Chapter 265

Chapter 265

Belch─

Roan was dumbfounded to hear a sound that was far too realistic for a dagger to make.

Rattle─

Roan got up from his seat and spoke to Bell and Charlotte.

“Let’s go to sleep now.”

[Yes!]

Ki-rik, ki-rik─

Bell and Charlotte, without anyone going first, took positions on both sides of where Roan would lie down.

Still, it was nice that after the two holy beasts were born, he would never be bored even if he was alone in the dormitory.

……In fact, since being with other people was an extreme stress, he might feel that way even more.

Roan pulled out the Prophet’s Eye, filled a bowl with water, and dropped a drop of blood into it.

Smoke billowed up.

[Wow, smoke!]

Ki-rrr─!

The young holy beasts began to leap up and down in excitement as smoke suddenly filled the room.

However, that was only for a moment.

[I’m sleepy…….]

Ki-rrr…….

After running around in the smoke for just a few seconds, the holy beasts closed their eyes and fell asleep as if collapsing.

It was the same for Roan, who let out a smirk while watching them.

Sssss─

The process of falling into a dream, which always felt mysterious.

As if the smoke that filled the dormitory room was directly connected, Roan opened his eyes in a dense fog even in the dream.

However, as the fog cleared, an even deeper darkness set in.

‘It’s night.’

Roan was not particularly surprised.

……In fact, the risk of a bad ending was always bound to be greater during the night when he roamed around alone, rather than during the day when he took classes diligently and hung out with friends.

Moreover, this place was halfway up the back mountain of Acherandir, quite far from the dormitory.

Roan instantly grasped what he was doing.

‘Intermediate?’

Since he had completed basic black magic not long ago, he seemed to be moving on to intermediate magic now.

And he also realized the reason he was trying to cast magic outside like this instead of entering the Bell of Eternity.

Sizzle─ clank─

Standing before Roan was a golem with red glowing eyes.

As if it had stood still for far too long, it could not move properly due to tree roots and moss, but.

It was a golem whose determination to protect its target still seemed to remain desperately.

Roan had come out in the middle of the night to obtain the thing this golem was guarding.

‘Oh dear, setting up a golem like this just to protect a single handkerchief. I guess that’s Acherandir for you.’

In God & Devil, that golem’s name was the ‘Forgotten Golem’.

Unlike its shabby name, its ability was the real deal.

He should end it in one blow by launching a long-range attack with at least intermediate holy magic; if he tried to tackle it with low-level holy magic for no reason and the golem actually started moving properly, it would be over.

The thing guarded by such a golem was none other than the handkerchief Harden used when he was alive.

Just by covering a wound with it, it exerted an effect superior to most intermediate healing holy magic, and it was a tremendous holy relic that could even be used for combat against undead monsters or demonic beasts.

On the other hand, since it didn’t cause much harm to human black mages, it was fully worth coming to obtain under the cover of night.

Of course, he could also look forward to using the Balance of Light and Dark later on.

‘Although I can’t use proper intermediate magic since I haven’t engraved the Black Trace yet, it’s still reasonable enough considering how much it will be amplified due to my talent.’

Although it was merely a future shown by the item, Roan was quite pleased to realize that his thoughts were sufficiently implemented.

Then, he suddenly felt displeased.

‘It seems like a decent plan, so why is it a bad ending?’

Since he was seeing it through the Prophet’s Eye, didn’t it mean this attempt was wrong!

Then again, while using black magic in Acherandir, he had never expected to not get caught 100% of the time.

Well, catching Professor Kaina’s eye while casting magic could happen at any time.

At any rate, Roan, facing the golem, finally drew up his energy in earnest.

“All-Tearing Fang of the Abyss.”

‘Oho.’

Roan was quite surprised to hear the black magic chosen by the Roan in his dream.

Although it was magic that served as the first step of intermediate level, the difficulty was quite high since it utilized the Abyss.

‘Well, since it is night, he is trying out such difficult magic.’

According to Roan’s estimation, it was highly likely he would fail to perfectly hide that it was black magic, just like with the Grey Shackle of Life or the Abyssal Bloodthirsty Bite.

Grrr──

Sure enough, a magic circle even more complex than the Abyssal Bloodthirsty Bite—which had been the peak of basic magic—began to be drawn.

As the magic circle gradually neared completion, the magic also materialized bit by bit.

Unlike its simple name, the ominous black spheres appearing around the golem did not look like a simple attack at all.

All-Tearing Fang of the Abyss.

Once it was completed, the sharp thorns extending from those black spheres would pierce the target and rip it to shreds.

Pazijik─ crackle─

‘As expected.’

However, just as Roan had estimated, the black spheres disguised with the dark attribute seemed to crack slightly, and dark mana began to peek out minutely through the gaps.

Even so, at that level, there was no way he would get caught unless someone was watching him deliberately.

To begin with, Roan wouldn’t have committed such an act without taking that risk.

‘Well, since it is the Prophet’s Eye, Professor Kaina should appear soon.’

Roan prepared his mind so as not to be startled by Professor Kaina’s voice, which would appear shortly.

……Kaina’s chilling voice had the effect of shortening his lifespan, even though he knew very well that this was a dream.

Around that time, Roan’s first intermediate magic was finally completed.

Thud─ pshhh─ crack─!!!

More than ten fangs of the Abyss pierced the golem, which had been anchored in place for thousands of years.

Clank─ clink─!

The golem raised its output to resist the magic rapidly encroaching its body, but it was insufficient.

Pshaaah──!!!

Because the fangs of the Abyss, moving like blades in different directions after piercing the target, tore the golem’s body hideously.

Its destructive power was indeed more than enough to be called intermediate magic.

No, rather, it was overflowing.

Roan had instantly risen to the realm of intermediate magic, which took average black mages several years just to manifest!

‘Hmm, the cutting power is still lacking, though. If it had worked properly, it would have been cut cleanly like a sheet of paper.’

Though Roan was busy observing the parts he needed to supplement in his magic in the meantime.

Just then.

Rustle─

‘Did they come?’

While the magic had not properly disappeared yet, he heard the sound of someone approaching behind Roan.

The Roan in the dream also seemed to perceive it and turned around.

However, as his vision shifted, Roan felt something strange.

‘But if it were Kaina, she wouldn’t approach making noises like this.’

Of course it was stealthy enough, but there was no way she would be detected by Roan either.

Roan’s ears caught a different, yet bone-chilling sound.

Pshoo─ haaa─ pshoo─ haaa─

It was breathing.

Breathing, but a rough breathing artificially blocked by something.

Furthermore, it was the trembling breath of someone with a chronic illness.

In the dark forest, Roan took in the owner of the breathing sound who had just revealed themselves under the moonlight.

A petite build that stood out despite being covered in a grey robe.

Under the hood where a face should be revealed.

‘……A crow mask.’

The beak of a pitch-black crow mask, reminiscent of Earth’s plague doctor mask, protruded out.

Behind the crow’s beak, a voice trembling like a breath leaked out.

“It’s not…… Dad?”

Then she coughed extremely violently.

“Cough! Cough, cough! Hack!”

Roan identified the identity of the person inside through the crow mask and the violent coughing.

It was the same for the Roan in the dream.

“W-Why are you here……?”

Uncharacteristically, surprise dripped from Roan’s voice.

Just as he said, the crow mask was a truly unexpected figure whom he had no reason to see in Acherandir.

At that moment, another person revealed themselves behind the crow mask.

“Lucia~ What are you doing running off so suddenly? Professor Beleck must be waiting~! Hm? Student Darc?”

The person Roan had expected, Professor Kaina.

‘This is the worst. No, it is the absolute worst of the worst beyond imagination.’

Roan had a thought that any black mage in God & Devil would agree with.

The name of the person inside the crow mask was Lucia Hindor.

The only family and daughter of Professor Beleck Hindor.

Lucia spoke to Kaina.

“Cough! I’m sorry, I thought Dad was here……”

“Professor Beleck? There’s no way!”

Kaina waved her hand.

Then, the hollow eyes of the crow mask slowly turned toward Roan.

Slide─

Just by that movement of indiscernible emotion, a shiver ran down Roan’s back.

Slowly, the index finger inside the grey robe pointed toward Roan.

Pshoo─ haaa─

After a chilling breath passed inside the crow mask, a voice slowly flowed out.

“Yes. But there is another black mage over there.”

Grin─

Hearing Lucia’s words, Kaina smiled silently.

***

“Hrrrm……”

Roan groaned, feeling the sunlight that had reached his bedside at some point.

‘Did you see it.’

Hummm─

I saw it.

Roan and the False Divinity recalled Kaina’s smile from the dream and shuddered simultaneously.

Who is that kid?

‘Lucia Hindor.’

How do you know that too?

Isn’t she someone you saw for the first time in the dream?

‘It is common sense to know at least the only family of the professor.’

That damn talk of common sense……!

However, this time it really was common sense.

Because Lucia was a truly famous character.

……At least among the players of God & Devil.

However, she was a figure Roan had never expected to appear at this point.

It was not a simple matter of it not being time for her to enter the school, or why Beleck’s daughter was suddenly appearing.

‘It’s about why the Princess of the Night suddenly revealed herself in Acherandir.’

Lucia’s nickname, ‘Princess of the Night’.

A girl born with black magic and raised with black magic.

Her talent was incomparable even to her father Beleck, who had dominated a region during his active years.

If Zion was a person who could rise from a Saintess Candidate to the Holy Emperor with an unprecedented talent for holy power.

Lucia was a genius of black magic whose talent stat itself was estimated to be just as great as, no, rather superior to Zion’s.

Overcoming the limitations of her black mage origin, she would later become a tremendous named figure who moved the shadows of the Empire.

To be precise, around the time she became so, she would die as her lifespan ran out due to the side effects of her excessive talent.

The severe coughing seen in the dream was also a part of the process where her body collapsed, unable to withstand her own talent.

At any rate, the nickname ‘Princess of the Night’ also originated from there.

What was even more terrifying was that, unlike Zion who possessed immense potential at the current point, Lucia already possessed a somewhat completed level of skill.

Rather, looking at just the present moment, Lucia might even be stronger than Roan.

Furthermore, possessing immense black magic skills, she belonged to the secret organization of the Holy Emperor’s Palace, ‘Cardinal Room 777’, acting as a secret agent, so to speak, who eliminated black mages and heretics.

……The most terrifying part was that she was doing so voluntarily and extremely passionately, dragging her collapsing body, solely for the safety of her father Beleck.

‘If Beleck were in actual danger, it would at least be pitiful!’

Lucia, who chased after black mages with bloodshot eyes—though she didn’t actually do that—without anyone telling her to, was a true lunatic in Roan’s eyes.