Chap 102-Fragrance

 

“Huh? Senior, watch ou—!”

Before the warning could finish, a sharp sound cutting through the wind split the view into a bloody red.

Thwack-

The High-ranking Monster’s massive body was cleanly severed from its waist.

Crimson blood spurted from the severed cross-section, and half-cut intestines spilled onto the floor in a sticky mess.

The severed upper body still tried to reach out its claws towards me, but soon collapsed powerlessly.

‘…Wasn’t that a High-ranking Monster just now?’

“That’s done. Let’s go quickly.”

Before my thoughts could end, Bella Senior said, lightly shaking her sword.

The path to the dormitory was a scene of carnage.

Magical beasts filled the view, and more of them crawled over the dead ones.

Bella Senior and I swung our swords without a word, as naturally as breathing.

Each time the blade flashed, heads were severed and limbs scattered in the air.

I should have been exhausted from fighting since dawn, but my body, now at level 6, felt lighter than ever.

Bella Senior also seemed to be getting breathless, but her swordsmanship never faltered.

The metallic and bloody stench suffocated the air, and the sound of flesh scattering constantly mixed and echoed underfoot.

One step, then another.

We didn’t stop.

And the moment the dormitory came into view.

I understood why the academy had become such a mess.

“Emilia… Professor?”

Only a day ago, she was there, worrying about me and cheering me on.

She was barely maintaining a human form, but her skin was charred black like charcoal and cracking.

Behind her, a gate rift clung to her back like a parasite, endlessly spewing out magical beasts.

Only her empty eyes were directed towards the vacant sky.

“Who… would do such a thing!”

Bella Senior muttered in an angry voice, gripping her sword as if to rush in at once.

“Senior, wait!”

Her movements froze for a moment at my shout.

Her eyes, burning with anger, seemed to waver for a moment, but she took a deep breath and quietly stepped back.

Now I knew.

Now I saw.

Why I couldn’t eliminate Camilla’s Contamination.

Why the magical beasts weren’t targeting me but attacking others.

The power I had been training every day since the day the mansion burned down.

Each time I used it, I experienced death and suffered the pain of being torn apart.

But thanks to that, I was able to save someone, so I could even say that I had grown a little fond of this power.

That power, the divine power of malice, was now clearly felt in Professor Emilia’s body.

‘…So that’s why there was no reaction.’

It was definitely the same divine power, but its nature was very different from the power dormant within me.

A much more ferocious and raw malice.

It felt natural that I, who was only at level 5, couldn’t dare to handle it.

But now…

For some reason, I felt like I could control it.

“Senior! Block the magical beasts.”

“Understood.”

A resolute answer without the slightest hesitation.

That short word was strangely reassuring.

I took a breath and slowly moved towards Professor Emilia.

“Krrr…”

The magical beasts that crawled out of the gate’s gap surrounded me, growling lowly.

Red saliva dripped between their bared fangs, and their claws scratched the ground.

“Nowhere to go!”

Thwack-!

A streak of light split the view.

The necks of three magical beasts flew off simultaneously, and their ownerless bodies tumbled powerlessly to the ground.

I met Bella Senior’s eyes.

A distance so close that I could hear each other’s breathing.

Her eyes contained my image, stained with blood and dust.

In the crimson blood, that gaze held me for a moment.

I felt a fleeting desire not to let go.

But swallowing that feeling, we simultaneously averted our gaze as if we had promised.

Because there was something to be done.

Screams erupted with each trajectory of her sword, and severed corpses piled up in the bloody stench.

I walked on the blood-red path that Bella Senior created.

One step, then another.

Towards the center of malice.

At the end of the blood-stained path, I broke through the horde of magical beasts and finally reached Professor Emilia.

‘I’m sorry, Miss… I…’

‘…I will help you, Miss.’

‘What would you like to eat today, Miss?’

“Professor…”

The days I spent with Professor Emilia flashed through my mind like a revolving lantern.

Of course, there were times when I didn’t get along with her.

But if she hadn’t been there for me after Master left…

I wasn’t sure how I would have endured those terrible days.

But…

Was it because she was involved with me that she became so unhappy?

“…No.”

I shook my head violently.

Stop these useless thoughts.

Right now… I have to think only about how to heal the professor.

That was all I could do.

I slowly placed my hand on her chest.

“Kuheup…!”

A sharp, pungent sensation spread from my fingertips to my arm.

The stimulation that penetrated like an electric current turned into pleasure, traveled up my arm, pierced my brain, and made my heart beat strongly.

The resistance was rougher than I thought.

The blood vessels in my forearm burst one by one, becoming stained with five colors, and the irregular pain made me even more excited.

My right arm, mottled as if it had mold.

The tingling pain spread as if swallowing sweet honey.

“…Heheut.”

A smile spread across my lips.

You… made a mistake.

[SYSTEM]

Unique Ability Masochist is activated.

Instantly, magical power surged in like a storm.

I ruthlessly shoved that power into the malice that had been waiting to awaken in a corner of my body.

The malice greedily sucked in the magical power.

I was momentarily breathless from the pleasure.

Once again, I placed my hand on her chest.

A sharp energy once again crawled up my arm like a snake, constricting my body.

But it was useless now.

Crack-!

The malice, strengthened by my magical power, roughly pressed down on the Evil God’s energy lurking within her body.

The energy that had been dominating her was crushed by my power.

The shattered fragments were soon entangled in the malice within my body, and it ravenously devoured everything.

Gradually, her body began to vibrate lightly.

A faint vitality permeated her blood-stained skin, and the blackened blood vessels subsided.

Her rough breathing also gradually became smoother.

But her eyes were still closed.

Her consciousness had not returned, but that painful distortion disappeared, and her face became serene.

Like someone who had escaped a long nightmare and fallen into a peaceful sleep.

I stared at her face for a moment, then withdrew my hand.

Kuuuuung-!

A roar erupted from above my head.

The sky, which had been split in two, began to twist as if a huge wound was being sutured.

As the gate’s boundary narrowed, the screams and cries of magical beasts poured out from the crimson cracks.

Dozens of arms and tentacles scratched at the air as if trying to grab onto the gap.

But then a light flashed, and the crack slowly turned into a thin line and disappeared.

With a final sharp sound that seemed to tear the air, the space regained its tranquility as if nothing had happened.

Thump-

“Did I… succeed…?”

The tension released, and I unconsciously collapsed to the floor.

I was panting, and my fingertips were still trembling slightly.

Bella Senior, who had cleared out all the magical beasts on the opposite side, was also sitting with her shoulders slumped.

“Amazing, Yeon. Can you control it now?”

My face became subtly hot at that one word that came out between her rough breaths.

I nodded lightly.

“Then gather the magical beasts here now.”

“What…?”

“The students… we have to save the other students too.”

Those words pulled me back to reality.

The gate was closed.

But the magical beasts that had escaped through the gap must still be rampaging through every corner of the academy.

To deal with them all, the only way is to draw them here with my divine power of malice.

But if that happens…

“I’ll block them.”

“There’s no need for Senior to take the risk—”

“I am also a professor at the academy and a knight who has fought on the front lines. I have a responsibility to save the students.”

Bella Senior’s resolute voice struck my ears.

She seemed to have already made up her mind.

“Go quickly. Go save Lina and Camilla.”

I couldn’t hesitate any longer.

The thought that ‘I should refuse her offer’ swirled in my head dozens of times, but my lips didn’t open in the end.

In my life where I had to be hated by everyone, she, who knew everything about me, had become a precious existence deep in my heart.

But…

Before she was someone precious to me, she was a knight and a professor.

Someone who naturally considered standing in danger to protect someone.

Denying her beliefs was no different from denying her life and honor.

In a mixture of anxiety and respect, I swallowed my breath for a long time.

And quietly got up and approached her.

Hug-

“You have to be safe, Senior.”

Along with the warmth felt up close, a subtle fragrance brushed the tip of my nose.

The cold metallic smell of armor, the smell of sweat from battle, and the very faint, soft scent of wildflowers that permeated through it.

“You too, Yeon.”

Like the warmth hidden within the rough steel, that scent strangely calmed my heart.

Buried in that scent, I slowly began to draw up the divine power of malice again.