The Graduate Student Wants to Assassinate the Professor - Chapter 79

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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 79

Philiamone shrugged and continued speaking.
“That doesn’t mean he’s a good person, though. The professor essentially ran away from his responsibilities.”
After all, frightening and good were not opposites.
“Oh, was I not supposed to say such things in front of Teaching Assistant Leoryna?”
Philiamone made a belated gesture of slapping her own mouth. Leoryna laughed and shook her head.
“I welcome any criticism of Professor Khalid. What graduate student dislikes gossiping about their professors?”
“That’s true.”
Philiamone chuckled lightly and flipped the firewood with a kindling stick, then yawned.
“It’s time. Let’s wake up the next watch rotation.”
While Philiamone went to rouse the next group of sentries, I tidied the surroundings and glanced up at the moon.
“I wish I could hear it directly from Khalid.”
I felt I needed to understand why he had destroyed his own family with his own hands.
I had a hunch that this reason was connected to Khalid’s weakness—the very thing I so desperately wanted to uncover.

* * *

The next day, I and my companions entered the City District.
The meadow where Hiracos lived was most quickly reached by crossing through the city.
“The more inhabited a place once was, the more careful we must be. We never know what demons might be lurking in each building.”
At Philiamone’s warning, the members of Masuyeon pressed themselves close behind the combat specialists.
I walked beside Khalid, scanning in all directions as I followed the group. Naturally, there was no sign of life, so only the sound of our footsteps echoed as the sole noise.
Philiamone, walking at the very front, scrunched her face and muttered.
“Something’s off.”
“What is it?”
At my question, Philiamone sniffed the air and furrowed her brow again.
“Isn’t it too quiet?”
Philiamone reflexively placed her hand on her sword’s hilt. Then Khalid, too, summoned his large scythe and nodded in agreement.
“You’re right. It’s strange that we haven’t encountered a single demon since entering the residential area. We should have crossed paths with them several times by now….”
The Masuyeon members and I belatedly looked around nervously.
Philiamone was correct. On the mountain, we had already encountered demons multiple times. Each time we repelled them without major incident, but it was still impossible to completely avoid them.
Yet despite these buildings providing such ideal cover for demons to lurk and observe, not a single creature had emerged.
“Pongko, do you sense anything unusual?”
At my words, Pongko, whose senses were acute, heightened all five senses and surveyed the surroundings, but even he detected no particularly dangerous elements.
“I hope I’m just being paranoid… I just hope this silence isn’t an omen of misfortune for us.”
Philiamone tilted her head slightly to the side and resumed walking.
And her wish soon shattered as she encountered an ominous sign.

* * *

Leoryna and her companions reached the meadow where Hirakos dwelled without encountering any major obstacles, only to find a sight that defied all expectations.
“What… what is this…?”
The first thing to greet them was the corpses of Hirakos. They lay scattered across the ground, their spilled blood staining the nearby stream a deep crimson.
“Ah, the Hirakos…!”
The Masuyeon members gasped in dismay, but Philiamone and Leoryna recognized that this was far from the most pressing concern.
Hirakos were high-tier demons capable of wielding sixth-circle magic. Given their massive size, few wild predators would dare challenge them—only demons of equal or superior rank posed a genuine threat.
Yet something had slaughtered not just one Hirakos, but an entire pack of them.
Philiamone’s expression darkened as she examined the remains.
“The wounds are severe, but the cuts are remarkably clean. It could have been inflicted by a blade, though many demons are capable of producing similar injuries. At this point, it’s difficult to identify the culprit with certainty.”
“Could Professor Oratora’s Subjugation Force have passed through here first?”
Khalid shook his head at Leoryna’s suggestion.
“This isn’t their usual route. And this isn’t their method either. Only a high-tier demon would engage so many Hirakos in direct combat.”
“Are you saying we might encounter another high-tier demon?”
At the mention of high-tier demons, the eyes of the Masuyeon members gleamed with interest, their focus shifting from the Hirakos remains.
But Philiamone fixed them with a stern glare.
“I’d advise against entertaining such dangerous thoughts. Confronting a high-tier demon directly—not merely observing from a distance—would require at least a force the size of the Subjugation Force.”
“Yes…”
The Masuyeon members, who understood the dangers of demons as well as anyone given their research, could only nod in dejected agreement.
“In any case, we don’t know what else might be lurking here. Gather what you need from the corpses and return to Base Camp. We can’t ignore potential hazards in this area.”
The group accepted Khalid’s directive without protest.
Though the Masuyeon members wore expressions of disappointment, there was still much to be gained from the remaining corpses. They could infer details about the creatures’ lives and habits before death.
Leoryna assisted the Masuyeon members as they dissected the Hirakos corpses, collecting tissue samples from various organs and taking photographs.
While they worked, Khalid surveyed the surrounding area, his expression growing increasingly troubled.
“I’m going to scout the perimeter. Something feels off about this place, and I need to determine what it is.”
“Ah, then I should accompany—”
Philiamone stepped forward, but Khalid raised a hand to stop her.
“I’ll be fine alone. The other combatants need to remain here protecting the non-combatants. I’ll be back shortly.”
Philiamone, aware of Khalid’s capabilities, nodded in acceptance.
“Be careful.”
Leoryna wondered where he was heading, but she lacked any legitimate reason to follow him.

* * *

Khalid ventured into the forest alone, and after that, the others quickly forgot about him, focusing instead on investigating Hiracos’s corpse.
However, Mulde, who had completely dissected one Hiracos, let out a strange sigh.
“This Hiracos appears to have been devoured by a predator.”
“Why?”
When Leoryna tilted her head in confusion, Mulde spread open the chest cavity of the Hiracos with his hands to show her.
“The heart is missing.”
At those words, everyone examined the Hiracos corpses they had been working on.
“You’re right. This one doesn’t have a heart either.”
“Neither does this one.”
“Some demons have preferences for specific organs, so it could be the work of creatures like that.”
Freckles nodded thoughtfully, offering a reasonably plausible theory.
“Well, since Professor Huaderica has gone to investigate, let’s just focus on our work for now.”
At Philiamone’s words, everyone resumed their tasks.
“Ah, the heart is the most important thing in demon research….”
Fatty whimpered in frustration, but there was nothing to be done about it.
As Leoryna straightened her back after separating the stomach contents of the Hiracos, a spire jutting up beyond a nearby hill caught her eye. Something about it seemed familiar, and as she examined it more closely, she realized it was part of Huaderica Castle that she had seen when she entered Khalid’s dream before.
“Now that I think about it, that’s Huaderica Castle, isn’t it? It’s not very far from here.”
At Leoryna’s words, everyone looked in the direction she was pointing and shuddered.
“It’s better not to go there.”
“Why?”
“It’s ominous.”
When Freckles grimaced, Leoryna tilted her head in puzzlement.
Now that they had already entered Demon Territory, the situation itself was ominous enough—what reason could there be for Huaderica Castle to be even more ominous?
“Is it because a supreme-tier demon lives in that castle?”
“Well, there are rumors that a demon called Renokter lives there, but honestly, no one really knows.”
Philiamone shrugged.
“But no one can be certain what demon actually lives inside that castle. Everyone who went in died. So we don’t even know for sure if a supreme-tier demon actually lives there.”
Everyone shook their heads with expressions of disgust.
The members of Masuyeon, being equally fond of their own lives, refused to take reckless risks in their desire to observe demons further. For now, they simply focused on diligently dissecting the Hiracos before them.
Time passed in this manner.
Just as they were wrapping up their investigation of the dead Hiracos, an unusual smell reached their noses.
“What… is this smell?”
Pongko, the first to detect the odor, trembled and hid in Leoryna’s arms. Leoryna herself pinched her nose shut.
“Ugh, isn’t this the smell of rotten eggs?”
At Leoryna’s words, the color drained from Philiamone’s face.
“No! That’s the smell of sulfur! We’ve been here too long!”
“Sulfur?”
“A horde of demons is coming! Everyone run!”
Philiamone bolted into a sprint.

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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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