I had this weird feeling that something was off.
Out of the blue, undeads emerged from the ground.
And then, crashing through buildings came the flamboyant entry of an undead wyvern.
Both were completely unexpected, and their overly dramatic and noisy appearances certainly gave me a good scare.
But that was about it.
The wyvern made a flashy ‘KWAH-GWANG’ entrance, but all it did was make a racket.
Outside the building, undeads were swarming in, but even Erika alone could stall them long enough.
In short, all show, no substance.
Most importantly, no one else showed up besides the undeads.
Not even Vice Chancellor Landgar made an appearance, nor anyone from Landgar’s presumed group.
I had braced myself for a potential battle with Landgar, expecting the worst-case scenario, but nothing.
“Guess this is the place.”
Looking at the collapsed building, I found myself muttering under my breath.
The building housing the Chancellor’s office, Vice Chancellor’s office, and the warehouse was almost half-destroyed.
Badly damaged in multiple areas, the building’s interior was completely exposed, with battle traces scattered all around.
When I tried to teleport to the roof, something felt off, like the space was twisting.
That’s the phenomenon that occurs when you try to teleport to a non-existent location.
I almost got trapped in a void due to a moment of carelessness, if it weren’t for the high alert during combat keeping me on edge.
“This much intense fighting, and no sound?”
Including the half-destroyed building, the surroundings were utterly devastated.
Deep gouges in the ground and a part of the training forest wiped out as if someone pressed on it with ease hinted at something more.
It seemed, as Erika had suggested, some form of barrier had been cast to conceal something.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t have missed these battle signs, even if I were inside the party hall.
Thud-thud.
I deliberately made noise entering the battlefield, taunting anyone that might still be around.
“Did something larger than Yongyong make an appearance?”
The scene suggested a beast of considerable size rampaged here.
As I moved further inside, staying vigilant, I sought the entrance to the vault.
If my memory serves, there should be a large iron door leading underground not too far ahead.
And it should look something like this.
“Eh?”
I thought the Vice Chancellor would have been here trying to enter the vault, but clearly not.
The vault door sat pristine, showing no signs of forced entry.
The protective magic and barrier that would activate if someone tried to break in were also intact.
“The vault wasn’t robbed?”
I realized upon reaching here and seeing the devastation around.
They sent undeads to the party hall where most Academy personnel were present, creating chaos, likely as a diversion.
What seemed like an effective distraction tactic turned out to not be.
I had assumed they would attack the students based on the quest description “bl**d-Stained,” so I didn’t suspect this dual-layered plan easily.
Seeing the situation had already wrapped up, I thought it was too late; they must have stolen from the vault already.
“But if the goal wasn’t to break into the vault, then what?”
I couldn’t make sense of it.
“Then who fought who?”
There was no sign of anyone trying to forcefully open the vault or of any combat that should match.
I mistakenly assumed that there was a battle with the golems set to protect the vault’s barrier.
But my steps quickened unknowingly.
After confirming the vault was untouched, I ventured further inside.
The deeper I went, the more puzzling it became, until I caught sight of something from afar.
“Huh?”
“Uh?”
The something turned out to be someone.
The moment I became aware of them, they seemed aware of me too.
A figure clad in an unknown white robe.
I’d never seen clothing of such style before, but I definitely recognized the person inside.
Vice Chancellor Landgar.
In front of Landgar, someone lay collapsed, their clothes shredded, lying in a pathetic state.
“Who’s that?”
While I quickly processed the situation, Landgar casually addressed me, not recognizing who I was under the mask.
Whoosh!
I assumed a stance and channeled mana into my Black Shadow Sword.
As the dark mana began to ripple along the blade, Landgar acted quickly too.
The instant Landgar extended his hand toward me, I swung my sword and moved behind him via spatial teleportation.
Crackle!
“Tch.”
“d*mn.”
My surprise attack unfortunately missed.
While Landgar hadn’t anticipated I’d strike from behind, several protection spells were already in place around him.
And not only were they strong, they easily withstood my Black Shadow Sword.
Crackle… Clash!
At least it broke some of them, though.
“That outfit and mask… could it possibly be…?”
Whoosh!
Before Landgar had time to mutter, I swung my sword again.
The moment I swung, I confirmed who the fallen person was.
“… The Chancellor?”
The fallen person turned out to be Chancellor Binuar of the Academy.
Could it be the Chancellor fell to the Vice Chancellor?
Crackle… Crack!
My sword didn’t reach Landgar’s body.
With how many layers of protection he had laid down, my Black Shadow Sword was continuously breaking through barriers.
“There goes the thief getting so deep. Tsk.”
“… What?”
Who’s calling whom a thief?
And who’s been secretly plotting within the Academy?
Crackle. Crack.
“Given that you got this far, I assume you really did take the Sandglass.”
Landgar was murmuring to himself confidently.
I deliberately ignored his irrelevant questions, choosing instead to say what I wanted.
“That person, what did you do to them?”
“Ho, a woman?”
“Did you do that?”
“And if I did?”
“Then I’ll arrest you on the spot.”
Thanks to the mask’s effect, Landgar seemed to perceive my voice as feminine.
Sure is convenient, isn’t it?
“From that confidence, you must be the leader of this thief group, huh?”
“You’re the thief.”
“Ho ho ho.”
Landgar was genuinely laughing as if amused.
I seized the chance to strike with my sword, but, again, it was blocked by a barrier.
d*mn, how many layers of protection are there?
“There’s no use. I’ve overlaid over a hundred of the top-grade barriers.”
“…What?”
Over a hundred?
That goes far beyond expectation.
“Today’s a lucky day. I had a few questions for you, too.”
“For me?”
“Yeah. Where’s the Sandglass you stole?”
“I sold it a long time ago. Were the repairs expensive?”
“So, where did you sell it?”
KWAHHHHNG – Crack!
Mid-sentence, Landgar attacked with my sword again.
Unlike before, I swung with all my focus, effort, and mana.
CAAAWNG!
A loud sound of something breaking echoed widely.
Along with it, Landgar’s expression visibly tensed.
“Did that break about thirty of them?”
“You wretch…!”
Whoosh!
Landgar stepped back while pulling up mana.
The black mana emerging from Landgar, which felt unpleasant even for an Academy Vice Chancellor, didn’t transform into a spell structure.
Instead, it transformed into sharp, elongated shapes.
For lack of a better description, it resembled unsettling tentacles.
“This isn’t magic as much as raw mana discharge, huh?”
“Impudent fool. I’ll k*ll you.”
“But then you’ll never find the hourglass, right?”
“Hmph.”
AAIIKK!
Landgar paid no mind to my threat.
The sharp, elongated mana masses surged towards me quickly.
AAIIKK! KWAHNG! KWAHHNG! KWAHNG!
“Ah, so this is why the area was completely devastated.”
With every attempt to dodge, that’s all I could think.
Unfortunately, unlike Landgar who could cast a hundred-layer protection barrier, I had no choice but to dodge.
KWAHNG! KWAHHNG!
The mana tentacles were very tricky to handle.
Even when I tried to deflect them with my mana-infused Black Shadow Sword, they didn’t behave like solid objects.
They didn’t get pushed back, but rather split apart like liquid and quickly reformed, rushing towards me again.
It was a frustrating attack.
With no option but evasion, defense was out of the question.
“Today marks the end of your thief group.”
Landgar sneered and shouted at me.
Calling us a thief group was somewhat accurate, though.
“We did take a few things.”
“Hmph, so you reveal your true colors now.”
KWAHHNG!
After the tentacles slammed into the ground one last time, it briefly quieted down.
HUOOOONG!
I quickly opened a space during this moment.
A gap that only I could see appeared in the air and gradually split.
And out of it came a massive something.
“What’s that…?”
“It’s not fully tamed yet.”
GRRRRRRR!
“Why are you out of the party hall?”
“I caught him.”
AAIIKK!
Yongyong, who had entered the subspace in a rage earlier, charged towards Landgar, expressing their fury.
With speed not unlike the mana tentacles, Yongyong surged toward Landgar.
Landgar frowned, clearly displeased, but showed no signs of anxiety.
I never thought for a moment that an undead wyvern would stand a chance against Landgar.
I brought out Yongyong simply to buy some time.
“I must arrest you on the scene.”
As Landgar reached out to Yongyong with a frown, I prepared myself.
It took just a moment for Yongyong to be overwhelmed by the black mana and crash down.
Yongyong landed uselessly, making a groaning sound.
But it was more than enough for me.
WHOOSH! PAHHH!
“Kuh, KKK!”
The black glove on my right hand, tightly gripping Landgar’s neck, faintly shone.
The expression of horror on Landgar’s face was priceless.
It’s a shame I can’t show my smile behind the mask.
Such a moment calls for a smirk.
