Chapter 81
Chapter 81
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 81 – Lan Qi’s Summoning Art2024-06-15 — Author: Poor Xixi
On the ring road around the Memorial Square, students who had only just left turned their heads sharply at the sudden change, eyes drawn back to the massive outdoor screen.
The doubt in their expressions quickly shifted into grim seriousness.
In an instant, the whole square erupted in noise, voices overlapping in shock and disbelief, while only the image on the screen continued to shift.
No one had expected such a drastic upheaval to strike at the very end of the Shadow World!
Although Huperion had temporarily gone into hiding, the students watching were left trembling at the bloody scene that had suddenly unfolded in the botanical garden.
Anyone who launched an attack against challengers within a Shadow World was without exception a red-name criminal, utterly depraved and insane.
These outlaws, cruel and merciless, cared nothing for the disasters that Shadow World failure might bring. They would slip through temporary small Void Gates in the wilderness, infiltrate lower-tier Shadow Worlds, and unleash massacres.
Masters of disguise, deception, and psychological games, they were equally adept at life-or-death combat. With their years of hunting and plundering, their strength and magic card decks were never lacking.
Ordinarily, encountering a red-name criminal was extremely rare—pure misfortune.
But Huperion’s encounter was clearly different.
This one had come prepared.
Someone must have been watching the Duke’s daughter from the shadows. The moment she was seen entering a building sealed by a Void Gate, word was spread—perhaps even to assassins across nations—who would then begin entering Shadow Worlds en masse, raising the odds of clashing with her.
“Wait… that disgusting mercury…”
In front of the outdoor screen, a senior from the Alchemy Institute’s intelligence branch gripped his chin, frowning at the silver mass the scarred woman was controlling.
Soon, new information flashed across the screen from the Southern Continent’s Shadow World Management Association:
【Information Match Successful. Summoned creature identified: Immortal Mercury. Holder: S-rank wanted criminal Lilaite, follower of the Decayed Bishop of the Resurrection Church.】
【Immortal Mercury】
Category: Summon Card
Grade: Pink Sacred
Attribute: Alchemy / Corrosion
Tier: 5
Effect: Immune to 50% of physical attacks. On contact, devours living creatures, absorbing their attributes and increasing size. Duration: 10 minutes.
Note:Merge with me, and your body shall never decay.
“The Resurrection Church scum?!”
The outcry burst from countless senior students, voices sharp with anger.
“The Resurrection Church?”
Some freshmen on the square blinked in confusion, hearing the name for the first time.
Without challenger licenses, they had yet to touch the true Shadow World or glimpse its darkest underbelly.
“They’re a cult festering across the Northern and Southern Continents, like parasites that never die out. Their presence is recorded even before written history existed.”
“Even if the world perishes and history shatters, they will not vanish!”
“In every age, the Resurrection Church emerges within the Shadow World…”
Just speaking of them made many upper-year students grit their teeth, their trembling voices laced with both hatred and fear.
The Resurrection Church was responsible for much of the staggering death rate within Shadow Worlds.
Some of its most twisted zealots delighted in tormenting exhausted challengers, driving them to despair before killing them, broadcasting such atrocities for all to see.
Even Ikerite’s seniors who had never directly crossed them had heard stories—or knew someone who had lost their life to the cult.
“Their menace isn’t limited to the Shadow World. The Resurrection Church’s influence in reality is even more terrifying.”
Though unwilling to admit their own fear, the older students would not mislead freshmen—the cult was dangerously real.
And beyond the ordinary zealots, what truly terrified the powers of the age were the ten Cardinal Bishops of the Resurrection Church—walking calamities, beings with the strength to bring nations to ruin.
They were the embodiment of human evil.
Even the mighty Hedon Kingdom dared not provoke the arrival of even one bishop upon its lands.
“Why would Lady Huperion ever draw the wrath of such a cult…?”
For many freshmen, this was the first time seeing a Resurrection Church zealot in person.
Even separated by a magical projection, they felt death itself creeping closer.
“The disappearance of Duke Aransal… it must be tied to the Resurrection Church.”
At that moment, many upper-years who knew the aristocratic intrigues of the capital finally understood why the once-powerful Aransal faction had never pursued the Duke’s trail.
It wasn’t that they wouldn’t.
It was that they didn’t dare.
Huperion must have learned something she should never have known. That was why she had to be silenced.
The Memorial Square fell into rare silence.
Every student held their breath, eyes locked on Huperion’s struggle.
Even those who loathed her half-demon blood did not wish to see her butchered by such cultists.
…
Minutes passed.
Demonic Botanical Research Garden.
Huperion, forced out of invisibility, coughed blood in midair. She barely controlled her body enough to land, staggering to the ground.
Her scarred foe sneered, lunging again.
Huperion’s eyes drooped, lips streaked with crimson. Her body trembled violently, at its limit.
Even as she read her enemy’s movements, she lacked the strength to dodge, only barely lifting her dagger to block.
Another savage kick hurled her across the grass, where she rolled and finally lay sprawled.
“Huff… huff…”
She pushed herself up, head heavy from wounds and poisonous mists.
Even with the brief blessing from the Demon King’s banquet, she was no match for a fifth-tier zealot like Lilaite.
If not for Lilaite’s intent to stop her from fleeing, the silver abomination at the door would already have devoured her.
And behind Lilaite stood another cultist—a second-tier warlock, continually weaving curses and hexes.
This garden was now nothing but a cage.
Huperion knew if her last survival card was forced out, death would be inevitable.
It must be punishment for too many misdeeds with Lan Qi, she thought bitterly—karma striking at last.
But there was only one thing left she could do.
Huperion drew in a breath, her voice breaking into helplessness:
“Lan Qi… save me!!”
If he didn’t come now, she wouldn’t last.
“Your companion?”
Lilaite sneered. To her, the plea was as pitiful and laughable as an infant’s cry.
A second-tier freshman from Ikerite Academy? He would only come to die with her.
And yet—
Two seconds later—
With a thunderous boom, the silver abomination guarding the door was blasted aside. The great doors of the garden shattered open.
“!”
Lilaite’s eyes narrowed, sharp with sudden caution. She turned toward the collapsing wall.
And froze.
Her pupils contracted violently as she saw—
A demon who had no business, no reason whatsoever, to appear here.
The Headmaster of the Purgatory Corridor Academy!
The author’s note:Draft stock exhausted, I’m burnt out. Tomorrow I’ll resume with two updates, but this month I’ll burn my heart out to push for more chapters!
vChapter 82 – Lan Qi’s Absolute Justice2024-05-22 — Author: Poor Xixi
At the far end of the black mist blanketing the botanical garden, a shadowy figure stood—like a sovereign upon a dark reef. Only the dazzling radiance of his body and his twin emerald eyes glowing faintly through the fog were vividly clear.
He sighed softly, and his gentle voice followed—
“Why must you make this Headmaster work overtime?”
In his hand was a book, as if he had simply come to substitute for a lesson.
“...!!”
Cultist Lilaite instantly forgot about Huperion. A crushing sense of danger crawled up from her toes to engulf her entire body, making the very air of the garden feel unbearably heavy.
Normally—
Even if one broke classroom rules, so long as the Headmaster did not patrol, there would be no issue.
And this Headmaster rarely ever patrolled such lower-tier classrooms!
Only earlier had a special mechanism been triggered that forced the Headmaster’s presence.
But now, with the mission target of this Shadow World already complete—
By the logic of most Shadow Worlds, a demon of this level should have no reason to act further!
Yet at this moment, Lilaite felt with icy certainty: it wasn’t just Huperion who had to escape this classroom.
Under the Headmaster’s hunt, survival meant enduring the last ten minutes of the Shadow World until returning alive to reality!
The silver monstrosity [Immortal Mercury], which had been blocking the door, was now locked in a violent clash with the demonic Director who had blasted open the gates moments ago.
And beside the Headmaster stood two more fifth-tier demon instructors.
Lilaite was confident she could break through those two.
But the true terror was that enigmatic demon Headmaster—the one even high-ranking professors bowed to.
His magic was controlled with terrifying precision: so faint and steady she could scarcely sense it.
Which left only two possibilities:
Either his magic was truly weak.
Or—he was so skilled at control that his power far surpassed hers.
It was obvious which answer fit this Headmaster.
The sacred yet eerie glow of his figure blocked the exit like a towering wall of despair, utterly insurmountable.
As Lilaite faltered, unsure how to proceed—Huperion, bloodied and desperate, sprinted full-force straight toward the Headmaster.
“Foolish…”
A reckless act of a cornered animal rushing to death—Lilaite naturally made no move to stop her.
She had already decided her priority was survival, perhaps abandoning her mission to kill the Duke’s daughter.
But now, if the Duke’s daughter rushed to her own death, it suited her all the better.
A demon wielding such absolute authority would not care who was truly at fault. All three students bore the marks of combat—it was enough grounds for erasure.
Yet—
Just as Lilaite expected the Headmaster or his teachers to strike Huperion down—
She watched in disbelief as the Headmaster allowed Huperion to approach without lifting a hand!
“?”
Shock tore through her as she stared at the glowing silhouette.
She remembered this Headmaster—back in his office, he had emanated the same harmless air.
And that was what unnerved her the most.
For the more a demon appeared kind, rational, and serene, the more likely they were to harbor humanly unfathomable extremes of madness.
From afar, seeing Huperion safe at the Headmaster’s side, Lan Qi finally flipped open his book again, reading as if nothing around him warranted attention.
His nonchaLan Qi made it seem as though the fifth-tier assassin before him was hardly worth acknowledging.
“Student, please describe what has happened in this classroom.”
Lan Qi spoke gently while still gazing at his book, his voice directed toward Huperion.
“…”
Huperion hesitated, then seemed to grasp his intent.
“They killed the demon instructor and all the students in this classroom.”
Her fearful eyes turned toward Lilaite and the shadow warlock at her side, her voice trembling as she spoke.
“You two—do you have anything to say?”
Lan Qi kept his eyes lowered, calmly turning a page as he questioned the cultists.
“...No!”
Lilaite instantly suppressed her urge to risk everything on a breakout. The Headmaster’s neutral tone was hope itself.
Of course, every Shadow World held its rules. Even with the Headmaster here, there must be a mechanism to survive—there was still a chance.
Her goal was now to stall—to last these final minutes until escape.
Even if she failed to trick the mechanism, dragging out the conversation might secure her survival.
“It was her—the one behind you! She broke the classroom rules, summoned that silver creature to murder the instructor, then sealed the door to kill us all and steal our credit coins!”
Lilaite spoke with righteous fury, as though she could not stand to see Huperion’s pitiful act.
“I see…”
Lan Qi’s voice was almost distracted, as though the book in his hands mattered far more than their lives.
From the moment he entered, the positioning of the combatants had indeed looked like a prolonged stalemate—Huperion and the silver abomination against Lilaite and the warlock.
“Do you have anything to refute?”
He asked Huperion next.
“They’re lying! That silver summon isn’t mine—I… I could never summon something like that.”
Tears streaked Huperion’s voice as she threw herself into the act.
It wasn’t her style.
But to match Lan Qi’s game, she had no choice but to play along.
She understood—Lan Qi had rushed here without enough time to summon more demon teachers.
Many were surely still on their way.
His leisurely air, his focus on his book—it was all theater, meant to buy time.
Meanwhile—
Lilaite secretly directed [Immortal Mercury] to feign escape attempts, choreographing a scene where it attacked her as though they were enemies.
Seeing Huperion flounder in panic, her confidence grew—she might just convince the Headmaster.
“Headmaster, you can have the Director stop restraining the silver familiar. Then we’ll see who it attacks first when free of command!”
She knew it might not fool him.
But compared to Huperion, she had overwhelming control of the stage. She had many ways to frame her foe.
“...Both sides tell different stories, and indeed there is no hard evidence. From what I hear, though, I lean toward the latter—it does seem you two have been locked in a two-on-two struggle for quite some time.”
Lan Qi spoke unhurriedly.
“In that case, I don’t wish to waste more time. Whoever helps the Director deal with this silver familiar—I’ll take their word as truth.”
His tone suggested mild fatigue, as though eager only to return to his reading.
At his words, Huperion froze.
The trap was finally revealed.
She knew it—Lan Qi was once again playing mind games!