Island of Wisdom (8)
‘What just happened?’
Squinting one eye, she noticed that the sacred bracelet was absorbing the dark energy.
「Oh.」
The Holy Sword let out a short sound of admiration. Really the time for that?
The Red Eagles, seeing this, exchanged glances and immediately drew daggers, hurling them at Lukna.
Over ten blades rained down like a storm.
Lukna quickly pulled out the partially unsheathed club, swinging it like a windmill to block the attacks.
The Red Eagles, their hoods pulled low, murmured among themselves.
“That one’s wielding a strange weapon.”
“Isn’t that the lost Holy Sword? Its divine power must be tremendous!”
“Fool! You think the Holy Sword looks like some stick? That must be a divine weapon developed by the temple.”
Trapped in their assumptions, they didn’t consider Lukna’s weapon to actually be the Holy Sword.
“Then he must be a high-ranking cleric disguised as a cadet. Only someone with strong divine power can resist dark magic so easily.”
“The Closset line was annihilated, and the clerics transferring to the Island of Wisdom were all dealt with. He’s probably just a mutant. Every place has one.”
“True. But mutants like that are dangerous, better to eliminate him before he becomes a problem.”
The dark mages decided Lukna must be killed immediately.
They drew their swords and charged at her.
Lukna nimbly dodged their attacks, striking the back of their heads with the divinely charged club in a clean, precise motion.
「1 o’clock direction, spatial distortion dark magic is being deployed. Move to the opposite side for dispel. 0/3」
“Damn rats, ugh!”
「The opponent is incapacitated. Cannot purify. 1/3」
「Turn your head left to avoid, then take three steps back.」
Because three enemies attacked simultaneously, rather than one at a time like in movies or novels, the dark mages couldn’t follow Lukna’s swift movements and ended up tangled with each other.
「Someone is approaching. Probability of identifying the Great Visbi: below 9%. Connect part of your divine power to the bracelet; maintain status but reduce strength.」
At that moment, Lukna’s bracelet shimmered.
“Oh, Luka. That bracelet seems pretty effective. Not a bad situation.”
Chad, who had disappeared earlier, appeared belatedly, surveying the surroundings.
That crazy guy—Chad—was holding a red bracelet, somehow acquired.
“Where did you pick up that ugly stick?”
Chad smirked, scanning the Holy Sword. Fortunately, he hadn’t recognized its power.
His languid gaze slowly turned toward the dark mages.
“Impressive, you’ve already taken down one of them. Skill seems pretty high, quite remarkable.”
“Stop talking and get into a defensive stance, Chad.”
“Wahaha. You’re ordering me now? I hate being bossed around, Luka.”
So what am I supposed to do? Lukna glanced at Chad. At that moment, one dark mage lunged at him.
“Whoops.”
Chad leaned back to dodge the attack.
The poison-coated dagger aimed at Chad flew directly toward Lukna.
「Move two steps to the right and defend your chest.」
Thwack! Lukna blocked the flying poisoned dagger with the Holy Sword at her chest—barely in time.
“You’re agile, Luka.”
“Stop spectating and help me!”
Lukna kicked the dark mage in the abdomen, sending him flying to the ground with a heavy thud.
From behind, Chad leaned sideways and whispered into Lukna’s ear.
“Nope. If someone who knows my secret is in danger, it benefits me, Luka.”
“You bad guy!”
Lukna clenched her teeth, keeping her eyes forward.
The dark mage who had been knocked down rolled back up and assumed an attack stance again.
‘Strong ones… what should I do?’
With Chad present, she couldn’t freely wield the Holy Sword’s full power.
Cold sweat trickled down her back as Chad spoke again.
“But you, Luka, are an exception. You’re fun. Want to wear the bracelet I bought you?”
He winked and shoved a red bracelet into her pants pocket.
“You…!”
Lukna’s eyes widened when she noticed a magical circle pattern clearly glowing in Chad’s irises.
‘Magic?’
Turning her head, a massive magic circle appeared beneath the feet of the terrorists, and a powerful whirlwind erupted from its center.
The dark mages tried to cast spells with their own blood, but they couldn’t keep up with Chad’s calculations.
Swept up in the whirlwind, the dark mages soared high into the air like the eagles they were nicknamed after, disappearing into the distance.
‘Impressive, really impressive.’
The lazy guy who dozed off through lectures had earned the role of vice president of the student council and second in the class all because of that single spell.
“Well, flying nicely.”
Chad placed his hand on his forehead, watching the dark mages crash to the ground.
“I did it, but it was really clean. Right, Luka?”
Chad asked, but there was no response. Normally, a scolding or a bragging comment would come back immediately, but it was strange.
“Luka?”
Chad looked around at the empty surroundings. This time, Lukna was gone.
Along with the Grand Sage who had been knocked down, Lukna had vanished.
Meanwhile, Martian faced off against the terrorists at the very top of the central tower.
There was an inverted triangular glass tank filled with water ether.
Transparent pipes connected to the tank, carrying water to the island’s various laboratories, but the terrorists were using the location to deploy dark magic circles when the cadets encountered them.
The narrow space favored the dark mages.
Several cadets caught in the dark magic were twisted and bleeding, but thanks to Martian’s excellent command, there was fortunately minimal loss of life.
Gradually, the tide turned in Martian’s favor.
“Damn it, I won’t let this slide!”
The leader of the terrorist group deployed dark magic using blood drawn from his finger, creating a crimson magic circle beneath Martian’s feet, from which black hands extended like jellyfish tentacles.
They wrapped around Martian’s legs and lower body, while black mist from below enveloped him.
Creaking and cracking, the hands tried to drag him down, but Martian’s face didn’t change.
Normally, one would succumb to the dark energy, losing their mind, but he remained completely unshaken.
“Y-you… how can you withstand this?”
“Have you not heard the rumors? You know what’s in my heart.”
Thanks to the demonic fragment he’d carried since birth, Martian felt the dark magic as if it were his own power, only feeling slight strain in his heart.
“Y-you’re… the Übergratz?”
“So what if I am?”
“Even we struggle with dark magic, but you treat it as your own… perfect demon… ugh!”
“I don’t like being called a demon.”
Martian sliced his opponent diagonally without hesitation.
The enemy’s body dropped to the ground like paper.
When the leader was killed, the remaining dark mages exchanged glances and began surrendering.
“What’s wrong with them?”
“Look over there!”
Using the lives of the dark mages as a medium, the magic circle at the top of the central tower activated, releasing black smoke.
The smoke enveloped the large glass tank containing water ether, beginning to contaminate it.
Martian looped his Holy Power–infused bracelet around the sword, amplified its divine energy to maximum, and shattered the contaminated tank.
Clang!
Blue ether spilled across the floor along with broken glass, and the blackened dark magic gradually dissipated.
The cadets, overwhelmed by the sheer power, couldn’t ask questions and had to clean up the scene.
Only Bolton kneeled before the broken glass tank, wailing, “The whole island’s alchemists could have used this ether for ten days of experiments!”
Randol, a cadet watching everything, adjusted his glasses and approached behind Martian.
“T-that was amazing, Martian. I-I want to be like you too.”
Fidgeting with his fingers, Randol tried to speak to the unresponsive Martian.
“B-but all the dark mages are d-dead… we couldn’t capture any enemies.”
Martian, who had maintained a cold expression, finally wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand and turned around.
His smile was gentle, despite having just improvised it.
“This area was probably bait to draw us in. We just need to secure the remaining hidden enemies outside.”
“Remaining enemies? B-but there aren’t any cadets who can handle them… ah, Chad?”
“And there’s one more suspiciously skilled individual.”
“W-who’s the suspiciously skilled one? M-Martian, where are you going?”
Martian didn’t answer, descending the tower immediately.
‘I wonder how far Lukna has gotten.’
Whether she had painfully failed her first real mission and was crying or had barely succeeded and was smiling, either way, she was certain to ignite his thirst for action.
