The Last Lesson
Simon, Kajan, and Erzsebet ran without pause until they reached their destination.
The place they were heading to was located on the very outskirts of the Kizen campus.
A secret base carved directly into a sheer mountain cliff, managed by Kizen headquarters itself. To students, it was a strictly forbidden zone—security so tight that anyone who breached it could face near-immediate expulsion.
"Just think of it as a kind of campus command and control room," Kajan said as he ran beside Simon. "You can monitor the entire school, and it's also where the barriers and emergency networks spread across campus are managed."
Erzsebet, listening alongside them, picked up the thread.
[I understand the explanation, but why would a Priest be heading to the command and control room?]
"Because it's the best place to activate the Prima Materia. Using the barrier systems there, she could scatter monstrous constructs across all of Kizen in a single stroke."
Simon, who had been listening in silence, swallowed dryly.
Four vicious curse bombs planted throughout Kizen. From Francesca's perspective, those bombs had to detonate only after her barrier was fully complete.
But if she was discovered beforehand, or if even one of them failed to go off on time, the entire operation would spring a fatal leak. And so this was the core strategy guaranteeing the terror attack's success. Kajan had described it merely as a "Plan B," but to Simon's ears, the gap between it and the so-called sub-plan was the gap between a backup and the main event.
"We're here."
At Kajan's words, the other two stopped. There, truly set into the mountain's cliff face, was an enormous artificial cave.
Erzsebet extended an index finger.
[By the way—was there a forest in front of the entrance before?]
"There shouldn't be."
A dense, overgrown forest blocked the way before the cave.
One look was enough to tell it was no ordinary forest. Trees had eyes growing out of them, and plants with gaping mouths were thrashing about in a frenzy.
They were similar to the plant-type monsters that had guarded the Desolators—but their numbers and scale were on another level entirely. It was, quite literally, an entire forest of them.
"No time. We break straight through."
Simon and Erzsebet nodded at Kajan's words. She drew webbing from her hands, and Simon rapped twice on the skull he was wearing.
"Wake up, Pier."
[Kheheh! So it begins!]
Pier's skull, which had been tilted backward, slid smoothly up and covered Simon's head like a helmet.
[Now then, boy—you said our opponent was a Toxicology head TA, yes?]
"That's right."
Click.
At those words, the skull covering his head began to shift. The jaw and mouth sections extended down to cover Simon's nose and lips, turning it from a helmet into something more like a mask.
[Consider it a makeshift gas mask. It won't be perfect, but it won't fail against any half-baked poison.]
"Nice."
Simon turned his head.
"Kajan, don't you need to do anything about the poison?"
"My body doesn't take poison anyway. And Francesca probably won't be fighting me with Toxicology techniques."
He seemed to have a constitution with at least some natural resistance. Simon gave a light nod.
"Then let's go."
Tap!
Kajan darted into the forest first, with Simon and Erzsebet right behind him.
-Kijijijiji!
The forest's assault began.
Simon's eyes went wide as he stared ahead.
Countless toxic seeds rained down, and thorned vine whips lashed out from every direction. The grass on the ground sharpened itself like blades, and flower petals kicked up billowing clouds of poisonous mist.
'I'm supposed to dodge ALL of this?'
Simon ran low to the ground. Everywhere he went, toxic shells dropped and left pooling craters of poison behind.
It was far tougher than he'd expected. He was seriously considering whether he needed to trigger Internal Jet Black Eruption.
Glancing sideways, he saw there was no need to worry about Kajan. The man's evasion skills were sheer uncanny unpredictability—impossible to read the flow of.
Sprinting at full power, he would ripple and sway through attacks like laundry flapping in the wind, or suddenly surge his speed to shake off projectiles and shoot through the forest like a flash of light.
'Ah!'
Just then, a swarm of plant-type monsters came pouring out around the trees and blocked Simon's path. His grip tightened on the greatsword.
[Hold.]
Sharak.
Shhhhk.
The plant monsters' bodies split into three lines—then tore apart and went flying skyward, shredded to ribbons.
[You must conserve your strength before facing the Priest, if it pleases you.]
"Erze!"
Erzsebet flipped over Simon like an acrobat, landed, and swung both hands in a violent sweep.
The tree monsters toppled in clumps, their white growth rings bared all at once, and the plant monsters' torsos went spinning through the air.
[Go on ahead!]
"Thank you!"
Simon pushed forward again while Erzsebet followed like an escort, firing off dark green webbing.
She was no combat specialist, but the power of an Ancient Undead was nothing to scoff at. Her true worth revealed itself not in one-on-one duels, but in battles exactly like this—against overwhelming numbers.
Thanks to her, Simon—who had been on the verge of using Internal Jet Black Eruption—was able to conserve a great deal of stamina and escape the forest.
-Kijijijiji!
But the moment they broke free, more than a hundred plant-type monsters came racing at Simon's back, baring teeth from their petals.
Sharak.
Shhh.
Transparent lines dropped into place behind him. The instant the plant monsters crossed them, they split apart all at once and piled up on the ground like wreckage.
[I shall handle this area!]
Erzsebet called out.
From within the forest, not a hundred but nearly a thousand plant-type monsters were charging, rasping and rustling as they came.
Simon hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"Don't overdo it."
[Yes!]
As she pulled the webbing taut, the plant monsters could be seen shrieking as they were cleaved apart. Up ahead, Kajan was gesturing for him to hurry.
Simon looked back at Erzsebet one last time, then sprinted to catch up with Kajan.
"You keep good subordinates."
Kajan said.
"I've always worked alone, but if I had a summon like her, I find myself thinking that wouldn't be so bad."
Simon smiled pleasantly and made his recruitment pitch.
"Why don't you major in Summoning like me, Kajan? It's fun."
"I took that midterm thing. Got a twenty."
"Oh dear."
The two of them pushed deep into the cave. At some point, the rough natural cavern had given way to an artificial tunnel with finished walls and ceiling. It felt like descending into a deep underground bunker.
As the surroundings grew darker again, the two had to put their glasses back on.
"We're late."
Kajan said it as he raised his head.
A massive hole had been bored through the door that sealed off the entire command and control room.
What kind of black magic could possibly do this? Simon felt a chill crawl up his spine as he ran his palm over the hole's surface. It hadn't been broken through by force so much as melted away by something.
The two ran on through the darkness once more.
After what felt like fifteen minutes, they knew they'd arrived.
Their feet landed not on cold stone but on carpet. And where the carpet was absent, the bare floor was damp—slick and sticky underfoot.
"Simon."
Kajan said quietly.
"She's found us too."
"......"
A dry swallow went down hard.
"The element of surprise is gone."
Muttering that, Kajan seized the lever-style handle mounted on the wall and wrenched it down with all his strength.
Clank!
Grrrrind!
Something caught and turned beyond the wall, as if an emergency mana generator were spinning up.
A moment later, the ceiling lights flickered on, and the command and control room blazed into brightness.
"......!!"
Simon's eyes went wide.
Blood everywhere. A sea of it. The many people who had been guarding this place lay sprawled across the floor in horrifying states.
'She took down this many people by herself?'
The security personnel at a critical facility run directly by headquarters would be no pushovers.
Simon's head turned. At the center of the blood-drenched command room, a woman sat perched atop a table.
Red hair, a black scarf, a black suit from top to bottom, and heels to match.
Kizen's Toxicology head TA—and now acting Toxicology Professor, Francesca Belmond.
She was staring at the two of them.
"I've been waiting."
Her tongue flicked like a serpent's. Simon felt the blood rush to his face as a white-hot fury boiled up inside him.
"I really did want to kill you."
Her eyes gleamed as she bored her gaze into Simon behind Pier's mask.
"Thank you for walking in here on your own two feet, 'Witness'."
"......"
"And it's been a while."
Francesca added, looking at Kajan.
"My 'Pursuer'—the one who's clung to me relentlessly for over a year."
"It's been a sickening year."
Kajan replied indifferently.
"Why."
Then both their gazes swung around. Simon was glaring at Francesca with a lethal look, his fists clenched tight.
"Why did you carry out this insane atrocity?"
She blinked for a moment as if she didn't understand the question. Then she let out a small, soft laugh.
"I am of Efnel. You are of Kizen."
Her fingertip pointed at her own chest, then at the two of them.
"We kill hostile factions. Isn't that just common sense?"
"I'm not here for some black-and-white answer like that!"
Simon snarled through gritted teeth.
"Even if you belong to Efnel—you came to Kizen, and you felt nothing? You saw with your own eyes that this is a place where ordinary people live! And above all—!"
The image flashed through Simon's mind: Francesca at the blackboard, chalk flying, passionately explaining lessons to her students.
He had suspected her. But he had believed that when she stood before that lectern, teaching with blazing passion, that part at least was genuine.
"They were your students!"
Simon shouted.
"You can't feel even a shred of guilt? Of reproach? There were students who truly believed in you, followed you, respected you!"
"......Hm."
She spread all five fingers wide. Long nails, painted red like blood, came into view.
"Teaching was an act—a performance to conceal my identity. Looking at those wretched spawn of Satan stirred nothing in me at all. If you sensed passion, or joy, or sincerity on my face, then perhaps that was..."
The corners of her mouth curled up long and slow.
"...nothing more than my own satisfaction at how well I was performing the role."
Shriek!
She bowed her head. A long blade of light swept through the space where her forehead had just been, carving a massive scar into the wall of the command and control room.
"Thank you."
Simon, still in the follow-through of the greatsword swing, brought the blade back up before his chest and braced it with his left hand.
"For making sure I'll feel not a shred of guilt when I erase you."
Kuguuuuuuuuu!
Jet-black began to rise from Simon's body. She smiled sweetly.
"This is your final lesson, Simon Polentia. The answer to your question is..."
Her own jet-black flowed out and formed a cross in the empty air.
"...because the Great Goddess."
Shushushushushushushushuk!
In an instant, countless crosses appeared in the air, coiling around the entire command and control room.
"...commanded it to be so."
"I don't know how Efnel's system works. And even if that horror truly were a god's command—"
Simon gripped his greatsword tight.
"The decision is made by people. Murderer."