Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Boy King
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“Ah— Ah— Today’s over too—”
Eliya muttered in exhaustion, and Trisha, who had been walking beside her, gave a wry smile.
“Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard lately?”
It was true.
Elpante’s Knight Faculty classes were infamous for their rigor, but the training regimen Eliya had been tackling lately was notorious for being downright murderous.
Word had even reached Trisha in the Divinity Faculty that she was seeking out the dean after hours for one-on-one extra sessions, over and over.
It was the kind of reputation that made people think, “That’s what it takes to be a hero candidate,” which said it all.
“…Nah, whatever.”
Eliya pouted and spoke up.
“Lately, I’ve been feeling like I’m coming up short.”
“…Coming up short?”
Trisha replied in disbelief.
Coming up short? Short on what, exactly?
It had been ages since it was determined that not a single freshman could even match half of Eliya’s level.
Even Talion, who’d been highly touted, got utterly wrecked the moment he faced her.
“…Trisha. You know about the Heavenly Realm automatons?”
“Huh? Why bring that up out of nowhere?”
She knew of them, sure.
They were weapons occasionally deployed by the Heavenly Realm—located within the Backworld—whenever they needed to intervene in the Material World.
She’d heard they were tough nuts to crack because their shells were incredibly durable, making them a nightmare for nearly every human in the Material World.
At least academy students wouldn’t run into something like that, right?
“There’s a freshman who sliced one clean in half with a single strike.”
“...”
What kind of monster is that?
“And he’s got connections to the instructors too… I just don’t get how he keeps getting tangled up with all these girls…”
Trisha flinched again as she caught the ‘color of emotion’ rising in Eliya’s heart while she said that.
Pitch black again. Lately, she’d been holding steady with white for a good while!
“…R-Really? Still, he’s probably not that close to Dawood. I heard the Student Council President already has him on a short leash.”
“No, it’s kinda weird.”
Eliya sighed.
“He’s the type where girls flock to him just for standing there looking good, but I’ve never once heard him say he likes any of them.”
“...”
Isn’t that just a playboy scumbag?
The thought popped into Trisha’s head unbidden, but she swallowed it down.
No matter what, this was someone Eliya was seriously hung up on. She couldn’t just blurt that out.
“That’s why I’m worried. What if he just cuts me off completely one day?”
“Huh?”
Eliya’s face darkened in an instant.
As if recalling some bad memory.
“Even during that last fight, he told me to stay out of it entirely. Isn’t that a danger sign?”
“…Huh?”
Trisha blinked.
This was… off somehow.
The conversation kept veering strangely.
Why did it always drift back to combat prowess?
“…Um, Eliya.”
“Yeah?”
“We weren’t talking about what type of person Dawood pays more attention to romantically…?”
A brief silence passed between them.
“…No. He’s stronger than me. So the instructor’s more likely to notice him over me, right?”
“...”
Yeah.
Her friend always had this quirky way of veering off from common sense in the oddest places.
Since when did the game of youth turn into a tournament to see who was tougher?
“Why do you think that?”
“That’s… well, the one thing I’ve got going for me against him, isn’t it?”
“…And why do you think that?”
Eliya clamped her mouth shut.
She kicked at the ground a few times, scratched her nape awkwardly, and finally spoke.
“I… I don’t know what I’ve got left if you take away how good I am at fighting…”
Trisha pressed a hand to her forehead silently as she watched Eliya fidget and say this.
Long road ahead.
Seriously.
“…Have some confidence. You’re secretly pretty popular with the boys too, you know?”
“No way.”
“...”
Why was she so quick to deny it now?
It was true.
‘…She’s cute, insanely skilled, gets along with everyone so casually…’
Honestly, from a friend’s perspective, she was too good for that suspiciously promiscuous Dawood guy.
She wished Eliya would realize she even had a fan club for a reason.
“…Anyway. That’s why I’ve been training so hard lately! Maybe then the instructor will stick around me more…?”
“...”
But the whole premise was wrong.
Trisha gave up persuading her and looked up.
“…Huh?”
That’s when she spotted it—a ‘pillar of light’ shooting up, shattering the sky like glass.
“What’s that?”
“Uh, no idea?”
-...
As they talked.
The pillar slammed straight into the barrier enveloping the entire academy.
Cracks like spiderwebs spread across the guardian barrier laid by the Seraph.
“…!”
Eliya and Trisha’s faces drained of color simultaneously.
They didn’t know exactly what was happening.
But everyone in the academy knew what would happen if that guardian barrier fell.
The void zone nearby, where demons’ ‘true bodies’ were buried.
Without that barrier, catastrophe was guaranteed.
And then.
Moments later.
From the distant void zone, a massive plume of dark smoke erupted, contrasting the pillar of light.
As if it had immediately sensed the barrier’s damage.
And then.
-----------------!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Screaming black darkness began pouring through the cracks in the barrier.
●
[ Main Quest ]〖 Chapter 2 – Boy King 〗
[ !!Alert!! ] [ Emergency Event in Progress! ]
[ Repel the ‘Academy Raid’! ]
[ Too many casualties will result in Game Over! ]
[ Quest altered by emergency event. ]
[ Clear for additional rewards! ]
[ Reward: Hero Fragment x1 ]
[ Reward: Essence of Evil x1 ]
[ Reward: Special Interaction with ‘Heretic Inquisition’ ]
[ Reward: 10,000pt ]
No time to read the popup fully—I grit my teeth, staring at the blackened sky.
"..."
I glance around, but the Foreseer is already gone.
Must have vanished the moment they activated the Sky-Splitting Device.
Ear-splitting shrieks echo as the smoke—thick with evil spirits and demons—gathers at the barrier’s cracks, slamming against it relentlessly to shatter it.
Each impact draws fresh screams from nearby students. They instinctively know something horrific will happen if it breaks.
It’s no coincidence a Seraph stepped in to erect this barrier. The demonic death-qi lingering here harbors blind hatred for all life.
"..."
Normally, it wouldn’t go this far.
But inside here are things they ‘covet,’ triggering this.
Demon fragments. And the vessels holding those fragments.
The ones Atalante gathered through me to seal every piece.
“…This damn butterfly effect.”
Originally, they wouldn’t have battered the barrier like this to get in.
My existence is what’s causing this.
-!
But Imperial Academy Elpante is staffed with personnel ready for any threat.
One figure rockets upward in an instant.
A human who instantly assembles ‘flight’—a technique notoriously tricky even with superhuman abilities.
Atalante the Eternal. The academy principal, with millennia of life yielding thousands of skills, reaches the cracked barrier in a flash.
White light pours from her hand. Clearly intent on patching the damage.
Then, more figures arrive behind her to support.
Professors from the Divinity and Magic Faculties, no doubt. She catches glimpses of Magic Faculty Dean Persy and Divinity Faculty Dean Walter.
-!
With that many powerhouses committed, it works as a stopgap—the darkness trying to squeeze through screams and retreats.
An impressive feat. Even for such elites, controlling a Seraph’s barrier temporarily is absurd.
Cheers and sighs of relief ripple from the surroundings. Confidence that they can handle this crisis.
But.
‘…This is bad.’
As far as I know, the Boy King boss fight isn’t centered there.
All those elites converging ‘there’ is the danger signal.
While top academy personnel focus there, another massive aura begins coalescing elsewhere.
“W-What’s that?!”
“The clock tower…!”
The clock tower at the academy’s center. The tallest building. Massive ‘hieroglyphs’ embed themselves atop it.
Ancient runes of sorcery. Forgotten spells. Valkasus’s alchemy.
The glyphs emit eerie energy, synthesizing all manner of ‘formations’ around them.
Crawling out: hordes of colossal monsters, unmistakably rotting and decayed.
And standout among them—a monster dozens of meters tall. A gigantic golem stitched from assorted flesh chunks, shaped like hell itself molded into humanoid form.
Flesh Tearer.
Per the Imperial Adventurers’ Guild classification, a ‘special-type’ beast that triggers city-wide alerts just by appearing.
To take it down stably without casualties, you’d need someone like Gideon or Kendrid Margrave.
‘This is bullshit…!’
My head spins at the sight.
They expect me to smash this now?
Undead assembled via alchemy.
Excluding the Flesh Tearer, their raw power matches the mid-sized beasts I’ve handled before, but their viciousness is far worse.
Those things don’t die.
Impossible to kill from the start. How do you kill what’s already a corpse?
Only one solution.
Take out Valkasus animating them through alchemy.
-!!!
-!!!!!!!!
The undead from the formation roar in unison.
Their decayed bodies have rotted vocal cords, mixing deflating wheezes with horrific metallic scrapes. Making it all the more grotesque.
“Eek…!”
“Run!”
Students pale and flee at the sight.
Upperclassmen and staff with their wits about them try to control the chaos, but staying sane after seeing that would be weirder.
Pandemonium unfolds around them.
“…!”
Atalante in the sky grits her teeth and gestures to the professors.
She’ll hold here alone—go to the ground and prevent casualties.
A rational call, but facing the void zone’s onslaught solo indefinitely is impossible. The professors hesitate, but Atalante waves urgently again.
Let those undead loose on panicked students, and the barrier won’t matter—massacre right here.
Finally, the professors descend to the ground with grim faces.
"..."
Atalante can hold alone for about 30 minutes.
30 minutes.
In that time, pierce the monsters and strike Valkasus at the clock tower’s peak.
Otherwise, the barrier falls, darkness engulfs countless people, Main Quest fails. Game Over.
With no allies assembled, no ‘tools’ prepared. Can I pull it off?
“…This damn…”
I bite my lip until it bleeds.
In the original flow, there’d be no ‘time limit.’
Rally scattered forces, break through immortal hordes to the clock tower, take down the Boy King at the top.
Given time, I could manage. Just one night.
But cram it all into 30 minutes?
“…!”
My teeth grind.
Time’s too tight. This colossal variable derails my plans, shattering composure.
‘…Need to think of a way…’
I rack my brain, gritting harder.
Situation’s hyper-compressed vs. my plan.
Fail to adapt here, and the outcome’s set.
Game Over. Dawood Campbell dies.
“You!”
I turn at the familiar voice.
Elnor charges toward me, sword drawn.
In this chaos, she searched the academy for me instead of fleeing?
“Are you alright?! Hurry and evacua—!”
“Elnor.”
Our eyes meet as I speak.
But.
“…We can’t run. We have to resolve this first.”
No choice but to say it.
Elnor’s eyes widen at my words.
“Resolve this? What nonsense—! This isn’t for students!”
“…If I figure out how, we can.”
More precisely, we must.
Or else.
“I fail, I die.”
"..."
Raw truth, no context—but best explanation now.
I grit again.
There’s a way. It’ll come.
But focus keeps slipping. Head spins.
Then.
Elnor grips my shoulders hard.
“You.”
"..."
“I won’t ask why. You must have your reasons. But know this one thing.”
Elnor meets my gaze squarely and continues.
“If you die, I die too.”
“…Pardon?”
“Two lives on the line—wring out a way to survive. I’ll do anything I can to help.”
“Elnor, what…?”
“I said don’t die! Whatever it is!”
Her impassioned voice hits like a hammer to the nape.
She can sound like that?
Only now do I truly see Elnor’s face.
Tears glisten at the corners of her eyes.
So at odds with her usual stoicism.
To her, I’m that precious.
"..."
Sorry to interrupt the gravity, but.
Truly sorry, but.
I nearly burst out laughing reflexively.
She’s fumbling the facial muscles like she’s never tried this expression before.
"...Hmm."
She stares puzzled as I cup my face and bow my head.
“…Dawood?”
"...It's nothing."
Situation’s dire—I barely shove the laugh down my throat.
But the mental reset helps.
Vision clears.
Mind sharpens.
Composure returns.
“One moment, Elnor.”
I flash a grateful smile.
Then close my eyes, sink into thought. Accelerate cognition to the limit.
Inventory my ‘cards.’ Apply to now.
“…!”
A spark flashes in my mind.
There. A way.
Solution strikes.
Elnor nods slowly, seeing my face.
“You’ve sorted it.”
“…Yes. Resolving this instantly is near impossible.”
“Then we flee.”
“No.”
I sigh, meeting Elnor’s eyes.
Flee? As if.
They prepped that to sucker-punch me.
So my move’s simple.
“I said near impossible. Not impossible.”
Smash through head-on.
Clashes with the Foreseer are inevitable ahead.
Can’t show weakness to this prank from the start.
“Elnor. Do you trust me?”
“What?”
“I asked if you trust me. I need your help.”
“...”
Same conversation as before.
Exactly what I said facing the Purifier.
“…”
“…”
And the response matches.
Elnor meets my eyes directly.
“What must I do?”
I grin at her words.
Time.
Time’s key.
Ten minutes from them, I’d be dead. Twenty, still doomed.
But fortunately.
30 minutes.
“…Let’s go, Elnor.”
I exhale and speak.
“We’ve got to claim a millennia-old monster’s head—in 30 minutes.”
Perfect window to clean this up.
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