Ch.81Chapter 81. Goal Achieved (1)

Landgar Bayer.

Vice Chancellor of Crescen Academy and an authority on barrier magic.

Not only was he skilled in barrier magic, but he was also proficient in other types of magic, making him a name that would inevitably come up in discussions about the strongest mages.

‘What is this…!’

Despite his many accolades, Landgar was being overwhelmingly pushed back.

Claiming that he had exhausted his strength fighting Chancellor Binuar before this battle was merely an excuse.

Just as he had already fought one battle, it seemed the Black Shadow Corps commander had also gone a round with an undead wyvern.

“Huff. Huff.”

Landgar instinctively clutched his throat while gasping for breath.

Simultaneously, he drew up mana to form a circular shield around himself.

It was truly an instinctive action.

Though he knew it wouldn’t work, it was an instinctive behavior that emerged because doing something like this made him feel secure.

Woong-

“Ugh, urgh!”

Landgar jumped up in alarm as soon as he heard the distinctive humming sound.

What followed was a scene he had witnessed several times already.

The black mana surrounding him dissipated.

His opponent wasn’t even using any special magic.

He simply approached and reached out toward Landgar.

With just that, the black magic that rippled around Landgar, protecting him, vanished.

Landgar glared briefly at the black mask before quickly moving backward.

And then it repeated.

As he retreated, he squeezed out mana and blasted it toward his opponent.

The tentacle-shaped mana flew rapidly but disappeared as soon as it reached the vicinity of his opponent.

He couldn’t figure out what technique this was.

It wasn’t nullifying magic, nor was it blocking with a barrier.

It simply annihilated the mana itself.

“Damn it!”

Landgar shouted in rage.

The masked Black Shadow Corps commander had shown no sign of agitation from the beginning.

He had judged that he could handle the opponent if he took the drug, but that was a misjudgment.

Just as he had hidden his drug, his opponent had also concealed a trump card.

Who would have thought he could annihilate all attacks around him?

Woong-

The sound came again.

By now, Landgar instinctively got goosebumps just hearing this sound.

There was nothing he could do.

All he could do was run away.

With the humming sound, the Black Shadow Corps commander unfailingly appeared before him, reaching for his neck.

Landgar felt suffocated as he watched the hand reaching toward him.

The pain from when his neck was first grabbed still lingered and seemed to intensify.

It wasn’t just the intensifying pain.

Goosebumps covered his body, and his heart sank.

Helplessness.

It was a feeling of helplessness he hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

The feeling that he truly couldn’t do anything against this person.

“Aaaaargh!!!”

Landgar roared as he summoned his mana.

He didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that he felt helpless.

Who was he?

He had risen to the position of Vice Chancellor of Crescen Academy solely on his abilities and had caught the eye of the Founder.

He had joined the Nameless Organization and immediately claimed an elder position, capable of handling black magic at an expert level.

“Kuh, kuuurgh!”

Landgar’s thoughts could go no further.

He expelled mana, drawing out as much of his remaining strength as possible, but it was of no use.

The intense and massive mana dissolved like a handful of ashes around the Black Shadow Corps commander.

And this time, as if determined not to let go, the commander gripped Landgar’s neck even tighter.

“Is it over now?”

Shiver-

Landgar felt a familiar chill from the voice of the Black Shadow Corps commander who held his neck.

A single utterance from an absolute superior, as if looking down on him.

Someone flashed through Landgar’s mind.

A voice that spoke softly in a cave-like, deep tone.

The Founder.

“Kugh- Auurgh-!”

Landgar struggled until the end.

He wrapped mana around his hands and feet and swung them however he could.

But the arm of the Black Shadow Corps commander gripping his neck remained firm.

The mana he summoned, using every ounce of strength he had, was easily annihilated, and his body was gradually losing strength.

To be this one-sided even after taking the drug.

He felt like he would lose consciousness at any moment, but Landgar held on until the end.

To somehow escape from this grip.

No, to escape from the helplessness.

“Kuh, kuuuh…”

But reality didn’t change just because he struggled and threw a tantrum.

Contrary to his thoughts, his body was gradually losing strength, and his mind was becoming distant.

His struggles diminished, and the black mana that had filled the surroundings gradually faded.

‘Is this… the end?’

Along with it, his will was also breaking.

Just as his will to resist and endure was about to break and he was about to give up everything.

Thump-

In Landgar’s blurry and narrowing vision, he saw someone.

Someone floating in the air, looking straight at him.

Thump-

Landgar instinctively knew who was looking down at him.

It was the Founder.

At the same time, the dying ember of hope began to rekindle.

The Founder had come to save him.

“Kuh…!”

‘Now, now is the time!’

Landgar shouted vehemently inside, but the distant Founder didn’t move at all.

But Landgar clearly saw it.

The Founder’s lips moving slowly.

‘Ah…?’

Even as he wasn’t sure if he had lost consciousness or not, he could clearly read the Founder’s lip movements.

Neck. Lace.

The Founder clearly said that.

‘Huh… haha.’

Landgar immediately understood upon seeing those three syllables.

He was being abandoned.

The Founder hadn’t come to save him but to retrieve the necklace.

Upon realizing the Founder’s intention, Landgar relaxed his body.

The strength left his arms and legs that had been struggling, and the strength also left Landgar’s neck, which had been stiffly resisting.

“…Finally caught you.”

Thud-

Landgar didn’t take any action even as his body, which had been suspended in the air, fell helplessly to the ground.

He hadn’t lost consciousness, but that was all.

Landgar no longer had the strength or will to resist.

Woong-

Even with his eyes closed, Landgar could feel it.

The Black Shadow Corps commander had withdrawn his power and was looking down at him.

‘For the… revolution…!’

Landgar moved, squeezing out his truly last bit of strength.

Not to attack the Black Shadow Corps commander.

He barely managed to put his hand inside his clothes and firmly grasped the cold metal inside.

Then, with all his might, he threw the necklace outward.

Even though it didn’t fly far because it was thrown by someone who had exhausted his strength, Landgar wasn’t conscious enough to realize that.

He threw it as far as he could at the moment.

So that the Founder could receive the necklace.

“…What’s this?”

It was the last voice Landgar heard.

The Black Shadow Corps commander’s puzzled words.

**

“Phew.”

I looked down at Landgar, who had collapsed with a flushed face.

Even when I nudged him with my foot, there was no response, indicating that he had definitely lost consciousness this time.

He was a more challenging opponent than expected.

From the tentacle-like black magic he recklessly unleashed to his resistance until the end.

Even when he lost consciousness and collapsed, he suddenly moved, making me think he was up to something again.

Fortunately, nothing serious happened.

‘It seemed like he threw something.’

At the end, when he fell to the ground, he threw something from inside his clothes, making me think he might be throwing a bomb.

But it wasn’t that.

Something shiny flew weakly, but it wasn’t a bomb or magic.

I instinctively looked in that direction to check what had flown, but there was nothing around.

‘Anyway, the arrest of the suspect was successful.’

Although questions remained, securing Landgar was the priority.

I lifted the collapsed Landgar onto my shoulder.

“Whew.”

As I thought the battle was over, tension released, and fatigue hit me hard.

My teleportation doesn’t require mana, but it does require concentration.

Especially when using techniques that utilize space, like just now.

‘I didn’t expect to have to go this far.’

Black magic was certainly tricky.

It had been years since I used this technique.

A technique that opens a subspace around my body, absorbing all attacks that approach me into that subspace.

I hadn’t named it specifically, but it was the ultimate defensive and offensive technique.

Just by approaching, I could nullify all attacks.

Because of this, I couldn’t speak properly as I had to maintain concentration.

If my concentration had wavered even slightly, I might have been absorbed into the subspace myself.

‘But why hasn’t anyone come yet…’

Just as I was about to complain about why no one had arrived yet, someone appeared before me.

Someone pointing a sword at me with a wary expression.

Golden hair fluttering in the wind.

It was Kassis Sinclair.

“The, the Vice Chancellor…!”

“Ah, it’s a misunderstanding.”

“…What?”

Thud-

I dropped Landgar in front of Kassis as if throwing him.

As Landgar lost consciousness, the barrier seemed to have been lifted, and other academy professors were arriving one after another behind Kassis.

‘Damn, it’s getting crowded.’

Suppressing the nausea, I quickly continued speaking.

I needed to leave here quickly.

“This person is the culprit. Investigate thoroughly and handle it.”

I said, looking at Landgar sprawled on the ground.

At my words, the gazes of Kassis and the other professors all turned to Landgar.

And seeing that, I immediately teleported.

Woong-

Because I clearly felt someone behind me preparing to cast magic at me.

I had to escape quickly.

‘Phew, mission accomplished anyway.’

Originally, I had planned to take Landgar to Yuria, but things got a bit complicated.