Dawn of the Dead?
“It’s not just the B dorms that are fucked……”
One-third of the standby forces had already rushed toward the urgent report of corpses rising and killing people.
Then, with a slight delay, grotesque netherworld monsters burst out from the A lecture hall, turning Uriel’s face pale.
Why on her duty shift did this shit have to happen?
While inwardly cursing Ferzen for stepping away to smoke, Uriel gathered the remaining two-thirds—knights and mage squads—and assembled in front of the A dorms.
“Y-You……!”
As Ferzen approached from afar, Uriel scowled deeply and raised her voice.
“How long does it take to smoke a damn cigarette──?!”
“I stopped by the restroom on the way.”
“……”
“More importantly, keep the mage squads here. Knights, fall back.”
“What did you say?”
“Fall back.”
Using Isabel’s corpse as a medium, Ferzen emitted currents toward the netherworld monster’s location.
Drawn by the magnetic field around the monster’s body—which possessed magnetic properties—the currents veered off, spiraled into the sky, and vanished, leaving faint trails of light.
“If you won’t fall back, at least ditch the armor and weapons. That thing manipulates magnetism. Charging in like that, you’ll get repelled before you even touch it—or worse, pulled right into its jaws as easy prey.”
“Ah……”
Realizing it wasn’t dismissal but advice, the knights shed their irritation, dispelled the misunderstanding, and began removing their armor.
“What are you……”
“Didn’t you say to fight, we should ditch the weapons and armor?”
“……”
Right. Ferzen had momentarily forgotten.
These were Aura Knights—their bodies were the sword and shield. Armor and weapons were irrelevant.
“Ah……!”
The netherworld monster levitated a piece of rebar with magnetism and hurled it mercilessly toward the A dorms.
Ferzen, Uriel, and the imperial mage squad members who could interfere with the earth raised massive walls from the ground.
“Your courage is admirable, but there are countless uprooted rebars over there. You haven’t reached the pinnacle yet—parts of your bodies aren’t fully reconstructed with mana……”
Like an Achilles’ heel, a strike to those spots would fell even an Aura Knight with a scream.
“Got a better idea?”
“If magnetism is the problem, eliminate it.”
Opening a subspatial pocket, Ferzen withdrew a coffin etched with the Brutein crest. He briefly severed the mana link controlling Isabel’s corpse.
Then, he politely raised the 27th family head, Bayern von Grieel Brutein, from the coffin and activated Corpse Servitude.
Isabel was an exceptional elemental mage, but she shared the flaw of all elemental mages: inability to convert mana into other forms like flames.
“Uriel.”
“What.”
“Take the lead. I and the imperial mages will link our mana to your spell formula and resonate.”
“Since when do you……”
Boom!
Kaboom!
Crack!
The flying rebar battered the earthen walls, shattered them, burrowed through, then looped back to repeat the process.
The netherworld monster didn’t use mana, so it had no need for a drawn-out war of attrition.
“Convert to what?”
“Fire.”
“Fire?”
“You’ll see. Drop the curiosity and follow my lead.”
“Hah!”
Despite the crisis, Uriel nitpicked, so Ferzen jabbed her navel with his finger.
She let out an indecent moan, flushed crimson, bit her lip, and roughly turned away.
A Euclid-rank spell formula formed a plane. Linking countless such planes created a vast deployment diagram—the principle of joint magic.
Of course, with Uriel leading the conversion to fire, mages unable to transmute mana into flames couldn’t participate.
“Here we go──!”
The linked mana resonated. Uriel, controlling it, peered through a gap in the wall at the netherworld monster beyond, then instantly transmuted the overflowing mana into fire.
Whoosh──!
The flames born of mana ignited not through oxygen but mana itself—complete combustion across every point, not just the center.
The flickering blaze shifted vividly: dark crimson to red…… red to orange.
At this stage, the flames’ temperature hit roughly 1727°C──────!
Initially, a dolphin-like screech assaulted their ears, but the decibels climbed beyond human hearing, devolving into a silent scream.
The monster tried levitating unburnt rebar for attack, but nothing rose.
Impressive……
Ferromagnetic materials lose their properties at a specific temperature—the Curie point. This monster’s was 2.3 times iron’s, only relinquishing magnetism now.
“Uriel. Close your eyes.”
“Are you insane? To fine-tune that firepower without hitting bystanders, I need to see!”
Transmuted fire mana could be nullified. Transmuted ice mana, too.
But the steam from their clash? Impossible.
Elemental magecraft 101. If those flames spread anywhere, they’d escape magic’s domain—hence Uriel’s desperate focus.
“……”
Ferzen gave up arguing and activated Isabel’s corpse.
No need to keep the 27th head active now that magnetism was gone.
Crackle!
Expending 80% of his mana.
He could unleash it raw, but a little trick…… Charge the sky’s clouds negatively, the monster’s surroundings positively.
“Wha, wha……”
But the intense flames made the ground relatively negative—hair around Ferzen rose buoyantly into the air.
Lightning’s target was obvious. Ferzen spent extra mana to guide it precisely, then spiked the electric field’s intensity.
“Kyaa──!”
In that instant, Ferzen leaned in deep, covering Uriel’s eyes—the only ones peering through the wall’s gap.
Flash──!
The dark sky blazed white as a blue-white bolt plummeted from heaven to earth.
The ignorant called it divine punishment in fear.
The knowledgeable named it lightning in awe.
Kaboom!
Earth shattered by the strike sprayed debris. Positive charges surged skyward, sparking one final blaze before clean discharge.
Rumble……!
Only then, after all was done, did the slower sound shatter the silence.
“Swift response. Well done, Uriel.”
“……”
Ferzen praised her for disrupting the formula and withdrawing the flames amid the lightning barrage.
But Uriel couldn’t rejoice.
His shielding her eyes and pulling her close had startled her, breaking her focus.
“G-Get off!”
Shoving Ferzen away with both hands, Uriel created distance, straightened her hat.
She lowered the walls for cleanup, advancing to the central plaza where the wrecked netherworld monster’s body rapidly shrank.
“Ah……”
The process took three seconds flat.
A massive magnetic field erupted in the plaza, sucking in surrounding rebar……
Boom!
It exploded.
The sky filled with countless rebars, like a battlefield arrow storm. Uriel and nearby onlookers froze rigid.
Crackle!
But Ferzen alone stepped forward.
Activating Isabel’s corpse with his scant remaining mana, he charged central rebars oppositely from the rest.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Like a circus troupe’s marvel, rebars scattering every which way curved inward, clumping……
Thud──!
Forming a giant hedgehog, crashing to the ground.
Many rebars escaped, but they flew toward empty lecture halls and main buildings.
“H-Hah……”
A clump that had adorned the sky screeched horrifically right before her. Uriel belatedly backpedaled.
Crash!
But her stiffened body moved too slow. With the transient magnetism gone and her mana depleted, Uriel squeezed her eyes shut amid the downpour……
“Khek──!”
No time. Ferzen yanked her nape, flinging her backward.
The knights surged, blocking him, batting away rebars……
Screech!
Thud!
By a hair’s breadth, one rebar clipped Ferzen, slamming him down.
“…………Tch!”
No initial pain, but as his pinned right arm screamed belatedly, Ferzen grimaced.
Fuck……
Subtle relief mingled with thick regret.
He’d instinctively grasped the moment to let Alfred’s forces dwindle, planning to stand by……
But Lee Seojin’s dominant ego—his moral compass—moved his body unconsciously.
Of course……
The knights reacted fast anyway; standing by wouldn’t have killed Uriel.
“Are you alright?”
“We’ll see……”
The knights cleared the rebar, helping him up, but throbbing pain pulsed from his right arm.
Not broken, but cracked for sure.
That wasn’t the issue, though.
“……”
Cracked right arm, intact left.
The asymmetry grated terribly.
* * * * *
11 PM.
Late hour, yet countless people streamed in and out of the academy endlessly.
“……”
Uriel Wayne Daina Alfred.
She slipped into the hospital room, glanced at quietly resting Ferzen, and bowed her head.
“Huh……?”
Soon, brimming with confusion, she stared piercingly at him.
“What’s wrong.”
Ferzen turned at her gaze.
“N-No……”
Clearly, the rebar had pinned his right arm.
Why were both splinted and casted?
“Th-That is……”
“Spit it out. No beating around the bush.”
“Sh-Should I get you some water……”
Too shameless to voice the obvious—your left arm’s fine, isn’t it?—Uriel changed tack.
“……”
“O-Or…… if you need the restroom, just say.”
“Uriel.”
“I-I can do it alone! It’s not like I can’t!”
“Have you forgotten I’m a black mage?”
“Ah……”
Ferzen chuckled softly.
“But if you insist on attending me……”
“I-I need the b-bathroom──!”
“……”
Uriel bolted up, hiding her flushed face as she fled the room.
Ferzen faintly frowned.
Painkillers dulled it, but his left arm ached fiercely.
Self-inflicting a precise crack—not full break—was tedious and tricky.
I’m truly out of my mind……
Cracking his left to match the right.
Finding comfort in this……
Nothing normal about it.
Undoubtedly……
Had he pursued art, he’d have achieved greatness.
No famous artist stayed sane.