The Graduate Student Wants to Assassinate the Professor - Chapter 52

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

Chapter 52

Despite Leoryna’s desperate cries, Khalid’s grip showed no mercy. He swung the opposite end of his staff—the one fitted with blades—and struck Pongko squarely on the head.
Crack!
Pongko’s neck snapped violently to the side. But it only inflamed his rage further.
“Pongko! Can you hear me?! Pongko!”
Leoryna called out to him, but all that came in response was the long tail Pongko lashed through the air. I pivoted quickly to the side, dodging the blow while my brow furrowed.
“Has he lost all sense of self? Or has his reason been clouded?”
Pongko seemed unable to recognize me. He appeared helpless, unable to control his predatory instincts.
“At this rate, he’s nothing but a true demonic beast.”
The Pongko before me now was indistinguishable from a demonic beast that found pleasure only in slaughter and destruction.
The moment Khalid raised his halberd to launch another attack, Pongko opened his maw and released a piercing shriek. It was high-frequency magic.
Leoryna reflexively covered her ears. It felt as though her eardrums would rupture.
“Hmm, how fascinating. You can wield quite a diverse array of magic, can’t you?”
Zigzagel, who had appeared without warning, crouched atop a nearby building’s roof, observing the situation between Leoryna and Pongko with detached interest.
“Professor Zigzagel, why have you been so calm about this since earlier?!”
Leoryna, exasperated, blurted out her frustration, and Zigzagel merely shrugged his shoulders.
“At my age, I lack the energy to be startled by every little thing.”
At those words, Leoryna’s eyes blazed with fury, prompting Zigzagel to tap his lower back and slowly rise to his feet.
“Ah, fine, fine. I’ll lend a hand.”
The moment those words left his mouth, Pongko’s tail whipped toward Zigzagel.
“Argh, Professor!”
Leoryna reflexively swung her staff, and Pongko’s tail bounced off the shield magic she conjured.
While Pongko was caught off guard by his blocked attack, Zigzagel raised his hand. It shone with brilliant light, and in that luminous state, he brought it down in a crushing blow to the crown of Pongko’s head.
“?!”
Pongko’s mouth fell open for a moment before consciousness fled and he collapsed limply to the ground.
“I didn’t kill him.”
At Zigzagel’s words as he dusted off his hand, Leoryna released a breath of relief.
“Since he’s unconscious, let’s catch our breath. But we’ll need to decide whether to kill him or save him. If he doesn’t return to his original state, we may have no choice but to end him….”
Khalid, who had approached their location, tapped Pongko with the tip of his foot as he spoke.
“Wouldn’t that be a shame? What if we tried using that magical artifact again?”
“That does seem like the way to go….”
Now that Pongko posed no further threat, people from across the Campus began drawing near, murmuring and gawking at the scene.
“Oh no, the onlookers….”
Khalid wiped his face with a dry hand and surveyed the surroundings. There had been no casualties, but the rampage had been far too destructive.
“Professor Huaderica? Could you explain what’s happened here?”
One of the professors stepped forward and pointed at Pongko, asking the question.
“Isn’t that a demonic beast?”
“Well… it’s complicated to explain.”
Leoryna broke into a cold sweat, desperate to offer an explanation, but the right words simply wouldn’t come.
“So….”
Khalid glanced around at the gathered onlookers.
They were visibly anxious about the demonic beast that had infiltrated the Campus, and if it truly was one, they wanted it dead as quickly as possible. Several professors were also monitoring the situation intently.
Sensing their apprehension, Khalid let out a pained groan before breaking into a smile in front of the unconscious Pongko and speaking.
“This isn’t a demonic beast.”
“If it’s not a demonic beast, then what is it?”
“A chimera.”
“A chimera?”
“Look closely. It resembles a rabbit, but notice the fangs? Those are the canines of a saber-toothed tiger. And the tail—it’s elongated, yes? We’ve synthesized the tail of a chinchilla. The massive size? That comes from implanting an elephant’s growth pattern.”
“Then why was such a thing wandering freely outside the Research Laboratory?”
Oddrigo appeared from nowhere, regarding Khalid with a terrifying expression. Khalid responded with shameless composure.
“Ah, well, one of my graduate students was managing it and made a careless mistake, which caused this incident….”
‘You bastard!’
Leoryna shot a resentful glare at Khalid for pinning the blame on me. But as all eyes turned toward me, I immediately prostrated myself.
“I sincerely apologize!”
Since it wasn’t entirely wrong that this was my mistake, I apologized at once.
“It appeared to be using magic.”
“Ah, that high-frequency attack is merely a synthesis of a Siren’s vocal cords—nothing resembling magic.”
“But I saw magical circuits.”
“A misperception.”
“I think I saw them too….”
“Mass hallucination. It’s a phenomenon that often occurs during shocking incidents.”
Khalid denied everything to the bitter end.
“Regardless of that….”
Oddrigo continued, pressing his palm to his forehead.
“What was your purpose in bringing a chimera here?”
“That’s… a practical training material.”
At Khalid’s words, the pupils of some students attending the practical course trembled.
How on earth did he intend to use such a terrifying chimera?
“P-Professor. Is this what our practical… training is about?”
“Yes, that’s right. So… to be precise, it’s a chimera for use in the practical examination.”
The students’ faces went pale.
‘A mana bomb would’ve been more humane.’
Leoryna clicked her tongue in disapproval. But Khalid quickly produced another excuse.
“However, the exam questions have been leaked, so we won’t be able to use this. I’ll substitute it with a different problem.”
Yet the students’ expressions remained troubled.
Would something even worse come up than facing a chimera?
Regardless of what the students thought, Oddrigo seemed inclined to accept Khalid’s explanation and nodded.
“Understood. Please organize the situation for now.”
“Yes, don’t worry.”
Khalid bowed his head.
“And Professor Huaderica will have a three-month salary suspension.”
“Why?!”
A protest burst from Khalid’s lips. But Oddrigo spoke sternly.
“I don’t believe you’re so intellectually deficient that you can’t understand the gravity of this situation.”
“No, but if we’re being fair, Zigzagel also——!”
As Khalid tried to drag me down with him like a vengeful spirit, Zigzagel quietly stepped on Khalid’s foot.
“And Student Yuren.”
“Yes, yes!”
I straightened my posture and answered with exaggerated formality.
“I’m issuing you a warning.”
‘Sigh.’
I felt deeply wronged.
It wasn’t as though I wanted any of this, and I was merely a graduate student under the professor’s supervision!
“In any case, clean this up quickly.”
“Yes… Yuren, come with me.”
Khalid grumbled as he grabbed the unconscious Pongko’s tail and dragged him off somewhere. Zigzagel helped the other professors repair the wall of the Research Building that Pongko had torn through.

* * *

Only after Khalid had transported Pongko all the way to the Academy Back Mountain did he wipe his sweat and glance around to check if anyone was nearby.
“No one’s around, right?”
I sighed and shook my head slowly. All I wanted was to escape this situation entirely.
Just then, Zigzagel appeared belatedly. He brought a mana circulation artifact and spoke to Khalid with a sullen expression.
“Let me make this clear—it’s not my fault.”
Khalid glared at Zigzagel.
“If you hadn’t used that piece of junk artifact in the first place, none of this would have happened!”
“Did you just call my precious child a piece of junk?!”
“Both of you, please stop fighting… If we’re going to restore Pongko to normal, we need to do it as soon as possible.”
“Actually, keeping him locked away somewhere and studying him doesn’t seem like a bad idea…”
At Khalid’s words, Zigzagel and I blinked and tilted our heads to the side. Khalid quickly corrected himself.
“If I cause any more trouble, Oddrigo will definitely kill me, so let’s just restore him to normal…”
Zigzagel sighed softly and reinstalled the artifact on Pongko. Meanwhile, I regarded Khalid with a suspicious gaze.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“If Pongko doesn’t return to normal, are you planning to kill him?”
Khalid thought for a moment, then nodded.
“Of course.”
“Even so, Professor.”
“I mean, if Pongko can’t return to normal and has to live like this, are you confident you could take responsibility for managing him for the rest of your life?”
I had never once entertained the notion of raising a demonic beast, so Khalid’s words left me speechless. I wanted to stammer out a rebuttal, sensing that wasn’t quite right, but it proved futile.
“But… but Professor.”
“If you can’t take responsibility, then killing it is the right choice. It’s better for Pongko too. You saw it just now, didn’t you? No reason, no intellect. So is that what Pongko wanted? Killing it would be the more humane approach.”
For the first time, Khalid felt like a stranger to me.

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