The Raid
“Haaam… When is this going to end?”
Garcian, a knight dispatched to the Academy, let out a massive yawn. Ever since the unpleasant incident during the practical training, the Academy’s security had been tightened, naturally increasing their workload and leaving him sleep-deprived.
Allison, another dispatched knight, jabbed Garcian in the side as a warning.
“Be careful. If the captain catches you doing that, you’re in for it.”
“Then tell him to cut down on the work. I’m exhausted after pulling night patrol again this dawn.”
“Just hold on a little longer. It’ll be over soon anyway.”
Both were suffering equally. As they encouraged each other to endure, a figure approached from afar and caught their eyes.
It was a dark elf with an alluring bronze complexion. Her sharp features and the short hair swaying around her shoulders exuded a haughty beauty, while her smooth, muscular body without an ounce of fat instantly drew every man’s gaze. The leather jacket and pants, designed for mobility, blatantly accentuated every curve of her figure.
Gulp!
Garcian swallowed hard at the overwhelming sight and reached out to block her path.
“Halt! The matches are currently underway. What business do you have here?”
The dark elf smiled faintly at the question.
“My little brother is participating in a match. I ended up running a bit late.”
“Your little brother…?”
Garcian’s mind turned slowly. The current match was between the first- and third-ranked students of the year. There was obviously no dark elf among them. Therefore, her words were a lie. The moment he reached that conclusion, Allison drew her sword and shouted.
“Garcian! Watch out! It’s an ambush—!”
Shlick!
Before the words even finished, the dark elf’s dagger struck without warning and severed Garcian’s head. He tried to counterattack in haste, but the dagger spun with fluid grace and shredded his abdomen. His intestines spilled out in a gruesome cascade.
“Kuh… Kack!”
Garcian flailed his hands as if trying to stuff his organs back in before collapsing. At the same time, similar chaos erupted all around. The dark elf drove her dagger down once more to finish him off, then stepped into the gymnasium and reported through her earpiece.
“This is Shakra. I’ve secured the south entrance of the gymnasium.”
-Good. Block off all passages on your side. Kill anyone you see. We’re uprooting the Empire’s sprouts in advance. Understood?
“You don’t have to spell it out. Especially that male student named Abel—we absolutely can’t let him get away, right?”
-Correct. Report immediately if you locate the target. I’ll send reinforcements.
With that, the transmission ended.
Quang!
At the same time, a massive sword of demonic energy plummeted from the sky, devastating part of the Academy’s central area. Beneath that spot lay the sealed heart of the immortal demonic beast Levios—meaning it was the location guarded by Gion Cruise, the Academy’s headmaster. Before long, a clash of earth-shaking magnitude began, sending tremors throughout the entire Academy.
Shakra grinned at the shockwave that made her entire body tingle.
“Callisto. You’re really enjoying yourself.”
The demonic sword Callisto. A sacred relic of the Dark Cult and an Apostle that parasitizes the body, seizing control and moving according to its own will. It was living history itself, existing since the goddess of darkness first descended tens of thousands of years ago. Even against Gion Cruise, Callisto wouldn’t be at a disadvantage. If anything, the opposite might be true.
-Proceed with entry.
At the timely command, Shakra entered the gymnasium and looked upon the students with pity.
“Poor children. You should curse the fact that you ever enrolled here.”
Because she intended to slaughter every noticeable person outside the Dark Cult.
Shakra’s daggers gleamed with killing intent.
*
“Aaaah! Save me!”
“I don’t want to die! Mom!”
The gymnasium had turned into a scene of utter pandemonium. The Dark Cult’s raid, which began alongside the massive shockwave from outside, claimed countless lives. In panic, people begged for their lives as they rushed toward the exits—only to be cut down by the cultists already waiting there.
Even those who might have resisted were helplessly slaughtered because the crowd made movement difficult.
“A-Abel! What do we do? Where should we go…?”
“Calm down, Yuni! Let’s think this through.”
“That’s right, nyang! We need to stay cool, nyang!”
“She’s right. Getting worked up won’t help. There has to be a way.”
“…Yas. Since when do you say things that make sense? Don’t tell me you’re a Dark Cult spy.”
“What? That’s ridiculous! I can be serious when it counts!”
While listening to Alissa’s suspicion and Yas’s indignant reply, I leaned over the railing and looked down at the arena. Perhaps because the attackers were infiltrating from the outside, there were no enemies in the arena itself. Of course, that was only a matter of time, but if we moved through the waiting room, we could probably escape relatively safely.
I moved at once. The moment I put my foot on the railing as if to jump down, Abel shouted.
“L-Luan! What are you doing?”
“I’m going to jump down. It looks safest over there.”
“Huh? Now that you mention it, there aren’t any enemies. Since Scadia and Deborah are there too, we should join up with them and leave together! Everyone, let’s head down!”
“Yeah! Abel!”
“Alright! Let’s go!”
“Let’s move, nyang!”
“……”
Opinions aligned in an instant. Alissa remained silent, clearly displeased that the suggestion had come from me, but she reluctantly followed, judging there was no other choice.
We leaped from the railing, landed nimbly, and joined Scadia and Deborah.
“Let’s get out of here, both of you!”
“U-Understood!”
“…This way.”
Unlike the flustered Deborah, Scadia took the lead toward the waiting room corridor as if she had been waiting for this. She knew. To deal with the enemies we would encounter while escaping through the waiting room, we needed more fighting power than Deborah alone could provide. She must have judged that Abel’s group, with their experience fighting together, would be sufficient.
However, that was a miscalculation. The Dark Cult’s attackers had poured everything into this operation and allowed no room for escape.
Beyond the waiting room corridor, a group began pouring out in a rush. Every single one of them was close to level 150.
“…I made a mistake. We should have moved faster.”
Scadia bit her lip hard, regretting her arrogant judgment. At that moment, some of the attackers shouted.
“There’s the highest-priority target!”
“We can’t let him get away!”
“Die!!”
They charged straight at Abel with reckless momentum. I felt my heart drop.
‘Abel is the highest-priority target?’
Right now, Abel was just one of many upper-ranked students. Yet they had marked him as the top priority. As expected, there was a possessor within the Dark Cult—and he held a high enough position to orchestrate a large-scale operation.
The sense of crisis hit me harder than ever. I glanced at Pernia. Her face had hardened as well, clearly disturbed by the attacker’s words.
In that desperate moment—
“How dare you target my student!”
Quaaang!
Sara appeared from somewhere and crashed down like a meteor in front of us. She turned to us and gave an order.
“You all, run.”
“Professor…”
“I said run!”
Even at her shout, the group couldn’t move easily. They weren’t sure if it was right to leave Sara behind. As time passed, the number of attackers would only increase. No matter how strong she was, she would eventually collapse from exhaustion. While everyone hesitated, Scadia coldly made them face reality.
“Let’s run. We’ll only get in her way. Escaping as far as possible is the best way to help her.”
I added my own words.
“I agree. Let’s go. We need to get away, even a little. Otherwise, we won’t be able to escape at all.”
Scadia flinched for a moment and glanced at me, but soon looked back at the group, deciding this wasn’t the time. Abel nodded heavily.
“They’re right. We’re nothing but a hindrance. Let’s run!”
Once the majority agreed, the rest followed suit. In the end, we left Sara behind and sprinted down the opposite waiting room corridor.
‘There’s no need to worry about Sara.’
Sara’s current level was around 280. Whether by stats or by realm, the attackers had almost zero chance of harming her. She had simply sent us ahead because protecting everyone while fighting would be too much.
The group, unaware of this, felt guilty for abandoning her and fleeing.
Thus, with conflicting emotions, we crossed the waiting room and finally emerged from the south gate.
“We made it out!”
“Let’s go ask for help!”
“Once we’re outside, we can call my master!”
Just as everyone voiced hopeful thoughts, a dark elf stepped out from a blind spot.
“Oh my? Jackpot?”
She slowly scanned the group, then brightened upon spotting Abel. The way her tongue licked her lower lip reminded me of a snake. Everyone flinched and shrank back. Shakra had released her aura without any attempt to hide it. Her presence far surpassed the attackers we had faced in the waiting room.
Like a predator that had already secured its prey, she leisurely looked over the group before speaking with a playful smile.
“My dear friends? How about big sis makes you a proposal?”
“…A proposal?”
“Yeah. That male student over there—he’s Abel, right? If you leave Abel behind and go, I’ll let the rest of you live. How about it?”
“I refuse!”
Before anyone could even consider the offer, Yuni shook her head violently. Shakra turned her gaze to the others.
“Do you all feel the same? Friends are precious, sure. But more precious than your lives? I don’t think so. Well? Are you going to run, or die together?”
No one could decide easily. Skepticism that she would never spare them clashed violently with the faint hope that they might survive.
I observed the situation and pondered.
‘What should I do now?’
Of course, if I didn’t want to die, I could activate Rape Declaration. But doing so would reveal to the group that I was the masked man. Alissa, especially, might try to kill me once she realized she had been deceived.
‘Surrendering isn’t an option either.’
Shakra had no intention of sparing anyone even if Abel betrayed the group. In that case, the only choice left to me was…
“You all sure are thinking hard. But if you don’t decide quickly, I’ll just kill everyone. Big sis doesn’t have that much patience.”
As the silence dragged on, Shakra applied more pressure. Just as Abel was about to step forward himself—
“Abel. I’m sorry!”
I made my decision, turned my back, and sprinted down the corridor we had come from. Shocked gazes stabbed into my back. I felt every single one of them clearly as I ran down the passage without hesitation—until their stares completely disappeared.