episode_0007

The reason I was able to catch the demonic beast while passing through so many students earlier.

[Shadow Walk]

It was an item I brought from my previous character, along with the Myth-grade sub-dimension, and it was considered one of the top-tier rogue-type skills in Croaca. However, since the character I raised was a spearman, I had no use for it.

Unlike the sub-dimension, which I could use immediately after falling into Croaca, Shadow Walk couldn’t be used right away. The reason was that the exact name of the item I brought was the Shadow Walk skillbook.

‘They really gave it to me as a book.’

Unlike in the game, where I could learn it with a single mouse click, that wouldn’t be possible in reality. So, I had no choice but to open the book to learn and use it myself, and I doubted my eyes.

[Pretend to go left and move right. However, you must also exist on the left.]

This single sentence was written in a book thick enough to be hundreds of pages. At first, I wondered what kind of nonsense this was.

But to learn it, that was all the book offered, so I ultimately followed it physically. I moved left and right as quickly as possible. However, it was impossible for me to also exist on the left.

‘In the end, I succeeded absurdly.’

I got frustrated and pretended to go left, then moved right, and created an illusion on the left, and it worked. I was dumbfounded even after succeeding.

After succeeding once, I was able to use Shadow Walk without creating illusions separately.

“I thought I wouldn’t have to use illusions for Shadow Walk after that.”

Thud! Thud!

The golems were punching at my clones, but they couldn’t land a single hit.

“Is it possible to move like that?”

“No one from the Isar tribe moves like that.”

“There was no one like that in the East either.”

“And with ten people moving like that, it makes sense that the golems can’t hit them.”

What I was doing now was simple to explain in words.

Nine clones, including myself, unleashed Shadow Walk.

It was simple to describe, but I, who was doing it myself, felt like I was going to die for two reasons.

Firstly, it consumed too much mana. As I continuously maintained nine clones, I could feel my mana rapidly depleting.

Secondly, my head hurt like hell.

‘I feel like I’m going crazy!’

I moved, thinking about every step of each clone. Since the golems shouldn’t realize which one was a clone, they all moved naturally. My head felt like it was splitting while controlling nine clones and moving identically myself.

Nevertheless, my mouth spoke to the inanimate golems. I hadn’t known it at first, but I could also create sounds with illusions.

“””Mr. Golem, who do you think is real?””””

Thud! Crash!

My clones and I circled around the golems. If we were hit by the golems’ attacks, our illusion would be revealed, so even as clones, we were careful not to get hit.

“I am the real one.”

“No, I am the real one.”

“What are you all saying? Of course, I’m the real one!”

“I am not the real one.”

“What… am I?”

If they were women, they would have died of delight hearing ten handsome men speak, but unfortunately, the golems couldn’t understand my words.

Thud!

“Seeing no reaction even after looking at my handsome face, you must not be a woman.”

When a golem showed an opening, I immediately ran up and stabbed it with my staff.

“I am the real one.”

Immediately after stabbing, I didn’t forget to blend back into the clones. It was my own doing, but it was truly petty.

“I was the one who just stabbed.”

“What?! Are you trying to steal my credit? My staff still has the sensation of it!”

“You two handsome gentlemen over there, I was the one who attacked the golem.”

Unlike my incessantly chattering mouth, my mind continued its calculations. The current distance between me and the golem, and the distance between the golem, Lucas, and Clara.

If I got too close to the golem, I’d be hit by its attack, and if I stayed too far, the golem might ignore me and go for Lucas and Clara.

Therefore, I maintained that delicate distance, circling around the golems. The two golems continued to swing their fists, but neither I nor my clones were slow enough to be hit by their attacks.

“Do you think I’d get hit by an attack like this?”

“You handsome person over there, you’re as good at dodging as you are at lying.”

“Haha, thank you. You’re just as handsome as I am.”

“I am —”

To manage my mana appropriately, I reduced the number of clones by about half. As the clones decreased, the golems could attack more easily, and I had to concentrate that much more on dodging.

Thud!

Perhaps my concentration wavered, but one of the clones was just hit by a golem’s attack. If that had been me instead of a clone, it would have been over. Now only three clones remained. Three was cutting it close, but it was enough.

“Many handsome people disappeared in the meantime.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the remaining three clones charged at the golems. In the meantime, I ran to the spot where I would carry out my plan.

The two golems eliminated all my remaining clones, but it didn’t matter. I had already arrived at my desired location. The two golems, having destroyed all the clones, looked at me.

“Haha. I guess I’ve been discovered. I am the real one.”

The two golems charged at me, but I was faster at pulling something in the air than the golems were at reaching me.

A transparent thread, almost invisible even though it was right in front of my eyes, was wrapped around my finger. While running alongside the golems, I had been setting up threads on the ground. When I pulled the thread connected to my finger, it tightly bound the golems’ bodies.

The thread was from a spider demonic beast called Kezard, which I had processed with my unique ability, ‘Crafter’s Touch.’

The golems tried to tear off the binding threads somehow, but the threads wouldn’t break easily.

“You won’t be able to untie that easily, will you?”

I carried the processed threads in my sub-dimension. And the threads placed in the sub-dimension became even more transparent and tougher.

This was the first ability of the Myth-grade sub-dimension: the enhancement of items within it.

As much as I wanted to deal with the bound golems myself, I had no such means of attack, and the threads wouldn’t hold out for very long.

“Unfortunately, I’m not the protagonist of this stage.”

Saying that, I looked towards Lucas and Clara.

There stood Clara, who had finished her incantation, and Lucas, who had completed his preparations.

A chilling magical power was condensed in Clara’s staff, and a holy golden aura gathered in Lucas’s spear.

“That was amazing, Loki.”

“I don’t know about the earlier spell, but I’ll admit it this time. We wouldn’t have been able to defeat the golems without you.”

After saying that, Clara hurled the magical power from her staff towards the golems, and Lucas also threw his spear at them.

Naturally, the bound golems couldn’t evade the attacks.

CRASHHHH!!!!

With an enormous sound, the golems vanished, leaving no core behind.

. . .

The situation room where the academy professors were gathered.

The professors were now in a state of extreme excitement.

“They really caught that!”

“Is this year’s class unprecedented, or are those three simply unprecedented?”

“Did you see the magic student Clara used? Was that the magic taught by the Tower Master?”

“What about student Lucas’s throw? That golden aura must be the power that only imperial family members can wield, right?”

Before they knew it, they were referring to Lucas and Clara as students.

“Student Loki… he must be a user of unique magic, right?”

At one professor’s words, the boisterous professors fell silent.

This was because everyone knew how mysterious ‘unique magic’ was. Although called unique magic, unlike regular magic, it was absolutely impossible to teach.

Unique magic was not acquired but innate. Not much was yet known about unique magic. Some unique magic was completely useless, while others were powerful enough to change the tide of war.

Therefore, unique magic was still a subject of research, and the professors wouldn’t miss the opportunity to study it. And Professor Idra, who had been eyeing Loki for a long time, disliked this situation.

“Don’t you all try to poach my student. Loki is my student!”

“Oh, come on, ‘your’ student, Professor Idra. Isn’t he still everyone’s student?”

“Only calling me ‘Professor’ when it’s convenient, really!”

Club representatives also thought about trying to poach Loki after hearing he was a unique magic user, but they gave up, as they weren’t confident they could beat the student council president and the disciplinary committee head.

In fact, Joden Adelien and Johanna Freya were glaring at each other with hostility.

“Haha, well then, I have something to do, so I’ll be leaving first.”

The Headmaster left the situation room and walked to his office.

He then took out a communication orb from a drawer and placed a call.

Ring-ring.

As it was the person on the other end, it took time for them to answer.

“Glory to the Empire, Your Majesty the Emperor, it is I.”

[Isn’t this Headmaster-nim?]

Through the communication orb, a man with the same golden hair and golden eyes as Lucas was visible. However, the aura of a ruler emanating even through the orb was incomparable to Lucas’s.

“Your Majesty, please speak less formally.”

[How could I do that, when I was scolded by Headmaster-nim so many times when I attended the academy?]

“Those were nostalgic times.”

[So, why have you contacted me?]

“Your Majesty is busy, so I will get straight to the point. The child named Loki, is he perhaps Your Majesty’s disciple?”