Chapter 89 — Direction

1

“Here it comes!”

Emerson’s command began.

The Chimera had no elemental weakness, but it also didn’t reflect or absorb any elements.

It was a boss that had to be taken down with pure damage output.

From now on, there would be many bosses of this kind.

Alano moved first.

Living up to her advantage of fast casting speed, she created a massive ice spear and hurled it.

[Groooooan-!]

Some of the masks groaned as if in pain.

However, when asked if it dealt a significant blow to the massive body, one could only shake their head.

Following that, Anais and Kael’s magic flew.

With a boom, thick smoke billowed up.

The massive body could be seen clearly writhing and moving within the smoke.

It seemed to endure most magic using its tough durability.

“Everyone, defensive magic!”

[Groooan!]

The Chimera slammed the ground.

The solid ground of the labyrinth split, and debris rushed towards the group.

While they could block the damage by deploying defensive magic, there was something they overlooked.

The Chimera wasn’t aiming for the active combatants in the first place.

Kael was the one who noticed this.

Her perception of time began to slow down.

‘Ah-.’

No.

There’s no way she could be safe if hit by such debris while absorbing magic stones.

She must be protected.

Kael displayed quick wit, brilliantly executing a double casting.

[Edge]
[Altus]

A double casting with enhancement magic added.

Blue petals formed in front of her and her seniors, deflecting the debris.

It was a close call.

Before they could continue their offensive, the boss’s turn wasn’t over yet.

“Here it comes again!”

Whoosh-!

A massive fire spell spread with tremendous force, burning the miscellaneous demons.

Once again, the group dealt with it in various ways.

Ice barriers rose, and wind cut through the flames.

Kael also prepared to deploy defensive magic.

But if it happened like this again, they’d have to go through the troublesome process once more.

Instead, isn’t there an easier way?

‘Oh-.’

Kael took a step forward and observed.

The clearly shining flow of mana, the roughly raging flow of flames.

Her eyes glowed red.

As if about to do something, she quietly stretched out her hand.

“Come here.”

Whoosh-

The flames moved.

The Chimera didn’t control the magic to the end.

It merely created and threw the magic.

If Manus had seen this scene, he would have snorted and not even deployed defensive magic.

“Kael?”

“Is, is that possible?”

“Who cares! With such monstrous skills, it’s better for us!”

Pearson laughed and gave a thumbs up.

Kael moved her mana to bring the flames under her control.

Unless the Chimera had held onto the magic and controlled it to the end, it was a very easy task now.

She didn’t know why this was possible.

She just reached out her hand as her instinct guided her.

If Manus had seen it, he would have smiled.

He would have nodded, saying she had awakened one of her innate talents.

“Go.”

[Counter: Reflexio]

A passive skill the protagonist would learn.

When her eyes turn red, her combat power reaches its peak.

It was proof that her bloodline was noble.

Evidence that her hidden blood ability was slowly manifesting.

[Urgh!]

The Chimera groaned as it was hit by its own attack.

Clank-.

Two masks fell off.

The masks crumbled away.

Emerson carefully observed this.

Her mana scanned the Chimera.

Yes, the life force she felt had definitely decreased.

“Keep attacking. There must be a connection with those masks falling off.”

“Understood.”

Kael roughly counted the number of masks.

Fifteen.

The remaining number was approximately fifteen.

It seemed it would be a long battle.

If they could deliver a big impact at once, could they knock off multiple masks?

She decided to use the magic she frequently employed.

Nothing is as fearsome and special as the familiar.

Rumble-!

[Atabulus]

Flames resembling a cutting wind enveloped the Chimera.

The most powerful attack so far struck the Chimera.

Boom-.

The Chimera, wrapped in flames, moved as if nothing had happened and threw a massive fist at Kael.

“Ugh-.”

Crash-!

Debris grazed her cheek, creating a gash.

Warm blood trickled down, intensifying the tension.

The pressure that a slight mistake could cost her life.

For some reason, Kael felt she could exert more ability than usual.

Everything was different from normal to call it baseless confidence.

‘Why am I like this-.’

“This time it’s wind element!”

The Chimera was a synthetic being made by weaving various demons together.

As if it could handle various elements, it manipulated wind freely as well.

Once again, the others defended in their own ways, and Kael reached out her hand to control the wind.

‘It’ll work this time too.’

Fiercely rushing wind.

Power that could cleanly sever limbs if not careful.

She reached out towards the wind carrying blue mana.

However, arrogance always eats away at oneself and eventually leads to ruin.

Kael’s eyes wavered.

Unlike fire, the wind was so fast and spread chaotically.

Unable to control the mana spreading like a violent fighting dog, Kael’s hand was roughly thrown back.

“Ah-.”

“Kael-!”

Slash-!

Fresh blood splattered.

Tears involuntarily flowed at the terrible, never-before-experienced pain.

Arrogance.

And recklessness caused a disaster.

“Ugh-.”

It hurt.

It hurt so much that her mind seemed to cut off thoughts.

In a situation where there was nothing to catch her powerlessly collapsing body.

Eventually, she slumped down in that spot.

“Are you okay?! Kael!”

“Ugh…”

Her hands and feet trembled in pain.

Her red eyes returned to blue.

Her finely trembling eyes spoke of her pain.

Seeing this, Alano hoped to leave the front line.

Kael possessed special abilities and was a force that could momentarily unleash tremendous firepower.

Judging coldly, it was right for her to take the healer position.

“I’ll-“

[Hoing-!]

An alien sound came from Manus’s embrace.

Alano reflexively turned around.

A snow-white cotton ball floated over and settled on Kael’s shoulder.

“…Albion?”

[Hoing-!]

Squeezing its big eyes shut, Albion wrung out mana.

A warm, blue light flowed from the cotton ball’s entire body.

[Profection], the most basic healing magic, soothed Kael’s wounds.

“Albion-.”

“Kael, can you stand up? The next attack is coming soon.”

The situation was turning urgent.

If they stayed slumped down because of injuries, they could perish right there in the tower.

Kael gritted her teeth and stood up.

They had always overcome formidable enemies with their own solutions.

Even without Manus, they always showed the strength to overcome crises.

This time was no different.

“I’m fine. I can do it.”

The bleeding had stopped, but the wound wasn’t completely healed.

But she still had an abundance of mana, and her limbs were intact.

Living as a mage, this level of injury probably wouldn’t even count as a wound.

Kael put strength in her legs and stood up.

Glancing back, she felt enormous mana from Manus.

It was natural, considering he was absorbing so many magic stones.

She instinctively felt that ‘not much time was left.’

‘I pushed too hard. Let’s go by the book.’

Albion growled, showing hostility.

How threatening could such a tiny cotton ball be, but somehow she felt incredibly reassured.

Just having Albion, Manus’s familiar, by her side filled her with confidence again.

“This time it’s ice-!”

Crack-!

Ice spears were shot, aiming at everyone.

Kael created petals to deflect the spears while calculating.

Atabulus had firepower comparable to 3rd-class magic.

Yet it couldn’t deal damage, so there must be some rule.

Emerson was also trying her best to understand that rule.

‘This time I’ll-.’

As the petals fell, a gale swept in.

Since she was injured by wind magic, she would respond with wind magic herself.

4th-class magic burst forth.

[Tempesto]

Rumble-!

A spear made of gale pierced through a part of the Chimera.

She could see all the blue masks falling off.

The impact reached even the third floor where Anabel was watching.

With a sound of glass scratching, a transparent membrane firmly protected Professor Mia.

“Ahahaha! Did you think you could threaten me with such magic? Seeing our pretty Chimera in pain breaks my heart too-.”

She sprinkled blue reagent.

Then demons flowed in again.

This time, she sprinkled white reagent while saying:

“Kill all my enemies.”

The clouds had cleared.

If she could replenish her forces before Manus woke up, she could sweep away those arrogant ones.

A race against time began.

“Go and splatter the blood of those filthy nobles-!”

“We have no intention of dying here! You ugly old maid-!”

“O-Old maid?!”

It was a scathing blow, but it only fueled her anger.

Professor Mia was in her mid-30s according to her setting.

In this world, those unmarried in their mid-30s were called old bachelors and old maids in reality.

Grind-.

With an ominous sound, she acted impulsively.

She grabbed all the reagents she had cherished and created throughout her life.

Her personality, twisted deeper than expected, produced unimaginable impulsive results.

“I’ll kill you all here, again and again!”

Bloodshot eyes.

Skin flushed red with blood pressure rising to the limit.

She opened the door leading to destruction.

Crash-.

Her quintessential reagents all shattered at once, causing massive chaos.

“Die! Die, I say-!”

A cry filled with madness dyed the great hall with insanity.

The masks attached to the Chimera all cried out at once.

At the mana emitted by the red-stained masks, all the first-years held their breath.

The pressure crushing their chests and bodies killed their spirit.

Can we win?

For the first time, fear appeared in their minds.

“We can do this… right?”

“Don’t be weak. We’ve figured out the strategy.”

“Tell me.”

Kael said, raising her mana.

Emerson smiled confidently.

The fallen masks were revealing the answer.

–TL Notes–
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