Chapter 69

Chapter 69

Flaaaasssh──

Roan frowned heavily at the suddenly projected light, but he was able to fully utilize Gulba’s defense technique.

‘Having been subjected to Harden’s light a few times, this level is bearable.’

Coincidentally, a similar situation had occurred today.

Although Demona’s light was loud, it was not comparable to Harden’s.

In any case, at the appearance of the face both had been waiting and waiting for, Demona rushed in immediately.

“Roaaann! Why did you come so late! I was scared!”

“……You should have just gotten caught.”

“You’re so mean!”

Demona seemed to feel a deep sense of betrayal.

Meanwhile, Zion, who was carefully examining Roan’s appearance.

“Wh-why do you look like that?”

“Yeah. Who did that!”

He was shocked to see Roan with clothes torn here and there and a few scratches.

Roan answered, grinding his teeth.

“You must have heard the noise outside.”

“…….”

It was a reason both Zion and Demona could definitely empathize with.

No matter how outstanding Roan was, it wouldn’t have been easy to escape that war zone.

“……Still, the bastards who made me like this must have all been carried away, so it’s fine.”

Shiver—

‘‘What on earth did he do……?’’

Zion and Demona shivered once at the cold wind blowing from somewhere.

“Anyway, this place will also be discovered soon. I will use stealth as much as possible, but once caught, do not hesitate to attack.”

“Ah, I understand.”

“Sparky will do my share!”

Having regained her composure thanks to Roan, Demona spoke while tapping the Vajra Beetle on her back.

Whir— whir—

The Vajra Beetle swung its horn menacingly.

“Ahahaha, see? It’s trying to protect me like this.”

‘‘I think it’s trying to hit you, though.’’

Roan and Zion had the same thought, but did not say it aloud.

“And Zion, can you use Blessed One’s Awl, instead of something like Shepherd’s Club?”

“B-Blessed One’s Awl?”

Zion asked back in surprise.

Unlike the Shepherd’s Club, which was a simple strike technique, the Blessed One’s Awl was strictly a lethal holy magic.

Even if the current students were running wild, was it alright to use lethal holy magic?

“Trust the seniors. They won’t die even if they are stabbed with that much anyway. If you want to do your club activity today in an unexpected place, do as you please.”

“……I’ll try using it.”

However, at Roan’s fierce tone, Zion shrank back slightly and nodded.

‘By the way, is it correct to use the phrase “trust someone” in this kind of situation?’

If she had seen Roan running wild outside, she would have rather thought it was a relief that they stopped at the Blessed One’s Awl.

“Good. Then for now.”

Roan soon deployed the stealth magic.

Since the Shadow Disguise he usually used was rather conspicuous when moving, he had to find another magic.

‘Footsteps of the Dead Wood.’

A black magic used by some tribes of the dark elves in the south, which came to mind vaguely upon seeing Taedi.

Though he did not know the exact magic circle, since Taedi had also highly praised Roan’s senses, the effect would be reliable even if it might be slightly different.

“What holy magic is this?”

Zion asked, looking around in wonder.

Centered on the caster Roan, the figure within a certain range appeared transparent.

“……Let’s call it roughly the ‘Blessing of the Spiritual Tree’.”

“?!!?!”

It was not rough at all.

It was not a light thing for the word ‘Spiritual Tree’ to be included in the holy magic name.

However, Roan pre-emptively pulled out the cloth from his sub-dimensional pouch and unrolled it.

It was the ash dust brought from the Macgodal Wing.

“To increase the effect of the stealth holy magic, we need to match the color by sprinkling this on our heads.”

With that, Roan carelessly sprinkled ash dust on Demona’s head!

“Cough! Cough, ugh! Kah-ptui!”

“Sorry. It’s hard to see inside the cave.”

Demona coughed crazily, perhaps because ash had entered her mouth and nose.

The Vajra Beetle on her back tapped Demona’s back with its horn.

Thud—

“Keh!”

Although Demona was blown far away, the effect was good.

“…….”

Zion—while understanding—gazed blankly at Roan, wondering if this was too harsh.

“Cough, cough. Roan! Isn’t this too much— Huh? Look at this. It’s fascinating?”

However, Demona quickly became fascinated upon realizing that her lower body was invisible as she was caught in the range of the stealth magic up to her waist.

Roan spoke to Zion.

“Are you ready? Then you sprinkle it now too.”

“Ah, I-I’ll sprinkle it myself!”

Zion hurriedly began to apply the ash dust to her light pink hair.

Once the head colors of the two became roughly similar to Roan’s.

“Once we go outside, we run to the commercial district without stopping.”

Roan led the two toward the exit.

The Sanctuary’s club room was in the commercial district.

Though he planned to exit through the outlet closest to the commercial district, it was still a distance that required running for a good ten minutes.

“Hold on.”

Roan stopped just before exiting the outlet to check the atmosphere.

─ Darc came to the Great Temple from the southeast!

─ Who says so?

─ The brokers of Dragon Street!

─ The guys who got carried away because of Darc said so too!

─ He must have come to find the Saintess candidate and Wychronon! Find them!

Before they knew it, information about Roan was also mixed into the rumors regarding Zion and Demona.

‘I should visit Dragon Street again sometime.’

Roan ground his teeth, but he couldn’t stall any longer.

The three ran at full speed as soon as the exit opened.

“Stealth magic will wear off soon! We must widen the distance as much as possible in the meantime!”

“Why will it wear off? Is your holy power lacking, Roan?”

“No.”

“Then?”

Roan, as if having no time to explain, looked around and gestured with his chin toward the right.

Zion and Demona naturally followed his gaze.

There.

Bark— Woof—

Surprisingly, there were dog-shaped summons running fiercely around the three.

“’H-Hounds of Aindro’……!”

Zion was able to recognize the magic upon seeing the dogs’ characteristic manes.

Aindro was the god of hunt and beasts.

Naturally, it was a tracking holy magic used when chasing someone.

Not only that, several bird-of-prey spiritual beasts, clearly belonging to the seniors, flew in the sky.

─ Sniff, sniff, there’s a scent of stealth holy magic over here!

─ Freshmen are using stealth holy magic already?

─ Huh? Is it black magic?

─ Idiot, does that make sense! Professor Belec must have passed by!

─ R-Right…?

─ Don’t let your guard down! The opponents are Darc and the Saintess candidate!

Dog beastmen or students from heresy inquisitor families even tracked the three directly.

Occasionally, students with sharp intuition said suspicious things, but fortunately, that was all.

‘It seems the magic circle is not perfect.’

Roan resolved to dedicate himself more to training.

“……How did you come all the way to the Great Temple?”

Meanwhile, Zion, who had thought the current students were just using violence to drag freshmen away, asked with a dumbfounded face.

She hadn’t expected them to be tracking them so professionally!

A foreboding thought that the secret passage would also have been discovered if Roan had been just a little late crossed her mind.

Roan replied briefly.

“I used black…… no, punishment holy magic.”

Although punishment holy magic was normally avoided because it was a brutal magic, it was fine for freshmen to use it during the club promotion period.

If they could use it.

‘Considering what they themselves are doing, they have no right to feel aggrieved.’

At that moment.

Boom──!

A fireball flew past, grazing behind Demona and the Vajra Beetle.

Demona made a fuss immediately.

“W-We’re caught! We’re caught, Roan!”

“Quiet. Not yet.”

Roan immediately made Demona shut her mouth.

Low-level stealth magic could not completely block out sound.

Of course, the Footsteps of the Dead Wood that Roan cast was not that simple.

Just as they were not easily caught even by the rampant tracking magic and spiritual beasts.

Soon, a group of people appeared in a rush from the direction the fireball had flown.

─ Th-those damn hooligan bastards shot a fireball at us!

The student at the very front was charred black on his uniform, looking as if he had taken a direct hit.

The gorgeously modified uniforms indicated that they were members of the noble club, ‘Royal Club’.

─ Hmph, the one who got hit is at fault!

On the opposite side, students dragging a bunch of spiritual beasts appeared.

Naturally, it was the Crusade Club.

─ Disgusting snob club bastards! Darc is ours! Get lost!

─ We don’t need a ruined family either! We are taking Wychronon!

Hearing their dispute, Roan clenched his fists tightly.

‘These thug-like bastards…….’

No matter the case, isn’t it too much to talk like that when the person involved is right in front of them!

Though they wouldn’t know because of the stealth magic.

“Those seniors are really too much. How can they talk like that?”

“……Are you one to talk, Demona.”

“?”

Demona tilted her head as if she had no idea.

Roan soon turned his attention away from the two clubs and started running again.

“It’s rather a good thing. They will buy us time.”

Soon, a terrifying sound began to be heard behind the three.

─ Kill them all!

─ This time is the final showdown!

Rumble— Whoosh— Whir!

Current students learning well at Akerandir and using it to attack each other!

─ Wh-what are these bastards!

─ Hey, stop! Who fights like this among current students!

…Of course, the behavior of the two rival clubs was not normal even for Akerandir.

***

“There, once we turn that corner, it’s the commercial district!”

Zion shouted, pointing at a familiar building.

As she said, the three were now almost arriving at the commercial district.

At that moment, Roan stopped running and froze.

Thump—

“Ack! Why stop all of a sudden!”

Demona, who bumped her head on his back, whimpered while holding her forehead.

But Roan didn’t even care about Demona and looked up at the sky.

“I expected it, but to think they would go this far……”

“Yes?”

Zion looked up at the sky following Roan, as if she had no idea.

I don’t see any surveillance spiritual beasts or summons?

But Zion also could soon clearly realize what Roan was talking about.

“Collective holy magic……?!”

A holy magic that covers a certain area as its range and must be cast by multiple casters at the same time.

Though it was a holy magic that was that difficult and required preparation.

Did the current students of Akerandir commit such an act just to catch three freshmen!

Flaaaasssh──!

At the same time, the street the three were running on began to glow brightly due to a massive holy power.

Woorrr— woorrr—

Hey, isn’t this a bit too much?

How bad must it have been for even the False Divinity to click its tongue and grumble.

It was because for a holy magic of this scale, the False Divinity had to directly step forward to protect Roan.

“It’s detection holy magic. It’s going to get annoying from now on.”

Flaaaash──!

The holy magic began to activate as soon as Roan finished speaking.

The Footsteps of the Dead Wood, which had hidden the three from the outside until now, could no longer hold out and was deactivated.

─ Uahahahaha!

A laughing voice that resounded loudly through the alley.

Soon, current students appeared one after another from the rooftops of the buildings.

Most of them had blue details on their uniforms, 4th years.

─ How is it, Darc, Saintess candidate, Wychronon! No matter how much you fly and crawl, you are no match for your great seniors!

─ With those three, I’ll have no regrets even when graduating.

Besides them, the waiting current students blocked all pathways, forming a complete encirclement.

A petty Akerandir where over a dozen 4th years gathered, cast collective holy magic, and cheered that they had beaten freshmen!

In any case, a crisis was a crisis, so Roan and Zion bit their lips and glared at them.

“Wow…… seriously petty. Is it nice for 4th years to beat 1st years like this? I won’t become a senior like that.”

Flinch—

─ A-as expected of the Sage’s family, Wychronon……

And at Demona’s stinging remark, some current students looked slightly stung.