The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 155

They’re not going to listen to me anyway.

Instead of trying to persuade the holy knights with limited information, it’s better to quickly subdue the Church and contact the Church Country directly to clear up the misunderstanding.

Yeah, it’s a perfect plan.

“Seriously, who the hell are you trying to threaten… it’s infuriating.”

I smacked the unconscious Inquisition officer’s head, whose eyes were rolled back, and tried to leave the investigation room.

“Ugh….”

But my knees buckled again right in front of the door.

I moved roughly, and my body felt like a wreck.

I couldn’t keep moving for long.

I steadied myself and opened the door to a dark hallway.

I had been to the Church at the Academy, but I’d never gone down to the basement before.

This place was off-limits to regular people.

“Already finished with the investigation?”

As soon as I stepped out into the hallway, I ran into a holy knight who was on patrol.

I recognized him.

He was one of the holy knights who had brought me to this place from the hospital.

Before I even thought about what to do, my hand acted on its own.

-Bam!

“Ugh??”

His body twisted sharply at an angle.

My fist, infused with aura, flew straight into him.

Instead of leaving a fist mark, the armored plate protecting the holy knight’s abs formed a round crater centered around my fist.

The knight, who had bent back at an extreme angle, fell to his knees and vomited whatever was in his stomach all over the floor, face-first onto the puddle of bile.

“Ugh..!!”

Immediately after, I emptied my own stomach in a similar fashion.

Even though I hadn’t eaten anything, only a pale liquid came out.

“I’m feeling nauseous….”

It seemed like it hadn’t been long since I was told to lie still, but as I manipulated my aura again, waves of nausea and chills crashed over me.

Every time I tried to fight, I could clearly feel my already terrible physical condition getting worse.

‘The holy knights from the Church Country, including the Commander… I’ve taken down one, and considering the people patrolling outside, there must be at least five more inside.’

The option of not fighting had long been erased from my mind.

They won’t listen even if I talk, so there’s no choice.

In this world, where I’m living a second life, it often happens that the best solution is personal power.

I’ll take down all the holy knights inside the Church and contact the Church Country to quickly wrap up this incident.

Then, if I make it known that the holy knights apologized to me publicly, everything will be fine at the Academy.

If I get labeled as a devil worshipper, it will make my life at the Academy quite troublesome.

You know how nobles love to gossip; they’ll jump at any chance to tear me apart.

Then… I’ll have no choice but to break the legs of everyone blabbing nonsense in front of me.

Or maybe it’s already too late.

Ultimately, all I can do right now is to clear up this misunderstanding as quickly as possible.

“Weapons… I’ll pass.”

The sword hanging from the holy knight’s waist danced before my eyes, but I decided against taking it.

No matter how bad my physical condition, I could still take down just a holy knight with my bare hands.

I’m not trying to kill anyone, and in this state, it’d be hard to control my strength, so I’d probably end up using Aura Blade without realizing it.

Using Aura Blade in front of everyone would expose me as a Master, so let’s try to handle this barehanded.

If it gets too tough, I can always take it partway through.

“Ugh… I’m dizzy… I need to finish this quickly….”

I decided to take a quick look at the investigation rooms in the hallway and examine the ground level.

I started walking away, leaving behind the red-caped holy knight I had just taken down.

———————————————

The rumor that Atlas had been taken away spread rapidly throughout the Academy.

While there had been students taken for questioning by holy knights from time to time, this time was different as they raided the dormitory first.

“Excuse me?? My student was taken by the holy knights?”

“Many students reported seeing him being carried on a stretcher from the hospital. I heard there was something related to demons found in the dormitory… It’s a scary world these days.”

“I know, right? Things are getting pretty intense.”

Andy was shocked to hear the news that a student from his class had been taken away.

“And with the skill test coming up soon… I’m worried the other students might get nervous and mess things up.”

“Yeah, that’s right. He has been a bit too noisy lately, so maybe this will do him some good.”

“A noisy student, you say?”

Andy pondered deeply over who could be the noisy troublemaker in his class, and his face grew paler.

No matter how much he thought, only one person came to mind.

“Yeah, that… was it Atlas? The small kid with a really bad temper. Even from the first week, I thought he was dangerous because he sent all the students to the hospital, but devil worshipper… tsk tsk.”

“…Atlas?”

“I heard he’s not even well and can’t keep himself together… well, the holy knights will handle it.”

When Andy discovered that the student who had been taken was Atlas, it felt like he had been hit in the head with a hammer.

Atlas? By the holy knights? And in a sick condition?

Various pieces of information danced in his head, pulling up memories from the past.

.

.

.

It was still a story from when he was a rookie in the Royal Knight Order.

‘Today’s night watch, I’ve got the rookie covered. If we catch him while he’s sleeping, he won’t be able to move at all…!’

A senior had suggested ambushing Atlas, the rookie, while he was asleep after getting his butt kicked several times by Atlas, who was the same generation.

They had made plans several times to take down Atlas, but Atlas, having joined alongside them, always displayed skills that surpassed the veterans, leading to them being the ones getting beat up.

Just last month, about thirty of them charged at him all at once, only to end up leaving one or two biotechnical devices on Atlas while they all lost limbs.

Everyone finally faced reality, concluding that they could no longer wins head-on against him, and determined to use any dirty methods available to subdue him.

‘Is a bunch of rookies really going to ambush a younger student in his room? That’s disgusting.’

That thought made Andy feel deeply repulsed by his colleagues.

Of course, the main reason was that he no longer wanted to face Atlas.

He had to hone his skills to at least Expert level before graduating to even become a regular member, but at that time, Andy was still stuck at the wall that prohibited him from leveling up.

He could hardly spare any time to break through that wall, and the idea of using all sorts of dirty methods to harass their juniors seemed utterly ridiculous.

Truth be told, he wanted to ask Atlas directly.

No matter how lowly he regarded others’ skills, Atlas was definitely at an Expert level or higher.

He wanted to know how to break through that wall.

But few had such sound thoughts.

The seniors who were losing to a younger student every day were no longer a source of fear for the juniors.

They had become a pathetic group that couldn’t even handle one little rookie and were just growing older.

In order to regain the respect of their title, they felt they had to break Atlas first.

‘Do you see him as a junior, huh?’

‘What do you see him as?’

‘He only looks like a monster wearing the skin of a rookie to me?’

By any means necessary.

Andy was well aware but refrained from speaking to Atlas.

They weren’t close enough for that, and honestly, he was frightened of speaking to Atlas.

At that time, a deep-seated hatred oozed from Atlas that could not possibly be seen from a distance.

And that night.

‘Aaaah!!!’

‘How did he know we were coming??’

‘No way… He’s… he’s asleep!!! He’s not even awake!!’

‘Swinging a sword while asleep?? How does that even make sense… Aaaah!!! My arm!!!’

The idiots who had tried to ambush Atlas in his sleep all ended up as fools.

Atlas, a killing machine who reacted even in his sleep, slashed those who approached him with a dagger hidden under his pillow.

Fortunately, they all survived but ended up quitting as rookies.

After that, nightmares from that time often haunted them.

In their half-conscious state, seeing Atlas tear their opponents apart with a dagger until they became incapacitated, he looked like a demon, no matter how nicely one spoke of it.

.

.

.

Having recalled all that, Andy jolted awake.

“I… I need to check the Church!!”

“Professor, we understand you care for the student, but this is a matter for the Church Country to handle. If you go, it’ll only complicate things…”

Other professors tried to stop Andy, but he brushed them aside and dashed out.

“That’s not it… The lives of the holy knights are at risk!!!”

—————————————-

The Commander of the Red-Caped Holy Knights sensed the strange occurrences happening in the basement.

“How many personnel are left inside the Church?”

“Excluding those who went down to the basement, there are a total of five.”

There had been two faint yet significant impacts from below.

The only one who felt it was the Commander within the Church itself.

In the basement… there must be a suspicious student undergoing interrogation.

He didn’t hesitate and gave the command.

“Gather everyone on the first floor. It seems a follower hiding among the students has finally shown their true colors. Prepare for the worst-case scenario.”

“Yes, Commander! Should we also summon those outside?”

“It might be a bait operation, so let them remain outside and be prepared for any situation.”

“Understood!”

The Commander recalled the report about a demon’s body discovered in a student’s dormitory.

Since coming to the Academy, his top priority had been to root out all the hidden minions of the Demon Church.

While it was difficult to find them, he had been achieving quite meaningful results thanks to the efforts of the Inquisition officers.

Though he didn’t know the position of this recently discovered student, judging from the demon’s body and its power, he was certainly not an ordinary student.

“Eventually, they’re showing their true colors… I won’t allow you to do as you please!!”