Academy’s New Guard is Unusual - Chapter 69

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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 69
I gazed at the subdued creature sprawled beneath me and murmured to myself.
‘Fascinating.’
The creature was completely suppressed.
Even if magic had an advantage against Divine Power, it should have been impossible to neutralize a creature with nothing but Mana Bullets.
The reason I could suppress it with Mana Bullets was because I had deep knowledge of Divine Power.
Divine Power works fundamentally on life force, and the foundation of life force is the body. And within the body, there exist specific points where life force concentrates.
A kind of vital point.
If you drive mana into the vital point where life force gathers, you can block the very function of Divine Power.
Just like now.
“Evangeline, find its weakness.”
I pointed to the prone creature and issued the command.
“Huh? Isn’t it already captured?”
Evangeline tilted her head, staring at the creature.
She was right—it was completely subdued. I could finish it myself.
But if I did, the reward would be diminished.
Cracks needed to be conquered properly to maximize rewards.
Besides, Evangeline needed training.
As Cracks increased in grade, the difficulty rose dramatically.
I could break lower-grade Cracks with my power alone, but if a Crack reached A-grade, I couldn’t guarantee success.
That’s when I would need Evangeline’s abilities.
I had to elevate her caliber in advance.
“Read it.”
“I, I was thinking the same thing.”
Evangeline stood before the creature, her face tight with restraint.
“Rrraaaaaahhh!”
The creature shrieked loudly upon seeing Evangeline.
The sight was grotesque enough to make my eyes narrow in disgust, but Evangeline merely flinched without retreating.
She exhaled a long breath, then studied the creature quietly. Her eyes moved from top to bottom as if reading from a page.
“He, he’s the youngest of three siblings.”
“I see.”
“In the place where Bancent came from, newborns were fed Sacred Objects.”
Sacred Objects refer to fragments of foreign gods. To feed fragments of a foreign god to a newborn child—my expression darkened involuntarily.
After that, Evangeline continued speaking about Bancent’s entire life.
However, unlike before, Evangeline didn’t become absorbed by the creature.
‘Is the training showing results?’
I wondered how long she would continue talking.
“The crown of the head. The Divine Empire tattoos the crown of the head. They say it’s where they accept divinity.”
Evangeline pointed to the crown of the fourth head among the twelve, where a peculiar tattoo was visible.
“Well done. Close your eyes.”
“Yes!!”
Evangeline shut her eyes immediately.
Compared to her previous attempts at conversation with creatures, this was remarkable progress. Training her had been the right call.
“Ugh, I almost threw up from looking at that ugly thing!”
……So that was why she hadn’t been absorbed.
‘Quite consistent, this one.’
I smiled wryly and moved my fingers.
The Mana Bullet struck precisely at the crown of the fourth head.
A crack split open, and a small piece of flesh fell out—a fragment of a foreign god.
The instant I saw it, my mind surged with overwhelming intensity. It was a sharper reaction than seeing meat after fasting for a week.
‘Damn.’
I forced myself to maintain composure and reached for the fragment.
Or tried to.
“……What are you doing?”
“I have a bad feeling! It’s dangerous!”
Evangeline, who had already snatched up the fragment, hid it behind her back.
She was right.
Fragments of foreign gods are dangerous.
In the game, those who consumed such fragments all came to terrible ends.
Even the principal and the director couldn’t withstand it.
After all, a fragment of a foreign god is literally a fragment of divinity.
But this isn’t a game that can be cleared without taking risks.
I had to push the danger to its limit.
“Hand it over.”
“This is genuinely dangerous!”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“Yes, I know very well.”
I was sincere.
No one knew fragments of foreign gods better than I did.
“But why—”
“I need it.”
I spoke firmly.
Evangeline stared at me. I held her gaze without flinching.
Eventually, Evangeline was the first to turn away.
“I don’t understand why such a thing would be necessary, but—fine, I’ll do it.”
Despite saying she understood, Evangeline squeezed the fragment in her hand and worked it over vigorously. A faint light scattered from the fragment.
“What are you doing?”
“It felt like it might be okay this way!”
In the game, Evangeline had despised fragments of foreign gods intensely.
To her, such fragments felt filthier than filth crawling with maggots.
Her reaction now made that clear.
“Gag! Urgh! Wretched!”
She retched continually while kneading the fragment.
I recognized this from the game.
‘Purification.’
Evangeline could use Purification on fragments of foreign gods.
Purification erased the side effects of fragments of foreign gods. True, the fragment’s power was reduced somewhat, but eliminating the side effects was an overwhelming advantage.
The danger of fragments lay entirely in their side effects.
“Here you go!”
Evangeline held out the fragment to me, her face drenched in sweat and tears from suppressing her revulsion.
In the game, Evangeline’s Purification was an ability that only appeared late in the story.
Two conditions were necessary for it.
First, Evangeline had to become accustomed to Cracks.
Second, she had to become desperate enough to suppress her disgust at fragments of foreign gods.
Since this was the second Crack, the first condition was met. The problem was the second.
Evangeline had become desperate.
Because of me.
“Evangeline.”
“No thanks necessary.”
“Don’t grow attached to me.”
“……What?”
“Don’t like me.”
“Who, who likes whom?”
“You liking me.”
“I don’t like you!”
“Then I’m relieved.”
“……What’s wrong with your self-awareness?”
Evangeline blinked in disbelief.
“But why can’t I like you?”
“You’re not my type.”
“That’s impossible? Look at me.”
Evangeline pointed at her own face with a finger, as if to say how could anyone not find her attractive.
It was absurd confidence, but her face was sufficient to back it.
“You’re overestimating yourself.”
“What’s ‘overestimating’?”
She knows self-awareness but not overestimation.
I clicked my tongue and took the fragment.
Normally, fragments of foreign gods look grotesquely alien, like chunks of an extraterrestrial’s flesh. Now it resembled a well-formed dumpling.
I placed the fragment in my mouth.
“Huh?! You’re eating it?! I didn’t even wash my hands!”
I drew my tension to its absolute limit.
The last time I consumed a fragment of a foreign god, I experienced a moment of mental contamination.
This Crack was at least higher grade than the previous one, so the fragment would surely be more dangerous.
But this time, nothing unusual occurred. No window mentioning “glory” or anything similar appeared.
It was thanks to Evangeline.
‘She really did purify it. Then what about the effect?’
My Divine Power was the kind The Church had forcibly conditioned me to possess, intending to create a combat priest. Like an Aura, it had side effects.
‘I can’t use Divine Connection.’
From the rank of high priest and above, one could use Divine Connection, a link between divinity and one’s own flesh.
In simple terms, Divine Connection was an ability that converted active Divine Power into passive Divine Power. With Divine Connection, you could use Divine Power without needing to inscribe a Holy Sign.
A conduit between self and divinity. Without Divine Connection, one couldn’t advance to the next rank: Saint.
I was originally a high priest, but the side effects prevented me from using Divine Connection.
But now, having consumed a fragment of a foreign god with Divine Power properties, I should be able to use Divine Connection, at least briefly.
I closed my eyes quietly and observed my inner landscape.
「…………」
A terrible breathing sound echoed. It was the one the witch had planted in me.
It bared its teeth at me, clearly displeased. I felt the same.
Ignoring it and pressing deeper, I felt something—a thread, impossibly thin.
So fragile it seemed it would snap if I wasn’t careful.
Yet the light radiating from it was so brilliant it could blind.
「…………!!」
The thing inside convulsed and fled.
I slowly extended my hand toward the thread. With such caution I moved, afraid even the gentlest touch would sever it.
The moment my hand touched the thread—
Pure white light engulfed my consciousness.
A figure draped in pristine luminescence—woman or man, child or elder—looked down upon me.
Contempt filled that gaze, the eyes one might turn upon an insect.
「The stench of a filthy demon taints you.」
It looked ready to crush my skull. The demon’s heart within me had offended it, apparently.
To me, it felt unjust. I hadn’t asked for this implantation.
「Vanish.」
It issued a brief command. Pure white light seized my throat.
The demon’s heart had triggered its wrath.
Not only did I fail to gain Divine Connection, but I was being attacked instead.
The worst possible outcome.
I desperately sought an escape.
If I drew on Divine Power—
‘I have no mana.’
Even if I did, it would be futile. It was a god in the truest sense. My rank was still too low to oppose it.
Then I could release the demon’s leash and—
Then the luminous mass glanced upward at something.
It was strange.
This being was what passes for a god here.
How could it possibly look up to another existence?
「I understand.」
It made a gesture. The severed thread of light became clear again—and thicker than before.
It had granted me Divine Connection.
It seemed to have received an order.
A god of The Church, yet someone dared command it?
‘Who on earth.’
I raised my head.
And then I saw……
“Boss, please!!”
At that moment, Andy’s desperate voice cut through my thoughts.
I opened my eyes to see Andy, drenched in tears, carrying a mass of bloodied flesh on his back.
The size of that mass was familiar.
“……Milo?”
“Boss!! We’re in trouble! Big trouble!”
Andy thrust Milo forward.
Milo’s condition was terrible.
So thoroughly beaten that not a single part of his body was uninjured. It was a miracle he was still breathing.
Yet Milo was smiling.
Truly a foolish wretch.
“They came looking, and he tried to stop them! And ended up like this!”
“Lay him down.”
I brushed off my hands as I spoke. Andy hastily lowered Milo to the ground.
I closed my eyes. I felt the pure white thread.
Carefully extending my hand to grasp it, pure white light rose from my palm. Divine Connection.
“B, boss?”
The light didn’t stop at my hand. Pure white radiance flowed through my entire body in a subtle luminous aura.
The mark of a high priest.
As I placed my hand on Milo’s head, light flowed through him.
Wherever it touched, wounds closed rapidly. New flesh bloomed in their place.
Recovery closer to miracle than mere healing.
The power of Divine Connection.
Most importantly, it was passive.
The Divine Power continued to cycle without my conscious effort.
Now, unless my neck was severed or my heart pierced—a fatal wound—I would not die suddenly.
And even if my heart were pierced, I wouldn’t die, since I possessed a second heart. Of course, if it came to that, things would become tremendously inconvenient.
Life force approaching immortality—the reason Divine Connection earned the name of miracle.
Then Milo exhaled roughly, his breath labored. He’d been on death’s threshold, yet consciousness was already returning. Divine Connection’s power.
“You conscious?”
Milo slowly opened his eyes.
In his pupils, I saw myself reflected—covered in the pure white luminous aura.
Upon seeing me, Milo—
“……Mother?”
whispered in a voice full of longing.
“I knew it!!!”
Evangeline cried out as if she’d discovered something.
Ridiculous.
I muttered a curse under my breath.

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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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