Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 40

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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 40
EP14 – Small Error Space (1)

Hiaka Academy must be protected.

The Demon Race’s objective is the extinction of humanity. Running from their assault is meaningless. Wherever I go, I’ll die eventually anyway.

Then I must defeat them, but the moment Hiaka Academy falls, half of my method to earn Fragments of Stars as a professor collapses.

── Fragment of Stars Acquisition Routes ──
1. Assassination contracts and espionage missions as a member of Hiaka Academy.
2. Activities as a professor of Hiaka Academy—research, papers, lectures, etc.
3. Slaying Demon Races.
4. Relationship growth with Jamnong Scholars.
─────────────

Thus the system bound me and Hiaka Academy together with fierce intensity. Never mind patriotism—I had to remain here longer than any true patriot.

For the reasons above…….

After confirming the skeletal framework of the Main Story.
A month had passed, and now the operation was upon us.

“Oh, so cute!”

I was at the Cat Cafe with Adel.

“Ah, so adorable. So soft. This tabby here.”

While Adel indulged her desires, I sat off to the side in a chair.
A grey cat appeared before me and began swishing its tail.
At first I ignored it.
But it rose up on its hind legs and leaned against my leg.
Demanding something, it seemed.

“What.”
“…….”
“Get away.”

I nudged it aside gently.
Yet the cat sprang up onto my lap, burrowed right into my blazer, and promptly fell asleep.

In any case, these cats were always like this—sleeping wherever they pleased.

“But Professor, why do we come here every day lately?”
“The cats are cute.”
“That’s unexpected. I didn’t know you said things like that, Professor.”
“…….”

Obviously a lie.
Truth was, I didn’t care much about the cats or any of that.
The reason I came here was because this building was the Chief Professor’s Hall.
For the past few days, I’d been eavesdropping on the conversations and thoughts of the Chief Professors here.
Even now I was listening in on the conversations of the second and third floors.

【 Chief Professor Toy: “Professor! Why are you so serene?” 】
【 Chief Professor Wilhelm: “Why are you worked up again?” 】

The two senior professors of the White Path were arguing.

【 Senior Professor Toy: “You lack any sense of crisis! I can’t reach Professor Battalion at all. Surely those bastards mean to abandon Hiaka Academy and flee to Croitz?” 】

【 Senior Professor Wilhelm: “Now, now! Your problem is jumping to conclusions. We don’t know anything yet, do we? It could be a covert operation, even hidden from our superiors… What does Professor Baekwa say?” 】

【 No, Professor! This is no assignment! Three neutral senior professors have all deserted! 】

【 You brat, where do you get off—! What! Are you saying this is treason!? 】

【 Of course it’s treason!! 】

The bewildered senior professors shouted and stumbled over one another in confusion.

‘Finally, it comes.’

The situation shifting rapidly.
The end of peace.
The professors’ quarrel would only intensify, and the internal chaos would accelerate.
Meanwhile, on another front, a Communication Script appeared—impossibly silent.

【 Assassination Department Head Shaman: 〈So he’s really going through with it, isn’t he?〉 】

The authority overseeing the 0 District and the Assassination Department of Hiaka Academy.
Shaman Croitz, the Assassination Department Head, with his thick-set jaw.

【 Assassination Department Head Shaman: 〈Professor Battalion. Do you call what you’re doing a ‘career change’?〉 】

He was in contact with a traitor.

【 What kind of career change involves stealing your former employer’s technology and personnel? Betraying even the nation itself? That’s not a job change—that’s treason. 】
【 How much did Croitz offer you? Fifty billion hika if you turn your back on Hiaka? That’s what I thought, you dog. I know everything. 】

The price of betrayal: five billion hika.
A staggering sum of five hundred billion won.

【 Five billion is tempting, I grant you. No taxes taken out. Sweeter than honey. But what you’re about to do is make an entire nation and people your enemy. That weight is far from light. 】

One could grasp the gravity of these words by noting the Department Head’s surname.
Shaman Croitz.
He was of the bloodline of the enemy nation—the Croitz Royal Family.
A man who had once betrayed the old enemy nation of Croitz and come over to Hiaka Academy.

【 When I first taught you at fifty, I was called a traitor, wasn’t I? Now at a hundred years old, I’m still called a traitor, separated from my family by death. Ask yourself why. Think hard on the reason. 】

【 This is my final lesson to you. 】

Click.
The Communication Script cut off.

I exhaled slowly.
So far, events were unfolding as I’d foreseen.

‘……So far, no critical problems.’

For me, there is only one fatal variable: whether events proceed as I’ve calculated or deviate from it. Nothing else matters.
As a stagnant pool of knowledge, I know the solution to any situation. If I understand the problem beforehand, no crisis can touch me.
And things have remained favorable so far. Even with the DLC, the core of the story remained unchanged. What unfolds ahead will be the same.

▷ Battalion makes off with everything he can carry for his final escape.
▷ Meanwhile, assassins from the enemy nation Croitz launch a surprise attack on the Academy. (Defenses are already in place)
▶ Combat ensues. (Assassination Department clash)

Ordinarily, this would be nothing more than a three-minute cutscene introduction.
Hiaka would defend the Academy by whatever means necessary.
Parts of it would sustain some damage.
If things followed their proper course, that’s how it should go…

……But it was midday.

“Hmm?”

Adel looked up.
The interior of the cafe suddenly darkened.
Something had blocked out the light source.
In other words, the sun.

“Wait—what is that outside the window?”
“…I have no idea? What could it be…?”

The moment the patrons glimpsed whatever it was, panic seized them. “Meow-owww!!” “Kyaaaah!!” The cats began convulsing and bolting for the far reaches of the cafe. “W-what’s happening?!” “Why are they doing this?!” The people, too, descended into confusion.

“Oh my! Where are you going…!”

Even the creature that had been nestled in my arms tore away and fled.

“Goodness!”

It collided with the legs of a staff member carrying a drink.
The glass tumbled and shattered.

Crash—!

That crystalline sound rippled through the silence that followed.

Adel rose slowly, aware of the gazes fixed upon her, and turned her head in the same direction as everyone else. I, too, looked toward that spot.

A black sphere had materialized.
Despite the blazing midday sun pouring down from above, a black sphere sat there, concealing everything within itself.

“…….”

They must be looking at what lies ‘inside’ that black sphere.
Which is to say, I alone am seeing that ‘black sphere’ itself, and I alone understand the true abruptness of this situation.

That enormous black dome-like thing.

“How should I know?!”

“What in the world—”

Confusion rippled through the student body.

— All students and instructors are advised to refrain from approaching or attacking the object in question. We have yet to ascertain its nature.
— I repeat: all students and instructors are—

An emergency announcement blared through the academy.
An urgent faculty convocation followed immediately after.

A meeting concerning the mysterious black object that had materialized above the 0 District.

The professors attempted to explain it through their various specialties and expertise. Yet not a single one could offer a satisfactory answer.
Even after specialists from the Magical Studies and Warrior Studies departments were brought in, nothing changed.
No one knew what it was.

After hours of fruitless debate, the Assassination Department decided to form an expedition team.

Until that point, I’d remained quiet—the senior and chief professors had monopolized the discussion anyway. There was no place for a general instructor like me.
But the moment the expedition team was mentioned, every eye turned toward me.

“Professor Dante, come with us.”

The words came from Leo, the White Path senior professor.
I was the only instructor on faculty who had recently faced off against something so utterly foreign.
Then someone objected.

“That’s inadvisable.”

It was Collider, the neutral senior professor who bared his fangs whenever he looked at me.

“And why is that?”
“Professor Dante is impulsive and violent. He cannot control his emotions. He is hardly suited for an expedition into the unknown.”

Several neutral professors murmured their agreement.
Not that it mattered to me—I’d planned to investigate on my own anyway if I couldn’t go officially.
Then someone spoke up in my favor.

“No, it’s fine! I vote yes!”

Baekwa, the White Path branch director and chief professor.
Collider stiffened in shock.

“Chief Professor…”
“I know, I know—I understand! Dante’s got his rough edges, sure. But he won’t pull any foolish stunts in a situation like this. I’ll vouch for him personally.”
“.…”
“I agree as well.”

With Betelgeuse, the Black Path branch director, adding his voice, Collider had no choice but to fall silent.
My cheeks burned from the exchange.

And so, an expedition team of six was dispatched.
Leo, Viper, myself, Collider…
And two chief professors besides.

“Collider.”

I spoke to him as we departed.

“Keep it reasonable.”

Collider scrunched his face as if he’d walked straight into a shop sign.

“What are you going on about? I simply didn’t think you were necessary for the investigation.”
“If you squirm like maggots even in this emergency, we could all end up in danger.”
“Who doesn’t know that? But where does this kid get off lecturing me? Damn it….”

I thought I should give him a good smack if he kept nitpicking pointlessly.
Whether Collider recognized the gravity of the situation or not, he fell silent afterward and kept his distance.
In a way, the timing of the incident felt oddly significant—significant enough that even this fool was taking it seriously.

Collider was thinking something was strange right now.
The moment his superior, the Chief Professor, vanished without warning.
An unidentified phenomenon appearing at the same time.
Could it really be a coincidence? he wondered….
He was feeling fear as he gazed at ‘something’ inside the black sphere.

……

It wasn’t only the senior professor’s emotions that felt that way.
The Chief Professors present alongside us were also tense—even though they themselves were assassins of Grandmaster rank, formidable enough to be in the top thirty of the domestic rankings.

Because it was unknown.

“Professors. Let’s go. To the Flying Ship dock.”
“Yes.”

To conduct a stable investigation at 4,000 meters altitude, we had to board the Flying Ship.
The Flying Ship, rarely summoned in 0 District, was called up as an emergency. We climbed aboard the massive vessel one by one.

“We’re departing!”

The winged vessel soared into the sky.
We flew for roughly ten minutes toward our destination.

On the way there, everyone drew their tension tight in silence.
Only the sound of Leo sharpening his blade against the whetstone continued.

Whoosh, whoosh—

Before long, the Flying Ship reached the massive Error Space. From my perspective, a tremendous wall was approaching, which made me tense, but fortunately we slipped right through it again without incident.

Just as smoothly as when I went to meet Eve.

───
⧉ Tip: This is an Error Space. This is currently a space where an error has occurred, and it will be patched in a future update. We will inform you of detailed information once a schedule is set for the future.
───

The familiar status window appeared.
And at last, we came face to face with the ‘monster.’

“What in the world is… that? An arm, maybe…?”
“It’s even more grotesque up close….”

A massive crevasse cut horizontally through the empty air.
The half-torn edge clung to the emptiness as if the graphics had been smeared.
From within it, a colossal arm protruded. Black in color. An arm with a texture like stone or steel, with something like crimson veins sprouted across it, connected all the way to the back of the hand.
Three such grotesque arms in total.

‘That is….’

My jaw clenched tight.
That colossal monstrosity—its true nature was a One-horned Demon.

‘…Zink Sitte.’

● One-horned Demon Zink Sitte

A Demon’s strength is determined by the number of horns it possesses.
The professor I killed—Toxin—was a Hornless Demon. A creature without horns at all.
This one, by contrast, bore a single horn. It jutted from the head portion that hadn’t yet fully emerged from the fissure.

This creature was of the Totem lineage.
It claimed vast territory, scattered curses through seven arms, and corrupted the battlefield itself.

A mere difference of a single horn, one might think.
Yet it carried a chasm of power that defied description.
For this point in time, this was far too formidable a boss—an overwhelmingly powerful one—to have emerged at the Academy.

The moment I recognized it as a Demon, revulsion surged up from within. Yet having weathered the Toxin incident before, I found I could forcibly suppress the rising nausea this time.
Then a question formed in my mind.

‘Why is it appearing now……?’

By rights, Zink Sitte shouldn’t have appeared
until the start of the Main Story 3.

Only after “Rebellion and Collapse” had run its course, after Hiaka Academy had managed some recovery, and the narrative had advanced further.
In other words, not until at least half a year had passed. Yet here it manifested now.
So this is what an “Error Space” truly means…….

‘It’s manageable for now.’

Zink Sitte took the form of a creature with forearms sprouting from its head.
Once all seven forearms emerged, the Summoning would be complete.
But so far, only three had appeared.

“Ugh—what!?”

Leo shouted then.

“The monster—it’s moving!!”

Indeed it was. Three massive forearms, each perhaps twenty meters long, bent along with six fingers—bending at angles no human hand could achieve.
It thrashed and contorted as though trying to force itself through the narrow crevice, clawing at the empty air.
The movement was sluggish, yet that very slowness conveyed the crushing weight and mass of the thing.

……A Calamity was crawling toward emergence.

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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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