Chapter 39
Chapter 39
A Shift in the Balance
“The situation is becoming quite interesting.”
Headmaster Ludwig spoke to Idnia.
“If things go well now, you might be able to return without being noticed and make it back in time.”
“Yes. Then I’ll head back!”
“However, there’s that thing along the way….”
“That thing? You mean that?”
Ludwig silently nodded.
Idnia let out a sigh and picked up the Black Iron Staff.
“Can I kill that experimental creature?”
“Well. It’s not my research, so I’m not sure. But there’s no such thing as an experiment more valuable than a student’s life.”
“You say that like you really care about students.”
“I always care about students.”
“As if.”
Ignoring Ludwig’s words, Idnia rushed outside.
Something transparent was moving within the fog-covered bushes.
‘An Invisible Stalker?’
A creature born invisible, sometimes called a transparent killer.
It uses its invisibility to hunt and kill other lifeforms. Created by an outer god, it lacks intelligence to understand language but can mimic the voices of other beings.
‘Like a Jangsan tiger-type monster. And it’s invisible on top of that… And Gibles really has some nerve, calling this a “big rat”?’
Even a rat is frightening when large, but an Invisible Stalker was far more dangerous.
Idnia gripped her staff and cast a spell.
-Shield!
A shield spell formed around her Black Iron Staff.
-Form Transformation!
The shield wrapped around the staff and transformed into a blade of light.
To an ordinary person, it would be the size of a longsword, but in Idnia’s Overlord Technique state, it appeared like a one-handed short sword.
With the staff serving as the hilt, it looked even more compact.
“Grr?!”
The Invisible Stalker noticed Idnia.
Then—
“Ah! Ah! Can you hear me? Students! Stay inside your dorm rooms and do not move! An experimental lifeform has escaped, but do not worry. It’s just something like a large rat.”
Amazingly, the Invisible Stalker mimicked Gibles’s announcement perfectly, copying both tone and voice.
Like a parrot repeating what it heard, it moved while imitating human speech, gliding as the fog parted around it.
‘That’s horrifying. And this is supposed to be a “big rat”?’
Idnia pursued it.
But then—
“Do not move….”
“Do not move….”
“Do not….”
“Do-do-do….”
Voices began echoing from all directions.
There wasn’t just one Invisible Stalker.
“Ugh?!”
Even Idnia felt chills at the voices surrounding her.
“Hm. This seems like a dangerous situation. Shall I help?”
“Ah, Headmaster!? You’ll help?”
“Of course. But in that case, it would be recorded that I happened to find you wandering at night and rescued you from an Invisible Stalker. You would receive quite a heavy penalty, wouldn’t you?”
“Then I don’t need it.”
“You don’t?”
A smile formed on Ludwig’s lips.
It seemed he hadn’t expected her to refuse his help.
At that moment, one of the Invisible Stalkers approached her.
“Need… neeed….”
It mimicked a human voice unpleasantly as it crept closer.
Its body was invisible—only the shifting fog revealed its movement.
At that moment, Idnia raised her free hand.
“Be quiet.”
-Thud!
Her fist struck exactly where the creature’s head should be.
She felt resistance through her hand but ignored it and pressed down harder—
With a crunch, something invisible shattered as her fist drove all the way to the ground.
“…….”
Even Ludwig, watching, was astonished.
Her punch struck empty air, yet reached the ground—
If the creature had been visible, the scene would have been too gruesome to imagine.
‘She crushed its skull straight into the earth… Did she just pulverize its entire body vertically?’
Ludwig admired Idnia’s monstrous strength in her Overlord state.
Meanwhile, Idnia herself looked displeased.
“Ugh, something sticky splashed on me… Seriously! Even its bodily fluids are transparent!”
Annoyed, Idnia swung the blade formed from her shield like a flyswatter.
-Swish!
With the sound of cutting air, something around her was sliced apart and splattered in all directions.
Though invisible to her, Ludwig—who possessed thermal vision—could see her mowing down the Invisible Stalkers like cutting grass.
“Impressive. Transforming shield magic into a blade… Normally, shield magic cannot form a sharp edge.”
“It’s probably not sharp.”
Naturally, the blade created from her shield magic was blunt.
The essence of shield magic was maintaining form through concentrated magical energy, and since that energy tends to disperse, edges would normally fray like unraveling fabric.
But even a blunt blade can cut if swung with enough force.
In other words, Idnia was essentially cleaving her enemies with something like a wooden plank.
“Even as Yurik’s descendant, this is beyond what a freshman should be capable of. Truly remarkable.”
“Then will you give me merit points?”
“You certainly deserve them.
However, I would have to report that I witnessed you wandering at night. Whether the penalty outweighs the reward….”
“Ah, never mind then.”
Idnia kicked another Invisible Stalker aside.
Something invisible shot through the air, crashed into the bushes, and snapped branches with a loud crack.
By now, she had already eliminated all of them.
“Well then, I’ll be going now, Headmaster.”
With a quick salute, Idnia dashed off and disappeared from sight.
Ludwig watched her go, smiling.
“Haha. She truly reminds me of Yurik.”
But the smile soon faded.
“But why does she have demi-human blood?”
Marie paced anxiously inside her dorm room.
“Where is Idnia? Why isn’t she here for the headcount?”
Outside, Sendia knocked on the door.
Marie clutched the doorknob to keep her from entering and shouted.
“She’s in the bathroom! The bathroom!”
“The bathroom? Then should I conduct the headcount instead? I want to finish quickly and go back to sleep….”
Just then, the window opened and Idnia slipped inside.
“Ah! Lady Idnia!?”
“Marie? What are you doing? Is someone trying to break in?”
“It’s Lady Sendia….”
At that moment, Sendia outside overheard their conversation.
“Huh? What? Idnia? I thought you said you were in the bathroom?”
“There were… circumstances. Anyway, the headcount? I’ll handle it. But Lady Sendia, since you’re already up, could you help? The faster we finish, the sooner we can sleep.”
“Fine.”
As if nothing had happened, Idnia conducted the dormitory headcount with Sendia and reported it to Gibles.
Thanks to that, she avoided any penalties.
And the next day, a shift occurred on the academy’s ranking board.
During the morning maintenance period, most students spent their time washing, doing laundry, or catching up on sleep.
Idnia changed clothes and washed herself.
At first, the Invisible Stalker’s blood had been transparent, but over time it turned milky white, like a squid turning pale.
Even changing clothes hadn’t been enough.
“I’m already short on sleep, and now I’ve wasted time washing….”
Grumbling, Idnia placed her laundry into a basket.
She would likely have to ask Heukrang to handle it.
Though it felt excessive to entrust her personal clothes to him, she had little choice.
Academy life was difficult for everyone, but especially for female students.
‘I can’t afford to hire another servant besides Heukrang….’
At that moment, the moving armors spoke in Baroness Vulem’s voice.
“Attention. Did you all sleep well despite last night’s disturbance? As compensation, today’s maintenance period will be extended by one hour. Additionally, five merit points will be awarded to Karl Gustav Ansbach, head of the northern Boreas dormitory, and three points each to Eirik, Rivald, Olsongard, and Durbin.”
It was a shocking announcement.
The five Boreas students who had been in the punishment chamber had earned an enormous number of merit points—seventeen in a single day.
As a result, Boreas’s total score jumped to nineteen points, far surpassing second-place Zephyrus at ten.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Crown Prince Rudolf protested at the sudden surge in points.
“The students in the punishment chamber dealt with the escaped experimental lifeforms. They demonstrated exceptional qualities as battle mages, and these points are awarded both for their performance and as compensation for the academy’s administrative oversight.”
In other words, the escaped magical creatures had encountered the Boreas group in the punishment chamber.
Despite their situation, Karl Gustav and his companions defeated or captured them, earning merit points.
‘Ah. They dealt with the Invisible Stalkers? Then… if I had revealed that I defeated them, even with penalties, I might have gained more merit than I lost. But I would have definitely ended up in the punishment chamber….’
Idnia wondered if she had been subtly manipulated by the headmaster into giving up the points.
As the rankings shifted dramatically, Lorenzo, the head of the southern Notos dormitory, stepped forward.
“With all due respect, this does not seem related to battle magic. Karl likely used the northern electoral house Oxbach’s inherited technique, the Formless Sword. That is a technique of aura and martial force, not magic.”
Just as the Betelgeuse ducal house possessed the Overlord Technique, the northern Oxbach house had its own unique art, the Formless Sword.
Likewise, the imperial family and Lorenzo’s Mazdari house each had their own exclusive techniques.
Lorenzo was pointing out that Karl had not used magic, but rather such a technique to defeat the creatures.
Faced with such a massive point gain, he had stepped forward despite the risk of making enemies.