Chapter 144: The Hour of Fate’s Clock Hand (3)

As soon as the informational training ended, I ate with Yuria and we parted ways.

I had originally planned to go straight back to the dorm, but I decided to walk around campus for a bit to sort out my thoughts.

The exam starts at 20:00, when the sun sets and the surroundings begin to be enveloped in darkness.

At that time, an emergency alarm siren will sound in the Research Wing, and at the same time, the twelve prepared villains will escape from the Research Wing.

Their true identity is the 887th class, 4th-year cadets, disguised as villains for the exam.

But absurdly, half of them are real villains.

To be precise, they are scheduled to become so.

‘They must have all broken into the Academy by now.’

I had already handed over the infiltration routes into the campus a long time ago.

The number of assailants who entered through there was a total of ten, led by Margo.

All of them were High Clerics selected from the Death Council and the Darkness Council.

Six of them will kill the 4th-year students who were supposed to help with the exam and take their place.

The guys who thus become real villains will kill the 1st-year cadets, leaving an indelible disgrace and stigma on both the Academy and the Empire.

This is the true purpose of the terror.

‘And there, I have to draw Ivan’s attention so that he can’t stop the terror…… but.’

It’s strange.

The more I think about it, the more unsettling and fishy it smells.

‘Why?’

I can’t pinpoint the exact reason.

It’s just a gut feeling.

Nevertheless, to name a few, it’s Guartes’s eyes.

The secret meeting with Margo this morning.

There, Guartes showed an anxious appearance from beginning to end.

Well, it’s not strange.

Because his direct superior, a High Cleric, is next to him.

It could be that he was just being mindful of him.

However.

‘Guartes was also mindful of me.’

Whether we had grown attached after working together so much, Guartes was not as nervous when he saw me as he was at first.

After I had saved him during the zombie incident caused by Zad, his attitude toward me had completely changed 180 degrees, and his eyes dripped with loyalty when he looked at me.

And he had also been extremely fond of Clatter, saying that the fruit of his lifelong research was here.

But.

‘He has never looked at me with those eyes before.’

I thought I saw a hint of apology in them.

‘Also, Margo’s sudden intrusion is strange.’

When the messenger, Guartes, gives me a request, I am the one who carries it out.

Of course, I am also the one who makes the plan and executes it.

But suddenly, the initiative has been passed to Margo.

Let’s say giving the request is fine.

But all the authority to make the plan and command is with Margo.

I, who have successfully completed numerous requests until now, am a simple bait.

Of course, since the target is Ivan, this role of bait is also important.

It is, but.

‘To suddenly appear and take all the control? That’s strange.’

It would be a different story if it was Bishop Lutus, but Bishop Cristiano, who supports and trusts me, would never approve of such a thing.

And Margo is Bishop Cristiano’s right-hand man.

‘The fact that it’s an urgent request also keeps bothering me. A large-scale human terror attack during the final evaluation. It’s clearly a huge event, but it’s hard to shake off the feeling that it’s being done as if pushed by something.’

From my perspective, who knows the importance and sincerity of the cult’s ‘Raid the Academy’, this operation was close to a gamble that made almost no sense.

But a gamble is something you throw only when you’re cornered, like in an ultimatum situation, or when you have no choice.

If I were to ask myself, ‘Is the cult so cornered that they would throw such a gamble?’, I would of course answer no.

At some point, I let out a dry laugh.

And rightly so, because when I considered this and that, there were more than one or two strange things.

Now it wasn’t just a gut feeling, but things were definitely taking a strange turn.

A feeling that something I didn’t know was about to happen.

‘This is frustrating. I’ll have to investigate the cult as soon as this is over.’

Fortunately, it was vacation after the final evaluation.

I would have more personal time, so I’ll use that time to grasp the cult’s movements.

After sorting out my thoughts, I returned to the dorm.

Time flowed slowly and steadily.

As the final exam approached, the surroundings gradually became quiet.

As they had been taught, all the cadets had to be inside their dorms just before the exam situation occurred.

That’s where it starts.

I also skipped dinner and waited in my dorm room, checking my equipment.

Then it was 10 minutes before the situation and I summoned a Sylph for the first time in a long while.

“I’m counting on you.”

Jjororong!

The Sylph, mixed in with the gaps in the wind, went outside and headed somewhere.

Outside the dorm.

To those hiding in the gloomy bushes, waiting for an opportunity.

And.

Weeeeeeeeng──!

The alarm sounded.

Wudangtang!

As if they had been waiting, the cadets rushed outside with a commotion.

Some ran into the corridor and down the stairs, and some jumped out of the windows, thinking that time was too precious.

How do I know?

Because one of them was me.

I opened the window and jumped down.

At the same time, I activated the recording device, the Record, that I was wearing on my ear.

Jiiing──

An unfamiliar mechanical sound was heard.

And far away, I could see a red glow soaring into the sky.

The direction of the Research Wing.

I immediately ran there.

Whether it was because of my speed or because each kid had their own planned route.

When I looked around, I was running alone.

So they must have thought now was the timing.

The attack began.

Puhwak!

A pure white spear shot out of the ground without warning.

If I hadn’t known, I would have been skewered, but it was an attack I had already expected.

I easily dodged it and lifted my head.

“Hehehe.”

An eerie laughter that had already filled the area.

The laughter came from the front and soon, the figure of the guy who had been hidden in the darkness was revealed in the moonlight.

It goes without saying, but the guy’s identity was the High Cleric Margo, who had said he would stop me.

“……A villain?”

But I asked, pretending not to know.

Margo did not answer.

A series of dark magic unfolded.

I dodged that as well and then rushed at him and swung my sword.

“Hmph.”

Margo snorted.

In that moment, a dark space appeared in front of him, and a massive axe shot out of it.

Thanks to that, I had to roll on the floor.

And.

‘Now.’

As if I had been waiting, I struck my ear.

Jjaenggeurang!

The record I was wearing on my ear shattered.

Having thus destroyed the artifact that could monitor my movements, I lightly ignored the Dullahan blocking my way and rushed at Margo.

“It’s no use!”

Margo quickly summoned a bone shield made of ribs to cover his body.

But my target was not Margo in the first place.

I used [Phase Shift] to escape from that place.

***

Margo.

A High Cleric of the Death Council and a necromancer who had Bishop Cristiano as his master.

He was at a loss for what to do with the overwhelming bewilderment.

He stands still on the spot and mutters in a dejected voice.

“……Did he just run away?”

It seemed so.

He hadn’t heard any impact sound on the bone shield, so he had poked his head out in suspicion.

But Gerard, who should have been there, was nowhere to be seen.

The Dullahan he had summoned had also lost Gerard’s presence and was looking around.

At first, he thought he was hiding.

So he surveyed the surroundings without letting his guard down.

But now that some time had passed, it was almost certain.

“He ran away.”

Hmm, Margo strokes his chin.

It was an action he could neither understand nor accept.

Because from Gerard’s perspective, he was a villain who had escaped from the Academy’s Research Wing.

Gerard was in the middle of an important exam.

No.

In the first place, based on Gerard’s behavior patterns so far, Gerard’s action just now, of running away in front of a villain, was highly unusual.

“Was he that scared of me?”

If not, honestly, he couldn’t think of any other reason.

Margo laughed.

“Hehe. Well, I guess so. When would a brat like him have ever seen a high-grade undead like a Dullahan?”

Margo approached the headless corpse, the Dullahan, that he had summoned and patted its shoulder.

Gweeek-

The head held in Dullahan’s hand made a strange sound.

“I was looking forward to it since he caught Bishop Papamus. A brat is a brat.”

Honestly, it didn’t even make sense to compare a mere Demon Council Bishop with himself.

Anyway, he was a quick-witted guy.

“I feel good, but…… this ruins the mission.”

His mission was to draw Gerard’s attention.

But having let him go so futilely right in front of him, the operation had now completely gone off the rails.

“Well, does it matter?”

The real purpose wasn’t the terror anyway.

‘It’s time to abandon the hunting dog I raised.’

Recalling the original mission he had received from Bishop Cristiano, Margo reverse-summoned the Dullahan and then began to communicate.

[Vilter. This is Margo.]

[This is Vilter.]

[How is the situation over there? Has the thief appeared?]

[No, not yet.]

Damn it.

Margo nervously kicked the ground and frowned.

According to the original plan, the Master of Shadow should have appeared at the meeting place an hour ago and moved with Vilter.

But for some reason, he had not appeared at the meeting place, and that situation of being out of contact had continued until the start of the operation.

In the end, the Darkness Council’s High Cleric, Vilter, was marking Ivan by himself.

“What should I do? This is a mess.”

Bishop Cristiano’s order had to be carried out.

That was the only way for him to be recognized and, further, to secure the position of the next Bishop.

But with the first button going wrong like this, Margo felt his irritation rise.

‘Should I just carry out the terror? Or should I find the thief and complete the order? But how do I find him?’

It was when he was racking his brain like that.

[Margo. This is Vilter.]

A communication rang in his mind.

[The thief has arrived.]

“……!”

Margo quickly brought his hand to the communication ring.

[Where is he, Vilter? Is he right next to you?]

[No. I was moving, following Ivan. The thief appeared suddenly.]

Appeared suddenly……?

At that moment, Gerard, who had disappeared just before, came to Margo’s mind.

Very coincidentally, the thief appeared as soon as Gerard disappeared.

Was it a coincidence?

But such thoughts soon disappeared.

What was important to Margo now was the fact that the thief, who he thought was out of contact, had appeared.

Now, it was time to execute their real mission, as ordered by Bishop Cristiano.

[What’s the situation?]

[Southwest of the Research Wing. Behind Kasmog Hall. When Ivan was going, the thief suddenly appeared and attacked Ivan.]

[What’s the situation now?]

[The two are in a standoff.]

A standoff.

[Does the thief know of your existence?]

[He doesn’t. But does it matter?]

Margo let out a small laugh.

Right.

That kind of thing doesn’t matter now.

What was important to them was that the thief had appeared.

And that he was with Ivan as planned.

‘He’s such an obedient hunting dog. Just as the Bishop said,’

But now it was time to let that hunting dog go.

[The orb?]

[It’s already prepared. He also has a beast pouch on his waist.]

Perfect.

Margo’s smile deepened.

[Wait.]

***

Before the exam, I had attached a Sylph to Ivan.

So when I used [Phase Shift], the first thing that came into my sight was the figure of Ivan, running not far away.

I could also feel the presence of another person nearby.

It must be the Darkness Council’s High Cleric named Vilter.

He had not yet discovered me.

So I immediately took off my shirt.

The leather suit I was wearing underneath was revealed.

I took out a vest, Raven and finally a skull mask from my subspace and put them on.

The time it took was only 5 seconds.

Afterward, I immediately rushed at my target.

To carry out the cult’s request to draw Ivan’s attention.

Chwaang!

The swords cross.

And we stand off, distanced from each other.

He looks quite surprised.

I can see the bewilderment in Ivan’s eyes as he looks at me.

‘Why are you here?’

He must have thought I was a villain who had escaped from the Research Wing, but he seems confused now that I’ve appeared.

But he soon grips his sword properly and charges at me.

So I also raised Raven.

If I just play around with him and buy some time, the mission is over.

***

[Margo.]

[Speak, Vilter.]

[The two have clashed.]

Then now was the timing.

A chilling killing intent appeared in Margo’s eyes.

[Detonate it.]

At the same time.

I felt a huge mana wave from far away.

***

‘I’m worried about the rest of the kids.’

The attack disguised as an exam must have started by now.

Right.

I told them the countermeasures, so they must be dealing with it well.

Still, they’re the ones called the golden generation at the Academy.

──As I was facing Ivan in front of me with such worries and reassurances.

At that moment, I felt a violent tremor of mana.

“……!”

I turned my head to where the tremor had started.

In the bushes, I could see a man in black clothes looking this way with his eyes shining.

He was holding something in his hand.

My pupils dilated in an instant and I took in the object.

……It was an orb.

Looking like a beast pouch.

The transparent orb was filled with an ominous mana.

And the mana resonance that thus began pierced the long distance and reached my waist.

To be precise, to the beast pouch attached to my waist.

Kiiiing!

An exploding halo of light.

In the slowly flowing time, I saw Ivan.

“Run……”

The words did not continue.

Kwa-aaaaang──

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