Chapter 58

Chapter 58: Rift Opening (9)

“…Ha.”

Even while receiving this much pressure from a dragon, a hollow laugh slipped out of me.

Thanks to them having become Corrupted Bodies, they would not die immediately, but if they were left like that for more than two or three minutes, they would lose their lives as they were.

…Carelessness.

That word shimmered before my eyes as if mocking me.

There had been various variables, but I had thought I had drawn up the plan thoroughly enough in my own way.

However, the scene unfolding before my eyes right now was by no means the situation I had planned.

Demonic Aura was greatly influenced by the emotional state of the one who handled it.

Her Demonic Aura was already leaking out unstably, and now the parents she thought she had saved had ended up like that before her eyes?

“…Damn it.”

Sorry, Headmaster Levia?

It seems we are screwed because of you right now.

“What? Damn it? Was that directed at…….”

“Ahahahahahah…….”

Before Levia could finish speaking, a faint laugh echoed across the entire altar.

It was too hollow and cold to be called a human laugh.

It did not take me long to realize that voice had come from Lucia.

“Yes, that is right. Normally, this is how it would turn out, is it not? Hehe……. I am sorry. I was the fool……. Headmaster…….”

“What… are you?”

A little bewilderment seeped out of Levia.

That was because Lucia, whose body had been squeezed so tightly that she could barely breathe, was now moving her mouth leisurely as if none of that had happened.

“I was an idiot for expecting… that you would understand if I explained properly.”

CRUNCH…….

The dragon’s forepaw began to open.

Levia’s eyes widened when she realized that the physical strength being transmitted from Lucia was far from ordinary.

Even if Lucia was in a ‘Full-Body Demonic Armament’ state, that was physical strength comparable to that Dragon Hatchling.

BANG!

The moment Lucia shook off Levia’s grasp in one motion and set her feet down on the floor of the altar, the formulas on the altar all turned red at once.

WHOOOO……!

Immediately after, Demonic Aura began raging violently enough to slice through flesh.

CRACK!

Two pairs of red horns jutted out from around Lucia’s ears.

Those horns were practically symbols of a demon.

She had gone beyond borrowing a demon’s body through ‘Demonic Armament’ and had begun transforming her own body into the body of a demon.

…From this point on, that was no longer the Lucia we knew.

She was the ‘spark of war’ itself, the Demonic Aura she had hidden for more than five years losing control and rapidly going berserk.

The instant Levia, sensing the abnormality, let out a thunderous roar toward Lucia, the two of them disappeared from before my eyes without a trace.

KIIIIIIAAAAA!

A storm of Demonic Aura began swirling around the altar and mercilessly struck Yulia and me.

“W-what in the world is this……. Where did both of them go?”

“…They did not disappear.”

I buried my face behind both arms and rolled my wide-open eyes from side to side, but even then, I could not see them.

“They are just moving at a speed our eyes cannot follow.”

If judged purely by grade, Lucia, who had begun to rampage, was comparable to Special Grade.

They simply were not visible to our eyes right now. 

The two of them were clashing with each other in offense and defense based on overwhelming physical abilities.

THUD! SHATTER! CRUNCH! KWAAANG!

The shattering sounds that rang out without pause from all over the altar, along with the ice fragments irregularly erupting in every direction, were proof of that.

The Demonic Aura swirling around the altar began growing thicker by the moment.

CRACKLE……!

SPARK……!

Along with a stinging pain, Demonic Aura began rising from Yulia’s body and mine.

Elementary Holy Magic, Divine Blessing.

Yulia and I hurriedly raised Holy Power and shook off the Demonic Aura, but with Demonic Aura of this level, corruption would progress just by approaching Lucia.

If there was no means to purify the Demonic Aura, continuing to fight itself would be a foolish act.

“Ha, damn it……! This is pissing me off.”

Levia, whose nerves had grown completely sharp, landed in front of us.

At some point, Levia had polymorphed into human form, and white frost filled with mana covered her entire body like full-body armor.

“What in the world has that girl been doing all this time? Why is the Demonic Aura this dense?”

Demonic Aura was seeping out from all over Levia’s body, but that frost armor itself was a means to defend against Demonic Aura in the first place. 

There was nothing seriously wrong with the Headmaster’s body.

Tap… Clink.

Levia removed the frost armor she had created with magic to prevent corruption, then created an enormous ice wall in the direction where the Demonic Aura was raging.

Thanks to that, the Demonic Aura was completely blocked, but that was also proof of just how serious the current situation was.

It meant the Demonic Aura was severe enough that even a dragon’s body had difficulty enduring it.

THUD!

Lucia, who had succeeded in forcing Levia back, landed at the center of the altar about a hundred meters away from us.

All the Demonic Aura spread throughout this place swirled around Lucia as its center.

“Lucia Senior…….”

“Do not worry. That will not last long.”

It was as the Headmaster said. Demonic Aura released so explosively because of a rampage like that would, at most, take about thirty seconds before the corruption stabilized and the concentration of Demonic Aura in the surroundings also decreased.

Because Levia knew that too, she was probably planning to leave a brief interval and then finish this decisively.

Of course, once the raging Demonic Aura settled, Lucia would become a complete Corrupted Body, but…….

On top of that, this place was the altar of the Valak Order.

In other words, Lucia, as the Cult Leader, would be able to independently display a fairly powerful authority through her Demonic Aura spread throughout this place.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE…….

The altar trembled.

“Grrrk…….”

“Kraaa!”

The believers whose reason had been paralyzed by Demonic Aura all broke the ice spikes at once and let out ferocious roars.

The Corrupted Bodies whose chests had been pierced also pulled out the ice spikes as if to show off.

CRUNCH!

The pierced areas bubbled as new flesh sprouted again.

“What? She still has reason left?”

Levia frowned.

It was understandable.

Right now, Lucia was barely holding on to her wavering mind while healing the believers and her parents with Demonic Aura.

…Honestly, she is something else too, is she not?

She should be worrying about her own body.

KIIIIII…….

The altar floor, which had resonated with the minds of Lucia and the believers, radiated red light.

This was the final authority she was displaying on the altar while clinging to the reason that seemed ready to go out at any moment.

“She is doing all kinds of things……. Hey, you two, do not leave from behind this ice wall, understood? If you go out there, you will be swept up immediately.”

Levia and Yulia began growing tense after sensing that there was something unusual about the altar, but there was no need for that.

That was not an authority meant to harm us.

If anything, it was the opposite.

I released all of my Holy Power.

Divine Blessing, release.

The two of them were bewildered by my bizarre act of releasing my Holy Power even though Demonic Aura was surging, but that did not matter.

“Phew…….”

One deep breath.

And then, KIIIIII……!

Now.

The moment the authority unfolded, I leapt out from behind the ice wall and placed my hand on the altar formula.

‘Authority Activation.’

CRACKLE!

A spark shot through my Frontal Lobe.

My vision began rippling like waves.

I thought I heard the voices of Levia and Yulia, who were greatly shocked, but I was not certain.

KIIIIIIYAAAAK!

Because the red formula that immediately burst out from the altar screamed with a roar like a shriek and began consuming my eyes and ears.

.

.

.

Flash.

When I lifted my eyelids, all I could see before my eyes was endless darkness.

Even when I looked around, there was nothing but darkness.

“Hmm…….”

Only silence lingered in this place, where I could hear nothing except my own low groan.

Amid that silence, my original form, having returned to ‘Aron Bayonel,’ was clearly visible.

If it were another person, they might have trembled in fear the moment they arrived in this space, but if Black Mages who handled demons feared this place, they would be disqualified as Black Mages.

This place was what one might call a mental space.

When a Contractor and the demon they had contracted both wished for it, they could share their minds with each other on the altar.

Then where was the demon I had contracted?

“Hey, Valak. I know you are here, so stop dragging this out and come out.”

“You really are a ridiculous bastard, are you not? I thought you would at least be scared.”

“Hmph, as if.”

Then again, there was no way the current Valak would know that I was someone who had returned to the past.

SWISH.

From within the darkness, Valak’s Avatar appeared: a boy with red horns on his head.

***

At that time, in the sky above Saengterminum.

Headmaster Levia, having returned to her true body, cut across the sky at high speed while grinding her teeth.

“This is driving me insane.”

The sky was dark, but because of that, it was even clearer.

A massive amount of black-red Demonic Aura was beginning to rise from that outer district.

‘To think she could use “Large-Scale Teleport” as an authority.’

It would be one thing if she could immediately ‘Teleport’ there herself, but originally, ‘Teleport’ was a High-Rank Magic spell that required one to go to the destination in advance and set the coordinates beforehand.

The coordinates she had already marked near that area had long since lost their function due to corruption.

She was ‘Teleporting’ to the closest possible location and moving from there, but even then, because it was such a remote place, it would easily take three or four minutes to arrive.

“Yulia, there were no lies among the things you told me, were there?”

“Ugh… yes…….”

Yulia, who was clinging tightly to Levia’s back, buried her face and barely managed to speak while enduring the violent wind.

Levia had cast Protection Magic on Yulia, who was riding on her back, but she had deliberately not cast it strongly.

“H-Headmaster, it is difficult for me to stay here…….”

“What did you do so well that you are whining like you are dying? Hang on there and reflect on what you did.”

After Damon, Lucia, and the Demon Order members had disappeared from the altar, Levia had heard from Yulia about the situation that had occurred there.

“Lucia did that, you say…….”

If another student had said it, Levia would have cut them off and asked how that could possibly be true, but Yulia was from the Holy Order.

It was hard to think that she would lie about something like this.

‘What a waste of an Artifact.’

Levia narrowed her eyes and looked down at the Artifact hanging from her little claw.

An obsidian-colored pocket watch fluttered this way and that in the sharp wind.

Thanks to this, she had been able to see through the barrier the Demon Order bastards had spread, but this Artifact was disposable. 

It could not be used again.

‘Was I too hasty?’

She wondered whether she should have listened to Lucia before acting first, but what could she do? 

What had already happened could not be undone.

She had realized the situation as soon as she came out of the Artificial Rift and was heading there as quickly as possible, but even so, there was not enough time.

As far as Levia knew, there was no one in that outer district who could oppose a Special-Grade Corrupted Body.

Corruption was currently progressing throughout that area.

The people there had likely already been swept up by Demonic Aura and corruption, either dying or becoming Corrupted Bodies.

Of course.

“Brother Damon…….”

“That insane lunatic…….”

Damon David, Aron Bayonel, who had been hiding his true identity, would lose his life as well.

Of all times, for something like this to happen when the rift had been opened.

Even without this, Saengterminum currently had many visitors from various countries.

Since there would be many casualties, friction with countries across the continent would be unavoidable because of this.

It was too late to reverse the tragedy that would occur in that district.

In that case… the correct answer would be to freeze that entire area before the damage from corruption grew any larger.

“Hold on tight, all right? It is going to shake.”

CRACK.

High-density chill surged from Levia’s enormous open mouth.

Dragon Breath.

The racial magic of dragons, which annihilated everything in front of them, regardless of whether they were enemies or allies.

GRRRRR…….

And so Levia began taking in a deep breath in order to exhale the condensed chill toward the outer district.