Chapter 32
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Blood Golem
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It was past midnight.
A late night when everyone should have been asleep. Yet the academy was still brightly lit. All because of the news that three new students on a field trip to the Mana Spring had gone missing.
The moment the report came in...
The security force in charge of public order immediately assembled personnel and formed search parties. Roen Philaud, the vice-captain of the security force, was no exception.
However, Roen's footsteps led not to the scene, but to the headquarters building of the magic faculty. Soon enough, he arrived in front of the dean's office.
Knock knock!
The moment he knocked on the door to the dean's office...
Suddenly, the door opened on its own.
As if it had a will of its own.
A moment later, what came into view was a faintly burning candle. Beyond it sat a girl with a youthful face.
The instant their eyes met...
Roen bowed his head deeply.
"I'm sorry to disturb you while you were sleeping."
"Hehe, I'm fine, so relax your shoulders. Old folks like me don't need much sleep anyway."
The girl smiled faintly.
Deplin Chernio, dean of the magic faculty.
At her consideration, Roen bowed once more. Then he explained the disappearance incident at the Mana Spring.
"Hmm, so to sum it up, an unidentified mana disaster occurred at the Mana Spring, resulting in three first-years going missing?"
"Yes."
Roen nodded.
Deplin asked again.
"Have you secured statements from witnesses?"
"Of course. They say an unidentified cave suddenly appeared at the boundary between Sector 1 and Sector 2."
"A cave?"
"Yes, it's hard to believe, but everyone present gave the same testimony."
A cave, huh.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"Anything else?"
"They said fierce currents and waves swept in and swallowed the students. The last eyewitness account was that they were pushed toward the cave."
"......"
"And one more thing. There was a rather unique statement. According to it, the three students were likely pushed all the way inside the cave."
The moment the report ended...
Deplin's eyebrow twitched. A habit that only appeared when something piqued her interest.
"Who gave that statement?"
"A girl named Noa Darshen. She was with the missing students until the very end."
Noa. A name she remembered.
A relatively recent one.
Who had told her? As Deplin quietly rummaged through her memory, she soon recalled the source.
Berje, dean of the military faculty.
Specifically, it was one detail from the information on Ullan that he had passed to her. There was another barbarian who enrolled with Ullan.
'That barbarian is...'
Noa Darshen.
The moment she recalled this...
Deplin's eyes sparkled for an instant.
"Could I see the list of the missing?"
"Yes, of course."
He had come prepared for this.
Roen politely handed over the list. As she casually flipped through it, she soon spotted one very familiar name.
【Ullan Bator, 17 years old】
I had a feeling.
Deplin's eyes curved into thin crescents like a new moon. Her lips twitched as she stared at Ullan's name for a long while.
"D-Dean?"
"Ah, sorry. I got lost in thought for a moment."
"No, of course you're troubled."
Regaining her composure...
Deplin got to the point.
"Anyway, you came to me because you need the Special Task Force's help, right?"
"Yes. Disappearances inside the academy are something the security force can handle alone, but if the Mana Spring is involved..."
Roen trailed off apologetically.
The security force he led had investigative authority over all incidents surrounding the academy.
The Mana Spring was the sole exception.
Entering it required mages' cooperation, not to mention returning without casualties.
And not just any mages.
They needed not only high magical prowess but also quick wits to handle emergencies and combat ability.
Fortunately, the academy had just the expert group that fit the bill.
'The magic faculty's direct affiliate, the Special Task Force.'
If the military faculty had an inspection unit, the magic faculty had the Special Task Force. Composed of mid-level mages and above, they handled all magic-related incidents with independent investigative and adjudicative powers.
'And...'
They were known to obey only Deplin's orders. Even the chancellor couldn't move them without her cooperation.
That was why he had come to her late at night.
Fortunately, she readily agreed.
"This is the deployment order for one platoon of the Special Task Force. I hope it helps."
"Thank you for your cooperation, Dean."
Roen bowed politely.
Mission accomplished. He turned to leave immediately, to head to the scene with the Task Force in tow.
A while after he left the dean's office...
Left alone, Deplin closed her eyes. She tapped the desk rhythmically, deep in thought.
"Mana Spring. Disappearance. Waves. Cave..."
Her low murmur echoed in the room.
Clues connected to the disappearance. And Deplin knew one crucial piece of information linking all these clues.
"......Hero's Trial."
Her slightly opened eyes gleamed in the moonlight.
She had once taken an interest in the Mana Spring. While staying in the area for investigation and research, she discovered an intriguing record.
Long ago.
Around the time Arsen Academy was first founded.
It was a record that several renowned professors of the time had prepared provisions for posterity.
'An ancient ruin called the Trial.'
Provisions against the day the Abyss Gate would open. The Hero's Trial was one of them.
'I wanted to enter it too, but...'
She had failed. She couldn't even locate the cave said to be the entrance to the ruin, let alone enter it.
The reason was simple.
She hadn't met the conditions.
'It opens when three or more with the Hero's qualities gather, revealing the hidden entrance.'
Recalling the activation condition of the trial, which she learned only after finishing her Mana Spring research...
Deplin looked back at the documents.
"Now I think I understand your goal."
Ullan was strong. A strong one hiding considerable power. For such a person to enroll in the academy, he must have a specific aim.
She hadn't figured it out before, but who would have thought she'd learn Ullan's purpose this way.
"Then the rest is simple."
She knew well about the other trials besides the Hero's Trial. So, she could offer to tell him about them in exchange for his cooperation in her research.
Deplin's lips curved upward.
A smile mixing anticipation and satisfaction.
2.
Meanwhile, around that time.
Ullan's group hurried toward the location of the final trial. As they endlessly traversed an interminably long passage...
Suddenly!
Ivela and Silpi halted their steps.
They both furrowed their brows, then simultaneously pinched their noses without a word.
"Ugh!"
"W-What smell is..."
A sudden overwhelming stench.
Impossible to endure without blocking their noses. Ullan's reaction differed. He sniffed deliberately to identify it.
"Smells like blood."
But it wasn't just the scent of blood.
An unidentified smell was mixed in. Likely the true source of the stench.
Ullan walked on silently.
Whatever it was, he wouldn't learn its nature without advancing. Ivela and Silpi followed behind him, brows still creased.
How much time passed?
The group finally reached the end of the passage.
What reflected in their eyes was a massive chamber.
"Wow!"
Silpi let out a short exclamation.
Unlike the previous chambers, this one was incredibly ornate. Just the luxurious wall decorations were enough to widen one's eyes.
But the admiration didn't last.
The stench intensified upon entering the room.
"Ugh, my head's throbbing."
A stench so bad it caused headaches.
Ivela groaned. It wasn't exaggeration. Even Ullan couldn't endure it anymore and pinched his nose.
"Ah, something's written here."
Then Silpi found it.
In the center of the room. Letters engraved on the floor.
"Observe and cooperate to claim victory? Hmm, what does that mean?"
Silpi tilted her head in confusion.
As Ullan pondered with her...
Poke poke!
Suddenly, someone prodded his back.
It was Ivela's finger.
"Ullan, what do you think that is?"
She pointed to the far left end of the room.
There sat a massive lump about 5 meters tall. It vaguely resembled a human form. Ullan gave his honest impression.
"Looks like a golem."
"Right?"
Ivela seemed to think the same.
And, though he might be mistaken, its appearance felt familiar. Racking his brain, Ullan soon remembered where he'd seen it.
'Hero's Trial.'
The end of the path after defeating countless foes.
There had been a similar golem there too. The one called the ruin guardian.
Visually, they were almost identical.
Except for one thing.
'The material's different.'
The ruin guardian boasted a body like steel. Weapons broke after just a few swings.
This one was different.
It didn't look sturdy at all. More like jelly—soft and elastic.
'What the hell is it?'
Question flickered in his narrowed eyes.
Then Ivela shouted as if realizing something.
"Ah! Could it be the guardian of the spring?"
Professor Miel had said the spring's guardian was a golem made by mages. Her guess made sense in that regard.
But Ullan shook his head.
"Doesn't seem like it."
"Huh? Why?"
"Instinct. It gives off an unsettling vibe for some reason. And that foul stench too."
"Huh? The stench is coming from that?"
Ivela asked in surprise.
Ullan nodded. The smell grew thicker the closer one got to it.
At that moment...
A scream-like shout rang out.
"B-B-Blood Golem?!"
It was Silpi. She stared at the golem with a face pale as a ghost. As if she knew what it was.
"You know what it is?"
"......Yeah, first time seeing one in person, though."
Her eyebrows trembled.
Silpi's eyes shook with anxiety. She swallowed dryly and continued.
"The Blood Golem appears in the historical texts of an ancient desert kingdom. It was called the kingdom's secret weapon back then."
Blood Golem.
As the name suggested, it was a golem made using human blood as a medium. The unique part was how difficult and cruel the creation process was.
"Ordinary human blood couldn't condense mana, so they needed blood infused with mana. Usually, criminal mages or shamans were used as 'materials.'"
Typically, it took 999 mages to create one Blood Golem.
Nearly a thousand mages sacrificed for a single one.
And that wasn't all.
Creating a Blood Golem also required a powerful soul. One strong enough to remain unweathered while bound to the golem's body for ages.
"Sounds insanely strong just from the description."
"It was worthy of being called a secret weapon. Mid-level magic doesn't work at all, and it's immune to shamanism or curses."
A golem immune to magic.
Brows furrowed naturally. He already sensed it would be a tricky opponent.
"Above all, any metal that touches a Blood Golem corrodes rapidly. Even mana-infused weapons can't hold up."
"......!"
Ivela's eyes widened.
No wonder.
If magic and swords both failed, how were you supposed to defeat it?
"So how do you take it down?"
"Two ways."
Silpi held up two fingers.
"First, attack with a weapon infused with aura or Spirit. Even a Blood Golem can't corrode that."
"What? Aura?"
"It requires a master."
Right after Silpi's answer...
Ivela instinctively glanced at Ullan, then shook her head. No matter how strong he was, he wasn't at master level yet.
'Besides, if he were a master, he wouldn't have enrolled in the academy to begin with.'
Even as a barbarian, a master would receive different treatment. Naturalizing in the empire alone would grant a title and territory immediately.
No reason to come to the academy.
She quickly let go of the thought.
"Then the second way?"
"Not easy either. You need a weapon made from a special ore called Monster Bloodstone."
"Monster Bloodstone?"
"Yes, an ore that hardens the more blood it absorbs. It's notoriously rare and expensive."
Silpi's expression darkened.
"Meaning, getting enough to forge a weapon is tough. So..."
"That method's useless too."
"Sigh, pretty much."
Silpi let out a frustrated sigh.
Ivela's face grew complicated as well. Both methods were impossible in their current situation.
Ullan's reaction was different.
The reason was obvious.
'I already have both.'
Master realm.
Weapon made of Monster Bloodstone.
Coincidentally, Ullan possessed them all. So as he chuckled wryly...
"Ullan."
Ivela called out.
With a serious gaze.
"Let's go back to where we fought the hardships."
"Y-Yeah! That's probably best."
Silpi nodded vigorously.
They must have judged there was no chance. But Ullan shook his head.
"It's fine."
"What?"
"I can do it."
So no need to worry.
That was what Ullan meant. But Ivela's expression darkened further.
"I know you're strong. But if Silpi's right, running away is the safest option right now."
"Exactly. That's no monster a single student can handle. Records say it once destroyed a whole city!"
Silpi cried out like a scream.
Ullan remained unshaken.
He'd destroyed a city by himself before. A city of monsters, sure.
"It doesn't seem like it's going to move yet, so if we go somewhere safe and wait for rescue..."
As Silpi rapidly continued...
A violent tremor engulfed the chamber.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Like the harbinger of calamity.
At the same time, the two girls' eyes wavered.
Tension and fear.
As those emotions leaked through their gazes, Ullan, staring at the source of the vibration, muttered briefly.
"It's moving."
"......!"
No sooner had he spoken...
The monster they'd been discussing.
The Blood Golem slowly rose. Dripping viscous blood.
The moment they witnessed this...
Silpi's face turned ashen.
"W-What do we do?! What should we do?!"
She stomped her feet.
Ivela's expression hardened like stone. At that moment, Ullan strode forward.
"Don't worry. I'll handle it."
"B-But that's......!"
"Trust me."
Ullan cut her off shortly.
A steady voice. Eyes brimming with victory's certainty. Silpi shut her mouth. For some reason, it felt like he really could do it.
Maybe he'd found another method she didn't know, like with the undying before.
"......Got it. I'll trust you."
Ivela nodded too.
As Ullan had trusted her talent, she would trust his strength.
"If there's anything I can do to help..."
"Then handle those."
"Huh? Those?"
What was he suddenly talking about?
As she tilted her head, a familiar sound came from not far away.
Scrape! Scraaaape!
The sound of ragged cloth dragging on the floor.
Moments later, beings wielding rusted swords emerged from all directions. Silpi looked horrified.
"Ugh, undying too......!"
"Ah, undying, huh?"
Ivela's reaction differed.
She was used to undying by now.
Using the fourth method Ullan taught her, she could handle them effortlessly with her skill.
"Alright. Leave those guys to me."
"Reliable."
Ullan grinned.
With that satisfied smile...
The two fell silent. Then, without a word, they each kicked off toward their battlefields.
Chapter 11. And Then It Actually Happened