Things Not Going According to Plan Is Also Standard Practice, Right?
Things Not Going According to Plan Is Also Standard Practice, Right?
The Summoner Han Seo-yeon route can technically be opened from the very beginning of the game, according to the system.
I said it can be.
But in reality, it's a newbie-killer structure that requires entering the mid-game or, at the very least, the help of professor-level personnel to subdue her.
But so what?
Four professor-level free laborers just rolled into the mountain behind the academy on their own!
"Epheta, Video!"
As I shouted while forming a triangle with both hands and holding it up to my eyes, the Watching Eye popped out into the air once again.
Among the abilities of the 1st-stage angel, the Watching Eye, there is a relay function that projects events happening far away onto my retinas in real-time.
Dozens of pupils around the golden sphere blinked busily, and the battle scene from the mountain behind the academy began to be broadcast live into my field of vision.
"Hmm... They certainly do fight well."
The weak mages were already wiped out by the mages of the previous generation.
Of course, the opposite is true as well.
The surviving mages are all veteran murderers, every single one of them.
Even though the Burning Wheel isn't at a level that should appear in this chapter, they were suppressing the flames with ice storms and systematically clearing it.
Seeing them analyze the Wheel's rotation and find its weak points, they certainly seemed qualified as volunteers.
In that case, the action I need to take now is!
Clang.
I took out the dagger I'd swiped when one of the mages was fumbling around earlier.
"Damn it... This is going to hurt like hell. It won't leave a scar, right? I'm sure they have health insurance."
Even as I said that, I didn't hesitate.
I'm a post-military man in his twenties.
If it's to protect the chastity of a game character and avoid the single-parenting ending, this level of pain is just an opportunity cost!
Stay strong, my inner dick!
Stab!
As I slashed my forearm deeply, blood poured out, staining the white school uniform sleeve red.
On top of that, I leaned my back appropriately against the flames burning behind me.
Sizzle!
"Aaaargh! It's hot! I'm seriously going to die!"
At this point, anyone would see me as a tragic heroine who barely survived an attack by mages.
Clutching my blood-soaked arm, I started walking sluggishly toward the academy auditorium.
In front of the auditorium, it was chaos as professors and upperclassmen who were preparing for the entrance ceremony had swarmed out because of the massive golden flames and magical fluctuations surging from the mountain behind the academy.
"Huh? Someone's coming over there!"
"That uniform... It's a freshman! They're bleeding!"
Right on cue, I buckled my knees and collapsed to the ground. Loading the most pitiful, desperate, and fragile expression possible.
"He... help me! On the mountain behind the academy, the mages...!"
As I screamed with tears welling up in my eyes, the professors in the auditorium came running in shock.
[Notification - Your performance as a tragic heroine was a perfect hit!]
"Student! Are you okay, student?!"
Perhaps because my performance of rolling on the ground and scattering blood was perfect, the screams of the surrounding students filled the area, and the faculty came running, pale with shock.
The person who appeared, pushing through the crowd, was the one I most wanted to see while planning my self-harm show.
Alister Blackwood.
A giant of a middle-aged man with broad shoulders in a suit like a British gentleman, grinding his teeth while puffing smoke from the cigar in his mouth.
He is the man called the strongest among the 2nd-generation mages.
Blackwood took a deep puff of his cigar, then carefully lifted me, who had collapsed on the ground.
"...What happened? Why is Han Se-rin's daughter coming into the academy in this state?"
Just as in the scenario I had prepared, I grabbed his clothes with my slender hand and let out a ragged breath.
"Pro, Professor... cough! On the mountain behind the academy... the mages.... Calling my mother's name, saying they would kill me... The Apostles of the Black Moon alliance..."
In fact, my body, the owner of Heaven's Gate, has already started healing with something close to super-regeneration.
It was at the point where the wounds would heal completely if I waited a little longer, so I desperately acted like I was in pain and squeezed out tears, but thanks to the blood-stained school uniform and ash-covered face, the acting fortunately worked.
Professor Blackwood carefully handed me over to the emergency responders who had rushed over, then cracked his neck with a pop sound.
"Well, no need to ask any more questions. There's too much trash in this world. I need to clean some of it up."
Then, he took off his luxury watch, which was worth hundreds of millions of won, and tossed it onto my lap.
"Hold onto this for a moment. It'd be a problem if it got blood on it."
Blackwood inhaled the cigar smoke deep into his lungs.
2nd-generation mages cannot ignite magic power directly, so a catalyst is essential.
That special cigar is the trigger that grants Blackwood the mystery of physical acceleration.
In an instant, Professor Blackwood's figure disappeared from before my eyes without leaving even an afterimage.
Phew...
I let out a sigh of relief and closed my eyes, pretending to be treated.
No matter how professor-level he is, there are many variables in facing four mages at once.
If the main heroine dies there or the plot gets twisted, my veteran knowledge becomes trash.
But Blackwood is different.
Blackwood is a madman who doesn't treat mages as humans, so even though he's the #1 target for assassination by the Mages' Alliance, he's a mage strong enough to go hunting mages in return.
Plus, he's a guy who owes a mountain of favors to Han Se-rin, so he loses his mind whenever her name comes up.
When I secretly covered my left eye with my left hand, the relay screen unfolded in my head again.
The mages on the mountain behind the academy had just suppressed the Burning Wheel and were catching their breath.
Wow. They already suppressed it?
...Should I have summoned up to the 3rd stage? If I unlocked the 3rd stage, would speedrunning be possible?
Boom!
With a sound that tore through space, Professor Blackwood appeared right in the middle of them.
"The crazy Blackwood already...?!"
Professor Blackwood, with a smile on his lips where the cigar was held, pressed his palm down on the head of the nearest mage just like that.
Before the mage's head could burst like a watermelon due to the frictional heat, Blackwood's kick folded the guy next to him in half.
"Too slow."
The pinnacle of physical acceleration.
To the eyes of the mages, who are no different from ordinary people in physical ability no matter how strong they are, Blackwood must have looked like he was teleporting.
"The moment you mages touched a human, you lost even the right to die painfully."
As the professor lightly waved his hand, the legs of the mages trying to run away were caught in a crustal movement and crushed, and the subsequent clap crushed their eardrums and brains.
Well, there's nothing more to see at this point.
[Judgment: The 2nd-stage angel's HP has reached 0.]
[System: Subjugation complete!]
A cheerful notification sound ringing in my head.
Free labor, they're quite competent.
As soon as I unsummoned the Watching Eye, Professor Alister Blackwood landed in front of me with a sonic boom that tore through the air.
A monster who had come back after separating and collecting four skilled mages in less than 5 minutes.
Blackwood nonchalantly put his watch back on and clicked his tongue.
"5 minutes, huh. 30 seconds slower than before. I'm getting old."
Mister, I'm sorry, but you're at a weight class that works even in the very late stages of the story, you know?
Professor Blackwood puffed out a long stream of cigar smoke with his hands shoved in his pockets.
"Is everyone just watching? The situation is over. I guarantee it."
No sooner had Blackwood finished speaking than instructions poured out.
"Barrier team, restore Zone 5 immediately. Student council, secure the list of potential insiders, and fire team, put out the fire on the mountain behind the academy. If the situation isn't cleared up within 10 minutes, I'll refer everyone to the Admiral's meeting."
The professors in this world are not ordinary teachers.
They are admirals belonging to the World Navy, which humanity created to fight against the monsters rising from the sea.
Since the academy itself is a huge fortress and a military academy, the professors' commands are military orders.
Just as the professors were moving in an orderly fashion and the situation was beginning to be sorted out, I saw a shadow running like crazy, pushing through the crowd from far away.
"Move! Get out of the way! Seo-yeon!!"
...Ah. Kang Si-woo.
That crazy bastard was running, pushing them aside with beast-like momentum, regardless of whether others tried to stop him or even if seniors blocked his path.
Where did he sell off his usual calm, handsome image, that blockhead!
But a problem arose. The emergency responder stuck a syringe into my arm.
"Student, the wound is deep and you could go into shock, so you need to sleep for now. Administering a sedative."
No, wait a minute! I can't sleep right now?! If I fall asleep here, who knows what kind of misunderstanding that bastard will have!
The moment Kang Si-woo reached me and knelt down, a powerful sedative effect began to paralyze my brain.
My vision blurred and my tongue stiffened.
"Seo-yeon! Wake up! Seo-yeon! Please!"
The guy's tears fell on my cheek.
From here on, choose your words carefully...
If it goes wrong, Si-woo might turn dark and cling to me.
The examiner's intent.
I'm really okay.
The question presented.
"I'm... re... ally..."
"Seo-yeon? What? Try saying it a little louder!"
"...Don't... leave... me... behind...." (Original: Go to the entrance ceremony without me, don't be late)
Ah, damn it, this is screwed.
My consciousness succumbed to the sedative there.
With those words, my head slumped helplessly to the side.
[Notification! - A fatal imprint has occurred!]
"Aaaaaah!!! No! Seo-yeon!! You can't!!!"