Chapter 135
The air flowed coldly.
The intruders couldn't easily move their bodies.
"......"
It was because of some old man who suddenly blocked their way.
Though they had formed an encirclement and gained the upper hand against the snake until just before, their shallow momentum was overturned in an instant.
Enormous killing intent dominated the area.
Kugugugugu...!
Mana fluctuated as if frightened.
Heavy pressure weighed down on my shoulders.
It felt like becoming an ant about to be stepped on.
The old man didn't take any particular actions, and was just standing leisurely, but his intense presence choked the intruders' breath.
Cold sweat flowed down.
On the other hand,
"Everyone seems tense."
The old man's expression was overflowing with composure.
That spirit even erased the dragon's aura lingering around.
As mere lowly creatures, they could only fathom the old man's distant class.
"......"
Frozen intruders.
The old man spoke with a meaningful atmosphere.
"Death is clumsy for everyone."
Killing intent was settled in his pupils.
Beyond light so faint it was dirty, death they had never experienced before surged.
One sentence of judgment added decoration to the distant fear.
"Though it will be an insignificant end... I'll personally push your backs."
In short.
It was a death sentence.
"Shamefully."
The old man extended his hand just like that.
The light flowing out stealthily aimed at none other than the squirming worms.
The intruders couldn't even think they should run away.
Perhaps they had resigned themselves.
Overwhelming power.
Reactions as if recognizing the old man popped out one by one among the intruders.
They muttered with pale complexions.
"No way, is it the Monarch...?"
"I didn't know there would be people who would recognize me."
The Monarch answered nonchalantly.
One of the frightened heretics shouted towards the old snake.
"Fallen star...! W-why are you helping the academy?"
"Because I'm in the position of receiving a request from this side."
The old mouth corners twisted lightly.
"By the way, star... it's been truly a long time since I was called that."
"After tracking us for the past 3 years, how far are you trying to interfere with His will...!"
"Your rudeness ends there."
Kuung-!
Killing intent that had thickened further pressed down on the area.
The intruder involuntarily shut his mouth.
The fear of prey before a predator. Such despair made their legs lose strength on their own.
The old man's gaze looking down at him was endlessly cold.
"How dare you raise your voice to a ruler."
Death surged at his fingertips.
It was the power of a star or king.
A flash erased without a trace the pitch darkness that had settled underground.
The Monarch lowered his hand towards mere lowly creatures.
What was contained in that light was not mercy, nor hatred, nor even sadness, but a brilliantly heartless execution of sin.
His lips declared.
"The judgment I'll pass on you is..."
About an extremely painful punishment.
"Complete annihilation."
Light finally shot out.
The next moment.
The intruders' vision was dyed pure white.
It was ecstasy decorating life.
***
The Monarch who arrived at the temple as reinforcements.
The aftermath was handled quickly.
Even before the royal guard who arrived afterwards could step up, the old man had already swept the battlefield with a few hand gestures.
It seemed he had gotten excited, stepping up directly after a long time.
Only traces of brilliant starlight and ashes remaining from burned corpses fluttered around.
I muttered.
'He's still alive.'
The old man's strength was unchanged.
When I saw him last time, I thought he had aged, but it was a performance that cleanly erased even such doubts.
He seemed to have become even sharper rather than declining despite losing his right arm.
Truly a tyrant.
It wasn't that surprising.
Though the gap had widened as time passed, he was once a figure who competed evenly with me going all out.
It would be impossible to even stand before the old man with ordinary class.
'Anyway.'
The situation being wrapped up without much trouble.
It was all a set board.
As it was a strategy the heretics put effort into, it was obvious they would send support if something went wrong with the advance unit.
So I had contacted the Monarch to help in case of emergency.
Fortunately he wasn't late.
I casually threw words.
"You arrived precariously on purpose. I was worried you might betray us."
"That's an unfunny joke. There's no way I would join hands with mere heretics."
"You never know. Even the businessman is cooperating with them now, so there's no law saying a king wouldn't do so."
"You've gained needless worries while I haven't seen you."
"Because I have things to protect now."
"In the underworld, they call that becoming weak."
"Ordinary people call it becoming peaceful."
"Of course."
Conversation exchanged as if mocking each other.
The old man who had been smiling faintly soon shook his head as if it was outside his interest.
"You're just acting while knowing."
"Knowing what?"
"That I'm fated to be at odds with that side from the start. I'd rather die than join hands with those guys."
"Is that... a calling continuing since you were a star?"
"It's closer to revenge than a calling. Because I have a debt I haven't repaid yet."
"I see."
As we continued chatting for a while.
Perhaps the surrounding cleanup was finished, a young man in neat attire approached.
It was none other than Myeong.
"I've cleaned up the area as you said."
"Good work."
"There's a high possibility the faculty side will notice this space soon. It seems we should leave soon to avoid being discovered."
"There was such an intense clash after all. They would have detected suspicious signs too."
"I'll have Injustice on standby for now."
"Please do."
Myeong withdrew first.
The old man stood up as if following.
"I should be going now."
"Thank you for your hard work."
"It's nothing. I just joined in because it looked fun."
"I'll contact you again if needed."
"Why don't you contact me sometimes even if it's not needed?"
"You're saying terrible things."
"Keukeuk... you're still cold indeed."
The Monarch turned his back without hesitation.
Steps calmly receding.
Soon their figures disappeared, and only considerable silence remained in the air, remnants of the temple rolling on the floor.
As I looked over those, only then did the feeling that it was over return.
[EP23. Evil Awakening]
-Life crying out death amid seething blood and malice-
I had completely prevented the tragedy of the original work.
0 casualties within the academy.
Feeling tension release, I gently leaned my body against a nearby pillar.
Though accumulated fatigue rushed in, I shook it off forcibly.
Because there was one last thing to handle.
'Traitor.'
The person who provided information for this attack.
I had to collect the seed of destruction planted by the heretics.
***
The chaos subsided.
It seems the main gate where an attack occurred as a diversion earlier was also cleaned up by the professors' intervention.
The academy was able to wrap up the disaster without much damage.
As such, it remained a minor issue among students.
Of course.
"This is unacceptable!"
The faculty side was turned upside down.
A week after that day.
The dean, professors, and head assistants were all summoned to an emergency meeting.
Naturally it was to discuss countermeasures for the recent incident.
"This attack appears to be the work of heretics."
"Though there were no casualties... this is clearly a provocation thrown at the academy!"
"How did they break through the academy's defense line?"
"It's strange. There are more than one or two unclear points."
"We must accurately explain this situation."
The attack on the main gate wasn't a problem.
It was just a shallow diversion, there was an understandable infiltration route, and the danger was minimal as it was cleaned up in just 5 minutes.
The real problem was in the passage and temple discovered underground.
It was a matter that could have collapsed the entire academy.
'It's serious enough.'
I conveyed what happened underground to the faculty side in a reduced form.
There were many parts difficult to convey as they were.
Excluding content related to the Monarch and disaster... I only talked about the existence of the hidden passage and the enemy attack that continued through there.
To questions about how I stopped the attack, I glossed over saying I was just lucky.
The atmosphere couldn't help but become serious.
An unrecognized danger.
The fact that they had almost exposed their backs chilled their hearts.
The professors recalled the problem with their heads together.
"This is already the second time."
There was a similar incident last time too.
The incident where Regia, Emilia, and I were dragged to the [Abandoned Laboratory] during the midterm exam.
At that time, it was concluded as an error caused by teleportation magic.
Because of that, Selena, who was the supervisor, received disciplinary action, and it seemed to be forgotten in everyone's minds, but they came to have doubts on the occasion of this attack.
Once might be overlooked, but twice was clearly strange.
The professors' gazes cooled.
"Someone must have intervened."
"They must know the academy inside out. They would be in a position to easily access information related to exams too."
"Moreover, we didn't even know about the passage's existence!"
"That means they are well-versed in the academy's secrets. Either in a high position, or was in a high position."
"To conclude, it's this."
Surely.
There was a traitor among the faculty.
A chilly atmosphere flowed.
Even the dean leading the meeting was just keeping his mouth shut this time.
For a moment, his gaze seemed to touch this side.
"......"
Should I call him a prophet indeed?
He seemed to know that I knew the traitor's identity.
Though we stared at each other, we didn't say anything in particular.
The meeting concluded.
Though speculations about the traitor ran rampant, there was no physical evidence, so only conflict and distrust would grow like this.
We had no choice but to adjourn the meeting saying to be cautious for now.
I too brushed off my chair and stood up.
As I was taking steps outside the meeting room like that.
"Student Yuda."
A familiar voice was heard.
It was Professor Cardel who had been sitting opposite until just before.
I sent a gaze as if asking the intention of the call.
"I have something serious to discuss."
"By discussion you mean...?"
"Are you pretending not to know on purpose? I thought we shared the same goal."
"......"
The atmosphere sank coldly.
The young man before my eyes extended his hand towards this side regardless.
I had no choice but to take that hand.
"It will only take a moment."
"...I'll hear you out."
That's right.
Because we shared the same goal.