Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Fwaaash!
Oblivious to the situation, Joanna unleashed an attack spell.
And not just any spell—it was the secret spell of a Prestigious Magic Family, the most powerful magic she could cast at her current level.
‘Aagh! Read the room!’
I hurriedly blocked the spell.
Joanna’s current attainment was Upper Second Star Rank.
She was by no means someone I could afford to underestimate.
Especially not when she was using a secret spell of a Prestigious Magic Family.
‘Damn it, what’s going on? Why haven’t I heard anything?’
For a moment, my face went pale.
It wasn’t that there was no news.
The communication orb that connected us to the outside had gone dead.
‘Don’t tell me… We’re trapped?’
Instead, a chilling report came through the communication orb directly linked to the escort forces that had come to support us.
“Lord Ban! It’s an emergency! The entrance to the Phantom Dream has been sealed!”
The Artificial Dungeon had been sealed!
In the hundred years since Rubiness Academy was founded, that had never happened even once!
‘This dungeon is a trace left behind by a Great Existence. It should be impossible for anyone to manipulate it artificially, so how…?’
I swallowed hard.
Come to think of it, there were people capable of causing something like this.
The only ones in this world.
‘…Those Ouroboros bastards could do it. They’re the ones closest to the “truth” of this world.’
But it was hard to understand.
‘The Ouroboros bastards aren’t supposed to start making their move in earnest until the protagonists are in their second year, are they?’
And meddling with the Phantom Dream Dungeon in particular was an episode that took place after their third year.
‘They shouldn’t be ready to act yet, so why take such a reckless step? Could it be because of Katrinne and Libel?’
At the sudden suspicion that came to me, I clenched my fist tight.
In the original scenario, too, the Ouroboros bastards tried to eliminate Katrinne and Libel.
But because of the risk of exposing themselves, they couldn’t make any reckless moves. Instead, they kept testing the waters with little jabs here and there, only to end up helping Katrinne and Libel grow.
And now they were causing a disaster on this scale out of nowhere?
“Lord Ban, something’s wrong with the Monsters! They’re getting more and more savage—!”
“Hold them back!”
Urgent messages came flooding in.
I gritted my teeth.
‘This isn’t the time to stand around dazed. Get a grip.’
First, I contacted the other professors who were acting as examiners alongside me.
Fortunately, communications within the Phantom Dream had not been cut off.
“This is Ban. We need to cancel the examination immediately. The students’ safety comes first.”
“B-but the examination can only be canceled on the instruction of Professor Alif, the student supervisor—”
“Do you not understand that this isn’t a situation where we can idly wait for instructions? Escort the students with the guards and move them to the nearest rest area.”
I spoke in a firm voice.
Under normal circumstances, they would never have obeyed me so readily. But the situation was so urgent that they didn’t waste any more time arguing.
Then I heard a panicked voice.
“L-Lord Ban, it’s an emergency!”
It was Hans and Linden, who had been assigned to harass the applicants.
“Student Katrinne and Student Libel have gone missing! We tried to keep the two of them there as long as we could, just as you instructed, but this idiot Linden made a mistake! Guh, I’m sorry!”
My head spun.
‘I have to go save them!’
But—
“Why do you keep looking away? Do you think I’m that insignificant?”
Crack!
Joanna blocked my way.
“The examination is canceled. Can’t you feel that something’s wrong?”
But I was reminded once again why Joanna had been called the Toxic Young Lady.
“Are you making excuses because you’re afraid of me? There are guards stationed all over down there. If there’s a problem, they’ll take care of it themselves.”
She showed no sign of backing down!
She must not have understood how serious the situation was, but it was maddening.
“That’s not the situation we’re in. You need to get somewhere safe, too—”
“Enough. If you’re afraid of me, get on your knees and say you’re scared.”
“Ha…”
I was less angry than anxious.
I had no idea what kind of danger Katrinne and Libel were in.
This was no longer the time to worry about what came before or after.
“Fine. I’ll give you what you want. But remember this.”
I drew up my mana.
Still feeble.
Pathetic even compared to Joanna right before my eyes.
The moment a sneer appeared on Joanna’s face—
I declared:
“You’re getting a massive deduction. You can try for a retake.”
And at the same time—
Joanna’s body crumpled to the ground.
By sheer coincidence, she fell into the very position she’d been so eager to make me take: on her knees.
“Libel, remember. The ‘outside’ is a frightening place. You mustn’t trust anyone out there.”
Libel recalled the words he had heard countless times since he was little.
Just as they had said, the world of the “outside” was a frightening place.
Not because it was dangerous.
The “House” where Libel had once lived had been far more dangerous, after all.
The “outside” was frightening because of the “people.”
‘I can’t trust anyone.’
Thanks to his inborn instincts, Libel could intuitively sense what people truly felt toward him.
Everyone he had met in the “outside” had been one of two kinds.
Those who wanted to use him.
Or those who wanted to hurt him.
After surviving several terrifying crises, he had come here to Rubiness Academy as though running away.
And there, Libel met someone.
Someone completely different from anyone he had ever met before.
“You’re not blameless, either. If this weren’t an academy, you’d have no grounds to complain even if your foot had been cut off.”
Professor Ban.
His manner toward Libel was cold in the extreme.
But Libel could tell instinctively.
That he didn’t dislike him.
Rather, beneath that icy demeanor, he was concealing genuine goodwill toward him.
‘Strange.’
He’d never experienced anything like it before.
Not only out in the “outside,” but even at the “House,” Libel had been an object of hatred.
And because Libel could instinctively sense what others truly felt, he knew all the better just how much people hated him.
That was why.
‘I want to get closer to him.’
Though it had been no more than a passing, casually shown kindness.
Because that kindness had been utterly pure.
Libel had started following him.
‘I’ll definitely… pass. At the top of the class.’
His goal had been to come first from the beginning.
Because he needed a scholarship.
But the reason behind his goal had changed.
‘Professor Ban will like an outstanding student, too.’
With that thought in mind, he did his best to face the Monsters and press onward.
It was taking him time to shake off the strange bald mage and the slick fellow who looked like a wastrel, and just as he was getting anxious about falling behind to second place, the girl who had been close on his heels called out to him.
“Wait, stop! Don’t you think something’s strange?”
‘Katrinne… what was it, her name?’
He’d heard it, but hadn’t been interested enough to remember.
There was one thing he did know.
‘A rival targeting Professor Ban.’
Libel narrowed his eyes.
“Something’s strange, so we should stop for now—”
“You… should stop.”
“What?”
“I’m going to Professor Ban just like this. No.”
Libel came to a sudden halt and looked at Katrinne.
She was getting in his way.
“I-it would be better to… eliminate you from the exam here.”
Eliminate your rivals before they become a problem.
That was what Libel had learned at the “House.”
‘If I kill her, Professor Ban will hate me, so I’ll just get her disqualified.’
A chilling air passed through Libel’s eyes, and Katrinne let out a disbelieving laugh.
“Do you want to die? Do you think I’m an easy opponent?”
“……”
“Fine. I didn’t like you either. Prepare yourself.”
It happened in that very moment.
Rumble!!
The place where the two of them stood shook violently, as if an earthquake had struck, and a rift opened.
The Phantom Dream was growing unstable, causing a distortion in space.
“!!”
Libel was caught in the distortion. His body dropped somewhere, as if he were plunging off a cliff.
‘…Where am I?’
Rumble.
A chilling growl rang out.
Dark Wolves.
Level 2 Monsters.
And there were more than ten of them.
Though he was in a life-or-death crisis, Libel thought with a calm expression.
‘What a pain. Should I just kill them all? I can do it if I use my real power.’
It was astonishing.
Libel’s current attainment was First Star Rank.
But that was only what he appeared to be on the surface.
Libel’s true power was something else entirely.
‘The more I use that power, the more broken I become. But it doesn’t matter.’
A surging force began to rise from deep within Libel’s body—
when suddenly, the face of one person came to mind.
‘…What if Professor Ban learns about my power and thinks I’m a monster?’
The force that had been rising abruptly and emptily dispersed.
Without using his “power,” he couldn’t deal with the Monsters before him. Even so, Libel decided to gamble.
‘Let’s just hold out for now.’
Whoosh!
A Dark Wolf leaped at him.
An attack that would be difficult to stop without using his “power.”
Even so, Libel stubbornly held out using only pure magic.
His wounds steadily mounted.
Once the Dark Wolves realized that he was weaker than they were, their attacks grew more ferocious.
Crash!!
At last, the Shield shattered, leaving Libel completely defenseless.
“Grrr…”
The Dark Wolves circled around Libel.
As if they were playing with their prey.
Libel thought with blurred eyes.
‘Should I use my power, even now?’
But Libel gave a crooked grin.
‘Well, so what? If I die, I die.’
Even if he kept living, all he would receive was contempt.
There was no helping it.
He really was a “monster.”
‘Professor Ban will hate me, too, once he finds out what I am. Maybe it’d be better to just die here than keep living like this.’
“Yaaagh!”
One of the Dark Wolves opened its mouth wide and sprang toward Libel’s throat.
Libel closed his eyes gently and waited for death.
But at that moment—
Shnk!
The wolf’s head flew into the air.
“…What are you doing right now? Standing there dazed with a Monster right in front of you.”
A cold voice.
But one filled with concern for him.
“Libel, you lose points, too.”
As Libel stared blankly at Ban’s impassive face, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
Even if Ban learned that he was a monster, he hoped there would be no hatred in those impassive eyes.
‘Whew. That was a close one.’
I heaved a sigh of relief.
By some miracle, I’d managed to save both Libel and Katrinne.
The atmosphere between the two of them—especially Libel—seemed a little strange, but I didn’t have the time to examine it closely.
‘It’s not over yet.’
I recalled the third-year main episode, “Return of the Phantom Dream.”
There was a high chance things would unfold the same way.
And sure enough—
“-Professor Ban, an unknown grayish energy has gathered and is forming the shape of an enormous arm!”
I bit down hard on my lip.
‘A Fragment of the Lord of the Phantom Dream is descending here.’
It was a horrifying thought.
“-The professors protecting the students have cast spells, but they’re having absolutely no effect!”
Of course.
This was the Dreamworld.
A place where the Lord of the Phantom Dream was invincible.
No matter how powerful the magic, it couldn’t inflict so much as a scratch.
There was only one way.
‘I have to take control of this Dreamworld.’
Taking control of the Dreamworld from the Lord of the Phantom Dream.
Anyone who heard that would call me insane.
But it was possible.
‘In this world, I’m the only one who can do it.’