I got into school for nothing - 173
I got into school for nothing (173)
Lesson 34. Free Subjection - 8
“Exodus truly is petty. To send their main force against first-year students...”
Anneri Dedota, the kunoichi who had sunk three enemy ships belonging to that very main force just moments ago, clicked her tongue and muttered.
“Or perhaps they were paid handsomely.”
“Whether for better or worse, it simply means they quickly realized these kids are important talents.”
Kuran Luchato, having apparently realized that rescuing his comrades was already a lost cause, abandoned the attempt and, regaining his composure, replied.
His eyes, glaring at Anneri, were filled with far more murderous intent than they had been when facing Dokgo Yeon.
“So... how did you do it?”
Anneri had no intention of revealing her abilities to the enemy. Neatly ignoring Kuran’s glare, she whispered only to Dokgo Yeon.
“So, please confront him directly, Dokgo Yeon. I’ll be moving behind the scenes in the meantime.”
“But there were still things I wanted to hear.”
“You don’t converse with dimension pirates! Especially not Exodus.”
At Dokgo Yeon’s retort, Anneri laughed with a troubled expression.
“Exodus is a religious cult. And they’re tricky because they’re very good at spreading convincing lies.”
“......Is that so.”
Dokgo Yeon hadn't thought the man’s earlier words were a lie, but she had no leisure to entertain other thoughts while facing an enemy, so she decided to agree with Anneri for now.
“Then I’ll go first.”
Gwangjo flapped its wings and ascended.
Death surged from the short sword Dokgo Yeon held.
“You want to fight me head-on? I thought you were a smart girl.”
Kuran raised his mechanical forearm with a twisted smile.
A black laser surged from it, maintaining the thickness and length of a sword, forming a sharp blade.
It was a perfect structure of a light sword (光劍), the kind that Ban Yuwon would have likely muttered “Beam saber...!” through tears of blood if he had seen it.
However, since its light was stained black, it should be called a dark sword (暗劍) rather than a light sword.
“That woman cost us a lot. It means we can’t just end things politely with words, like before.”
“Your tongue is too long.”
Leaping from Gwangjo’s back, Dokgo Yeon slashed her sword diagonally downwards.
Kuran, his twisted smile quickly wiped from his lips, his eyes gleaming, swung his sword to meet hers, but no clang resonated.
That was because the darkness forming the dark sword utterly vanished the moment the two blades clashed.
The blade, extending without losing momentum, ultimately sliced through its intended target.
The man’s exposed eye, uncovered by his eye patch.
—*Shwing!*
“K-haha?!”
Even with a mechanical arm, the contents were clearly those of a proper human, as the blood gushing into the air was intensely red.
But Dokgo Yeon, who had immediately retracted her sword to sever the enemy’s neck, instinctively threw her body sideways and landed on the deck the next instant.
After a stable landing, she turned to see the darkness surging from Kuran’s entire body, invading the space where she had just been.
“Dark magic (暗魔力)...”
It wasn’t an ability limited to his weapon; Kuran himself was dominating and wielding dark magic.
“Your senses are sharp. And you even managed to temporarily erase my sword. Who... what exactly are you?”
Kuran snarled, covering his wounded eye with his non-mechanical hand.
Though he knew it wouldn't work on Dokgo Yeon, the muzzle of his mechanical forearm, instinctively raised, was aimed precisely at her face.
Dokgo Yeon tightened her grip on her short sword and replied calmly.
“Death.”
Originally, the dark sword (暗劍), created from condensed dark magic, possessed the characteristic of distorting material structures simply by touch, making it an incredibly powerful Authority in close combat.
However, Dokgo Yeon’s Authority was more specialized in killing concepts, magic, and Authorities themselves, rather than mere matter.
It would have been better for him to wield a wooden sword imbued with magic rather than a dark sword.
If he had, at least he might have realized her danger the moment their blades clashed and created an opening to guard his face.
“What nonsense... I quite liked you, but you clearly need some proper education.”
“You’re starting to sound just like those other insects.”
“I’ll personally educate you.”
He had looked much more confident when discussing the secrets of the Constellations and the Tower, but after taking a hit from her, he was reduced to this state.
He was no different from the other vermin who stubbornly insisted on bringing her to her knees.
Facing the man’s rage, which she had always encountered whenever she displayed her strength and which now filled her with weariness, Dokgo Yeon let out a languid sigh.
However, the opportunity for her to give the presumptuous man a 'lesson' — as she always did — never arrived.
“That cannot be tolerated.”
“—?!”
Because Kuran Luchato’s head had been severed.
The man’s face tumbled through the air.
His two eyes blinked, looking at Dokgo Yeon, then struggled to turn towards his killer, before finally realizing his head was no longer attached to his body, and with a resigned expression, he gently closed his eyes.
Immediately afterward, all of this—up until it vanished as if sucked into a spatial rift—occurred within a single blink of Dokgo Yeon’s eye.
“Did he escape?”
A man landed on the deck, as if replacing Kuran, and muttered in a heavy voice, clicking his tongue.
Escaped? With only his head remaining?
Dokgo Yeon, unable to comprehend, frowned, but the new 'enemy' who appeared before her seemed to have no intention of clarifying her doubts.
“This is why I can’t work with vulgar pirates. Not only do they disobey orders, but they covet others’ possessions without permission, and ultimately abandon their comrades to flee. Such lowlifes...”
“Are they more vulgar than a full professor who commissions dimension pirates to kidnap students?”
Dokgo Yeon scoffed at the man before her, gripping her sword tightly.
Lyu Cheolmyeong, the man who had appeared as if he had been watching them all along and severed Kuran’s neck, did not bother to respond to her words, instead raising his greatsword and pointing it at her.
“The difference in power is clear. Do not force me into unnecessary labor; surrender.”
“You didn’t intend to step in directly, did you? Why, has Ban Yuwon ruined all your preparations?”
“...”
Lyu Cheolmyeong did not reply.
Dokgo Yeon would never mistake his silence for anything but affirmation.
Indeed, thanks to Ban Yuwon, the beast-kin had acquired the means to fight in the sky and were effectively fending off Exodus’s dimension pirate fleet.
The other assassin squad, dispatched to eliminate Ban Yuwon and incidentally create an infiltration route for the beast-kin, had their curse techniques stolen by Ban Yuwon and were annihilated.
Because of that, Ban Yuwon had acquired the power of the Forest Worm, burying tens of thousands of beast-kin who tried to invade the Wolf Fang Tribe Village’s territory directly into the ground.
So now, Lyu Cheolmyeong had no choice but to step in personally.
‘Damn it, my body was perfectly fine when I decapitated that lowlife, but the moment I face a student, it starts to weaken. Not yet? [Ruler of the Forest]...’
He wasn't entirely out of cards either.
Because when he decided to secure Dokgo Yeon and Rucell, the dimension pirates weren't the only ones he had negotiated with.
He was also a man who understood how to calculate his safety margins.
At the point he decided to interfere with the students’ special activities, he knew whose power he needed to borrow to complete the task without being detected by that monster—the Chancellor.
That was a Constellation.
“So there’s something else, then.”
Dokgo Yeon, quickly concluding her assessment after observing Lyu Cheolmyeong’s silence, muttered with a displeased expression.
“Fine, let’s see everything you’ve prepared. Though Ban Yuwon will ultimately reduce it all to the same pathetic state...”
Dokgo Yeon was aware of her strength, but she also knew well that her strength stemmed purely from her martial prowess.
Lyu Cheolmyeong had reached out everywhere, scattered money, and played his tricks, turning an entire planet into a trap, so she didn't believe she could break it with her strength alone.
Her job was to stop Lyu Cheolmyeong right here and now.
In the meantime, her versatile disciple would cleanly resolve the situation.
“You seem to put quite a lot of faith in that insect.”
Lyu Cheolmyeong bluffed, trying to hide his weakening body.
“You don’t seem to understand why I involved weak beast-kin in this affair.”
“I know perfectly well. Was it not to blind the eyes of the cameras?”
Dokgo Yeon also needed time to deal with Lyu Cheolmyeong.
Concentrating Death onto the blade of her sword, held straight and aimed at him, her cross-shaped pupils blazed fiercely.
“You underestimate me too much. Do you think a mere artificial object could properly detect me? Cameras were never a consideration to begin with.”
“Then?”
“On this planet, there is a transcendent being with the same objective as me.”
She didn’t need to ask what the objective was, or who that transcendent being might be; she already knew.
What connected it to the beast-kin?
Dokgo Yeon, suddenly recalling a possibility she had encountered before, scoffed in disbelief.
“Surely not.”
“The moment you arrived on this planet, your defeat was as good as certain.”
A sinister smile spread across Lyu Cheolmyeong’s lips.
His eyes were fixed on a pillar of red light surging from a clearing deep in the forest, quite some distance from their location.
“It seems the descent was successful.”
“Impossible! Ban Yuwon...!”
—*ROOOOOOOAR!*
The entire planet trembled from the roar of an enormous, truly colossal creature.
Dokgo Yeon realized Ban Yuwon was facing the greatest crisis in history, and she gritted her teeth, raising her sword.
Even the time it would take to turn her head and confirm its appearance was too precious to waste.
Given the situation, she had to defeat him as quickly as possible and go help Ban Yuwon!
* * *
“Ugh...?!”
While learning Nine-tailed Fox sorcery in a practical combat setting and fighting dimension pirates, Rucell suddenly felt intense pain and dizziness, dropping to her knees.
“Rucell!”
“Huh, Mom.”
Lucia, who rarely showed surprise or raised her voice, gasped in alarm and tried to help Rucell to her feet, but Rucell immediately sank back down.
“The Constellation, the Constellation is...”
“Surely that tremor just now was...”
There was no need to deliberately search.
At the border of the Wolf Fang Tribe Village’s territory, between the towering, dense trees, the figure of a colossal monster, its head held high, could be clearly seen.
“To think he would even descend, risking the toll on his status... that despicable lolicon...!”
“M-Master is in danger.”
“Surely—your master is *there* right now?”
“Mom, I have to go.”
Her Heart Furnace, which had been dormant since Ban Yuwon became her master, was now thrashing wildly, sensing the presence of the original wielder of the Authority in the same space... the Constellation.
But she couldn’t hide here until everything was over.
Rucell finally felt the time had come.
The time had come to sever the Constellation with her own hands.
“To do that, I need to—I need to meet Master now.”
“Rucell.”
Enduring the rampaging Heart Furnace, which felt as if it were tearing her soul apart, Rucell, trembling, somehow forced herself to stand, gritted her teeth, and began to move.
Sending Rucell off alone was terrifying, but she also couldn't abandon her post, as she was responsible for more than half of their long-range firepower. Lucia, at a loss, bit her lip.
“It’s alright, Mom.”
Rucell forced a smile and tried to reassure her.
“I’ll settle this and return, Dad, please take care.”
Indeed. Rucell wasn't the only one suffering from the Constellation’s descent.
Lucia nodded firmly at her daughter’s resolute words and sent her off towards the battlefield.
Then, to rescue her beloved husband, she unleashed her Nine-tailed Fox abilities and soared into the sky.
Comments