Chapter 171

Chapter 171

Whoosh—

As Roan moved, Pluvang’s arm stretched out and approached at a rapid speed.

It was a movement so stealthy that the surrounding students did not even notice it, even though the arm passed near them, right in front of their noses.

‘Ring of Black Paradox.’

The moment Pluvang’s arm passed the point he had kept in mind, Roan immediately cast a black magic he had prepared.

The Ring of Black Paradox was a type of bewilderment-type black magic, having the effect of twisting the opponent’s movement in a different direction while simultaneously making them fail to realize that fact.

Although there was the drawback of having to make it pass precisely through a small ring, it was barely possible because Pluvang’s attack path was simple.

Swoosh—

As Pluvang’s arm passed through the black ring-shaped black magic, its direction bent slightly.

Splat—

—??

And then it pulled out a Cloud Plum from the bag of another student nearby instead of Roan.

If it had been at a level similar to Roan, he would have thought that it was definitely Roan’s plum, but of course, there was no way that would work on the professor.

Rumble——!

At the same time Pluvang’s arm returned, a tremendous holy power vibrated.

He had immediately realized that his first attempt had failed.

‘It starts now. Get ready, Bel, Charlotte.’

[Yes!]

Chirp—

Roan put his second target, the Summer-avi, into his bag and began to move again.

The remaining items were Candy Grape, Rock Fleabane, and Pigeon Flower.

Since Roan wasn’t the only student, Pluvang would also try to gather in a swift, decisive battle.

Whoosh—

‘He is using both arms already?’

But Pluvang’s next move was more aggressive than expected.

Because unlike how he had only moved one arm until now, he sent both arms.

‘Rotten Hand of the Dead, Rotten Hand of the Dead.’

Roan pre-emptively cast two curse spells for now.

Pluvang was too fast to compete with quantity as he did at other times; if it didn’t seem like it would work, he had to move on to the next thing immediately.

Even while doing so, he ran with all his might to find the next target.

Rustle—

Sure enough, Pluvang easily avoided the Rotten Hand of the Dead and pursued Roan.

‘Bel, Pupil of Alberg!’

Kwooooah——

Bel roared loudly and dominated the surroundings.

—W-What!

—Is that Dark guy declaring territory?!

—Yongyong used this!

It was a suppression magic that could be called Bel’s specialty.

Although it wouldn’t have a major effect, it would temporarily bind the surrounding students’ movements while also slowing down Pluvang’s arms slightly.

It also had the purpose of grasping the surroundings better.

Roan’s magic continued successively.

‘Great Wriggling of the Abyss!’

Wriggle—

Just when it seemed the holy energy was growing slightly thicker in the area Bel had suppressed with Pupil of Alberg, a strange texture arose throughout the entire space.

—W-What is this…?

—Is there even a holy spell like this?

—To think Dark is operating a secret holy spell laboratory…

‘Where does such a thing ex… Ah, it actually does.’

Roan, who was about to be dumbfounded as usual by the students’ rumors, soon changed his mind.

For he had essentially created a secret laboratory through the combination of the Bell of Eternity and the Forbidden Library.

Of course, it was black magic, not a holy spell.

Anyway.

Great Wriggling of the Abyss was a wide-area curse spell.

It made the movement of enemies within the area dominated by the suppression magic extremely slow.

It was a textbook application of a basic black magic combined wonderfully with Pupil of Alberg.

Whoosh— squirm—

As Pluvang’s arm entered the area, its speed was indeed noticeably reduced.

—L-Look at that!

—My goodness, the arm stretched all the way here?

Only then did the students, realizing how Pluvang had gathered their belongings all this time, gasp in shock.

Whoo would have thought he could stretch his arms long enough to cross the clearing?

“W-What is that!”

Meanwhile, Dorin, who was watching the gathering duel between Roan and Pluvang, was also shocked.

He had thought Roan was an extraordinary student from the beginning, but he had never expected him to resist the professor as if he had been waiting, even using punishment holy spells and pressure holy spells.

“Professor, even now, we should punish…”

Particularly because using punishment holy spells among clergymen was considered bad manners, Dorin frowned slightly as he spoke.

However, Pluvang was smiling broadly in the midst of it.

“Amusing.”

“Yes? Y-Yes?”

Dorin was startled.

“I have taught that gathering is war for decades, but it has been a truly long time since I’ve seen a fellow who responds in that manner. No, a punishment holy spell is truly the first.”

“Well…”

Dorin couldn’t ask, ‘Isn’t that only natural?’

Who could dare imagine a student shooting a punishment holy spell at a professor?

“That fellow, what is his name?”

“Uh, let’s see…”

Dorin shuffled through the file containing the list of students and said.

Roan’s distinctive face was an easy thing to find.

“Roan, it is Roan Dark.”

“Bwahaha! Dark? No wonder!”

At that, Pluvang burst into a wild laugh and retracted his arms for now.

Of course, he intended to shoot them out again immediately.

“I’ve already heard many rumors. Good, so blood really doesn’t lie, eh.”

A deep smile appeared on Pluvang’s mouth.

He thought this semester would be quite interesting.

Whoosh——!!!

Pluvang infused stronger holy power into his arms and extended them even faster, even stronger.

The arms, which should have been soft slime, were swung with a fierce sound like a high-quality whip.

[He’s coming again, again! That thief professor!]

‘I see him too.’

Roan put the third item, Rock Fleabane, into his bag and observed Pluvang’s movements.

This time, he approached as if sweeping the entire area from both sides.

Splat— splat—

—Huh? Uwoooah—!

—What is this!

Pluvang pulled out the students whose feet were bound in the Great Wriggling of the Abyss one by one, practically throwing them outward.

“You’re in the way!”

Naturally, the bags of the students who escaped that way were completely empty, except for the note.

—T-This isn’t gathering!

—How can you take them so recklessly!

The students protested in a frustrated tone.

“Yes, this time it is indeed not gathering.”

—?

“I merely collected the reward for pulling you out of there.”

—Ah!

The students seemed roughly convinced.

‘What do you mean, ‘Ah’, you damn fools.’

Roan clicked his tongue at their foolishness.

At any rate, from those students’ perspective, since Pluvang would now focus solely on Roan, they would be able to gather relatively comfortably.

‘Dammit, I should have just ignored others and filled the canteen with blood.’

Roan could not help but regret his empty canteen.

Now that things had come to this, he had to cope with spells other than blood magic.

Now that all the students had left, the Great Wriggling of the Abyss, which was merely basic-tier, was nothing more than a minor obstacle to Pluvang.

‘Are Candy Grape and Pigeon Flower the only ones left?’

Fortunately, it was manageable to hold out somehow for the time needed to gather the two.

Whoosh— whoosh—!

This time, the arms targeted Roan from both sides.

‘Footsteps of the Dead Wood!’

Roan used a stealth spell to hide himself first.

Sway—

Then, as if transmitting vibrations into his arms, Pluvang changed their movement into that of a whip.

Boom— slash-slash-slash—

The arms flew in, instantly destroying all trees and cutting the grass along their path!

He intended to launch an area-of-effect attack at the hidden Roan.

…At this point, it could be said that it had indeed surpassed the range of ordinary gathering.

Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh—

At that moment, several white figures scattered in all directions from where Roan had been.

—W-What?

—There are multiple Darks!

—Multiple great demon kings!

The students turned their heads back and forth, not knowing which one of them was Roan.

Pluvang also changed the direction of his arms and began to chase the figures one by one.

Swoosh—

Finally, at the moment one of the figures was about to be caught by the arm,

—Argh! Dark is getting hit!

—T-That might actually be a good thing?

—Uh, is that so?

The students made noises that were either screams or cheers, but

Pop—

“???”

Surprisingly, what was hit by Pluvang’s arm was Charlotte’s white sword clone, not Roan.

Pop— pop— pop—

The same went for the other figures.

Only a single white cloak feather of Charlotte’s remained in the spot where each clone vanished.

“Well, this isn’t bad either.”

…Pluvang gathered the precious Thousand-sword Peacock King feathers even while retracting his weakened arms.

Anyway.

‘Is this really necessary to this extent?’

While Charlotte’s clone lured Pluvang, Roan, who had escaped leisurely while using the stealth spell, was dumbfounded by the surrounding scenery.

Even so, to swing like that as if trying to kill a student.

‘…Does he know that I resurrect with the Shackle of Ash Life?’

He was driven to think such nonsense.

Of course, if that had really been the case, Kaina would have come, not Pluvang.

Pluck—

Being dumbfounded was only temporary; Roan gathered the Candy Grape, put it in his bag, and deactivated his stealth spell.

By this point, it was clear that Pluvang would easily grasp Roan’s location anyway.

“As expected, it was there.”

As if he had been waiting, Pluvang swung his arm once again.

An intuition that this would probably be the final clash flashed through both of them.

Just then, the final target, Pigeon Flower, caught Roan’s eyes.

After a very brief silence, like when anticipating a duel in a Western film,

“I won’t miss this time! Submit and be gathered!”

“I cannot do that!”

Patter— swoosh—

Roan throwing his body and Pluvang swinging his arm occurred almost simultaneously.

The place where the Pigeon Flower stood was outside the Great Wriggling of the Abyss.

Roan needed a new spell.

Bite—

Roan bit his left hand hard.

Red blood splattered.

‘If there is no blood, I can just make it!’

He didn’t want to go this far, but he had no choice.

—A b-bloody incident!

—That great demon king guy, he bit his own hand!

—This isn’t even Professor Atoga’s class!

The students watching this made a fuss.

Although blood magic was usually associated with divine blood holy spells,

in the Empire, holy spells used by injuring oneself were categorized separately.

Namely,

“Sacrificial Holy Spell!”

It was called a Sacrificial Holy Spell because it was a holy spell cast by offering one’s body to God.

Unlike the punishment holy spell, it held the perception of being a noble sacrifice.

Sion was shocked by the unusual holy power radiating from Roan’s body.

Although each holy spell he had cast so far was not of a very high level—of course, they weren’t things a freshman would use either—their holy power seemed several cuts above,

but this time it was even more so.

‘Storm of Filthy Blood!’

Swoooosh—

The wide-area curse spell he had used last inside the Bell of Eternity.

The blood combined with Roan’s black mana instantly transformed into rain and began to drench the area.

The storm of filthy rain, disguised as a holy spell, fell like a sweet rain enriched by God’s grace, moistening dry ground on a spring day.

—Ugh! My strength is draining…

—Why, why is this happening…?

…Though its effect was significantly different from its appearance.

Patter-patter-patter—

At any rate, Pluvang’s arm that entered that area was also not free from the effect of the curse spell.

‘What kind of Sacrificial Holy Spell is this?!’

Pluvang was shocked by the unusual force felt in his arm.

Holy spells are arrangements of words and sigils.

Therefore, although the types of holy spells were diverse and it was an endless domain where one could even create new ones,

he had never heard of a Sacrificial Holy Spell that fatally weakened existences within a certain range despite being merely a basic-tier spell.

‘This is almost… like the curse spell of those black mages.’