Chapter 176. The Assault (2)

Vrooooom!

The engine of the magic carriage roared as black smoke billowed from the school, which was gradually coming into view.

Professor Elisha sharply turned the steering wheel, came to an abrupt stop, and kicked the door open.

“Candidate Dale, from here, we run!”

“Yes!”

If it’s not too far, running is much faster than taking the magic carriage.

I kicked off towards the school with Professor Elisha, where smoke was rising.

As we got closer to the school, the smell of blood and the sounds of fierce combat reached us.

‘Damn it.’

I didn’t expect the assault to start this quickly.

With an anxious expression, I bit my lip and drew out more magic power.

The surroundings blurred past as the Reynaldo Hero School came into view.

“This is…”

An endless horde of monsters and the desperate fight of the professors and candidates against them.

“Hoo. It seems they’re holding up well.”

Professor Elisha brushed off her chest and let out a sigh of relief.

As she said, there were no casualties on the school’s side yet, only piles of monster corpses littering the ground.

Although many monsters remained, the tide of battle was leaning in favor of the hero school.

‘The hero school has the upper hand?’

I stiffened my expression as I surveyed the incoming monsters.

“Hmm? Why that expression?”

“…It’s strange.”

“Strange? What’s strange?”

“In my past life, a thousand heroes from three nations united and barely won after a fierce battle against the monster legion.”

But now, without even a union of three nations, just the professors and candidates inside the school are turning the tide?

“Maybe it’s because the monster legion’s strength is different now than it was ten years later?”

“That could be. But…”

Thud!

I rolled my foot roughly and jumped high into the air.

My vision cleared, and the intense battlefield came into view at a glance.

‘As expected.’

It was just as I had anticipated.

I twisted my expression and landed back on the ground.

“Why the face?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“There’s not a single monster above the Ten-Eye level.”

“……”

The number of monsters was overwhelming, at least over ten thousand, but not a single monster above the Ten-Eye level, the core strength of the monster legion, was in sight.

Even the Grand Archbishop of Beasts, Jackal, the master of the monster legion, was nowhere to be seen on the battlefield.

“That means…”

“It’s a decoy. To draw our attention here.”

“What?”

“Sigh.”

Damn it.

I bit my lip and held my forehead.

I was mistaken.

I overlooked it.

Just because the same event happened as in my past life, it doesn’t mean the ‘purpose’ behind it is the same.

“Jackal’s target… isn’t the hero school.”

“Then what is he aiming for with such a large-scale assault?”

Professor Elisha frowned, unable to comprehend.

‘Jackal’s goal.’

Honestly, nothing comes to mind right now.

Even in my past life, the exact reason why Jackal attacked the hero school was never uncovered.

‘But.’

I continued my thoughts.

Past life and present life.

Cross-referencing the two to analyze the situation.

‘The core strength of Jackal’s monster legion is the monsters above the Ten-Eye level.’

So where did Jackal deploy those Ten-Eye level monsters?

What is he aiming for?

Where is he heading?

“Ah.”

A soft exclamation and a single word echoed like thunder in my head.

“…The Abyss.”

“The Abyss?”

“Jackal’s target… isn’t the hero school, but the Abyss buried beneath it.”

Professor Elisha frowned, unable to understand my following words.

“But didn’t you say before that no one but you knows how to go below the first layer of the Abyss?”

True.

The path to the second layer of the Abyss is based on the three trials of the Great Sage, so unless the seal of the Devil God weakens, no one but me can enter.

“I don’t know about that. But it’s certain that Jackal is aiming for the Abyss.”

Jackal’s core strength is the monsters above the Ten-Eye level.

And the place where I encountered those Ten-Eye level monsters was the mountain with the entrance to the Abyss.

Following that entrance all the way down, you could reach the massive ruins beneath the hero school.

‘Activating the magic circle in the center of those ruins opens the gate to the second layer.’

I don’t know how Jackal knew how to activate the magic circle leading to the second layer of the Abyss, but it’s clear that’s where he’s heading.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have used the monster legion as a mere distraction, pulling out all his core strength.

“We have to chase Jackal.”

“You mean we have to go back the way we came?”

“Yes.”

I nodded with a heavy expression.

Professor Elisha looked at the hero school, where a fierce battle was still ongoing, with a hesitant expression.

“But now…”

The tide was leaning in favor of the hero school, but that didn’t mean the monster legion was completely defeated.

There were still over a thousand monsters left, baring their sharp teeth and claws as they charged at the professors and candidates.

If we turned back now and headed for the Abyss, casualties could occur.

She and Dale had the power to secure the favorable situation.

“If that’s the case, you don’t need to worry.”

“Don’t need to worry?”

“Look at that.”

I pointed to the sky above the hero school, where a fierce battle was raging.

An old man floating high in the sky, calmly overlooking the battlefield.

The headmaster of the hero school, one of the five ‘Masters’ across the three nations.

The Brain God, Raonel Liu, leisurely raised his arm towards the incoming monster legion.

Crackle, crackle!

Blue lightning covered the sky above the hero school.

Even from hundreds of meters away, the magical storm was fierce enough to make my skin tingle.

The blue sky, bathed in sunlight, was covered by black clouds.

And then.

Boom!!!

A simultaneous downpour of lightning towards the ground.

The incoming monster legion was swept away by the lightning, turning into a wasteland.

“So… that’s what it was.”

A soft chuckle escaped Professor Elisha’s lips.

If the Brain God had joined the battlefield, there was nothing for her to worry about.

“Alright. Let’s chase Jackal.”

“Yes.”

“Then back to the magic carriage…”

“No.”

I shook my head and drew the sword at my waist.

“…What are you planning?”

“We don’t have the luxury to go back.”

Whatever Jackal’s purpose for heading to the Abyss, no, precisely because I don’t know his purpose, I must chase him as quickly as possible.

I held the sword in reverse grip, pointing the tip towards the ground.

“Do you know? The first layer of the Abyss is much larger than the entire grounds of the hero school.”

“Y-you can’t possibly…!”

Whoosh!

Ash fire ignited along the blade.

Before Professor Elisha could say anything, realizing what I was about to do.

“In other words.”

Crack!

I slammed the ash fire-engulfed sword down fiercely.

Condensing the aura within into a single point, I shot it downwards.

Boom!!!

The ash fire melted the earth, creating a straight path hundreds of meters deep.

“It means we can just dig straight down without needing to go around through the entrance.”

“…Ha.”

Professor Elisha let out a hollow laugh as she looked at the impossibly deep hole.

“You’re really… out of your mind.”

I shrugged with a smirk.

“That’s how I’ve lived.”

I approached Professor Elisha, who was standing dumbfounded.

“Stay still.”

“Huh? W-wait!”

I picked her up in what’s commonly called the ‘princess carry.’

“W-what are you doing, Candidate Dale?!”

Professor Elisha, in my arms, asked with a flustered expression.

“The ash fire’s heat is still lingering. It’s dangerous for you to go down alone.”

Holding Professor Elisha, I drew out the power of the Primordial Flame.

“Bloom.”

Sizzle!

The sound of flesh burning and ash-gray smoke poured out from my pores.

The ash-gray smoke enveloped me and Professor Elisha.

And then, jump.

“Kyaaaah!”

A cute scream, unlike her usual self, came from Professor Elisha in my arms, but I ignored it.

* * *

Arriving at the first layer of the Abyss, hundreds of meters below.

“Y-you really…!”

Professor Elisha glared at me with a red face.

The gap between her usual cool image and now made my heart skip a beat, but…

“Let’s go.”

“Ugh…”

Now wasn’t the time to be concerned about that.

I headed towards the center of the ruins, where the gate to the second layer of the Abyss could be opened.

Arriving at the center of the ruins with Professor Elisha.

“…As expected.”

“The gate is open.”

A rift leading to the second layer of the Abyss, just like the one I had created before, was there.

Professor Elisha and I exchanged glances, and without a word, we entered the gate.

Our vision flickered, and the scenery of the second layer of the Abyss, which I had seen before, came into view.

“Where’s Jackal?”

“…He seems to have gone further down.”

Perhaps because Jackal had passed through, the monsters that had rushed at us upon arriving at the second layer before were nowhere to be seen.

Descending further with Professor Elisha, we arrived at the third layer of the Abyss.

A ceiling surrounded by flames, as if a massive wildfire had occurred, and a ground dyed in ominous orange.

And at its center.

“Hoh.”

An old man covered in tattoos.

The Grand Archbishop of Beasts, Jackal, looked at us with surprised eyes.

“…Jackal.”

“Kekeke. I see now… why you’re called the ‘Spider of Calamity.’ Truly despicable.”

Jackal shook his head, clearly not expecting us to follow him this far.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Do I need to tell you?”

“Keke. Well… the reason doesn’t matter.”

Jackal twisted his wrinkled lips and shrugged.

“But since you’ve come this far, I should give you a gift.”

“…A gift?”

Snap.

Jackal flicked his fingers, and the tattoos on his body glowed, creating a massive rift in the air.

Thud, thud, thud!

Emerging from the rift was a monster dozens of meters tall.

Eleven fiercely gleaming eyes glared at her.

“…!!!”

Professor Elisha’s eyes widened.

“How is it? Brings back memories, doesn’t it?”

Jackal laughed as he looked at her.

He lovingly stroked the massive monster that had emerged from the rift and continued.

“This child… is the one that devoured your parents alive and trampled your hometown.”

“……”

The throbbing scar on her left eyelid.

The nightmare that swallowed her life, the endless despair.

It was reappearing before her eyes once again.