Chapter 194
Amidst the commotion from the Theology Hall, the children murmured.
"Everyone, don't move recklessly and stay put."
Ganon Sarsha, the professor of the Martial Arts Department's second-year students, calmed the children to prevent any rash actions.
'Of all times, while the Chancellor is away.'
Ganon clicked his tongue inwardly but gestured to the associate professors to figure out what was happening.
It was a signal for them to quickly assess the situation.
The associate professors, who received the signal, ran out.
Meanwhile, Haring was glancing around.
Her appearance resembled that of a cat looking for an excuse to escape.
"Haring, you're not thinking of going, are you?"
Karandis, noticing Haring's intentions, asked.
If something went wrong after leaving in this situation, Haring herself would be held accountable.
"This might be what Kraush was talking about."
"Mr. Kraush?"
Karandis showed curiosity.
She was curious about what Kraush had hinted at.
"He told me to always be prepared for something to happen at Rahelrn Academy."
"He didn't tell me that. Honestly, that's too much."
Karandis grumbled but still listened to Haring's words.
"So, the explosion we just heard could be related. Is this the sound?"
"It's possible."
There are associate professors and professors within the academy.
Karandis thought they would handle the situation first, but as Haring said, it wasn't a bad idea to prepare.
After all, not long ago, even Associate Professor Jenicalen had directly caused an incident.
However, any rash actions would only cause confusion.
"Still, let's wait a little longer. The associate professors have already moved ahead. News will come faster than if we acted ourselves. We won't be too late if we move after hearing it."
Karandis calmly restrained Haring's actions.
"You don't want to look like that, do you?"
As she said this, Karandis pointed to Balak, who was far away.
"Wow, an explosion! Let's go!"
Seeing Balak excitedly jumping in place, Haring also nodded and stopped her actions.
Certainly, she didn't want to appear as thoughtless as Balak.
Additionally, Karandis' gaze landed on Glen, who was standing next to Balak.
Glen Diana, the cousin of Mary Diana.
His face was much darker than before.
Recently, his proactive actions had significantly decreased compared to before.
'I heard he received a proposal from Sigrid Ephania recently.'
Was it because of that?
Karandis, who was adept at reading such dynamics, thought about how this concerned her in many ways.
* * *
A building embroidered in white and gold.
The Theology Hall of Rahelrn Academy.
The Theology Hall, attended by many studying theology and even the Saintess of the Holy Kingdom Freeman, was a place frequented by highly esteemed theology students.
So much so that even students who were not theology majors consistently visited the Theology Hall.
It was safe to say the Theology Hall was always packed.
The explosion from such a place was, of course, unexpected.
"Ugh, ugh, what on earth."
Amidst the explosion.
A male student, also a theology student aspiring to be a priest, swallowed his breath.
Beeeeeep—
With tinnitus ringing in his ears, he swallowed his breath and raised his head.
What he saw at that moment was a bizarre sight.
A woman, wrapped in pitch-black octopus tentacles sprouting from her back, soared into the air like a spider.
She hung her head, her long hair cascading down.
The blue hair color, shimmering in the light entering the temple, was something he recognized.
"Oh, oh, Mirey Beakis?"
Mirey Beakis.
The youngest Cardinal in history.
She, who was always the idol of everyone in the Theology Hall, was in an absurd state.
As the male student called her name with a blank expression, her head slowly tilted to the side.
At that moment, the male student realized.
Seeing her pitch-black, hollow pupils, he understood that she was no longer in her right mind.
As he hurriedly stood up and tried to run away.
BOOM!
A pitch-black octopus tentacle flew in, blocking his path.
Realizing the strength of the tentacle, which had shattered the temple's outer wall, he gulped.
And as more tentacles began to lift, he sensed death approaching.
Crackle—
Along with the sound of sparks from somewhere, a blazing lightning bolt tore through the tentacles.
Mirey, too, realized the surprise attack and tried to counter immediately, but the lightning was faster.
The bolts of lightning, pouring down like a bombardment, instantly smashed Mirey's tentacles.
Moreover, her tentacles, which inherently possessed regenerative abilities, couldn't regenerate due to the lingering lightning.
A woman with ash-gray bangs brushed her hair aside as she walked toward Mirey.
She was Taria Vales, the First Year President of the Magic Studies Department and a servant of Crimson Garden.
Adjusting her glasses, she scanned the surroundings with her eyes.
"What a mess."
As she said, the inside of the Theology Hall was utter chaos.
The furniture in the Theology Hall was all destroyed, and the inner walls were shattered beyond repair.
The only fortunate thing was that there were no casualties.
Taria's gaze landed on a bald man wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.
Denver Ijuris, the associate professor in charge of the Theology Department.
Despite being the first to be exposed to Mirey's rampage, he prioritized casting a Divine Shield on the students.
As a result, he was able to protect all the students without a single casualty.
It was an incredible sense of duty.
Unfortunately, today was the day of the annual festival preparation assembly in the Holy Kingdom Freeman.
Not only the professors of the Theology Hall but even the Saintess Astria had gone to the Kingdom of Freeman, leaving Denver as the sole guardian of the Theology Hall.
She looked at Denver and then shifted her gaze to Mirey.
Mirey, sitting on the ground with all her tentacles torn apart by lightning, seemed almost devoid of will.
Seeing her like that, Taria frowned deeply.
'Rona Imblize.'
It was because this woman had caused the incident.
Taria's gaze turned to the corner of the Theology Hall.
There, someone with teal hair lay unconscious, having hit her head.
Her body was covered with magical tools.
Rona Imblize, a magical tool manufacturer.
She had known from the beginning who the servant of the World Erosion Beings was.
She could identify the servant of the World Erosion Beings based on the magical tools she had created.
And the servant of the World Erosion Beings she had been keeping in mind all along.
None other than the youngest Cardinal, Mirey Beakis, who was also the servant of the Black Witch.
And the one who caused Mirey to go on a rampage was none other than Rona.
[It's complete!]
Taria heard Rona's loud exclamation beyond the surveillance magic.
And soon, when she checked the screen, she felt a chilling sensation.
It was because she sensed the pitch-black aura surging from within her body.
And Taria realized that this was the power of World Erosion.
[You've created something outrageous.]
Even Crimson Garden, who saw this, reacted in astonishment.
It was because the magical tool Rona had created was none other than a tool that could trigger World Erosion into a rampage.
[Today is finally the day I get to showcase my creations to the world!]
At the same time, Rona packed up all her magical tools and dashed outside with that exclamation.
Seeing this scene, Taria immediately stood up from her seat.
It was because she had a bad feeling.
[Sister, Rona is really going to do something with that, isn't she...?]
[She intends to use it on the servant of the World Erosion Beings.]
Crimson Garden immediately responded, seemingly sharing the same thought as Taria.
Taria opened the window and jumped out of the Cheongal Unit classroom, where her Student Unit was located.
As she leapt from the third floor and landed on the ground, Crimson Garden's crow soared into the sky.
Taria immediately kicked off the ground and began running.
The Wind Magic that had already surrounded her body made her steps lighter.
[The incident caused by Rona's magical tool a while ago, is that why she's acting like this now?]
While running, Taria asked Crimson Garden about Rona's sudden behavior.
Crimson Garden agreed.
[Yes, because the evaluation of her magical tools has dropped.]
An incident where a student holding a magical tool that burned their body to maximize their ability went on a rampage, injuring numerous students and even an associate professor.
Because of that incident, no one had sought out her magical tools recently.
However, Crimson Garden, who knew the truth of the incident to some extent, clicked her tongue.
It was because, from Rona's perspective, the incident was quite unfair.
Rona had always been commissioned by various people to create magical tools.
The field of magical tool creation itself was rare.
And because her magical tools demonstrated outstanding performance, everyone wanted them.
However, Rona had also been creating personal works besides those commissioned.
Many of those works had dangerous performances and were mostly stored in her private workshop.
On the day she left her workshop after creating magical tools as usual.
A student visited her workshop.
He was someone who had recently commissioned Rona to create a magical tool and intended to use it in the upcoming mock battle field training.
However, due to the unexpectedly long production period, the mock battle field training period was approaching.
In the end, he arbitrarily took one of the magical tools from her workshop that seemed decent.
As a result, the rampage of the magical tool caused injuries to several students and even an associate professor.
The problem was that the student who used the magical tool shifted all the blame onto Rona's magical tool.
Moreover, that student was from a prominent family.
Rona was already known for being an eccentric.
Combined with her reputation as an eccentric, the result was.
Rumors spread among the students that Rona had recklessly tested her magical tool out of curiosity.
Such baseless rumors spread among the students.
Later, the academy confirmed the facts and announced that Rona was not at fault.
However, her already plummeted reputation was not easily restored.
[Rona's magical tools? How can we use something so dangerous?]
[Anyway, it's true that she created such dangerous magical tools. How can we guarantee there won't be more?]
[I heard the injured ones are still suffering from aftereffects. That's a real magical tool.]
Rona herself only apologized but did not actively explain herself.
She didn't care much about the criticism directed at her.
In fact, it wasn't as if there hadn't been similar incidents.
However, there was one thing Rona couldn't tolerate.
It was the devaluation of her magical tools.
This was something she absolutely could not accept.
At that moment, the noble student abduction incident caused by Associate Professor Jenicalen of the Magic Studies Department caught her eye.
The servants of the World Erosion Beings.
They were beings of fear and enemies to people.
Moreover, their existence was the most shocking topic of discussion among people.
The fact that someone close to them was a servant of the World Erosion Beings struck a major blow.
If she could defeat the servant of the World Erosion Beings using her magical tools, wouldn't the evaluation of her tools change in an instant?
Thinking this, Rona immediately created a magical tool that could locate the servant of the World Erosion Beings.
And upon completing the magical tool, she declared it to the Women's Society.
That there was currently a servant of the World Erosion Beings at Rahelrn Academy.
She informed the students that there was a servant of the World Erosion Beings among them.
She made it so that the servant of the World Erosion Beings would target her.
However, the servant of the World Erosion Beings did not attack her.
So, she had no choice but to move again.
'I need to create a new magical tool.'
And what she created was none other than.
A magical tool that could trigger World Erosion into a rampage.
Since the servant of the World Erosion Beings didn't act directly, she intended to use the rampage caused by the magical tool to reveal the servant's appearance and defeat them with the tool.
That was her plan.
Realizing Rona's plan, Taria gritted her teeth.
Underestimating the servant of the World Erosion Beings was one thing.
But no matter how powerful her magical tools were, one misstep could cost her life.
'How can she even think of something like this.'
Eccentric.
'And why would she even complete something like this.'
Genius.
Taria truly felt the thin line between the two.