Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 105

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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 105
EP25 – Professor’s Assassination: Why Dante? (2)

If you spend enough time running through District 0, there’s one person you’re bound to encounter.

“Professor!”

It was Elise.
I’d been in the middle of a solo training session, running to build my cardiopulmonary endurance, when Elise in workout clothes appeared beside me and fell into step alongside.

“Where are you headed?”
“Nowhere in particular. I’m in the middle of stamina training.”
“Mind if I join you?”

Good news, that.
Running alone tends to grow tedious.

“The wind’s quite sharp today, isn’t it?”
“Indeed.”

Even as we began, I could already sense how this run would end.
Despite my having invested considerable fragments of starlight to raise my Stamina and Agility stats substantially, I could tell I’d still lag behind Elise in both.
And since Elise had the full arsenal of buffs granted to members of the Xicos Family—a canine-type bloodline—our running speeds were simply on different scales.

We cut through the cold winds of winter.
But the exertion kept my body warm enough that I hardly noticed the chill.

Running.
A curious exercise.

Your breath comes ragged, your body screams in protest.
Yet something strange happens—your mood lifts.

Back in the lab, I never had occasion to run like this; the work demanded I stay put. But here inside the game, I find myself running often—cresting hillsides, descending slopes, cutting across expanses of open fields.

I am free.

These days, I can cover a hundred meters in roughly seven seconds when I push myself—that translates to about fifty kilometers per hour, nearly the speed of a car on the highway.
When you run at such a pace, the scenery blurs past, and the ground itself seems to vanish beneath your feet.

“Ah…! This feels wonderful…!”
“It does.”

Elise was right. It felt wonderful. We were running along a road near the Lakeside, having passed the ridge of a hill, and not a single car disturbed the silence. There was a strange satisfaction in simply running through that quiet expanse.

Why?
Why does running bring this sense of fulfillment?

The thought that came to me then was of a racetrack. There was a time I accompanied the professor there—a hobby of his—and on the way, I’d entertained fantasies of hitting him in the back of the head with a wrench. But once I actually went, it turned out to be more enjoyable than I’d expected.

Not the gambling aspect, I mean. The horses, running.

When the horses surge forward at full gallop, grinding their teeth, and the finish line remains uncertain until the final stride—when something suddenly accelerates from the back and barely edges out the leader—I felt an intense rush of pleasure then, even though I had no money riding on the outcome.

Perhaps somewhere in the distant past, among the great-great-great-grandfathers stretching back through my father’s line, there was one “super-grandfather” who found joy in running, and that survival advantage meant his DNA was passed down to me.

“The scenery’s lovely. Shall we take a break?”
“Why not.”

Near the manicured shores of the lake, Elise came to a stop and caught her breath.

“Ah, this feels wonderful. How are you holding up, Professor?”
“Fine.”
“Not exhausted?”
“I’m all right.”

In truth, he was barely conscious.
He breathed through his nose only to avoid looking weak.

【 Elise: ‘As expected of the Professor.’ 】

That’s right. That’s exactly it.
Wait, my head is spinning….
He made sure not to show it.

“Mm. I’m happy.”

Despite everything, Elise still had stamina to burn—she bounded off in a series of hops, sprinted into the distance, and came bounding back.
Watching her, he realized she must have been matching her pace to his the entire time.
Now she was moving with genuinely breathtaking speed.

“Elise Xicos.”
“Yes?”
“Want to do a 100-meter race with me?”
“Sure, I’d love to.”

Among the models he’d prepared in advance was a ruler. He’d laid out a 1-meter scale a hundred times to mark off exactly 100 meters.
Then he activated the stopwatch on the Crystal Orb.

“Ready.”
“Mm-hm!”
“Go!”

Elise pushed off, her body tilting nearly horizontal to the ground, and raised her hand at the far end the next instant.
2.81 seconds.
He ran the numbers through his head.
Roughly 130 kilometers per hour.
Was she a cheetah?

“Well?”
“Quite fast. 2.81 seconds.”

In fact, it was shockingly fast.
On par with a senior professor, or perhaps beyond.
Was there another assassin in Elise’s generation today who could move like this? Especially when her speciality wasn’t even Movement Technique.

“Oh, really?”

Yet Elise seemed unmoved.
Numbers were only interesting to adults, after all.

So what did Elise enjoy?
From the way she’d been glancing around since just now.

【 Elise: ‘Hmm.’ 】
【 Elise: ‘There’s no one watching here….’ 】

And from the way those glances ended with her studying him.
She seemed determined to play another round of assassination games.

【 Elise: ‘…….’ 】

At last, Elise crept forward, her eyes fixed on the distance rather than on me. Her hands clasped behind her back, and I knew they concealed a pocket dimension and a sheathed blade.
She was about to pretend to stab me with her sword—but by now, I was used to it.

I quickly crafted a ball using Illusion Magic, drew her attention with it, and tossed it far to the side.

“Fetch it.”

Elise’s gaze followed the ball against her will, then she turned back to me with a blank stare.

【 Elise: ‘Fetch it……??’ 】

For a moment, confusion crystallized in her eyes.
She looked back and forth between me and the ball in the distance, then began to contemplate more deeply.
Shortly after, she folded her arms.
At the same time, her lips pouted as if displeased.

“Professor.”
“Hmm?”
“Aren’t you treating me like a dog right now?”

…What?
Had she suddenly become sharp?

“What do you mean?”
“Fetch it—that’s something you say to dogs. Why would I pick up a ball in my mouth?”
“Bring it here. Then.”
“…….”

Elise began to deliberate again.

【 Elise: ‘Bring it here…?’ 】
【 Elise: ‘Is that something people do too…??’ 】
【 Elise: ‘Hmm…….’ 】

Then she scurried off, picked up the ball, and handed it to me.

“Good girl.”
“…….”

She nodded her head.
Though I hadn’t petted or stroked her (wouldn’t that cross the line into treating her like a dog?), merely offering praise, Elise looked genuinely delighted.

“…That’s strange.”
“What is?”
“Why does this feel so good…?”

But of course it would—it was inevitable.
A retriever is a hunting dog.
Among them, the ones trained to fetch birds shot down by humans are called gun dogs.
And since the word retriever—the original term for the Xicos Family’s breed—means “to retrieve,”
then Elise’s very calling, inherited through her bloodline, is to return bearing what has been thrown.

“Professor. Let’s do it one more time.”
“I’d rather not.”
“What? That’s not fair. Just one more time, please?”
“No.”
“……Well, I suppose there’s no helping it.”

And then she was thinking about the assassination game again, wasn’t she?
I had no choice but to toss it back and forth with her.

“Bring it here.”
“Yes!”

About twenty times.

⋮

⋮

“Elise. When you get to the Academy, tell the unit to start preparing for external assignments.”
“Huh? Has the Department already asked about scheduling?”
“Not yet, but before we set any schedule, I want to measure our current records first. We need to know exactly what level of power you all are at. We’ll be taking an important test soon.”

Elise nodded, her expression turning grave.
The Dante Assassination Unit’s first real mission was drawing near.

* * *

After sending Elise off, I decided to train alone for the next session.
I’ve been doing physical training and Illusion Magic training every day, but starting today, I resolved to begin something new.

‘The harmony of Illusion Magic and Combat Technique.’

To create Illusion Magic, one must imagine—in other words, it dwells in the realm of reason.
But Combat Technique requires moving the body—that is, it dwells in the realm of instinct.

Of course, Illusion Magic cannot ignore the instinctual mechanisms within it, and Combat Technique must be rational, as the phrase “combat intelligence” suggests……but here’s the heart of it: deploying combat and illusion simultaneously is as difficult as playing two different games with your left and right hands.

‘That is the weakness of an Illusion Magic assassin.’

Illusionists are different. They stand still by nature while warriors protect them. But an assassin stands alone.

‘Hmm.’

To aid in a clearer understanding, allow me to explain this game’s three major classes and how combat works.

First, the center of combat belongs to the ‘Mage.’

Reluctant as I am to admit it as an assassin, I cannot deny that those spell-dispensing fools are the lynchpin of everything.

When battle erupts, the Warrior and Mage move as a single unit, with the Warrior protecting the Mage.

The Warrior holds the line of the battlefield, standing like a rampart against enemy assaults. The strongest among them can even smash through the enemy line like a bull and strike down the Mages behind it.

The Mage, meanwhile, provides steady, stable firepower slowly and continuously from within that formation. (That ‘slow and steady’ is what sets them apart from assassins.) Depending on their ability, they can unleash far greater firepower than an assassin ever could.

For instance, even if the so-called ‘Number One Assassin in Global Magical Circles’ were to come, they couldn’t manifest a defensive magic barrier half the size of our shield-bearer Ezekiel’s.

Then what of the assassin?

The assassin is a class that invests everything in a ‘brief window of time.’

When the warrior is losing ground, it falls to the assassin to push back the line in a short burst.

If the mage’s fireballs scatter and engulf the enemy, yet their commander still draws breath, that’s when the assassin is deployed—to eliminate the leader and vanish.

But once that role is fulfilled, the assassin must sit idle. The Mana is spent.

In plain terms: an assassin burns out fast.
I’m a professor of premature exhaustion.
The Assassination Unit is a unit of burn-outs.

Warrior versus Assassin = Assassin wins if they ambush; warrior wins otherwise. Warrior crushes if they drag it out; assassin wins if they don’t. Fighter versus Assassin = Mutual wariness, pure mind games. Whoever weakens first dies, guaranteed.

Mage versus Assassin = Assassin has the advantage.

Assassin versus Assassin = Both read each other’s every twitch. Whoever depletes their reserves first drops dead.

‘That’s the general framework. But I’m different.’

Most assassins throw their signature attack—whether a projectile or a close-range strike—and once they’ve exhausted themselves, they either live or die and that’s the end of it.
But an Illusion Magic assassin doesn’t have that kind of explosive payload, does it?

A blast that erupts in chaos but destroys nothing!
Terrifying, truly.

Yet if I could weave Illusion Magic seamlessly even mid-combat, the equation changes.
I could thrust with my blade while simultaneously controlling my opponent’s senses through their five gates.

‘No one’s managed that yet, though.’

I decide to attempt it myself.

‘First, the fundamentals.’

I begin Shadow Boxing. Dante’s body, synchronized with me, moves with natural grace—the Combat Technique has been well learned.

When I subdued Valmond at the Department, I’d felt it: my fighting prowess exceeded that of most warriors.

The balance honed by weight distribution. The elasticity and suppleness of muscle and bone. The explosive force that detonates in an instant.

Crack!

A single punch shattered the brittle wood. The Strength Stat strengthens the body’s base defense, which means it fortifies skin and bone alike. My fist’s durability now rivaled granite.

‘But like this, it’s unremarkable.’

I try again. As I drive my fist forward, I attempt to focus my mind on something in that instant—

‘It doesn’t work.’

Concentration proved difficult.
It’s like trying to imagine manipulating computer graphics software while fighting—hardly something one masters in a day.

When I fought Toxin, or during the Jinxxytte match, I could focus on Illusion Magic even while moving. That was because I was simply running.

Even when I subdued Valmond, I’d deployed Illusion Magic during the frozen ‘interval’ between us—a window where neither of us acted, so I seized it to make use of the time rather than squander it on mere psychological games.

True combat demands a caliber of mental focus entirely different from walking or running.

Think about it: you can easily think of other things on a treadmill. But who spars while their mind wanders? That’s madness—your jaw gets shattered before you know it.

‘If even this is possible because it’s me, then it’s worth attempting….’

I had mastered World Forgery, the most direct Illusion Magic on the continent, and my proficiency was monstrously high because of it.

A typical Illusion Magic assassin, even at Grandmaster level, doesn’t cast Illusion Magic while moving. They cast Illusion Magic and then move, or they stop moving and cast Illusion Magic.

‘This path is one only I can pioneer.’

With this resolve, I repeated the motion of casting Illusion Magic while moving.

⋮

As time passed, I felt a vague sense of it clicking into place.
But there was one problem.

‘Doing this alone leaves me far too relaxed.’

When the mind is at peace, it works. But real combat is nothing but tension.
So to actually use this in battle, I’d need to face an unpredictable opponent. But who could I ask to help with that?
Even requesting a sparring match felt insufficient.
Because I already knew that opponent could never kill me.
So I needed to face someone who could actually kill me…. But Elise would be far too dangerous.
I wished someone would help.
Just as I was thinking this.

“Yeah. It was really fun.”
“…….”

Why Elise and not him?
He’d gone jogging this morning too…!!

“……?”

What? Fetch?
So when Professor Dante threw a ball, she brought it back?
No matter how he thought about it, that didn’t seem right.

She was confused about it too.

“No, why did you do it alone?”
“Huh?”

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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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