Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 35

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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 35
EP11 – Professor Assassination: Illusion Magic (6)

This was my first real deployment of Liberator+. It was overwhelming as I’d anticipated, but my own condition wasn’t great either.

Like a cable resisting current, something scorched drifted through my ears—a charred smell leaking from deep within my mind.

I’d burned through mana so recklessly that my insides felt turned upside down. Dizziness and nausea crashed over me in waves.

‘All my mana, depleted in just this short time…….’

Three or four Form Forgeries to craft the illusion body. Ultrasonic. Then the illusion body’s movement motions. Several instances of Mana Distortion Field.

And next, just a single Space Forgery—the Kaleidoscope. I’d recreated a pre-built polygon, but the range was far too vast.

I felt keenly how far I still had to go. Everything—mana above all—felt insufficient. Yet I could still move.

“Grrrrgh…!!”

I turned my head.
Far off, the creature I’d struck without warning was struggling to its feet, mangled beyond recognition.
I approached the fallen demon, Liberator+ still gripped in my hand. Its wings had burned away completely. Its lower half and left arm were simply gone.
Its face was twisted in agony—and I was grateful for that, considering demons shouldn’t feel pain. The stigmata of Bright Star+ must be radiating light itself, making it as lethal to demons as Holy Power would be.
As I drew closer, the creature began backing away, stumbling with its one remaining arm and severed lower body.

“Do I frighten you?”

There was no answer. Its jaw and part of its neck had burned away. It was almost amusing. Why is life precious precisely because it’s finite? Why does even a monster that exists to slaughter humanity quiver at its own end?
That’s what makes killing it worthwhile. There’s no value in taking what isn’t precious. And yet—paradoxically—I felt grateful. Grateful that it had refused my offer. Because of that refusal, I could now crush its skull myself…….

Crack—!

Radiance burst forth, smashing through its head, then swept across the surrounding forest.
As its shattered upper body collapsed with the rest of its corpse, an unexpected status window materialized.

┃ Achievement Unlocked: [First Demon Slain]
┃ Reward: Fragment of Star × 20

An enormous amount of Fragments of Star had been granted to me.
Satisfaction and exhilaration welled up from within.
At last, I had slain an enemy of humanity.

‘…….’

My overheated mind slowly cooled.

This was no time to lower my guard. That creature’s ability happened to be Summoning-Taming.

When the master dies, summoned creatures don’t simply vanish cleanly. I had to search its personal space immediately.

But first, I had my duties as a professor to attend to. I found the fallen students.

“Is everyone all right?”
“Y-yes….”

I’d hoped they’d gotten away unscathed, but that wasn’t the case. They’d only been crushed under Mana, yet every single one was bleeding from the nose, their eyes reddened besides. Damage to internal organs or the brain seemed probable.

“Hwaru. Dominic. How are you two holding up?”
“…Yes. Ah. We’re… alright….”

Perhaps because I’d met them on my first day of employment, I’d grown a touch fonder of them than I cared to admit. As expected, they both looked dreadful. Dominic especially—with his weaker Mana reserves—had vomited blood, staining his white cadet uniform crimson.

“Can you all walk?”
“Of course, Professor. What is Dominic’s one true advantage? My physical resilience.”

The moment Dominic finished speaking, he collapsed.
Thud!
He’d lost consciousness—a problem, given that the boy must weigh something north of three hundred pounds.
My strength was nothing more than an athlete’s at present, and with my energy depleted, carrying Dominic the minimum two kilometers to the Lecture Hall Hospital would prove far from simple.

‘Seriously, this isn’t good.’

Even if I called for help, it would take some time to arrive.
That’s when something appeared on the Script.

【 Sleeping Dragon Academy First-Year Elise: ‘My eyes hurt.’ 】
【 Sleeping Dragon Academy First-Year Gray: ‘…….’ 】

It seemed Elise and Gray had been observing this scene the entire time—though when they’d arrived, I couldn’t say.
Perfect timing.

“How much longer are you planning to just stand there watching?”
“Pardon?”
“You’re talking to us?”

The cadets beside me exchanged bewildered glances, and then the transparent space began to shimmer. Elise materialized before us, wearing that perpetually cheerful retriever expression of hers.
The cadets flinched at their sudden appearance.

“Good afternoon, Professor.”
“Elise. Why you’re here, I’ll ask later. Will you take these students to the Lecture Hall Hospital?”

Elise tilted her head thoughtfully before asking.

“Why?”

It was an odd question—but then again, it wasn’t as though we’d known each other for years.
There was no malice in it. She genuinely didn’t know.
The girl was kind, but her common sense was twisted. She could be remarkably cold toward strangers she’d never formed a bond with.
So I leaned in close and whispered.

‘They all don’t have fathers.’
‘Oh! I should help them.’
‘Yes.’

Elise promptly spoke into thin air. ‘Mung, can you lower your back?’ Mung? Now that I thought of it, there was something on my Minimap. Likely a massive spirit beast. Elise hoisted the cadets into the air and vanished.

“…….”

Only Gray remained, standing motionless. But something about her expression, her reaction, seemed off.
Why did she look like that?

“What is it.”

I studied her face.
There’s nothing that particularly comes to mind in the Script, either.

“Professor. How much have you learned of Illusion Magic……?”

Gray asked then, her expression blank—unlike the playful tone I’d seen before. She kept even her overbite hidden, her jaw tight.

“Why would you ask me that, of all things, at a moment like this?”
“Because you seemed pretty skilled at it…….”

The feeling didn’t sit right. I still didn’t know her well, but I’d learned that Gray was a deeply capricious person.
To maintain my authority here, it was better not to waste breath on useless conversation.

“If you have nothing else, I’m leaving.”

Gray watched me with an unreadable expression. I turned and left.

After that, I had to move quickly.

“What? Professor Dante. What happened to you?”

Fortunately, Dean Shaman hadn’t clocked out yet. He shook his heavy jowls in surprise—and later I realized blood was trickling from my ear.
In any case, I informed him that Professor Toxin had been some sort of anomalous creature. The dean’s expression turned grave, and he summoned several high-ranking members of the Discipline Committee.

And so I headed to Professor Toxin’s residence in the Professor Building, accompanied by two senior Discipline Committee officers, the dean, and myself.

Sure enough, three cadet corpses that had been officially listed as assassination victims and disappeared were discovered there.
And connected to a disgusting mass of flesh webbed with blood vessels—nourished by those three corpses—lay approximately one thousand eggs.

“What in the hell……? What is all this?”
“For now, it appears to be a monster’s eggs, but…….”

The dean and the Discipline Committee officers seemed bewildered, but I knew what I was looking at.
Those were eggs of the Corpse-stealing Hawkmoth—a Demon favored by the Curse lineage. They have the ability to spread Curse.
But the hornless Demon Toxin I’d captured was of the Summoning-Taming ability lineage. Do you understand what this means?
It means Professor Toxin was cultivating these eggs for another Demon.

‘……At minimum, at least one more has gotten inside.’

It’s possible they’ve already formed a swarm of six or more.
The rest was for the Discipline Committee to handle.

* * *

It happened that night.

Ring-ring. Ring-ring…….

Elise, sleeping as peacefully as always.
She jolted awake at the sudden sound of something shattering with a loud crash.

‘Mm…….’

What was that sound?
A sharp noise, like glass breaking.
Then something outside her window flickered with light.
She listened carefully, but heard nothing else.
She must have imagined it.

Just as she was drifting back to sleep, nodding off again.
Crash—this time the sound was unmistakable.

When Elise stepped outside, she found Gray in the rear courtyard of the Sleeping Dragon Dormitory.
Glass shards were raining down around her on all sides.

“What are you doing, Gray?”
“…What? Why aren’t you asleep?”
“I heard the noise, so I came to check. What were you up to?”
“…You don’t need to know. Go back inside.”
“Fine.”

Yet Elise lingered behind a tree, peeking out.
Gray’s nose was bleeding freely.
What was that about…?
Then she caught Gray’s irritated gaze full on.

“…Hey. Stop skulking and leave, I said.”
“Right.”

Scolded, Elise turned to go. Staying any longer risked taking a hit. Meanwhile, Gray was muttering things like “Dammit, why can’t I pull it off?” — words Elise couldn’t quite make sense of. She headed back inside and slipped into bed.

What had that been about, anyway?
Curiosity flickered briefly, then faded.
Elise drifted into sleep.

…zzZ.

In her dream, for some reason, she found herself taking a walk with Professor Dante.

– Wait here.

She obeyed obediently.
And received three bones for her trouble.

* * *

Thus Toxin’s assassination attempt had ended successfully.
But there remained one frustration.

The confiscation of assassination equipment required “grounds” — concrete evidence.
And so there were no grounds to confiscate Derek’s Remote Control Ring. It had only been confirmed through the Script.
Equipment worth hundreds of thousands of Hika at that — unquestionably used in the assassination attempt, yet it couldn’t be seized!

Originally, the plan had been to dodge the assassination cleanly, then manufacture separate evidence afterward…

‘Those damned Demon whelps.’

Anger boiled up inside, but Dante held it back. The matter was already ruined anyway…

“It’s fortunate everyone is safe.”

When he visited the Lecture Hall Hospital the next morning, all the cadets looked fine. They’d be cleared for discharge by tomorrow, they said.

“Thank you so much, Professor…”
“Seriously. We really thought we were done for…”

The cadets bowed their heads over and over, their expressions tinged with something almost like reverence.

【 Assassination Department, First Year, Derek: ‘When we tried to assassinate him, he didn’t even reveal himself — instead, he saved us.’ 】

Truth is, I’d only gone out to kill a Demon, but everyone was happily operating under a different assumption.

【 Assassination Department, First Year — Dominic: ‘The sight I witnessed yesterday was no fabrication, no exaggeration. Professor Dante, you are….’ 】

I was still weak in reality, yet everyone had mistaken me for an overwhelmingly powerful master.

【 Assassination Department, First Year — Hwaru: ‘What exactly was that yesterday?’ 】

Meanwhile, there was one who harbored doubt.
The Discipline Committee had surely imposed a gag order—don’t spread word about the dead Professor Toxin.
Though truth be told, no one would believe anything about Toxin anyway. Demons still aren’t known to the world.

‘If they knew, it’d be a headache.’

Last time had been exactly that. Rumors spread that I’d pointlessly killed Professor Hacon, and an assassination war between dark and light factions nearly broke out.

“Listen up.”

I decided to silence them myself. To keep myself from being unnecessarily rumored as a powerful master when I’m actually still weak.

“What happened yesterday stays between us. Especially anything about me—try not to spread it around. You all know my position as an assassin requires secrecy, don’t you?”

The cadets agreed. Two of them especially responded with vigor.

“Yes! Just trust me!”
“Professor Dante. It’s not just my weight that’s heavy. I can show you how weighty my tongue is. There’s no need to worry.”

I believed them.

⋮
A short while later.

“Hey guys. Something huge happened today, but ah, the professor told me not to say… wait? So basically the professor fought an outside intruder and…….”

“Everyone should stay sharp. That Dante professor—he’s a monster assassin beyond imagination. Not curious? Hmm. Just keep this between yourselves…….”
⋮

The next day, the academy was turned upside down.

EP11

Professor Assassination: Illusion Magic

END

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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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