Chapter 69: Hostage Crisis (2)

First, figuring out the scale and exact location of those bastards was the priority.

I picked up a piece of chalk and drew on the blackboard.

It was a rough sketch of the interior of Blue Dragon Hall.

Karina, who had sidled up next to me at some point, stared at it blankly.

“You know, don’t you? We’re the only ones who can resolve this situation right now.”

No response came.

I glanced at Karina.

She was looking at me with an unreadable gaze.

“Why are you staring at me like that? Don’t tell me… you’re not thinking something ridiculous like I orchestrated this whole thing, including their demand for Gerard, are you?”

Karina laughed with an incredulous expression.

“Ha! Do you take me for a fool? I’m not that stubborn, you know?”

Huh?

She’s saying it’s not like that?

“What’s with that look?”

“Uh, nothing. Anyway, we don’t have time, so pay attention.”

Pointing at the blackboard, I explained the plan I’d just come up with.

“Here’s the situation. Their main force is likely gathered on the second floor right now. Probably in Room 204, since that’s the Magic lecture hall. The 889th batch cadets held hostage are probably there too. There’ll be some enemies stationed on the first floor as well.”

“Why do you think there are enemies on the first floor?”

“Because that’s what I’d do. They’d place sentries there in case someone sneaks through the barrier.”

Next, I drew X marks on the central and side staircases connecting the first and second floors.

“So, we need to isolate the first floor from the second.”

“But if we don’t block them all at once, it’s pointless, right? And blocking them is a problem in itself.”

“No, we don’t block them. We destroy them. Simultaneously.”

Karina furrowed her brow.

“That’s impossible. I only have one body. I can’t destroy three places at the same time. I don’t know any magic like that either.”

I smirked.

Her self-consciousness is something else.

“Who said you have to do it?”

“Then do you have a way?”

I pulled a scroll from my pocket.

It was the [Flame Explosion] scroll I’d gotten from Guartes.

Karina’s eyes widened.

“No way, a scroll!? Why do you have that?”

“What, I’m not allowed to have a scroll?”

“Well, it’s not that, but…”

I cut her off.

“First, you’ll sneak down to the second floor and use the scroll to blow up the side staircases. Then, take down the central staircase with your magic right after. That’ll make the bastards in the lecture hall spot you in the corridor and chase after you.”

“Probably.”

“All you need to do is buy time. Easy, right?”

“Wait a second,” Karina interjected.

“What are you going to do?”

I was just about to tell her.

“While you’re drawing their attention, I’m going to free the hostages.”

While Karina distracts them,I’ll sneak into Room 204.

Through the window, where no one will be paying attention.

* * *

At that moment, in the lecture hall of Room 204.

A man sat cross-legged on the podium where a professor should have been.

His name was Sabo.

He was the mastermind behind this hostage crisis.

The desks and podium inside the lecture hall had been completely cleared out.

In their place, twenty men and women were bound hand and foot.

They were the 889th batch Psychology Department cadets who had been attending a Magic lecture here.

Their appearance, kneeling in their dust-stained Academy uniforms, was pitiful.

Trembling…

But they all quivered with rage.

It had been a perfectly planned ambush.

The moment the corridor windows shattered, a powdery substance burst out, searing their throats and blocking their airways in an instant.

“What the… what’s happening… cough! Cough!”

“Cough!”

They couldn’t even gather mana or chant spells.

The cadets collapsed on the floor in agony, and the merciless violence of the clerics rained down on them.

Thud! Thwack!

This was the result.

If it hadn’t been during lecture hours.

If it hadn’t been for that damned powdery substance, they wouldn’t have been taken down so helplessly.

“That’s what your faces are saying, huh? Pfft.”

Sabo looked at them with gleeful eyes.

Meeting each cadet’s gaze without flinching, he gave them a sly smile.

Then he checked his watch.

The promised ten minutes were almost up.

“Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock!”

“…”

“Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock!”

As Sabo’s imitation of a ticking clock continued, the anger in the cadets’ eyes gradually turned into fear and dread of death.

Sabo felt an unbearable thrill and pleasure from it.

His heart pounded, and blood rushed downward.

“Tock!”

Time was up.

Sabo stood from his seat.

His skintight night suit accentuated his conspicuously swollen lower body, drawing attention.

“It’s about time to offer a sacrifice to the god within me.”

Holy Sabo.

He was the closest friend of the Head Collector, Cave.

Their perverse inclinations aligned perfectly.

Even within the Death Council, their depraved antics were infamous.

The Dark Clerics were used to his aroused state, but the cadets were not.

His out-of-place appearance only made Sabo seem more terrifying.

“Who shall be the first sacrifice?”

One of the clerics approached and asked.

“How about the professor? It’d be a good example for the Academy brats outside. Not a bad choice.”

Sabo wagged his finger.

“No. For an example, we need the one with the highest value here.”

The clerics looked puzzled.

A professor at Frey Academy would be among the most valuable hostages.

“Tch. Maybe another professor, but not that guy. He’s just an ordinary scholar.”

“Then…?”

Sabo’s gaze fell on a cadet sitting lifelessly to one side.

Unlike the others trembling in fear, this one stared back at him with unwavering eyes, just as he had from the start.

Sabo licked his lips.

“Truly delectable. Heh heh.”

“…”

“I hope you keep that look until the end.”

The cleric, witnessing Sabo’s incomprehensible words and leering smile, quietly stepped back.

Even after years together, he still couldn’t stomach Sabo’s vile tendencies.

“Get that one up.”

“Yes.”

Having given the order, Sabo stepped forward.

And he shouted outside.

“Time’s up! Where’s Gerard?!”

A gruff-looking professor responded.

“Just wait a little longer!”

Sabo looked at him.

Information about the man surfaced in his mind.

Allen Desico. A nutcase who almost rose to deputy commander of the Special Magic Corps but was demoted for his volatile temper.

A man obsessed with climbing the ranks.

The information came from a thief in Shadow, who the Death Council had been cozying up to lately.

In other words, it was reliable.

Wait a second. If he knows who the first sacrifice is, he’ll lose his mind, won’t he?

Excited to see his reaction, Sabo shouted with glee.

“You’re late! We’ve waited long enough. So, I’ll tell you who the first hostage to die will be!”

“It’ll just take a moment…”

“Max Wagner! The precious son of the great Marquis Wagner will be the first hostage to die!”

As expected, Allen went berserk at those words.

Sabo grinned wickedly at his intense reaction.

“For the record, Max Wagner isn’t dying because of us. You’re the ones killing him.”

“You bastard!”

Allen’s vivid reaction was delicious, so Sabo decided to generously wait another five minutes.

Giving them hope that they can save him, then killing him anyway—now that’s fun.

He looked out at the chaotic courtyard with amused eyes.

Unaware of what was happening in the corridor outside the lecture hall at that very moment.

* * *

“Find Gerard, now! We’re running out of time!”

Allen shouted.

Max Wagner.

The moment he heard the first hostage’s name, he was beside himself.

Truth be told, he was half-mad already.

“Hurry!”

He was fully in charge of the scene now.

The Vice-Dean and Pirion had left for the main building to request support just moments ago.

“This situation feels beyond our control. It’s better handled quickly with superior skill and power.”

“So?”

“Yes. We need to contact the Special Magic Corps and Central Knights Headquarters. In the meantime, Allen, you take charge here.”

Allen had agreed.

Even in his eyes, getting support from those two groups seemed the only way to minimize the

Academy’s losses.

The Academy’s reputation would take a hit, but…

It was better than nobles dying.

If only that bastard Gerard were sacrificed, this could be resolved simply. Why did it have to come to this?

As soon as Allen took command, he ordered a search for Gerard, but the man was nowhere to be found.

He must have hidden himself in advance, knowing this would happen.

Despicable coward. When he shows up, I won’t let him off.

Allen clenched his fist in impatience.

Then he remembered that Baron had been looking for Gerard for a while now.

“Damn it! Where the hell is that guy, and what is he doing? Why isn’t he here!?”

As if on cue, he spotted Baron approaching from a distance.

Allen’s face lit up.

“Come quickly! Where’s Gerard? Did you find him?”

“Gerard’s gone.”

Baron answered with a somber expression.

Allen tilted his head.

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. We searched every corner of the Academy, but Gerard’s nowhere to be found. The kids are still looking, but…”

“That doesn’t make sense! Find him!”

They say when anger reaches its peak, a person becomes eerily calm.

That was Allen now.

“We need Gerard to save the hostages. Find him, no matter what.”

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Baron’s expression hardened as well.

“And if we find him? It sounds like you’re ready to hand him over immediately.”

“What are you saying? They just announced the hostage they’re going to kill. Do you know who it is?”

“I’m not curious.”

“You should be. Because it’s the only son of Marquis Wagner, the future head of the family.”

“Gerard is like a son to me too.”

Allen stared at him.

Then he burst out laughing.

“Haha. I see. So you’ve been deliberately holding him back?”

Baron didn’t respond.

He just looked at Allen with a blank stare.

Taking it as confirmation, Allen suddenly spread his palm.

With a flash of light, a long staff appeared in his hand.

Adorned with a sharp blade at the tip, it was the artifact that had made Allen who he was: Silver Fang.

“No more words?”

“…”

“Bring Gerard. Now.”

Baron shook his head.

In a low but firm tone.

“Don’t do something you’ll regret, Allen Desico. If you swing that staff even a little, you’re dead.”

At the same time, a storm-like aura erupted from Baron, engulfing the surroundings.

“What the…!”

“This isn’t the time for us to fight…”

The professors nearby couldn’t continue speaking as the two titans clashed.

Those who understood the weight of power and responsibility had drawn their weapons.

It meant the situation had gone too far for words to resolve.

To stop them, someone with overwhelming authority or power would need to intervene.

Or a situation dramatic enough to shift the atmosphere.

And then.

BOOM!

It happened.

Rumble…

CRASH!

A series of explosions erupted inside Blue Dragon Hall.

All heads turned toward the building.

The second floor.

The windows on the second floor had shattered from the explosions, flames roaring out.

“What’s going on!?”

“Look! Up there!”

A professor pointed to the rooftop.

“Everyone, look up!”

“That’s…?”

A cadet stood tall on the rooftop.

Throwing off his fluttering jacket and holding a rope, his chest bore the black emblem of the 888th batch.

His name was,“Gerard.”

In full view of everyone, Gerard sprinted across the rooftop.

Tap tap tap!

And with that momentum, he leaped.

“What!”

“…!”

Everyone held their breath, but the next scene left them gasping in shock again.

Whoosh!

Gerard flipped midair and threw the rope with force.

At the end of the rope was a sharp stiletto dagger.

The dagger embedded itself into the wall of Blue Dragon Hall like it was piercing tofu.

Crunch…

The taut rope.

Gerard’s falling figure swung half a circle around the stiletto dagger and slipped smoothly into the second-floor window.

“…”

The professors, staring blankly at the scene, snapped back to reality at the sound of a sword being drawn nearby.

Clang!

Without hesitation, Baron drew his sword, glanced at Allen, and swung.

Toward the barrier ahead.

CRACK──!

The straight sword energy shook the barrier wall violently.

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