Stepping Onto the Stage
"Well, we're screwed."
That was the only way to describe the situation. Before we could finish our preparations, Antalles's seal had shattered.
The heat surged in an instant, rising to a level that even I found uncomfortable.
I'll have to rewrite the plan from scratch.
My leisurely plan of watching the protagonist fight from a safe distance and then slipping away had completely gone up in smoke. I was dealing with an upper-tier demon, an existence capable of reshaping the terrain in an instant.
"Aaaargh!"
"It's too hot! My skin is burning!!"
Not only the already injured, but even the unhurt students began to scream in agony.
"Deila! Can you block the heat?"
"Ugh... I'll try!"
Writhing from the searing heat, Deila Zeros barely managed to cast her magic. A wave of frost rose, taking the edge off the temperature. But it was only a temporary fix. Deila's power alone had clear limits. She needed the help of the other mages.
"Get a grip!!!"
Kanteil's shout rang out like thunder. The sheer force of his voice, which felt as if it were being driven directly into their brains, snapped the surrounding students out of their panic. Thanks to Deila's quick response, Kanteil looked completely unscathed. There were slight scorch marks on his clothes, but that didn't matter.
"If you've snapped out of it, cast your ice magic now! Do you want to burn to death?!"
He barked at the dazed students. At his command, the mages who had regained their senses began to cast their respective ice spells.
"Frost!"
"Ice!"
The temperature plunged. The rapidly rising heat was brought back to normal by the combined efforts of dozens of mages.
"Phew... I really thought I was going to die."
"What was that voice just now? A thousand-year seal?"
"Ugh, my nose is going to rot. What is this awful stench!"
From students sighing in relief after escaping death, to those questioning the voice of Antalles they had just heard, to those pinching their noses in disgust at the rotting stench—the sudden crisis had elicited a chaotic mix of relief, confusion, and anger.
Although the students were relieved to have survived the initial disaster, Kanteil, who knew the future, kept his expression grim.
This is just the prelude.
The sudden spike in the Lava Dungeon's temperature? It was merely a warning sign before a massive disaster, like the calm before a typhoon. And this prelude would bring a deadly poison. The stench tickling their noses right now was proof. Antalles's deadly poison was accompanied by an unbearable, rotting odor.
To think it smells this bad even before the poison is fully unleashed...
The toxicity wasn't the only problem. This stench alone was enough to throw the students into a panic. Even now, when the scent was still faint, the students were already gagging. At this rate, Seril might go berserk.
I have to move.
It was impossible to know when Irelia and the Disciplinary Committee would arrive. Sitting still would get us all killed.
I wanted to resolve this off-stage as much as possible, but...
It seemed whoever gave me this ability didn't like me playing the bystander. Since it has come to this, I will step onto the stage.
I gripped the hilt of my sword.
The stranded Idrian and his party had taken refuge in a cave. An ominous heat was boiling up around them, but they weren't worried. They had a genius mage who was second to none in the world.
"The temperature has calmed down for now."
Cloa, who had lowered the heat, wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead. If she had been just a bit slower, they would have been cooked like meat in a steamer.
"How is Idrian?"
"Not good."
The male student, who possessed the highest holy power among the freshmen, shook his head. He had managed to administer first aid, but...
First aid is just first aid. For proper treatment, he needs to be seen by the medical professor.
He had done everything he could. Now, fate would decide Idrian's and their future.
"By the way, where is Miruel?"
Miruel usually stuck to Idrian's side like glue. Uncharacteristically, she was nowhere to be seen, causing the healer to tilt his head in confusion.
"Miruel? She is..."
"Did you call for me?"
A voice echoed from the entrance of the cave. Miruel appeared, her face pale with exhaustion, her entire body drenched in crimson blood.
"You? Did you go outside?"
"Hehe. There were monsters nearby. If I left them alone, Lord Idrian might have been in danger..."
She stumbled. Her legs suddenly trembled, and she collapsed to the ground.
"Miruel!"
As she fell, the healer rushed over and channeled holy power into her. With a sigh of relief, the healer laid Miruel down next to Idrian and stepped back.
"Is something wrong with her?"
"No, she's just exhausted. I've stabilized her with holy power, so let's wait and see," the healer replied to Cloa's question.
"How much mana do you have left?"
"I don't know... I'm at my limit too."
Cloa, a genius mage who had reached the 5th circle even before entering the academy, snapped in frustration. The healer couldn't bring himself to say anything in response. The color was rapidly draining from Cloa's face.
"Grrrr."
The low growl of a beast echoed from outside the cave.
Crunch, crunch.
The sound of heavy footsteps treading on stone grew distinct. The faces of the two students stiffened with dread. The sound was drawing closer.
The vampire, Subject 1, reborn through the demonic energy of a warlock, was confused by an unfamiliar emotion. It was a feeling similar to yet different from what he felt toward his creator. When he looked upon his creator, anger had been mixed in, but the creature standing before him now felt like an insurmountable wall. A wall that he could never hope to scale, no matter how hard he struggled.
A mountain was walking toward him.
Subject 1 bared his fangs at the black-haired stranger.
Leaving Seril, who had collapsed from the heat, in Deila's care, I stepped out into the dungeon. Deila had insisted on coming with me, but I shut her down.
"If you come, you'll only hold me back. The only thing capable of causing this is a demon. An upper-tier demon, at that. My guess is the culprit is Antalles, the demon of fire and plague. You know upper-tier demons are classified as superhuman-level, right? Even now, the demonic energy is a threat just by being near, and you can barely hold out without using magic."
"..."
"If it is Antalles, a plague wind will blow soon, and if that happens, everyone here will be wiped out. So, protect this place until I deal with it."
"Understood."
Confronted with the harsh reality, she could only bite her lip and nod. This was a clash of living weapons. It was a battle far too overwhelming for Deila Zeros to handle.
Leaving the rear to Deila, I ventured deeper into the dungeon. The heat continued to rise, but to me—possessing a power that rivaled superhuman-level entities like Antalles—it wasn't even a nuisance. I could have yawned and fallen asleep in this heat.
How long did I walk?
In the distance, a human silhouette came into view. But considering it had survived this disaster, it was highly unlikely to be an ordinary person.
"Grrrr."
Its appearance was human, but the sound it made was purely beastly. Yet, what stood before me was, by all accounts, a human shape.
"Strange."
Was there a monster like this in the Lava Dungeon? In the strategy guide Seril had written for me, there wasn't a single word about a monster wearing an academy uniform.
Well, there could be monsters she missed.
Seril was only human, after all. But...
"There's no way she would have missed a monster comparable to an A-rank, though."
The human-like creature in front of me was emitting a dense shroud of demonic energy. Its power was comparable to a 5th-stage martial artist. If I had to rank it, it was around B+ rank. The monster was radiating pure, unadulterated hostility.
"It harbors demonic energy, but shows no intelligence."
Even though it had a sword hanging at its waist, it only bared its claws. Like a beast.
"It looks exactly like a vampire."
But it couldn't be a vampire. At least vampires possessed intelligence. A beast with nothing but raw strength... It reminded me of my life before transmigration.
I recalled the giant zombie that had mutated after devouring hundreds of humans in that ruined world. To deal with that monstrosity, the nearby survivor factions had formed a desperate coalition. Hunting a zombie capable of bringing down entire buildings with raw physical strength had been a nightmare. It was an overwhelming struggle, and the casualties had been devastating.
However, there was one key difference between then and now.
Now, I am stronger than my target.
This wasn't a crisis that required hundreds of people to band together. It was a problem I could solve entirely on my own.
I drew my sword.
"Kraaaaargh!!!"
As the blade slid from its scabbard, the human-like monster's ears twitched. It let out a horrific screech and lunged.
The creature swung its claws, which were caked with dried, dark-red blood, in a wild frenzy. They were the kind of claws where even a graze felt like it would infect you with a dozen lethal diseases. I wondered if the plague rats of the Black Death had looked like this.
*Slash.*
A dark arc of steel swept through the air, slicing clean through the monster's wrist.
"Kar?"
The creature stared in blank confusion at its severed hand falling to the ground. Unfortunately for it, I had no intention of waiting around for it to process what had happened. I was already running extremely short on time.
Riding the momentum of the initial strike, my blade swept upward toward its neck. Like a wire slicing through soft tofu, the monster's neck parted. For a split second, the skin seemed to cling together, but it couldn't defy gravity. The head slid off the shoulders, following the clean trajectory of the blade.
The monster's crimson eyes stared blankly at me as it fell. Reflected in those dying eyes, I saw myself biting my lip.
*Drip, drip.*
Blood pooled on the stone floor. A bitter, metallic tang lingered in my mouth.
I knelt down briefly, closed the victim's eyes, and then turned away. On the wall of the path where I vanished, I left a mark—a silent promise that I would return.