Chapter 099
Chapter Title: Isolated and Besieged
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“Another dead end.”
Leo grumbled as he arrived at the fourth lake.
He had been searching for the lake where luminous slept, but all four attempts had been in vain.
‘Is the one by the castle ruins the last one?’
Leo had already wasted several hours in the city district.
And while wandering the city, he'd been hit by several curses.
While other students would have been eliminated long ago from the sheer variety of curses he'd encountered, Leo was perfectly fine.
‘I know all these curses.’
Leo smirked at another curse activating nearby.
In his past life, Leo had experienced every curse imaginable until he was sick of them, so he knew how to dispel them all.
This current one was a curse that disrupted the nervous system.
‘No need to even bother dispelling this one.’
A curse where moving his left arm moved his right foot, and moving his right arm moved his left leg.
Nervous system curses were among the trickiest to deal with, but Leo simply identified the scrambled signals and adjusted his movements accordingly.
‘Besides, a curse like this will wear off on its own eventually.’
His power may have weakened, but his experience as the Great Hero hadn't disappeared.
Casually dealing with the curse, Leo turned his head toward the castle ruins.
“Shall I start heading over there? The others are probably having a blast fighting each other, huh?”
Most of the students had probably already left the city district and were deep into the interdepartmental competition near the castle ruins.
“Huh?”
He stopped and looked up at the sky.
His sharp senses had picked up on something.
‘A wide-area curse?’
Leo narrowed his eyes.
It was a new curse.
‘Judging by the range, it covers all of Neigrang?’
It was an incredibly powerful curse of immense scale.
‘The land itself has been cursed.’
He felt something was off.
Neigrang had become a cursed land long ago due to the influence of the Hero's Dungeon.
The curses plaguing the students were pre-existing ones.
‘But a new curse now, of all times? And this one is…’
Leo's face hardened as he identified the curse.
‘The Curse of Severance.’
It was a curse Tartaros often used in large-scale battles.
The curse itself had no direct effect on people.
Its effect was to cut off the area from the outside world.
In other words, it was a powerful barrier-type curse that isolated an entire region.
“Damn it!”
Aware that there was a traitor within Lumerne, Leo immediately understood the situation.
‘I have to regroup with the others, fast!’
Leo kicked off the ground, his aura flaring.
*BOOM-!*
Kicking up a massive cloud of dust, Leo began to run toward the castle wall.
***
Meanwhile.
The students at the royal castle had also realized the gravity of the situation.
A student who should have been eliminated during the competition wasn't transported back to Lumerne and was instead gravely injured.
An immense number of monsters had gathered around the castle, and demonic beasts began appearing inside.
“Wind Fang.”
Kwoooargh!
Fangs of wind brutally pierced the minotaur.
Screaming in pain, the minotaur swung its battle-axe wildly.
“Aah!”
A Knight Department student who had been holding back the minotaur screamed.
Seeing this, Abad chanted a spell.
“Wind Breaker.”
*CRACK! SLAM!*
Gurgle-!
Swept up by the blades of wind, the minotaur was slammed into a building wall, letting out a final cry before dying instantly.
“Th-thank you, Abad!”
The female student thanked Abad, her face blushing.
Abad gave the student a wave before turning to look outside the castle walls with a serious expression.
‘This is a complete disaster. It's not a competition anymore; we're in a situation where we have to join forces and defend the castle.’
But defending the walls like this was unsustainable.
Demonic beasts were appearing inside the walls as well.
‘The academy staff is probably trying to resolve this… but with communication to the outside cut off, we can't expect immediate help.’
Abad's mind raced.
‘We don't know how long we have to hold out, and our forces are too spread out.’
With that thought, Abad turned his head.
He saw the inner castle of the ruined palace.
The inner castle, which could serve as a final bastion, had only one entrance.
This had the advantage of allowing them to concentrate their forces, but it also had the disadvantage of having no escape route, as the entrance was also the only exit.
‘But in this situation, there's nowhere to run anyway.’
The moment we abandon the castle in this cursed land, it's over.
‘Now is the time to concentrate our forces.’
“Everyone, to the inner castle.”
“What?”
“Our forces are spread out. We need to gather in one place.”
“B-but Abad! Defending from the inner castle is a last resort.”
“That's for a typical siege. And this is not a typical situation.”
Abad raised his staff and shot a signal flare spell toward the inner castle.
*Fweee-! BANG-!*
A bright light exploded above the inner castle.
“The quicker ones will see this and head for the inner castle! Everyone, retreat as calmly as possible!”
At Abad's words, the students began to retreat to the inner castle.
Abad remained at the front, covering the students' retreat as he fell back.
He wasn't the only one who had thought to head for the inner castle.
The student leaders defending each gate also realized they couldn't hold out against the endless wave of monsters.
With Abad's timely signal as their cue, all the remaining students began to move quickly toward the inner castle.
Once all the students were inside, those guarding the inner castle's gate hurriedly barred it.
*CREEEAK-! THUD!*
“Mages! Reinforce the gate with magic!”
The gate was sealed tight with magic.
“Form an anti-air net! I saw a new type of wyvern-like demonic beast!”
“Knight Department, secure the top of the walls!”
Though they were only in their mid-teens, they all began preparing for a siege with swift coordination, as if to prove they were all hero candidates.
Amidst the chaos, a group of students gathered before the wall.
“What? Where's Leo?”
Celia asked with a bewildered look, and Chen Xia replied.
“Young Master Leo went to the outer districts, not the central area.”
“Why did he go there?”
Abad looked puzzled, and Eliza clicked her tongue.
“He must have his own reasons. I can't guess what he's thinking, but I'm sure he hasn't been eliminated. He's annoyingly good at getting away.”
The other students agreed.
“Still, I'm worried. To join us here, he'd have to break through that horde of monsters.”
Chelsea replied to Abad's muttering.
“Don't worry, brother. Leo will be fine and find his way here.”
“She's right. Let's worry about Leo later and figure out the situation first. Let's start by sharing what we know.”
At Celia's words, the students shared the information they had.
After sharing information, Woreden spoke, breaking out in a cold sweat.
“So, we're basically isolated in the middle of Neigrang because of this abnormal situation? And we're under attack by monsters and demonic beasts.”
The surrounding students gulped nervously.
Just then, a Knight Department student raised his hand and spoke.
“It might be an abnormal situation, but couldn't it also just be a surprise event prepared by the academy?”
“It'd be nice if it were just an event! But the condition of the injured students is too serious for this to be a simple surprise from the academy! Eliminated students are supposed to be teleported back to Lumerne, but they're still here!”
Karl, who had just come from helping the healers, shouted.
As an aspiring professional supporter, Karl had diligently studied emergency first aid.
In response to Karl, a female student from the Summoner Department spoke up.
“Couldn't that also be part of the test, to see how we respond to unexpected situations? To be honest, this whole interdepartmental competition has been strange from the start! First, they make us do a battle royale. Then, they suddenly announce it's our final exam on the day of.”
Some students nodded in agreement.
“Besides, there are a lot of external guests this time, right? So there's a high chance this is a special event prepared for them.”
“It's true. If we perform well here, we could really impress the powerful figures from various nations.”
At that, the eyes of several students lit up.
Seeing this, Karl shouted in frustration.
“You guys! Have you even seen the injured students?”
“No, I haven't.”
“There are a number of students who might have died if not for Nella! No matter how many surprise incidents Lumerne throws at us, they've never gone this far! Think about this seriously!”
“What did you say?”
The female Summoner Department student scowled.
“This is no time to fight! Whether this is a real situation or one orchestrated by the academy, it's serious! We have to treat it as a real situation and respond accordingly! Strategy comes first.”
Hearing Celia, Chloe raised her hand.
“For now, we should focus on defense, making the most of the castle walls…”
“No. I think now's the time to attack.”
Emio cut Chloe off.
“If we all work together, we can wipe out the monsters and demonic beasts gathered at the castle.”
“A reckless attack is out of the question.”
As Chloe shook her head, Emio flared up.
“Why not? Isn't it better to just wipe them out first instead of holing up here and defending? It'll end the situation faster, right? What do you guys think?”
A few students agreed with Emio.
Seeing this, Duran scoffed.
“I'm sure the professors will give you a great evaluation for throwing away the advantage of the walls without even understanding the situation.”
“He's right. In this situation, defense is the correct choice, not offense.”
As Celia also sided with Chloe, Emio gritted his teeth.
‘Are you taking her side just because you're in the same class?’
Emio glared at Chloe.
‘What makes a cheater who just copies test assignments better than me! A mage who only does research is useless on the battlefield!’
A mocking rumor had circulated in the Magic Department that Emio wouldn't have even placed third if Chloe had actually tried.
That was why Emio didn't have a very high opinion of Chloe.
However, the majority of the students were in favor of defending.
“First, we need to divide into teams and assign roles.”
Excluding the injured, there were 96 students currently able to fight.
“I think we should split into five groups to take charge of the gates and walls. What do you all think?”
Everyone agreed with Celia's suggestion.
“Alright, raise your hand if you've received command training since you were young.”
At that, four people, including Celia, raised their hands.
All four were from renowned hero families and had received formal command training.
“We're short one person. Anyone want to be a team leader?”
“I'll do it.”
“I'll do it.”
Chloe and Emio raised their hands at the same time.
“Put your hand down, Chloe.”
“Chloe is more skilled.”
At Celia's words, Emio scoffed.
“Chloe is from the Magic Tower. I think I, who come from a military family, am better suited for command than someone who's been cooped up studying in a tower since she was a child, don't you?”
“In that case, you can be the leader, Emio.”
Chloe smiled and conceded.
She had only raised her hand because there were no other volunteers, so she stepped down without complaint.
Emio looked triumphant, while Celia sighed.
Once the leaders were decided, they formed the teams.
When the siege preparations were complete, Celia implored them with a serious expression.
“Listen up, everyone. Our goal is to hold out, not to go outside the walls and attack the monsters! Remember that!”