Academy’s New Guard is Unusual - Chapter 62

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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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Chapter 62
The phantom in the form of a student slowly faded into pure white light and vanished.
It looked exactly like she’d been saved.
“Did we really save her?”
Andy asked, looking at Evangeline.
Evangeline nodded lightly.
“Yep, saved her.”
“How?”
“No idea!”
Andy let out a dry laugh at Evangeline’s characteristically confident answer, then quickly composed himself and turned serious.
“Didn’t you hear? Answer three phantoms and you disappear!”
“Well, I answered once, so—that leaves two more!”
Andy was at a loss for words at Evangeline’s needlessly optimistic response.
The problem was that another phantom had just appeared.
Evangeline stepped forward as if she’d been waiting for this.
“Hey!”
“It’s only the second one. Just one more time! I swear it’s the last!”
“No—”
Before he could even protest, Evangeline darted out.
She grabbed the phantom’s hand again and chattered away.
Before long, another phantom scattered into nothing.
“Now we really have to stop. You’ve answered two.”
“Got it. Stop nagging.”
“Three answers means disappearance! After two comes three. Three.”
“I know two comes before three.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah! Of course! What do you think I am!”
“Evangeline.”
Evangeline’s brow furrowed sharply. Andy spoke again, his voice grave.
“We can’t do this anymore.”
“Fine.”
The two continued walking.
How far had they gone—
“……You didn’t get us lost, did you?”
“I didn’t!”
Evangeline’s sharp reaction made Andy’s eyes narrow.
“You got us lost.”
“I’m telling you, I got a feeling about that way!”
“A feeling from where exactly—”
“Over there.”
Andy turned his head to follow where Evangeline pointed, and squinted.
‘A kid?’
There was a girl who looked about nine years old. She was wearing a school uniform that was far too large for her.
Andy grabbed Evangeline without even looking at her. She was clearly about to bolt.
Then—
“Andy, I… I had a younger sister.”
Evangeline normally never spoke about family. Yet suddenly a sister.
What was strange was that she spoke in the past tense.
“My sister was smart and capable, unlike me. She was a good kid—she looked after her older sister without complaining once—but…”
Evangeline exhaled shortly and continued.
“She disappeared when she was about that age.”
“I’m truly sorry, but that’s not your sister. She looks nothing like you.”
“I know.”
Though she acknowledged it readily, Evangeline took a large step forward.
Andy wanted to reach out, but his body wouldn’t move. As if he hadn’t been given permission.
“Evangeline! That’s not your sister! Don’t do anything stupid! This is the third time!”
“Didn’t you know? I’m naturally an idiot.”
“Evangeline!!”
“Andy, just think about going straight ahead while you walk. Then you’ll be able to get out.”
Evangeline, now close to the girl, gently stroked her head.
As Evangeline’s hand touched her, black things covering the girl came loose and fell. The fallen black things transferred to Evangeline.
But Evangeline didn’t stop. She continued gently brushing away the black things clinging to the girl.
Soon the girl began to fade slowly.
Meanwhile, Evangeline grew increasingly dark. At the edges, black and white shimmer began to form.
A sight far too unreal—
A Rift.
Even with the Rift right in front of her, Evangeline smiled with satisfaction as she watched the spot where the girl had disappeared.
“Evangeline!!”
“Andy, think about going straight and walk! Then you’ll get out!”
“This isn’t the time to worry about me! You blockhead!”
Andy shouted urgently, but Evangeline had already vanished into the Rift.
Andy stood staring at the Rift that remained, his mouth agape.
What should he do—
Only one person came to mind.
‘Boss! Boss will handle this.’
Grave would surely resolve it this time too.
He had to call Grave. But how—
‘Magic. I’ll use magic.’
Something flashy and powerful enough that the boss would be sure to see it—
Andy rummaged through his bag with trembling hands. It was full of Magic Stones he’d been given as assignments.
He poured them onto the ground without hesitation—Magic Stones he would normally have grudged even sharing one of.
Andy quickly calculated and worked out the formula in his head. Power wasn’t necessary.
What he needed was—
‘It has to be flashy. Visible from anywhere.’
Then—
‘Lightning. Lightning would be good.’
After finishing his calculations, Andy began drawing a Magic Circle. That’s when a problem arose.
‘The Magic Circle is too small.’
There were roughly two ways to increase a Magic Circle’s power.
First was increasing the size of the Magic Circle. A larger circle required more Magic Stones, which increased its power.
But he couldn’t enlarge the Magic Circle right now. It was due to Andy’s habit of being frugal with Magic Stones.
To think it would be a problem at such a critical moment—
‘Is that why the boss told me to use Magic Stones liberally.’
But changing his Magic Circle-drawing habits on the fly was difficult. There was a greater risk of making mistakes.
Then there was only one other method—
‘Overlay the Magic Circles.’
Overlaying Magic Circles was far more effective than the first method.
The problem was that overlaying Magic Circles was extremely difficult.
Magic Circles were often compared to clocks. Each small element worked organically, and if even one slipped out of place, the whole thing failed.
Overlaying such circles was incomparably harder than simply drawing two of them.
But for Andy, it was easier than enlarging the Magic Circle.
‘Think simple. I’m splitting one spell across multiple Magic Circles.’
Andy held his breath, focused intently, and began drawing the Magic Circles in an overlapping pattern. His eyes moved rapidly between them, checking.
Soon the ground was densely covered with Magic Circles.
Even Andy was surprised at how intricate the overlay was, but the seams were far too fragile.
Something more was needed—
— Aura is about control. If you use Aura Breathing—
Suddenly he remembered what Grave had shown during orientation.
Grave had controlled holy power using Aura Breathing. So if he controlled mana using Aura Breathing—
‘It’ll work.’
He’d already memorized Aura Breathing. Evangeline had made such a fuss about it right next to him.
“Huff! Resonance of the— Huff! Heavens! Huff! Afterimage of light! Huff! Thunder’s lament! Huff! Reversal of silence!!”
Andy chanted the incantation powerfully.
Sparks erupted from the Magic Circle into the sky.
But there was no other reaction.
‘……Did it fail?’
Disappointed, Andy was about to draw the Magic Circle again when—
Suddenly the world went bright.
Brilliant light engulfed everything around him.
──────!
An earth-splitting roar shook the forest moments later.
Creation itself.
It was the beginning of the world.
‘Did I do that?’
Andy stood slack-jawed, staring at the scene before him.
The Magic Stones stacked on the Magic Circle had vanished in an instant. Watching them disappear gave him a strange sense of exhilaration.
‘Is this why mages spend Magic Stones so freely?’
Then he heard a familiar voice from behind.
“Assignment submission?”
Andy turned around urgently.
A tall man in guard uniform—Grave—was standing there.
At the sight of his emotionless face, so at odds with the terrible scene around them, tears welled up in Andy’s eyes.
“Boss! Evangeline—”
“To amplify light, Thunder Strike is more effective than lightning.”
Grave cut off Andy’s words and pointed to the Magic Circle. Andy found himself lowering his gaze to look at it.
“Here. The entire Magic Circle has significant waste. This spot, and this one. And here too.”
The Magic Circle was drawn so hastily that even Andy could barely make it out.
How in the world was he reading it—
“Boss! That’s not the important thing right now—!”
“What’s more important than grading assignments? Focus. The overall completion of your Magic Circle is poor. You drew it carelessly because you were rushed. Tsk, draw it again.”
“No, Evangeline—!”
“Yes, she went into the Rift.”
“R-right! Let’s go rescue her—”
“Not yet.”
“……What?”
“She’s not ripe yet.”
Grave turned to look at the Rift, then clicked his tongue. His eyes gleamed like a wolf eyeing its prey.
“Definitely not ripe.”
Milo, following behind, nodded as if he understood something. Darkin, slung over his shoulder, swayed and clanked.
‘Wait, she disappeared—?’
Just as Andy was bewildered, Grave grabbed his shoulder.
“Now, draw it again.”
Andy nodded at first.
* * *
The Continent had a “Boundary” that blocked Outer Deities.
Early on, the Boundary was strong. Even the Outer Deities didn’t dare touch it.
As time passed, the Outer Deities began boring small holes through it, shaking the Boundary.
Those holes were called “Rifts.”
The key to entering a Rift is timing.
Enter too early and the rewards are meager; enter too late and the difficulty becomes hellish.
Finding that narrow window in between was the core of it.
For me, though, it wasn’t particularly difficult.
I’d done it countless times when playing the game.
I stared at the Rift without blinking. The black and white shimmer slowly grew denser.
Then something flashed through the shimmer. Like sending a distress signal—
“Let’s go in.”
I loosened my hands lightly as I spoke.
“What should we do with this?”
Milo gestured to Darkin, slung over his shoulder.
With the Rift open, this place would be safe for a while.
“Leave it.”
“Understood.”
Milo casually tossed Darkin. It landed with a thud, and Andy quickly stood next to Milo.
I stepped toward the Rift.
Something unpleasant and foreign swept through me from head to toe, like a gaze raking across my body.
‘Must be an Outer Deity.’
The Rift was a passage connected to the Outer Deity, after all.
I kept my head raised stubbornly.
There was nothing to see.
Of course there wasn’t. An Outer Deity exists beyond the realm.
Could an ant look up at a planet?
Then suddenly pain surged from my solar plexus. It felt like a bomb had detonated inside my body. My mind shook violently.
At the same time, something began pulsing from within. It was like a heartbeat, yet entirely different.
This was on a different level.
Glory.
From that strange sound ringing in my head, I realized what had happened.
‘I caught the Outer Deity’s attention.’
I’d experienced it in the game too.
If you forcibly absorb Fragments of an Outer Deity, you attract its attention and become corrupted. This was the precursor to that.
But that only happened when you absorbed many Fragments and your Corruption Level exceeded a certain threshold.
I’d only just started absorbing Fragments of an Outer Deity.
Yet to attract its attention already—
‘Something’s wrong.’
An Outer Deity corrupts even a righteous principal. Drawing its attention was something to avoid at all costs.
The problem was that I’d already drawn it.
There was no way out of this.
But it was fine.
‘Evangeline is here.’
There was nothing more important to an Outer Deity than Evangeline.
Since Evangeline had already entered the Rift, even if its attention wandered elsewhere, it would only be for a moment.
As expected, shortly after, the pain vanished. I no longer felt the Outer Deity’s gaze.
I exhaled roughly and muttered to myself.
‘Its attention returned to Evangeline.’
It’s already drawn her attention—
An unexpected critical variable, but not entirely without benefits.
‘The Fragment of the Outer Deity has become clearer.’
Fragments I’d barely felt before were now starkly apparent.
Normally, you have to absorb a certain amount of Fragments for them to function properly, but the problem is that this directly leads to corruption—except it doesn’t for me.
Even though I’d drawn the Outer Deity’s attention, my mind remained intact.
Glory.
The Fragments of an Outer Deity have certain functions.
One of them is that it becomes easier to locate Fragments of the Outer Deity within a Rift.
Fragments of Outer Deities are designed to consume one another, after all.
Another function is—
‘It becomes easier to find Evangeline within the Rift.’
Fragments of the Outer Deity are drawn blindly to Evangeline.
Join in the Glory.
‘Lucky me.’
I muttered a bitter joke to myself.

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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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