Chapter 44: Second Assault (4)
As Hazen entered the barrier of the weapon, the aura contained within it quivered.
Hazen dropped the spear he had been holding and picked up the two short swords that formed the barrier. They were twin swords, identical except for the inscriptions on the blades.
Elphior was terrified. She wanted to flee immediately. Her priority was her own safety.
To hide her fear, she raised her voice even more.
“Don’t think of me as an ordinary minion! I received power from the Demon Duke himself!”
At the same time, she conjured a water serpent and, additionally, fire and ice serpents she had prepared in advance.
Her victory plan remained unchanged: prolong the battle to increase the amount of water and gradually enhance her magical power.
In theory, if she were given enough time, she could become as powerful as the genius mage known as Castro, the “Black Comet.”
However, the problem was that her opponent was someone she could not surpass, and Hazen had no intention of prolonging the battle any further.
Hazen threw both short swords—but not at Elphior.
“Ten years… of training, and skill would naturally decline!”
Elphior, thinking the attack had missed, attacked Hazen with overconfidence.
The moment the massive snakes bared their teeth at him, his figure disappeared.
“What?!?”
As Elphior frantically searched for Hazen, he was already preparing to strike from behind her.
Before she could react, Hazen, wielding a greatsword, flew at her and slashed her side in one swift motion.
“Ugh!”
She reached out too late to grab him, and he had already vanished.
It was then that she realized how Hazen moved.
“The first pair of daggers!”
She understood that Hazen could teleport using them—but that was all.
Suddenly, Hazen appeared behind Elphior and plunged an axe into her back.
“Ughh!”
She gave up trying to grab him and searched for the daggers, but Hazen, as if anticipating this, pulled out the axe and savagely cut into her body.
“Argh!”
Elphior tried to shake Hazen off and heal her wounds, but strangely, her mana would not function properly.
‘What is… going on?’
The axe Hazen used belonged to a warrior tribe from the northern continent before the Azerum Empire conquered it.
Because the northern lands were overrun with monsters, their weapons were designed to be highly effective against them. Among these, the axe had the effect of significantly reducing mana-based healing.
Elphior, who had never lost hope, believing she could recover from any attack, now panicked as her wounds would not heal.
Hazen continued his assault.
From swords to daggers, bows, and spears, he drove each weapon into her body.
All the weapons embedded in her body fixed her in place like shackles, blocking her mana channels.
After eliminating all the snakes and subduing Elphior, Hazen pressed a blue spear to her throat.
“What was your purpose in coming here?”
“S-so… honestly, are you going to spare me?”
“I will spare you. However, I cannot guarantee your safety afterward.”
“W-what does that mean?!”
Hazen jabbed the spear beside her face. The motion only pierced the air lightly, yet it left a dent in the floor behind her.
“If you resist, dying immediately is an option. So, what was your purpose here?”
Having lost her will to resist after the threat, she spilled all the information she knew without thinking.
“I—I came to kidnap Reina Serenia!”
“Why target her?”
“I-I don’t know! I’m just a follower! I only did it because I was ordered to!”
“Then, the next question. How much do you know about the incident a month ago where students were turned into minions?”
“I-I don’t know anything about that!”
“Ha…”
Hazen felt a strong impulse to kill her instantly. But there was one last question he had to ask.
“Final question. How did you infiltrate here?”
“I—that is…”
Elphior suddenly lowered her head and fell silent mid-answer.
Hazen grabbed her throat in irritation.
“Answer me… now!”
At that moment, her body turned to liquid and spilled onto the floor.
She had used an illusion-type water magic to slip away unnoticed.
‘Tch… careless…’
Hazen had already suspected who allowed her in.
Someone capable of manipulating surveillance magic while letting her enter the dungeon in advance—there was only one person at Iris Academy who could do that.
Elphior had slipped away while exchanging words with Hazen. As long as a minion’s core remained intact, it could regenerate its body at any time, making this strategy possible.
Emerging from a side path, she slowly regained human form. Due to the injuries Hazen inflicted, all her abilities were weakened, so it took some time.
‘If I stay here, I might get caught.’
Elphior could not guarantee victory against either teachers or students in her current state.
She decided to quickly exit the academy through the outer wall.
As she regained her human form and exited the side path, she encountered a man.
Leaning against a wall and drinking a mana potion, the man stood up.
“Oh. You came?”
The man in black with a masked face was Kim Sehyun.
Seeing him, Elphior tensed every nerve.
“Y-you didn’t come to silence me, did you?”
She assumed Kim Sehyun was part of the Lost Paradise enforcement team sent to eliminate her in case she failed her mission.
She crouched low and spoke.
“No, the mission hasn’t failed yet! I’ve marked her heart with my magic. Once we can make contact again, she can be easily captured!”
“That’s exactly why you must die.”
Elphior was a troublesome opponent. If she escaped even once after being hit, it could lead to a bad ending weeks later, or Reina could be killed.
So if confronted, she had to be eliminated.
In the game, Hazen’s focus on his objective caused him to miss Elphior. If Kim Sehyun had been with Hazen, he could have killed her. But he had personal motives, so he didn’t.
He had anticipated Hazen letting her escape and waited along her escape route.
Hearing Kim Sehyun’s words, Elphior frowned and stood.
“You’re… not a hunting dog?”
“As you can see, I’m human.”
“You…!”
The opponent she faced was a minion who had single-handedly overwhelmed six people, including him, earlier.
But that applied only because Kim Sehyun met the conditions of being “half-Astrea” and was unaffected by Hazen’s weakening effect—both had to be true simultaneously.
Elphior launched an ice spear at him. This time, it was smaller and less structured. Kim Sehyun countered with a flame spear.
Then he drew his sword and infused it with 【Mana Compression】, causing aura to envelop it.
Originally, 【Mana Compression】 was developed to use aura. This was its proper application.
As the red aura wrapped around his sword, Elphior panicked. In that instant, Kim Sehyun struck her with 【Ignition】.
Bang!
The attack, enhanced by a mid-level swordsmanship skill and aura, shattered her right arm up to the shoulder.
“Argh!”
Elphior lost balance and fell, barely recovering while breaking into a cold sweat.
‘Wasn’t he a mage? No… a magic swordsman?!’
Using the clues “hidden identity” and “magic swordsman,” she recalled information she had heard earlier.
“You… you’re a mercenary hired by Kariel Serenia, right?”
Kim Sehyun was momentarily startled.
‘Why is Reina’s brother’s name coming up?’
He guessed this might be linked to why Elphior arrived earlier than expected, so he confirmed it.
“I don’t know where you heard that, but in that case, you must not be spared.”
As he prepared to attack, she waved her hands frantically.
“W-wait! I don’t know what he promised you, but I, no, Lost Paradise, will offer an even greater reward!”
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t it bothersome to protect some fallen noble? You have no reason to. If money is the goal, I’ll give you money! If rare weapons are the goal, I’ll provide anything! This isn’t my idea—it’s Lost Paradise’s!”
“Hmm…”
Kim Sehyun pretended to consider it, then lightly slashed her.
“Argh!”
“Don’t think about running. Unlike others, I don’t let my guard down.”
Elphior realized her plan had been completely read and panicked.
‘Not ordinary at all… maybe even stronger than Hazen…’
Both her first and second escapes were blocked, making Kim Sehyun’s strength feel overwhelming.
Feigning deliberation, Kim Sehyun asked Elphior:
“How do I know I can trust you? You just tried to run away!”
“T-then tell me what I must do to earn your trust.”
“That’s for you to figure out. You crawling?”
“N-no, it’s just that…”
While she frantically thought, Kim Sehyun suggested first:
“Tell me this, and I’ll trust you.”
“Anything!”
“I know you were planning to assault the academy in three weeks. Why attack today? No one should have leaked info, but I suspect a traitor among my acquaintances.”
This was why Kim Sehyun didn’t accompany Hazen.
Since the situation had changed, he needed to figure out the source.
“T-that’s because your first assault was completely thwarted. Someone realized the plan, so the attack was moved forward!”
Kim Sehyun analyzed her rambling answer and chuckled inwardly.
‘Hah, too well-defended, and that’s the problem.’
Yet a question remained.
“Then how do you know my employer’s name?”
“I-I don’t know! I only heard it from superiors!”
“Hmm, a bit disappointing.”
Kim Sehyun sighed and aimed his sword.
“W-why are you doing this?! I answered!”
“I said it. The answer is disappointing.”
Elphior pouted. Kim Sehyun asked one last thing:
“Then just answer this: who sent you to the academy?”
“I-I don’t know the details! Only that it’s someone from the Lumen Church…!”
Kim Sehyun let out a weary laugh.
‘Obvious question. I didn’t need to see—it must be him.’
The first part boss of Spell Breaker was Beryl Dout, the next archbishop.
Kim Sehyun believed only Beryl could have informed her about the academy and the dungeon’s side path.
Elphior, sensing his intention, cautiously asked:
“Then… since I answered, you’re joining our side, right?”
“Lies.”
“What?”
“I said lies. I’m not employed, nor a mercenary.”
Elphior’s expression briefly faltered before twisting into anger.
“How dare you toy with me?!”
She extended her recovered arm like a tentacle to strike Kim Sehyun, who stepped back.
He had been using 【Mana Compression】 continuously.
While aura has limits, magic does not, as long as there’s sufficient mana and skill.
With natural mana regeneration and the effect of the potion he drank, he had enough mana to execute the technique.
It started like 【Ignition】, but the energy from his body was overwhelming.
The strike, compressing all available mana, rivaled Hazen’s power.
【Serenia Style – Single Slash】
He lowered his stance, and red aura rings from his body grabbed Elphior. Flames erupted, erasing her trace.
Bang!
The strike reduced Elphior to nothing but the black core of the minion.
As long as the core remained, the minion could revive. It could not be destroyed by ordinary means, though there was a method to end the contract with the demon, which Serena had once discovered.
Kim Sehyun picked up the core and infused it with mana, gradually purging Elphior’s residual mana. When her mana was gone, the core shattered.
Watching the dust scatter, he felt a bitter aftertaste for taking a life, but it was necessary. Mistakes at critical moments could be fatal.
Reina had been rescued. Everything else could wait.
Kim Sehyun shook off the core’s dust and heard cheers echoing from afar. He smiled.
“Looks like the kids made it out safely.”
