Chapter 100

【100】99.

“This place is a miss too.”

Leo grumbled as he arrived at the fourth lake.

He had searched for the lake where Luminous rested, but all four times had been in vain.

‘Is this the last lakeside area near the castle ruins?’

Leo had already wasted several hours in the city area.

Furthermore, while wandering around the city area, he had been ensnared by curses countless times.

But despite encountering a variety of curses that would’ve disqualified any other student long ago, Leo was perfectly fine.

‘All known curses, anyway.’

Leo smirked at yet another curse activated nearby.

Having experienced every possible curse to the point of exhaustion in his past life, Leo knew all the methods to counter them.

The current curse interfered with the nervous system.

‘This doesn’t even need to be dispelled.’

A curse where moving his left arm causes his right foot to move, and moving his right arm makes his left leg move.

While this nerve-interference curse is one of the most complicated and finicky, Leo was able to fully grasp the disrupted neural pathways and adapted his movements accordingly.

‘Anyway, curses like this will dissolve on their own with time.’

Even if his physical strength had diminished, his experience as a Great Hero wasn’t something that could easily fade.

Casually handling the curse, Leo turned his head toward the castle ruins.

“Maybe it’s about time I head over there? The others are probably having a blast fighting already.”

Most of the students must already have moved past the city area and started the proper interdepartmental competition near the castle ruins.

“Hm?”

He stopped in his tracks and looked up at the sky.

His sharp senses had detected something unusual.

“A wide-area curse?”

Leo furrowed his brow.

It was a new curse.

‘And it covers the entire Negrang?’

It was an extremely powerful and massive-scale curse.

‘The land itself has been cursed.’

He felt a strange unease.

It was already long known that due to the influence of the Hero Dungeon, Negrang had become cursed land.

The students were troubled by the pre-existing curses.

‘But now, we have a new curse. Moreover, this curse…’

Realizing the nature of the curse, Leo’s face turned serious.

‘The Severing Curse.’

This was a curse that Tartarus used to love employing during large-scale battles.

The curse itself had no direct effect on people.

Its effect was simply isolation.

In other words, it was a powerful barrier-type curse that completely isolated a specific area from the outside world.

“d*mn it!”

Realizing that there was a traitor within Lumeran, Leo instantly understood the situation.

‘I need to quickly link up with the others!’

Leo kicked off the ground, unleashing an aura of mana.

Kwang-!

A massive cloud of dust rose around him as he began sprinting towards the castle walls.

*

At that same moment,

The students inside the royal palace understood the gravity of the situation.

Rather than being transported back to Lumeran, an injured student who had been eliminated from the competition was severely wounded.

Hordes of monsters were gathering around the city, and creatures known as Demonic Beasts were appearing inside the castle.

“Wind Spear.”

Kraawwwww!

The spear of wind pierced through the Minotaur without mercy.

Letting out a shriek of pain, the Minotaur wildly swung its battleaxe.

“Kyaaaak?”

A student from the Department of Knights screamed as she tried to block the Minotaur’s attack.

Seeing this, Abad began incanting.

“Wind Buster.”

Kwagagajak! Kwang!

Krrrrk!

The Minotaur, swept up by the gust of wind, crashed into a building wall, emitting its final scream before dying on the spot.

Saaaah!

“T-Thank you! Abad!”

The female student’s face turned red as she thanked Abad.

Abad, raising his hand to such a sight, looked seriously out toward the outside of the castle wall.

‘It’s a completely abnormal situation. This isn’t an interdepartmental competition anymore; it’s to the point where we need to unite our powers to defend.’

However, holding the walls as-is was impossible.

Demonic Beasts have appeared inside the walls.

‘EVEN if the school is working to resolve this situation, it’s unlikely that immediate help can arrive since communication with the outside world is impossible.’

Abad’s mind raced.

‘There’s no way to know how long we need to endure, but our forces are too scattered.’

Realizing this situation, Abad turned his head.

The inner keep of the ruined royal palace, now visible, was like the ultimate stronghold.

It has only one entrance, meaning it’s easy to concentrate forces, but conversely, once inside, there is no escape.

‘But given the present situation, there is no place to escape anyway.’

Leaving the cursed land means the end.

‘This is the moment to consolidate our strength.’

“Everyone, let’s head to the inner keep.”

“Huh?”

“Our forces are scattered. We need to regroup in one place.”

“But, Abad! Defending the inner keep is supposed to be a last resort.”

“That applies in a normal siege. And clearly, this isn’t a normal situation.”

Abad raised his staff high and fired off a signal spell towards the inner keep.

Peeeeng! Bang!

A bright light burst over the inner keep.

“Those who notice the signal will head there! Everyone, please retreat as calmly as possible!”

Following Abad’s words, the students started retreating towards the inner keep.

Abad remained at the front line, aiding the retreat and moving backward himself.

As Abad thought, others had also considered heading to the inner keep.

The leading students guarding each gate, seeing the endless wave of monsters, had realized that things would not end well as-is.

Seizing the moment of Abad’s signal, the rest of the students quickly began heading towards the inner keep.

Once all the students had gathered, those guarding the gates of the inner keep hurriedly locked the doors.

Keeeeeek-! Bang!

“Magicians! Reinforce the gate with magic!”

With the aid of magic, the gate was securely sealed shut.

“Form an anti-aircraft defense! We spotted a new Wyvern-form demonic beast!”

“The students from the Department of Knights, please secure the castle walls!”

Even though they were teenagers in their mid-teens, all of them, proving that they were indeed Hero Candidates, quickly gathered their forces and prepared their defenses against the impending siege.

In the midst of this, the students gathered in front of the walls.

“What’s going on? Where’s Leo?”

Celia asked in confusion, and Chen Sia replied.

“Lord Leo was in the outskirts, not the central area.”

“Why did he go that way?”

Abad raised an eyebrow, and Eliza clicked her tongue.

“Leo probably had his own thoughts in mind. We don’t know what he’s thinking, but he wouldn’t be disqualified. He’s the type who annoyingly runs away well.”

Other students nodded in agreement with that statement.

“It’s still concerning though. To join us here, he would have to break through that army of monsters.”

At Abad’s murmuring, Chelsea said confidently,

“Don’t worry, brother. Leo will be fine.”

“Right, let’s put aside Leo for now and focus on understanding the situation. Let’s share the information we have.”

At Celia’s suggestion, the students started sharing the information they had.

After sharing the information, Juleden wiped his cold sweat and said,

“So, we’ve been isolated in the middle of Negrang due to this abnormal situation. Moreover, we’re under attack by monsters and demonic beasts.”

The surrounding students swallowed hard.

At that moment, a student from the Department of Knights raised their hand and spoke.

“This could just be some kind of emergency event prepared by the school, though.”

“That would be great if it were. But it’s too severe to be treated as a mere school-prepared situation! The students who were eliminated should have teleported to Lumeran, but they’re still here!”

Kal, who had returned after helping the healers, shouted.

Specializing as a support role, Kal had also carefully studied emergency treatment for the injured.

Kal’s words prompted another female student from the Department of Summoning to speak up.

“Maybe they’re testing our ability to respond to emergencies. Honestly, the interdepartmental competition this year has been odd from the start! Battle Royale-type instructions, last-minute announcement of final exams…”

Some students nodded in agreement with her statement.

“Besides, there are a lot of external guests this time, so it might be an event specifically prepared for them.”

“Indeed. If we perform well here, we can make a strong impression on power-holders from various countries.”

At that statement, a few students’ eyes gleamed.

But that response prompted Kal to shout in frustration,

“You guys! Have you SEEN the injured?”

“Not really.”

“If it weren’t for Nella, several people might have died! Even if Lumeran randomly incites incidents, they don’t go THIS far! You need to take this seriously!”

“What are you saying?”

The female student from the Department of Summoning frowned.

“Now isn’t the time to argue! Whether this is an actual situation or one intentionally created by the school, it’s serious. We need to respond as if it’s a real situation! Strategy should be prioritized.”

Celia’s words prompted Chloe to raise her hand.

“Let’s maximize the advantage of the castle walls and prepare for defense…”

“No, I think this is the moment to attack.”

Emio cut Chloe off.

“By working together, we can cleanse the monsters and demonic beasts gathered around the castle.”

“Absolutely not.”

Chloe shook her head, making Emio flare up.

“Why? Isn’t it better to take the initiative and eliminate the threat rather than just sitting here in this fortress? What do you others think?”

Some students agreed with Emio’s statement.

Seeing this, Duran sneered.

“Without even understanding the situation, abandoning the advantage of the castle walls will only bring us poor evaluations from professors.”

“Right. In this situation, defense is more appropriate than attack.”

Celia also agreed with Chloe, making Emio grit his teeth.

‘Just defending him because he’s in the same class? What’s so great about this guy?’

Emio glared at Chloe.

‘This guy who only copies assignments? He’s useless on the battlefield! A mage who only studies is useless in the battlefield!’

Among the students in the Department of Magic, it was rumored that if Chloe performed properly, Emio wouldn’t have placed third.

Thus, Emio didn’t think too highly of Chloe.

But the majority of the students were in favor of Chloe’s defensive stance.

“We need to split into teams and assign roles.”

Currently, there are 96 students who can participate in combat, excluding the injured.

“I believe we need to split into five teams to defend the gates and the walls. What do you think?”

At Celia’s suggestion, all agreed.

“If anyone has been trained in command from childhood, please raise your hand.”

Four people, including Celia, raised their hands.

All were from Heroic families and had received formal command education.

“One more, does anyone want to lead the group?”

“I’ll try.”

“I’ll do it.”

Chloe and Emio both raised their hands at once.

“Put your hand down, Chloe.”

“You’re better at skills, Chloe.”

At Celia’s words, Emio snorted.

“Chloe is from the Mage Tower. She spent her childhood locked away in the Mage Tower studying. I think I, coming from a military family, am better suited to take the lead.”

“In that case, Emio, you lead.”

Chloe smiled and yielded the position.

Since there was no one else volunteering, she withdrew without issue.

Emio wore a smug expression while Celia sighed.

With leaders in place, groups were formed.

Once the defense preparations were complete, Celia reminded everyone:

“Remember, our goal is to endure, and absolutely not go outside the walls attacking the monsters!”