Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Countdown
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“Huff…….”
Laphia leaned against a tree, panting heavily.
Was she finally starting to relax a little?
“Phew……”
Beside her, the spirits were whimpering too, utterly drained.
- Kiiing….
- Cung….
- Hweung….
The fire spirit drooped its tail and whined, while the ice spirit trembled in shattered pieces, barely holding its form.
The wind spirit clung silently to Laphia’s side, and not a single one showed any sign of wanting to face that monster again.
…Not one.
“Phew… so this is where you were.”
“……”
When Laphia turned her head, Charlotte and Rufus emerged from the bushes.
“Laphia… this wasn’t part of the plan, was it?”
“P-Prince, I didn’t expect that at all either….”
“…Yeah, no one did.”
“Ha… so that’s why Erwin warned us like that….”
The three fell silent for a moment.
Before the test began, Erwin had appeared before them as they plotted to capture Adel.
He had warned them once.
To stop the black sea from blooming at all costs, and if it fully bloomed… to run without looking back.
“For once, it wasn’t just his usual nonsense….”
At the time, they’d dismissed it as Erwin’s typical bullshit.
He was always spouting random crap, so they hadn’t taken it seriously.
“I… did try to be careful, you know.”
That didn’t mean they’d ignored the warning.
They’d heeded Erwin’s words and taken precautions as best they could… but it had all been for nothing.
- D-Dragon… so scary….
- Kiiing….
- Scary spirit…!
The spirits clung to Laphia’s shoulder.
The usually lively spirits had become utterly depressed since the dragon appeared.
- It smelled like the Spirit King….
- Yeah! Same smell!
- Kiing….
Laphia’s eyes went wide.
“Spirit King…? For real?”
- Yeah!
“Ha… if he can control the Spirit King, we never had a chance to begin with.”
“…We failed again.”
Their confidently prepared “gang up on Adel” operation had ended in pathetic failure.
“Maybe the top spot really belongs to that human weapon….”
“At least it’s not something our imperial family made.”
“…Not from my family either.”
The three stared at each other in silence.
A heavy, meaningless quiet passed between them, until Rufus finally spoke.
“…I’m heading out. We’re on track for zero points like this.”
“…Me too.”
“Uh… take care….”
And so, the S Class alliance gathered to take down Adel scattered in defeat, empty-handed and covered in wounds.
***
“O! This is killer! Killer!”
Veronica’s eyes sparkled.
In her hands was half-eaten popcorn and a soda.
She shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth, completely absorbed in the fight on the hologram.
The test? Scores? Those were already irrelevant.
Right now, to Veronica, only one thing mattered.
“Heh, this is fun.”
“……”
“I mean, how is she fighting this well?”
“…Dean?”
As Veronica’s exclamations continued, Kaus sighed quietly beside her.
“Look at that dodge! How does he even avoid that?”
Veronica took a sip of her soda.
A piece of popcorn fell from her fingers to the floor, but she didn’t notice.
“O! He finally landed a hit!”
In the hologram, was the moment Adel kicked Charlotte in the gut and sent her flying far away.
Veronica cupped her cheeks with both hands, eyes twinkling.
“Ooooh…!”
The popcorn and soda she’d dropped floated leisurely in the air.
When Rufus’s greatsword clashed head-on with Adel’s ominous blade, her eyes sparkled again.
“O… he’s using his ability better than I thought….”
Veronica muttered in quiet admiration, took another sip of soda, and focused.
Then… Adel plunged his sword into the ground.
A black sea spread from the blade.
“What’s that?”
Veronica tilted her head, sensing something had changed in an instant, but the spirits responded quickly, and the sea vanished just as fast.
“O… the little spirit girl handled that well.”
“Who’s the little spirit girl?”
“Hm? Laphia.”
“…Why’d the second seat become ‘little spirit girl,’ Dean?”
“Hm? I was gonna go with spirit girl, but little spirit girl’s cuter.”
“…I don’t get it.”
“You don’t have to~”
And, shortly after.
Adel stabbed his sword into the ground again.
…Viscous darkness.
…A surging abyss.
Atop the black sea, a dragon appeared.
A colossal dragon formed from thousands of writhing serpents.
“……”
And in that moment.
The smile vanished from Veronica’s face.
The grinning, popcorn-munching expression turned ice-cold in an instant.
“…Dean?”
Kaus sensed her mood shift in the silence.
- Riiip…
Veronica’s fingertips tore through the air.
Space ripped open, forming a rift.
Without a word, Veronica stepped into the unknown gap.
Seeing her back, Kaus reached out without hesitation and followed.
“……”
The two were back in Veronica’s dean office.
“Kaus.”
“…Yes.”
Veronica spoke while gazing out the window.
“How does Adel have a dragon?”
“…Dragons, excluding you, Dean….”
“Yeah, right. They were all wiped out centuries ago—killed off, rooted out to extinction.”
“……”
“What if… by some miracle, a surviving dragon was found and tamed by Adel?”
“…Possible.”
“Right? That’s the only explanation.”
A brief silence.
Kaus didn’t know what to say.
He couldn’t even see her expression.
“Kaus.”
“…Yes, Dean.”
“We have to trust Adel, right?”
Veronica stood at a crossroads now.
Trust.
Or suspect.
“…Yes, we do, Dean.”
“What if I ran to Adel and threw a tantrum?”
“…Student Adel would be disappointed in you, Dean.”
“…Ha.”
Veronica let out a short sigh.
Clouds outside cast shadows on her face.
“Yeah… I can just ask him later.”
“…Yes.”
“I’m… the dean, so I have to trust the students.”
“Yes, because you’re the dean.”
“…Sorry, I got too worked up.”
There hadn’t really been two choices to begin with.
Between trust and suspicion.
As dean, she had no choice but to choose trust.
That was the weight of being dean.
“You're finally growing up a bit, huh, Dean?”
“…Get back to work, Kaus.”
***
‘Tch.’
My fingertips were blackened and scorched.
Was it because I forcibly used spatial magic I’d never tried before?
Was it the wrong method, or maybe a power not meant for me… I frowned involuntarily.
‘More importantly… somehow survived.’
Honestly, I’d even considered mutual destruction.
Even summoning Leviathan would leave an opening, after all.
But… manifesting Leviathan had effects beyond expectations, and I’d successfully driven off the entire S Class alliance.
Plus, I’d eliminated Serros.
‘Am I actually a genius?’
My talent was “lowest,” of course.
“Stupid human. Stupid human.”
Its massive body still sprawled across the abyssal sea on the ground.
“Stupid idiot. Stupid idiot.”
…Did eating Serros regress its language skills or something?
Had it caught the idiot virus?
As I started seriously worrying…
‘Ah, hold on.’
I snapped my head up.
High in the sky, a camera-like magic tool caught my eye.
‘Oh right, all this is being broadcast.’
Cold sweat suddenly poured down.
Leviathan was a dragon.
And as far as I knew, in ‘Aka Calamity’… in this world, the dragon race consisted of one.
Veronica.
No dragons had ever been mentioned besides her.
‘Am I in big trouble…?’
An ambiguous anxiety settled in.
What happens when dragon meets dragon?
What if Veronica held a grudge against the dragon race?
‘Something’s gonna blow up for real?’
I wasn’t certain something would happen… but just imagining it chilled my spine.
If… Veronica was watching this right now, she’d come charging out immediately.
‘No thanks….’
I didn’t even know exactly what I didn’t want.
Just instinctually, no.
This kind of hunch never missed.
“Stupid idiot, stupid hu―”
Leviathan vanished abruptly.
The abyss receded, the dragon’s form evaporated.
‘Already five minutes up.’
I exhaled, organizing my thoughts.
‘No more worrying.’
Even if Veronica saw… she wouldn’t say anything, right?
She’s the dean, the cradle’s dean—she wouldn’t harm a student directly.
‘Right?’
I forced myself to believe it.
- Swoosh.
Shortly after, I quietly climbed a tree.
The red sky still held the sun.
‘But how’d they make that sun?’
This was Veronica’s artificial subspace.
Artificial sky, artificial nature.
Pure curiosity.
Possible because it’s Veronica?
Or did they pluck a real sun from the sky?
Lost in thought, gazing at the red sunset, I checked the system countdown.
[ 12 hours 0 minutes 31 seconds remaining. Quest details will be revealed. ]
‘12 hours.’
Time to pass out and wake up to it gone.
No point staying on camera while sleeping anyway, so I activated 【Walker in Silence】 and went to sleep.
***
The next morning.
[ 12 minutes 1 second remaining. Quest details will be revealed. ]
‘What the hell is this quest?’
Why drag it out for some epic quest?
Just tell me already… no need for the countdown.
[ 7 minutes 59 seconds remaining. Quest details will be revealed. ]
I decided to avoid clashing with other students until the quest dropped.
Moving on shallow judgment might make me miss key conditions.
Just quietly hunt the beasts that appeared and kill time.
…Problem was, no beasts showed up.
And right then.
───────────!!
A brilliant meteor streaked down in a dance.
“……!!”
I reflexively adjusted my mana, barely dodging its trajectory.
Dust billowed, vision blurred briefly… then cleared as the dust settled.
“Hey, Adel.”
[ 10 seconds remaining. Quest details will be revealed. ]
The protagonist, holding a sword glowing with radiant light.
Klaus.
[ 5 seconds remaining. Quest details will be revealed. ]
Klaus grinned and pointed his sword at me.
[ Quest details revealed. ]
“Let’s fight.”
[ Defeat the protagonist ‘Klaus’ with your ‘best effort.’ ]
[ Quest complete: Unlock unique trait 【Calamity of the World (天下萬災)】. ]
“How about it?”
Klaus asked with a smile.
“Also, no refusing.”
Of course, I had no choice.
‘…….’
A sudden thought hit me.
I’m… pretty popular, huh.