episode_0018
by fnovelpiaMark Visus, although from a commoner background, was fortunate enough to be admitted to the academy.
This was thanks to having a connection with the young lady of a high-ranking noble family, the Duchy of Tistina, since childhood.
Of course, that alone would not have allowed Mark to enter the academy.
Often, when he was practicing with a wooden sword alone, Lilith Tistina’s bodyguard, who was his childhood friend, would approach and teach him.
Over time, this gradually improved, and soon he caught the eye of the Tistina family’s sword instructor.
To borrow his words, Mark Visus was a genius in swordsmanship.
These points combined allowed Mark to enter the academy as a student in the Knight Faculty.
Mark was excited after listening to the entrance ceremony speech by Principal Lyum Kitokal.
To become the strongest knight and a hero by making a name for himself and raising his reputation like this.
It was the moment his first dream was born, for him, a commoner.
. . .
“…Ye… yo…”
“You..!”
“Gasp!”
Mark Visus opened his eyes to a blurry voice calling him.
As he tried to stretch his stiff body, he soon groaned from the intense pain felt in every corner.
“Ah, I think I’ve come to my senses now.”
“Ugh.. my head..”
“…You..! Have you come to your senses now?”
Mark turned his head towards the voice calling him, and there were Hear리스 Morgan, the academy’s young vice-principal, and Principal Lyum Kitokal.
“You are..!”
“Shh, don’t speak too loudly. They seem busy, but they’re still keeping an eye on us!”
“They…? Ah.. Now that I think about it, certainly…”
Mark retraced what had happened before he fainted.
Magic circles that appeared during the entrance ceremony, sudden explosions, and the black mages who were randomly unleashing magic in the surrounding area,
It seems the academy is under attack by black mages, judging by the circumstances.
And looking around, he could see that most of the students and staff, including Mark, had their limbs bound around the grand auditorium.
“Are we hostages now?”
Mark, who had just regained consciousness after fainting, asked the two.
“It seems so, judging by the circumstances.. but the situation doesn’t seem good, in fact.”
“The building’s condition has become very precarious since the first explosion… If we stay like this, it’s only a matter of time before the building collapses.”
“Unless rescue arrives as quickly as possible, everyone here will die.”
“Furthermore, they have been drawing a massive magic circle centered around us hostages for a while now… Considering the magic they use, this magic circle is surely..”
“Yes, they are probably planning to sacrifice us, no doubt. Judging by the number of hostages and the size of the magic circle, they are surely planning to cast some massive black magic.”
Vice-Principal Hear리스 and Principal Lyum lowered their heads, their faces darkening.
“What is the situation outside?”
“Most of the black mages’ skills weren’t that great, so they would have been quickly subdued by skilled students or guards.
Perhaps they can’t enter carelessly because we are held hostage.”
“Then.. how about we inside subdue them?”
“What..! Don’t talk nonsense! That’s too reckless!”
“Didn’t you just say that most of the black mages’ skills weren’t that great?
“But there was one dangerous fellow among them… the one with a red pattern etched on his robe..!
The other black mages and the puppets controlled by them could be dealt with by our academy’s guards.
However, when the guy wearing the red-patterned robe appeared, the tide of battle was instantly turned!
Even though I am old, I, who was once a high-ranking mage, joined in the suppression.
He is surely a top-tier black mage… At the very least, a swordsman of Sword Master level skill is needed.”
“On the contrary, doesn’t that mean the situation will be resolved if only he is subdued?”
Mark’s eyes were burning with a strange light.
“Are you.. serious?”
Vice-Principal Hear리스 asked with a worried look.
“Staying still like this is just a pointless death. Shouldn’t we struggle as much as we can?”
“Heh heh heh… Youth is a good thing.. Well then, there’s no other way.”
Principal Lyum secretly cast a spell to create a small ember with his bound fingertips, without anyone noticing.
And then, he cut the ropes that were binding himself, the vice-principal, and Mark.
“Your words are right. Staying still is just a pointless death.”
. . .
“Huff.. Huff.. J-just a moment.. S-slow down…!”
“..We’ve been walking for a while now?”
In fact, Ropel and Eligio were walking carefully, so as not to be spotted by other black mages.
But for Eligio, who had originally only lived cooped up in a research lab, even this much exercise seemed difficult.
“Okay, it seems quite safe around here, so let’s rest for a bit.”
Ropel said that, but did not lower his guard.
“Um.. um, by the way, you’re also a freshman this semester, right?
You.. you’re also visiting the academy for the first time, aren’t you?”
“Huh? Yeah, I am, aren’t I?”
“But.. but for someone like that, you seem to find your way quite well…
L-like you knew the structure of this place from before…”
“Why.. why is that.. Should I say I sort of know where the path is intuitively?”
“..You.. you always just give.. those kinds of answers…?”
Eligio overtly made a displeased expression, as if to say, “Is it that answer again?”
“But it’s true? I’ve definitely come to this building, as well as the academy, for the first time.
But strangely, every single part of the structure here feels vaguely familiar…”
“Oh.. okay…
..? Huh..? J-just a moment… Is that.. an injury..? Are.. are you hurt?”
“Huh? Oh.. you mean this?
It wasn’t strange for injuries to appear, as we moved frantically while avoiding the sentries even as the building collapsed.
“It’s okay, this much injury is nothing.”
“..J-just a moment.. Come here…”
Eligio approached Ropel and took out an advanced healing potion from her pocket.
As one drop of this fell onto the wound Ropel sustained, his wound healed at a rapid speed.
“Wow! Just one drop and it’s like this!”
“Heheheh.. E-even though I look like this, I’m quite good at al..chemy..!
This potion is good whether you d-drink it or apply it.. Anyway, its effect is certain..!
Ah.. um.. but you shouldn’t use too much… I focused so much on emergency treatment that the healing amount is too great, so if you use a large amount at once, my body can’t withstand the healing!
Ah.. um.. and this potion not only heals but also if you mix it with o-other catalysts, the effect completely changes…!”
Perhaps because the only topic she liked came up, Eligio excitedly gave a detailed explanation about her potion, despite the dangerous and urgent situation.
Ropel was a little flustered by her sudden change in attitude, but listened attentively without missing a single word.
However, whether fortunately or not, her boring explanation session did not last that long.
A black robe exuding an unpleasant and eerie aura was seen approaching from the other side.
Ropel hid Eligio behind his back and picked up a steel pipe.
Eligio put the potion back in her pocket and trembled behind Ropel.
“Ah.. How fortunate.. There was only one on the location-tracking magic, but when I came here myself, there are two..?
As expected, choosing this side first was the right answer..”
The black mage Araise revealed himself, smiling with a hideously long, torn mouth.
And suddenly, two sharp purple spears appeared from his sides and flew towards Ropel and Eligio.
Ropel struck one spear with the steel pipe held in one hand, deflecting its trajectory and bouncing it away, and the remaining spear disappeared with a blue light when Ropel brought his empty hand close to it.
He had used Dispel, one of the basic spells.
Although he had just recently entered the academy, he had already learned a few basic spells from the Toyfel family.
“Oh? You can Dispel magic of this level? Alright, I know your level now.”
Araise was relaxed.
His first spell was merely a greeting, not using much power anyway.
The only thing he had to do now was to painfully kill the two prey in front of him one by one, so there was no need to kill them with a single blow.
What was visible before him were two young people, a male and a female.
The male’s body was sturdy and well-trained, and it seemed he could handle magic, as a certain level of mana could be felt, but only to that extent; in the female’s case, neither her body nor her mana was anything special.
Against such two people, Araise wasn’t worried about anything.
What he desired, to begin with, was unilateral abuse.
That’s why the people he had released beforehand and implanted location-tracking magic on were also chosen primarily from ordinary, weak students who weren’t anything special.
When he raised one hand, the purple spears he had launched earlier reappeared.
This time, the intensity of the mana etched was slightly higher, and the number was also greater.
And as those spears flew towards Ropel and Eligio, new spears were instantly generated.
As a result, purple spears were continuously appearing and continuously flying around Araise.
Ropel swung the steel pipe faster and wider, deflecting the spears.
He dealt with the gaps that appeared intermittently with Dispel magic from his other hand.
However, as the intensity of the spears grew stronger and their number increased, Ropel gradually began to pant and break out in a cold sweat.
Watching Ropel like that, Araise smiled, tearing the corners of his mouth even more grotesquely.
As if this was just the beginning.
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