I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 662: The Demon King Army's Preparation (2)

Verom mentioned the news that Victor Dreadful had betrayed them so calmly, as if he had anticipated this from the beginning.

'Not particularly surprising.'

Rudger also took the news of Victor's betrayal rather matter-of-factly.

He knew better than anyone that the mad scientist wasn't the type to work loyally under someone else.

However, there was still something puzzling.

"You just left him alone?"

Rudger asked Surna.

While Surna had adopted a laissez-faire approach toward what other First Orders did, that didn't mean he wasn't keeping an eye on them at all.

If nothing else, at the very least Victor, who had the greatest influence across the continent, should have been kept under surveillance.

"He's the kind of guy who would readily switch sides, even making deals with demons or suddenly believing in gods, as long as he could continue his experiments."

"Don't tell me he's joined hands with the Lumensis Order?"

Everyone around reacted with surprise at those words.

Especially Tenaron, who knew what kind of experiments Victor conducted, asked with disbelief:

"You're saying the Order accepted such a madman scientist?"

This was something Tenaron could say because he didn't know what had happened in the inner city.

At least from what Tenaron knew, though the Lumensis Order was corrupt, its essence was still fundamentally a religion centered on faith.

But that was ultimately Tenaron's misconception.

"It's actually the opposite."

Surna refuted Tenaron's words.

"The opposite...?"

"The Order didn't accept Victor. Because there was nothing to accept—Victor had been on their side from the beginning."

Rudger recalled the test subjects he had seen in the inner city.

"So that's why."

From the death row inmate with a massive build to the masked man with unnaturally long arms, and the person with an unusually small body.

Above all, the cruel human modification procedures performed on the bloodline of Benedict, the previous Holy Emperor.

"Victor Dreadful. I wondered where such a mad scientist suddenly appeared from, but if he had been affiliated with the Lumensis Order from the start, things make more sense."

"No, wait. If that's the case, doesn't something not add up? Why would someone like him abandon the Order and suddenly become a First Order?"

Helia frowned as if her head was becoming complicated.

To think that Victor, a First Order and a criminal, was actually from the Bretus Holy Nation.

"Yes. Let's say he is from the Holy Nation. The test subjects inside prove that. What would make someone like him become a First Order?"

"Probably to conduct experiments not permitted in the Holy Nation."

Surna was the one who answered.

"This is my mistake. I never imagined such a psychopath was originally from the Holy Nation."

All sorts of experiments were conducted within the Bretus Holy Nation and Victor Dreadful was at the core of them.

Using fragments of the Saint to create a fake Saint.

Transforming other failed creations into priests.

Modifying unnecessary humans into death row inmates suitable for battle.

That alone was astonishing, but Victor's ambition for research could not be satisfied with just that.

"After leaving the Holy Nation and living on the continent, he continued his secret experiments."

Then, when the Holy Nation suddenly closed its doors one day, Victor saw it as his opportunity and accelerated the research he wanted to do.

After all, Bretus had not permitted him to conduct experiments related to science, magic, and black magic.

Using black magic experiments to study cryptids and turn humans into werewolves.

Creating gunpowder that was unaffected by [Silence of Fire] through scientific experiments, and even developing a new form of golem called Liquid Golem.

Additionally, he created artifacts utilizing all sorts of magical experiments and established several secret laboratories.

He had essentially spread his influence like a plague across the continent.

"I recruited him because of his talent, only to find out he was a double agent."

It was understandable that Surna hadn't known.

Even after becoming a First Order, Victor hadn't engaged in any espionage activities.

He was simply devoted to his research, nothing more.

That's why he had joined hands with Surna, and conversely, now betrayed Surna to align himself again with Bretus.

"This actually works out better. I wasn't particularly pleased with the idea of fighting alongside someone like him anyway."

Rudger considered it fortunate that Victor was now an enemy.

An opportunity had arisen to definitively kill him as an adversary.

"The question is, where is Victor now?"

"He's not visible anywhere on the continent. He seems to have withdrawn from all of his previously established laboratories, as if he knew this would happen."

If Surna said that, it was highly likely that Victor was indeed not on the continent.

"Are you certain?"

"Among the powers I've learned, there's a tracking technique that allows me to constantly monitor people. Unlike with other First Orders, I've placed a kind of 'eye' on Victor that I've been keeping close watch on. But now I can't see anything. If he were on the continent, I would certainly have seen him."

"In other words, Victor is not on the continent right now."

"Correct. If he's not on the continent, there are only two possibilities."

One was the mechanical island floating on the sea, Isla Machina.

However, since Surna had recently visited Isla Machina, he boldly ruled it out.

If Victor had been hiding there, they would have surely known.

"Then."

"Indeed, there's only one place left, right?"

Surna and Rudger's gazes simultaneously turned toward the Galahad Fortress.

"The Bretus Holy Nation. He seems to be hiding somewhere inside the fortress."

"Despite the Holy Emperor's bloodline directly engaging in battle, he's in hiding. It seems the Holy Nation values Victor quite highly. Or perhaps Victor is acting on his own."

"Having to deal with an internal threat while enemies are about to swarm in from outside. How utterly displeasing."

At that moment, Alex stepped forward and asked:

"Then shouldn't we prioritize catching that rat hiding inside?"

"I'd like to, but we haven't found a way into the interior of the fortress yet."

"Hmm. What if we just destroy it all?"

Alex offered the simplest answer.

Seridan was the one who became furious at this suggestion.

"What nonsense! Didn't you hear earlier? That fortress is a single mechanism! What if we damage it and its function is broken?"

Seeing such a reaction from Seridan, who would normally be the first to suggest blowing something up with a bomb, made Alex break out in a cold sweat.

"Why? I was just suggesting."

"There are things you can say and things you shouldn't say!"

Seridan, with fire in her eyes, turned to Rudger and said:

"My lord, leave it to me. I'll somehow analyze the structure of the mechanism and find that crazy scientist hiding inside."

It was hard to refuse when Seridan spoke with such burning determination.

As she argued, if they were to damage the fortress incorrectly, the path to the inside might be completely closed off.

"Then it seems our tasks are divided into three. We'll need to allocate our personnel accordingly."

It wasn't just about fending off the enemies.

The top priority was to break through to the inside.

Naturally, Rudger held the key to this.

'Based on what Diena said, it's probably a secret passage that only those who deeply resonate with the power of the gods can enter.'

That inner sanctum was surely the reason why the Galahad Fortress was built and where its true form would be revealed.

'If that thing is truly inside, I...'

Surna briefly stared into space with complex eyes before shaking off his thoughts.

Setadel noticed Surna's peculiar reaction but chose not to point it out.

Both Surna and Setadel knew they needed to focus on the immediate task at hand.

"Seridan, focus on finding where Victor is hiding. He probably can't enter the inner sanctum either, so he must be somewhere in the inner city."

"Of course! Leave it to me!"

"And I'd appreciate it if the rest of you could concentrate on stopping the enemies that will soon approach from the outside."

In some ways, this was the most dangerous role.

"You don't have to fight to the death. Just hold them off and buy time."

From the outset, it was a fight between an egg and a rock.

No matter how formidable the forces gathered here were, those assembled on the continent were far stronger and more numerous.

Just in terms of pure military power, the difference was laughably more than 100-fold.

If confronted head-on, they would be overwhelmed without much resistance but they didn't necessarily need to fight.

They just had to set traps, stall for time, and delay the enemy's advance.

"Hey, teacher."

Caroline asked.

"Seeing as you're asking us to just buy time, it seems you have a way to turn this all around in one go?"

"I can't be certain. I'm just considering the possibility."

It was Caroline and the Monarch mercenaries who had to risk their lives for this uncertain plan.

But Caroline didn't seem to mind, flashing a smile.

"Well, it's much better than having zero possibility. But there's still one more problem."

Caroline surveyed the people gathered.

"I acknowledge that everyone here is an exceptional force. Plus, the characteristic of this Bretus Holy Nation, from the inspection city to the fortress, requires crossing complex waterways. It's not an environment conducive for large armies to move. If we're determined to wage guerrilla warfare, we can certainly buy time. That is, specifically for ground battles."

It was an accurate observation.

Ground forces coming in would have to pay attention to their formation just to cross the waterways, but the issue was the sky.

"If they move by airship and deploy their forces from above, the three inspection cities become completely useless. Our geographical advantage as defenders disappears."

If they were to consider aerial combat and the forces needed to counter it, currently only Caroline was capable of this.

"If we could use the Golden Monarch's main cannon to shoot down every incoming airship, things would be different, but they're not fools and won't use ordinary airships."

Military airships are equipped with defenses against external attacks.

It might not be impossible to shoot them down if all three rows of the Golden Monarch's main cannons were fired, but that would only work in a one-on-one scenario.

"According to reports, there are over 2,000 airships crossing the sky."

Over 2,000 airships.

Considering the firepower these airships carried and the number of soldiers aboard...

It was equivalent to a force capable of erasing a nation.

That's just the aerial force.

Even if they could block the ground forces, how could they possibly stop the enemies coming from the sky?

It was Surna, not Rudger, who answered that question.

"Hmm. That should be fine. It's almost time for him to wake up."

"What? What do you mean?"

Caroline frowned at Surna's cryptic words.

Wake up? Is someone coming to help? From the way he's talking, it seems like an individual, but how could one person possibly stop over 2,000 airships?

While everyone was thinking this, the person who first reacted was Violetta.

"Wind."

Violetta was most sensitive to the peculiar sensation felt from afar.

The feeling of the wind brushing against her cheek was different from usual.

"Pure wind is coming."

Pure wind?

Isn't all wind the same?

Everyone wondered what she meant.

But even Violetta, who had spoken, was equally puzzled.

How to explain it?

She simply couldn't come up with a more clear explanation beyond this.

"Yes. It's about time he wakes up. I stimulated it after all."

Surna smiled knowingly.

The sky had gradually filled with dark clouds.

The atmosphere vibrated, rumbling through the clouds.

Enormous clouds, seeming to reach the stratosphere, had arrived at Bretus.

Lightning flashed inside the clouds.

Every time lightning flashed from the immense atmospheric water vapor rapidly rubbing together, the shape inside the clouds appeared and disappeared repeatedly.

"My God. What on earth is that?"

"Am I dreaming right now?"

Beyond the weather phenomenon that was hard to believe even with their own eyes, at its center existed something massive.

People doubted their vision as they saw something with several wings spread wide.

More amazingly, despite such a storm accompanying it, there was no impact on the fortress where they were located.

"Yes. So you've finally come too."

Surna gazed at the being in the clouds with a welcoming expression.

The storm that had been raging suddenly stopped as if time itself had frozen.

The rotating clouds halted, and the continuous lightning ceased and then with a great tearing sound the center of the clouds split wide open, revealing the entity inside.

"The Elemental Lord of Wind."

The Elemental Lord of Wind, who had been asleep for a long time, had arrived at the Bretus Holy Nation.