Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Assault (3)
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Aren's Blue Heaven wasn't his master's Blue Heaven. In other words, it was still a bit lacking in raw power and refinement compared to hers.
To make matters worse, the way he wielded it was different too.
It was a technique that shared only the name with the original—Aren's own version of Blue Heaven.
But.
Was Aren't's Blue Heaven weak?
'No.'
Aren could declare with absolute certainty that it wasn't.
The direction might differ, but his master herself had acknowledged his personal take on Blue Heaven. If he kept at it, she said, he'd surpass her someday.
And yet...
"I seriously thought I was done for~"
How was the woman in front of him still alive?
He'd clearly felt her get crushed and burst under Blue Heaven.
"How are you still alive?"
Unable to hold back his curiosity, Aren asked. Lucilla let out a bubbly giggle.
"Why? Curious, big bro?"
"Of course I am."
It couldn't be true immortality or anything like that. So, maybe insane regenerative abilities?
There were several possibilities he could think of.
First: She hadn't fully died, so she regenerated through that gap.
Second: She hadn't taken any damage to begin with.
Third: She died and came back to life.
'First or third.'
Aren's instincts told him that much.
The answer was either the first or the third.
"Hehe? But what're you gonna do about it? I don't wanna tell you."
Still, that was all just guesswork. It could never be the definitive truth.
So what Aren had to do now was...
"Got it. Keep killing you until the answer shows itself."
Kill her.
If she wouldn't stay dead, he'd kill her until she did. Sometimes, the simplest, most brute-force approach was the right one.
Aren immediately unleashed his Shu Arts. In response, Lucilla summoned another monster, just like before.
This one was even stronger, even bigger, even more grotesque.
Kwaaaaaaang———!!!!
The whale-like monster with eyes all over its body clashed against Aren’s attack. The crimson-black line shot out at the speed of light pierced one of the whale's eyes and rampaged explosively inside—but
——Woooooowooooowooooowoo
With a grotesque wail that made his face scrunch up involuntarily, the whale's eye regenerated.
"……!"
"Kyahahahaha!!!"
Lucilla, perched atop the whale, unleashed a mad cackle. She pointed a finger at Aren.
"Eat him."
The whale opened its maw and dove toward Aren like a predator. Its enormous mouth matched its massive body perfectly.
The sight inside was utterly grotesque—writhing tentacles and jagged teeth embedded irregularly everywhere.
Just as the whale's jaws were about to swallow Aren whole—
——Kugugugugugu
He leaped upward, dodging the whale's mouth. Hovering in midair for a moment, Aren looked down at the ground and let out a hollow laugh.
"...Hah."
The ground that had entered the whale's mouth had vanished completely.
Like a sinkhole had swallowed it whole. And as a bonus, the surrounding area was now blanketed in demonic energy, turning it into polluted, uninhabitable land.
Was that thing really a whale? More like a sandworm or something?
A massive whale monster swimming through the earth instead of the sea...
'Not even a sky whale.'
Sky whales—celestial whales.
Looking at that unidentified whale monster made celestial whales come to mind.
"Tch."
Aren expanded his senses to quickly scan the ground. Lucilla, who had mounted the whale and vanished.
Her position—and that of the massive whale monster—was
"—right below me."
Directly under his feet. Probably aiming to swallow him whole.
'In that case.'
Aren immediately pointed his finger straight down at his feet. He compressed the mana in his body as much as possible—compressed, compressed, and compressed some more. An immense mass of energy gathered to a single point at his fingertip.
It was a simple, brute-force method, but one that guaranteed devastating power—the most basic attack form.
And he fired it straight down at the ground.
Bang.
————————————…………………!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A colossal flash of light engulfed the world. Distant ringing in the ears and a massive explosion followed belatedly.
Only after the light faded did the sight reveal itself: black blood spraying through the air and chunks of whale raining down.
"Ahahaha! Big bro, you're seriously amazing~?"
Lucilla reappeared atop the whale whose mouth and head had been torn apart, her body drenched in black blood.
The problem was that she looked utterly unscathed.
Aren frowned.
That attack should've blown up the whale's head—and her with it. How was she still alive?
Ignoring him, Lucilla stroked the writhing whale with its head still missing and glanced behind Aren. He tensed, thinking she might attack.
"Sigh."
"?"
"Big bro, you ruined all my plans."
Instead, she recalled the whale and backed away from Aren.
"I didn't achieve a single goal. How are you gonna take responsibility for this?"
"I'll take responsibility from up in the sky, so it'd be great if you'd just die already."
"Ahaha? You wanna stay with me that badly?"
Lucilla giggled bubbly again.
"But what to do~? I didn't hit any goals, and the interlopers are coming, so I gotta head out."
She wasn't wrong.
The academy's professors and guards had sensed the disturbance and were rushing this way.
"See ya next time, handsome big bro~"
"You think I'll let you leave?"
"Yup. Feels like you will."
At that moment, demonic energy that even Aren hadn't detected materialized behind Lucilla, tearing open a portal in the air like ripping fabric.
Realizing it was an escape gate, Aren thrust out his hand—but
"Catch you later, big bro. We'll be seeing plenty of each other~"
Lucilla flashed a cheeky grin and vanished.
...
"Next time we meet, I'll kill her for good."
That time, he'd make sure she stayed dead.
As he pondered reliable ways to ensure Lucilla's death, professors and academy guards arrived en masse. The exam was halted, and cleanup began.
After the unprecedented incident during midterms where demon cultists burst in and tried to kidnap the Crown Prince and Adelia, the academy launched a massive investigation.
First question: Where had the demon cultists come from?
What was their goal?
'The answers turned out to be surprisingly simple.'
The demon cultist named Lucilla had disguised herself as a commoner and enrolled in the academy from the start. Tracing it back revealed her commoner identity was entirely fabricated—nonexistent.
And the second issue: Lucilla's goal.
More precisely, the Church's goal.
They aimed to kidnap the romance-fantasy heroine... Adelia.
But that raised a question.
Why did the Church want to kidnap Adelia?
'There was a reason for that.'
No matter how hard the investigation dug, they couldn't uncover the true motive behind targeting Adelia. Naturally, they began assuming the Church's real target was the Crown Prince who was with her.
"Student Aren, let me ask you. You're truly not involved in any way, correct?"
"Yes."
They conducted even deeper investigations into the students.
And as the main combatant, Aren naturally faced the most intense scrutiny.
Of course, it was all pointless.
"If it weren't for me, you couldn't have stopped the demon cultists in the first place."
The Crown Prince and Adelia would've been kidnapped for sure.
"That's true."
The investigator nodded.
After scribbling something on paper, the investigator stood.
"That concludes the investigation."
"No more questions?"
"No, we're good. We already know you're not connected to the demon cultists."
It's just a formality, he muttered softly.
"Don't take it personally. You'll be cleared of suspicion anyway. His Highness the Crown Prince's involvement made it unavoidable."
"Yeah... I get it."
"Glad you understand. You're free to go."
He didn't really understand.
Aren watched the investigator leave first, then exited.
On his way back to the dorm...
"Ah, Aren!"
A familiar shorty came running down the hall.
It was Lydia.
Panting, she stopped right in front of him and scanned his body with wide, sparkling eyes.
"?"
"You okay? Not hurt anywhere?"
"I'm fine."
"R-Really? The investigators didn't hit you or anything, right?"
"?"
Investigators hit him?
Who?
'Me?'
?
"Hng... You're really okay...?"
"I'm fine, so don't worry, Lydia."
"For real?"
"For real."
"Phew... That's a relief..."
But wasn't worrying if he got hurt fighting demon cultists a bit much?
"Th-The investigators looked kinda scary. I was worried they might've roughed you up... And I saw with my own eyes that you're safe after fighting the demon cultist."
"Hm. Got it."
Aren chuckled and patted Lydia's head. She beamed at the now-familiar touch.
"No need to worry. The investigators were actually pretty polite."
"R-Really?"
"Yeah."
The fact that he was being interrogated annoyed him a little... but separately, they had been courteous.
Maybe because footage of his fight—though only part of it—had survived? The magical surveillance in the forest had mostly been destroyed, but luckily, his battle was captured intact. He'd gotten looks like he was a hero.
That was the investigators' official word, anyway.
...
"If I'd been treated unfairly, I'd have flipped the table right there. So I'm good."
"Eek... You're joking, right?"
"Who knows."
Not joking.
No reason to eat sweet potatoes getting treated like a criminal when he had nothing to fear.
"Aren, you're amazing..."
"I know."
He shrugged.
Afterward, Aren headed to the dorms with Lydia. On the way—
—Thud.
"...?"
"Um, over here..."
They ran into Adelia.
"If you're okay... could you come to my room...?"
With those strange words.