The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 65

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 65
The truth was, even with a trump card up my sleeve, the odds of success were slim.
No matter how I looked at it, my opponent was none other than Puppet.
I couldn’t afford to be reckless; if I failed to eliminate Puppet here, trouble would inevitably follow. Of that, I was certain.
“I’ll concede the first strike. Let me exhaust every last bit of fight in me before I die—no regrets.”
“Hahahaha!!”
Puppet burst into laughter.
“You dare speak to me, Puppet, this way? How desperately do you wish to die? Very well. As you desire. I’ll grant it. Savor it—I’ll make you endure every conceivable torment that a human can suffer before I let you perish.”
Bang!
The puppets surged forward.
Thump-thump.
My heart hammered against my ribs.
Even the weaker puppets ranged from Level 3 to Level 4.
Some possessed power reaching Level 5.
A force that would easily overwhelm most knight orders or mage guilds.
If my plan didn’t unfold as intended, I would be torn to shreds.
‘I can’t show a trace of fear. My poker face is everything.’
I stood motionless, arms folded across my chest, watching the oncoming tide of puppets with icy composure.
Arrogant—as though observing moths fluttering toward a flame.
Puppet seemed troubled by my demeanor and brought his puppet legion to an abrupt halt.
“…I’m curious what you’re plotting. Surely you understand that this is beyond your capacity?”
“Why? Are you frightened?”
“!!”
“How fitting for a coward. If I terrify you so, then run away now, whimpering like a dog.”
Puppet’s face drained of color.
Coward.
The word he despised most.
“Brace yourself!”
The moment the puppets’ hands were about to reach me—
‘Now!’
I unleashed my first trump card.
Whoosh.
A Magic Bomb.
A Magic Crystal saturated with Mana, crafted solely for explosive purpose.
An upper-grade one at that.
‘I obtained it from Lyrian at Dragon Castle on a whim, just in case. Never thought I’d have to use it.’
An upper-grade Magic Bomb could prove effective even against Level 5 knights or mages.
Of course, real knights and mages would employ their skill to neutralize it somehow, but my opponent was a puppet devoid of intellect.
Kaboom!!!
They were caught in the blast.
Like soldiers swept up in a grenade explosion, the puppets were hurled through the air.
And I didn’t have just one Magic Bomb—I had ten.
I detonated them all at once, and the puppets converging on me were shredded like paper, scattering across the ground.
Sheer devastation.
But—
“Hah, so this petty trick was all you were scheming? I’m disappointed in you.”
Whoosh.
Puppet’s dark Mana engulfed the surroundings, and something impossible unfolded before me.
The puppets—torn into countless fragments—began reassembling, returning to their original forms.
Puppet’s Star Rank 7 Master Spell: Immortal Puppet.
As long as Puppet remained intact, his puppets were deathless.
Kee-kee-kee.
Kill. Kill.
Dozens of puppets emerged intact once more, their eerie laughter filling the air.
A hopeless sight.
“I held such high hopes for you, yet this is all? How tedious. I suppose I’ll just torture you carelessly and be done with it….”
Puppet fell abruptly silent.
Something felt wrong to him.
Despite the desperate situation, I remained poised and dignified.
It wasn’t mere bravado.
I twisted the corner of my mouth into a sneer.
“Fool. You don’t even grasp what position you’ve fallen into.”
“…What did you say?”
“Your defeat.”
The moment those words left my lips.
My true trump card revealed itself.
A whisper of displaced air.
Light flashed.
A darkness descending.
Like the wings of some black bird, that light.
“!!”
Puppet reacted too late, desperately trying to block, but it was useless.
He’d just expended himself casting a Star Rank Master Spell, his strength fragmentary and incomplete, and this presence that now stood before him was no entity to miss even the smallest opening.
A slash cut the air.
Puppet’s head flew from his shoulders, spinning into the void.
Beyond the spray of blood, a woman’s eyes gleamed with icy precision.
The Black Crow—Amanda.
A War Mage who had once commanded the very front lines of the Northern Seven Kingdoms, and descendant of the legendary assassins of the Ilwol Clan!
Yes.
She was my hidden ace.
Amanda didn’t stop at severing his neck.
Thrust, twist, and tear—she drove her blade through him.
She pierced his heart and tore it free, then severed his limbs with equal precision.
Of course, such mutilation wouldn’t be enough to kill Puppet, but Amanda delivered something far more lethal.
“Sun and Moon Descend! Creatures of the earth, bow before the brilliance of sun and shadow!!”
A blinding flash.
Radiant light and abyssal darkness erupted in unison, and with a sickening thud, Puppet’s head, heart, arms, and legs—which had begun to reattach to his torso—froze mid-motion.
The Ilwol Clan’s unique debuff authority, a power that hindered an opponent’s own abilities, had sealed off Puppet’s regeneration.
“Did you see, my benefactor?! I did this for you! Praise me!”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. It isn’t finished yet.”
A grinding, distorted sound.
Puppet’s head, heart, arms, and legs began to convulse violently.
He was forcing his way through the Ilwol Clan’s power by sheer will.
“What manner of monster is this?! My benefactor, I shall hold him back! You must flee!”
“It’s fine. This is my victory.”
Amanda’s face twisted in confusion.
At the rate Puppet was reasserting himself, he’d be fully reconstituted in less than a minute.
None of it mattered.
Thirty seconds—I needed thirty seconds at most.
A measured step forward.
I walked toward Puppet’s severed head.
His eyes blazed scarlet with rage as he spoke, his voice dripping venom.
“I’ll kill you! Or better—I’ll make you a puppet, neither living nor dead, and torment you through eternity!”
“Interesting. I was thinking the exact same thing. I plan to make you my puppet.”
“…What?”
“I said I’d make you my puppet.”
I placed my hand upon his head.
“The fundamental law of the Puppet Arts: those of superior Grace dominate those beneath them.”
My own Puppet Arts were meager to begin with.
All I could do was the Waltz of Moonlight, which required an oath from the target.
But Puppet—with Puppet, there was an opening.
‘If I seize one of the strings by which Puppet controls his puppets, I can turn those strings upon him.’
Only I, a Grand Master of the Magical Arts, could attempt such a thing.
But there was one critical condition.
My Grace had to exceed Puppet’s.
That was the foundation of the Puppet Arts.
It wasn’t a problem.
“I, Ban Ecclesia, am infinitely your superior—a being beyond all comparison. Offer me your submission.”
Some would call such words arrogant nonsense.
But the moment Puppet’s lips curled to mock me—
“What—what did you say? That’s impossible! How could you possess a soul of such caliber?!”
I closed my eyes quietly.
Though I was merely at Star Rank 1 for now.
I imagined myself becoming an existence of lofty stature.
It wasn’t difficult.
I could envision it naturally, as though this were a rank I’d always been meant to possess.
A sense of omnipotence washed over me, as if I were rising into the heavens and gazing down upon the earth below.
-Trait ‘Ascender’s Grace (Incomplete, Temporary, Partial)’ has been manifested!
It was the trait I’d acquired after facing the Lord of Phantoms before!
In that instant, my soul’s rank—imperfect though it was—touched the heavens, and I utterly suppressed Puppet’s soul.
“Filthy, insignificant thing.”
I issued my command.
“Vanish from this world forever.”
With that command.
Whoosh.
Puppet disappeared.
Literally.
His very existence had been erased, as if wiped away by an eraser.
* * *
‘What—what just happened? How is this possible?’
I was horrified.
My plan had been to suppress Puppet through the Puppet Arts and then command him to take his own life.
But instead, he’d ceased to exist entirely?
‘Total erasure of existence is impossible without Lv. 9 Anomalous Magic. Wait—could it be?’
My face paled as a single possibility crossed my mind.
‘…Did I just manifest Anomalous Magic?’
As if confirming my suspicion, a message appeared.
-You have manifested Magic that violates Causality through an imperfect rank!
Violation of Causality is the hallmark characteristic of Anomalous Magic.
I truly had manifested Anomalous Magic!
Of course, it wasn’t complete Anomalous Magic.
-The spell’s effects have been adjusted to match your authentic rank!
Still, it was absurd.
‘No matter how weak, what exactly is Anomalous Magic?’
Anomalous Magic wasn’t merely powerful.
It was literally the power to overturn the laws of reality itself.
‘…This must have been a one-time fluke. There’s no way the world’s Causality would allow me to do this again.’
Indeed, another message appeared.
-A penalty has been imposed upon you for violating Causality!
-Backlash is now being applied to your body!
“Cough!”
“My lord?!”
Blood poured from my mouth as I collapsed to my knees.
Fortunately, it didn’t hurt.
Instead, my body grew rapidly heavier—so much so that even a single finger was difficult to move.
‘My body’s condition has been forcibly degraded.’
At least it didn’t seem to be permanent damage.
A few days of rest should put me right.
‘Defeating Puppet at this cost is actually quite the bargain.’
But the situation gave rise to an unexpected misunderstanding.
“My lord! Did you perhaps use the Self-Sacrifice Spell?!”
“……??”
My face showed confusion.
It was literally an incantation that burned one’s own life force to unleash tremendous power.
‘…No, I’ve never used anything like that.’
I tried to deny it, but then I coughed again, and the words caught in my throat.
Amanda’s misunderstanding only deepened, and she cried out desperately.
“No! Your condition is worsening! It was the same at the Evil Dragon’s Nest before—why do you always do this?”
‘No, I did nothing of the sort at the Evil Dragon’s Nest. What is she confused about?’
Yet there was no time to correct the misunderstanding.
That was the voice I heard.
“P-Professor? You cast a Self-Sacrifice Spell for us?”
It was the group that had fled earlier!
Yulia, Wilhelm, Katrine, Libel, the Third Prince, Hans, Linden, Marie—they were all there.
‘What? Why did they come back?’
My face twisted in dismay.
Their reactions varied, but they all spoke to the same emotion.
Touching gratitude, that was all.
They all believed I had given my life to save them!
‘No, this is getting out of hand.’
But then an even more troublesome visitor arrived.
“I felt an Ascender’s aura. What happened?”
It was Randolph, the former Chancellor.
He swept his gaze across the surroundings, then looked at me and narrowed his eyes.
“Ban, surely you didn’t—?”
This was a crisis.
Randolph, once a Lv. 8 Archmage, might have sensed that I’d just used Anomalous Magic.
In the end, I closed my eyes tight and chose the lesser evil over the worst.
“…I defeated Puppet with the Self-Sacrifice Spell.”
!!
The moment I spoke, the entire chamber erupted.
“…Professor.”
Yulia and Wilhelm biting their lips—I could accept that.
But Katrine and Libel.
You two, stop being moved by this.
Third Prince, what’s with that expression?

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————