Chapter 309 : Chapter 309
Chapter 309. The Descent of Leviathan (2)
Immediately after Estina’s consciousness vanished, sinister demonic energy began to erupt among the festival booths.
“Kyaaaagh!”
They were the Black Order executives who had been scattered throughout the festival grounds at Kier’s command.
Clutching the backs of their necks, they twisted violently.
“What is happening?!”
“This demonic energy…!”
Priests of the Supreme Deity Order who rushed over upon sensing the disturbance stiffened.
“…It is a heretical sacrifice ritual.”
“We must contact the Marcellent Temple immediately.”
“Deploy a holy barrier first.”
The priests hastily formed ranks around the executive.
They were preparing to unfold a holy barrier capable of blocking heretical demonic energy.
A young priest shouted loudly,
“I will lead the chant! The Supreme Deity illuminates the darkness!”
“O light deeper than darkness!”
“By the power of the Supreme Deity, the unholy— kgh!”
The priest failed to finish the incantation and clutched his throat.
Black energy had crawled up his body and reached the back of his neck.
It was vile, viscous demonic energy.
“Brother!”
Crunch.
Amid the priests’ panic, the executive—his mutation already complete—rose leisurely to his feet.
A black silhouette completely shrouded in demonic energy from head to toe.
Its face bore a mouth split grotesquely wide, and where its eyes should have been were hollow pits.
An elderly priest who recognized its true nature swallowed hard.
“A demon’s minion….”
Undead formed from the corrupted.
The final destination of sacrifices who had not only surrendered their souls to demons, but their bodies as well.
Under no circumstances should one meet their gaze.
The elderly priest squeezed his eyes shut and shouted,
“Do not look into its eyes!”
“What? But that undead—”
Does it not have eyes?
Thinking so, the young priest inadvertently met its gaze.
Kikikik.
The pitch-black undead had spread both hands outward, as if to show them off.
The eyes were there.
Kikik.
Embedded in its palms, eyeballs spinning incessantly up and down froze as they focused on the young priest.
A gaze that felt as though it would pull him in.
The young priest was completely ensnared.
“Hhk!”
A demonic eye that dragged those who met it into hell.
The light in the young priest’s pupils was fading—
“What the hell, why is there an eyeball monster at a school?”
A curt voice rang out, and something came flying.
Thunk!
A kitchen knife gleaming blue.
Ssssss!
The knife pierced the undead’s palm, splitting the eyeball cleanly in two as steam rose.
“Oh, that works? Just like the Prince said.”
“Indeed, Commander. The effect of Holy Water is incredible.”
“You must have chopped a lot of chickens. You sure can throw a knife.”
A group of burly men grinned with the tone of street toughs.
The priests of the Supreme Deity Order gaped at the sudden appearance of the group.
“W-who are you?”
“Us?”
Their commander, Beck Ardan, grinned broadly.
“We are the Meteor Shower Knights of Raviedel.”
***
“Brother, there are more over here!”
“Bind its legs!”
“Our swords will not go in!”
“Splash Holy Water!”
Lizardmen surrounded the undead in a noisy melee.
They possessed no Divine Power, but they did have Holy Water given to them by Radel.
Items delivered by a griffin that had suddenly descended from the sky.
-Kieee!
The griffin that had spent the entire festival flying around with an Integrated Major Booth promotional banner tied to its tail descended to the ground, startling everyone.
After circling once in the air, it dropped something with a thud.
A bundle filled with bottles, and a note.
Then it landed in front of Leon and shoved its back toward him as if annoyed.
When Leon stared at it in disbelief, it even turned its head away sharply.
Leon muttered as he looked at the griffin.
‘What am I supposed to do? Get on?’
Gusto, having read the note on the ground, nodded.
‘Get on. It is urgent.’
After sending Leon off on the griffin, Gusto halted the academy rides and gathered the lizardmen and the Meteor Shower Knights.
‘This is a message from Prince Radel. Everyone must carry one vial of Holy Water. We will soon be facing undead. And although it is hard to believe…’
Even Gusto, who was usually calm, showed a flicker of unease in his eyes.
‘He says a dragon will appear shortly.’
‘What?’
‘What nonsense is that?’
‘I shut down my chicken stall for this?’
The lizardmen and the Meteor Shower Knights reacted with disbelief.
Inette was likewise struck speechless.
But Gusto did not back down.
‘No. He says it has already appeared.’
The moment he finished speaking, a gigantic silhouette emerged from the academy’s main building.
-Grrrr…!
The talkative lizardmen and the Meteor Shower Knights fell silent at once.
And now—
The lizardmen were swinging their swords with gusto.
They normally avoided undead monsters.
Annoying creatures that regenerated endlessly and refused to die.
But after splashing them with Holy Water from Radel, the blows finally felt satisfying.
They did not die, but at least it stopped them from rolling their grotesque eyes and casting strange gazes at people.
“Warriors, do not retreat!”
“To retreat is a warrior’s shame!”
“Block them even with your bodies!”
Overwhelmed by the lizardmen’s momentum, even the demon’s minions struggled to advance.
“Where did all these freaks come from…!”
Watching from afar, Kier ground his teeth.
He had intended to offer the Black Order executives as sacrifices and take countless more lives.
Yet he had not managed to offer even a single pure soul to Lord Leviathan.
Despite having weakened Divine Power, this had happened.
With priests and holy knights unable to properly exert their strength, those strange beings had begun running rampant.
And it was not just ordinary Holy Water.
They were spraying Holy Water consecrated by an Archbishop without restraint.
Things were not unfolding as he had planned.
‘And one sacrifice is missing.’
The plan had been calculated precisely, down to the number of executives.
The moment the 4th Princess fell and offered her soul to Lord Leviathan, the executives were meant to be offered as well.
Because the Key of Seal was incomplete, stronger souls had been required.
That was why he had deliberately requested executives capable of infiltrating the academy.
If even one was missing, Lord Leviathan’s descent would be incomplete.
‘Did someone discard their pouch…? Impossible. The great plan was right before our eyes. Who would commit such stupidity!’
It had happened because Gillian, influenced by Radel, had discarded his pouch.
But Kier had no way of knowing that.
All he could think was that he needed to offer an even greater sacrifice to complete the imperfect descent.
Yet not only had he failed to offer a greater sacrifice, he had not even taken the life of a single ordinary human.
All because of those bizarre lizardmen and knights.
And the academy professors were no pushovers either.
“Khahaha! What a mess! It is our turn!”
In the sky, Professor Donton Murr was evacuating people while dodging undead atop a wyvern.
Professor Marianne was also protecting civilians by pressing the undead back with spirit arts.
She summoned several small spirits and gave them instructions.
“Tell the students to gather at the main gate.”
-Okay!
-We will do it!
-Let us go!
The small spirits scattered through the crowd.
Professor Cailin and Professor Thomas were drawing a massive magic circle at the main gate.
When Thomas swung his staff, the wall recessed inward, forming multiple overlapping rings.
Slash!
Glittering powder was poured over it.
Cailin’s expression twisted as he scattered the powder.
“Do you know how expensive this is…?”
“Is this not exactly what it was made for?”
“You would not understand how I feel right now, Professor Thomas.”
“Better than the academy being destroyed.”
With a sigh, Cailin nodded.
“That is true. Who would have thought a dragon would appear?”
The two professors stared at the dragon looming before the main building.
If that truly was a dragon, their lives were effectively forfeit.
The moment that creature decided to act, it would not be strange for Marcellent to vanish overnight.
“There was even a record of a hundred mages casting spells simultaneously to slay a dragon.”
“And they all died.”
The professors’ faces darkened.
No ancient record spoke of humans defeating a dragon with magic.
After all, it was dragons who had taught magic to humans in the first place.
A dragon was living magic itself.
“We can only hope Professor Lillian buys us as much time as possible.”
“It will not be easy.”
Still, there was a sliver of hope.
Because there was not absolutely no way to kill a dragon.
The two professors refused to abandon hope.
***
And that hope was here.
“This is our hope.”
At Radel’s gesture, everyone turned their gaze.
Shartea, who was receiving Heal from Gillian, asked flatly,
“You mean that guy?”
Where Radel pointed stood Leon.
It was just after the dragon’s magic had swept past.
It had merely been a release of raw magic power, but the dragon’s mana was so overwhelming that even contact alone shattered buildings.
If Arteo and Leon had not moved quickly, the damage would have been far greater.
In the meantime, Professor Lillian—who had retrieved her broom and returned—had managed to stall the dragon.
Whoosh!
Shoom!
Bam!
Watching Professor Lillian battle the dragon at speeds too fast to follow, Arteo spoke,
“Even the professor cannot hold out for long. We need a plan.”
Then he cast a skeptical look at Leon.
“And this is our hope?”
Leon’s face crumpled.
“Do not treat people like objects.”
“If you want to complain, complain to him.”
Arteo and Leon’s gazes clashed, sparks flying.
Radel smoothly stepped between them.
“Calm down. Among us, Leon is the only one with magic power comparable to a dragon’s, is he not?”
“That still does not make him a real dragon.”
“That one is not a real dragon either.”
Radel looked toward Leviathan, who was clashing with Professor Lillian.
He had just used dragon-like magic, but in Radel’s eyes, it was nothing of the sort.
That was merely a demon wearing the skin of a dragon.
“And coincidentally, I happen to have this.”
Radel drew a small dagger from within his robes.
A sharp blade carrying a faint, solemn aura.
A dragon’s reverse scale.
Arteo’s eyes widened as he recognized it.
“Why do you have something like that…?”
Even he, the 2nd Prince and a member of the Imperial Magicians, had never seen such a rare item.
The only weapon capable of killing a dragon.
Even dragon remains were nearly impossible to obtain.
Among them, the reverse scale was the rarest of all—something that should not have survived intact.
Seeing the reverse scale he believed had vanished from the world, Arteo’s pupils trembled.
Leon snorted when he saw that reaction.
“He uses that thing to peel fruit.”
Arteo turned to Radel in disbelief.
“Is that true?”
“I use it more often to cut meat.”
That lunatic….
Arteo’s face twisted.