Legendary Hero is an Academy Honors Student - Chapter 99

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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99.

“Another dead end here too.”

Leo grumbled as he arrived at the fourth lake.

He had wandered around searching for the lake where Luminous slept, but all four attempts had been fruitless.

‘Is the lakeside at the castle ruins the last one?’

Leo had already wasted several hours in the city area.

And while roaming around the city area, he had been hit by curses multiple times.

Leo had been afflicted by various curses that would have eliminated other students long ago, but he was perfectly fine.

‘I know all these curses.’

Leo chuckled at another curse that activated around him.

Having experienced every curse imaginable in his previous life, Leo knew how to dispel all kinds of curses.

The current curse was one that disrupted the nervous system.

‘I don’t even need to dispel this one.’

A curse where moving the left arm would move the right foot, and moving the right arm would move the left leg.

Nervous system curses were very tricky and among the most troublesome, but Leo understood all the disrupted nerves and moved accordingly.

‘These kinds of curses dispel themselves over time anyway.’

Even though his power had weakened, his experience as a great hero hadn’t disappeared.

Leo calmly dealt with the curse and turned his head toward the castle ruins.

“Should I head over there now? The other guys must be having a blast fighting, right?”

Most students had probably already left the city area and were engaged in the full-scale Inter-Department Competition at the castle ruins.

“Hm?”

He stopped walking and looked up at the sky.

His sharp senses had detected something.

‘A wide-area curse?’

Leo furrowed his brow.

It was a new curse.

‘Judging by the range, it covers all of Neigrande?’

It was an incredibly powerful curse of enormous scale.

‘The curse has been cast on the land itself.’

He felt something was off.

Neigrande becoming cursed land due to the Hero Dungeon’s influence was something that happened long ago.

What was tormenting the students were curses that had already been in place.

‘But now there’s a new curse. And this curse is…’

Leo’s face hardened as he identified the curse.

‘A curse of severance.’

It was a curse that Tartaros favored using in large-scale battles.

The curse itself had no effect on people.

Its effect was severance from the outside.

In other words, it was a powerful barrier-type curse that isolated an entire specific area.

“Damn it!”

Knowing there was a traitor within Lumern, Leo immediately understood the current situation.

‘I need to quickly regroup with the others!’

Leo unleashed his aura and kicked off the ground.

Crash—!

Raising enormous clouds of dust around him, Leo began running toward the city wall.

***

Around that time.

The students at the royal palace also understood the gravity of the situation.

Students eliminated during the Inter-Department Competition weren’t being transported to Lumern and were suffering serious injuries.

An enormous number of monsters had gathered around the castle, and magical beasts began appearing inside the castle.

“Wind Fang.”

Kraaaaaaah!

Wind spikes mercilessly pierced through the minotaur.

Screaming in pain, the minotaur wildly swung its battle axe.

“Kyaaaah?”

A Knight Department student who had been blocking the minotaur nearby let out a scream.

Seeing this, Avad chanted a spell.

“Wind Breaker.”

Kwagagagagak! Bang!

Grrk—!

The minotaur caught in the blade wind was slammed into a building wall, let out a death rattle, and died instantly.

Whoooosh!

“Th-thank you! Avad!”

The female student blushed as she thanked Avad.

Avad raised his hand to the female student and looked outside the city wall with a serious expression.

‘This is completely abnormal. This isn’t an Inter-Department Competition anymore—we need to join forces to defend the castle.’

But continuing to defend the city wall like this was unreasonable.

Magical beasts were appearing even within the city walls.

‘The academy is probably trying to resolve the situation right now, but… with no communication to the outside, we can’t expect immediate help.’

Avad’s mind raced.

‘We don’t know how long we’ll have to hold out, but our forces are too scattered.’

Having thought that far, Avad turned his head.

He could see the inner castle of the ruined royal palace.

The inner castle, which could be called the last bastion, had only one entrance.

It had the advantage of concentrating forces, but conversely, since the entrance was also the exit, there was the disadvantage of being unable to escape.

‘But in this situation, there’s nowhere to run anyway.’

The moment they abandoned the castle in this cursed land, it would be over.

‘Now is the time to concentrate our forces.’

“Everyone, let’s go to the inner castle.”

“What?”

“Our forces are scattered. We need to gather in one place.”

“B-but Avad! Defending from the inner castle is a last resort.”

“That’s only true for normal siege warfare. And this isn’t a normal situation.”

Avad raised his staff and shot a signal flare spell toward the inner castle.

Piiing—! Bang—!

A bright light burst above the inner castle.

“This way, the quick-witted ones will come to the inner castle! Everyone retreat to the inner castle as calmly as possible!”

At Avad’s words, the students began retreating to the inner castle.

Avad remained at the front lines, helping the students retreat while falling back himself.

As Avad had thought, he wasn’t the only one thinking of heading to the inner castle.

The leader-level students defending each gate were also thinking that things couldn’t continue like this as they watched the endlessly swarming monsters.

Using Avad’s signal as a cue, all the remaining students quickly began heading to the inner castle.

Once all the students had entered, the students guarding the inner castle gate hurriedly barricaded the gate.

Creeeeak—! Thud!

“Mages! Reinforce the gate with magic!”

The gate was firmly sealed with magic.

“Form an air defense network!”

“Knight Department students, defend the top of the city wall!”

Though they were still boys and girls in their mid-teens, as if proving they were all hero candidates, they quickly joined forces and began preparing for defense.

Meanwhile, students gathered in front of the city wall.

“What? Where’s Leo?”

When Selia asked with a flustered expression, Chen Xia replied.

“If you mean Young Master Leo, he went to the outer area instead of the center.”

“Why did he go that way?”

When Avad made a puzzled expression, Eliza clicked her tongue.

“He probably has some idea of his own. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but he wouldn’t have been eliminated. He’s annoyingly good at running away.”

The other students agreed with her words.

“Still, I’m worried. To join us here, he’d have to break through that monster army.”

At Avad’s muttering, Chelsea said.

“Don’t worry, brother. Leo will find his way here just fine.”

“Right, let’s think about Leo later and focus on understanding the situation first. Let’s start by sharing information with each other.

At Selia’s words, the students shared what information they each knew.

After sharing information, Julliden said while breaking out in a cold sweat.

“So we’re basically isolated in the middle of Neigrande due to an abnormal situation? And we’re under attack from monsters and magical beasts.”

The surrounding students gulped nervously.

Then one Knight Department student raised his hand and said.

“It might be an abnormal situation, but couldn’t this just be an emergency scenario prepared by the Academy?”

“I’d hope it’s just an event! But to consider this simply an emergency situation prepared by the Academy, the condition of the injured students is too serious! Normally, eliminated students should be teleported back to Lumern, but they’re still here!”

Cal, who had come back from helping the healers, shouted.

As someone aspiring to be a professional supporter, Cal had also studied emergency treatment for the injured diligently.

At Cal’s words, a female student from the Summoning Department said.

“That could also be testing our ability to respond to emergency situations, couldn’t it? Actually, this Inter-Department Competition has been strange from the start! Making us do something like a battle royale. And suddenly calling it a final exam on the day of.”

Students who agreed with her words nodded their heads.

“Besides, lots of external guests came this time too, right? So there’s a high probability this is a prepared event.”

“Certainly, if we perform well here, we’d make a proper impression on power holders from various countries.”

At those words, several students’ eyes sparkled.

Seeing this, Cal shouted as if frustrated.

“You guys! Did you see the injured students?”

“We didn’t see them.”

“If it weren’t for Nella, more than a few of them might have died! No matter how much Lumern springs incidents without warning, they wouldn’t go this far! Think seriously!”

“What did you say?”

The female student from the Summoning Department frowned.

“Now isn’t the time to fight! Whether it’s a real situation or one intended by the Academy, it’s serious either way! So we need to respond thinking it’s a real situation! Strategy comes first.”

Hearing Selia’s words, Chloe raised her hand.

“For now, making the most of the city wall’s advantages and defending…”

“No. I think now is the time to attack.”

Emio cut off Chloe’s words.

“If we all combine our strength, we should be able to subjugate the monsters and magical beasts gathered at the castle.”

“Attacking recklessly is absolutely not allowed.”

When Chloe shook her head, Emio got heated.

“Why? Rather than being holed up here just defending, wouldn’t it be faster to end the situation by just sweeping them away first? What do you guys think?”

Several students agreed with Emio’s words.

Seeing this, Duran let out a sneer.

“Abandoning the city wall’s advantages without even understanding what situation we’re in – I’m sure the professors would give a wonderful evaluation.”

“Right. In the current situation, defense is the correct choice over offense.”

When Selia also agreed with Chloe’s opinion, Emio gritted his teeth.

‘Are they taking sides because they’re in the same class?’

Emio glared at Chloe.

‘What makes someone who just copies exam assignments and research better than me! Mages who only do research are useless on the battlefield!’

In the Magic Studies Department, there were mocking rumors that if Chloe had done things properly, Emio would never have ranked third.

So Emio didn’t view Chloe very favorably.

However, the majority of students were in favor of defending.

“First, we need to divide into teams and distribute roles.”

Currently, excluding the injured, there were 96 students capable of combat.

“I think we should divide into five groups to handle the fortress gate and city walls. What do you think?”

Everyone agreed with Selia’s words.

“Then, raise your hands if you’ve received command education since childhood.”

At those words, four people including Selia raised their hands.

All four were from renowned hero families who had received formal command education.

“We’re one short. Anyone willing to be a team leader?”

“I’ll try it.”

“I’ll do it.”

Chloe and Emio raised their hands simultaneously.

“Put your hand down, Chloe.”

“Chloe has better skills though.”

At Selia’s words, Emio scoffed.

“Chloe is from the Magic Tower. Someone like me, from a military family background, is more suited for command than Chloe who’s been holed up in the Magic Tower studying since childhood, don’t you think?”

“Then you be the team leader, Emio.”

Chloe smiled and yielded.

She had only raised her hand because there were no volunteers, so she stepped back readily.

Emio made a triumphant expression while Selia sighed.

Once the team leader was decided, they formed the groups.

When the defensive preparations were complete, Selia earnestly addressed everyone.

“Remember this, everyone. Our goal is to hold out, not to go outside the city walls and attack the monsters!”

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