ch 230
Became a Swordsmanship Instructor at the Academy
Chapter 230
500 meters above the First Hunter School.
I said I would go alone, but both Se-jin and Luciel insisted on following me, so we came here together.
"Teacher, this place is…"
"That's the Hunter School you can see over there."
"Ah, what are you planning to do? The time the terrorists mentioned is almost up."
The situation is certainly a bit tricky.
It's not just one or two hostages, but a whopping thousand people, and we don't know where or how many bombs are planted.
On top of that, magic disruption devices are operating throughout the entire school.
There's also the possibility that the terrorists' personnel, faces, and detonation devices are multiple.
While infiltration itself wouldn't be difficult using teleportation magic, even if I suppress all the terrorist-looking guys with the Formless Sword after infiltrating, terrorists could be hiding among the hostages and press the detonation device.
It's not just somewhat tricky but quite difficult, but it's different for me.
Even though I've been living as Min Chan-seong, I've prepared something in my own way for the future.
There happens to be a magic that's perfect for resolving this situation.
First, before casting magic, I closed my eyes and concentrated my mind to deploy the Absolute Domain.
As I expanded the domain and extended my senses, all sorts of information began to flow in.
The place where I feel the most people's presence inside the school is the auditorium area, where most of the hostages and terrorists seem to be.
The presence I feel in the corners of the school building - are they students or visitors in hiding?
I also identified terrorist organization members keeping watch outside at the front and back gates.
After finishing the situation assessment and about to cast magic, I discovered weak life signs among the broken debris.
It seems like people were isolated by the building explosion, but considering the time the terrorists mentioned and to save those people, I need to resolve this as quickly as possible.
"Um, Teacher?"
"Wait, I just assessed the school situation."
As I spoke, I pulled Se-jin close and kissed her on the cheek.
"Tea… Teacher?"
"Can you feel it?"
"Huh? No, Teacher, this isn't the time for… Besides, Sister Luciel is watching, so if you suddenly do this…"
Luciel is currently inside my necklace.
"Hm? I mean my energy. Don't you feel anything on your cheek?"
"Ah, I do."
"Don't erase it, leave it as is. From now on, this is the only way to exclude you from the target of the magic I'm about to use."
"Ah…"
― Shin-hyeok, you're going to use that? Then what about me?
"Luciel, you're immune to this kind of thing when you're in the necklace."
"What is Sister Luciel saying?"
"Ah, it's nothing."
"It's not nothing!"
Luciel popped out with a flash of light.
I was already short on time and was about to tell her to go back in quickly, but Luciel's expression looked serious.
Her eyes looked like they might shoot lasers and her lips were pouting quite a bit.
In the end, I gave her cheek a light kiss too, sent her back into the necklace, and drew up my internal energy.
In the future Demon King advent crisis, about 30% of the world's population, over 2 billion people, die.
But what killed the most people wasn't the Demon King but the monsters that poured out like dogs when portals were liberated.
It was partly because S-rank hunters from various countries around the world, as well as hunters with decent skills, were all gathered by the protagonists to organize a Demon King subjugation force, but fundamentally it was because portals weren't concentrated in specific areas but spread widely.
Demon King subjugation is important, but saving people is equally important.
When I read it in text, I might have simply thought "a lot of people died" when it said 2 billion, but for me it's reality.
I can't save all 30% who die, but to save as many people as possible, I researched with Luciel whenever I had time.
The magic I'm using now is one of the results of that research.
I deployed the Absolute Domain simultaneously with casting magic and expanded it to the maximum.
The dantian that seemed like it would never dry up instantly felt empty, and at the same time the magic manifested.
The feeling of exhaustion is tremendous.
It's not that I never practiced, but this is the first time I've used it at full power.
It was accompanied by slight dizziness, but soon the internal energy in my dantian rapidly filled up and recovered.
"Let's go down now."
I was about to use teleportation magic while holding Se-jin's hand, but Se-jin has a puzzled expression.
"Um, Teacher? Did you use magic?"
"Yeah. You'll understand when we go see."
As I spoke, I used teleportation magic and moved directly to the front of the auditorium.
"Tea… Teacher, shouldn't you use invisibility magic or something? If we come without any countermeasures like this, the terrorists might kill the hostages."
To Se-jin who was worrying intensely, I said it was okay and opened the auditorium door.
People in the center of the auditorium were all collapsed as if they had fainted.
The people in the middle seem to be hostages, and near the entrance is that old man Guilt or Guilton or whatever, the terrorist leader I saw in the video earlier.
When I searched his body, I found a remote control with a red button - is this the detonation device?
"Tea… Teacher, what on earth is this… how… They're not all dead, are they?"
Se-jin, seeing inside the auditorium, looked completely shocked.
"No way. Go close to anyone and put your hand near their nose."
"Ah, yes… Huh? They're breathing."
"Right. I just put them to sleep."
Among the magic of this world and the magic Luciel knows, there are quite a few area-of-effect spells.
But the limitations of area-of-effect spells are clear.
Even the magic with the widest range doesn't cover an area as large as our Hunter School's playground.
Moreover, most area-of-effect spells are lethal magic, but magic doesn't distinguish between enemies and allies.
In other words, even if monsters pour out into a big city, you can't spam area-of-effect spells.
Besides, area-of-effect spells are weaker than single-target spells, so they can't even handle high-rank monsters like Ogres.
Recognizing these problems, the magic I created through research with Luciel to improve them is precisely this 'Absolute Sleep Domain.'
Magic exists in the atmosphere of this world.
Using the control of the Absolute Domain, I imbue the magic existing in this atmosphere with sleep magic.
To put it simply, it's magic that turns the air into colorless, odorless sleeping gas.
Since it's not lethal magic and has no physical force, it can be used in big cities without worrying about property damage or casualties, and although it can't kill, putting someone to sleep is also a form of suppression.
Above all, the advantage of this Absolute Sleep Domain is that it transforms the atmospheric magic itself into sleep magic, so any breathing life form cannot defend against or respond to it.
While it requires exponentially more internal energy depending on the range, using atmospheric magic can reduce magic consumption.
Of course, a little while ago I didn't use atmospheric magic but implemented the magic purely with my own internal energy.
Since magic disruption devices are operating throughout the school, and if there are magicians with high magic levels among them, there's a risk they might perceive it.
"I'll handle searching the terrorists' bodies and recovering the detonation devices, so Se-jin, you should first wake up teachers whose identities are certain… no, first let's find the detonation devices together."
While waking them up for help would be a bit faster, if someone accidentally presses one, it would be a disaster.
Since their purpose was said to be revenge for Bennett, I thoroughly searched anyone who didn't look Korean and was able to recover 3 more detonation devices.
"Teacher, should we wake people up now?"
"No, not yet."
It's still too early to wake people up.
Since Bennett's revenge is their purpose, they probably came from Italy, but would guys that were thorough enough in preparation to even set fire to the vice principal's house not recruit one or two Asians?
The organization members at the front and back gates might also have detonation devices.
"Wake up only teachers whose faces you recognize, and after that, only wake up people that the teachers confirm and evacuate them. If their identity isn't certain, you must search their bodies. There might be terrorists mixed in among the hostages too."
"Ah, that's right."
"Since this is originally anti-monster magic, the intensity is quite strong, so you'll have to shake them quite hard to wake them up."
"How? Wait, don't tell me I have to wake them up the way you did to me…"
The way I did it - a kiss?
"Absolutely not. Just hard."
Thinking I should show a demonstration, I looked around and found a familiar face among the hostages.
It's Teacher Park, who sat next to me for 2 years of teaching and is a heavy drinker.
SMACK!
When I hit his back with controlled force, he woke up startled.
"Ouch! Huh? Te, Teacher Kang? The surroundings are the auditorium… What? Don't tell me I'm dead?"
"Yes. I came to meet you. You have to go to hell with me."
Since Teacher Park looked completely gloomy, unlike himself, I played a little prank.
"He, hell… No, Teacher Kang! I can't go like this. If I go like this, what will happen to my wife and children…"
"Teacher, please stop. Teacher Park, you're not dead."
"Se-jin? No, wait… What, this is the auditorium, right. No, then how did Teacher Kang…?"
"Long time no see. I'll properly greet you and explain later. Is this enough of a demonstration for waking up? Se-jin, you explain to him, and I'll go out now."
"You're going out? Where are you going? You said earlier you'd stop the acting…"
"When I surveyed the school earlier, there were terrorists at the front and back gates. I need to search those guys and recover detonation devices too. I also sensed people's presence in the debris of the bombed building, so I need to save those people too."
"No, Teacher Kang…"
Leaving the bewildered Teacher Park and Se-jin in charge of the auditorium, I used teleportation magic to come to the front gate.
Here too, like the auditorium, all the terrorists were unconscious, and through body search I recovered one detonation device.
Similarly, I recovered one at the back gate too.
After that, I came to the middle school main building, where I felt the most presence among the destroyed buildings.
I can sense people's presence from underground, but the building has completely collapsed so I can't enter.
It seems like people evacuated to a place like a basement and got trapped, but since I've never been there, I can't use teleportation magic either.
Even if I try to clear them one by one with telekinesis magic, it would take quite a long time…
No, time aside, the concrete chunks from the collapsed building are tangled together and it seems like I shouldn't mess with them carelessly.
Should I call people for this?
―Shin-hyeok, you're trying to save the people down there, right? I'll help you.
For a moment, I couldn't help but doubt my eyes.
As soon as Luciel's words from inside the necklace ended, the building started to restore itself as if rewinding a video.
It didn't take long before the middle school main building I originally knew revealed itself.
"How… how did you do that?"
I absolutely had to ask.
Restoration magic originally exists in this world too.
But it's only to the extent of repairing flat concrete floors in places like martial arts tournament arenas, not something this absurd…
Since rescuing people was the priority, I went inside, but once again I couldn't help but be amazed.
The electricity wasn't fully restored so the lights weren't on and the automatic doors didn't work, but the glass doors at the central entrance and the mirror inside the shoe cabinet next to it.
It's exactly the same as the middle school main building I visited before to donate scholarships.
How even the interior fixtures.
―What are you so surprised about? I just rewound the building's time a little.
"That… that's possible?"
She says it so casually that I almost accepted it.
Despite seeing the restoration process with my own eyes, I still can't believe it.
I knew that Luciel, who achieved harmony of the three powers - magic power, holy power, and internal energy - by learning internal energy cultivation methods, had become much stronger than before, but I never imagined she'd gained such abilities.
I really couldn't have imagined it.
If she can rewind time, then almost… no, isn't she just a god?
"Wait, Luciel. If you had something like this, you should have told me earlier. Then if we rewind time to before the terrorist attack happened…"
―You idiot. I'm not a god, so how could that be possible? It's only possible because it's a building.
Tsk, it's disappointing but I guess it doesn't work on people.