90. Academy (3)
90. Academy (3)
Neutralization.
Making it impossible to exert normal abilities, or the state of being in such a condition.
It's a really ambiguous term.
They say you get a notification on your Bracelet when you achieve neutralization, but I went through the trouble of cutting off Charlotta's leg and reattaching it, yet no notification rang.
"Hmm.... If I can't get points with this much.... should I pull off all her limbs?"
The only things hard for me to heal are when the target is dead or the body part to be restored is missing. If all the parts to be healed are there, it doesn't really take much effort.
Of course, if I eat a human, it wouldn't be much trouble to revive a dead person either.
Though it would consume a lot of Holy Power.
"Let's just pull them off and think abou—"
"W-wait a second!!!"
The moment I grabbed the leg I had just reattached and tried to pull it off again, the Academy senior reached out and stopped my action.
"What is it?"
"That 'neutralization' thing, it means unconsciousness, first of all! Once they're unconscious, the teleportation built into the Bracelet automatically forces them out of here, and that's when you get points. So, uh... c-could you let go of my leg?"
"Unconsciousness? Then it would have been better if you said 'unconsciousness' instead of 'neutralization'."
"Th-that... I already ex-explained that neutralization means unconsciousness... d-did you not hear me?"
I definitely hadn't been listening closely. I was busy checking if there were any useful humans nearby to stuff.
This is clearly my fault.
"I'm sorry."
I bowed my head and apologized.
"But even if I want to knock them unconscious..."
I looked at my hands.
Living as the Saint, I'm capable of controlling my strength. The problem is that this strength control is for daily life, and I'm not confident in hitting a human just enough to knock them out.
"No, no. If I activate my Bracelet, it gives points to the target who caused me damage!"
The Academy senior explained, speaking urgently.
I glanced at the Status Window.
'She's a decent human, better than I thought. Though her Unique Ability doesn't really appeal to me.'
It seems she didn't just enter the Class Assignment Exam for new students to play the role of an enemy for no reason.
Her stats are around the level of a B-class Adventurer.
"Uh... you're wearing a nun's habit... you're a Healer, right?"
"I just healed your leg. Should I pull it off again to show you?"
"N-no!!! Right. That's right!!!"
Anyone can see I'm dressed as a nun. I even wore a veil I didn't want to, just in case, and she's confused?
==
'Is she seriously a nun?'
Charlotta was dumbfounded looking at Lea in front of her.
A person who is supposed to be a nun casually tore off someone's leg, and as if that wasn't enough, she heard her say, "Should I pull off all her limbs?" and goosebumps broke out all over her body.
What was scarier was that she was serious.
Charlotta possesses a Unique Ability that distinguishes whether the other person is being serious or not.
Not discerning truth or lies, but whether it is sincere or not.
Even if it looks like a fairly useless ability, it is quite useful in battle.
Because she can tell whether the opponent's attack is serious or not.
It's useless against Monsters, but in a fight against humans, she can know the opponent's fake attacks in advance, so she takes a fairly advantageous position.
Because she was that kind of Charlotta, she could tell that Lea's words were sincere.
'How can a nun think like that...!'
She couldn't help but doubt Lea regarding the fact that a nun could genuinely have such thoughts and such a mindset.
However.
'Her healing magic was excellent.'
She healed the torn leg in an instant.
Usually, Heal is hard to see immediate effects from. To see immediate effects, a considerable amount of energy is needed.
Whether it's Mana or Holy Power. But Lea didn't have any change in expression while healing the torn leg.
'She's a person of considerable skill. And it's not even at an Academy level. She's at least Archbishop level.'
The problem is...
'That junior's personality, who seems to have no emotion at all while attacking people...'
It was the most chilling moment of her life so far.
She didn't even change her expression while saying, "Should I pull off all her limbs?" toward a person, not even a monster.
It was to the point where she couldn't even think of her as a human.
==
At the time Charlotta and Lea were meeting and talking.
Prodisia was collecting points while moderately dealing with the surrounding Monsters.
If it were Prodisia right now, she could have easily knocked out all the Monsters and students in the forest, but she didn't really do that.
She planned to collect points moderately and get assigned to Class A moderately.
She wanted to destroy that man thoroughly and make him suffer for the rest of his life, not just kill him with a simple pik, and she wanted to enjoy even that process, slowly.
'I have to finish it before the Queen gets bored of the Academy, though.'
The fortunate thing is that Lea is showing considerable interest in the Academy.
I don't know the reason, but she is even thinking of attending the Academy sincerely, to the point of even making up a setting of being friends.
Of course, it's not just for fun, but also to weed out the humans Lea wants, but from Prodisia's perspective, Lea is looking forward to attending the Academy.
The moment Prodisia, thinking she had collected enough points, tried to move to find Lea.
A huge storm shook the forest greatly.
The trees shook violently, and Prodisia almost fell from the tree.
The small trees couldn't withstand the storm and were broken.
Not long after the storm passed, an explosion sound was heard.
Kwaaaaaang!!!
'This is... Black Magic?'
Prodisia frowned at the impure Mana felt as the wind from the explosion swept past.
As an Elf, she knew Black Magic better than anyone.
Originally, magic uses Mana as a medium, but Black Magic is different.
It uses Mana, but usually, Black Magic uses the life force of living beings as a medium for magic.
Black Magic, which uses the life force of living beings, is the worst kind of magic and is ostracized.
That is why Prodisia was exiled from the Elf Village.
Prodisia's Unique Ability, Life Force Absorption.
To save that trashy man, she used the Unique Ability she had been hiding to save him.
The problem is that Life Force Absorption is similar to Black Magic.
In the sense that it uses the life force of living beings.
'Why is Black Magic felt in the Academy Class Assignment Exam?'
Black Magic is a magic that is absolutely taboo for both Elves and humans.
Such Black Magic was felt in the Academy, where it should be least present.
'Well... it doesn't really matter.'
In the past, she would have tried to find and kill the Black Mage using Black Magic, but now, she didn't even have such thoughts.
Prodisia, who only had thoughts of going to her Queen, went to where Lea was.
==
Due to the sudden storm, Charlotta and I were pushed back and even fell over.
The storm was so powerful that I wondered if we had been hit by something hard and huge.
And not long after, a huge explosion sound was heard.
Kwaaaaaang!!!
The sound was so loud that my ears hurt.
An explosion of this magnitude is not just at the level of attack magic.
'What is this? It's sticky?'
As the Mana from the explosion grazed my body, I realized it was Mana completely different from usual.
No matter how untalented I am at magic, I am quite sensitive to Mana.
To be precise, I became sensitive while eating Mana, though.
Anyway, being sensitive to Mana, I felt that the Mana felt from the magic caused by the explosion right now was quite sticky.
Usually, Mana is like mint.
Cool, light, and like the wind. But the Mana I feel now was sticky.
'An ordinary attack wouldn't cause an explosion like that.'
"Black Magic...! No way! How!?"
Charlotta, who was next to me, screamed in shock.
'Black Magic? As expected, a fantasy world wouldn't be complete without Black Magic.'
It would be strange if there were no Black Magic in a world that was said to have had a Demon King in the past.
It would be disappointing if there were no Black Magic when there's even a Hero.
And it was a given in many manga and novels that Black Magic is usually stronger than other magic.
"Junior!!! Activate your Bracelet right now—, Junior. It's really embarrassing as a senior to ask you, but.... can you help me?"
Charlotta bowed her waist and asked me.
"Of course."
I naturally intend to grant that request.
"Thank you! If you think it's dangerous, activate your Bracelet immediately and evacuate! Then I'm going to the place where the explosion happened right now!"
Actually, I was waiting for these kinds of clichés that would happen at an Academy.
I thought some moderate terrorism or a moderate incident would occur.
But that explosion was too big.
It was an explosion so big that I didn't know how many people might have died, not just at the level of humans getting hurt.
It's not that I'm afraid or scared of that.
I was angry that they were trying to ruin the human buffet that humans had prepared for me.
If even one useful human died in that attack?
'I will find the human who did this and kill them as painfully as possible.'
I took out the Pipe Tobacco secretly from Charlotta, who was running ahead.
I used the Unique Ability of the woman still displayed in the Museum to light the Pipe Tobacco.
And I inhaled the smoke as strongly as possible.