I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 696: The Chaotic Holy War (2)

The newspaper offices moved busily.

Since the holy war began, they continuously received radio communications in real-time, keeping a close watch on how the situation was unfolding.

Whenever something newsworthy happened, they would immediately write articles and publish that day's newspaper.

"Keep checking the status!"

"Don't miss a single piece of news! This is all breaking news!"

An unprecedented situation where the holy war had begun and the continent's attention was focused on Bretus.

Newspapers sold like hotcakes to an unprecedented degree.

They were curious about what happened to the Demon King's army and the holy crusaders in Bretus.

The newspaper offices, which could gather that attention by receiving real-time contact from war correspondents and writing articles, were the ones who could capitalize on this interest.

Even with prices raised higher than usual, newspapers sold like hotcakes.

What used to be published once a day had reached the level of being printed almost every hour, matching the special wartime situation.

As a result, the newspaper offices experienced unprecedented prosperity, and they rowed hard to keep up with this flow.

"Bretus is currently full of dark clouds."

"They say storms are raging in the sky. But surprisingly, the sea is calm."

"The island is full of black beasts?"

"A tsunami occurred and the warships are all tangled up in chaos."

People listened intently to the war reports coming in real-time.

Flora was no different.

Flora, sitting in the seat that only the head of the Lumos family could occupy, tossed aside the newspaper she had finished reading.

Already, that spot was piled high with past newspapers.

Flora, who had effectively become the head of Lumos, had captured all the estate's people with her outstanding skills and charisma.

Having realized that Kayden had tried to incite a rebellion, the servants had no choice but to pledge loyalty to Flora.

Aileen's help had also played a part.

However, since she hadn't completely seized control of the family, Flora couldn't return to Theon and had to continue staying at the estate.

So she could only learn about the outside situation through indirect news.

For instance, that Rudger had become the Demon King and initiated the holy war.

"Huu."

Flora pressed her throbbing forehead with her index finger and rose from her seat.

Her steps headed toward the room where the former family head, Kayden, was confined.

"What? Have you come to beg for forgiveness now?"

Kayden, with his haggard face, glared at Flora and spoke.

He should have been imprisoned, but out of respect for his position as the former family head, he was confined to a room like this.

Of course, surveillance was not neglected.

No matter what Kayden tried, he couldn't escape from here.

The moment he tried to flee, they would have justification for summary execution.

"Forgiveness? You still don't seem to grasp the situation. You haven't forgotten your position, have you?"

"I have ears to hear. This may be your world now, but if Bretus wins the holy war, His Holiness the Pope will appoint me as family head again."

"Your dreams are quite ambitious."

Flora shot back while clicking her tongue inwardly.

The fact that this news had reached Kayden, who was confined in a room, meant there were still rats in the family that hadn't been weeded out.

She had caught those she could catch, but perhaps it was impossible to cleanly root them all out in such a short period.

As if reading Flora's impatience, Kayden let out a low laugh.

"Even now, confess your sins to His Holiness the Pope and surrender. If you do that, at least I can show you some final mercy."

Kayden didn't doubt that this holy war would end in Salesin's victory.

He believed in the power of Salesin's divine authority.

Even with such threats and persuasion, Flora didn't bat an eye.

"That remains to be seen."

"The Empire has also joined the holy war. The other family heads may be watching the situation, but how long will they overlook the choice made by the imperial capital?"

"You mean Second Prince Ivelon."

Flora recalled Ivelon and soon chuckled.

Kayden was puzzled by Flora's reaction.

If she had a brain to think with, she wouldn't be unaware that the current situation was flowing unfavorably for her.

Yet Flora's behavior seemed to have something she believed in.

"Do you believe in the Demon King?"

"I won't deny those words. But what I believe in isn't the Demon King, but my teacher."

"He will die. His severed head will be hung for all the world to see."

"That's what you desperately hope for. Unfortunately, the situation won't flow the way you want."

"What?"

Kayden asked back like that, but Flora didn't answer and just smiled mysteriously because she was seeing and hearing more than Kayden.

Flora's gaze turned toward the window.

Though not visible to the naked eye, at the end of that gaze's direction would be the Holy Kingdom of Bretus.

'Teacher. You must win. If you die, I'll never forgive you.'

The rampaging beasts that Hans had lost control of didn't distinguish between friend and foe.

The cryptids spread far and wide, throwing the battlefield into chaos.

The knights who had been pressing Pantos in the first checkpoint city couldn't help but gasp at the sight of wolves suddenly charging from behind.

"Cryptids?!"

One might say that mere cryptids couldn't have much impact in a battle where only masters and senior knights were gathered.

But when their numbers filled the field of vision, the story was different.

Veronica Deville recalled the chimeras that had emerged from the capital's underground.

She had thought there were tremendously many back then, but compared to the cryptids now surging forward, those seemed cute.

Stella Siren and the Cold Steel Knights were already forming ranks to face the cryptids.

Even doing so, they couldn't handle the overflowing wolves, and some wolves targeted the backs of Leonhart and Johann.

"Of all times!"

Johann lamented.

They were already being pushed back, unable to stop Pantos alone, and now with wolves charging in, their defeat was certain.

They couldn't ignore the cryptids. But if they turned their attention from Pantos, there was no predicting what that monster would do.

Johann's thoughts didn't continue long.

He discovered a cryptid that had secretly approached Deputy Commander Doria from behind.

'A variant!'

Other cryptids moved according to instinct and wildness.

They roared, revealed their killing intent, and made no attempt to hide their presence but variants were different.

They were more cunning. They knew how to hide their bodies and were skilled at concealing their presence, and above all, they were good at striking human weak points.

Although Doria was a senior knight, in her unstable state from fighting Pantos, she wasn't at the level to notice that ambush.

'Damn it!'

Johann eventually broke from formation and beheaded the cryptid that was targeting Doria from behind.

"Commander?!"

Doria also widened her eyes uncharacteristically as she looked at Johann and the dead cryptid.

She understood that Johann had deliberately overextended himself to save her.

With the formation broken, Pantos, who had been fighting inside, would now target their necks.

Doria and Johann tensed up completely.

They prepared to sacrifice at least an arm, but contrary to their resolve, Pantos remained docile.

'...He's not attacking?'

They had expected Pantos to charge forward gleefully when they showed an opening, but he was staying put.

Rather, his expression, which had been full of smiles during the fight, now felt unbearably cold.

'Why?'

Doria didn't know the reason.

Probably no one here would understand Pantos' feelings.

Why was he angry?

'The fight was interrupted.'

Pantos was irritated by the changed atmosphere due to the cryptids' appearance.

-Grrowl!

A black wolf crossed through waist-deep water, charging at Pantos.

Without even looking at the wolf, Pantos grabbed its neck with his hand and snapped it with his grip strength.

Having been doused with cold water just as he was reaching euphoria, his anger was terrifying.

Feeling the aura flowing from Pantos, Johann and Reinhardt tensed up and brilliantly ignited their auras.

However, Pantos' interest had already moved away from them.

"I'd like to beat them all down if I could."

Pantos knew that he couldn't act emotionally about everything.

Pantos wasn't simple-minded. Like a born hunter, he knew how to think and how to be patient.

A hunter had to know his prey well to succeed in the hunt.

The prey he targeted were all extraordinary beings.

Sometimes they were beasts, but sometimes they were overwhelmingly strong people.

Rudger Chelici was particularly so.

Pantos had observed Rudger for a long time while following his orders from beside him, simultaneously analyzing him.

He analyzed how Rudger acted and made decisions, accumulating data bit by bit.

Through observing Rudger, Pantos was able to learn many things.

Rather than getting angry recklessly like now, he learned to make cool-headed judgments of situations.

'The cryptids belong to Hans. But the fact that they attacked me means something went wrong with Hans.'

Unexpected situations occurring during war were common.

However, the fact that more cryptids appeared than before suggested that rather than Hans being defeated, he was running amok for some reason.

'Even before, he said it was hard to suppress his wildness. I should assume he lost the thread of reason he was barely maintaining and went berserk.'

As if to confirm Pantos' speculation, a tremendous howl echoed from the distance.

Even Reinhardt and Johann, who had been warily watching Pantos, shuddered and hesitated.

The reaction of knights at lower levels was even more intense.

The mysterious power embedded in the howling itself ate away at the knights' bodies, forcibly awakening the fear they had tried to ignore.

Pantos twisted his lips.

"I was in a bad mood from having my enjoyable fight interrupted, but now even more delicious-looking prey has appeared."

Could this be what they call turning misfortune into fortune?

Pantos withdrew his killing intent toward the knights.

"The killing intent."

"Disappeared?"

Everyone was puzzled by Pantos' aura, which had changed as easily as flipping a palm.

"All of you, step aside. I've lost interest in you now."

Interest, he said.

For words directed at two master-level opponents, it was very arrogant.

But Johann and Reinhardt couldn't object.

More than their pride as masters, they felt relief at not having to fight Pantos anymore.

They had already acknowledged in their hearts that Pantos was a stronger opponent than themselves.

To stop that monster, they would need to bring at least Luther.

No, now they weren't even confident that Commander Luther could catch that monster.

Regardless, Pantos had set his sights on his next prey.

"Yes. I've wanted to fight him at least once for a while now."

Pantos had seen Hans transformed into the Beast of Gevaudan before.

Once at the Kunst auction house and another time in Dreamland.

The first time, Rudger had almost captured him, but they injected drugs to bring him down, so there wasn't even a proper fight.

The second time, they were joining forces to face the goddess, so such thoughts didn't occur.

But now it is different.

To Pantos, who prided himself as a hunter, there was no prey more alluring than the Beast of Gevaudan.

In a situation where comrades had to fight each other, he had sufficient justification.

Who would stop him from trying to prevent the rampaging Hans from causing more problems?

The floating castle in the sky.

The golden beam of light chasing that castle.

The massive iceberg that had pierced through the castle at some point.

None of these entered Pantos' eyes right now.

Pantos instinctively pinpointed his prey's location and stared in that direction.

-Thud!

When Pantos stamped his foot once powerfully, his body shot out like a cannonball into the distance.

Reinhardt, Johann, Doria, and Veronica could only stare blankly at the scene.

Pantos, who had leaped high, stepped on a building and jumped again.

-Crash!

The building collapsed from the impact, but Pantos didn't care.

Passing through the first checkpoint city, he caught sight of Alex fighting enemies, but he didn't step forward to help.

Pantos acknowledged Alex as a fighter of equal skill to himself.

Someone of Alex's caliber wouldn't be defeated by such opponents.

'If he is defeated, that would mean his skill only went that far.'

Whatever the case, it wasn't Pantos' concern.

Right now, his goal was only one thing: the aura of Hans felt in the distance.

'Found him.'

Outside the city was full of black waves.

Pantos, who had leaped high, discovered a massive form standing at the center of those waves.

Hans was there.

No, since Hans had currently lost his reason, that should be considered the Beast of Gevaudan.

Just as Pantos had discovered the Beast of Gevaudan, the Beast of Gevaudan had also discovered Pantos in the air.

Red pupils blazed like hellfire in its skull-shaped face.

The Beast of Gevaudan also instinctively felt that Pantos was a terrifying existence capable of threatening it.

-Grrrowl!

The black waves that had been writhing and moving came to a complete stop.

Countless red eyes emerged from the black waves, staring at Pantos in the air.

In a scene that might drive an ordinary person mad, Pantos smiled.

"Let's have a go."

A massive anchor that spun like a windmill shot toward the Beast of Gevaudan with centrifugal force.