Chapter 594
“...Truly, I never thought a single student would give me such trouble.”
The one-eyed gentleman tapped the ground with his staff.
Before him, Hector, bloodied from head to toe, was slumped against the wall. Blood dripped down from his forehead.
“No wonder you are the ones said to carry the future of the Dark Alliance. I admit, it was my mistake to underestimate you.”
From the tip of his staff, Darkness stretched like a shadow, clutching the throats of two other students besides Hector, pinning them against the wall.
“Speak.”
The one-eyed gentleman’s gaze shifted to his new captives. As he pressed power into the staff, the students felt their throats tighten, choking them.
“The location of Simon Follentia. Tell me that, and you’ll live.”
“F*** off.”
Even while choking, one of the captured students raised his middle finger.
“I don’t like that bastard either, but he’s still Keyzen. You think I’d sell him out?”
The other student glared fiercely.
“You think I’d trade my life for a comrade’s? Just kill me, you son of a b****.”
The one-eyed gentleman raised his unnaturally long forefinger and mimed scratching his head.
“Your camaraderie is admirable, but acting on fleeting emotion is hardly wise.”
His lone eye turned back to Hector, who was still bleeding.
“Hector Moore. Speak. If you do not answer within ten seconds, I will kill your classmates here one by one.”
10.
9.
The one-eyed gentleman began to count down slowly.
8.
7.
But even as the numbers fell, Hector did not react.
“Simon Follentia seems to bother you.”
At those words, Hector’s eyebrow twitched.
“I can remove him from the school. Then you would become the most promising talent in your department.”
“...”
“How long will you be content with second place forever?”
5.
4.
The one-eyed gentleman resumed counting.
At that moment, Hector’s shoulders began to shake, and a crooked laugh escaped his lips.
“How ridiculous.”
“?”
“What meaning does your so-called ‘first place’ have?”
From Hector’s bloodstained face, a wide grin split open, white teeth showing as he laughed.
“The one to defeat Simon Follentia will be me. If you bastards take him away, I’ll dig through every one of you, bring him back, and crush him with my own hands.”
2.
1.
Finishing the countdown, the one-eyed gentleman shut his single eye tight.
“Regrettable.”
He began to pour Darkness into the staff, ready to strangle the captured students.
“Regrettable, indeed.”
A cold voice from the side froze the air around them.
Startled, the one-eyed gentleman turned his head.
Flutter—!
A man stood there in a winter coat draped like a painting, beneath it short sleeves and shorts.
His messy long hair, rough stubble, and heavy dark circles gave him the look of a worn-out middle-aged man, expressionless.
“Don’t you think it’s time to release my students?”
Though his face betrayed no emotion, his voice carried deep weight.
“So it’s your turn to step in.”
The one-eyed gentleman felt a chill crawl up his spine as he recognized him.
“Professor of Summonology, Aron Deia.”
With a flick of Aron’s hand, the black magic clutching the students’ throats unraveled, and they fell to the ground.
“You three did well. Withdraw and get treatment.”
Aron gestured, and crimson skeletons shot forth, carrying Hector and the others away into the air.
‘...’
The one-eyed gentleman could not move despite losing his prisoners. He couldn’t twitch a finger.
Because if he took his eyes off the man before him for even an instant—
His head would fly.
This was a new kind of fear for him.
“Well then.”
As silence fell over the area, Aron’s flat voice rang out.
“Why did you trespass into Keyzen’s operational zone and attack my students?”
“...”
The one-eyed gentleman crouched slightly, wary.
“I...”
BOOOOM!
Suddenly, from the flank, a massive greatsword swung down.
It was a Dullahan. The one-eyed gentleman leapt back.
Chachachachachachak!
From the Undead Warship, crimson skeletons poured down volleys of arrows. Thousands of flaming crimson shafts rained, embedding into the ground like a blood-red rose garden.
“Hearing your answer—”
Aron’s eyes glinted with a murderous gleam.
“—will come after I dismantle you.”
‘He’s furious.’
Darkness surged beneath the one-eyed gentleman’s feet.
‘Keyzen professors are all continent-class monsters. A direct clash must be avoided.’
His body shrank into the shadowy pool, darting away at high speed. Arrows poured like rain, but he slipped between them effortlessly.
‘If I escape to where the students are, even a professor won’t dare—’
Thunk!
Suddenly, he crashed into an invisible wall. He couldn’t escape.
“Tomb Creation.”
Aron muttered, and gravestones erupted from the blood-soaked ground, while black fog enveloped the area.
“You cannot leave this place.”
‘A barrier—summon ability!’
From among tomb-type summons, the mightiest of all revealed itself.
The Crypt Lord, towering and majestic, stood within. Facing it head-on would be madness.
Gwooooooh!
And now, tearing open the ceiling of the tomb, Aron’s Undead Warship descended.
A grand assembly of supreme summons.
The warship’s hatches opened—soon to unleash a devastating bombardment.
‘Then I must—’
The one-eyed gentleman burst from the shadow pool, charging directly at Aron. His staff warped into a massive crescent blade, Darkness condensed upon it.
Striking the summoner directly—always the surest method.
Aron stood unguarded. Even as the one-eyed gentleman charged with all his Darkness burning, Aron made no attempt to flee.
Tak—
He simply snapped his fingers.
Clatterclatterclatterclatter!
Tiny bones, far smaller than normal skeletons, spilled forth and encased him.
In the blink of an eye, they formed helmet, boots, and cuirass—becoming a suit of Bone Armor.
‘Tch!’
The helmet had not yet formed. The one-eyed gentleman swung the crescent blade down at Aron’s head.
Kaaang!
The blade stopped with a metallic shriek. The helmet had formed in that instant. Even the one-eyed gentleman’s Darkness-forged severing magic couldn’t leave a scratch.
“You—!”
His lone eye widened in shock.
“That form...!”
Aron, unfazed, gripped the crescent blade with his hand.
Chaaaaang!
The blade shattered into fragments. The one-eyed gentleman recoiled in horror, staggering backward.
‘Impossible… How can a man of this level not be one of the ‘Crows’?’
Creak-creak-creak!
From the walls of the tomb, hooded skeletons emerged, brandishing staffs and casting black magic.
High-level binding magic. The one-eyed gentleman’s body froze stiff.
‘Even Liches?!’
“Let’s finish this.”
Within the armor, Aron unleashed black magic.
Outside the tomb barrier, something pitch-black slithered in the air. It had wings and a long tail.
The one-eyed gentleman desperately tried to break free, but he could not undo the binding spells of the Liches.
Soon the creature thrust its skull-like head through the tomb’s ceiling.
“...Ah!”
The one-eyed gentleman’s breath stopped in sheer terror.
From the bony jaws poured Darkness, and its breath engulfed his vision.
As his body turned to ash, his final thought was simple:
‘I’ve had enough of dragons.’
* * *
“Huff… Huff…”
The Butcher staggered through the fortress city, dragging his leg. Behind him, three students lay collapsed on the ground.
“Damn it! Where the hell are they! Blue hair! Platinum hair! Blue hair! Platinum hair!”
One of the fallen students raised a trembling hand, pointing a finger.
“Stop… right there!”
He fired off a curse, but the Butcher lazily drew a small butcher knife from his belt and flicked it. The curse rebounded straight back at its caster.
“Urgh!”
It seemed to be a petrification curse, Remade Paralyze. The student’s body hardened like stone.
But before the Butcher could finish him off, more students came rushing.
“Huff… Haah…”
He dragged his foot, slipping behind a building for cover.
“Blue hair, platinum hair, blue hair, platinum hair…”
The students here were all strong.
In his condition, he could not easily overpower any of them.
And—
“…Tch.”
A massive bite wound, like a beast had torn out his side, marred his ribs.
It was the wound inflicted by Professor of Summon Materials Science, Grerion.
“How many times can that monster transform?!”
He had barely managed to shake Grerion off and flee, but now his strength was faltering.
“Just a short rest. Five minutes, and then I’ll find the blue hair…”
He slipped into a nearby house.
Thud!
Dropping onto a worn sofa, he leaned back and lit a cigar.
Fwoooooh—
His eyes grew hazy.
“Damn it.”
A wound like this could be treated later.
But failing his mission would be fatal.
Sooner or later, to prevent him from leaking the mission, the Executioners would send someone to kill him.
‘Blue hair, blue hair, blue hair…’
Sssk.
Just then, he heard movement inside the house.
Rustle—
Sounds came from the kitchen. The Butcher’s hand slid behind him, resting lightly on the hilt of his butcher knife.
“Who’s there.”
Step… step…
Now footsteps approached openly.
A boy appeared, wearing a Keyzen school uniform. He yawned, as if he’d just woken up, eyes still drowsy.
“Hello.”
The boy spoke casually, then sat across from the Butcher as if it were nothing.
“We meet again after the village, Mr. Butcher.”
“…Blue hair.”
So bold. To just appear before him like this.
The boy’s slightly dazed expression twisted into a smile.
“How was the reindeer meat?”
He inhaled smoke from the cigar and asked. Simon answered,
“I ate well. Eshu especially liked it.”
“That’s good. I might look like this, but I do my work properly.”
Fwoooooh—
The Butcher exhaled smoke, his gaze fixed squarely on Simon.
“And the next meat I want to handle is right in front of me.”
Simon smiled faintly.
“And the next opponent I want to bring down is sitting right before me.”
Kuhuhuhuhu…
The Butcher’s shoulders shook as he laughed, drool spilling as he cackled madly.
Hahaha!
Simon laughed aloud in return. Their laughter echoed eerily through the empty house.
When their gazes locked again—
Whip!
The Butcher sprang up like a spring, drawing the knife hidden in his sleeve. Simon, neither fast nor slow, slid the turquoise crown onto his head.
Kwoooom!
Crash!
The wall behind the Butcher exploded as turquoise swords poured through, piercing his body.
<Simon’s Original – Royal Guard>
Splatter—
Blood rained.
The butcher knife stopped just before Simon’s face. Six turquoise blades had skewered the Butcher’s body.
Simon pressed the crown low over his brow like a hood and stood up.
“Assassin of the Executioners.”
Thud!
The Butcher collapsed to his knees before Simon. Simon gazed at him with cold eyes.
“There are many things I want to ask you.”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters