Chapter 56
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Fate's Wheel Rolls
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I closed my eyes at the ferocious roar of the beast and sank into thought.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the time had come for a comprehensive evaluation of everything I’d done so far.
A dungeon was precisely that—a full-fledged starting point that heralded the tragic narrative to come.
I slowly replayed Elise’s words in my mind.
‘Roll the wheel of fate. O last knowledge remaining in the world.’
The wheel of fate, knowledge, the age of covenants, the key of runes, giants, dragons, the great cataclysm, creation and destruction.
Everything up to now had been merely the prologue.
The ancient giant tree upholding providence was rotting away.
When the world tree dies, those around it will decline alongside it.
When providence crumbles, myth shall return once more, and the forgotten covenants will come back into the light.
The giants, who hid from the dragons, will awaken from their long slumber to punish humanity once again.
The dragons, shrunken and dormant for eons, will herald the end of the era anew.
This was a game.
A reality born from the worldview of what was once called a hardcore single-action game.
‘If the beast tamer finds Elise here and discovers Radon’s corpse, the game ends right there.’
The fundamental clear condition of the dungeon wasn’t rescuing students from the encroaching monsters and surviving.
It was stopping the heretic mage while ignoring them.
The dungeon’s essential function was to signal the finale of the academy scenario.
An academy completely destroyed, reduced to ruins.
The university, barely clinging to life and having lost nearly all function, would be flooded with new personnel and utterly transformed.
Those who could serve as driving forces for the protagonists’ growth.
At the same time, it laid the groundwork to expand the stage beyond the academy.
As I’d mentioned to Elin after the practical training disaster, heretic mages launching based on ancient texts meant troublesome elements clumsily piecing together.
Cults, demon worshippers, and… the roots upholding the world.
The dungeon was the declaration of the heretic mages’ launch.
As I’d told Elin before, enemies would line up one after another, and the main scenario would roll forward.
‘Is this what Elise meant by the wheel of fate?’
It matched exactly the words spoken by the giant king standing beside the dying world tree.
‘The wheel of fate cannot be escaped, O ancient giant tree.’
In other words, the wheel of fate rolling meant the repetition of myth—there was no doubt about it.
“Isel.”
“P-Professor, what on earth is this? What’s happening…?”
“Don’t panic. Listen carefully. With things as they are, we have to hold out until the knight order arrives.”
“Hold out!? Those monsters over there… We need to evacuate!”
“Isel. It’s too late to run.”
I met her eyes and looked at Isel.
She’d been rambling in panic, but upon seeing me, her face filled with disbelief.
“P-Professor, how are you so calm? Did you… predict this would happen?”
“No. I just had a feeling something was up. How could I know?”
I omitted saying I knew—it would complicate things.
“Then how can you stay so composed…?”
“Isel.”
“…”
Seeing her lips press tightly together, I paused.
She looked ready to burst into tears any second.
Her eyes slowly reddened, like sackcloth soaked in crimson dye.
Her misty eyes teetered on the brink of spilling over, so Isel clamped her lips shut.
“If you follow my instructions exactly, you won’t get hurt.”
“…What do I need to do?”
Finally, we could discuss something practical.
‘Time’s short.’
“Gather as many Martial Arts College students as you can and set up barricades. Seal the entrance, cover all the windows. Minimize noise and light. Hunker down.”
“What about Radia senior or… Elin?”
“You don’t need to worry about them. Take care of yourself first.”
Isel nodded, her eyes trembling.
Then, as if remembering something urgent, she raised her voice.
“P-Professor! What about you!? What are you going to do!?”
Me?
Me, well…
Isel stared at me with a look that said she couldn’t believe it.
As if pleading never to do it, begging me to stay together.
Her half-beseeching gaze tugged at me, but regretfully, I couldn’t grant Isel’s wish.
“…P-Professor, you’ll stay with me, right? Right?”
Her choked sob was so pitiful I nearly squeezed my eyes shut, but I forced a smile instead.
If I looked gloomy too, Isel would never relax.
“…Sorry.”
There loomed a massive dragon, clad in black iron-like scales, emitting a resonant boom.
It gaped its maw wide enough to swallow the sun, baring row upon row of teeth.
As if loosening up, it eagerly awaited the moment to move.
The beast tamer atop it was a master from the upper echelons of the magic tower.
A mage who could turn the entire academy into a sea of flames alone.
Not to mention, as the dungeon began, countless monsters had poured out from the hole the earth dragon escaped through.
Golems, earth spiders, all manner of grotesque chimeras drooling viscous saliva, voicing their hunger.
Leaving them be was obvious disaster—I couldn’t just stand by.
I glanced down at my rapier.
Aiden’s beloved blade.
I smirked inwardly, gripped the rapier, and tucked it into my belt.
‘In the end, I make this choice, do I?’
But I had no regrets.
Isel’s shoulders slumped as if she’d break into full tears.
“What are you going to do? Going alone… against those things…?”
“Isel.”
“…”
“I’m a master.”
Isel shot me a look that said, “So what?”
As if to say I only had one sword anyway. To display such valor alone, I’d need heaps of artifacts and armor, right?
Perhaps she undervalued me compared to other masters.
Aiden was only twenty-seven.
His official record wasn’t public, nor were there any military exploits.
Master duels hadn’t happened in a century, save the Crusades—nowadays, masters were mutual assured destruction deterrents, nothing more.
With little known and history too fanciful to believe, she seemed skeptical.
Her eyes said this was worlds apart from the practical disaster, so I shook my head.
‘It’s not.’
Even if I couldn’t wield Aiden’s power to perfection…
A master’s body was strong enough.
The possibility of my defeat didn’t exist.
“It’s fine.”
‘I’ll grab Elin and Radia and take down those monsters.’
They were protagonists. I needed to bring them.
But…
I looked at the cowering Isel.
In the original story, Isel wasn’t a major force.
Not a protagonist, not even a key supporting character like the others.
Just one of the academy students.
An ordinary person caught up by chance.
I took in Isel.
Her trembling legs, shaking hands, face on the verge of collapsing into sobs.
‘Yeah, this is as far as it goes.’
Unlike Elin or Radia, Isel had no reason to bear this burden.
Now was the perfect time to leave her behind.
I tucked the rapier into my belt and draped my coat.
“Wait here. I’ll handle it and come back.”
With that, I turned my back.
Isel gazed wistfully at Aiden’s departing figure.
“Wait here. I’ll handle it and come back.”
His calm words carried weight that couldn’t be brushed off lightly.
“Handle it and come back”—in context, it meant dealing with that earth dragon.
His back turned without a hint of hesitation, sharp and chilling.
Leaving her like this felt utterly heartbreaking.
Isel clutched her chest, then raked her nails across it in anguish, as if tearing out her heart.
‘Really?’
Really leaving just like this?
Her clothes wrinkled, skin reddening where fabric failed to protect.
Countless questions flashed through her mind.
Regret she couldn’t voice welled on her lips.
Her tongue twitched, ready to spit out words.
How could he face that? Wasn’t he scared? How could he accept it so stoically?
But against her urge to shout, only fragmented, wordless gasps escaped her throat.
Meaningless nasal sounds passed her lips.
She should grab his collar, beg him not to go—but her feet were rooted like stone.
She knew full well what clutching that back would mean.
“Prof… essor.”
By the corridor’s end, that back would shrink endlessly, dwindle to a dot, and vanish forever.
Unbelievable—she rubbed her eyes repeatedly, but all she saw was the professor reduced to a point.
The professor truly intended to face that alone.
“Even for a master…”
That was only true with proper preparation—this was a pure ambush.
No prep, not even grasping the situation.
No different from charging solo into enemy territory.
Even if the professor said it was fine, it looked like grim resolve: no one else could do it.
“This time, if the professor’s in danger, there’s no one else to help…”
No one in the university could reach that scene.
Blatantly alone.
Only a single sword to rely on.
Isel swallowed a sob and turned her head.
‘He’s leaving.’
Just going like this.
It wasn’t mere distance from the crisis—it felt like symbolic abandonment.
She’d stay here, while that professor vanished forever.
He’d walk to a distance she could never reach, until no connection remained.
Maybe they’d cross paths occasionally.
She was a maid, he the next family head.
Perhaps once in a rare coincidence.
But then, their positions would differ vastly.
No longer professor and student, mentor and disciple, or her grumbling over coffee in the lab, unable to refuse.
“Ahh…”
That… that…
“Is too much.”
A choked sob escaped.
I…
Swallowed hard, then slowly moved Isel’s still-rooted foot.
Once it lifted, momentum built; it quickened, catching up to Aiden far ahead.
“Professor!”
Aiden, turning the corner, whipped around at the voice behind him.
That brief pause let a gasping Isel seize his sleeve.
“Isel… I told you to wait here…”
“No!”
Rude as it was, her frantic cry—not quite a scream—silenced Aiden.
“I’m coming with you.”
“It could be dangerous…”
“No. I’m coming with you.”
Aiden’s eyes, meeting hers, flickered with myriad emotions.
Isel felt it too. All the more so.
“Even if it’s dangerous.”
Never.
Please don’t leave me behind.
Isel clutched Aiden’s collar desperately.
That eye contact felt both eternal and fleeting.