I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 669: The Wolf Walking in the Abyss (2)

Hans, with the great sword on his shoulder, calmly gazed at Tarian.

'Tarian. The last Holy Knight Commander left in the Bretus Holy Nation.'

The one regarded as the strongest among the three commanders had come here to kill him.

He already knew this would happen.

His current abilities, having transformed into the Beast of Gevaudan, were specialized in stopping large armies.

The cryptids he could summon endlessly.

That alone was enough for a single individual to change the tide of a battlefield.

Unless the opponent was a fool, they would try their best to eliminate an enemy who could keep summoning like this.

'Besides, the opponent isn't alone.'

Not just Tarian, but his subordinate holy knights were also with him.

'There are priests, and also wizards. This is going to be troublesome.'

Even one-on-one would be uncertain, but the opponent even had subordinates who could assist him.

'On the contrary, I'm alone.'

It was unfortunate to leave Hans, who was raising such a large-scale army, by himself, but it couldn't be helped.

They didn't have that many numbers on their side.

It would be more accurate to say they didn't have the capacity to protect Hans.

But that didn't mean they had simply left Hans exposed to danger like this.

At the very least, measures had been prepared to guard against enemy attacks.

Even the hazy fog rising around was a smokescreen intended to prevent enemies from guessing Hans's existence.

'In the end, the day has come for me to fight with my own hands.'

The feeling of the great sword in his hand was unfamiliar.

The great sword, similar in height to his 5m tall body, boasted a tremendous weight, but Hans lifted it as lightly as a wooden stick.

'Pillar with a curse.'

A great sword made from a pillar of an ancient ruin discovered in the past.

Though made in a simple way by carving the pillar and adding only a handle, the power embedded in this great sword was not so simple.

'To think that little kid was actually a master of the ancient curse school.'

Hans recalled Cravat, who had handed him this great sword to use.

Though he appeared to be a young boy, he was actually a man who had lived almost twice as long.

He had enhanced the cursed pillar from his school with his own curse, strengthened it, and then passed it on to Hans to use.

-I was wondering what to do with it, but seeing your size, you can just swing it like a club.

He thought it was a joke at the time, but it turned out not to be.

Hans took a stance with the sword.

He knew nothing about swordsmanship in his life. He didn't expect anything to come of suddenly holding such a thing here.

But his instincts as a beast and his body, which had awakened as the Beast of Gevaudan, were different.

-Swoosh.

Lowering his upper body, placing one hand on the ground, and stretching his two legs behind him.

It was a posture like a four-legged wolf holding a sword but that was the most optimal posture for his body.

The holy knights tensed at the sight.

'What is that?'

'I've never seen such a stance before.'

It was a posture that couldn't be called swordsmanship but it didn't feel at all awkward or strange.

Rather, taking such a posture with that size and appearance, it was even threatening.

It felt like facing a beast about to pounce and tear at one's throat but the holy knights didn't flee because of that.

They had come all the way here to defeat that monster, after all.

"The blessing of courage."

"Sacred faith to defeat evil."

The priests used holy magic with divine power.

A warm light settled on the bodies of the holy knights, including Tarian.

Hans frowned at the sight.

In his current state, with reason and instinct half mixed, that light had something that kept stimulating his instincts.

'There's no benefit in lasting long.'

His red eyes sank heavily.

-Whoosh.

Hans' body dimly disappeared from his spot.

The holy knights widened their eyes at the sight.

"He disappeared!"

"Where did he go?"

Could it be that it was just an illusion? A decoy to deceive our eyes?

While the holy knights were thinking that, there was only one person moving, and that was Holy Knight Commander Tarian.

The divine power emanating from Tarian's sword grew stronger.

The sword of radiant golden flames extended its length to 5m.

Tarian swung his sword as if to horizontally split the world, and.

At the same time, it collided with the great sword swung by Hans, creating an enormous destructive force.

-Kwaaang!

A collision of forces that was hard to believe was just swords clashing.

The ground where Hans and Tarian stood cracked apart, and with a huge explosion, scattered fragments in all directions.

The holy knights who saw this widened their eyes.

"...He was just moving quickly?"

Though weaker compared to Tarian, they were still sufficiently elite.

The holy knights gathered here were high-ranking holy knights.

Though not matching master-level knights, they were skilled individuals who prided themselves on being comparable to high-ranking knights.

And yet they had missed Hans' movement.

-Kagagagagak!

The test of strength between Hans and Tarian continued.

Though the golden divine power emanating from Tarian blazed strongly, the curse flowing from the great sword in Hans' hand suppressed it.

Surprise flashed across Tarian's eyes.

"A curse that pushes back divine power?"

That's not an ordinary curse.

And such a cursed great sword is not an ordinary object either.

Tarian's body gradually began to be pushed back.

Even with the priest's buff and enhancing his body with his own divine power, he was no match for Hans.

To help such a Tarian, the wizards stepped forward.

They shot magic toward Hans' head, and Hans stopped the test of strength, leaping high backward to retreat.

-Whirrrk.

Rotating several times in the air, he landed on the ground bouncing lightly.

Landing on the ground, yet not making a single sound, it was an extraordinary movement that didn't match his 5m size.

It was like seeing a tangible ghost.

Hans tilted his head left and right once each, recalling his movement just now.

'As expected, it's possible.'

His head might not know how to fight, but his body did.

His heart, his instincts knew how to step, how to walk and how to swing his arms.

'I shouldn't fight rationally. Rather, the opposite. Since I'm a beast now, I should surrender to instinct and wildness.'

But if he became too excessively dominated by wildness, he would become a rampaging monster.

He had to walk a tightrope precisely between reason and instinct.

'Well then.'

Let's begin.

While the fight was raging outside, Seridan was moving around inside the inner castle, carefully examining any noticeable spots.

'That scientist named Victor is still hiding somewhere in this inner castle.'

Victor Dreadful, though he was the First Order of the Black Dawn Society, before that, he was a man from the Bretus Holy Nation.

There was a high possibility that he was now hiding somewhere in this inner castle, watching their actions.

'I heard he committed all sorts of inhumane experiments. Someone that intelligent wouldn't miss an opportunity like this.'

A situation where holy crusaders from outside were steadily pouring in.

For Victor, now was the optimal time to strike the enemy from behind.

Seridan was moving to prevent that.

"Have you found it?"

Asked Arpa, who was following Seridan.

Bellaruna was also with them.

"Not yet. But I'm starting to get a feel for it."

Seridan realized as she analyzed the overall structure of the inner castle and the hidden devices inside the walls.

"This inner castle itself is one large device. And it's a device made so precisely and well-interlocked that it's puzzling how it was made in the distant past."

"So that saying was true."

"But even a near-perfect device will inevitably have gaps. The scientist Victor is probably hiding in those gaps."

And the only person here who could find those gaps was Seridan.

"Here it is."

Seridan stopped in front of a wall.

It was just a plain white wall with nothing on it, but Seridan's eyes were full of certainty.

"The tiny gap created where device meets device. That space is right here."

"But I don't feel anything."

Arpa closely examined the wall but couldn't find anything unusual.

The fact that Arpa, a high-tech automaton, couldn't detect anything meant it truly wasn't unusual.

"Of course, such places aren't made up of just devices."

Seridan reached out her hand to Bellaruna.

"Give me that."

Bellaruna handed over a reagent bottle.

The reagent bottle containing purple liquid emanated an ominous feeling just by itself.

"The material of the inner castle is holystone. Since it has high conductivity for divine power, it's fair to say that faint divine power flows around here. It's like they've hidden something and covered it with a shell of divine power."

Seridan shook the reagent bottle and threw it toward the wall.

-Crash.

As the liquid inside touched the white wall, it began to burn black and bubble up.

At the same time, divine power began to oxidize on the wall like spreading paint.

"This cursed drug given by the one called Cravat can temporarily erase that divine power."

The wall revealed its true form as the veil of divine power was removed.

It was a door leading to a hidden space in the inner castle.

"Let's go."

At Seridan's words, Arpa pushed the door with his hand.

Though it looked like a heavy stone door, it was of no use against Arpa with his superhuman output.

The door opened, and a long staircase leading inside continued.

The three went down the stairs.

At the end of the spiral staircase was a warehouse-like storage area made of white space.

"My goodness."

Inside the warehouse-type storage was full of parts for all kinds of devices.

"What is this, exactly?"

"I told you. This is the 'gap' in this huge device called the fortress. They probably collected useless parts and materials from the device in places like this."

"Then, we really did find the right place."

"Yes. It seems so."

At that moment, an alarm went off inside with a wheeeing sound.

"And now they know we've arrived."

As soon as the alarm sounded, the door on the opposite side of the warehouse opened.

Inside was another long corridor, and something could be seen rushing over from beyond the corridor.

It was bizarre monsters that seemed to be made by strangely combining all sorts of people.

Having two heads, or having 10 hands attached where the arms should be, or having wings made of all sorts of fingers on their back.

Human experimental subjects with horrific forms that seemed to chip away at one's sanity just by looking at them were rushing over to kill them.

"There are too many. If we fight like this, we'll be at a disadvantage."

Arpa asked Seridan and Bellaruna if they were okay.

Victor's experimental subjects were far more numerous than expected.

Just imagining what would have happened if they had suddenly appeared from the inner castle without knowing anything sent chills down their spines.

"You two step back. I'll handle this."

Among the three, only Arpa was practically capable of combat.

The other two were talented in other areas, but not suited for combat.

"No. Even you can't handle all those experimental subjects. How do you know what abilities those experimental subjects have?"

But Seridan was adamant.

"Still..."

"Kid. You're not the only one who knows how to fight, you know?"

Seridan said with a smile toward Arpa.

At that sight, Bellaruna thought to herself, 'I wonder who the kid is.'

"You have a way?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I? Look over there."

Seridan pointed to the mountain of parts.

"With so many materials, you know. So, you just buy us as much time as possible. Got it?"

"...I understand."

Arpa said that and dashed toward the experimental subjects.

The hulking experimental subject at the forefront let out a bizarre cry and rushed at Arpa, but Arpa moved nimbly, avoiding the hulk's grasp before delivering a kick to its solar plexus.

-Thwoom!

The body full of solid muscles caved in, and the hulk was thrown backward.

The experimental subjects following behind became entangled with it and collapsed in a heap.

Meanwhile, Seridan quickly scanned the pile of parts for suitable items.

"Good. The condition isn't bad. Perhaps because it's material for maintaining the device of this fortress, it seems to be no ordinary material."

If so, it was an opportunity to create something bigger and better.

"H-how are you going to move and assemble all those heavy things?"

Bellaruna asked as if doubting it was possible.

With Sheridan's small frame, it was questionable whether she could properly retrieve even one part from the mountain-like pile of metal.

"Of course, I won't do it alone."

Seridan grinned and took something out of his pocket.

"That's why I'm going to use this."

It was a metal cube of dark brown color and one with a very strong magnetic force.