Chapter 253
Chapter 253:
Luga cut down the witch in a single stroke without even answering.
But what his sword had cut…… was a canvas, the sort used for painting.
A ‘portrait’ of the witch.
Flutter, flutter…….
Then the black butterflies flew in once again.
“My, the knight certainly has no time to spare.”
From among them appeared the witch, half her face hidden behind a black fan.
As if proving that what had been struck by Luga’s attack was merely an illusion, she appeared completely at ease without so much as a scratch.
When Luga touched his face, a ‘black mask’ covered it.
Crack-!
Crash!
Cracks formed in midair, and seven swords emerged from within.
“I don’t have time to deal with you, so step aside.”
“Hmm, unfortunately, I can’t do that.”
The witch chuckled and narrowed her eyes.
“You seem to be in quite a hurry. Is the Imperial Princess really that precious to you?”
The witch’s figure vanished like a mirage.
……And appeared behind Luga.
“I understand. She’s someone precious to you, so of course you’d want to protect her no matter what.”
Slash-!
No matter how many times he swung his sword, all that remained there was another shattered portrait of the witch.
“But that doesn’t mean I can yield either. I have to kill the Imperial Princess, you see.”
Whoosh-!
Luga’s sword cut through the air at an even faster rhythm than before.
“……!”
This time, he seemed to have succeeded in grazing the witch’s arm, and blood scattered through the air.
“This was one of my favorite outfits.”
Clicking her tongue, the witch placed a hand over her arm. It healed in an instant.
Then the sky, which had been blazing beneath the midday sun only moments ago, turned pitch-black like night.
An endless blue field and a pitch-black sky.
It was a bizarre place.
……This was the domain of a barrier.
They had entered the witch’s barrier.
“Don’t waste your strength, little one. The Imperial Princess is going to die anyway.”
Just as Luga was about to swing his sword again.
From within the pitch-black darkness, something long and enormous rushed toward Luga at high speed.
Whip-whip-whip-!
It was…… an octopus tentacle?
Booooom-!
“……!”
A gigantic octopus tentacle slammed into the spot Luga barely managed to avoid.
The tentacle hadn’t even grazed him. Yet Luga’s eyes widened in surprise.
……Luga had never once been struck by an attack.
That was because of his blessed ability to detect magic.
His unique skill, ‘Hyper-Sense’.
Just before magic activated, it allowed him to perceive with the senses throughout his entire body exactly where the magical energy would extend.
Thanks to this unique skill, Luga could deal with any enemy with ease. It was how he had become an undefeated knight from such a young age.
It was, quite literally, an almost perfect talent capable of nullifying magic.
Even if magic was used, Luga could naturally detect and evade it.
……Except once.
When he first encountered the witch at the clock tower last winter.
Back then, Luga had fought fiercely against the witch within her barrier. However, he had been struck and injured by an octopus tentacle.
He had assumed that failing to notice the attack was merely due to his condition at the time.
But this time was the same.
That octopus tentacle.
Apparently, he couldn’t sense anything from it.
……In other words, that thing was not ‘magic’.
Luga glared at the witch and opened his mouth.
“You weren’t only using magic?”
Magic that wasn’t magic.
It was an exceedingly strange sensation.
“My, you noticed?”
The witch blinked as though slightly surprised, then chuckled.
“I’ll praise you. In the last three hundred years, not a single person noticed there was something strange about my magic. I might even be a little pleased.”
“What…… exactly are you?”
“What a philosophical question.”
The witch opened her fan.
“But even if I explained it to you in detail, little knight, you wouldn’t understand.”
From behind the witch within the pitch-black darkness, the gleaming eyes of something enormous flashed.
Crack-crack-crack-!
The octopus tentacles appeared once again.
But this time, there wasn’t just one.
Countless thick octopus tentacles stretched out from within.
“So just die for me.”
I stared at Heidel as he slowly approached.
I didn’t have time to deal with that bastard.
On top of that, I needed to conserve my strength to endure the Cleaner’s attack that would come soon.
I slowly began moving my legs in an attempt to escape, but……
Ping-! Booom-!
A massive chunk of ice appeared in midair and crashed into the ground, surrounding me like a fence.
“Can’t you just let me go……?”
I gave him a hollow laugh as I spoke, but Heidel said nothing.
He merely stared at me with eyes even colder than the ice that chilled the heat around us.
“Guess not……?”
I let out a light sigh.
Heidel was taking his time. The fact that he neither rushed at me nor attacked was proof enough.
Apparently, he thought someone like me could be dealt with at any time.
Right, I could admit that was an objective assessment.
Heidel was skilled enough to see the mana within someone’s body with his own eyes.
The amount of mana one possessed was directly connected to strength.
He must have seen how absurdly little mana I had and found me laughable.
And as if things weren’t already bad enough…….
Thud-! Thud-! Thud-!
Someone riding a golem roughly 4 meters tall came charging over while shouting at the top of her lungs.
“Ugh, I’m really mad~!”
It was Kayrin, the red-haired second-ranked second-year.
“I only lent you the key for a little while because you said it was pretty, but who runs away with it! Give the key back already, you bad young master!”
Heidel and Kayrin.
I didn’t have the capacity to deal with both of them at once.
‘If I want to hold out against those two, I’d have to use all of Shark’s power.’
If I covered my entire body in Shark’s darkness, my physical speed would increase explosively.
Using that ability to escape from here would be child’s play.
……Unfortunately, I couldn’t do that.
Without meaning to, my appearance while covered in Shark’s darkness had become known to the public as the ‘Black Knight.’
Naturally, if I covered my entire body in Shark’s darkness here where everyone was watching, my identity as the ‘Black Knight’ would be exposed.
That was something I absolutely could not allow.
The situation was urgent.
If I were delayed by even 1 minute, no, 30 seconds, the pursuing cadets would catch up to me.
‘There are several ways I could escape, but the best one would be…….’
I looked at the ring on my finger.
Ice Dragon Ring.
My magical item that could move me up to 10km away.
‘I wanted to save this as much as possible in case of an emergency.’
There were so many variables in this world that I liked preparing all sorts of contingencies.
The more cards I had available, the easier it was to deal with unexpected situations.
‘It’s a waste to use a card I was saving before things have even properly begun.’
……But I had no choice.
To escape this hell where Heidel and Kayrin were closing in from both sides, I had no choice but to use it.
Just as I focused on the ring to activate its ability.
“You look like you’re in trouble, Dedenkman.”
I heard a familiar male voice that sounded as though I had heard it somewhere before.
When I turned toward it, I saw a red-haired figure with hair like a sea urchin walking toward me with bold strides.
His tall stature and massive frame were overwhelming, enough that his muscular build was obvious even through his uniform.
“……Kun King?”
Had this guy come to catch me too?
“Wow~ Good timing, Sea Urchin Head!”
Kayrin cheered when a powerful ally appeared.
Heidel, Kayrin, Kun King.
All three of the strongest second-years had joined forces.
“Ah, you startled me! Ugh, so loud…… Professor, I’m cutting the communication!”
Kayrin, who had been delighted, flinched and began fiddling near her ear.
Since I couldn’t use magical communication, I had no way of knowing, but it seemed Jennings had unleashed another ear-splitting tirade.
“I think Professor Jennings has already told us a hundred times to catch the young master……. All right, team battle! This time, let’s all catch the young master together!”
At Kayrin’s words, Kun King strode quickly toward me.
……But.
‘What?’
I couldn’t feel any killing intent from Kun King at all.
Besides, whenever he encountered an enemy, he was the type to openly scowl and immediately take a combat stance.
A guy who showed his hostility before a battle even began had no reason to be this calm.
As I wondered about it, Kun King stopped in front of me and raised his fist.
“Good, Sea Urchin Head! Hurry up and attack!”
Kayrin shouted.
And then…….
“Hup!”
Baaaang-!
Crash-!
Every piece of ice surrounding me shattered.
Clatter-clatter-! The ice that fell to the ground quickly melted and seeped into the earth.
“……Huh, did you miss? At that distance? Did you mess up your strength?”
Kayrin tilted her head in confusion, but Kun King turned his back to me.
Then he spoke in a voice quiet enough that only I could hear.
“Go.”
……No way.
Was he helping me?
“Didn’t I clearly make you a promise earlier, Dedenkman?”
Fwoooosh-!
Rumble-rumble-rumble-!
Flames erupted around Kun King, and before long, a red glow bloomed over both of his arms.
They were dazzling, ultra-high-temperature flames.
“Those eyes. I promised I’d crush Heidel and those damned arrogant eyes of his.”
“…….”
A hollow laugh escaped me without realizing it.
“Dedenkman, I do not make promises I cannot keep.”
“Whaaat~? Weren’t you on our team?!”
Kayrin seemed so flustered that even her golem staggered.
“Dedenkman, if you hand that key over to Heidel or Kayrin, there’s a high chance I’ll lose first place. If they use that key to break down the castle wall, they’ll easily rake in contribution points.”
Kun King lightly shrugged and continued.
“So rather than letting them have it, it’s better for you to keep it. That benefits both you and me.”
An unexpected ally.
If Kun King helped me, there was no need to use the Ice Dragon Ring’s ability.
I lowered the hand wearing the ring.
“You sure about this? If you let me go, that professor is going to throw an absolute fit.”
“I don’t care. What I want to see…… is that damned young nobleman kneeling before me.”
Babababoom-!
Flaming wings unfurled behind Kun King.
“So hurry up and go, Dedenkman!”
Kun King shoved my shoulder.
“Sea Urchin Head! What are you doing! We have to get the key back from the young master, so move!”
“Come at me! I’ll defeat all of you and take first place for myself! Every last one of you is prey to me!”
“Whaaat~?! Why are you suddenly……!”
Booom-!
A fierce battle began.
‘……He doesn’t seem like the type to help anyone?’
Well, whatever.
Thanks to Kun King showing up out of nowhere, I managed to escape.
I bolted away without looking back.
Then I looked up at the sky.
The hour hand of the translucent clock floating above was moving.
Roughly 3 minutes remained.
‘The first-years should have evacuated by now.’
Gathering the cadets in one place through McGrim’s surprise performance was also a method used in the game.
‘If McGrim gathers the cadets, Marie will naturally make sure to persuade Kaiel.’
If Kaiel installed the two Blocks at the location I had told Marie about, they could prevent the protective spell from being destroyed.
……However, the Cleaner was determined to assassinate the Imperial Princess this time and had also prepared a plan in case things didn’t go as intended.
If destroying the protective spell failed, the Cleaner would place the Imperial Princess inside their unique barrier.
That way, the protective spell would cease to apply only to the Imperial Princess.
Before long, I reached the entrance to the underground waterway.
It was an arched tunnel built from stacked stone.
The Imperial Princess should be isolated somewhere inside.
‘I don’t think I’m too late, but I should hurry just in case.’
I dashed into the tunnel.