Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: The Premature Demon Assault
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At the same time.
Yoon Hayoung was lightly warming up at the magic training ground in preparation for the sparring exam two hours away.
After finishing about an hour of training, she gulped down water.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead and let out a breath.
“Hoo.”
Her magic growth had been rapid lately, making training enjoyable. Heading to the magic training ground whenever she had free time had become her daily routine.
Kwaaaang!
As she took a brief rest, a massive magical explosion rang out from beside her.
Right next door, Yoo Ara was blasting a huge fireball and shattering the target.
“Wow…”
Yoon Hayoung quietly admired her magic.
Overwhelming talent.
It was unbelievably masterful for magic cast by an 18-year-old student.
As she watched her, she suddenly realized that the girl was always at the magic training ground.
‘It’s not just talent.’
She must have innate talent, but honing it relentlessly every single day without rest must be how she achieved that level of skill.
‘I need to work hard too.’
Yoon Hayoung steeled her resolve and prepared to resume training.
-Kyaack!
At that moment, a small scream erupted from outside.
Yoon Hayoung and Yoo Ara’s gazes turned outward simultaneously.
A microphone voice announcing the start of the exam echoed through the arena.
[Group 10. Shin Myeongseok, Jeong Hyeongjun, Yoo Jaemyeong, Shin Aseok, Kim Han.]
Five students, each gripping their weapons, entered the arena.
Not all of them were familiar faces.
They must be extras like me.
[A giant beast will be summoned.]
A massive summoning circle shone brightly on the arena floor.
A gigantic beast was summoned.
The beast had a huge horn on its forehead.
It looked grotesque, like a mix of a rhinoceros and a lion.
—Groooar!
The beast’s roar filled the arena, drawing small exclamations from the stands.
“Wow, it’s huge.”
Even Lee Seojun quietly marveled from beside me.
Its massive size definitely made for a good spectacle.
And so the group subjugation battle began. As expected of third-years, their movements were far more flashy than the second-years’, as they took on the beasts.
I was in the middle of watching the exam.
‘Huh?’
A man walking toward the entrance from the stands caught my eye.
I stared at him intently.
A strangely familiar face.
Where have I seen him…?
After pondering for a while, I realized who he was.
Cheonhae.
The mastermind behind the Wizard Academy demon raid incident.
He was an A-Rank demon and a frontman for the Demon Alliance, the Ten Demons Society in the original story.
-Kwaaaang!
At that moment, a massive roar echoed from somewhere outside. Everyone in the exam hall reacted with surprise.
“What was that?!”
“Did something explode?”
“Didn’t you feel an enormous surge of mana just now?”
Amid the confusion from the sudden boom.
Another massive roar erupted from outside.
-Kwaaaang!
Even the hesitant spectators now realized something had happened outside. One by one, they stood and tried to head out.
[Announcement: An unidentified demon has summoned a monster horde within the Wizard Academy. Students, please evacuate to a safe location.]
…The demon raid already?
I looked up to find Cheonhae. He, who had been visible just moments ago, had already vanished somewhere.
‘Damn it!’
I shot up from my seat.
In the original story, the demon raid was supposed to happen at 4 PM after the second-year sparring class ended. But now it was 12:30 PM.
It was over three hours earlier than the original timeline.
The plot had shifted again.
“Kim Seonwoo! Where are you going!”
Ignoring Lee Seojun calling from behind, I ran toward the entrance.
I had to deal with the demon raid happening outside right now.
With the entire story derailed.
Something might happen to that guy who would awaken the Demon Slayer trait far in the future and become the natural enemy of demons. If that occurred, the future developments would spiral uncontrollably.
“What?”
I struggled to the entrance, but a crowd had gathered, not going out, panicking instead.
“Damn it. Someone put up a barrier!”
“What? Who?!”
“This is at least A-Rank barrier. How do we break it?”
…A barrier?
“Crazy.”
It had to be Cheonhae’s doing.
His specialty in magic was support-type.
He was even one of the top ten barrier masters in the world.
To trap all the guild scouts who could interfere with the Wizard Academy raid in one place.
What should have been a minor demon incident had, due to the butterfly effect, become far more calculated and intelligent.
“Everyone, make way. A-Rank support-type wizard here. I’ll dispel it.”
At that moment, a woman with a stern expression raised her hand and stepped forward.
At the words “support-type wizard,” people cleared space.
“You’re a support-type wizard?”
“Yes, leave it to me.”
The woman passed through the crowd and approached the barrier blocking the entrance. She examined it, then placed her hand on the floor and injected mana. The barrier lit up brightly.
“Good thing we have an A-Rank support-type wizard.”
“An A-Rank support-type should be famous, but I’ve never seen her before.”
People watched from behind as she “dispelled” the barrier.
But unease washed over me as I watched.
This is a trap.
I was probably the only one who knew the entire situation was a trap.
Because the woman currently “dispelling” the barrier was a demon herself.
Yang Hyun, Cheonhae’s direct subordinate.
Yang Hyun was pretending to dispel it just to stall and keep others from interfering.
But there was nothing I could do.
Even if I intervened, no one would believe a student like me.
I couldn’t just stand by and watch either.
In that case…
I turned from the entrance and quickly ran back into the circular exam hall. Spotting Lee Seojun approaching from afar, I shouted.
“Hey! Follow me!”
“What?”
“No time for talk! Follow!”
Lee Seojun looked bewildered at my words but followed behind.
“What’s going on?”
“The entrance is blocked by a barrier.”
“Blocked by a barrier?”
“I checked roughly, and it seems a barrier covers the entire space.”
“What the…”
Lee Seojun trailed off in disbelief.
“So where are you headed now?”
“The emergency back door in the indoor waiting room. Someone else is handling the main entrance barrier.”
“And?”
“The problem is, the person ‘dispelling’ it isn’t actually doing so—just faking it. Probably a demon.”
Lee Seojun frowned at my words. Despite how outlandish it sounded, he took it seriously.
“For real?”
“Yeah.”
Lee Seojun fell silent at my firm reply. Fortunately, no backtalk.
We entered the exam hall waiting room.
According to my pre-regression memories, there should be an emergency door around here…
“Found it!”
There was a back door marked as an emergency exit in the corner.
If I could get through this door, I could dispel the barrier myself. But one last problem remained. Lee Seojun would handle that.
“Lee Seojun, draw your sword.”
“Huh? Why the sword?”
“There’s a lock on the door. Smash it.”
Lee Seojun narrowed his eyes and looked at the padlock on the door handle.
“…Hey. Isn’t this magisteel? How do you expect me to break it?”
“You can do it.”
I knew Lee Seojun’s infinite potential well. With his current strength, magisteel would be easy.
Lee Seojun looked at me, then nodded. He drew the sword from his waist.
As he gathered mana, pure white light emanated from his hand. Light-attribute mana rippled along the blade.
At the entrance to the third-year cooperative beast subjugation exam hall where Kim Seonwoo had left.
The place was still crowded and chaotic with people.
“Move aside!”
A woman pushed through the crowd. People naturally made way for her imposing presence. Some recognized her.
“Huh? Isn’t that Wizard Jeong Yunseol?”
“For real? I heard she went into hiding.”
“Wizard Jeong Yunseol, what brings you here?”
Jeong Yunseol, one of the world’s top five support-type wizards.
People reacted with surprise as the woman rumored to have vanished recently appeared.
“Me? Just bored and stopped by. Anyway, clear out first.”
Her blunt, informal speech was already famous among wizards, so no one minded.
“Yes, yes! Everyone, make way!”
With the path cleared, Jeong Yunseol reached the entrance where the barrier was visible. She glared disdainfully at Yang Hyun, who had been pretending to dispel it for a while.
“You there, fake-dispelling auntie. Move. I’ll handle it.”
“Huh?”
Yang Hyun, mid-pretend, turned in surprise.
“J-Jeong Yunseol?”
“Didn’t you hear? Move.”
Who wouldn’t step aside if Jeong Yunseol herself offered to dispel it?
Unable to withstand the glares, Yang Hyun yielded her spot.
And she thought, ‘We’re screwed.’
‘…Why of all people Jeong Yunseol?’
But Yang Hyun couldn’t abandon the mission from Cheonhae.
After gauging the mood, she cautiously said to Jeong Yunseol.
“Shall I assist?”
Jeong Yunseol glanced at her and chuckled.
“Funny. You were just faking it.”
“...Pardon?”
“What are you all doing? Don’t grab that woman.”
People tilted their heads at Jeong Yunseol’s baffling words.
Frustrated, Jeong Yunseol pointed directly at Yang Hyun.
“She’s a demon. Capture her.”
All eyes turned to Yang Hyun.
“…She’s a demon?”
Receiving the stares at once, Yang Hyun backed away in panic.
“W-What are you saying? Me, a demon?”
As she waved her hands in denial, a blue-glowing magic circle formed beneath her feet.
Simultaneously, Yang Hyun hunched over as if choking.
“Gah! C-Can’t… breathe…!”
Yang Hyun clutched her throat in agony. Jeong Yunseol was constricting her airway with magic.
Desperate, convinced she’d die, Yang Hyun unleashed her hidden demonic energy.
Her eyes turned pitch black, and ominous demonic power unique to demons engulfed the surroundings.
“It’s a demon!”
“Battle stations!”
The exam hall turned into pandemonium in an instant. Two more demons hiding near Yang Hyun revealed themselves, their eyes blackening.
Thus began the demon subjugation battle.
Fortunately, with so many wizards gathered, the three demons would be subdued quickly.
Jeong Yunseol left the subjugation to them and focused on dispelling the barrier.
“…Hmm, but who made this?”
Jeong Yunseol quietly marveled as she examined the complex codes and mana formulas hidden in the barrier.
Its quality was far beyond expectations.
This wasn’t a barrier made in a day. It was clearly crafted meticulously over days with planning.
‘…At this level, dispelling it will take at least 30 minutes.’
Jeong Yunseol injected mana into the magic circle forming the barrier.
That was when.
“…Huh?”
Jeong Yunseol sensed something off. The complex formulas and codes in the barrier were unraveling at tremendous speed.
“W-What?!”
She shouted in confusion alone.
Clearly, someone elsewhere was dispelling it.
Even so, at this speed.
It was almost as if the barrier’s creator was dispelling it personally.
“Is this even possible?”
And soon.
The magic circle forming the barrier emitted a brilliant light, and the barrier vanished.
Kim Deokhyeon swung his massive spear at the monsters appearing at the school. Even a casual swing tore the monsters before him to shreds, making them vanish.
“Argh! They never end! Where’d all those guild scouts go?!”
“Ah, I’m on the phone, so be quiet.”
Jeong Hyeonsu, on a call with earphones in, clicked his tongue. Then, hearing something, he said with a baffled expression.
“Sunbae-nim, the scouts are trapped in the third-year exam hall?”
“What? You kidding? Why are they trapped there?!”
“I don’t know. Maybe the demons pulled some trick?”
“Argh. Idiots.”
“But why are the demons attacking here? What’s their goal?”
“We’ll find out from now on. All I see are monsters—no demons in sight. We need to catch the main body.