Chapter 145: Scapegoat

Beeeep──

A ringing sound filled my ears.

The smell of gunpowder stung my nose, and the dust and ash from the explosion obscured my vision.

The air touching my skin was as hot as fire.

In fact, my body was burning all over.

“Keuk,” a groan escaped me, but I couldn’t hear any sound because of the ringing in my ears.

If I hadn’t felt the sense of unease.

If I hadn’t quickly thrown the beast pouch into the air, I would have been caught in the explosion and blown to pieces.

And.

Thump……!

Clatter was lying right next to me.

With one arm and his entire lower body blown off in a gruesome state, he reached out his hand to me.

“……Clatter.”

In a split second, Clatter had leaped out of the subspace and blocked a significant amount of the explosion for me.

Damn it, I barely managed to swallow the curse that was about to come out.

I stirred my mana.

I opened the subspace to collect the rest of Clatter’s body and activated the special ability of ‘Agnis’, [Warmth of Healing].

A warm sensation spread from my wrist, healing the wounds on my body.

I could feel the ringing in my ears subside and my senses gradually return.

I quickly grasped the situation.

There was no resistance in controlling my mana.

That meant that the thing just now was not a beast pouch.

A mana bomb.

But why on earth?

‘A mistake?’

No.

The Darkness Council’s High Cleric, whose eyes I had briefly met, was accurately aiming for a mutual destruction of me and Ivan.

In other words, the situation was clear.

Betrayal.

The cult had unilaterally broken their contract with us, Shadow.

Right.

It was strange from the beginning.

I had been feeling it all along.

But the reason I had dismissed it as a groundless fear and denied that sense of unease.

Was because there was no reason for the cult to abandon us.

Shadow’s information gathering ability and high request success rate are unique.

There is no substitute.

Even if there were, one would have to go through the trouble of building trust again and sharing the progress so far.

The Darkness Council?

Their overall power may surpass Shadow’s, but aside from that, all their other abilities are below Shadow’s.

The cult also knew that, which is why they accepted Bishop Cristiano’s opinion.

And that’s why they made us their running mate for ‘Raid the Academy’, wasn’t it?

However,‘To abandon us like this now?’

It’s still something I don’t understand.

Even thinking about it rationally, it doesn’t make sense.

But that’s that.

For now, the priority was to overcome the current situation.

As soon as my body was somewhat healed by Agnis, I got up.

The ringing in my ears was gone, and all my senses had returned.

Warning broadcasts were blaring from all directions.

[Ah ah. The Guard Captain is broadcasting! This is currently a real situation, not an exam. Villains have infiltrated the Academy. The number of identified individuals is at least ten. Exam personnel, please secure your personal safety immediately, and cadets, prepare for battle. Also, professors, please prioritize subduing the villains, and those around the main building, please gather at the main building. I repeat. This is currently a real situation, not an exam…….]

Weeeeeeeeng──!

“Intrusion!”

“It’s a villain attack! This way!”

I could hear the shouts of the Academy guards not far away.

The sound of weapons clashing, the firing of muskets, and the booming sound of explosions.

The campus was now in a complete state of chaos.

‘Wait. Where’s Ivan?’

Belatedly, I remembered Ivan, who had been caught in the explosion with me, and turned my head.

Not far away, I saw a man lying face down.

It was Ivan.

I hurriedly approached and checked his condition.

Regular breathing and a steadily rising and falling chest.

Thanks to being far from the epicenter of the explosion, he was in a simple state of unconsciousness.

His limbs were also intact.

“Die.”

Just then, I heard a cold whisper from behind and the eerie sound of the wind being torn.

A surprise attack.

But I had already known of his approach for a while.

I put my hand on my shoulder, grabbed the hilt of Raven, and leaned forward.

Sreung, the sword separated with a smooth sound.

I immediately swung it up to parry his black sword, and then immediately retrieved it and cut his shoulder.

“…….!”

A flying arm and eyes widening in pain.

After swinging Raven two more times, he was now writhing on the ground, having lost his legs.

Stab!

I plunged the blade into the back of his remaining hand.

And I lowered my posture to meet his eyes.

His name was probably……

“Was it Walter?”

“…….It’s Vilter. Keuuu.”

I twisted the blade.

It seemed he couldn’t bear the pain, as a vein on his forehead seemed about to burst and a groan escaped him.

“Same difference. Why did you attack me? What is the cult’s objective.”

There was no answer.

The guy suddenly trembled all over and rolled his eyes back.

I thought it was a shock from excessive bleeding, but it wasn’t.

Black, bloody foam was trickling from his mouth.

Poison.

“Tsk,”

I clicked my tongue lightly and got up.

It was a pity that I couldn’t extract any information, but I could find that out later.

Right now, the priority was to escape from this chaotic scene.

The enemies were closing in.

And by enemies here, I don’t just mean the cult’s priests.

Including them, everyone.

Even the Academy’s personnel.

Everyone except me was an enemy and a threat.

Pajijik!

I took out the Record from the unconscious Ivan’s ear and broke it.

And I slung him over my shoulder.

I could have left him.

Geueoo!

Seeing the skeleton warriors appear, cutting through the smoke, I had already dismissed that thought.

If I ran away alone, the remaining Ivan would surely die at their hands.

I had to take him.

Shwiaak!

Suddenly, the smoke parted, and a black sword aura flew toward my neck.

A ghost knight.

I lightly dodged it and drew a formula.

[Lightning Slash]

A streak of lightning that bloomed from my fingertips accurately pierced the ghost knight’s core.

The ghost knight disappeared, turning into smoke.

Skeleton warriors took its place.

Their number was enough to fill the entire back of the building.

It meant that at least two necromancers had been mobilized.

Was that all?

In the shadows of the building, assassins with black swords were hiding, waiting for an opportunity.

“This has become troublesome.”

I frowned deeply, but for now, I ran.

The problem is the professors.

If not for them, it wouldn’t matter how many High Clerics there were.

‘I’ll break through this place and then leave Ivan where the guards are.’

And then I’ll escape using [Stealth].

That was my plan.

After that, my thoughts disappeared.

I constantly moved my eyes to find the openings in the swarming skeleton warriors, swung Raven, twisted my waist, and moved my legs.

Pababa-bak!

If you think that, you’re late.

Judgments are made solely by sense, and those decisions are immediately followed by action.

One skeleton warrior per wave of the hand.

Occasionally, the empty air would split, and an arm would pop out.

That arm would crush the skull of a nearby skeleton warrior and then drag it into the dark space.

Like some kind of antlion.

It was then.

Kiing!

For the first time, Raven stopped moving.

I lift my head to check.

A single black blade was blocking Raven.

A Darkness Council High Cleric.

I could see his eyes curve into a smile.

In return, I offer a knee kick.

Without hesitation, I threw my body and struck his chin with my knee.

Paak!

With a gruesome sound, his neck twists at an unnatural angle.

His body, unable to withstand the shock, collapses.

I use it as a springboard and draw a single formula.

[Tectonic Shift]

A lower-tier magic of the advanced vision [Great Earthquake].

The ground cracked and began to flip over in all directions in a spiderweb pattern, centered on me.

Kureureung!

The undead lost their balance and fell.

But the duration was short.

They immediately got back up.

I did not miss that split second.

Thanks to that, a fine gap was created between the bodies of the skeleton warriors.

One deep breath.

And when I exhaled.

[Dark Sprint]

My body, holding Ivan, became a sharp spear and pierced through that gap.

Tadak!

Before I knew it, I was running through the green area.

Then I heard a groan from Ivan, who was slung over my shoulder, and I slowed down.

‘Is he waking up?’

Then it’s about time to ditch him, but I had to leave him in a place where his safety was guaranteed.

As I was looking for a suitable place.

“Die! Die!”

I heard a welcome voice.

When I headed there, I could see familiar silhouettes.

Karina and Gwyn.

And even Yuria.

They were fighting a Darkness Council High Cleric in black night clothes and just then, Karina’s explosion sphere was detonating on the High Cleric’s body.

Kwaang!

“Alright!”

Karina cheers, looking at the opponent who has been burned to the point of being unrecognizable.

It seems it was a tough fight, as the other two also have a smile on their faces despite being exhausted.

Come to think of it, there’s another body next to them.

One that is separated into an upper and lower body, frozen.

It seems it was a 3 vs 2 fight.

“You two should know that you lived thanks to this Karina Zain……”

Karina’s bragging voice suddenly trails off.

Her eyes were on me.

Astonishment slowly spreads in her pupils.

“…….S-Skull Mask?”

It was almost simultaneous that the other two’s eyes turned to me.

“Hmph! I was looking for you. Good timing!”

“Wait! Stand still, Karina.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Look over there.”

At Gwyn’s gesture, Karina looks at my shoulder.

And she frowns.

“What. Is that Ivan?”

“It’s hard to believe, but it seems so.”

“Hey, you! What’s your scheme?”

I had been standing still until then, but I lowered Ivan to the ground.

Ivan would be safe with these guys.

In fact, this was better than the guards.

And as I turned my body, the kids didn’t attack me.

They raised their guard until I was out of sight, and as soon as I disappeared, they ran to Ivan and checked his condition as if they had never been on guard.

I hid my body with [Stealth] and watched the scene, then moved.

***

‘Damn it.’

I frowned and released [Stealth].

My body and presence were hidden by [Stealth], but the bloodstains were not.

The blood from me didn’t matter.

Whether it was because it was imbued with my mana, the [Stealth] was also fully applied to what was discharged from my body.

The problem was the opponent’s blood.

As I was killing Vilter, the blood that had spurted from him had stained my leather suit.

It wasn’t much.

But it was enough to be a concern to just pass by comfortably.

I’m sure it would be visible if you focused.

At this point, even a normal citizen would feel something was strange, thinking, ‘Huh? Why is there blood in the empty air?’

Someone with good eyes or excellent senses would be able to detect the unease.

And this is the Academy.

Where you can easily meet people with good eyes and excellent senses.

So, thinking I had moved some distance from the scene, I released [Stealth] and used [Dark Sprint].

No, I was about to use it.

Pakang!

Feeling the killing intent from behind, I quickly swung Raven.

A force strong enough to make my wrist tingle.

I lifted my head with a rising sense of anxiety.

“We finally met, huh? Skull Mask.”

Chaser Idna was staring at me with his small, slanted eyes wide open.

“Ha.”

This time, I was really and truly caught.

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