Chapter 356

After the long speech that plunged everyone into shock,

Roan, perhaps thinking that people were roughly satisfied (?) with his answer, proceeded to the next point.

“The reason the Taber Merchant Group wants to develop this neighboring area is… Thus, although this can be interpreted politically like this… in economics…”

It was a comprehensive solution to the problem, pouring out with politics, economics, administration, law, biology, history, and even religious meanings added!

Following the initial shock, it eventually began to plunge everyone into sleep.

─ Zzz… Hey, wake me up when it’s over.

─ What? You’ll die like that!

─ Wake up! You must not fall asleep!

Slap─ slap─!

“Therefore, we must refer to the case of Holy Emperor Camius designating the Special Development Zone 1,234 years ago to produce a swift yet deliberated outcome. That is all.”

Roan finished his answer but looked at Vulcan in confusion as there was no noticeable reaction.

“Zzz…”

Vulcan was dozing off with his eyes open.

“U-Uh, Professor.”

Roan carefully tried to wake him, but—

“Wait, hold on a second, Darc.”

“Yes? What is it?”

Denver beckoned Roan over, confirmed that Vulcan was still asleep, and whispered.

“Can I submit that as my graduation thesis? I’ll give you 100 talants—no, 1,000 talants instead!”

“…”

Roan was left speechless at Denver’s proposal, which was far too petty to come from a cheerful, cool-guy character.

Denver, perhaps interpreting Roan’s silence differently, spoke again.

“Ah, fine! 2,400 talants! I’m graduating anyway, so there’s no need to save it!”

“It’s not that…”

“Huh? Ah, as expected, it’s a bit difficult, right?”

Denver nodded with regret.

After all, although there were many rumors about Roan, most of them said he maintained a sharp, resolute attitude for the reconstruction of his family.

So he was highly likely to be reluctant about such backroom deals.

Roan said this:

“Isn’t it lacking too much depth to be a graduation thesis?”

“…? A-Ah, really?”

Denver tilted his head.

‘If that is lacking depth, then what about me…?’

Denver, who had originally planned to write his thesis on something like, ‘What would be the best feed for canine and feline spiritual beasts?’ suddenly felt a severe sense of self-deprecation.

“Zzz… Mmh? Ah, I dozed off for a moment.”

At that moment, the dozing Vulcan startled awake.

“Yes, Professor. If you didn’t hear the answer, would you like me to repeat it?”

Roan asked this, concerned that it might not be recognized as the correct answer.

Vulcan yawned and slapped his own cheeks.

Smack─!

In fact, the sound was far too extreme to be called a mere slap.

“Stop it, if I listen to that again, we won’t finish class today. I told you to describe it briefly, did I ask you to read a dissertation?”

“It wasn’t that long…”

Roan wore a slightly disappointed expression.

“If it’s a waste, submit it as your thesis when you graduate later.”

“I feel it lacks too much depth for that.”

“What? Bwahahaha! Whew, that woke me right up.”

Vulcan let out a hearty laugh, then waved his hand and said,

“Enough, I’ll accept it as correct, so just attack. Denver, any complaints?”

“No, none, Professor.”

Denver acknowledged it cleanly, without a trace of jealousy.

It was because the perspective was so neat and excellent that even he wanted to use it immediately as his graduation thesis idea.

Instead, he resolved to defend well against this attack and look for the next opportunity.

“Huhuhu…”

Denver smiled once more.

‘I lost helplessly last time because I didn’t know much about Yongyong-ie, but we have undergone special training since then.’

He admitted the previous defeat.

Instead, using that defeat as a stepping stone, Denver and Bill had grown one level further.

Now, they wouldn’t fall victim to that desperate judgment—specifically, the Strike of Deeper Darkness—like last time.

Because they had intensively polished an evasion technique specialized against such attacks!

Meanwhile, Roan, who was watching that sight,

‘Why is he smiling like that again?’

He stared suspiciously, not understanding the reason for Denver’s smile.

[─ Well, does he perhaps have some trick prepared?]

Bel also fluttered its wings, wondering.

‘Even if he has a trick prepared…’

In Roan’s view, it was at best at the level of, ‘Let’s dodge this attack well and win the next turn to attack!’

However.

‘Does he really think he can win the next turn?’

It seemed like a hopeless prospect to Roan.

Since Denver was behaving so confidently anyway, Roan decided it was time to check the source of that confidence.

“Bel. Ultimate move.”

[─ Ultimate move? Really?]

Bel looked back at Roan once as if asking if he was truly telling it to use that technique.

The Strike of Deeper Darkness was black magic they had already used several times, so there was no particular reason to hesitate.

‘Yeah.’

When Roan nodded, Bel fluttered its wings triumphantly.

[─ Yes!]

And that was not all.

Whoosh──!!!

Bel immediately soared into the air like a rocket.

And then,

Woooom───

It began to prepare some suspicious magic.

“?”

Roan also tilted his head, momentarily wondering what on earth was going on.

That isn’t the Strike of Deeper Darkness, is it?

Rumbleeeee────!!!!

Soon, with Bel at the center, highly suspicious signs began to manifest in various places in the empty air.

At the very least, multiple Strikes of Deeper Darkness were about to rain down.

And going slightly further than that…

As Bel’s magic grew clearer,

Roan was shocked.

‘Judgment of the Distant Abyss?’

Astonishingly, the magic Bel was trying to use was an intermediate composite magic that combined the Abyss and the Void!

Although the power of each individual bolt was not much different from the Strike of Deeper Darkness,

the issue was that it was an area-of-effect attack, and furthermore, it was unleashed from above so that it was virtually impossible to defend against.

The only saving grace was that since its skill was still too unrefined to cast magic of that level, it couldn’t produce its full output.

‘Wait, it would be a disaster if someone actually died!’

Roan hastily transmitted his thoughts to Bel.

Medium-sized spiritual beast or not, if the Thunder Beak Bird took a direct hit from that, it would die on the spot.

Then, naturally, a truth investigation and, in the worst-case scenario, an autopsy would follow.

And the moment someone said, ‘Huh? This isn’t a holy spell, it’s black magic’…

Cold sweat trickled down Roan’s spine.

[─ D-Don’t… worry…!]

Yet, whatever Bel was so confident about, it didn’t cancel or weaken the magic but continued to channel it.

It was the same for the students, who knew nothing of the exact circumstances; the scene looked highly suspicious to them as well.

─ Hey, what is that?

─ If I knew, would I be sitting here like this…?

─ True, you have to ask someone who actually knows.

Bel soared into the sky, and soon golden light flashed repeatedly all around, leaving everyone clueless as to what was happening.

─ Is that Darc fellow perhaps using it himself instead, while pretending Yongyong-ie is casting a holy spell?

Someone even made such a preposterous conjecture.

‘…Well, it’s not entirely wrong, though.’

Surprisingly, the truth was not much different.

Because Bel was only able to cast the magic due to the Rally of Sworn Allies linking their souls.

Meanwhile, right up until Bel began casting the magic, Denver was confident.

“Bill, let’s show them what we’ve practiced! It’s the ‘Bill-ver Three-Rotation Rapid Evasion Maneuver’!”

Kirrrr─!

Bill was also highly confident in its communication with its master.

The Three-Rotation Rapid Evasion Maneuver was a signature technique named after Bill and Denver.

Literally, it was a movement where it rolled rapidly in the air three times to evade attacks.

It was impressive enough that Bill, a medium-sized spiritual beast, could perform such a maneuver, but it was even more remarkable that they had refined it based on statistical results showing that most attacks used in Holy Wars did not exceed three strikes.

However.

Rumbleeeee────

“Now, this is it! Bill-ver Three-Rotation…?”

When he actually tried to use the practiced evasion technique, something was off.

Kirrr─?

Bill, who was moving its wings, also looked back at its master as if asking if this was correct.

‘You want me to dodge that with three rotations, Master?’

Such a meaning was strongly felt.

‘Uh… it would be a bit tough, right?’

Would it be possible to somehow dodge it if it rolled about a hundred times?

Denver did not have a hobby of pushing his own spiritual beast into a pit either.

But what could he do?

He had to do something right now to at least save its life.

“…Evasion maneuver!”

Denver forced his lips open and shouted.

K-Kirrr─!

Bill also moved its body instinctively since it had practiced it.

It was about to perform one roll in the air,

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom────!!!!!!!

“…”

─ ?!?!?!!?!!!!

─ W-What on earth is that?!

By the time it had completed about half a roll, the attacks raining down around Bill made its pathetic movements feel like a kindergartener’s talent show.

Denver was left speechless, and the students were in an absolute uproar.

“Mmh… Huh?”

Demona, who had already fallen asleep when Roan was answering the question, woke up belatedly and blinked as she took in the situation.

Then she raised both arms high and shouted,

“J-Judgment! The Day of Judgment has begun!”

At that, Sion and Rafia simultaneously grabbed both of her arms and pulled her back down.

“Don’t make a fuss, you foolish Demona.”

“Yeah, it’s not to that extent.”

“I-It isn’t?”

Demona tilted her head, watching the attacks that were still continuously raining down.

‘Well, the word judgment is indeed in the magic’s name, though…’

Roan felt like a blind cow catching a mouse by stepping backward.

And apart from that, he watched Bel’s magic with a troubled expression.

‘How on earth does it cast something like that?’

Of course, Roan had seen it while practicing various magic inside the Bell of Eternity, but that wasn’t the case for Bel.

The only things he could think of were the Rally of Sworn Allies and the superiority of the Abyssal Dragon species itself.

Even if it was unrefined, seeing it already touch intermediate magic was a formidable talent.

At any rate, the area-of-effect attack poured down like a heavy downpour.

Of course, the result was incomparable to a mere downpour.

Squeeeak─…

The Thunder Beak Bird, Bill, had long since fainted and fallen to the ground, stopping halfway through its roll upon seeing the judgments raining down around it.

In the midst of that, Bel had used the magic only as a threat, without directly attacking.

The threat had worked too well, which was rather the problem.

Furthermore, seeing how it had mixed the secrets of the Void reasonably well, even Roan couldn’t find any fault.

[─ How was it? I did well, right, Master?]

‘…Yes.’

[─ Hehehe!]

Bel fluttered its wings and returned to Roan.

‘Still, take it easy starting next time.’

[─ Eh? But you told me to use the ultimate move?]

Only then did Roan realize why Bel had used such a powerful magic.

Since he said ultimate move, it had apparently just slammed the strongest thing it could use.

‘Sigh, who else is there to blame. It’s all my fault.’

Woong─

[Yes, not blaming others is truly desirable!]

The False Divinity vibrated obnoxious-like.

“Bill! Are you okay?!”

Meanwhile, Denver leapt down from where he stood and ran to Bill.

Naturally, since the magic itself had never touched its body, there were no external injuries.

Meanwhile, Vulcan spoke to Roan with a dumbfounded expression.

“Why is the Abyssal Dragon not a banned beast?”

Roan asked back with an even more dumbfounded face,

“Why are you asking me that?”