Chapter 49
Chapter 49
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: The Witch's Oath
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Festival Day 3.
"..."
While everyone else was enjoying the festival, Sen wandered the dormitory alone, searching for the anomaly.
'This is weird.'
She had never noticed it before, but now that she'd heard there was someone up to no good with something strange, the air in the dormitory felt entirely different.
It was one of those situations where, once you realized it, you wondered why you hadn't noticed sooner.
The Extermination Squad had trained her to be sensitive to mana flows, so if even she hadn't picked up on it, the other students certainly wouldn't have.
'Where the hell is it leading?'
But even as she followed it, the flow was so widespread that pinpointing an exact location was difficult.
At any rate, it was definitely somewhere near the dormitory.
'Is it a student?'
As she headed up from the third-floor men's wing to the fourth floor, she spotted a girl walking the hallway just like her.
"...Rin?"
Daniel and Ares's childhood friend, popular with everyone and highly regarded for her magical talent.
They didn't really have any connection, so Sen planned to just ignore her and pass by, but it felt like the girl was searching for something too.
'Nothing to lose.'
Sen approached Rin and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Looking for something?"
"Huh? Oh, something feels off."
Watching Rin glance around with a puzzled expression, Sen felt certain deep down. This girl had noticed the strange mana flow just like her and was hunting for the culprit!
'Impressive.'
Sen herself had only realized it after Daniel tipped her off, but this girl had discovered the eerie distortion all on her own.
Feeling a strange twinge of defeat, Sen extended her hand first.
"There's some weird mana flowing through the dormitory, right?"
"Oh? You knew?"
"I was just trying to figure out what's causing it."
At that, Rin smiled, thrilled to have a partner, and pointed to a door.
"That room seems suspicious, but the owner's not in right now."
'She already found the culprit?'
Honestly impressed, Sen checked where Rin's finger pointed and recognized the room.
'Adriana?'
Adriana's room, right next to Rin's.
Sen approached slowly and definitely sensed a denser mana flow than elsewhere. She pulled a thin wire-like tool from her pocket and jammed it into the keyhole.
Click.
As the door sprang open in an instant, Rin looked flustered.
"Is it okay to just barge in like that?"
"It's fine."
Daniel, who had taken down even Javalanko in seconds, said it was dangerous. There was no time to sit around.
"By the way, can you pick boys' room locks like this too?"
"Why? Need one picked?"
"No, I think I got caught last time because I used magic..."
Rin coughed awkwardly and suddenly surged her mana to cast a protective spell. Sen whipped out her dagger in a flash.
A barrage of magic bolts poured down on the two from inside the room.
It was magic infused with clear intent to kill intruders, but Rin's quick reaction prevented any harm.
"..."
As the volley ended, Sen's suspicions deepened further.
'She set it to kill anyone breaking in without question. Adriana's definitely plotting something.'
"She had traps like this?"
Even Rin clicked her tongue in amazement as they cautiously entered the room, but the sight made both grimace involuntarily.
For starters, the acrid stench assaulting their noses.
It was the smell from mixing various magically active drugs—and way too intense.
The windows were boarded up tight, with more intruder-killing spells on them.
The room felt like a minefield.
Layer upon layer of spells created a chilling scene.
"..."
"What the..."
In the end, they couldn't venture beyond the entrance. Rin just stood there behind, staring blankly into the room.
"Going further in would probably kill us."
"Why set up this many spells in a dorm room?"
The two stepped back out.
Rin crossed her arms, deep in thought, but Sen suddenly drew her dagger.
"Incoming."
"...!"
Rin sensed the mana too and quickly assumed a stance. They both glared toward the stairs leading to the fourth floor.
Thud thud thud thud.
Heavy footsteps pounding up.
Of course, it was Adriana, seething with rage-filled mana, having sensed her room's spells activating as she reached the fourth floor.
"You bitches! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
Unlike her usual self, Adriana spewed vulgar curses and unleashed her mana.
Rin, her classmate, was stunned by this side of her, but Sen shot back instead.
"What are you plotting, Adriana?"
"What?"
"The whole academy could be in danger because of you."
Adriana's eyes widened. A mix of fury and injustice boiled over as she exploded.
"So what?! You want me to just die?! Tell me to go off alone and die without bothering you?! Bullshit! I'm going to live! I'm going to survive!"
"You're insane."
"Adriana, what's wrong with you?"
Sen sneered, while Rin panicked and tried to calm her, but Adriana was already berserk.
"I don't want to die! I don't want to be torn apart by those filthy bugs and die like some animal! I'm going to live! Don't get in my wayyy!"
"Bugs? So it was you after all."
Recalling the bugs she'd seen on the rooftop, Sen was now convinced of the culprit. She planned to take Adriana down right then and report the request complete to Daniel, but...
Adriana's state was off.
The moment Sen mentioned knowing about the bugs, her raging fury halted abruptly, and she scanned her surroundings with a terrified expression.
"B-bugs...? You saw them?"
"Yeah, on the rooftop at night."
"L-lies..."
Scritch scritch.
A crawling sound reached Adriana's ears as she denied it.
Rin looked around, wondering what it was, while Sen gripped her dagger and charged at Adriana.
"Don't try any tricks."
She thought Adriana was manipulating the bugs for some scheme, but instead, Adriana cast her own protective spell and spasmed as she looked around.
"B-bugs? That was bug noises just now?"
"..."
Sen, her dagger blocked by the protective magic, finally realized something was strange.
'Why is she so terrified?'
If Adriana was the one summoning these ancient magic beasts, she shouldn't be trembling like that.
At that moment.
Adriana's eyes bulged wide, her mouth gaping open as she shuddered, staring behind Rin and Sen.
Rin and Sen naturally turned to check.
There, a massive bug clung to the ceiling, staring down at the three of them.
"A bug?"
"..."
Rin recognized it as a magic beast and prepared to cast, while Sen immediately checked Adriana's face.
That wasn't the expression of someone who'd summoned it.
It was pure terror, desperate to flee, on the verge of tears.
"I-it's here! They're here! Ares! Where's Ares?!"
Adriana twisted desperately to leap out the fourth-floor hallway window, but another bug crawled in through it.
They showed no sign of charging or attacking—they just watched her—but she was mentally cornered.
'Something's wrong here.'
Sen was now certain Adriana wasn't the one summoning the magic beasts.
She hurriedly tried to calm her down, but it was too late.
"I-I...! I don't want to dieee!"
Tears and snot streaming down her face, Adriana drew on every ounce of her mana.
In that instant, light burst from her room, resonating with her mana, and the strange aura permeating the dormitory began aiding her.
"In-incredible."
Even Rin, skilled in magic, saw it as extraordinary. Adriana hadn't simply relied on Ares for her survival.
She had prepared too.
She had devised and planned ways to kill the magic beasts coming for her, and now put them into action.
The forbidden magic that the witches of the Black Forest had sworn never to use.
Her mana, poured out with the sole intent to destroy everything, resonated and began drawing a magic circle.
And from it emerged...
"N-no way."
A towering frame.
Antennae sprouting from its head.
Emotionless black eyes without whites.
Muscles like armored plates.
It forced Sen and Rin to their knees with suffocating pressure.
"Ah, aaah..."
Tears streaming, Adriana slumped to the floor, staring blankly at the being before her.
It was him.
The magic beast that had haunted her even in dreams for the past four years, ripping her apart.
The creature parted its heavy maw.
"King of the Bugs, Abbiel."
Bugs boiled and gathered in the hallway.
Not just the massive ones following Abbiel—all nearby bugs crawled toward their king.
'Why? Why? Why?!'
The spell Adriana used was meant to rampage her mana momentarily, unleashing dozens of times a mage's normal power.
Not one to summon a monster like this!
Abbiel gazed down at the bewildered Adriana and emotionlessly gave his answer.
"By the witches' oath, I have come to execute the witch who tampered with the taboo."