Chapter 62
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Bait
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bait.
That’s right.
Having thought that far, Ladia moistened her cracked lips with saliva.
Blood oozed from her chapped lips.
‘So how many more minutes did we hold out?’
Probably not many.
She had stomped her feet in frustration as the third floor finally fell, the fourth collapsed even faster than the third, and the fifth seemed to hold for a moment before the monsters broke through with their sheer force.
At least the students Professor Aiden had trained stood their ground with desperate resolve, barely holding on. Without them, the situation would have been far more dire.
The sixth floor.
The final bastion.
There was nowhere left to go.
They were now blocking the last door with everything they had.
“Block it! Push them back with your bodies!”
“Where are the materials!? Where are the barricade supplies!?”
“We used them all up earlier! We never thought they’d push us this far…”
“Th-then what do we do? If this falls, we’re all…”
Even the wounded knew there was no escape if this line broke, so they dragged their injured bodies to hurriedly seal the door.
The critically injured remained silent as the dead.
Isel silently pushed against the door from over there, but she had consumed more stamina than anyone.
Each time the door thudded and shook, she was flung back repeatedly.
Ladia gazed vacantly at the ceiling.
The flickering lights, the dimly sunken corridor.
‘We tried hard.’
She had barely a handful of stamina left, completely exhausted, yet she had kept moving by burning her body to fuel herself.
Rather than regret or resentment, she wanted to praise herself for holding out this long.
Even if the outcome wasn’t good.
“This is… an emergency, isn’t it.”
The note from Professor Aiden: Open it when things are at their most painful, when you think there’s no way out.
This was exactly that moment.
Ladia’s trembling hand reached into her chest pocket and pulled out the note.
Blood had soaked into the paper in spots, but she paid it no mind.
She unfolded the note with difficulty and read it.
It was blank.
“Nothing?”
There was nothing written on it.
In her bewilderment, she forgot her exhaustion and unfolded and refolded the note repeatedly.
“Why?”
Her foggy mind refused to accept the situation.
Even Ladia, who had judged and responded when the earth dragon appeared, stared blankly at this empty note, unable to comprehend.
Why on earth?
That professor wasn’t one to play pranks.
‘Did the ink wash away in the blood?’
No, there weren’t even indentations from the pen nib. If there had been any smudges, it might make sense, but this was truly fresh paper.
Ladia’s face twisted in utter confusion before she bit down hard on her lip.
Was it because her hope had been extinguished? She curled up, her expression even more grim than before.
‘Why?’
Why would that professor do this…?
“Block the door!”
“We can’t! Why don’t you try doing something!”
Tempers were frayed, voices rising in shouts.
If this door broke, they’d all die, yet infighting in this situation—how absurd. She let out a hollow chuckle and closed her eyes.
She was the fool for pinning hopes on a mere note.
So…
Ladia slowly opened her eyes.
‘If the door breaks, I’ll take as many as I can with me.’
They were isolated anyway; survival was impossible.
Then she would drag as many companions to the afterlife as possible.
That was the bare minimum courtesy for the dead and those about to die.
She dropped Aiden’s note and gripped her sword.
Thud—!
The door on the verge of breaking.
Just as Ladia steeled herself for the end and rose, her eyes widened.
It wasn’t visible, but mana stealthily wrapped around her sword from the note.
‘A scroll?’
As if a seal had been released, blue runes appeared, and mana surged forth.
There was only one thing that could embed mana into paper like this.
A scroll.
This plain, unremarkable scrap was a mana-infused scroll!
While Ladia stood stunned, speechless, the mana in the note silently fulfilled its purpose.
Thanks to her vortex sword, blood and flesh mostly sloughed off without sticking, but any blade dulled after cleaving so many monsters.
Now, that dullness was being stripped away.
And not just that—the vitality coursing through her body.
Pure, high-grade mana beyond anything she could imitate.
It seeped into her entirely.
Healing her wounds while refilling her depleted mana.
Ladia couldn’t control her trembling pupils and let out a sob—self-mocking, yet for a different reason.
‘Why…?’
If she loosened her grip on her tear ducts, she’d burst into tears.
Had that professor anticipated this exact situation?
That she would face such a crisis?
That she wouldn’t collapse at the end but would fight?
What if she hadn’t opened the note?
What if despair from its emptiness had stopped her from gripping her sword?
“Ha…”
Truly, truly, really…
“Not one for straight talk, are you.”
Pressing her tear ducts firmly, Ladia gripped her sword.
The bloodied blade gleamed cleanly, polished.
The empty note.
It felt as if it shook its head: No, it’s not what you think.
If it had some shallow phrase like “Have confidence,” she might have accepted it at face value, consoled by his brief words and moved on.
So this was…
“You were going to say the same thing anyway.”
For one who acts with true conviction, the word “conviction” is unnecessary.
No need to seek trust from one who has erased betrayal from their mind; doubt holds no sway over the undoubting.
Thus, Professor Aiden hadn’t asked the same question.
By the time she opened this note, he already knew her answer.
Ladia ground her teeth and slowly closed her eyes.
In the magic tower, she had struggled desperately amid countless questions.
She couldn’t weigh the lives of the botany professor and others.
Couldn’t choose.
And couldn’t answer, so she clung to Professor Aiden.
Her confidence had been plummeting since the magic tower.
Wandering, her built-up achievements crumbled, endlessly falling.
So now, Ladia accepted this surging emotion as it was.
By laying herself bare to the bottom, she let go of vanity, stubbornness she hadn’t even realized, all of it.
And the choice she accepted at the very end.
That was her true choice, made without a shred of doubt—the essence of who she was.
Her eyelids squeezed shut against the tears, biting her lower lip deeply.
‘I’ll probably keep wandering.’
Hesitate in choices again, stray, clutch her head, share the agony, and corner herself like this once more.
But in the end…
She would surely grip her sword like this.
“Ah.”
Ladia let out a small gasp.
A vortex slowly formed around her sword.
Small and tidy, yet undoubtedly different from before.
“Yes.”
No matter the adversity or hardship, she would hold her sword to the end.
She wouldn’t give up.
Imperfect, but she would strive to push through somehow.
She would make mistakes.
Want to quit.
She rose, filling her lungs with a long breath.
Thud—!
The door thudded again, flinging back more students than before.
A monster’s vicious claw pried through the gap, crumpling the door.
As students screamed, Ladia stood firm, savoring the sensation.
‘I’ll fall flat again.’
But in the end, she would rise and grip her sword.
Conviction arises solely from choice.
The belief to bear even what she didn’t choose and press forward.
Now, she somewhat understood what Professor Aiden had demanded before.
Grind.
The door crumpled, revealing the monster’s maw.
Before the students, shrinking in fear and scrambling to flee in the tight space, Ladia turned.
Crack!
The door tore open, monsters pouring in.
Their numbers had thinned from all the kills, but in this isolated state, too many to handle.
Yet Ladia gripped her sword as if their number meant nothing, slowly sweeping it horizontally.
Like a stern judge pronouncing verdict.
Her thrust sword connected left and right in a straight line.
The line warped as if sucked in, creating a long twist.
Currents mingled in steady flow, spinning.
Waves clashed and swirled, birthing fierce power amid the blooming torrents.
Mana rippled from the blade, enveloping it, forming a small vortex.
Vortexes pierced and wove multiple into one flow—a vortex intersection.
From it: overwhelming current and hydraulic pressure.
Cutting force.
A small gap formed in the building wall beyond the door.
The motionless monsters split straight along the fine line, one by one.
The wall, the door, the monsters, the small windows down those stairs—all of it.
As if swept by the destructive force of the vortex.
Bisected.
Kwaaang!
Blood from the stairwell rained down drop by drop.
Ladia stood straight amid the carnage she wrought, swallowing hard, eyes closed, inhaling deeply.
She felt gazes converging from behind.
Eyes wide in shock.
To those wondering how, Ladia had no answer.
She merely bit her lip, eyes shut, reminiscing.
‘How does the professor know my family’s secret swordsmanship so well…?’
Back then, instead of answering, Professor Aiden had raised his aura to form a vortex of feathers.
As if to say that wasn’t how it was done.
She had sulked at his demonstration that it wasn’t that kind of sword.
Now, mimicking that professor from back then, words slipped softly from Ladia’s lips.
“So that’s how it’s done.”
Yes, that’s how it was.
It had taken too long to realize.
One more reason to meet that professor.
Ladia glanced at Isel.
* * *
The monsters that invaded the building had mostly been cleared.
There were wounded, and most students were exhausted, but it was why Ladia could leave the Martial Arts College building with peace of mind.
Isel stared at Ladia.
“Are you okay? Don’t you need rest?”
“I’m fine. More importantly… Professor Aiden called for you, right?”
Isel, about to insist on rest, looked at Ladia curiously.
Ladia should have been spent, yet at some point she had risen as if enlightened, wiping out the monsters in one go.
The refreshed expression on Ladia’s face afterward.
Seeing her unburdened, Isel felt relief mixed with questions.
‘Professor Aiden, surely?’
Otherwise, she wouldn’t rush off at the mere mention of him calling.
Ugh…
‘How does the professor influence things so much even when he’s not here?’
It was beyond amazing—almost scary.
Still, without his help, it would have been a crisis, so she sighed in relief.
But that was that, and this was this.
“So we’re going straight to Professor Aiden now?”
“No… you said students, so Elin will be needed too, right?”
“Yeah? True, it’d be不安 without more of us.”
The distant roar and otherworldly battle gave her pause.
They couldn’t intervene without a mage like Elin.
Precisely, they needed support from the Magic Department professors.
As Ladia and Isel headed to the Magic Department building.
Kwaaaang!
An explosion rocked the Magic Department building, black smoke billowing up.
Windows shattered, flames flickering through the air sporadically.
Isel halted at the commotion, throat bobbing.
That was… where Elin was.
Ladia met Isel’s eyes and picked up speed.
“Let’s hurry.”
“Yeah.”
They had to rescue Elin from the Magic Department building.