The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 361

“This is the Academy, huh?”

As the world was bathed in scarlet hues during sunset, four investigators sent by the royal family arrived at the Academy.

In less than a day since the incident occurred, gathering experts from various fields and teleporting them here was no easy feat, but the Empire managed to pull it off.

The sooner the better, and thankfully, since they were just looking for volunteers rather than suitable candidates, it accelerated the process significantly.

“Welcome. Given the circumstances, we can’t hold a proper welcoming ceremony, but I hope you can express what you desire.”

Albert, the investigator sent by the royal family, bowed his head as he saw Principal Morgan come out to greet them.

“I’m from Class 648. I appreciate you coming out, especially during such tough times, Senior.”

“Senior? How long has it been since I retired? I appreciate the sentiment.”

It had been nearly a century since Morgan retired from the front lines to become the Academy’s principal.

Even after a generational gap, he seemed genuinely delighted that someone still remembered him, but inwardly he thought to himself,

“Seems like they have a mind to save my face at the royal family.”

Morgan had been worried upon hearing that investigators would be dispatched right after the incident, but seeing the respectful demeanor of the investigator, he gauged the royal family’s intentions.

The principal’s role overseeing the Academy, one of the Empire’s most important institutions, was not something just anyone could assume.

Morgan had a track record of remarkable achievements, having been referred to as the Archmage during the last war, working alongside the previous Emperor’s finest swords. Thanks to this, he was able to inherit the principal’s position at the Academy.

Though there were complaints about whether a mage who had slaughtered countless people on the frontline could teach others, Morgan had managed well thus far.

One hundred years since he had stepped down—short enough to feel brief but long enough to seem like a distant past to the current Emperor.

The Emperor, now just in his fifties, had since replaced all his most trusted swords.

So if the Emperor wanted to replace the principal with someone of his own choosing, this might just be his chance.

Whatever the reason, the Academy had sustained significant damage, and the recovery was made possible not by the Academy itself but by one of the Emperor’s most trusted, the Shadow.

“Sending a junior might mean they still want to give me a chance.”

Fortunately, Albert, sent as an investigator, was a former officer of the Imperial Academy, which Morgan had attended, and he had shown friendly intent from their very first meeting.

He didn’t seem intent on trampling Morgan thoroughly… or at least it looked that way, but still, there was no room for relaxation.

“I’d like to guide you myself, but I have to focus on repairing the barrier, so this student will guide you instead.”

“A student, you say?”

“Yes… I’d prefer to assign another faculty member, but everyone else is occupied with the repair work. Still, this student knows the Academy better than anyone, so they’ll make an excellent guide.”

Even so, was it appropriate to assign a student to accompany royal investigators? The investigators decided to think less of it.

As Morgan gestured, a student stepped forward with a smile and introduced themselves.

“Hello. I’m Anthony Elbel, the student council president, and I’ll be your guide.”

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“It’s quite bustling.”

That was the impression Investigator Albert felt upon arriving at the Academy.

It wasn’t meant negatively.

The damage left at the Academy was considerable, and the sheer number of people rushing around to clean it up made the surroundings seem chaotic even while standing still.

In the sky, magicians were restoring the barriers while golems waddled around cleaning up what looked like mud masonry as if a tsunami had hit.

Normally, this street would be bustling with students, yet now, without them, the remnants of destruction left it looking much colder.

“It doesn’t seem like just a simple attack by a Scylla.”

“Looking at this… I think I understand why they called it Leviathan.”

Scylla was a monster that lurked between remote islands and reefs.

It had the characteristic of pulling vessels into a collision with obstacles by manipulating currents with its massive mouth, leading to destruction, before consuming the sailors.

Typically, a Scylla would only possess enough strength to manage a single vessel, but the signs of devastation all around the Academy suggested it couldn’t have been the work of just one monster.

Or was there really such a monster that could pull off something like this?

For an ordinary person, the terror of an unidentified monster would be chilling, but for scholars, it was quite exhilarating.

Though unsure of what it was, they were convinced they were about to witness something amazing, and the student council president, Anthony, remarked,

“I witnessed the creature myself when it appeared, but no matter how I look at it, it couldn’t have been a Scylla.”

“You saw it in person as well?”

Real eyewitness accounts were valuable, so they wanted to hear more.

“The monster was… enormous. When I saw it from the dormitory window, it stood up, and it truly looked like a mountain rising from the ocean.”

“Yesterday, the moonlight was faint, so it might not have been clear. Did you perhaps see it wrong?”

“You mentioned arriving not by voyage but by teleportation, right?”

“Yes. I arrived directly from the capital.”

Since they had to come from the capital anyway and didn’t need to go through the port, they had used teleportation magic to arrive at the Academy in one go.

Upon hearing this, Anthony smiled.

“In that case… seeing it in person will be the fastest way for you.”

“Then let’s head to the port, where the damage is reportedly the worst. Which way is it?”

“This way. I’ll guide you.”

As they headed toward the port, the scholars couldn’t shake the realization that they had underestimated the situation before arriving at the Academy when they saw the remnants left behind.

However, even after witnessing those signs, the scholars weren’t convinced that the attacking monster was Leviathan.

For thousands of years of accumulated knowledge, it was hard to believe that Leviathan would come out of its territory and go all the way to the Academy.

Unless they were persuaded on that aspect, even seeing Leviathan with their own eyes wouldn’t convince them.

Before they even reached the port, a monster scholar wrinkled his nose.

“Ugh… there’s a terrible stench. It smells like blood… and possibly the stench of dead marine life from that blood.”

Even before arriving at the port, the pungent odor of decaying corpses assaulted their senses.

“We’re almost there. It might be shocking, so prepare yourselves.”

“Excuse me, does this person see us as what? Hurry and guide us.”

“At this point, surely we’re not age-sensitive enough to be surprised by corpses.”

How much could they be shocked? They had just discussed that description moments ago, and while thinking the student was being overly dramatic, the investigators arrived at the port.

They quickly realized how naive they had been.

“What in the world…?”

“Oh my…”

Despite being warned not to be surprised, there was no way not to react.

Right at the port, what greeted the investigators were gigantic remains of a creature bobbing on the sea surface.

Chunks of flesh covered in tough scales emerged, some appearing to be part of a skull.

The most horrific aspect was that those ‘chunks’ looked enormous, akin to wreckage from a sunken ship.

Looking at the size of a single scale and the portion of a skull, the overall size began to form in the minds of the investigators—a colossal monster the size of a mountain.

“We need to collect samples quickly.”

While they couldn’t be certain it was Leviathan, the possibility existed that they could be dealing with an unknown type of monster.

Since there were already fragments of Leviathan’s scales in the laboratory, they could compare them to those remains.

Then the marine biologist chimed in.

“This is far worse than we were informed. We need to gather only what we require and dispose of the rest quickly. If we leave it as is, the entire sea will perish.”

“I sense a thick magical energy coming from the ocean.”

The sea enveloping the remains had long lost its blue color.

The once blue waters had turned an inky red, floating with dead fish corpses, while marine monsters roamed about.

If this situation continues, the waters near the Academy could very well turn into a sea of death.

“With the personnel we have here, it’ll be difficult, so let’s request support. How long do you think the sea can hold out?”

“A week… anything beyond that would be impossible.”

“Understood.”

After quickly jotting down the scholars’ remarks upon seeing the scene, the investigator decided to ask the student council president one more question.

“Has there been anything suspicious at the Academy prior to the occurrence of this incident?”

This was an incredibly unusual incident.

It was hard to believe that something like this had happened out of the blue.

With the possibility of a conspiracy in mind, when they inquired, Anthony replied,

“Now that you mention it, there was a strange commotion yesterday. Right after that commotion ended, the monster appeared.”

“…What kind of commotion?”

“Well, let me tell you…”

The student council president grinned and began recounting the story he knew.