Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Genius Professor - Chapter 46

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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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Chapter 46
[Main Story] No. 1 Rebellion and Collapse (3)

Dante Hiakpo looked down from above.
There were those who had been trying to set fire to the armory. When they opened the armory door, it would have been a bathroom, and they wouldn’t have realized they were looking at Illusion Magic.

“Seize them!”

At Dante’s command, the Discipline Corps that had arrived swept them away.
The mana wavered, and blood began to flow from his eyes, which hadn’t yet fully healed.

‘Not here.’

He hurried on his way.
He climbed the tallest Mana Transmission Tower. It could become a bombing target at any moment, but he accepted the risk.
And so, looking down over Sector 0, the names of his enemies became clear at a glance.

Among them, according to what he’d gleaned from the Script: there was one moving to harm a specific cadet.

‘…….’

He’d found them.

* * *

After parting ways with Professor Guula.
The three of them fled eagerly up the ridge.
The other two ran hard as well, but one of them had to run considerably harder.
That one was Dominik.

“…….”

Dominik was confused.
At the last moment, Professor Guula had handed him the Shelter Port Key while maintaining Concealment.
And so the key now rested in his hands.
The reason he’d received it was.
Because he’d been closest.
Why?
Professor Guula had done nothing but curse at him the whole time.
Why would he give this to him…….

“…….”

In the meantime, Dominik was falling behind in his running.

“Dominik! You need to run faster.”
“Sorry. I’ll pick up the pace.”

His flesh jostled with each stride. The excess weight he’d carried since childhood as a chronic condition had never been particularly negative in his life, but now it was dragging him relentlessly downward.

His breathing grew ragged.
Dominik realized that the two had been slowing their pace to match his, all this time.

“Run faster, Dominik!”
“Yeah, okay!”
“Watch your feet…! There are a lot of rocks…!”
“Right!”

The two steadied themselves with a word each.
Yet with each step, Dominik began to lag further behind.

An anxious glance found him.
From Hwaru and Forte, alternating.

As if demanding some kind of decision….
Perhaps it was paranoia….

‘…….’

Truth was. From long ago.
Dominik had always known.
How others saw him.
He was not like those two.

Repeating Student or not.
One was the son of a Baekdo noble house, a scholar of Wol-yeong Academic Hall.
The other was cute and kind, popular with everyone.

He belonged to neither the Black Way nor the White Way. With no background, and no talent worth speaking of, he’d entered the Academy only through the Meritorious Service Privilege—nothing like them at all.
It was already strange that he was grouped with the same Repeating Students.

Once, a cadet had let fall a remark in passing.
It replayed now in Dominik’s mind.

– Why do they even hang around with that kid?

Right.

“Dominik! Once we clear that ridge, it’s all downhill from here―” “…Hold on.”

Dominik cut off Forte’s words, breathing hard as he spoke.

“You two go on ahead.”

Both friends stopped and turned back to him.

“What?”
“What do you mean, Dominik?”
“I’m holding you back. Go on without me.”
“Don’t be stupid. Run!”
“Yeah, we don’t have time for this!”
…….

He gritted his teeth and pushed forward again.
Though perhaps.
The expressions on Forte and Hwaru’s faces just then—slightly different from their usual ones—
Might not have been Dominik’s imagination at all.
That was when it happened.

Boom!!!

With a massive explosion, the outpost behind them erupted in flames.

“Damn it—they’ve come this far already…! Faster! Faster!”
“Understood!”

The two ahead ran on. Dominik cried out.

“The Shelter!”
“What?!”
“Let’s head for the Shelter Port! It’s just a hundred meters ahead!”
“But the Shelter Port Key…!”
“I have it! The Port Key! I picked it up on the way here!”
“R-really?!”

It shouldn’t be possible, but there was no choice but to believe it.
And so the three of them bolted toward the Shelter Port.
In that moment, Dominik found himself still bewildered by Guula.
The Shelter Port turned out to be far closer than expected.
If only this situation hadn’t arisen—
If they’d come yesterday instead, it would’ve been fine, wouldn’t it?

But when they reached the port and stopped before the transparent cylinder inscribed with a magical circle, it was then that Dominik finally understood.
He understood at last.

This Shelter Port……

“It’s single-use.”
“Yeah.”

Single-use.

“And…”

It held only two people.

……

Dominik stared blankly at the key for a moment, then looked up at the two of them.
He met their eyes.

Two pairs of eyes—one bronze, one reddish-brown—
fixed on him.

Looking only at him.

‘……Ah.’

Dominik understood something then.

Why they’d bothered with someone like him—that much remained a mystery.
He couldn’t fathom it.

But what could someone like him possibly offer them?
That much was clear.

His resolve crystallized.

“Here. I’ll stay behind—”

The next instant, brutal force seized him by the collar and yanked him forward.
Hwaru was shoved in at the same time.
Forte remained alone outside.
Immediately after, the port’s magical barrier sealed.

“No, wait…! Forte…!”

After Hwaru’s cry, Dominik grasped what had happened.

“Forte! What are you doing?!”

But by the time Dominik shouted, the Teleportation to the Shelter was already underway.
Caught in the Port’s magical pull, both their bodies began to fade from view.

Only Forte remained.

…….

Forte stood with his back against the darkened Shelter Port Key.
From the moment he’d heard that Croitz had launched its assassination attempt, he’d been bracing for this.
His family was Croitz’s greatest enemy, after all.

Fifteen years ago.
When the Second Assassination War erupted.
His father, as an assassin of the Baekdo Alliance, had taken shots to protect the kingdom and its citizens.
When he returned home that night, he had always offered young Forte this counsel:

Forte,

an assassin is a profession that saves lives.

He had said it like that.

You must never become an assassin with the intention of killing people.

And yet….

What do you mean by that?

To young Forte, those words made no sense whatsoever.
In the first place, assassins were created for the purpose of killing people.
How could they possibly save anyone?
Saving lives was the work of doctors and firefighters, wasn’t it…….

But now, with a fuller mind, he understood.
This world only ever provides enough resources to sustain four in every five.
Humanity, from its very beginning, has always poured its full strength into killing one another in order to survive.
And somewhere, someone is always ready to strike down your family and friends.

To avoid being struck, you must strike first.
If you are struck, you must strike back.
But if you are already struck down…….

Forte thought.

…….

And inevitably, irrevocably, dying….

Then choosing to save people, even by some measure….

‘…that would make me an assassin, wouldn’t it, Father.’

He had protected two people. Surely that meant he had honored his father’s counsel as a member of the Asimov Family.

Yet even as the killing intent thickened around him with each passing moment. Hearing distant explosions and gunfire erupt again in the distance.

Forte’s legs began to give way beneath him. Something overwhelmingly powerful was closing in.

‘Is this…….’

…really what’s supposed to happen?

“…….”

And then, watching the Croitz assassins emerge from the trees before him.
Forte asked himself again.
Was this truly how it was meant to be…….

“Target located. The Asimov rat. Coordinates confirmed.”

The first assassin’s message barely transmitted when four or five more materialized from the undergrowth.
Forte’s breath caught in his throat as he drew his Sniper Rifle and trained it on them.

Whack-!!

A shuriken lodged itself in the barrel before he’d even registered where it came from.
The blade cleaved nearly halfway through the muzzle, then ricocheted upward, carving a deep furrow across his forehead.

Slice-!

The blade’s edge found his skull.
‘Gasp—!’ Pain shot through Forte’s body, and blood began to pour.
Throwing Arts held dominion over Combat Arts and Sniper Arts at their particular distance—let alone when the users were roughly matched in skill. These assassins were stronger than he was.

“So it’s you. Asimov. Right?”

One of the masked assassins spoke at last.

“…….”
“We’ve gone through a lot of trouble for just one brat.”
“…….”
“Let’s end this. Enough.”

Ching-!
The assassin—the adult—extracted a shuriken from his wrist and began advancing toward Forte.
Thud.
The Sniper Rifle fell from his nerveless fingers.
Forte yanked out his Short Sword and shouted.

“Come on! Try it, damn it! Huh!? Come on—!!”

But such bluster would never work.
At last, the assassin who’d drawn near launched himself forward.

Crackle-!

Mana trails scattered in all directions.

The assassin closing in.

In the midst of it all.

Forte’s eyes squeezed shut without his willing it.

Wishing only that he had been an assassin instead…….

──The next instant.
Forte experienced something extraordinary.

The world blazed with light.
Though his eyes were closed, he felt the entire world suddenly ignite with impossible brilliance.
It was more than mere brightness. As if he’d been bathed in the blessing of some celestial grace……
The light swept across the world and vanished in an instant. Yet Forte’s eyes ached so fiercely that he hesitated to open them, fearful they might fail him.
For several seconds he remained that way.

“You can open your eyes now.”

The moment he heard that achingly familiar voice, Forte’s eyes snapped open of their own accord.

Slowly,
as his vision adjusted to shadow and light.
Forte’s skin crawled.
All the assassins who had been approaching lay slaughtered before him.
What had transpired in mere seconds—that impossible scene—seized him with violent trembling.

“You held your ground well. Well done.”

A man stood at the center of the carnage, blood streaming from his eyes, his hand resting on Forte’s head.
The weight of that touch made Forte’s body sway.
He was someone Forte had never imagined seeing here.

……

Professor Dante Hiakpo.

“Are you hurt?”
“N-no, I’m…”
“You’ve wandered far enough. We need to leave now.”
“I-I’m grateful…”
“That’s enough. If you can walk, we go down immediately. It’s dangerous to remain here long.”

Forte’s heart was pounding wildly.
He tried to move but faltered.

“I…I just…my legs…”
“What’s wrong?”
“My legs have no strength in them. I’m sorry… I was just so frightened…”

He confessed his true feelings, shame notwithstanding. The professor’s response was utterly unmoved.

“I sent you down to save those children, and now you tell me you were afraid?”
“Yes… I was afraid. I’m embarrassed…”
“I see.”

The professor replied curtly.

“Good that you’re honest about it.”

In those words, Forte sensed
something intensely profound.

……

After a few moments, strength returned to his legs.

“I can go now.”
“Let’s go.”

As I descended the mountain with the professor, Forte turned his thoughts inward.
He reflected quietly.
His father’s words had struck him once more.
An assassin was, in truth, a profession that saved lives.

Just like the professor walking beside him now.

* * *

After returning Forte to the Wol-yeong Academic Hall, I climbed back up the mountain path.

As I went, my mind grew strangely unsettled.

……

The Hiaka Kingdom was nothing but a game backdrop.
My time as a professor amounted to barely a month and a half.
There was no reason—none—for me to become invested in this situation.
And yet……

Perhaps it was the emotions of Dante, synchronized within me.
He was born here, had volunteered as a professor himself.
It was only natural that this would weigh on him.
The problem was that I had become Dante.

……

I didn’t feel good.

Not quite as bad as when I’d faced the demonic beings, but the bitterness in my chest was undeniable nonetheless.
Seeing my student bleed. Watching the Academy I’d come to know crumble into ruin. Both left their mark.

‘……Just sentimental nonsense.’

There was no reason to overindulge in it.
I shook the thought away.
I was a player before I was a professor.
The only being aware of and resisting this world’s end.
I had to think further ahead, act more strategically.

Creak……

The Liberator⁺₊⋆ was screaming in my hands even now.
A rifle that was barely a gun dealt cannon-level damage precisely because each shot ravaged the weapon’s Durability at a devastating rate.
Now it was beginning to fracture. Being a Sacred Stigma Weapon, it couldn’t be repaired.

‘……About a dozen shots left, at most.’

If I let emotion cloud my judgment here, I’d waste what little ammunition remained for nothing.
That couldn’t happen.

Defend the Academy, yes—but do it wisely.
For my own long-term survival, I’d secure what needed securing.

First, I returned to where the Croitz special forces who’d ambushed Forte had been positioned.
The bodies were already vanishing.
Though they remained on the ground for now,
dissolving slowly, suffused with violet light.
They were the sort of people who had much to lose if exposed—that’s why they’d come bearing the Curse of Annihilation.
Yet their equipment hadn’t vanished with them. The dozens of items still clinging to their bodies all became mine to claim.

Assassins dispatched under the royal grudge of Croitz came equipped with quality gear. Rare was the baseline; there were several Heroic-grade pieces, and one of them had even carried an Accessory of Legendary I grade.
There was no need to pick them up one by one. The dead cannot claim ownership, and items without a master are absorbed into the Inventory the moment they touch my hands.

I approached the fading corpses and gathered up every piece of equipment.
As any assassin would.
Leaving nothing behind.
Then, when a locket’s pendant falls open and a family photograph spills out—

I realize this is my first murder.

There are things you come to know while drifting through life, all of a sudden.
Long hair that needs cutting; fingernails and toenails that have grown too much; faded receipts in my wallet. Such things.
Though I’ve lived here for no short span of time, only now does my own condition truly sink in.

I was the one who taught people to kill.

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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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