I got into school for nothing - 305
I got into school for nothing (305)
Lesson 59. Trap - 5
The expression 'the sun was falling' seemed most apt.
Or perhaps, a solar eclipse.
The red flames of the Prominence Family, which had filled the sky above the Fairy Queen's residence in Fairytale, gathered together, coalescing into a glowing red orb at the center of the magic circle.
If it had remained its original intent: an utterly ritualistic and adventurous grand sacrifice, where fairies would be sacrificed to gather all of their 'Concept Conversion' and swap the Prominence dimension with Union.
Ban Yuwon, however, performed a Changeling, swapping the sacrifice with the caster, thus drawing it into a realm of exceedingly practical and feasible sorcery that gathered only the 'Unquenchable Flame' they possessed.
The attempt to swap dimensions had failed, and would not be attempted again.
“What... what is this...?!”
Ban Yuwon marveled that the bastard hadn’t died immediately, nodded slightly, and thrust Requiem through his chest.
The spurt of blood from his chest, like an arrow shooting forth, seemed about to turn into flames, but ultimately failed and scattered emptily downwards.
“K-khhh! Th-the flames...!”
Indeed, seeing his astonishment at his blood simply flowing out rather than at the injury itself, it seemed that beyond merely a barrier, he also possessed a counterattack ability to turn his blood into flames to attack enemies when wounded.
At this point, Ban Yuwon couldn’t help but truly marvel.
They always puffed out their chests, calling themselves one of the Ten Great Families, making him wonder what was so special, but from the artifacts they possessed, there wasn’t a single aspect that could be underestimated.
If he hadn’t completely stripped away their ‘Unquenchable Flame,’ even if Ban Yuwon had overwhelmed the enemy with his skill, he might have suffered a fatal injury from this counterattack.
“You’ve failed.”
Ban Yuwon declared curtly, twisted his blade, severing the bastard’s remaining lifeline, and then added one more thing.
“So, where is the family head hiding?”
“...Ha! That person...!”
――He was not mistaken.
Squeezing out his last vestiges of strength, the deputy family head who uttered those words completely lost his life and went limp.
Since the Prominence Family had already been completely neutralized anyway, and there was no need to cut off his head to lower enemy morale, he decided to simply absorb the bastard’s remaining concepts.
[By absorbing the concepts of an overwhelmingly strong opponent, the depth of 'Life' (生) has reached 1,500, the depth of 'Wonshin' (元身) has reached 1,130, the depth of 'Won-gi' (元氣) has reached 1,250, and the depth of 'Soul' (靈魂) has reached 1,600!]
“Oh.”
Since he had already extracted the ‘Unquenchable Flame,’ he hadn’t expected much, but to his surprise, perhaps because the opponent was still of an incredibly high caliber even without it, not only did his ‘Life,’ whose growth had been so sluggish, instantly reach 1,500, but ‘Wonshin’ and ‘Won-gi,’ which had been stuck below the thousand-level realm, instantly broke past it!
Immediately after, a tingling sensation seemed to spread throughout his entire body from his heart, his bones instantly grew heavier, and the muscles covering them felt as if they were tightening intensely.
The blood flowing through his veins and the mana dwelling within it also became faster and heavier in their flow, adding to his vitality.
Despite being on a battlefield, Ban Yuwon trembled on the spot, feeling the changes occurring in his soul, mind, and body.
‘So, that distinction of ‘one thousand’ must have been special after all.’
The feeling of every component of his body advancing to a higher realm.
If Dokgo Yeon had seen this, she would have applauded, saying that Ban Yuwon had finally caught up to the abnormally high caliber of his soul, with his body also reaching the pinnacle.
The problem, however, was that the enemy he had just defeated was such a formidable foe, that his soul had also instantly grown again....
‘What did he say, more importantly? That person wasn’t mistaken? It can’t mean that the Prominence Family Head knew that a plan spanning hundreds of years would be crushed by my hands, can it?’
[Villains always try to say things that make us feel uneasy right until they die, don’t they? Wasn’t that just part of it?]
Lilyth’s conjecture held considerable persuasive power, but he couldn’t simply ignore it either.
Ban Yuwon first emptied all twenty-five Stormrain Swords from his inventory, resonated them all with Requiem, and launched them towards the Prominence fleet.
Having already lost their ‘Unquenchable Flame,’ it was highly probable that they were now weaker than the dimension pirates they had commanded just moments ago.
He couldn’t miss the chance to easily farm concepts.
“And I...”
As a result of the Changeling, created in the middle of the magic circle, he saw a mass of concepts, formed purely by the coalesced ‘Unquenchable Flame.’
As it was purely a concept itself, those other than Ban Yuwon could barely see it, let alone exert influence over it, but because it was a concept of such high depth, simply leaving it there had a high probability of incinerating the planet Fairytale.
Therefore, after confirming that this sorcery had been properly executed, he had intended to absorb it immediately....
‘Currently, the depth of my ‘Unquenchable Flame’ is 1,500. If I gobble that up, it will surely skyrocket to nearly double that.’
But was that truly the right thing to do?
The Prominence deputy family head had admirably fulfilled his role as a villain.
The words he had left behind bothered him terribly.
Damn it, Ban Yuwon, who had hesitated for a moment, eventually descended vertically towards the ground, took out his Code Core, and perfectly contained the ‘Unquenchable Flame’ gathered on the magic circle.
In truth, it was too much for a single core to handle, but thanks to sealing it with the Seal Ring, it seemed it could last for a few hours.
A few hours would be more than enough.
“I’ll meet my sister and give this to her.”
[Your family love is truly intense. Or could it be...?]
“Don’t think strange thoughts. This is just insurance, just in case.”
“Son-in-law!”
Yura, who was commanding the fairy race, flew towards him on the wind, waving her hand.
“How on earth did you do that?! The enemies suddenly can’t use their strength!”
“Didn’t you see the Changeling I performed?”
“No, actually, I did see it! Oh my, you’re perfect to be a fairy’s partner! Almost too good to give to my daughter....”
―Your Majesty, please deal with the enemy first.
Yura, unable to break her habit and trying to seduce her son-in-law again, was soon carried away by the wind spirit.
Ban Yuwon sighed, rejoined the battlefield, and was soon able to join his party.
Everyone was performing admirably, but as expected, the strongest on a life-or-death battlefield was Dokgo Yeon.
Wielding a short sword imbued with death, and swinging black Or that surged forth in torrents, as she destroyed the dimension pirate ships, she looked like Thanatos, the god of death, incarnate.
“Hmph, Hiiiyyahhh...!”
[From what I can see, it seems she’s holding a bit of a grudge.]
“She’s scary, so let’s not talk to her right now.”
No matter how he thought about it, it was clear she was bothered by him driving Dokgo Yeon away earlier and launching a ‘lovey-dovey’ charge with Aire.
Such feelings themselves were quite cute, but the results were excessively brutal, so for now, he could only pray that the Crimson Spear bastards would bear the brunt of her anger in his stead.
“Master!”
Having transformed into a Divine Beast, flying freely through the sky, Rucell, who had been burning and searing dozens, hundreds of enemies with lightning-infused flames, spotted him and flew over.
“Please ride on me. Let’s fight together.”
“Rucell, you came at just the right time. Actually, there’s something bothering me right now...?”
The original plan was that after the fairy army pushed back the main Prominence forces, and rode that momentum to invade the Prominence dimension, Ban Yuwon’s party would, in the meantime, rendezvous with his older sister Ban Yumi, secretly occupy the Prominence command center using the ‘Invitation to Prominence’ previously given by Ulrike Prominence, reveal his sister’s legitimacy to gain internal collaborators, and then sweep away all those who opposed them.
But the fact that the bastard, supposedly the deputy family head of Prominence, was saying the family head was right, even though a plan enacted over hundreds, or even more, years was falling apart, bothered him greatly.
‘No, if you think about it, didn’t their plan originally require Mira? In fact, the magic circle wasn’t that perfect. If Mira, a royal member with the authority to command fairies, had entered the core of the magic circle, its stability would have increased, and indeed, that’s why they tried to get Ketra senior to lure Mira in....’
But Ketra had died, and Mira had been secured by Ban Yuwon.
Despite this, the bastards pressed ahead with this operation, which Ban Yuwon had judged to be an attempt to carry out the imperfect plan as it was.
Indeed, bringing such a large force, and even the elite troops of Prominence, it was true that they intended to succeed with this plan, but....
‘What if that wasn’t everything?’
What if their goal wasn’t just to succeed with the plan?
Of course, success would be ideal, but what if they had prepared to gain something even in case of failure?
Something.
The one thing Prominence desired above all else.
A trap.
“This damn...!”
His older sister, Ban Yumi, who possessed the ‘Unquenchable Flame’ and its Authority.
The ‘Invitation to Prominence’ in her hand.
Ban Yuwon, whose thoughts had reached that point, urgently tried to use his spatial movement ability, but of course, it was impossible for him to go directly to where his sister was at that very moment.
“Master, it’s okay. Calm down.”
In the meantime, Rucell, who had read his thoughts through her authority as his vassal, comforted him and immediately summoned the Rebellion members with a high, clear cry.
Amidst the already weakened Prominence forces, and the Crimson Spear, who were merely flailing in confusion after losing their master, the party members, who had been enthusiastically causing havoc, heard Rucell’s urgent voice and immediately gathered around him.
“What’s wrong, son-in-law?”
And among them was the Fairy Queen Yura, who was smiling with an unchanging expression despite her planet being invaded.
“We have to go to Prominence right now. Perhaps what Ulrike gave me—no, Ulrike was probably sincere, but even that idiot was likely fooled by the family head. This is a diversion. A diversion committed with the mindset of ‘it’s good to get both, but if we can’t get one, we’ll definitely get the other’––a diversion to tie all my friendly forces to Fairytale.”
Ban Yuwon, rarely flustered, spoke incoherently.
But fortunately, thanks to everyone’s excellent comprehension, except for Asha, they were able to understand his predicament even from his insufficient explanation.
“So, the ‘Dimension Entry Permit’ that son-in-law tricked the enemy into giving him actually has a high probability of being a ‘Forced Summoning Ticket,’ does it?”
“When I examined it with my ability, I was certain there was no trickery. I shouldn’t have been so sure.”
His ability to wield Authority was perfect.
But as could be seen from the deputy family head he faced today, the Authority of Prominence contained mysteries that ran beyond understanding.
His blood turning into flames––though it failed––he realized something by observing that process.
He could clearly read concepts, but concepts changed every moment he didn’t capture them, and even some of the Prominence family’s Authority he had obtained from Ulrike Prominence possessed such variability.
It was a meticulously planned trap.
A trap planned by someone who knew in advance that Ulrike was foolish, and that she was deeply infatuated with Ban Yuwon.
“We have to go right now, but....”
“This isn’t the time to spare the family’s power. I’ll help you.”
Aire bravely stepped forward and said.
Even as she spoke, she extended one hand behind her, manipulating hundreds of ice arrows, slaughtering the enemy forces.
“But it will take some time. Moreover, we don’t have the authority to enter the Prominence dimension right now, so we’ll have to break through a new barrier too....”
“No, if it’s about that, leave it to me.”
It was Yura who stepped forward.
As no one had expected it, she received bewildered gazes from everyone, and she lifted her chin as if indignant at their reaction.
“My son-in-law showed such a splendid Changeling, how could I be left out? Think carefully. Who is our enemy now, and where did they come from?”
“The Prominence Family invaded Fairytale, so... ah?”
“Exactly.”
As Yura snapped her fingers, the wind spirit once again conjured a massive storm.
The Prominence fleet, which had already been mercilessly ravaged by Ban Yuwon’s Stormrain Swords, seemed to be swept up by it all at once, then lost all resistance and was delivered right before their eyes.
Not only had they been used as sacrifices for the ritual they themselves had planned in the past, but now they were about to be used as sacrifices for a warp gate.
“Now it’s time for us to invade Prominence. In a straight line, without anyone’s interference. This is true Changeling, isn’t it?”
No, I don’t think that’s right.
Ban Yuwon muttered inwardly, but his worry for his sister ran deeper, so he kept his mouth shut.
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