Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Escape (2)

Sleet stung my cheeks.

Long streams of white breath trailed out behind me.

Grrrr……!

Awooo.

The howls of wolves rang out behind me as I ran at full speed.

Ahead of me, Undead Wolves that had been lying in ambush behind trees or beneath the snow kept springing out without pause to block my path.

Without slowing my momentum, I raised my transformed right fist in a boxer’s stance.

Then I fired off a rapid series of jabs with my right hand at the undead in front of me.

Thud-thud-thud!

The undead struck by my right fist could not even scream before they crumbled into ash.

“Wow.”

This works absurdly well.

They were only low-rank undead overwhelming me with numbers, but even so, for it to be this effective from the Sacred Mark merely touching them.

I had known that holy power was like poison to undead, but I had not expected it to work this brilliantly.

Thanks to the Sacred Mark, my movement speed had increased quite a bit… but it was still too early to relax.

Instructor Dave was drawing closer to me with every passing moment, the forest was glowing under the Phantasmal Curse, and the wolves were howling their heads off.

With this much chaos, everyone in Necropia had to have noticed that something was wrong by now.

‘At most, I have about ten minutes.’

If I could not get out of here within ten minutes, every Black Mage and cadet living in Necropia would be thrown into the forest to capture me.

Thinking that far, I curled my lips in a crooked grin.

‘Did they think I tried to run this way for no reason?’

Deep within this forest, there was a teleport gate.

A random teleport gate made for emergency evacuation in preparation for war.

I had never seen it myself, nor used it, but there was no need to worry that the information was wrong.

‘Because old hag Rienna told me about it herself.’

Of course, not the Rienna of this point in time, but the Rienna from my previous life.

‘War has a way of breaking out suddenly. Places with talented people, especially somewhere like Necropia, are bound to become targets when war begins.’

‘Speaking from experience?’

‘Well… yes. It teleports you to a random place quite far from Necropia, so it is easy to shake off pursuit. Personally, I think it was a good thing to install. It was supposed to remain secret, known only to Necropia’s instructors, but I suppose it would not hurt to tell you as well.’

It had been nothing more than light conversation between master and disciple.

She had been smiling proudly, but there had been a shadow on her face somewhere beneath it.

As for why she had worn that expression… I had not bothered asking.

Nothing would have changed even if I had pressed her about it.

Recalling that conversation, I searched through the forest.

‘If you try to find the gate by blindly searching the forest, it will be difficult.’

‘But if the Phantasmal Curse is cast over the forest, it becomes much easier to locate. The teleport is activated by converting the curse hanging over the forest into mana.’

‘If you follow the trees where the intensity of the Phantasmal Curse has weakened, you should be able to find it.’

Following Rienna’s words from before I returned to the past, I placed my left hand against the trees radiating curses and followed those where the curse had weakened.

“Here it is.”

At last, I arrived at the place I had been looking for.

A clearing where the snow had piled smoothly over the ground, without a single one of the densely growing trees remaining.

I ran to the center of the clearing and brushed the snow away from the ground.

A circle inscribed in the exact center, and around it, geometric letters and shapes engraved into the earth.

A teleport gate.

I placed my hand in the center of the pattern on the ground and stirred my mana.

Hummmmmm…….

The mana from the trees standing at the edge of the clearing was sucked down into the ground, shining through the snow.

The place where all that light gathered was where I stood.

“Cadet Aron!”

Together with the belated shout of Instructor Dave, my body was swallowed by a pillar of pure white light rising from the ground.

***

Crash!

“Ah, shit……”

I picked myself up with a grumble after being thrown face-first onto the ground.

Since it was a teleport to random coordinates, the movement was apparently much rougher than an ordinary teleport.

There was no one around. Fortunately, it seemed I had landed somewhere remote.

My right arm and both feet were trembling from the aftereffects of covering them in demonic armament, so I rolled over and sprawled out flat on the snowy ground to rest for a moment.

Far in the distance, Necropia looked small.

Even though it was near dawn, every window was lit.

Since I had managed to escape, Necropia had probably been thrown into complete chaos by now, instructors and cadets alike.

“I told them, if they had just let me go, it would have been better for everyone.”

To be set to graduate first at Necropia, only to flee right before the graduation ceremony using a teleport gate known only to the instructors……

In many ways, my record had become spectacular indeed.

At this rate, I could hardly complain even if the nickname Mad Dog spread far and wide.

Still lying down, I pulled a crumpled map from my bag and checked my current position.

On the Luknica Continent, the Dark Empire lay to the west, and the Holy Empire to the east.

Necropia was not that far from the border either.

And Saengterminum Academy was located near the center of the border between the Holy Empire and the Dark Empire.

If I sprinted while covering both legs in demonic armament, I ought to be able to reach the border before the surrounding defenses tightened too much.

Fixing my direction toward the east, I gathered myself.

From here on out, it was a race against time.

***

The instructors of Necropia, Dave among them, had gathered in the Faculty Office and were speaking sparingly.

“I-Is that truly the case, Instructor Dave?”

One of the instructors stammered as he spoke.

“You are saying Aron escaped using the teleport gate installed in the forest?”

The random teleport gate installed in Necropia’s forest.

The only people who knew of its existence were the instructors of Necropia.

It was one of the academy’s deepest secrets, kept hidden not only from the cadets but even from the lords of the Four Houses of the Dark Empire.

And yet a mere cadet had gotten hold of that information. 

Common sense said it was impossible.

“Then… does that not mean one of us instructors tipped Cadet Aron off about the existence of the gate?”

“Well now, was there any instructor here who looked favorably upon Cadet Aron?”

“Mm……”

“That is true, but……”

There had been plenty of talk even among the instructors regarding Cadet Aron’s personality.

If one had to compare him to something, he was a walking bomb.

What about a cadet like that would have made anyone reveal one of Necropia’s secrets to him?

Dave thought the same.

“In the end, there is only one possibility we can consider. Aron obtained the information on his own, without anyone’s help.”

“Is such a thing possible?”

“…If he used the power of a demon, it is not impossible.”

“A-a demon? Are you saying Aron had made a contract with a demon?”

“That is correct.”

The moment one formed a contract with a demon, one could use Descent Type Black Magic.

Which meant— “Aron has now reached the realm of Quad Class… using all four branches of Black Magic.”

All the instructors were briefly struck speechless, but Dave continued without pause.

“Moreover, Cadet Aron is currently under contract with a top-rank demon. Lady Rienna Baroness herself said as much after seeing him, so we must assume it is true.”

“If he truly is contracted with a top-rank demon, then there should be no reason for him to run away, should there? Why would he flee……?”

An instructor who was not particularly knowledgeable about the Descent Type asked Dave.

“It is the opposite. He ran because he contracted a top-rank demon.”

“What do you mean……?”

“You do know that in order to contract with a demon, one must pay a price, correct?”

“Yes.”

“With a top-rank demon, it does not end with merely paying the initial price.”

Top-rank demons continued to whisper seductive words to their contractors, pushing them to pay even more.

That temptation did not stop until the contractor had lost everything they possessed.

“And if there is no more price left to pay… what happens then?”

“The demon takes the contractor’s body.”

To break such an unreasonable contract with a top-rank demon, there were only two possibilities.

Either the demon willingly dissolved the contract, or the contractor died.

Instructor Dave twisted his face grimly.

“Lady Rienna Baroness is the exception. Aside from her, every person who contracted a top-rank demon lost their body to it.”

“And those who lose their bodies… what becomes of them?”

“They follow the demon’s instincts and do nothing but destroy and slaughter. The only way to stop their rampage is to end their life.”

““…….””

A heavy silence settled over the Faculty Office.

Now that Aron had escaped Necropia, the Dark Empire would search for Aron Bayonel with burning eyes.

But if he managed to cross the Dark Empire’s border, the situation would change completely.

“Send word at once to the Black Mages guarding the borders near Necropia. We have to stop Aron from crossing the border, no matter what.”

***

On the third day of alternating between sprinting and resting,

I managed to reach a mountain ridge near the border without being seen by anyone.

‘If I get past that, it is Saengterminum… but…….’

Lying flat on the snowy ground, I looked down at the border lined with barbed wire through the binoculars I had taken from my bag.

Most of the Black Mages standing watch near the border were staring straight ahead with fierce intensity.

It would have been harder to find someone slacking off.

And besides……

Crunch… thud……!

Ever since I had arrived at the ridge, I had been hearing footsteps on snow—irregular, but continuous.

Grrrr…….

Uuuuhhh…….

Grrrk…….

And mixed in with that was an eerie scraping noise, like throats being torn raw.

The presences were drawing closer and closer to where I was, so I rolled my body behind a nearby tree and hid.

Then I carefully peeked my head out and frowned.

‘…Ha.’

The shambling figures were clearing away fallen logs and withered brush scattered across the area.

Zombies made from the corpses of all sorts of monsters were patrolling the border region.

‘Damn it, how many of them are there?’

I darted my eyes from side to side, but there was not a single spot where undead could not be seen.

Judging from how the sounds of movement kept coming from ahead, it seemed the Black Mages stationed at the border had summoned every undead they possibly could.

And unlike ordinary undead, they were turning their heads this way and that, carefully sweeping the surroundings as they searched.

Among the groups, I could occasionally spot Mid-Rank Undead like Undead Orcs.

‘Sneaking across the border is going to be difficult.’

The Black Mages were a problem, but even more than that, undead were spread across the entire front of the border, making it impossible to slip through the encirclement unnoticed.

If I struck down the undead to clear a path, the Black Mage who had summoned them would immediately learn my location.

And the instant my position was exposed, every Black Mage in the area would come after me.

“This is rough.”

But it was not as though there was no way at all.

I simply had to break through at high speed before the Black Mages could properly grasp the situation.

Having made my decision, I refined a curse within my heart.

After covering both legs in demonic armament for three straight days, I had become somewhat accustomed to using it with this frail body.

‘If I am this used to the sensation… I can probably endure it for a short while even if I cover my whole body in demonic armament.’

I spread the refined curse through my body.

This time, not to any specific part, but throughout my entire body.

Both arms, both legs, torso, neck, face.

Thin lines of red blood rose across the skin all over my body.

‘Full-body demonic armament.’

Thump-thump-thump!

My heart pounded rapidly.

Every muscle in my body writhed.

It was the exhilaration that came from my physical ability rising sharply across the board.

I clenched my fist with my right hand, still covered by a leather glove.

‘About three minutes?’

Three minutes.

That was how long it would take before my entire body stiffened, unable to endure the burden of demonic armament covering every inch of me.

‘That is enough.’

Creak.

I put strength into both feet and stepped out from behind the tree.

Grrrk?

Krrh?

The undead showed brief confusion at my sudden appearance without warning.

Creak.

I immediately put strength into both feet and shot forward in a straight line toward the border.