Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 119

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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 119
EP27 – Starlight Meeting Mountain Redevelopment (9)

My skin prickles. The murderous intent radiating from Shaman sweeps indiscriminately across the surroundings.
The ominous pressure bears down on earth and flesh alike. Even Royal Guard Commander Kashan’s overwhelming presence crumbles helplessly beneath it.

“…Ugh.”

A being who endured the Giant Soldier’s Sword without flinching—who calmly withstood siege-weapon-level blows—now finds his expression hardening before this killing intent.
This is no mere presence.

【 Shaman is currently using Hunting Domain. 】

Hunting Domain—an eighth-level spatial control ability.
The skill of Shaman, an assassin of the throwing-arts category, binds the feet and bodies of his enemies in place.

How does Shaman even perceive this place?

By all accounts, he must have learned through his intelligence network and rushed over.
I appreciate that he called me his own blood, but separate from that—he needn’t have come at all. I’ve already survived, and I’ve already identified who was behind this.
There was a reason I harbored such thoughts.

One thing troubled me.
Shaman’s arrival might very well trigger the worst possible outcome.

‘Professor, shouldn’t we withdraw?’

Ran asked.

‘…Wait.’

Leaving won’t be easy.
I test my limbs.
My fingers creak. My toes do the same.
I could move if I tried, but my range of motion is so restricted that any action would expose me to danger.

The pure power gap is already enormous.
Mana is the embodiment of will—with only fifteen percent of my reserves left, my willpower is too diminished to withstand the Hunting Domain.

‘For now, let’s observe.’
‘Understood.’

Still, there’s much we can learn simply by watching this fight unfold.
And that thought immediately became reality.

“…I apologize, but I cannot speak of this matter. Department Head Shaman.”

Kashan resisted even as his lower jaw trembled.

“So you truly wish for me to kill you and extract the truth from your corpse.”

Department Head Shaman’s round spectacles catch the moonlight. The eyes behind them are invisible.
Yet Kashan smiled, splitting his mouth wide.

“…Though my standing may be inferior to yours, I am a servant of the Crown. This cause is just. And in Hiaka, there exists no being capable of commanding His Majesty’s knights—not even you, the fourth strongest in Hiaka.”

Kashan cried out, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, his words grinding like teeth.

“I will fight.”

It happened in the same instant.

Clank-clank-clank—!!

From his neck, a chain of iron stretched skyward and traced a circle in the empty air—shaped like shackles.
Ah!
The moment I saw it, I understood exactly what Kashan had meant by “staking his life”!

It was a [Legendary II] rank necklace,
Hiaka’s official National Treasure No. 14.

God’s Toy.

A Stigma necklace bearing the Lucky/Unlucky Star—a symbol of fortune, misfortune, and gambling. Should the die roll higher than four, one gains incomprehensibly potent buffs.
But if the number falls to three or below, one grows weaker instead. And should misfortune strike and the die show a one—

death comes on that very spot.

【 The Lucky/Unlucky Star’s gamble begins. 】

Within the circle of chain suspended in the air, the die spins.
The gamble begins—one knight’s life wagered in the balance.
Gambling is the domain of Stigma. Kashan is currently immune to damage. Shaman, too, could only watch.
A thousand emotions flickered across Kashan’s face as the spinning die at last came to rest.
And the result was—

【 Gamble Result: ⚄ 】

The number five.
The gods favored Kashan.

“Done it!!”

The knight, having wagered his life and finally claimed victory, roared aloud.

【 Temporary Stigma from the Lucky/Unlucky Star is granted. 】

In the same breath, three buffs cascaded down.
The great sword, heavy as a mallet, split apart with a sharp crack—and within the fractured blade, a sword of grotesque hue, which should never have existed, emerged and exhaled an ominous aura.
To his metal-clad feet, something fastened itself from empty space and transformed into a magnificent form. With each step, an eerie force rippled through the air like waves.

“Rraaaaahhh!!”

Finally, power exploded from his body. His stat coefficient surged catastrophically. In this moment, as God’s Toy, his overall combat strength had tripled!

And yet…

“Have your tricks ended?”

His opponent was the guardian deity of assassins.

⋮

The unfolding crisis had slipped entirely from my grasp. My eyes could no longer track their movements with perfect clarity. Yet the underlying logic of what was happening remained perfectly legible to me.

【 Shaman uses Non-Light Divine Wind. 】
【 Shaman uses Black Trajectory. 】

Shaman’s colossal frame vanished into a single point of light, then began shimmering like scattered stains across the entire world. Within that radiance, Shaman scattered darkness selectively into chosen spaces. The night-shrouded Starlight Meeting Mountain became a chaos of light and shadow tangled indiscriminately together.

【 Shaman uses Thousand Needles Ten-Thousand Flowers. 】

A thousand projectiles wreathed in mana crashed across the terrain like a tidal wave. It was tantamount to an aerial bombardment. The ground and sky trembled dizzily from the catastrophic shockwaves and the shriek of splitting air, the noise so deafening it threatened to rupture eardrums. An assassin of the throwing arts who had reached the pinnacle transformed into precisely this—a tactical bomber.

Yet I furrowed my brow. This was not the outcome I had most hoped to avoid.

Kashan responded in kind.

【 Kashan uses Bow Divine Bullet Shadow. 】
【 Kashan uses Immortality. 】
【 Kashan uses Chivalry of Oblivion. 】

Even as the bombardment continued its relentless sweep, whenever he materialized for an instant, enormous mana needles were embedded in his flesh, drawing blood. Five. Then ten. Yet his stats—absurdly tripled—and his temporarily transcendent skills forced him to endure.

【 Kashan uses One-Sea Breaking Sword Qi□. 】

At last, his sword qi, now bearing the mark, erupted outward in a slash of such tremendous magnitude that it threatened to overturn the entire mottled expanse of light above.

【 Shaman uses Heavenly Punishment. 】

Yet that colossal area attack was pierced through at the critical point, like a wave penetrated by a missile.

The battle continued in this fashion. With each exchange, Kashan began to lose ground. Between them passed some form of mental communion. One or two of his attacks even reached Shaman—his forearm was torn open, his abdomen split. But by that point, over two hundred mana needles had been embedded in Kashan’s body. As if two hundred pencils had been driven exquisitely into flesh, and the mark was forcing that pierced body to move.

【 Kashan: ‘So even this… is not enough.’ 】

Kashan fell quiet in his shock. Even he—a martial artist ranked in the triple digits—felt a wall before him.
Yet having predicted Shaman’s victory from the start, my attention was wholly concentrated elsewhere.

On the worst possible development.

And my fear had come to pass.

【 Combat pauses. 】

Where the mottled light had dispersed, Shaman stood treading empty air. Across the divide, Kashan too had stopped his motion.

‘…He’s awakened,’ Ran murmured.

That was so.

There stood the Two-Horned Demon.

Looking down at the crumpled form of the substitute Dante.
Its expression frozen rigid.

Then it stretched out its hand toward empty space.
Even from a distance, I could sense the trembling in that palm.

‘…It’s calling for the Professor,’ Ran said quietly.

That was when Ran spoke, a parrot now perched on her head instead of a band-aid model.

‘What are you doing right now?’
‘The witch is transmitting consciousness.’
‘What?’

Ran reads the non-verbal communication.

‘She’s calling for you.’

A mouth moving silently.

‘She’s calling for you.’

Eyes narrowing in distress.

‘She’s calling for you.’

Damn it. I urgently transmitted a thin thread of mana—the smallest Interference I could manage without drawing attention.
[Thump] The circuit activates. The fallen duplicate Dante’s heart begins to beat.
I made sure to let a small surge of mana burst visibly.
It was a minor change, but everyone in this place would notice it.
I was signaling to the Two-Horned Demon.
That I’m alive!
The Two-Horned Demon’s expression eased. Trembling hands moved to its chest, fingers curling into a small fist.
At the same time, it bent its upper body and lowered its head deeply. Hair that had been buried under the hood streamed down.
Soundless and invisible, yet a profound sigh seemed to escape.

‘…It’s relieved.’

That much, I didn’t need to be told to understand.
This was the worst-case scenario I’d feared. Already, two humans were bombarding the entire mountain to pieces—if the Two-Horned Demon joined in too, there was no telling what would happen.
But by revealing my survival just now, hadn’t I at least avoided the absolute worst?
That’s what I thought—but it was my mistake.

‘It’s angry.’

What?

‘Why? I’m alive.’
‘Isn’t it angry that you were attacked in the first place?’
‘…….’

Hell.
And Ran’s words became reality.
As the Two-Horned Demon slowly lifted its bowed head, I realized it.
Its face bore an expression that didn’t match its gentle appearance—a blank, expressionless face radiating anger stronger than any grimace.
At the same moment, mana erupted outward.

────── .

The quality was different.
Like when Shaman had appeared, immense mana vibrated across the entire sky and earth—but the quality of the mana was different.
I’d felt it during our earlier exchange as well: a transparent, crystalline mana that no human could produce was beginning to pour forth.
The sensation of witnessing catastrophe with human eyes.
A helplessness as if standing before a tidal wave crashing toward me.
The Two-Horned Demon drew his blade and lowered his stance gradually, his power growing rougher by the second as it whipped through his hair.

Crackle-crackle-crackle ────── !!!

At the same time, uncontrolled and crackling like lightning, it burst forth and tore across the entire Starlight Meeting Mountain.

‘He’s furious.’

While Kashan and Shaman stood alarmed, the star responded first.
Kashan’s necklace—God’s Toy—activated.

【 The Lucky/Unlucky Star, deprived of its joyful game, adds a Stigma. 】

Adding a Stigma? It was literal. Eerie light poured forth, creating entities one by one—Divine Soldiers were born. They were the elite guards protecting the temple of gods.
Three colossal giants in plate armor spanning five meters in height, despite being medium-class entities.

At that moment, the Two-Horned Demon took his first step.
It was not fast. Yet it was menacing. With that monstrous magic power compressed into sword energy barely a centimeter thick, the Two-Horned Demon accelerated gradually, and finally crossed the space between them.

Clang ── !

Light burst on the first strike. Next, the Divine Soldier’s body exploded. Then a shockwave detonated like a bomb, sweeping the area. The Two-Horned Demon did not stop, crushing the other Divine Soldiers.
The Divine Soldiers resisted, forming shields of Stigma, or tearing open their mouths within metal helms down to their necks to fire Bright Ray.
Just as the beam of light, focused at a single point, began to expand its form in an instant, the Two-Horned Demon slashed through its legs, soared upward, and shattered its jaw and skull.

Boom-!!!

As the fired Bright Ray’s sinister red beam pierced the air, the sky flashed bright for an instant. Above, the clouds were left with a hole torn clean through.
It was a battle of an almost unfathomable scale. The Divine Soldiers’ level rivaled that of a Grandmaster. Yet with each strike and each counterattack, they were dealt lethal blows and collapsed.
Only then did I realize the truth. The Two-Horned Demon had not even employed the minimum self-defense during our earlier exchange. It was as if a poacher stabbed an elephant’s belly with a knife, and the elephant did not bother to move.
But once such an elephant began to move, there was no human alive who could stop it.

“Ugh! Wh—where did such a monster come from……!!”

Just as the final Stigma warrior was being crushed, Kashan gritted his teeth and charged forward.
Clang-!!!
Again, a single strike. What technique had been used, I could not say. What sword was this. The blade wreathed in Stigma shattered. Then the Two-Horned Demon spun with the rotation of his blade and kicked Kashan’s ribs.
With a shockwave, the empty air tore open. But now Kashan was not alone.
The man flying backward stopped mid-air.

【 The Lucky/Unlucky Star, deprived of its joyful game, adds a Stigma once more. 】

Light was about to pour from National Treasure Number Fourteen hung about his neck, God’s Toy.
The Two-Horned Demon, leaping off a tree, brought his blade down with precision upon the necklace.

Cling-clash-clang……!!

Lightning scattered. Like two chainsaws pressed together.

“No, it can’t be——!!”

Before Kashan’s anguished cry,

Clang-clang!!

It shattered. It burst apart. Hiaka’s National Treasure Number Fourteen!

【 Kashan : ‘!!!!!!’ 】

Kashan’s face went slack with horror, and consciousness fled him; no Script appeared, but Shaman’s expression had twisted into something equally grim.
It was a matter of national perspective. In a kingdom like Hiaka where human resources were everything, a martial artist of Kashan’s caliber could not afford to die. Yet even if three martial artists of Kashan’s rank perished, the National Treasure must not be destroyed.
Martial artists could grow and be replaced, but National Treasures were ancient things—the odds of discovering another were vanishingly slim.
And one had just been shattered!
In the process, however, the Two-Horned Demon’s body had also suffered. The backlash of the Stigma had struck his forearm, shattering the bones within.
Up to that point, all was well—at least from my perspective. Kashan had come to kill me, and I’d already identified his backers; whether he lived or died no longer concerned me.

” Witch of the Graveyard—!! ”

But Shaman and the Two-Horned Demon thought otherwise. From a distance, they regarded each other, and whatever passed between them was lost in the noise. Yet their expressions said everything.
They meant to fight. An elephant and a bear nearly as massive as one.
I wrung out half my remaining Mana in desperation.

⋮
『 World Forgery : Time Forgery [60 seconds / 10 frames] 』
⋮

They snarled at one another, and when Shaman summoned three flying daggers of his own, it was the signal flare. A bombing run guardian and a horned monster-hunter collided head-on.
In an instant, brilliant light erupted; one arm severed while a blade sank shallow into the opposite chest, cracking three ribs beneath. The process was conveyed through Mana-sense rather than sight, so I couldn’t tell which was which. One thing was certain: I had to stop them.
Immediately after, the whole of Starlight Meeting Mountain surrounding us collapsed.

When my eyes opened, Shaman’s mouth was moving.

” I thought we were symbiotes. ”

From far off, a throwing star resembling a fire bird came flying, beginning to spin behind Shaman’s back.
Damn it!
This was one of three signal flares!

” So you mean to draw a blade against me after all. ”

Then another came, beginning a circular motion in symmetry with the first.
Wavering flames. Yet it was unmistakably a weapon, a throwing star. Shaman was preparing the most dangerous attack he could muster.
With this, there were two.

“No, no! Department Head!”

The desperate shout belonged to Bugibugi, the Department Head’s teaching assistant—a prodigy of reconnaissance and search arts.

“That—that’s far too dangerous…! P-perhaps it would be better to keep your distance and flee…!”

But the assistant cried out and collapsed, clutching his chest; and Shaman paid no heed.
I had to stop them. Only I could stop them.
But how?
My remaining Mana was a mere 122—seven percent—and I still lacked the strength to rise properly within Shaman’s Hunting Domain.

” Move and I’ll kill you. ”

At last, the third.
As the third throwing star came flying and began its triangular rotation, the Two-Horned Demon also poured more force into the flickering sword qi.
A sudden certainty seized me: it was Shaman whose chest had been pierced and whose ribs shattered in the forged time.

“Ah, Department Head…!”

Bugibugi let out a scream that tore through his throat.
At last, the moment the Two-Horned Demon began to crouch down—and it was then that a scene I’d witnessed in that fractured frame of forged time flickered before my eyes.
A question struck my mind like lightning.
Hadn’t it been said he was deaf…?

“Shaman…!”

But what emerged from the Two-Horned Demon’s pocket was…….
Ah.
I reflexively drew up my mana.

“Shaman, Department Head……!!!”

The Two-Horned Demon stamped a true position and began fracturing the ground itself.
Shaman’s three Fire Birds also swelled to massive size.
And,

I rang the [bell] I’d created with Illusion Magic.

Ding …

In that instant, the two figures rushing toward their end froze.

I’d exhausted my mana and my vision blurred from the Overload.

The world fractured and stuttered like a single frame.

All eyes turned toward me,

and startled blue eyes turned this way as well.

They met my gaze—and found me perfectly unharmed.

A moment of silence passed.

The Two-Horned Demon even threw down his sword and rushed toward me in panic.

⋮

The strange affair surrounding the redevelopment of Starlight Meeting Mountain was thus concluded.

—————
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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