Chapter 45
The mont the thought crossed his mind-he had to move-Henrik acted.
He stuffed potions into the pouch at his waist and inspected his weapons, checking each one.
Then he paused.
Carlo. He was the problem.
An Iron Knight, Rank 4, even with one arm lost. They would inevitably clash while destroying the magic circle.
'Can I win?'
Whether he could stand against Carlo now was uncertain.
Henrik glanced around.
The only imdiate help was William.
His abilities would definitely be useful in combat.
"Let's move together."
"Are you leaving right now?"
At William's question, Henrik nodded and prepared to leave. Oliver blocked his path.
"Take with you."
"You're still..."
"No!"
Oliver staggered forward, preparing to go with them. William stepped in front of him, stopping him.
"You haven't even recovered your strength yet. Leave this to us from here on."
"No. This is my father's doing. I can't leave it to others. More than that, you are..."
"My na is William. I'm temporarily accompanying Professor Henrik at his request."
When Oliver looked at Henrik, Henrik nodded.
"Your curse was just lifted. Moving imdiately would be too much."
"My father's arms are intact. Even for the exceptional Professor Henrik, facing my father alone-no, even with two people-will be difficult. You'll need , soone who knows the Mandolin Family swordsmanship precisely."
"...Both arms are intact?"
"They weren't ordinary arms. They were arms that emanated a black, ominous aura."
Henrik narrowed his brow, assessing the situation.
New arms-the difficulty had increased.
As he pondered and looked at Oliver, Oliver stared back at Henrik with determination, refusing to back down.
"You'll need my help."
"..."
"I'll stake my life on it."
Henrik turned away without a word.
A sign of acceptance.
William approached Oliver and spoke.
"If you beco a burden, we'll leave you behind. That's how pressed for ti we are. Understood?"
"...Understood."
Hearing Oliver's answer, William nodded with a stern expression.
Henrik handed Oliver a well-maintained weapon from his armory in the corner of the office.
Oliver examined the sword carefully.
The sharp blade glinted in the sunlight. It showed signs of regular maintenance, kept from dulling.
A sword that reflected Henrik's ticulous personality well.
"Let's go."
As Henrik left, William followed behind him. Oliver hurriedly sheathed the sword he'd been examining and followed them out of the office.
* * *
Henrik and his companions rushed through the corridor and looked up at the sky. The massive magic circle glowed as it looked down on them, and the blue barrier began to give way.
-Crackle!
It seed to resist desperately against the red barrier, scattering trendous sparks.
But as ti passed, the academy's barrier appeared to be breaking.
There was no ti.
"Professor Henrik. Do you have a destination?"
William, running behind Henrik, asked. Henrik answered.
"I'm going to destroy the magic circle. To destroy that massive magic circle, we need to find and destroy the center of the formation-the core."
"The core..."
The magic circle had a geotric form.
Henrik added a brief explanation about the magic circle.
"Right now the form isn't clear, so there are many places we'll need to check. There are a few sections that seem promising, so we'll focus on those areas."
"How can you figure out such things so quickly? You speak like soone who's been hunting demons for decades."
"...Well, close enough."
"I see..."
William nodded at Henrik's words.
This ti Oliver interjected, asking Henrik.
"My father... how do you plan to deal with him? If he realizes we're trying to destroy the magic circle, he won't just stand by."
"Of course there's a way. I'll use this."
Henrik pulled out a small rod from his waist. The rod went click! click! click! as it extended, gradually increasing in length.
But it was quite ambiguous.
It had no blade to be called a spear, and the end was too pointed to be called a staff.
"Wh-what is that...?"
When Oliver asked, Henrik answered.
"A hamr handle. It's the grip of a weapon I'm currently crafting."
"But why is that...?"
"I plan to use the ore at the end."
At Henrik's words, Oliver looked at the end of the handle, at the white ore protruding sharply. The ore sparkled with various colors whenever light touched it.
It was made by gathering small amounts of Sephirum that had fallen off while polishing the raw stone. Rather than functioning as a weapon, it was sothing that faithfully served as a handle and joint.
'That kid Ted, what's he doing and where?'
Henrik briefly thought of Ted, who had taken the Sephirum. This morning too, he had handed over Sephirum to him for crafting the hamr-head.
"What exactly is that ore...?"
Just as Oliver was about to ask another question, through the window he spotted nurous students gathered in the training yard, taking shelter from the earthquake.
Then, from the end of the corridor, soone wearing a black robe approached.
Fast, moving without footsteps.
Oliver, spotting the person, grew wary.
But seeing that figure, William's face suddenly brightened.
"Young Master!"
He rushed forward in a single stride and dropped to one knee before the man.
The man pulled back his robe's hood and spoke to Henrik.
"I was looking for you, Professor."
It was Carmine.
As he stood before Henrik, two female students ca running up behind him. One looked utterly exhausted, on the verge of collapse, her hat pulled low as she caught her breath.
"Carmine, Acitia, and Grimory."
Henrik's disciples had found him.
Carmine glanced at William and nodded, prompting William to rise and step back.
"Professor, that magic circle looks pretty dangerous."
"You saw correctly."
Carmine had quickly noticed the danger of the magic circle. Then Grimory grabbed Henrik's sleeve and said,
"Professor, sothing's wrong. The whole world is stained with red fog. Demonic energy is overflowing everywhere."
anwhile, Acitia-perhaps thanks to the training she'd done with Henrik-spoke with a confident expression, her sword slung over her shoulder.
"That red barrier won't break no matter how much I hit it. I even tried stabbing it with a Magic Sword, but it didn't leave a single scratch."
As his disciples gathered and spoke all at once, Henrik looked down at them and said calmly.
Now wasn't the ti to leisurely chat with them.
"The situation isn't good right now, so return to where the students are gathered. The other professors and I will handle this incident."
Carmine glanced sideways at William, then whispered to Henrik.
"Is there nothing we can do?"
"You?"
"Yes."
"......."
At Carmine's words, Henrik narrowed his brow. If he told him to do nothing and go back, would he really stay put? Absolutely not.
Carmine, who staked his life on achievents and aid for early graduation, would definitely move on his own to investigate the incident and do sothing.
Henrik raised his head and looked at his disciples.
All three stared at Henrik with expectant eyes, as if asking to be given a task.
Co to think of it, there was an appropriate mission he could entrust to them.
"Carmine."
"Yes, Professor."
"I'm entrusting Professor Bena to you. Right now, Professor Bena hasn't regained consciousness due to the curse's influence, so you three must protect Professor Bena."
"Is it an important mission?"
"Very important."
As Carmine nodded and stepped back, Grimory and Acitia followed.
"Hey! Grimory, let's hurry!"
"W-wait! Acitia! I'm exhausted, so running again is......."
Grimory ran after Acitia, practically crawling along the ground.
"Let's hurry."
Having sent off the three, Henrik was about to turn and run again.
At that mont, murmuring ca from the direction of the training hall, followed by a shout that stopped him in his tracks.
"Departnt Head! There you are!"
"It's the Departnt Head!"
Departnt Head?
Henrik's eyes narrowed. He turned his head to see Carlo walking steadily from the other side.
Near the training yard, where the students had gathered, Carlo had appeared.
Why did he show up here?
It wasn't a good sign.
"Departnt Head! We've finished evacuating the students to the training yard!"
The Academy guards who had evacuated the students spotted Carlo and approached him to report.
The mont Henrik saw Carlo's intact arms, he sensed danger.
Openly exposing severed arms?
'They mustn't approach!'
But it was already too late.
The mont the soldiers saluted Carlo, his eyes flashed, and his blackened right arm moved.
No, his right arm beca a sharp blade and swung.
-Slash!
The viciously extended blade rcilessly cut through one guard's chest.
-Splat!
As the cleanly bisected guard collapsed, the other guards froze with blank expressions. Before they could even understand what was happening, Carlo's blade swung again.
-Swish! Swish!
With sharp sounds, the remaining guards were also sliced apart and crumpled to the ground.
It was a grueso sight.
The students gathered in the training yard held their breath rather than screaming at the sudden scene.
It was the reaction to witnessing an unexpectedly shocking sight.
"......."
Carlo looked around at the students and shook off his hand that had transford into a blade. As droplets of blood flew and splattered on the students' faces, so students scread as if recognizing reality.
"Aaaaaaah!"
"M-monster!"
"The Departnt Head beca a monster!!"
The students who had been gathered in an orderly fashion fell into chaos, stumbling backward.
Carlo glanced at Henrik and walked toward the students again.
The atmosphere was threatening, as if he would kill all the students if Henrik didn't stop him now.
"Planning to buy ti?"
All eyes were drawn to Carlo.
It was a ploy to not allow even the smallest variable in the incomplete magic circle.
Henrik gripped the handle tightly.
Destroy the magic circle?
Or stop Carlo?
It was a matter of choice.
Carlo's actions were ant to buy ti.
His intent was obvious, but the situation left no choice but to play along.
From among the fleeing students, a professor stepped forward and blocked Carlo's path.
"Departnt Head Carlo! What do you think you're doing!"
As the professor stood protectively in front of the students, Carlo silently raised his hand-now transford into a blade.
"Ah."
The sword struck before the professor could even react.
In that instant-
-Clang!
A sharp tallic ring echoed as Carlo's blade was deflected.
"Oliver......"
"......That's enough now. Father."
Carlo stared down expressionlessly at the man who had blocked him-Oliver.
Oliver moved.
Henrik prepared for battle.
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