Chapter 33
Chapter 33
33
EP11 - Professor Assassination: Illusion Magic (4)
I stopped running when I saw the shape of a [Trap] on the Minimap.
A statue standing in the middle of the hallway moved and swung its sword.
‘……!’
There was no sound, and the floor wasn't struck. It was an [Illusion Magic].
But is this a [Trap]? The moment I thought that.
Thud-
A light resistance caught on my foot and broke.
Whoosh!!
An arrow was fired from a trap in the ceiling.
‘Tch!’
I barely twisted my waist to avoid it.
It was thanks to daily physical training, raising my stats, learning movements, and knowing in advance that there was a [Trap].
Did they set up a double layer of [Traps] with [Illusion Magic]? The Students were using Illusion Magic quite well.
It also succeeded in confusing me by being displayed as one lump on the [Minimap].
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <It's the hallway! The hallway trap has been triggered!> 】
The Student who confirmed the reception of Mana through the 「Remote Control Ring」 shouted.
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <Run! Go and kill the Professor!> 】
I started running down the hallway again. I confirmed two guys running towards me from the other side of the hallway in the Minimap.
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <Damn it. To step on such a simple trap. He knowingly stepped on something he could have just passed by... He's totally playing with us!?> 】
No, I really didn't know...
My heart is still pounding.
"It's that way!"
"Ambush! With Stealth!"
Urgent voices were heard from far away in the turned hallway.
At the same time, I opened the window and jumped out.
『 World Fabrication: Shape Fabrication [Dante] 』
I created a running me in the spot where I was running.
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <We caught him this time……!> 】
【 Hwaru, 1st year Assassination Studies: <Ugh! It's a fake!> 】
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <What!?> 】
【 Hwaru, 1st year Assassination Studies: 】
Oh my god.
They just mercilessly stabbed the neck. These crazy bastards.
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <He's outside! Professor Dante went out the window!> 】
How did they know this time?
I shouldn't have touched any [Traps].
【 John, 1st year Assassination Studies: <Which direction!> 】
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <South! There are shoe prints in front of the south window frame!> 】
Damn it. I didn't think of that.
The shoes weren't even dirty, so the traces would be very faint. They found it in 20 seconds while running?
‘I see. The 「Remote Control Ring」 also has a detection option….’
Then it must be a little more expensive….
That aside.
‘……It won’t be easy to get away from them.’
Above all, the problem was that my Footwork was inferior to the Students. That I was slower at running away.
Still, I ran away for now, and I confused them by going in and out of two buildings in a row.
They tried to manipulate my sense of balance from afar with [Illusion Magic], but I cut it off with Mana.
They shot a dozen [Phantasms] to hide one throwing star, but they hit the clone I had made in advance.
They diligently continued the assassination, using Phantasm dogs to track the scent. (I threw away my coat and ran.)
‘Give up already…….’
Sadly, this was my best. Because the opponents were young Students who you never knew where they would pop out.
I am actually confident in fighting Hakon and winning, but I was not 100% safe from the assassination of children.
If I used all the ‘Star Fragments’ I had saved up, it would be a little better, but it would be difficult to survive in the long-term Hidden Dragon Society assassination. Their growth rate may be similar to or higher than mine.
Only by being cultivated so precariously on a tightrope could I clear [Hell Difficulty], and that was my current state.
In other words, Professor Assassination in [Hell Difficulty] was inevitable.
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <Damn it…. Damn it…!!> 】
【 John, 1st year Assassination Studies: <What's wrong?> 】
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <Look here! There are shoe prints here too!> 】
Oops. Where did I make a mistake again…….
At that time.
A slightly more agitated Script came to mind.
【 John, 1st year Assassination Studies: <Don't get excited.> 】
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <Damn it…! Why wouldn't I get excited! Why would there be such shoddy traces here!? He even left traces for us to see! Professor Dante has been playing with us since earlier…!!> 】
What are you talking about? The traces are there because they're shoddy….
But why is he talking in a tearful tone? This guy.
【 John, 1st year Assassination Studies: <Hey! Derek, you idiot. Are you going to come to your senses?> 】
Then the red dots on the Minimap stopped.
So I stopped and caught my breath.
【 John slaps Derek's cheek. 】
Huh?
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: "Why did you hit me?!" 】
【 John, 1st year Assassination Studies: "Are you really saying that because you don't know?" 】
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: "What!?" 】
What. What kind of development is this?
Is this a morning drama?
【 John, 1st year Assassination Studies: 】
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <That's……!> 】
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <…It's difficult, but.> 】
【 John, 1st year Assassination Studies: <No, you idiot! It's not difficult. It's impossible! How can we assassinate Professor Dante, who assassinated Professor Hakon so casually?> 】
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <……!> 】
【 John, 1st year Assassination Studies: <What do you think is the reason why Professor Dante keeps going along with our assassination?!> 】
What is that reason?
What's the reason I don't know?
【 John, 1st year Assassination Studies: <The Professor is helping us with our review!> 】
They're interpreting it however they want…….
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <Ah…. I see…….> 】
What are you realizing? You're wrong.
Still, I would be grateful if they misunderstood that way.
The following Script was somehow distressing.
【 Hwaru, 1st year Assassination Studies: <Everyone, don't be so discouraged. Let's do our best!> 】
【 Derek, 1st year Assassination Studies: <Okay. Let's try our best to kill the Professor!> 】
【 John, 1st year Assassination Studies: <Tch. Now you're more like yourself.> 】
Stop it.
I can't watch anymore because it's so cheesy…….
Anyway, while those guys were filming a youth drama, I completely changed my trajectory and succeeded in avoiding pursuit.
‘Did I get rid of them……?’
But in the midst of the long chase and being chased in the Professor Assassination, I had come to the deep forest of [Area 0].
Before I knew it, I was inside an abandoned forest path.
It would take a long time to walk back to the lecture hall.
* * *
"Ah, damn it… I completely lost him."
"How's [White Fang]?"
"It's a clean failure. The scent is gone too. Professor Dante must have laid down the scent with [Illusion Magic] at this point."
Then John, who was thinking deeply, let out a hollow laugh.
"Wow……. The Professor is really amazing."
"What is?"
"Think about it. Did Professor Dante use anything other than [Illusion Magic] today?"
"Huh?"
Come to think of it, that was the case.
I heard that Professor Dante is good at [Magic] and is proficient in [Combat Type] Superpowers, right?
[Master]-level or [Grandmaster]-level monster assassins can handle almost all Superpower systems to some extent.
Professor Dante must be the same.
‘Crazy. He didn't use [Footwork] either. He didn't set up [Traps] either. He didn't summon [Summoned beast] either…… He only used [Illusion Magic].’
Moreover, he clearly gave us opportunities without running away so that we could keep chasing him.
Once again, it touched my heart. The fact that Professor Dante helped them with their review.
‘What kind of Professor would do this much……?’
When attempting an assassination. Students can't help but start with a little fear. There are many cases of Students being injured by counterattacks.
But Professor Dante didn't even attempt a counterattack, let alone anything that deviated from the topic of education.
As if proving that it was the attitude of an Assassination Studies Professor.
"……We really signed up for a good course."
"Yeah. Really."
The other Students nodded at Derek's words. They had never felt this way during the first semester, but in the past few days, they had been feeling that they were growing noticeably.
Thanks to Professor Dante's class.
"By the way, where is this place?"
"Oh, yeah? It's a place I've never been to before…."
When I looked around, it was dark. It was the time when the sun was turning red. Perhaps because it was a forest with no people or even a path. I felt an ominous feeling for some reason.
"Hmm. Let's go back quickly."
"Yeah…. Let's go get some pizza."
"Pizza sounds good. Should we take out the beer we stashed away before?"
So I tried to change the subject with silly talk, but before long, the forest was completely plunged into darkness.
"But Hwaru. It would have been nice if Forte came too."
"Huh? No way. Forte is scared of Professor Dante…."
"I guess so."
The muttered conversation stopped at some point, because there was a strange human figure standing in the distance of the forest.
"……."
"……."
The Students closed their mouths.
Everyone stopped walking.
The strange person who appeared was also silent. So an awkward silence lingered.
"……Um, who are you?"
Because he wasn't wearing a Student uniform. When I asked, the corners of the other person's mouth went up in the darkness.
"What are you doing here?"
Unexpectedly, it was a soft man's voice. He must be a faculty member.
With that, Derek could feel relieved in his heart.
"Ah, we. Professor ass… no, we came here by mistake while training."
"I see. Still, you shouldn't come to such a secluded place at this late hour."
"Ah…. Sorry. I'll go down right away."
I thought he was a good person, but.
The man continued.
"It's dangerous. It's too dark here. There are no roads. There are few people."
"Ah. Yes. We're a little…."
"You could die. You. And if you die, you won't be found."
"Excuse me?"
"If you guys are dismembered and chopped up to death in a place like this, how would you know who killed you? And how would you find the body?"
"……Excuse me?"
At this moment, it wasn't just Derek who felt something was off.
A few seconds.
Silence flows.
The man in the dark is still expressionless.
John, who couldn't stand it, intervened.
"...Sorry. We'll go down right away."
"Okay. Let's go together. Come here."
"Ah. Um, we'll go by ourselves."
"No. Don't do that, let's go together. There should be an adult."
"It's okay. We're kind of…."
"Well, I'm telling you to go together? In a place like this. At this time. What if someone ties your arms and legs to a tree and saws off your ankles with a saw, and puts your head in the forest. What if they bury your ankles under this tree?"
The man's eyes begin to twist strangely.
At the same time, his words start to speed up.
"If all five of you are chopped up and scattered all over Area 0, you won't be able to find them one by one, and the investigation will be vague because you're in Assassination Studies, so are you telling me to just stand by and watch? It's not, right. But why are you refusing. Why the fuck are you refusing? Am I grabbing your arms and legs and tying them up? Or am I going to saw off your ankles with a saw? I'm just, these fucking bastards, I'm just going to take you to the lecture hall, so why are you refusing and making me feel embarrassed?"
Goosebumps rising on my cheeks.
The blood drains from my face in an instant.
"These days, you can't hit kids. You have to kill them. All these fucking bastards who think of this adult's words as shit should be dismembered and killed."
He's not human. I had that feeling. But there was nothing the Students could do in the face of this pressure.
Derek glanced at John, who was terrified, but John had no idea what to do either.
"...But you guys are good kids, right? So come here quickly? Or I'll go. Let's go together."
The adult started approaching with a kinder voice. Derek's fingertips started to tremble.
"You listen when an adult speaks. Got it?"
A sense of fear that something would start the moment I took a step carelessly. A suffocating murderous intent.
A scary adult approaching slowly. So, while the Students were frozen. The man approached.
"Let's go together."
At that time.
From behind.
A slow voice flowed out.
"Like this, I should have killed you a long time ago."
The moment I turned my head back without realizing it.
Derek's arms were covered in goosebumps.
Far away in the darkness of the mountain path.
A man was walking.
"Still, isn't it not suitable as a burial site? Professor Toxin."
The eyes that always seemed indifferent were nowhere to be found.
"Like someone said, even if you cut it up, you wouldn't know."
The murderous intent in his pink eyes and the calmly subdued expression were unmistakably that of a murderer.
But Derek doesn't know how much comfort he gained from his presence in this place, from him coming.
"This…. This is a little embarrassing. What brings you here? Ah, it's also the first time I'm greeting you, isn't it?"
The monster called the man's name with a bitter expression.
"……Professor Dante Hiakapo."