Let's think about it for a second.

The illusion dragon went berserk. That means that the professors somehow lost control over the whole magic ritual, or, they purposefully kept it going just to kill all the students.

Now, the latter doesn't make much sense, if they wanted to kill the students, they could have just summoned a berserk dragon from the beginning. And to begin with, they didn't even need to summon any dragon, the professors are strong enough beat all the students here, except us, anyway.

So, the only possibility left, is that the magic got hijacked at some point, leading to the dragon not disappearing when it went berserk, hell, its corpse is still in the arena, the magic is still running.

Either way, we need to get hold of the situation first.

Flying out from the window of the observation room, we landed on the arena, where everyone is currently panicking, staff member frantically running around carrying injured students.

The whole arena almost got obliterated, actually, those spells from the dragon were nasty.

''I'll go help them!'' Anna said, running off to the distance.

''You guys go help too, I'll find more information.'' I said to the remaining three.

''No need to ask.''

''Of course.''

''Mhmm.''

Now, let's find the leader girl first, she might know something.

-----

After flying for a while, I found my target at a corner of the arena, I could see the girl in black earlier sitting against the wall, together with... My classmates?

Most of them are injured in some way or another, currently being treated by a few supporters. Let's approach them first.

''You guys alright?'' I said, drawing their attention.

''You...'' The girl muttered.

'''' Sylvia! ''''

Oh, hey Nick, mister protagonist, and the two mage girls as well.

''Did they tell you to battle the dragon even when it went berserk?'' I asked them.

''No.''

''I didn't hear anything about this either.''

''Me too.''

Well, I need to find the professors now, I guess.

''You.'' The girl called me. ''Did you finish the dragon?''

''Hm? I did.''

''Thanks.'' She does a 90 degree bows.

''No problem, I just did what I should.''

''What are you going to do now?''

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''I'll find the professors.''

''Let me go with you.''

''Sure, if you can move.'' She's got quite a lot of wounds though, but I feel like I can't stop her here.

''Me too!'' Nick injected.

This guy as well, fine. Not hurt to have more helpers.

''Alright then, good luck to all of you, you guys look dead, jeez.'' I turn to my classmates before lifting my new teammates into the air.

-----

''Whoa~'' Nick exclaimed, his eyes sparkling.

Apparently this guy has never flown in his life. Good for him, I guess.

''Do you know where the ritual site is?'' I asked the girl.

''That way. On the left side.''

Figured, I can feel a bunch of mana gathered there.

Let's cast some preemptive spells first, there might be an ambush.

Hmm, maybe around 25 metal spikes, should be enough. I could try my newly acquired portal magic here, too.

So we landed outside a pretty big room, judging from the size of this door, at least.

''Let's take a peek first.'' I said. ''But still, ready your weapons.''

Casting a sound barrier around the door, I cautiously push it inside, leaving just a tiny crack to look in.

The scene inside the room is somewhat unexpected. All of the professor lying unconscious on the ground, with purple chains wrapping around their bodies. Looking at the flow of magic, the chains are probably sucking mana from them to fuel the illusion magic in the middle of the room.

No other figure is seen anywhere. Well, they probably ran off already, no sane culprit would want to linger here anyway.

''No one's here. Let's release the professors first.'' I said. pushing the door wide open.

I said that, but the only one here capable of breaking these chains is probably me.

''What are these...'' Nick muttered.

''...Dark magic.'' The girl said, her face has a rare frown on it.

Yep, I thought so, these match perfectly with the descriptions about dark magic I heard from dad.

When encountered, one should feel a sinister, uncomfortable feeling inside their head, one should also see the signature dark colored mana from it, and consider the fact that draining magic is only available to demons, this is 100% confirmed.

''!!'' Nick widen his eyes. ''Are you saying that demons did this?!''

''Yes, I've encountered them before. This feeling, it's undoubtedly dark magic.''

''Either way, help me gather the chains in one place first, I'll break them all at once. Don't touch them directly, just to be sure.''

I don't want to touch these with telekinesis either.

''Ah, right.''

So I started to combine all 25 spikes together, creating a huge spear in the air.

Aiming at the numerous chains on the ground that they've just put together using their weapons, I thrust my spear down with maximum power, adding in my telekinesis to boost as well.

*BOOM*

The spear jammed deep into the concrete ground, severing all the chains, thus stopping the illusion magic.

''Phew~''

...Wait, the students I could understand, but why is there no staff member here? They should have went here first, no...?

Shit.

''You guys stay here to guard them, I'll go out.''

''Wait, wha-

-----

Flying out of the room, I quickly gathered all my party members spreading across the arena with my telekinesis.

''What's wrong?!'' Tina exclaimed.

''I'll be brief. The professors got attacked by demons. The illusion magic got hijacked. And, there might be something suspicious about the staff here.''

''Understood, find and capture all the staff members first?'' Liana asked.

''Yes, just in case, go in pairs. Liana and Emy, Tina and Anna, I'll go alone.''

''It's dangerous!'' Anna said worriedly.

''Anna's right.'' Emy added.

''...Fine. I'll join Tina's team then.''

Fuck it, no time to argue.

''Ah, you two.'' I called my fellow elves. ''Look for Justia and her companions first, they're nearby.''

Almost forgot about them.

-----

Shit, where did all the staff go?! We've been flying around the vicinity for a while already...

''Do you guys remember which direction they went??''

''Sorry, I don't.''

''I didn't pay attention...''

They got us good this time, huh. I'll remember this, whichever motherfucker it is.

''..Huh?''

That's the staff uniform!

''There's one over there!'' I point at a man carrying an unconscious student just outside the colosseum, increasing our speed as I spoke.

''He probably got left behind! Look, he's limping!'' Anna shouted.

Landing right before the man, I instantly use telekinesis to lock him in place.

''Huh?! What is this??'' The man exclaimed.

''Where are you going?!''

''Eh?! I'm going to the clinic, of course..?''

''Why didn't any of you went to check on the professors?! They got attacked by demons!''

''What?! This wasn't an accident?! The leader said that it was the professors messing up the ritual...''

Shit, so they most likely got deceived by the demons in disguise, huh. Explains why Anna didn't feel anything odd about these guys.

''Guide me to the clinic, fast.'' I said, picking up the guy with telekinesis, and fly into the sky again.