Chapter 67
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Why?
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“W-Why?”
Elin pursed her lips, her face stiffening as if she were about to burst into tears.
Startled by the sudden flames surging from below and the lightning, Elin had come down from the rooftop to find Professor Prezel amid a pile of countless corpses.
A flurry of thoughts raced through her mind.
Professor Aiden’s warning that he was far away, or the question of whether she had truly killed these people here.
“Why... why did you change like this?”
But the demon no longer had the organs to properly convey speech.
Only grotesque, unintelligible noises echoed through the lecture hall.
In the end, bewilderment gave way to thick resentment.
‘You said it was a nest!’
She had called it a nest. On that day, during the entrance interview.
She had said to make friends because she’d be lonely, hoping it would become her nest.
And yet that very person... was turning all her precious things to ash one by one with her own hands.
Even using herself as kindling to fuel the blaze.
Elin couldn’t comprehend it at all as she slowly approached the demon.
“Professor, it’s me. This has to be some misunderstanding...”
Before Elin could speak directly, a reddish glow flickered over the demon’s shoulder.
Crimson flames wrapped in a pulsating black aura.
Whoosh!
Flames laced with an evil energy that no ordinary person could produce.
Elin froze solid at the ferocious momentum charging toward her like an enraged beast.
‘W-What...?’
Why are those flames... coming at me?
Clang!
Something shattered, and Elin was flung back.
She gritted her teeth against the impact and stared at the translucent barrier that had appeared before her.
The flames could advance no further and spread to the sides.
Before she could even gape at the surreal sight, the necklace she had tucked into her bosom floated into the air.
A joyful green glow.
The blinking light gradually faded.
‘An artifact?’
Elin’s eyes widened round.
At the same time, she flinched at the savage presence felt right in front of her.
“Elin! Get down!!”
Whoosh!
A wave passed over her head.
A few strands of hair scattered from where it grazed.
Seeing the lustrous silver strands cut off as if they belonged to someone else, Elin soon realized they were hers and paled.
But in that brief moment, a sudden grip pulled her body to one side.
“Eep?”
“What are you doing, putting yourself in danger like that? Get a grip!”
She couldn’t turn to see the face due to being half-embraced, but the voice sounded oddly familiar.
‘Senior Isel!?’
That meant the one who had slashed at her head was...
Radia glared coldly at the demon.
“I don’t know why you’ve changed like that, but die already.”
Her sporadically visible blue hair writhed in response to her emotions.
A subtle afterglow reminiscent of blue waves.
Elin swallowed hard at the high-output mana flow visible even externally.
The condensed mana flowed along her sword, forming a vortex.
Slash!
Cool water droplets scattered with a refreshing chill, and the marble floor to the ceiling cracked in sequence with a delay.
The demon, trying to ignore the slash and summon flames, tilted its head.
―Kreek?
Its own two arms on the floor.
As the forming flames died out, the demon let out a shriek.
Graaak, kheuk, kreeeeeeeeek!
Ignoring the ear-piercing scream, Radia charged through the wildly scattering flames like an acrobat.
The flames, scattered like a barrage without precise aim, couldn’t block Radia’s movements.
Blue waves rose along Radia’s sword, slicing off the demon’s regenerating arms once more.
Black evil energy billowed from the wounds like thunderclouds toward Radia.
But Radia swung her sword as if it didn’t matter.
The highly sharpened mana cleaved through the evil energy.
However, as a former professor, the demon concentrated its mana into one arm, conjuring a small candle-like flame.
“Ugh...”
Radia hurriedly summoned a vortex to form a sword barrier.
The moment the faint candle flame touched the vortex, it triggered a chain explosion, tearing down the barrier.
An explosion and flames.
The acrid stench tickling her nose.
The surrounding wooden desks and windows shattered completely, scattering fragments.
Crash crash crash!
Pushed back to the wall by the explosive force amid the continuous breaking of glass windows, Radia rose immediately, apparently unharmed.
“Senior! That demon!”
“I get it, so talk later and let’s get out of here first.”
Radia’s eyes darted urgently to the students lying on the floor.
If the demon rampaged here, the damage could spread to those students too.
Isel, catching Radia’s intent, nodded and grabbed Elin’s wrist.
“W-Wait a minute. I...”
“Explanations later. Run.”
Isel and Elin had a big difference in stride length.
It wasn’t noticeable in casual walking, but in a situation like this, even matching pace meant Elin had to take several extra steps.
Accumulate that, and she’d have to trot to keep up.
Isel usually adjusted her steps, but now she roughly yanked Elin’s wrist and pulled her along.
Elin swallowed as she glanced at Isel’s profile leading the way.
She didn’t know what had happened elsewhere, but...
‘The same as during the practical disaster.’
That cool-headed, commanding demeanor from back then was on full display.
Radia, who had slashed at the pursuing demon from behind, quickly caught up.
“We’re luring it. Keep running straight to draw it away from the lecture hall.”
“What do we do?”
Radia seemed to ponder for a moment, then met Elin’s eyes.
“Kill it. Or at least run away.”
“It’s Professor Prezel!”
Elin raised her voice.
But Radia reacted indifferently, as if to say, so what?
“So, can you save her?”
“That’s...”
“Yeah, thought so. You can’t save her, and if you’re not going to, then give up and kill her.”
“...It’s black-and-white thinking. There has to be another way.”
Radia shook her head while running.
“There isn’t. At least not while that demon is trying to kill us. There’s no room for compromise.”
Like the relationship between predator and prey, she concluded before turning away.
Confirming the demon gathering flames from afar, Radia thrust her sword toward the ceiling.
Debris fell from the cracked ceiling, blanketing the incoming heat ray.
Just as it tried to ignore it, the debris softened and began melting thickly from the heat.
Radia sliced through the debris and the oncoming flames with her sword.
The heat ray split in half.
The scattered heat scorched the surroundings as it oxidized.
Elin clamped her mouth shut watching the scene.
‘She’s gotten stronger.’
Her growth was so unbelievable it had leaped entire levels in one go.
Not content with severing the demon’s arms, she was even slashing flames—Elin sent a complicated gaze, far beyond student level.
She should be happy about it, but knowing who that sword tip was aimed at left her speechless.
As if to answer Elin’s dilemma, Radia tossed out a remark.
“Choose. Abandon the people in the building to try saving that demon Professor Prezel, or kill the demon and save the survivors.”
“I...”
“Yeah? Can’t choose, right? I get it. I was the same.”
Radia nodded, as if she’d expected that answer.
“Then I’ll take responsibility for the choice, so if you can’t agree, at least don’t get in the way.”
Radia declared definitively, as if proclaiming it for Elin to hear.
“I won’t abandon the living for something I don’t even know is alive or dead.”
The demon slowly pursued from the melted debris.
Radia slowed her steps, turned back, and created dozens of sword shadows.
Flames burst in the air, batting away the sword shadows.
Then Radia slipped through the gaps, generating a vortex around the demon.
Whirlwind, from there the sword began.
A grotesquely spinning current clung to the blade.
It all converted to cutting power.
From close range, an extremely thin stream—thinner than a sheet of paper—shot horizontally along her sword.
So thin it seemed like a transparent film passing by, it pierced the demon’s body, mercilessly cleaving pillars and walls.
Kreek?
The demon expressed doubt at its body splitting with a delay.
In that short time, Radia closed the narrow distance and targeted the demon’s head mercilessly.
Evil energy swelled rapidly to protect the demon, taking form.
In empty air, spikes resembling stakes of all kinds generated, aimed at Radia.
“Tch.”
The spikes shot out at a speed where the whoosh came late.
They left a long gash on her cheek, and a hole punched through her hair as if by something.
A few strands fell loose.
After embedding in the ground, they dissolved into black mist and scattered, but traces remained—clearly something had dented the concrete wall.
Radia retreated, pulling back her steps.
“Let’s lure it more. This won’t do.”
“Yes.”
“W-Wait a sec. Eek!”
Suddenly flipped onto Isel’s back, Elin let out a faint cry.
This feels like something I’ve been through before.
Why a princess carry!?
No, more than that...
‘P-Put me down!’
Elin swallowed the scream bubbling up.
The demon, with its body halved, had slowed dramatically due to concurrent regeneration.
Thanks to that, Radia reached the lush greenhouse and leaned against a corner wall.
With a mezzanine structure, reddish sunset light filtered in from the rooftop above, and another layer below.
Three layers combined in total.
The demon, furious at losing its target, was indiscriminately spraying flames from the lower level.
“Isn’t the terrain here bad? If it sets fire, everything will burn.”
“We have to be careful not to get noticed. It actually hides us better, making it easier to scout, and if signs appear... you know?”
“Run, right?”
“Yeah.”
Only then did Elin’s feet touch the ground, and she nearly collapsed.
Radia and Isel were fine despite running frantically, but seeing even carried Elin exhausted, Isel tilted her head.
Meaning, we’re okay after running, so why are you like this?
Elin covered her mouth and paled.
“Motion... sickness.”
Isel’s mouth fell slightly open, and she nodded.
As if she hadn’t anticipated that.
Being carried at full speed would naturally cause shaking.
Elin retched several times, then pressed her temples as if suppressing a headache and lifted her head.
“So why did you seniors come here?”
“You know what Professor Aiden’s doing, right?”
At those words, Elin furrowed her brow.
Seeing her on the verge of tears, Radia asked back instead.
“Why, did something happen?”
“He got hit directly by a grand magic spell in the fight. He counterattacked right away, but his condition... I’m not sure.”
But he seems to be pushing himself.
At that, Radia and Isel fell silent.
Then they exchanged glances and nodded.
“We need to hurry there.”
“Where?”
“To the professor.”
Elin’s eyes widened.
Her hunched shoulders trembled faintly.
“There?”
Radia and Isel knew exactly what she meant.
A battle on another level was raging there.
Thousands of magical beasts, hundreds of heretical mages, and even a beast tamer capable of summoning them all.
Just hearing it sounded like an army for a full-scale war.
Opposing them was a lone master, called a one-man army deterrent.
Intruding in a clash of legions would only make them a hindrance.
Radia acknowledged it calmly.
“That’s why we need you, Elin.”
“Me?”
Radia’s eyes gleamed.
“You got something from Professor Aiden too, right?”
Radia had received a note.
To Arion, a solution to inefficient operation; to Isel, a direct request.
So Elin must have received something from that professor as well.
Elin briefly recalled the necklace containing Memorize, then shook her head.
The faint barrier that blocked the flames, the necklace that spread joyful light before gradually dimming—one of its three beads had gone dark.
‘But seeing Senior Radia ask so directly...’
It probably didn’t refer to the artifact.
‘Then...’
Tears of the clear lake, the tears of the ancient dragon Radon.
It had to mean that.
Elin looked at Radia with hesitation.