Herity(2)

The three-day marathon lecture was quite rare even in Helios.

It is because there is not much to teach a single topic for 72 hours, and students do not appreciate a lecture that takes several days.

Perhaps if it was a different lecture, complaints would have come in at the point the notice was posted.

“If you look at it like this, the professor’s charisma is really great, right?”

Cynthia shook her head at Ensia’s impression.

As she said, it was possible ‘because it’s great magic math’.

“Ego… I was supposed to meet with the professor, but this time it’s a 72-hour lecture. Why are you like this these days?”

Entering the second semester, Kang Yoo-jin was very busy, and it was hard to even see her face except for the twice-weekly lectures.

It’s just a pity for Ensia, who had a lot of things she wanted to talk about.

“Oh, yes. Sini~ Didn’t you say you moved this time?”

“Huh? Ehh…”

And Cynthia had recently moved.

A house that is much larger than the cabin we lived in before.

“But it’s so wide… I felt a little awkward…”

“Where? Take a look.”

Cynthia uploaded a picture of the house she moved into on her watch.

“Huh? It’s not very wide, is it?”

“Ahahahaha…”

No matter how spacious the house was, it couldn’t be wider than Vega’s mansion.

Cynthia, who was nothing more than a good citizen, just smiled awkwardly…

“And it’s a little awkward because there are people I don’t know.”

“A man you don’t know?”

“Yes. You recently came as a bodyguard…”

Cynthia didn’t know, but those bodyguards were the Balaur who survived the invasion of Helios.

After many twists and turns, they succeeded in polymorphing, and now they are under Karina’s command and work as bodyguards in her house…

“I see. So, you… Estelle!?”

And the arrows of small talk were directed towards Estelle.

Estelle let out a sigh at Ensia’s nonstop talk, and responded with full of annoyance.

“Nothing happened.”

In the first place, she is not good at outside activities.

All I usually do is just lock myself at home and spend time studying or training.

Sometimes I want to enjoy leisure activities, but I don’t have time for that these days.

It was because of one mistake I made recently.

‘I shouldn’t have used holy power…’

Previously, at the Picatinny Society, Yujin Kang taught her how to convert mana into holy power.

Since holy power is several times more efficient than magical power, I usually practiced it as a last resort, but my grandfather found out about it.

‘Did you see the clue to awakening?’

‘No, that’s…’

‘Be diligent. I’m glad to hear the good news.’

‘···Yeah.’

Even if it wasn’t, the expectation that was high has grown even more.

Terreon’s gaze was like that, his vassals were like that, and the family constellations he was watching were like that.

Excluding the only one who kept silent, expectations were everywhere.

It was so suffocating, so these days I’ve been training mostly.

At least when I used my body or head, I was able to forget my thoughts.

‘I don’t think things go as the professor said.’

Yujin Kang said that there was no need to worry about such things.

However, Estelle had lived her whole life like this, and was not harsh enough to disregard their expectations and favors.

Because now without mom and dad, they were the only ones in her family.

“… It’s a monster.”

At that time, the energy that cuts off miscellaneous thoughts was caught in the presence.

A wild boar-type monster with thick metallic fur.

It was Estelle’s first prey, the ‘Iron Hog’.

“I’ll take care of it. Stay still.”

“yes~”

“yes···.”

The torch was put on Estelle’s revolver.

The revolver, which had recently been upgraded and added the mixed steel that he had received from Kang Yu-jin in the past, has improved its performance twice as much as before.

Estelle aimed at the fighting Iron Hog and pulled the trigger.

bang! bang!

The bullet containing the condensed torch hit the head in a straight line.

The first bullet shattered the outer shell, and the second bullet pierced the skull and turned it into mush.

With just two bullets, Iron Hog, who was on par with a mid-level beast, rolled his eyes and died.

“Wow. Awesome.”

“It’s amazing, Estelle…”

Despite the admiration that followed, Estelle expressionlessly inserted the revolver.

“If we keep going like this, wouldn’t it be a matter of time to finish the assignment?”

“I don’t think so…”

Unfortunately, Yujin Kang was not such a lax professor.

This is because he put different ‘conditions’ on each child in preparation for forming a team.

For Cynthia, a monster that can only be obtained by inducing vigilance through sympathy is assigned, and for Encia, a monster with high magic resistance that requires the use of holy power is like that.

He assumed all of the students would form teams, and gave them the most suitable assignments.

“Ehh… has there ever been a professor who understands each and every one of his students like this? Our professor is probably the first.”

A professor who fully understands the characteristics and strengths and weaknesses of major students.

There was no real mystery as to how this was possible.

“If we do this, it will be over very quickly.”

“·······.”

Estelle’s expression began to frown.

Because it’s noisy.

“It’s almost time for Estelle to say, ‘You two, be quiet.’”

Quick.

Eventually, Estelle, who had cross veins growing on her forehead, turned around and shouted.

“shut up!”

“Ah yep”

Ansia laughed and shut her mouth.

Cynthia was also embarrassed to be killed together, and the party started moving quietly for the first time.

I walked for such a long time.

Estelle liked the quiet of the tide.

While catching a few more monsters like that, something strange caught her senses.

“···yes?”

A tingling sensation on the skin.

It was Magi.

“Why is this…?”

It’s an energy that shouldn’t exist in the neutral zone.

I turned back to warn you once.

“Be careful. Maggie just-“

However, there was no one around her.

“···Guys?”

Estelle’s voice in question only scattered eerily through the desolate forest.

*

Almost half a day passed after the lecture started.

Preparing for the unexpected, I hovered around the students and searched for heritage leylines.

Heritage’s leyline was quite clear, so it was easy to track magic power, and thanks to that, I was able to collect quite a lot of magic crystals after a day.

“At this level, I’ll collect the target lightly.”

Maybe I’ll collect more than the target amount.

The mana decision is more than one.

I put the crystals that seemed unreasonable into the weapon box.

“Yum.”

And Adeline followed.

Eating an unknown monster skewer.

“Emm… it’s delicious.”

“·······.”

That’s a monster I caught, but I’ve been eating it since I was curious.

Due to Adeline’s physical characteristics, monster meat with high magic content seemed to be recognized as a delicacy.

Even if the toxin entered her, the ‘power of soma’ that dwelled in her burned it all, and Adeline was eating the meat as if she were hiding her eyes.

It’s good to eat well, but the sight of him chewing on the dripping blood was not a very good sight for me.

“Yum yum.”

…Well, it would have been fine if the person himself was delicious.

“Are we still going around here?”

“yes.”

Your eyes light up when you answer.

She held out the skewer she was eating.

“Hold this more.”

“·······.”

I caught three more iron hogs and took five more crystals while Adeline fished.

This was enough to build up mana in the second half of the 5th circle.

It would be nice to be able to go up to the 6th circle as it is, but rising in the hierarchy is not achieved by simply accumulating magical power.

It was better to stop at this point, since there could be side effects if you blindly accumulated magic power.

“···Well?”

at that time.

A strange aura passed through my senses.

It was faint, but it was an aura that prickled the skin…

“Adeline. I can feel Margie.”

“Ugh? Margie?”

Leaving the puzzled Adelin behind, he immediately spread a magic wave around him.

There was nothing particularly perceptible, but there was something strange about the space.

“Is there anything that affects the sympathetic nervous system?”

“Ummm… there are things I seem to know but don’t know…”

It was undetected by me and undetected by Adeline, whose sympathetic nervous system is many times more sensitive than mine.

However, she had a puzzled look on her face as if there was something wrong.

“Stay behind me and follow me.”

“yes.”

Following the trail of the strange Magi, I entered the forest a little deeper.

And after walking for some time, I found a strange crack in the space.

“… Magi-kun.”

Although it was cleverly hidden, it was a certain magic.

The rift in space is probably a kind of barrier set up by the invading demon.

It seemed that there was a ‘wandering’ effect that you couldn’t get out of once you entered.

“Adeline. You stay here.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because we have to prevent other students from accessing this place.”

It’s a headache if you go in wrong.

I don’t know what monster came here, but it would be better to solve it quickly.

“By the way, I think one person has already entered.”

“… You said you went in?”

“Yeah. There’s a kid whose sympathetic nervous system doesn’t get caught. So… Estelle?”

“Tsk.”

Did you already go in?

work got boring

‘The two people I went with… are they okay?’

Cynthia was born with magic, and Encia was born with holy power.

The former would have recognized it as an ally, and the latter would have been spit out without the barrier working because it was a contradiction.

There was a high probability that only Estelle was caught because she was the only pure human being.

“But this, if you go in, it’ll get caught. There’s a security spell.”

“Does not matter.”

He blew up mana from his hands and changed the structure to that of demonic energy.

With that, I immediately interfered with the structure of the barrier, and within it, I turned off all the spells related to ‘reminder’.

For a few minutes now, there was no way anyone would notice from the inside if someone broke in.

“I’m coming, stay still.”

“yes.”

mess.

Adeline, who was eating monster meat, spoke softly.

“···come fast?”

“yes.”

Leaving her behind, I pushed myself into the barrier.

*

“hahahaha···.”

Beads of sweat drip through the air.

Estelle glared at her surroundings, breathing heavily to the point of her chin.

“damn···.”

A few hours after falling into this strange space.

Before I could properly grasp the situation, I ran into a demon.

There are also two upper-middle class ghosts.

He burned the torch as much as he could and somehow killed one, but that was the limit now.

Estelle’s strength was already comparable to that of an S-class hunter, but she lacked the experience and skills to face two upper-middle-class hunters head-on.

Magic power has hit rock bottom, and physical strength is also at its limit.

Estelle’s eyes filled with disappointment as she counted the remaining bullets.

“Why is the demon in a place like this…?”

There should be no demons in this neutral zone, so why are there such people?

And, where did Cynthia and Encia go?

Questions bite, but nothing can be known.

As she bit her lip, the ghosts that roamed around her chanted grimly.

“Poor human being. Blame your sins for blocking the Shadow King’s royal road.”

Ghosts with scythes narrowed the distance.

As Estelle hoisted up the torch, she questioned their words.

‘Shadow King?’

As far as Estelle knows, there is only one Witchbeast with such a nickname.

Shadow King Balthazar.

Then, does that mean that Balthazar is here?

“·······.”

As I thought about it, the surrounding environment began to come into my eyes.

The forest and trees were all frozen black and dead.

The sky was dark without a single star, and the wind that blew was full of demonic energy, burning the lungs as it inhaled.

“professor···.”

What would Yujin Kang do?

If you were a professor, how would you get through this?

Even thinking about it, it didn’t come to mind. Because that was a realm outside Estelle’s realm.

“Now stop dying.”

Watching the approaching ghosts, I squeezed my revolver tightly.

I pushed the last torch into the burn and fired at them.

bang!

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Jumping quickly, avoiding the swinging scythe, alternately drove bullets into their heads.

However, the effect was insignificant, perhaps because of the lack of magic power.

As if shaking off the torch, the guys swung their scythes.

“Kyaaak!”

I was swept away by the demonic storm and rolled on the floor.

I tried to grab the missed revolver, but the ghost stretched out its arm faster than that.

A jet-black, rough hand gripped Estelle’s neck and lifted it up.

“Kuh… Black… Let go of this…!”

“Hmm…”

The seized neck is hot as if it is on fire.

Tears welled up in Estelle’s eyes at the pain of being eroded alive by Magi.

“My child. You are Altair’s son.”

“Keuuu”

“It was Altair that the king killed a married couple in the past, but what kind of evil is this?”

“······!”

one couple.

At those words, sparks flew from Estelle’s eyes.

“you···!”

Seeing her struggling with tears, the ghost laughed.

“It’s been a while since I’ve eaten.”

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Jjeook-

The darkness of the hood opens, revealing a mouth full of teeth.

Estelle’s complexion turned white at the terrible sight.

“ah···.”

The mouth of the ghosts approached to swallow Estelle.

The moment he was about to chew on his arm, a high-pitched gunshot echoed through the forest.

bang!

A bullet that flew out of nowhere cut off the arm of the ghost tribe that was holding onto Estelle.

“Kieek!!”

“Cough Cough…!”

The choked breath was relieved and the cough was relentless.

Dark red blood mixed with her cough due to demonic erosion in her lungs.

As Estelle coughed in succession, gunshots continued.

once.

twice.

Bullets rushing in like wedges shattered his arms and torso one after another.

“Who… who is…”

To that question, a man staggered and appeared.

A man with a black coat fluttering around, covering his face with a hat and a mask.

It was Yujin Kang.

“A bugger’s life is really tough.”

“you···.”

bang!

As if he didn’t want to hear it anymore, the bullet fired broke his head.

The ghost splattered with black blood was pierced through the vital points and died.

“professor···.”

“Stay still.”

Kang Yoo-jin put the gun in and checked Estelle’s condition.

Magical power permeated, caressed the wound, and pushed the eroded demonic energy out of the body.

Estelle’s pain subsided little by little as the magi that had escaped clumped together dissipated.

‘Sense of déjà vu…’

Somehow, I feel like this has happened before.

“I’m fine now.”

“·······.”

Hearing his voice somehow calmed me down.

Estelle, who looked at Kang Yoo-jin with a blurry vision, soon fell asleep in his wide arms.