOM-

Cain, engulfed in flames, was becoming increasingly violent.

At first, he had been throwing flames precisely at me, but now he was spewing fire indiscriminately.

Heat and flames spread with each explosion.

Unfortunately, we were in a forest, which made the damage even worse.

The grass and trees around us were already burning from the flames Cain was emitting.

‘How do I…’

My expression involuntarily twisted.

If it were just a monster, I would have cut it down immediately, but what was causing this rampage wasn’t a monster.

Having witnessed Cain being engulfed in flames in real time made me hesitate to swing my sword.

“Damn it.”

Even as I deliberated, the flames continued to spread relentlessly.

No matter how I thought about it, cutting him down seemed like the only option.

Intuitively, I thought about extinguishing the fire covering Cain.

He seemed to have entered a state of mana overload, so removing the overloading mana might help.

But I didn’t think I could put out those flames with any magic I could currently use.

That meant I had to try something with my sword, but again, cutting seemed like the only answer.

BOOM-

Meanwhile, Cain continued to spew flames in all directions.

To prevent the fire from spreading further, I sliced through the flames flying through the air.

The Black Shadow Sword with its black blade was now gleaming in my hand.

‘They still explode when cut.’

At first glance, they looked like simple flames that would disperse when cut in midair, but that wasn’t the case.

Even when cut in midair, the flames exploded on the spot.

I could clearly feel the remnants of the flames touching my clothes.

‘Should I just cut him down?’

I seriously considered it.

Professor Amillion and the other students would probably arrive soon.

It would be great if Professor Amillion came and the situation ended without any damage, but that was just my wishful thinking.

The students definitely wouldn’t be able to block these flames that Cain was emitting.

Even if they could block them, the flames would explode on contact, causing injuries regardless.

To prevent such incidents, cutting down the source seemed like the best option.

“I’m sorry, but.”

Having made up my mind, I pointed my sword at Cain.

I didn’t know why he had transformed like this, but there was no other choice.

I had to cut him down.

**

“Everyone get out of the forest now!”

“P-Professor!”

‘Damn it, what’s going on here?’

Amillion rushed toward where she sensed the massive mana disturbance, feeling a sense of foreboding.

Deep in the Training Forest.

The mana was too massive and intense to belong to a student, literally surging.

Even without the mana disturbance, Amillion could tell something was wrong.

Acrid gray smoke continued to rise from deep within the forest.

“What in the…”

“Professor! I’ll go ahead!”

“What…! It’s dangerous!”

“Hurry!”

“Cynthia!!”

‘Sigh, really.’

Amillion called out to Cynthia, who ignored her words and ran ahead, but Cynthia showed no signs of stopping.

And she was running incredibly fast—Cynthia was already far ahead.

Amillion couldn’t understand how things had turned out this way.

After the inter-grade competition, the class atmosphere had been poor in many ways.

Planning a small event to refresh the mood had seemed like a good idea.

Based on her teaching experience, such activities were surprisingly effective for students.

Children might initially dislike and resist, but once the activity began, they would become immersed.

And with young people, you never knew what kind of interactions might develop.

So she had implemented this event with some expectations.

“Cynthia! Damn, why is she so fast?”

Despite being a professor, Amillion, who didn’t focus on physical training as a mage, couldn’t keep up with Cynthia’s speed.

Moreover, Cynthia seemed to be moving even faster than usual.

Busy trying to follow Cynthia, who was far ahead, Amillion had no time to worry about the other students.

Meanwhile, the mana disturbance in the distance was becoming increasingly violent.

‘I hope no students are caught up in this.’

The growing disturbance deep in the forest.

Cynthia rushing ahead, ignoring her instructions.

The other students who weren’t visible.

Tap-

After considering various thoughts in a brief moment, Amillion determined this was an emergency situation.

Academy professors had the authority to freely use their abilities within the academy grounds in emergency situations.

When Amillion forcefully pushed off the ground, her body began to rise into the air.

Mana surrounded Amillion’s body, and she was soon flying through the air.

It was the Fly spell, which required delicate control.

“Cynthia!!”

“Pro…fessor?”

“Turn back immediately!! It’s dangerous!!”

“But…! I can help!”

Cynthia was usually one of the most obedient students, but for some reason, she was being unusually stubborn today.

Giving up, Amillion rose higher.

Whatever the case, Cynthia was safe for now, so identifying the status of the other students took priority.

Woong-

A distinct wave of mana spread around Amillion as she hovered in the air.

Immediately after, Amillion sensed the presence of other students in the vicinity.

Elaine and Agnes walking slowly toward the source of the flames, Emily and Marie standing still about 1km away.

And at the center of the mana disturbance, Ryuyeong and Cain.

‘Cain Hover…?’

Amillion, known as “The Penetrating One,” could tell.

The surging mana was Cain Hover’s.

“What on earth…”

She would soon see what was happening ahead.

Breaking through the acrid smoke rising into the air, the situation came into view.

The forest burning with flames, and two figures standing at its center.

No, could those even be called two people?

‘Flames?’

At least Ryuyeong was normal, holding his sword.

Ryuyeong stood with a serious expression, holding his sword without lowering his guard.

At the end of Ryuyeong’s sword was a person—no, a flame.

Something in the form of a massive ember.

Amillion felt great unease looking at the giant ember.

The mana faintly sensed from the giant ember was one Amillion knew very well.

Cain Hover’s mana.

“Ryuyeong!”

Amillion called out to Ryuyeong with an urgent voice.

Fortunately, the sound reached him, and Ryuyeong looked up.

The moment Ryuyeong’s gaze briefly left the ember, flames shot out in all directions from the giant ember, as if it had been waiting for this chance.

“…Watch out!”

Whoosh- Whoosh-

Before Amillion could reflexively shout, Ryuyeong had already moved.

Without hesitation, Ryuyeong lunged toward the flames shooting in all directions and cut them down in midair.

Every single one, without exception.

Amillion immediately realized upon seeing Ryuyeong’s movements.

The reason the massive flames hadn’t spread further was because Ryuyeong had been controlling them as much as possible.

Woong-

Amillion flew toward Ryuyeong as quickly as possible.

“What about the other students?”

“…I didn’t have the luxury to worry about them. What is that?”

“You know, don’t you?”

“No way.”

Landing quickly beside Ryuyeong, Amillion felt her vague suspicion instantly become reality at Ryuyeong’s words.

The giant ember before them was indeed Cain Hover.

“How?”

“It seems his mana is going berserk. I don’t know the exact cause.”

“That’s impossible.”

“I don’t think now is the time to debate what’s possible or not. You came at a good time. I was about to cut him down for real.”

Amillion examined the ember more carefully, not giving up hope.

However, contrary to her wishes, the more carefully she looked, the more strongly she sensed Cain Hover’s mana.

“Can’t you do something about him?”

“To suppress mana overload…”

Just as Amillion was calmly recalling methods to deal with someone in this state:

“Professor!”

“Huh?”

“Oh no.”

Whoosh-

As the voice was heard, Ryuyeong and Amillion looked back.

Almost simultaneously, flames shot out from Cain, who had become an ember.

Directly toward Cynthia.