Chapter 228
Chapter 228
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 228
Chapter Title: The Vanished Instructor (2)
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***
It lasted but a moment.
Something brushed against my senses and then vanished... Yet, I knew instinctively.
It was an alien presence, one rarely felt in this Killentia Forest, and it was the very aura of an Apostle I was currently on guard against...
My past encounters with the Apostles.
Overcoming those crises, I had felt an extremely alien sensation.
A fundamental difference in existence. I could feel a presence that seemed utterly detached from this world.
But ironically, that presence also offered a strange sense of kinship.
It was a bizarre and uncanny sensation, impossible to describe in words. And now, I knew exactly what it was.
—An Apostle.
The unique aura that signified an Apostle.
“Glacia.”
I carefully turned my head.
Meeting her clear eyes, which were looking right at me, I was suddenly struck by a dilemma.
‘Can I take her with me?’
The presence was gone now, but I knew exactly where it had come from.
I hesitated, caught on the ‘fundamental question’ of whether I should go there with Glacia. I was certain I could face an Apostle now.
Compared to the Apostles I had faced before, the one I was about to confront, the ‘Madness of the Beast,’ was clearly weaker.
Considering it was a threat Leonhardt had been able to overcome, there was no way I couldn't.
I was far stronger than the Leonhardt from the original story.
‘But what about Glacia?’
...Her power was on par with, or slightly above, Leonhardt's.
“Han Cheon-seong. What is it?”
Seeing me silent, she asked cautiously, and I slowly nodded.
“We're going to go a little deeper. I need you to follow me closely.”
There was no more time for hesitation or deliberation. Not even enough time to explain things to her.
With a kick, I shot off the ground and manifested my mana.
Mana embodying the nature of a spiral immediately enveloped my body, and I began to traverse the forest in a single breath.
As I felt Glacia manifest the wind and position herself beside me... my resolve hardened.
‘If I don't stop it now, there will be major casualties.’
The immense fear, the cloying emotions like despair that Leonhardt felt when he faced the Apostle known as the Madness of the Beast. They were described in meticulous detail in the story.
And by that point, it had already devoured several students.
But I now had the power to prevent even a single victim.
The very reason Leonhardt was able to awaken when facing the Apostle was his mindset that he had to be the one to do it.
—The resolve that if he didn't stop it, other students would get hurt.
Realizing that, I had no more time to hesitate.
If I could stop it, I had to. And considering Glacia's wind attribute, if she focused on evasion, she should be more than capable of protecting herself.
“...I'll explain later.”
I said, looking at Glacia who followed me without a word. She didn't ask me any questions.
She simply gave a slight nod, her gaze calm.
Her dependable attitude spurred me to manifest my spiral mana even more intensely, pushing my speed to another level.
***
Cheon-seong, wreathed in a blue spiral, shot through the forest. And beside him, enveloped in wind, was Glacia.
It was a truly sudden burst of speed.
Hyullan, the assistant instructor watching them from a set distance.
Hyullan, who was originally in charge of Kalli's lecture schedule, narrowed his eyes and immediately followed them.
‘Suddenly?’
He was puzzled as he pursued them.
Considering their team composition and the difficulty of the current practical lecture, the combination of these two students was arguably the 'strongest' among the current student body.
He was naturally aware of student Han Cheon-seong, and he also had information that student Glacia was excellent, so there was no doubt about it.
They should have been able to proceed at a leisurely pace, yet they were suddenly rushing through the forest.
With a push, he followed them, reviewing the objective of the current lecture.
The monsters inhabiting Killentia Forest weren't considered particularly 'dangerous species.' Most were monsters closer to beasts.
It was a simple test: subdue monsters and show proof.
At the current students' level, it was perfectly manageable in pairs of two, and the two students in his sight could complete the assessment criteria even on their own. The difficulty was appropriate.
Suddenly, Instructor Kalli's voice from that morning came to mind.
—Hyullan, don't let your guard down, just in case. Keep an eye on student Han Cheon-seong at all times, and intervene if you sense danger.
Conscious of her words, he calmed his mind.
The recent string of incidents.
With incidents targeting students, the academy's alert level was higher than ever. It had reached a point where even assistant instructors had to be directly on-site to protect the students.
He leaped lightly between the old trees, chasing after them.
Simultaneously, he gently spread his mana to detect presences within a certain radius, but he felt nothing in particular. He could sense some monsters, but none of them were what you would call a threat.
‘They're all monsters that student Han Cheon-seong and student Glacia could easily handle.’
Hyullan was continuously kicking off the old trees, following them.
When a sudden darkness erupted from beneath his feet.
“......!?”
His eyes wide at the darkness consuming his feet, Hyullan hastily manifested his attribute.
A chillingly cold ice-type attribute burst forth, fiercely enveloping his entire body, but the darkness that had erupted from below had already swallowed him whole.
Without even the slightest sound, Hyullan was abruptly consumed by the darkness.
…
On the branch of the old tree where Hyullan would have landed, darkness emerged silently, and a being exuded a clandestine aura.
Vermian gently clenched his fist, aware of the instructor he had just swallowed with darkness.
He would be trapped in Leteia's unique domain, separated from reality.
The presence of Hyullan, continuously manifesting great power to escape the space, was clearly felt.
'So this is his level.'
To kill Hyullan, he himself would have to use even greater power. In the current situation, that wasn't an option.
Simply tying him down and buying time was enough. It would take Hyullan nearly an hour to escape Leteia's unique domain.
Buying that much time was sufficient for me.
‘There's no hitch in the plan.’
He watched the two students still moving at high speed.
In the direction students Han Cheon-seong and Glacia were headed, the Apostle of the Beast, whose presence he had erased, was waiting.
He didn't know how they were heading straight there, but for him, it wasn't a bad thing.
An achievement the nine Apostles would favor more than killing dozens of students.
Because I had naturally come to realize which student held that much value.
He watched student Han Cheon-seong, wreathed in the nature of a spiral, and let out a soft breath.
“......”
He hesitated for a moment, his lips parting slightly, before shaking his head.
His mind was already made up. All that was left was to act.
In the past, he had tried to save student Han Cheon-seong one way or another, but now, even that sentiment had vanished.
'I'm sorry... but you'll have to die.'
***
As Cheon-seong and Glacia ventured deeper into the forest, the sunlight filtering through the old trees decreased exponentially.
The forest was enveloped in a darkness so profound it was hard to believe it was still afternoon.
And through it, Cheon-seong soon arrived.
Landing amidst the dark undergrowth, he carefully surveyed his surroundings.
And half a step behind, Glacia landed beside Cheon-seong, letting out a soft breath.
Even for someone who wielded the wind, which greatly aided movement, a journey lasting nearly dozens of minutes was bound to be tiring. Glacia looked at Cheon-seong and blinked blankly.
‘He's definitely different.’
She suddenly realized it with certainty.
Compared to when they had faced each other during their spar, both evolving their attributes, Han Cheon-seong's power now was markedly different.
“To think... I could feel a presence from this far away.”
As Cheon-seong muttered in a stunned voice, Glacia cautiously began to look around.
The sight of the forest interior, with old trees that let in only sparse sunlight and thick, thigh-high undergrowth, was quite eerie.
Yet, all she could sense were monsters at a greater distance. As Glacia scanned the area, she found it hard to understand.
She had agreed to Cheon-seong's sudden request to follow him, and this was where they had arrived.
But at their destination, there was nothing that could be called an objective. It was far from the joint lecture's purpose of monster subjugation.
“......Glacia.”
“Yes.”
“Focus only on protecting yourself. From this moment on, you think only of 'yourself.' Understand...?”
Cheon-seong's voice was calm, yet laced with great tension.
Meeting his gaze, which stared at her so intently, Glacia blankly nodded her head.
“...I understand.”
Even as she spoke, she didn't understand.
-Han Cheon-seong's condition was strange.
-His actions were incomprehensible.
-Why he was saying such things... all of it...
Despite the countless questions swirling in Glacia's mind, she had no choice but to accept it.
She had never seen Han Cheon-seong appeal to her so earnestly and desperately. So she couldn't bring herself to voice her doubts or objections.
And in that moment.
“......!”
Glacia couldn't breathe.
Her eyes very cautiously scanned the darkness-filled forest before her.
Still, she felt nothing. But strangely, her body tensed, her muscles contracting as if restricting her movement. Breathing became terribly difficult... and she was enveloped in an unknown sensation, as if her entire body was being crushed by a formless energy.
Unconsciously placing a hand on her scabbard, Glacia manifested her mana and enveloped her entire body in wind.
And then, a massive blue spiral began to erupt and swirl before her eyes.
The blue spiral rising from Han Cheon-seong's entire body scattered afterimages in the dark-shrouded atmosphere.
“......”
Just as Glacia's gaze fell blankly on Cheon-seong.
*Grip!* Cheon-seong's gaze, his hand tightly clutching his spear, was fixed on a single spot.
Following his line of sight, Glacia still couldn't understand.
—Darkness.
Before her eyes, there was only a space painted with darkness between the towering old trees.