Chapter 173: The University Itself
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 173: The University Itself
“Henry. Let me ask you just one thing.”
Twelve years ago. One day, before Henry had submitted his application to the magic university.
Meldini had asked the young man a question.
“Let’s say you and Brillin become a couple.”
“We already are.”
“No! Not until I give my permission! Say it’s not true!”
The professor denied reality.
“…”
“A-anyway, let’s say you and Brillin are happy together, and then you get a chance to return to your hometown. What would you do?”
“A chance to go home?”
“Yes.”
There were several reasons why Meldini disliked Possessors.
First, they were triggers for Labyrinth Eruptions.
Second, they could never truly become people of Sohen.
“Would you abandon Brillin and go back then?”
“Hmm… In that case, maybe…”
Henry scratched the back of his neck.
“Can’t I take her with me?”
“Of course not, you little punk!”
Meldini smacked him on the forehead with his wand. Thwack!
“Ugh, you dense fool! How can you even say that to my face? This isn’t like going to another country, it’s another world, you idiot! Do you really think that’s possible?”
“Heh. Well then…”
Henry replied with a smile.
“I’ll just live in Sohen forever.”
“That’s not convincing at all.”
Meldini glared at Henry with suspicion.
“I’ve met my share of Possessors. Every single one of them has their head filled with thoughts of going home. They don’t have the slightest intention of living here and becoming one of us. That’s what makes them so dangerous.”
The professor was wary of Possessors.
“People who think of themselves as outsiders or travelers can never become our family or friends. They can betray us at any moment without a shred of guilt.”
“I’m not like that.”
“When you get older, you won’t be able to enter the Labyrinth. What will you do when you’re facing the two-week rule?”
“Then…”
Henry shrugged.
“I’ll say goodbye to Brillin and enter the Labyrinth. One last time.”
“You talk a good game.”
Though deeply displeased, Meldini took out an application form and held it out.
Meldini didn’t know why that conversation had suddenly come to mind.
Perhaps it was because he had seen Caleb’s true nature.
He was a Possessor.
But he was taking down the Possessor organization. He said he had killed the Chihuahua himself. He had subdued Clay.
Rather than collaborating with the Assembly that betrayed Sohen, he had chosen to crush them.
Could it be that he has become one of Sohen’s people?
“Huk…”
A black blade was embedded in the professor’s lower abdomen.
It wasn’t a raptor’s feather. It wasn’t a dagger.
A Shadow Wedge.
It was ‘magic.’ Moreover, it was magic Meldini knew well.
It was the very magic the Former Dean used to wield.
“You… bastard…”
Ever since the White Lion’s arrest, one question had lingered among the professor-level wizards.
If the Dean had already become a monster before the Labyrinth Eruption twelve years ago…
‘How was the Dean able to fight the monsters during the eruption?’
At the time, the Dean had fought alongside Meldini, Isilof, and Dalstream, fending off the onslaught of Labyrinth monsters.
Given the cruelty of these creatures, it was unlikely he would feel any emotional turmoil from killing other Labyrinth monsters, but the problem was the ‘magic.’
How did he use magic?
Was it possible because the White Lion had produced scrolls for him?
No.
No one had seen the Dean tear a scroll twelve years ago.
In the midst of the professors, the Dean had held his wand and cast spells.
That was why no one had suspected him for all this time.
The highest-tier magic of a renowned wizard serves as a kind of fingerprint. For example, if a masked individual were to summon the Lord of the Magic Tower, one could easily surmise that person was Isilof.
In other words, either the White Lion or the Dagger Raptor.
One of them knew how to use magic. The Dean’s magic.
“I see.”
Meldini finally understood.
The White Lion had absorbed the power of the Goddess of Gifts and Scrolls, allowing him to produce scrolls from his palm.
The Dagger Raptor had absorbed the power of the Guide of the Specters. He was a corpse-eating bird.
A portion of the power from the beings he devoured.
A specific spell or ability.
“Is that what you absorbed…?”
Meldini clutched his stomach and staggered backward.
“…”
The Dagger Raptor swayed as it got to its feet.
This time, it too had taken a direct hit from the ethereal explosion.
Its entire left wing had been blown off.
“I can hear a little now.”
He tapped the side of his head.
His eardrums, which had burst from the tolling bell, had regenerated slightly.
“I can’t absorb everything I eat indefinitely. I can only hold onto ‘one person’s’ abilities.”
And that one person was the Former Dean, one of the university’s greatest wizards.
“I actually thought it was pretty useless.”
A smirk crept onto the monster’s lips.
“So magic does work on an ethereal body, huh?”
The Former Dean’s Tier 8 binding magic.
Shadow Wedge.
A type of summon that could instantly react to an enemy’s attack to defend or exploit an opening for a surprise assault—an all-in-one offensive and defensive spell.
It was the Shadow Wedge that had blocked two of the ethereal explosions.
“Shadow Reinforcement.”
It could even be used as an enchantment by wrapping it around an ally’s weapon.
The Shadow Wedge enveloped the Dagger Raptor’s right wing.
“Kgh… ugh…”
Worse, the Shadow Wedge paralyzed its target’s body for a significant amount of time.
Meldini couldn’t cast magic or even move.
“Dean, Archmage, and Dean again.”
The Dagger Raptor strode toward Meldini.
“Of all the renowned wizards I’ve killed, you were the best, Halfling.”
And just before the blade could pierce Meldini…
“Aether Summon!”
A shouted incantation echoed from the direction of the library.
It was a spell that summoned a random magical creature.
Or, it could pull an already-summoned magical being on the field directly to the caster.
Meldini wasn’t a summon, but because he was in an ethereal state, it applied to him.
Poof!
The Dagger Raptor’s gaze naturally followed the professor, who had vanished before its eyes, toward the library.
“Isel!”
The fury it had momentarily set aside surged once more.
“Right. You were the one who betrayed us.”
In the scroll warehouse, it had been preoccupied with Caleb and Meldini, and hadn’t had time to deal with Isel.
But now, it was obvious.
“You were the one who told them the mailbox address, weren’t you?”
“I was.”
“I should have dealt with you earlier instead of leaving it to someone like the Chihuahua.”
“I agree.”
Isel supported Meldini as she aimed her wand at the Dagger Raptor.
“I should have dismantled the Assembly much sooner.”
“Isel.”
Meldini’s wounds were slowly healing, but he still needed time.
“Were you the person Caleb was talking about?”
“…I’ll explain everything after this is over.”
“Then get out of here now and find Isilof. Tell him.”
Meldini grunted and shifted his posture.
“My body is weakening.”
“…”
“It’s a side effect of Ascended Wizard. At this rate, we’ll both die here.”
Meldini pushed Isel’s shoulder.
“So go to Isilof while I buy some time. And tell him that thing is using the Dean’s magic…”
“Let’s fight together instead.”
“I’m telling you, the two of us can’t guarantee a win!”
“Caleb will be here.”
“Then that’s all the more reason for you to go! Stop Caleb from coming here! If it’s not Isilof…”
It was at that very moment.
“Hey! Dagger Raptor!”
Someone shouted at the top of their lungs.
“Caleb?”
Isel turned to look.
It wasn’t Caleb.
At the sound of that voice, I skidded to a halt.
I had just finished the magic binding and was running at full speed to find Meldini.
I have to help Meldini.
Isel had gone, but victory wasn’t certain. Once the weakening penalty from Ascended Wizard kicked in, Meldini would be killed.
That can’t happen. I will protect him. I failed with Dalstream, but this time is different.
As I steeled my resolve and charged onto the scene, I was met with an unexpected sight.
“You damn sparrow!”
Honestly, this was not what I expected.
If anyone was here helping Meldini, I thought it would be Isel, or maybe Isilof, or perhaps Professor Hailey.
But to think…
“Our old man’s got arthritis. His whole body aches when it rains.”
…it would be the students.
“So leave him alone and come at me.”
Jacob.
He was one of Meldini’s graduate students and a wizard in the slave management department.
The same cold, merciless scale-wielding fiend who had evaluated Yernil’s and my contribution points.
“Haa. Professor.”
Next to him, a red-haired wizard appeared, leaning on Jacob’s shoulder for support as she held up her wand.
She was also one of Meldini’s graduate students.
She was also the one who had greeted me at the exit gate when I first cleared the Labyrinth as a slave.
Her name was Scarlett.
“Did you really think we’d go anywhere just because you warned us with the bell? Don’t you know the lab is a grad student’s home?”
“You…”
Meldini let out a sigh of disbelief.
“You foolish children, what do you think you’re doing here…? If you’re not professor-level, this fight is…”
“Then you should’ve let us graduate sooner. The faculty building is half-empty, let us get appointed too.”
The two of them chuckled.
“You can’t die before you sign off on my graduation thesis.”
“That’s right, Professor. After working us grad students to the bone all this time, where do you think you’re going to rest in peace? Absolutely not.”
I had been mistaken about one thing.
How arrogant I was.
I had to hurry and help Meldini?
Meldini was alone?
The sight of the old professor, betrayed by his favorite student Caleb after learning he was a Possessor, turning his back to fight alone had seemed so lonely?
“Professor.”
How could I ever think Meldini was alone?
“I healed these students on the way here. They had been hit by a mind-destruction spell.”
Isilof strode forward with the Lord of the Magic Tower.
Professor Hailey appeared behind him.
“Knowing Professor Isilof’s personality, he’d definitely refuse if the deanship were passed to him. And I don’t want to be saddled with it either. Professor Meldini, you have to keep the position.”
Clorence was visible beside Isilof.
The assistant instructors. And the students.
There was a truckload of people who were tiers below me, let alone the professors.
The entire university had gathered.
Even…
“Professor Meldini.”
…Avison.
It was truly astounding.
“We’ve already lost Archmage Dalstream.”
From research professors to graduate students and undergraduates, regardless of year or origin, the entire university had assembled.
“Someone broke the bookstore door!”
Even the librarian assistant instructor, who I thought had locked up and fled.
“…Hah.”
Meldini let out something between a gasp and a sigh.
“Isilof, did you bring them?”
“They followed of their own free will.”
“After I went through all that trouble to evacuate them.”
“Next time, you might as well just rally them.”
“…”
“Our students are not so weak.”
He was an eccentric man, but his sacrifice and devotion to the university were real.
It was enough to move even me, a Possessor.
It was only natural.
Dalstream fought alone, but Meldini does not.
Even if I hadn’t rushed to help, the Dagger Raptor could never have harmed Meldini.
Within the university, who would dare harm Meldini?
He is the university itself.
“Professor Meldini.”
Isel whispered softly.
“If I can confess a secret right now.”
“…”
“That club, the ‘Meldini on the faculty? Seriously?’ club… I was the one who started it. I’m sorry.”
The old professor’s wrinkled hand covered his face.
“Magic University!”
Isilof raised his wand high.
Shing!
The Lord of the Magic Tower also raised his greatsword.
“There is only one enemy left. We will eliminate him immediately and go support the Public Security Headquarters.”