Chapter 13 - Here Comes Trouble
Another boring day comes.
As usual, I have prepared some ammunition to fight boredom. Well, to do better things to improve myself as always, that is.
But different from the usual, there is one thing different today. I usually don't recognize who the lecturer teaching the class is. But today, I recognize the guy. And that person... Was the one antagonizing me back in the entrance test? The guy is still looking at me with a hostile gaze. Geez dude, did I kill your entire family or something? Well, I kinda have an inkling of why you are that hostile to me but can’t you just hide that hostility and try to scheme behind my back? You are too noob to act as a villain.
Sigh, whatever. His being that open with his hostility is helping me more than it did him. I have enough time to prepare myself for trouble in case it really happens.
I got the book that I bought and put it on the table. I am ready to pass the time in my own way. Of course, I am still listening to what the lecturer is teaching. He is teaching about the basics of elements which is a good basic learning material but he is not a good teacher. He is just reading out loud with no intent of teaching at all. I might as well read that book later myself so I keep on reading my own book.
It didn’t take long before the lecturer lost his patience. He seemed to be feeling offended by my ignoring him and started criticizing me.
“You there in the back! The one that is reading a book. How dare you ignore my class?”
“Well, if you are just reading from a book then I don’t see a reason why I can’t just read the book by myself later”
“Such insolence! Do you not know how to respect your lecturer?”
“Do you know mister? A respected lecturer will put effort into their class and not just waste everyone's time by reading a book out loud. Also, a respected teacher should feel happy with their student achievement and will try to guide them to greater heights”
“Shut up! What a brat like you know about the world? How dare you lecture me!?”
“Civilized people will discuss with each other when there is a different opinion. And discussion is the mother of learning. Listen to the young for their innovation and listen to the old for their wisdom. Only people with limited vision would immediately reject other people’s opinions”
“If you don’t shut up then I will make you! Fire Lance!”
Fire Lance is intermediate-level magic that can only be learned when a mage reaches tier 3 - intermediate mage. It is a direct upgrade from fireballs that apprentices could learn. Just as the name suggests, it is a spell that shapes the fire element into a lance and shoots it to the target. As the fire element is shaped and compressed, it will cause an explosion upon making contact with the target.
This lecturer should be a tier 3 magician as most of the lecturers are around tier 3 and 4 while the higher ones act as the leader of the academy and don’t directly work as a lecturer. So it is not weird for him to learn fire lance.
It’s just that, casting fire lance inside a class filled with apprentice mages is an act of utter lunacy. No sane man would even think about doing it. It is basically worse than a school shooting accident. It is entering the level of school bombing.
“Take cover!”
I immediately willed my shadow to move. It turned into something similar to a bandage but black and quickly wrapped around the incoming fire lance. After managing to control the fire lance, I infuse water element into my shadow by the method that I just learned previously to help neutralize the fire element trapped inside. With the danger quickly defused, I immediately started questioning the lecturer.
“Hey mister, are you crazy? Are you trying to kill all the apprentices here? I get it that you hate me but should you give more thought about injuring other apprentices, no?”
“No, I am not crazy. I am only trying to cleanse the filth that is trying to corrupt this world. And that filth is you, you dirty darkness elemental user! For cleansing that filth, sacrifices are needed. Those other apprentices should be happy that their sacrifice could help make the world a better place!”
Here it comes. the blind accusation for darkness element. whenever you do wrong, blame it on the villain that the majority agrees with. Well, too bad for you, I am quite an experienced keyboard warrior.
“Huh, you must be crazy because everyone will soon know that you are the snitch, right?”
“I don’t have any relation with the bandits! It has nothing to do with me you evil spawn!”
“Hey, I don’t say anything about bandits. I am just saying that you are a snitch. Don’t tell me, you are actually the snitch for those bandits?”
Seeing this villain is not that smart and also agitated, I tried to fish out some confession from him and it worked. That is one less mystery in this world.
The lecturer seemed to realize it too and started to panic. After getting flustered for a few seconds, his eyes turned into a dark glint and his expression turned malevolent.
“All of you, die for me!”
“Not good, he is multicasting!”
There are now 2 Fire lances appearing on the two sides of the lecturer. He is casting 2 spells at the same time which is commonly known as multicasting. Can I do multicasting? Well, my science magic is kinda complicated and it is harder for me to multicast. I could multicast 2 different elements at the same time but multicasting 2 same element spells is almost impossible for my science magic. After all, my science magic makes use of ‘resources’ from the surrounding which limited my science magic from casting the same element magic multiple times.
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“Mage squad, take cover. Evacuate everyone else to safety!”
“Sir, yes sir!” x5
Unfortunately, I am still unable to neutralize the previous fire lance that I controlled before so there is nothing I could do to catch the other two that are coming.
Before the fire lance could hit me Earth element guy and Ice element girl manage to erect a barrier on two opposite sides to prevent collateral damage from hurting the other apprentices.
I on the other hand could only jump up to avoid the explosion. But thanks to my tier 1 knight body strength and my shadow control for extra spring, I managed to break through the classroom’s roof and escape direct damage from the explosion. My body still hurting from the collision with the roof though.
Because of the explosion inside the classroom, the building started collapsing to the inside. I can see other apprentices under the cover of my mage squad running away in panic from the collapsing building.
Did that lecturer bury himself in the rubble? When I asked myself that, another explosion erupts again sending debris all over the place. It was that lecturer. To avoid being buried under, he explodes the classroom’s roof and he is still standing in the front of the class without any visible wound.
I should not be surprised. This is like a boss battle after all. I need to keep my guard up until I can fully incapacitate my enemy.
I start falling down after I reach my maximum jump height so I spread my jet-black wings to slow down my fall. Where were those wings coming from? Of course, those came from my shadow control magic. When I use my shadow as a spring to jump, I also make my shadow cover my body. But because I take my whole shadow with me, my shadow still covers me completely even when I used quite a lot of it to form the shadow wings. I guess I look like a pure black humanoid with wings right now.
"So you have shown your true color, demon! Stay there so I can subjugate you! "
"Yeah yeah, keep on yapping, dog"
"What did you say?"
The crazed lecturer started hurling fire lance again at me. Fortunately for me, my wings are not just a decoration. Besides allowing me to glide in the air, if I were to actively flap them, I could change my movement vector in the air. It's just that, flapping wings large enough to accommodate my aerial movement is heavy work. It is just like trying to dual-wield heavy polearms from the very end of its handle.
“Come on! Why don’t you say anything witty again? You are like an annoying fly now. All you can do is just dodge!”
I don't feel like talk-no-jutsuing him. The bandit group that he snitches information to has caused death, destruction, and sorrow to the innocents. So he also shares their sin.
I might show mercy to bandits with low personal strength because they might not have any other choice besides becoming a bandit. But for a strong one like this lecturer who is a tier 3 mage, they have the option to not do evil yet they still do evil. Then I would give you no mercy.
I will still try to catch them alive though. After all, they are strong and my family's mine still needs a lot of strong men like them to use their power to dig more wealth for us. Well, either that or be a decoy when hunting monsters that is. Moreover, I can make them work for free. Who's gonna reject that? Free worker best worker.
So with that policy in mind, I cast the most reliable spell to catch my enemy alive.
"YOU WA SHOCK!"
Electricity jumps up from my pointed finger towards the lecturer. After casting all elemental magic the traditional way, I managed to understand how to directly turn my mana into the element I needed. I don’t need to do the roundabout method to cast my science magic again which increases my casting speed. Although in the case of lightning magic, I still make sure to create a vacuum of electrons in the area that I am targeting so my lightning can home into the target.
BZZT!
“ABABABABABABA!”
And look at that. It is super effective. To subdue even a tier 3 mage instantly like this. Lightning magic is indeed the best unlethal element. Unless I could learn mind magic and curse magic which I’m sure would have more variety of unlethal subduing methods.
“Y-y-y-you… a-a-a-also c-c-c-controls t-t-t-thunder?”
“Surprised? Keeping an ace hidden is always a good virtue, right? Now cease your resistance and let us capture you”
“Ha… Hahaha… HAHAHAHAHAHA… You damned brat want to capture me? In your dream! But I have to agree with you on one thing”
By this time, I have safely landed on the ground again and tried to get close to the supposed-to-be-paralyzed lecturer but I suddenly detect an ominous aura coming out from him.
And that aura… somehow feels familiar.
“HAHAHAHA. Brat, you are correct, we need to keep a hidden ace. But you have offended me so I will let you taste god’s punishment!”
I cringed. At least this villain has an opera-worthy flair. But I still need to keep my guard up. This is THE isekai. Who knows what kind of plot twist that could happen at any time? Moreover, there’s also that ominous aura coming from him.
“Try your own magic with a little extra then! Fire Lance!”
Letting the enemy do what he wants to do is also a big no-no. The one who takes the initiative wins the game! Disrupt their henshin scene!
Another fire lance of a similar size to the one the lecturer thrown at me before except that it is black now flying at great speed towards the lecturer and reaching him in mere seconds. A black flame explosion swallows the surrounding area where the lecturer stands.
I’m not gonna say it. Not gonna say it. Just keep my focus on my enemy. I can speak all I want after I manage to confirm his defeat or death.
“AAAAAAARGH!”
Yup, he is still alive. But can he avoid the black flame’s corrosion effect? I don’t need to wait for long to know the answer at least.
From inside the dust that is covering my vision, a series of fireballs comes forward flying at me. I am surprised but my muscle memory tempered through continuous training kicks in immediately and I make an evasion move.
I move to the side with a black surfboard under my feet while my shadow acts like water that pushes the surfboard forward. This move is, again, inspired by that blind shadow controller assassin. That assassin no longer needed to walk as his shadow could be used to move him anywhere he wanted.
After the first fireballs barrage receded. The dust around the area finally clears up after being blown away by the explosions created by the barrage of fireballs. And in the place where the lecturer stood before, an abomination appears.
Its whole body is in flesh pink color like it has no skin covering its flesh. It has a basic humanoid shape but there are numerous tentacles growing from its back. Its hands and feet bulge grotesquely as a messy strand of muscles wraps its limbs. And lastly, its face which looks similar to the lecturer shows a manic grin.
Yeah… without a doubt, that thing is…
“HAHAHAHA, brat, rejoice! You will be the first to witness the lord’s almighty!”
“Ah, I must apologize then”
“HAHAHAHA, you want to apologize? But it is too late now! Now, your flesh and blood shall be the offering to make god stronger!”
“Apologize to you? What kind of misunderstanding did you have in your head? I want to apologize not to you but to the dogs, because I compare you to them before. Now that I see you like this, I realize that dogs are nobler than you who are just simply trash”
“......... DIE!”
Oh wow, roasting my enemies never feel better. But still, always remember me, never ever underestimate your enemies. This is that legendary class being that could have an attrition battle with 1.000 squad troops.
The lecturer… or the thing that had turned into a demon now started focusing its fire energy on each extremity of its limbs with the exception of its legs, of course. And the 2 hands plus 10 extra tentacles start shooting fireballs at me.
Oh, so this is how he shot his barrage of fireballs just now. He can cast magic from both hands plus all the extra tentacles it has. Getting hit by one is not that much of a trouble. Don’t get me wrong, it is still hurt getting hit by a fireball but it is not enough to incapacitate me with just one.
But the problem here is that if I were to get hit by one, I would definitely get staggered for a moment and that would be fatal for me. The successive fireballs would then also hit me and I don’t think I am strong enough to tank all that damage.
I can only choose the hit-and-away tactics with this one.
That’s right, I am facing that special kind of demon that I’ve read before in the library before the academy started. The nightly undying, Fleshmancer demon.