Chapter 111: Extracurricular Activities (10)

The inside of my subspace was a realm entirely made of my mana.

There was only one person capable of forcibly opening it without my will.

And so, I instinctively knew.

‘The Necromantic Orb has been shattered.’

A dry gulp slid down my throat.

The joy of an unexpected reunion.

The anticipation and excitement of wondering how Clatter had changed.

And the worry—perhaps it had become a monster with nothing but lingering thoughts.

‘Bone Dragon Antakagon.’

As I recalled that dreadful calamity and stared at the subspace with a complicated gaze, it happened.

Snap──!

A sharp sound struck the walls of the cavern, echoing in all directions.

As if it was saying it had missed me.

Rustle!

A blurry figure leapt out from the subspace and landed on the ground.

A man wrapped in tattered bandages, dressed in ragged clothes.

Clatter hadn’t changed.

Not outwardly, nor inwardly.

Clatter appeared before me exactly as he had been before entering the Necromantic Orb.

Snap!

But there was something different.

Clatter turned his head to stare at Papamus.

In that moment, the aura he exuded was so intense it made my skin tingle from behind.

“What’s that? Who are you.”

Papamus flinched and took a step back.

He wasn’t foolish enough to miss that this sudden intruder was on my side.

Moreover, the power emanating from Clatter was far from ordinary, leaving Papamus visibly tense.

“Gerard. Is this your ally? That can’t be right. Wait, hold on. This energy….”

His eyes, focused on Clatter, suddenly widened in shock.

“W-Wait, an undead? What’s going on, Gerard! Weren’t you a hero cadet? How are you using necromancy….”

I cut him off.

“Why should I tell you when you’re about to die anyway?”

“…What?”

“It felt good ganging up on me earlier, didn’t it?”

I slung Raven over my shoulder and smirked.

“The tables have turned.”

Pfha! Papamus let out a twisted laugh.

“Do I look like an easy target to you?”

Snap! Papamus clicked his fingers together.

A dark magic formula rapidly formed, spreading across the ground.

“Struggle all you want.”

Papamus, now floating in the air, chuckled mockingly.

At the same time—

Boom!

The ground erupted in a chain of explosions.

I immediately used [Dagger Shift].

I reappeared in a corner of the cavern.

But that spot was still within the range of Papamus’s dark magic, so I quickly gathered my daggers and lunged forward.

“Hahahaha!”

That damned bastard seemed intent on blowing the entire mine to pieces.

Papamus unleashed a maniacal laugh as he triggered indiscriminate explosions.

Below, I saw Clatter charging toward Papamus, his sole target.

Dodging the explosions with shadow-like movements, Clatter retrieved a dagger that had shattered a chimera’s head, then kicked off the wall and leapt upward.

Tat-tat!

The dagger in Clatter’s hand surged with the energy of death.

That power was strong enough to shatter Papamus’s protective barrier, which is why Papamus chose not to rely on his shield but instead used [Spatial Leap].

‘Now’s my chance.’

In that instant, a dagger left my hand.

[Spatial Leap].

This vision, which maximized a mage’s survivability, allowed the caster to instantly teleport to any location within their line of sight—a near-cheat-like ability.

But that strength was also its weakness.

Just like now.

Whoosh!

From Papamus’s perspective, he had evaded Clatter’s attack by teleporting, only to find a dagger hurtling toward him out of nowhere.

Even in that fleeting moment, he managed to deploy a protective barrier, but the dagger I threw was an artifact imbued with a [Barrier Nullification] formula.

‘Too bad for you.’

“Arghhh!”

Perhaps feeling pain for the first time in his life, Papamus let out a scream that tore through the air as he plummeted.

Clatter and I relentlessly hurled daggers at the falling Papamus.

Thud!

Thud!

By the time Papamus crashed into the ground, his piercing screams had ceased.

I approached him.

Cough.

Papamus’s body was riddled with daggers.

Each one was embedded in a vital spot, a state so severe that even Professor Ilai couldn’t have saved him.

“I… I don’t want to die….”

“Then struggle. Who knows? Maybe you’ll survive.”

At my words, his body trembled violently before going limp.

He was dead.

I didn’t think much of it.

Death isn’t good or bad—it just is.

But this death suited him, that was my first thought.

The second was that the battle had ended more easily than I’d anticipated.

‘Of course, that was thanks to an unexpected ally.’

I turned to look at Clatter.

He was looking back at me.

In his dark pupils, I could see a swirl of countless emotions.

I figured mine were probably similar.

Truth be told, I’d been fighting the urge to grin ever since he appeared.

Finally, I let out a wide smile and said what I’d been holding back.

“Good to see you. I’ve been waiting.”

Clatter’s jaw clicked as he opened his arms and embraced me.

* * *

After catching up with Clatter and sending him back to the subspace, I surveyed the cavern.

According to the mine’s internal map, there was no separate exit.

But Papamus had blown up the entrance—the only way out. Analyzing his actions, I concluded he must have prepared an escape route somewhere.

Sure enough, behind a protruding wall, I found an entrance concealed by a camouflage tarp that blended with the rocks.

‘A bed, a drawer, a desk….’

It was Papamus’s quarters.

I searched the area, but there was no secret passage or escape route leading outside.

‘What’s going on? This doesn’t make sense.’

Papamus clearly feared death.

Yet, a guy like that would trap himself in this lab, intending to die alongside me?

‘No way.’

Sure, he’d caused a chain of explosions like a madman, but their power was less than half of what he’d shown in the original story.

That meant he’d controlled the force to avoid collapsing the mine.

‘So why isn’t there an exit?’

I approached his desk.

On it lay his research journal.

I skimmed through it just in case.

[The more I researched, the clearer it became that the power of visions and artifacts is fundamentally different. When I applied the cult’s infusion ritual, which transfers an artifact’s power to a beast, to a vision, the beast’s body couldn’t withstand it and collapsed.]

[After many trials and errors, I realized the issue was intelligence. A vision is a value refined over countless years through the insights of nations, families, schools, guilds, and individuals. Could a mere beast possibly harness such an unprecedented power? It was an arrogant and foolish notion.] ‘

[After much thought, I decided to use intelligent beings—humans. It’s simple math. Instead of a dim-witted beast, I’d infuse the vision into a human, specifically a human in their growth phase with an open mind. Progress was slow at first, but as expected, the vision integrated well with the human body, and by combining parts of their body with a beast….]

I stopped there and quickly flipped back to the earlier pages.

I didn’t care about the ideology or methods behind Papamus’s grotesque experiments.

I was interested in one thing only.

The vision.

‘It’s definitely Stealth.’

The chimera, the spying eyes, and the newly completed chimera—all of them shared one trait: stealth.

‘And something that didn’t appear in the original story.’

I read from the beginning of the journal.

Soon, I found what I was looking for.

[He barged into my lab out of nowhere.]

The time was one year ago.

Just before Papamus came to Roenberg.

[He was incredibly strong. Without his disability, he might have been on par with an archbishop. I was consumed by an intense desire to study his body.]

[But it took less than ten minutes to realize my arrogance. Most of my high clerics were killed… (omitted). When I finally defeated him, all that remained was emptiness and rage.]

[Then it happened. My anger vanished. I found a vision tome in his possession. A vision tome! I quickly examined it. Its name was ‘Stealth.’]

The rest connected to the latter part I’d already read.

Without [The Thief’s Breath], Papamus couldn’t learn or use it.

So, he resorted to the cult’s infusion ritual to transfer the artifact’s power into a body, but since visions and artifacts were fundamentally different, he turned to these biological experiments.

Snap!

I closed the journal.

“Stealth….”

Yes, it was strange.

Papamus immediately recognized the vision I used as a thief’s power and spoke as if he’d fought one before.

Now, the mystery was solved.

The man who single-handedly wrecked Papamus’s lab.

He was undoubtedly from Shadow.

A name came to mind.

‘Kanabi.’

One of Shadow’s Three Seats, specializing in disruption.

According to Luis, he was second only to Magello in combat prowess.

“…You were alive.”

Just one year ago.

He was still alive back then.

‘Why didn’t you come find us?’

Did he think we were done for?

…It was possible.

One year ago, before the cult’s full support, Shadow was still in hiding, biding their time.

‘But you could’ve at least looked for us.’

It was regrettable.

I didn’t know why.

Whether it was one year or ten, it was all in the past, and he was someone I’d never even met, but my heart felt strangely heavy.

Magello returned to us as Clatter.

Rendal left behind Dayle as his successor.

But Kanabi? He had nothing.

He didn’t come back.

“…I’ve avenged you.”

I offered a brief moment of silence for him, wherever he was, and turned away.

There was no exit.

But I knew where it was.

Returning to the experimental cavern, I saw Papamus’s now-rigid corpse.

With an impassive expression, I searched his body as if handling an object.

And then, I pulled out a book.

[Stealth].

People always keep their prized treasures close.

Papamus had carried the vision tome on his person.

But that wasn’t all.

Tucked between the pages, serving as a bookmark, was a scroll.

A scroll inscribed with the formula for [Spatial Transfer].

Without hesitation, I tore it open.

* * *

There was an attack.

A high cleric from the Demon Council, disguised as a Roenberg knight.

He targeted Kimi, but Rachel had foreseen it and stopped him.

In the end, Rachel killed him.

It wasn’t because of Gerard’s order to protect Kimi.

It was simply because she despised the Demon Council.

‘Filthy bastards.’

Rachel already loathed the cult, but their method of kidnapping children ignited an even greater rage within her.

Having killed the high cleric in a fit of emotion, Rachel sat on his corpse, smoking a cigarette, waiting leisurely for her companions to return with good news.

Papamus was a bishop, but given her team’s strength, she didn’t believe they could lose.

‘They’re incredible kids.’

That was also why Rachel had come this far.

To recruit Ivan and Yuria.

That was her goal.

In truth, Rachel had a reliable ally in Shadow’s master.

But since her target for revenge was Bishop Lutus, she wanted a Plan B as well.

And at the top of that Plan B list were those two.

‘Ivan and Yuria.’

Karina was excluded due to her Zain family ties, and while Gerard was highly skilled, he was the Demon Council’s top target for elimination, so she ruled him out as too unpredictable.

‘Plus, I’m pretty sure Gerard doesn’t like me.’

In the end, Rachel had joined this extracurricular activity to build rapport with Ivan and Yuria.

But what was this?

Instead of good news, she received devastating news.

“…What? That guy’s trapped?”

So shocked, Rachel forgot to keep up her act and referred to Gerard as “that guy.”

But no one pointed out her changed tone or found it strange.

…Because they were all out of their minds with worry.

Karina and Ivan were frantically meeting with the Roenberg mayor to request support and reporting to the Academy.

And Yuria…

“….”

She was dazed all day.

Like a broken wind-up doll.

“Hey, guys!”

The next day, when people from the Academy arrived, she seemed to regain a bit of energy.

Led by Department Head Allen, with Vice-Dean Baron, Professor Ilai, Instructor Chaser, and Instructor Ronica, among others.

Upon hearing the news, professor-level personnel had immediately flown to Roenberg via airship.

They rushed to the mine to break through the blocked entrance.

But despite their efforts, the entrance wouldn’t budge.

Time passed mercilessly.

At first, Yuria had cried as if a faucet had been turned on, but now, her tear ducts seemingly dry, she stared vacantly toward the mine, waiting for an uncertain return.

“Don’t worry, Yuria. Gerard-senpai will definitely come back!”

That was all Rachel could say.

It wasn’t an empty promise—Gerard, as she’d observed, was a bizarre human who repeatedly defied common sense.

Papamus might be a bishop, but he was the weakest of the Demon Council’s bishops, wasn’t he?

‘If things go well—really well—Gerard might actually win.’

Of course, she couldn’t say this out loud, so Rachel’s heart burned with frustration.

“Ha.”

Letting out a sigh, Rachel stepped into the backyard.

The gloomy atmosphere made her crave a cigarette.

“Maybe I’ll just smoke.”

Everyone else had rushed to the mine, leaving only her and Yuria here.

And Yuria was clearly not coming out, so… after some quick calculations, Rachel pulled out a cigarette and put it to her lips.

Chik.

“Phew.”

Rachel scratched her forehead.

Her feelings toward Gerard were unmistakably negative.

So why did she feel so uneasy?

‘Have I grown attached despite myself?’

It was true that, in just a few short days, they’d been through a lot together.

It wasn’t just Gerard.

While infiltrating the Academy, studying, training, and facing dangers and hardships together, Rachel had, unbeknownst to herself, started to become attached to the Academy and her friends.

Lying in her dorm bed, she’d briefly imagined it.

A life where she gave up on revenge and lived as an ordinary Academy cadet.

‘…A story that can never come true.’

Especially if things continued like this.

With a wry smile, Rachel stubbed out her cigarette and lit another.

Chik──

Watching the ashen smoke curl into the sky, she erased her futile hopes one by one.

That’s how she faced reality coldly.

Then it happened.

“Hey. You smoke?”

At the sound of an impossible voice, Rachel’s head snapped to the side like lightning.

Thud. The cigarette fell from her mouth.

“Hey, damn it! What a waste of a good cigarette!”

He clicked his tongue, looking at the fallen cigarette with regretful eyes.

But that didn’t matter.

Rachel was so shocked and bewildered that her soul felt like it was leaving her body.

‘Really? He actually beat him and came back?’

He was insane.

This man, who shattered her common sense every time, was definitely insane.

At that moment, the back door burst open.

“….”

“Hey? Yuria, hi. I’m back.”

Casually waving his hand, Rachel was certain once again that he was insane.

Watching Yuria rush out at full speed, throw herself into his arms, and sob, Rachel could only let out a small chuckle.

‘God, really.’

This was why, even knowing it was an impossible story, she couldn’t help but hope.

“*Sob.* Senior! Seniori!”

“Hey, hey, Yuria. Why are you crying like this? Huh?”

“Wow, do you really not know why, senior?”

“…And you’re just smoking over there?”

“That’s mean! I was waiting for you too!”

Yuria, sobbing in Gerard’s arms, and Gerard, scratching his head, at a loss for what to do.

And Rachel, giggling at the sight.

A picturesque scene, cast in the dim twilight.

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