Chapter 259
A few minutes before entering the Necromancy Department's research building.
[The conversation with the Faculty Administration Office has ended. They also want to handle things quietly, so the talk went smoothly.]
[For the next two hours or so, we'll pretend not to know whatever happens in the Necromancy Department's research building.]
"Okay."
Lennok immediately nodded upon hearing from Archiwood.
Certainly, having Archiwood, who is closely connected with internal school personnel, seemed to expedite matters.
It's also in the interest of Rabatenon University's Administration Office not to let a minor disturbance escalate.
This roughly aligned with Lennok's intention to quietly seize a member of the Gido sect.
"Eh, Assistant Professor Evan... Is this really okay?"
Priscilla's eyes fluttered anxiously, and Mila wore a mask that seemed fit for a terrorist, smiling wickedly.
Lennok sighed softly and said, "As I've repeatedly said, you two don't need to help. I've already mentioned I would handle this myself."
"But how can we leave such a task solely to the assistant professor..."
"Sigh..."
Though trembling, Priscilla's insistence on not backing down was probably driven by her kindness, but for Lennok, it was honestly more of a hindrance.
"Fine. Then from now on, listen carefully to what I say and promise to act accordingly. Understand?"
"...Yes."
Priscilla nodded tensely, while Mila, watching from the side, snorted in displeasure.
"Just watch from a safe place, will you? You never listen."
Priscilla might be of no help, but Mila, a seasoned mercenary, was different.
Apart from the risk of accidentally killing someone involved, she was a quite useful vanguard from Lennok's perspective.
"Well, I only managed to bring this because I came out in a hurry... but this should be enough for meeting my younger siblings' friends," Mila muttered, spinning a dagger with a ring on its handle, causing Priscilla to panic and scold her.
"If you dare lay a hand on the students. What if something goes wrong!"
"Both of them are from a pseudo-sect, right? Maybe the leader will handle it somehow?"
Ignoring such absurdly calm remarks, Lennok immediately summoned Davi.
"Are you ready?"
[Is it time once again to show humans my power?]
"..."
Lately, Davi's personality seemed to be surfacing again...
Lennok couldn't decide whether to be pleased or concerned about this change in the spirit's character.
Without a word, Lennok sighed and pushed it into a toad house next to the lecture building.
The baby fox, shaped like a bolt of lightning, transformed into an intangible flow and mingled with the power lines.
A vast amount of information flowed directly into the power room of the area where the Necromancy Department's research building was located, swiftly taking control of the network.
While Rabatenon Magic University naturally prohibits outsider access, its defenses are primarily focused on magical aspects.
The power supply rooms connected to each department's research building had basic security but were woefully inadequate to stop Davi's intrusion.
This was likely because the benefits of accessing the department's database were not substantial.
Lennok himself had no intention of going that far.
For now, it was enough to just strip the light from the area where the Necromancy Department's research building was clustered.
Woosh...!!!
A rough engine sound rose from below, and the light from the surrounding street lamps rapidly dimmed, plunging the area into darkness.
As Mila's face was shadowed, her expression changed completely.
"Don't worry."
She muttered as she touched Priscilla's shoulder.
"I'll make sure that whatever happens, it won't affect your college life."
With those words, Mila, without a moment's hesitation, plunged into the darkness.
A stealthy movement without a sound.
Her quick footsteps headed towards one of the dilapidated research buildings in the Necromancy Department area, now rarely used as a practice area. The problem was that right next to this research building was a dormitory where Necromancy Department students resided. There must be a reason why this place was chosen as the site for the Altar of Consciousness.
Mila, holding a dagger in reverse grip, ran past the main entrance of the research building and quickly scaled a wall with her military boots, stabbing her dagger into it to climb up to a second-floor window. She sprinted through the corridor, avoiding any traps that might have been near the first-floor entrance, and hurried inside the building, not hesitating to dash up the stairs.
Tatatatat!
As soon as she entered the building, the smell of blood intensified.
There was a sense of panic due to the sudden blackout.
At this close range, Mila could guess their locations to some extent through her mana sensing ability.
Third floor of the lecture building.
A storage room located in the most secluded part, yet occupying a significant space.
Mila waved her hand a few times in front of a heavily chained door.
Blue cutting marks appeared between the chains, causing them to collapse.
Kwaang!!
She kicked down the door and entered. What she saw was a young female student hanging in mid-air.
Mila threw her dagger to cut the chains binding the student and caught her as she fell.
"Phenia?"
"...How did you know?"
"You're Phenia, right?"
"Yes..."
Without specific information on the individual, it's hard to confirm their identity just by sensing their presence or life signs without seeing their face.
Mila's sharp gaze scanned her.
A wound on her abdomen, pale complexion, and parched lips.
There were clear signs of significant blood loss, but strangely, there was no blood anywhere in the room.
There was only one conclusion.
"Evan, are you listening?"
Mila didn't wait for a response.
"Gido has escaped. He's planning to cause trouble elsewhere. Can you check the direction?"
[No need to look elsewhere.]
The voice came unbelievably from Mila's cell phone.
[Why else would he have chosen a location near the dormitory?]
* * *
"Haak, haak...!!"
Lanfei ran, clutching a bottle filled with red blood.
The blood was much heavier than he had anticipated.
Although he had many opportunities to handle blood while studying necromancy, it was his first time transporting such a large quantity at once.
"Just a little more, just a bit further...!!"
Gasping for breath, he arrived at a backyard of a dormitory not far from the research building.
After finishing his undergraduate studies, he always spent time in this place.
Opening a sewer hatch hidden among the overgrown bushes, he descended underground to a neatly cleared open space.
Originally, he wanted to create his own laboratory here, but that would have inevitably attracted the attention of the Necromancy Department professors.
Cleaning up this space in advance was all he could do for what he had planned next.
With trembling hands, he opened the lid of the bottle and turned it upside down.
The blood, still not completely separated from the oil, oozed out stickily, but there was no time to worry about that.
"I must hurry, quickly...!!"
Ignoring the blood that stained his clothes and face bright red, he used his bare hands to draw a massive ritual circle on the ground.
He inscribed an unintelligible, ancient language into the large square circle made of blood.
"If I can't do this, I won't reach paradise...!!"
He was running out of blood. He should have extracted much more from Phenia.
He never imagined that someone would catch onto his plan in such a short time.
Gulp.
Sweating profusely, Lanfei chose to stab his left forearm to supplement the lacking blood.
"It's done! Now...!!"
He formed hand signs and infused the ritual with his chanting.
His near-fanatical belief acted as a powerful will, turning the mere drawing into a miraculous portal.
Paaaat...!!
In the middle of the dark sewer, a bright yellow light emerged.
It was the same radiance that always led him to paradise during his prayers.
"Ah..."
With a blissful expression, Lanfei knelt down as the brilliant radiance settled before him.
A gentle touch caressed his head from within the light, and an alien voice sounded.
[You are quite late with the preparations.]
"I'm sorry!"
[It's okay, my follower. As long as you have prepared sufficient offerings, there will be no problem.]
"Yes, I am ready!"
Lanfei raised his head confidently and spoke.
"I have prepared hundreds of offerings right above the ritual circle. The bishop will certainly open the portal if the ritual is performed!!"
[You have done well, my follower.]
The voice whispered warmly.
[Now, you can rest. I will take care of the rest.]
"Huh?"
Crack!!
In that instant, a pale arm stretched out from the light, piercing through Lanfei's chest.
Unable to resist, his heart was impaled, and a death rattle escaped his lips.
Something pale and gruesome emerged from the light and entered Lanfei's body, crushing his head.
Crack...!!
At that moment, the personality of the human named Lanfei vanished, replaced by a powerful will.
The human mode of existence, relying on the interaction of body and mind, twisted. The strong spirit transformed his body, and Lanfei's physique began to mutate.
Emerging from the blood-soaked clothes was a young boy with bright blond hair.
He looked down at his body and smirked.
"The transformation wasn't fully successful due to the limitations of this body."
The boy gazed at the light he had emerged from and murmured,
"It doesn't really matter... This is just a temporary fleshly vessel. As long as the objective is achieved, that's all that matters."
The boy reached out his hand, pressing the floating radiance into the ritual circle drawn on the ground below.
Kwoong!!
At that moment, the ritual circle Lanfei created split apart, opening like the jaws of a giant beast.
A massive fissure formed beneath the open space, sweeping everything underground into its maw.
The boy watched expressionlessly as the fissure, having emerged above ground, began devouring the dormitory building.
The ritual formed here was one of the large-scale transportation spells used by the Gido sect, known as the Scales of Amitra. It was a space-transferring spell that transported an equivalent amount of life and mana to the amount consumed.
Normally, it would be absurd to activate such a large-scale transfer spell with a hastily made magic circle, but if human lives were used as expendable materials, the efficiency of the spell would significantly increase.
The hundreds of students from the Necromancy Department would be more than enough as offerings to activate the spell.
The boy nodded in satisfaction and was about to conceal himself in the dark underground waterway when suddenly:
Fzzzt!
A streak of lightning from the darkness pierced through the boy's body.
"...!!"
The boy, slightly startled, agilely turned his body, and the stray bolt of lightning quickly buried itself into the space beyond where the fissure had opened.
"Is this..."
Realizing too late that the attack was not an ambush targeted at him, the boy frowned, but it was already too late.
An unknown will within the lightning rapidly deciphered the structure of the ritual circle and disassembled the structural formula needed to maintain the fissure.
Even without fully understanding how the spell worked, it was enough to find and paralyze the points where magical energy was strangely mutating within the circle.
Zzzzzzt!!
It was akin to tampering with the soldering in an electric circuit to deliberately damage the power source.
The fissure, which had not yet swallowed a single life, couldn't withstand such a countermeasure.
Creak...
"Hmm."
The boy swallowed a gulp as he watched the fissure lose its power and dissipate.
To others, it might have seemed like the ritual was simply canceled by accumulating shock, but the boy knew too well the durability of this transportation spell, highly favored by the high-ranking members of the sect for its safety and stability.
Disrupting such a spell with a single intervention of magical energy spoke volumes about the attacker's understanding and intuition of spells.
The boy looked at the blue glint in the darkness and said calmly,
"It seems the big city indeed has many talents. Even in this model garden created by the city government, to find such an exceptional sorcerer was unexpected."
"..."
"That's why I always thought of assessing their worth someday. I hope today provides that opportunity."
"That's very interesting."
Lennok, slowly walking out from the sewer, smiled.
"I, too, am very curious about what you guys are thinking."
(To be Continued)