“Oh my goodness.”
Jacqueline hadn’t been held in anyone’s arms since she hit her growth spurt.
So being in someone’s embrace again after such a long time, especially Professor Winslet’s, was, well… even though it was just to catch her from falling, and even though they were in a danger zone, practically in front of the enemy…
It felt, embarrassingly enough, not all that bad. Actually, it might’ve shortened her lifespan a little, but still, it made her heart feel kind of soft and squishy.
What on earth am I thinking right now?
Professor Winslet looked down at Jacqueline, who was dazed from the sudden rush of blood to her head, and asked,
“Are you hurt anywhere, Jacqueline?”
Maybe because of the urgency of the situation, the professor who normally used her full name while always including her surname had shortened it.
Jacqueline blinked in surprise and answered,
“Uh… I’m not dead yet, so doesn’t that mean I’m okay?”
“That’s good to hear.”
Tears welled up in Jacqueline’s eyes.
“Professor, don’t tell me you were worried about me…”
“If you’re fine, get down already. You’re heavy, and my arms are getting tired.”
“Hee.”
“Hee?”
“Heeing!”
Jacqueline let out a weird whimpering sound and gave Professor Winslet’s chest a weak little punch.
It was something she’d never even dream of doing under normal circumstances, but the fear of death that had gripped her moments ago had suddenly melted away, and this was the result.
“You didn’t have to say it like that! I was this close….just a little bit from falling for you. Ugh, seriously.”
The corner of the professor’s mouth twitched.
It might’ve been a smile, or maybe Jacqueline was just imagining it.
The professor spoke.
“Since you’re so full of energy, I assume you can stand on your own two feet.”
With those words, the arms holding Jacqueline disappeared.
“Wha—? Aah!”
Jacqueline landed on her butt with a thud and grumbled as she rubbed her tailbone.
“You can’t just drop me like that! That hurt!”
“Jacqueline Dogwood.”
“Oh, he’s back to calling me by my full name.”
“Did you protect the homeless?”
Startled by the sudden question, Jacqueline flinched.
She had been expecting Professor Winslet to scold her with something like, “I warned you not to wander around at night. At this point, are you causing trouble on purpose?”
“Um, well, you see, Professor…”
“Well done.”
“…Huh?”
Jacqueline’s eyes widened.
Did… did he just praise me?
She quickly glanced at the professor’s face to confirm, but Winslet had already turned to face the unknown enemy.
Ugh! This was my first compliment ever!
As Jacqueline sat there feeling unfairly robbed, Professor Winslet snapped at her:
“Spending time with the homeless must’ve turned you into one. How long are you planning to sit on the ground? Get inside and hide yourself. I won’t be able to hold that thing off for long.”
Now that she thought about it, the black priest who had tried to kill her moments ago was standing motionless, as if frozen in place.
Jacqueline followed the powerful flow of magical power surrounding the black priest with her eyes.
Based on everything she’d learned at the academy so far, she could just barely understand that it was Professor Winslet’s magic and that it was restraining the creature in a prison-like form.
But she couldn’t relax yet.
With a tense voice, Jacqueline warned,
“Professor, please be careful. When I got near that thing, my magic field got all messed up. I couldn’t cast anything properly.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“What do you think I’ve been doing all this time?”
“…What?”
The professor had only briefly shown his face at the hall earlier in the evening before vanishing as if something urgent had come up.
And now he was asking what he’d been doing until now?
How should I know that?
But as Jacqueline pouted and lowered her gaze, she noticed his robe was stained with all sorts of grime.
The smell of something burnt, soot marks, and black sludge that looked like bodily fluid.
It wasn’t like the ever-neat Professor Winslet to let filth like that cling to him out of carelessness.
Those were unmistakable signs of battle.
But what had he been fighting?
There was only one obvious answer.
No way… Did the professor already know the monsters were attacking the port?
Is that why he told us not to go out? And then… went around fighting them all by himself? Even now…
It was the moment everything clicked.
A chill ran down Jacqueline’s spine.
Then Professor Winslet barked,
“Trust me. Get inside the building!”
“…Yes!”
Who else could she trust in this situation if not Professor Winslet?
Jacqueline immediately pushed herself up and backed away.
And just before jumping back down through the hole in the shelter roof, she turned to look at him one last time.
She shouted with all her heart:
“Professor! Please… come back safe!”
She didn’t expect a reply.
At that moment, Professor Winslet’s magic field swelled explosively as a new spell unfolded.
***
After getting Jacqueline to safety indoors, I turned my gaze toward the enemy.
A demonic sorcerer clad in black priest’s robes.
They say that those who make contracts with demons of the Abyss end up having their bodies consumed in exchange for power and their minds filled with madness.
If that’s the case, then what stood before me now must be the final form of one whose possession had reached one hundred percent.
The parts that had once been human flesh now hung limp like a jellyfish, forming a false shell for mimicry.
Beneath that shell was nothing but the darkness of the Abyss—
That darkness was its new body.
It had lost all remnants of humanity, its identity devoured by madness, existing now only to follow the demon’s will.
From the perspective of demon worshippers, this thing had ascended. It was a being closer to a demon itself.
A high priest of the Unholy Gaze cult.
A boss-class monster known as the Seer.
Kiiiiiiing!
A sharp, high-pitched sound rang out at the edge of hearing.
At last, the control magic I’d used to bind it had worn off.
[Notice]
[Cyprus’s Secret Art — Millennium Prison spell has dissipated.]
Kuaaaaargh!
The creature bellowed as it was freed.
It must’ve been furious to have suffered a surprise attack and then lost the prey it had just caught.
But I was just as angry.
“How dare you make me waste something this precious.”
I pulled a glass vial from inside my coat.
A golden-colored liquid. It was an elixir.
I popped the lid and drank it all in one go.
[Effect of Elixir of Life has been activated.]
[Health temporarily increased.]
I tossed the empty container to the ground like trash.
The empty glass bottle shattered with a sharp crash.
[Loading: Status Effects]
[Trait Activated: Always Elegant]
– Elegant even in death. Restraint is the true mark of nobility.
– Permanently increases Dexterity and Charisma by one level.
– When engaging in rigorous activity that causes shortness of breath or sweating, Health and Willpower temporarily drop significantly.
[Activated Trait: Lack of Humanity]
– Those devoid of humanity speak with equally dry, hollow words.
– When offering praise or comfort, Willpower and Health are temporarily reduced.
I broke Winter Winslet’s rules once when I had no choice but to run after spotting an academy student getting caught by a demon cultist while hunting them down at the Guardians of the Night shelter.
And I broke them again by praising Jacqueline, who protected the homeless.
The second one… well, I did that of my own volition, but still, that bastard’s the one at fault.
Blaming others…
The average behavior you’d expect from Winter Winslet.
“You’re dead.”
As if in response to my words, the mouth on the creature’s outer shell began flapping.
“The hour of the bell melting through the unborn’s skull draws near…”
“Blah blah, shut up already. All you ever do is spit out meaningless words in random order.”
They only babble reflexively to pollute their opponent’s mind. There’s no trace of human reason left in these things.
So I said whatever I felt like in return.
“I’ll make sure you understand exactly whose student you dared lay a hand on.”
“Tongue! Death! Veins!”
“Even if you begged for mercy, it’s already too late!”
[Casting Percival’s Radiant Spear spell.]
Crack!
A heavy surge of electricity slammed into my eardrums.
Percival, once called the Thunder God. This was the fourth lightning spell in the five-part lightning series he developed.
A white spear, forged from a lightning bolt and longer than I am tall, formed above my right hand.
The era Percival lived in was still filled with giants, monsters, and beasts and insects far larger than humans.
So this Radiant Spear spell was magic crafted to hunt beings larger far larger than any human.
Like a primitive hunter chasing a mammoth, I gripped the spear and took a few running steps.
[Warning]
[Willpower and Health have temporarily decreased.]
[Trait Activated: Always Elegant]
Honestly, taking those few steps was harder than casting the magic itself.
Gritting my teeth, I lunged with my final stride and hurled my arm forward.
At that very moment there was a thunderous boom.
Crack!
With a sound like the air being torn apart, the bolt flew out faster than a blink and struck the creature square in the mouth.
It really did feel like I’d become the god of thunder from some ancient myth.
And the lightning spear, rather than dispersing on impact, clung to its body, burning it in agony.
The creature’s muttering that was so toxic it could poison the mind just by hearing it cut off instantly.
Grrrrrr…
The Seer growled low, peeling back the human-like shell from its body, splitting it open from side to side.
I clicked my tongue.
That wasn’t the reaction of something taking damage. It was the movement of something preparing to strike back.
“Knew it. Tough as hell.”
Shrrk. Shrrrak!
From within the creature’s outer shell….its true form and jet-black darkness spewed out writhing tentacles.
Dark bluish, semi-transparent tendrils.
There were six of them.
A sorcerer’s power is borrowed from a transcendent being, so even without exceptional skill of their own, they can wield immense strength.
That’s what makes sorcerers so tricky.
Like a child swinging around a torch.
The Seer’s tentacles were also fragments of a transcendent entity borrowed from a demon of the abyss and their destructive power couldn’t be taken lightly.
But come on…who am I?
Preventing cultists from summoning demons is the main storyline of Candela of Judgment’s second year.
In other words, if you’re a veteran of Candela of Judgment, you’ve dealt with these squid-like tentacles more times than you can count.
Compared to the abyssal demon’s true form, with its endless mass of tentacles, a measly six is nothing.
And if you’re going to cook something, you start by lighting the fire.
[Casting Pillar of Fire spell.]
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