Chapter 242
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 242
Chapter Title: The Crawling Nightmare
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Multiple overlapping magic formations and holy formations resonated, eroding and distorting the structure of the massive rift just before it could fully form.
Left as is, the rift's power would weaken dramatically, either shattering immediately or stabilizing into something far less dangerous.
But I didn't let my guard down.
If it were really that simple, the revelation wouldn't have mentioned needing the saintess's power alongside mine.
Yet from the current situation, everything was unfolding far too smoothly.
In reality, the bizarre rift was gradually weakening under the barrier's interference, its size shrinking by the moment.
Regardless of the professors' joy and relief, I felt a chill run down my spine.
And apparently, I wasn't the only one.
"Rain."
At that moment, Luna raised one hand, palm facing upward, to chest level.
Plip...Plip...
Raindrops began to fall from the sky simultaneously.
That was when it happened.
The rift, which had been shrinking helplessly, suddenly erupted with a savage surge of otherworldly power as if resisting.
This rift was born from the power of some unknown entity, like a blood-red moon.
Naturally, without understanding its structure, countering it with mere magic was impossible.
In simple terms, it meant we couldn't handle the rift itself solely with barriers.
However, according to Luna, even those beings had to be influenced by this land's laws to interfere with it.
That was one of their few weaknesses.
As a result, though the rift resisted, its foundation intertwined with mana flows.
The professors scrambled in panic to suppress it, but they were outmatched.
"Damn it! The resistance is too strong!"
"It's like the rift is alive! What in the world is...?"
"Step aside, please."
I pushed through their urgent cries and extended both hands.
"Young Master Leon."
I immediately analyzed the wildly erratic mana flows and dove in.
The flows were extremely complex, riddled with traps. A single misstep could cause a mana backlash, killing me in an instant—the ferocity was palpable.
But this level of difficulty was nothing compared to the monstrosities in Labyrinthos's latter stages.
[Mana Interference]
[Linear Circulation Amplification]
[Reverse]
I entrusted my mana to the massive energy like riding a blazing current, then seized the opening to twist the flow in reverse in an instant.
Krunch!!
With a sound like something shattering, the tentacles sprouting from the rift writhed and tore apart into fragments, sucked back into the void.
And then...
"Hah..."
"How can he manipulate it with such precision...?"
The rift, unable to hold out any longer, shrank in a flash and vanished completely.
The element disrupting the exam—the dangerous trace of another dimension—had disappeared.
"Phew... Looks like it resolved well, fortunately."
"What a pain, demonic interference again... It happened before, and now this..."
The professors muttered in relief.
In truth, no dangerous mana flows lingered in the area.
Their power wasn't infinite, so with this path sealed, interfering here further would be difficult for them.
Yet an inexplicable unease lingered.
"Luna."
"What?"
"What do you think?"
"We clearly caught them off guard, at least. But... something feels off."
That was when it happened.
A chilling sensation swept over my body, piercing straight to my frontal lobe.
As I slowly turned my head, a calm voice echoed through the air.
"Greetings. And a familiar presence as well."
But it didn't sound like a living being's voice—it felt grotesque. Gender was impossible to discern, like noise mixed into the sound.
The source emanated an eerie aura: a figure in pitch-black formal attire, topped with a black top hat, standing in a space that had been empty moments before.
It looked human at a glance, but no one would mistake it for one.
Its body resembled a human's, but its face was utterly inhuman.
Pure black darkness, with clusters of pure white light forming its eyes and mouth.
Dozens of round eyes and a long, grinning slit mouth gleamed from the shadows.
It wielded no obvious weapons or emanated mana, posing no apparent threat.
Yet it instinctively evoked primal fear.
We had suppressed and destroyed the rift. How did this appear?
A revolting sense of the natural laws being utterly disregarded washed over me.
Still, it wasn't entirely ineffective.
"So much for setting up the barrier, then?"
"Most of its influence has clearly dissipated. Especially those revolting things from the rift—none escaped."
"Good to hear."
"Ah... Aaaah..."
One professor, terror-stricken, raised his hands, magic flaring to life.
At the same instant...
Splat!!! Thud!
The professor's head exploded like a bursting watermelon as he tried to attack.
No mana fluctuation was detectable.
Yet with one professor dead in an instant, the atmosphere chilled like ice water poured over everyone.
"Saintess!! Holy formation!!"
Luna shouted urgently, and Saintess Nadia reflexively clasped her hands and knelt.
Whoosh!!!
Light gathered around her, flooding the area.
The unidentified black auras writhing around the entity were suppressed, vanishing into its body.
Then, something astonishing occurred.
Light poured from the professor's decapitated corpse, and his shattered head began regenerating to its original form.
"Huuuuh!!"
The professor jolted upright, gasping as if surfacing after holding his breath for ages.
"What in the...?"
"Re... Resurrection!"
Despite the professors' shocked voices, Saintess Nadia kept her hands clasped, continuing her prayer.
"Tch. Thoroughly prepared, as expected. Didn't anticipate the stigmata, though..."
Its tone held no real regret. The entity slowly bowed in greeting.
"I am the herald of an ancient being. The Crawling Nightmare, Nyarla."
Watching its leisurely demeanor, I spoke up.
"Luna. Know what that thing is?"
"A authority tied to intent."
"Good enough."
Without hesitation, I drew the return sword Electra from my subspace.
[Intent – Blade]
[Blue]
Crack!!!
A blade of blue intent surged toward it in a flash.
Unlike with the professor, it raised a hand.
Crunch!!!
The sword blade halted abruptly, as if colliding with an invisible, colorless barrier before it.
"Apologies, but your attacks won't work on m—?!"
[Reverse Shift]
[Red]
That was when it happened. The incoming blue sword blade shifted to red in an instant, piercing its defense and cleaving its body in half.
Caught off guard by the hit, it didn't react immediately.
Its severed upper body hit the ground with a thud! and fell silent.
Of course, I didn't think that would kill it.
"My, how rude to a being who can only converse."
The white pupils on its pitch-black face rippled faintly.
"Honestly, I didn't expect such preparedness from you. I admit defeat—this round is yours. I've failed my master's command."
Its mouth curved into a tearing grin as it spoke calmly.
"But withdrawing empty-handed would be poor form. Allow me to leave a gift."
With those words, its form crumbled, unable to maintain cohesion any longer.
But as it vanished, a bizarre aurora unfurled in the distance.
"That’s..."
"Heavens... Isn’t that a Stampede Gate?!"
The professors' panicked words jogged my memory of a rift phenomenon from a book.
Unlike normal rifts, this Rank-1 hazard spewed vast hordes of monsters immediately upon formation.
That was a Stampede Gate.
Right in the exam grounds where cadets were testing. Swarms of the damn things were charging straight at us.
The problem was its disaster-scale magnitude.
Even for an academy, with cadet safety paramount, the faculty alone couldn't hope to hold it off easily.
"This is no time! Gather all combat-ready forces immediately and evacuate the cadets—"
The professors desperately contacted reinforcements, suppressing their turmoil.
Watching the scene, I asked,
"Luna. Did that thing have the power to create a Stampede Gate?"
"No. It merely nudged unstable currents primed to open a gate, forcing it here now."
In other words, like prodding a volcano on the verge of eruption to make it blow prematurely.
"Wait, they can mess with rifts like that?"
Luna pondered long at my question.
Then slowly replied,
"The root cause of rifts is ultimately their existence."
"Huh. That's surprising."
I hadn't known that.
"Professors. What about the cadets?"
"What nonsense! Evacuate them now—"
"It happened before, and if the exam halts again, what of the cadets?"
"The exam matters more?! Cadet safety is the priority—"
"I'll handle it."
"What?"
"Let the exam continue."
I've seen how hard the failing cadets worked. Even if my teaching was half-hearted, they were my disciples in name, and denying them their reward for effort pissed me off.
The blood-red moon. The Crawling Nightmare Nyarla we just faced.
Such entities were enigmas from the unknown.
But the Stampede Gate it triggered? Different story.
What poured from it might be numerous, but they were monsters of this world all the same.
That made it a problem I could handle anytime.