Academy’s New Guard is Unusual - Chapter 120

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 120
The Principal, the Mother of Witches and an Archmage, possessed diverse advantages.
The Principal’s first advantage was wealth.
In this world, mages are a kind of specialized profession. The Principal was a witch who had been such a mage for hundreds of years.
Naturally, her wealth was boundless.
Should a Mana Stone vein be discovered, she would be the foremost buyer.
Her second advantage was power.
The Principal was currently the strongest mage in this world. Someday, Killian and Andy, heirs to the Magic Tower Coalition, might surpass that rank, but that was still a distant future.
The Principal was the strongest mage right now.
Her third advantage was the ability to read Tarot.
Using Tarot allowed her to check the current situation’s progression at key intervals.
The Principal was a villain with so many useful advantages.
Of course, she was dangerous to match, but the danger was worth the risk.
So then—.
“Will you make a wager?”
I proposed a bet to the Principal.
The Principal tilted her head.
“A wager?”
“Yes. On what card appears in the third position the next time I flip a Tarot card.”
“The same card will come up.”
The Principal spoke in a flat, matter-of-fact tone about something entirely obvious.
After drawing the same card for hundreds of years, it was reasonable.
And so, I proposed the wager.
“If the same card appears, you’re free to summon Hellene.”
“Your daughter would be pleased. What if I lose?”
What I wanted from the Principal was already decided.
‘The Principal’s Homunculus.’
The Principal’s Homunculus was the First Homunculus.
The First Homunculus was known to be closest to perfection. However, that First Homunculus was now in an almost dead state.
It was the reason the Principal hardly conducted external activities.
I needed the First Homunculus.
Right now my body contained multiple attributes, putting it in a rather unstable state.
If I absorbed the First Homunculus, I could resolve that instability.
The problem was that the Homunculus was the Principal’s reverse scale. Merely mentioning it could make her try to kill me.
And so—.
“Grant me one wish.”
I deferred to the next step for now.
“Making a wish to a witch?”
The Principal laughed as if she’d heard something amusing.
There was a saying not to make wishes to witches. Witches granted wishes in the most terrible form possible.
There was even a saying to wish to a demon instead.
However, I knew how to make a wish to a witch.
“Yes.”
“Fine.”
The Principal waved her hand. At the same moment, she vanished entirely.
Haah!
Milo let out a harsh breath. The frozen time had resumed flowing.
‘Archmagas are indeed troublesome.’
I muttered to myself, brushing away the sweat from my palm.
An Archmage who moves time and space at will was quite difficult to contend with.
However—.
‘I could kill her.’
I recalled the Principal’s Mana that I’d just witnessed.
The Principal’s Mana was like an ocean. So vast that no end was visible, so deep that no bottom could be seen.
It was stupidly abundant Mana befitting the Mother of Witches—.
‘But her ability to concentrate on a single point is weak.’
Of course, “weak” was relative to other Archmagas.
Still, it was an obvious weakness worth targeting.
‘With the right approach, I could catch her.’
I devised a few methods to deal with the Principal.
The odds were still low, but noticeably higher than before.
Of course, what mattered now was the Chasm.
“Let’s go in.”
“Y-yes.”
I stepped into the open Test Ground.
A strange sensation swept over my entire body.
It felt like every cell was being laid bare.
I ignored it and walked on.
Soon the darkness lifted, revealing the full expanse of the Test Ground.
The Test Ground was a vast Grand Hall, with desks and chairs arranged in neat rows and columns.
At the far end, there was an unrealistic shimmer.
A Chasm.
“Um, why is that Chasm colored like that?”
Milo asked hesitantly upon seeing the Chasm.
Normally, Chasms are shimmering mirages of black and white.
But this Chasm was red, as if blood had burst forth. It rippled as though it might spread at any moment.
“The egg is fully loaded.”
“Fully loaded? What’s that supposed to mean? This feels seriously ominous, sir—.”
“Your instinct is good. That Chasm is fully matured to its limits. It’s far more dangerous than the one we entered before.”
“There’s something more dangerous than that?”
“That one wasn’t even dangerous.”
“I almost died—.”
Milo’s face went corpse-pale.
“You don’t have to go in.”
Milo’s face crumpled.
“I’m going. Don’t try to stop me.”
“Suit yourself.”
I moved toward the Chasm. Milo followed with stiffened steps.
“I’m not scared, by the way. I was just thinking for a moment.”
“I understand.”
“I’m serious. I’m not scared.”
Milo insisted again. I let out a soft chuckle and placed my hand on the Chasm.
The red shimmer began pouring forth like bursting blood, quickly engulfing me entirely.
My vision flickered.
The boundary between body and mind blurred, scattering as if swept away by a massive wave.
Then—.
Waaaaaahhhhh!!!
A thunderous roar of applause echoed.
When I opened my eyes, a massive Colosseum came into view.
It was a Colosseum packed with thousands of people. The crowd gazed at the center of the arena, roaring. Two men were locked in combat in the middle.
Every time blood spilled, the people cheered and laughed. They screamed for death relentlessly.
A frenzy that transcended mere heat rippled through the air.
Then one man slit the other’s throat. As the head flew into the air and blood poured down, the crowd stretched their arms and went wild.
Combat was clearly everything.
The problem was our location.
We were not in the stands but below them. In front of us was an iron gate blocking a waiting room for fighters.
‘The Ragnarok Continent.’
Chasms had four core worldviews at their center, called the Four Worlds. The Ragnarok Continent was the Chasm worldview of the Aura attribute.
Ragnarok was a continent where only one survives if others bleed, inhabited by those obsessed with combat.
A mad place that killed and killed each other until finally only one remained and went extinct.
The Colosseum was a typical manifestation of a Ragnarok Chasm.
There are several reasons why Chasms are difficult, but the most fatal is finding the Anomaly.
The stronger the Anomaly becomes as time passes.
I had to find and capture the Anomaly as quickly as possible, but the problem was that it hid itself tightly.
This was why Evangeline’s guide ability became increasingly important.
But the Ragnarok Chasm was different.
The Anomaly in a Ragnarok Chasm doesn’t hide; it always appears clearly.
For example, in a Colosseum, the final opponent in a match would appear as the Anomaly.
However, since there was no effort spent searching, the Anomaly started strong from the beginning.
An even more serious problem was that this Chasm was a Trap Rift.
The Ragnarok Chasm already had a powerful Anomaly from the start, and I’d entered a Trap Rift that had been open for a long time—.
‘A dreadful combination.’
I clicked my tongue and turned my head.
The Colosseum was filled with thousands of spectators.
Yet among that multitude, there was a man whose presence alone stood out.
The man sat crooked on the central throne, looking down at the arena.
Thousands held their breath watching for his signal, thousands waited for his gesture.
The man’s entire body was covered in scars of all kinds, yet with hundreds of them, his presence felt so powerful they seemed like ornaments.
He wore no crown, but he was the king of this place.
‘The Sword Master.’
Originally, he was probably not the Sword Master. Perhaps a high-ranking Knight.
With the Trap Rift added to the Ragnarok worldview, even his rank had risen to Sword Master.
Now a midterm exam appeared with the Sword Master as the Anomaly—.
‘Excellent.’
That meant the reward was proportionally greater.
The Fragment of Foreign God within me resonated, humming deeply—.
It urged me to seize the Fragment of Foreign God that he possessed immediately.
Then the man looked directly at me.
Despite the distance, his gaze was intense.
The man’s eyes widened slightly upon seeing me.
His mouth twisted savagely. Like a predator that had found prey.
He gestured.
Come up here, he seemed to say.
‘The king of the Colosseum. Interesting.’
I suppressed the urge to head up immediately.
In a Chasm, one had to follow the Chasm’s rules.
Creating trouble needlessly would become quite bothersome.
“Sir, what are those?”
Then Milo pointed at something.
I turned to look, and another chamber separated by iron bars came into view.
It seemed to be a waiting room for fighters.
It was natural to have opponents in a Colosseum-concept Chasm.
The problem was their attire.
Ragnarok inhabitants, regardless of gender, wore only weapons and barely covered vital areas as fashion.
But the attire of those over there was different.
Crimson armor, crimson helms—clothing far too familiar to my eyes.
‘The Crimson Mercenary Corps.’
The Crimson Mercenary Corps was on the Empire’s Most Wanted list.
They sought out wars wherever they went, and if there were no wars, they started them themselves.
There were dozens of them present.
‘The Chasm must have opened to the outside as well.’
Last time, I’d encountered a serpent-eyed bastard who should have been on the front lines inside a Chasm. It seemed this Chasm had also opened to another exterior.
‘A competitive element has been added.’
This was strange. Not only had a Trap Rift opened, but a competitive element had been added—.
It felt too artificial. A suspicious odor hung heavily.
‘Could it be that because I dealt with another threat earlier, the difficulty was forcefully raised?’
This hadn’t happened during the game version.
It was likely an element that appeared because this was hard mode.
Forcefully raising difficulty because a threat was dealt with beforehand—.
‘A triple experience event.’
I smiled with satisfaction.
Since I was going to clear the Chasm anyway, it was good news that the reward had increased.
However—.
‘Where’s Evangeline?’
The most important thing was Evangeline’s safety. I needed to find Evangeline first.
Then a man ascended to the center of the arena. He held a microphone made of skulls.
[Today’s prize will be revealed! It’s something I, Halburton, have painstakingly procured! You can certainly expect it!!]
…Prize?
My eyes narrowed at the word, which seemed to carry an ominous tone.
[Now!! The most beautiful woman on the Ragnarok Continent!]
A man named Halburton pointed to the sky. Then an iron platform descended from above the arena.
Evangeline was shackled on it.
Evangeline had no makeup. Her usually unkempt hair was even tied tightly back, leaving her appearance starkly bare.
Her looks, already absurdly unfair, seemed truly extraordinary descending from above.
Oooh—.
Thousands of people gasped and looked up in a daze.
Everyone stared at Evangeline with bated breath.
Evangeline was Legendary Tier.
When such attention gathered, it was especially dangerous.
For some reason, when Evangeline received attention, she felt compelled to do something about it.
Thousands of eyes pouring down.
Then Evangeline—.
Hot! Hut! Hoot! Hot!
began to dance.
It was truly dreadful.
I shut my eyes tightly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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