---

The world doesn’t always flow as one desires, but I certainly never anticipated that the magic conjured by the Academy’s Headmaster would crash down upon us.

I hastily yanked Shione toward the ground, evading the Shaman’s trickery.

“Ugh…!”

“Stay still. This way you won’t be hit.”

Wearing heavy armored gear, I felt the jolt when my back hit the ground. Sorry, but I couldn’t afford to worry about that right now.

Keeping Shione beneath me, I stole a glance at the sky.

Boom—

At that moment, a thunderclap shook the very ground beneath us, a strike so powerful it overshadowed the pain of stubbing one’s toe on a doorframe.

As lightning carved its way upwards, I could only relax once the flash dissipated into nothingness.

“It seems alright now. That Shaman must have a few tricks up their sleeve.”

Muttering this, I looked down at Shione, who appeared startled, rapidly blinking up at me, her expression seeming a bit dazed as well.

“Did you hit your head?”

“No, no! Just surprised.”

“Well, we should get up. It seems we need to assist the Headmaster.”

At my words, Shione snapped out of her daze.

Getting caught up in the magical duel between wizards was the last thing we needed to do.

We quickly distanced ourselves to assess the situation.

“The demons from Professor Epheana’s side are getting cleaned up quickly. The students are escaping. The problem is…”

“It’s definitely that Shaman. Not only using Divine Power but also swallowing the Headmaster’s magic whole and throwing it back. Who knows what other tricks they might have?”

“True. Plus, if my instincts are correct—”

Shione’s magic spread thick around us.

Yet even amidst that, the Shaman occasionally pierced through her spells, weaving dark magic and attempting to counterattack the Headmaster.

The Headmaster easily parried the Elder’s assault, but there was nothing that could be done about the attack disrupting the flow he was trying to maintain.

“It seems the magical energy in the valley is entangled with that Shaman.”

“Is that really the case?”

“It’s just a hunch… but if it weren’t, that Shaman wouldn’t be able to use dark magic within my spells.”

Shione’s intuition was sharp.

However, no certainty emerged from our chatter, leaving us with no tangible thread to pull on.

“If so, we need to eliminate that Shaman first.”

One thing was clearly defined: what needed to be done.

“Damn it!”

Yelin pulled the arrow lodged in a wooden column, reclaiming her freedom of movement.

As she began to struggle into the fray of the Headmaster and Shaman’s battle, Shione and I rushed to support them.

‘First, we need to do something about the students.’

I felt sorry for my friends who had nearly died, but thanks to those who couldn’t escape in time, our side’s powerful mages were restrained from making their moves.

Especially Evan Feiosha.

The Headmaster had unleashed a big attack, but it wasn’t a place where he could dodge even if he wanted to.

The Shaman, well aware of this, and Yelin didn’t seem to be in a hurry to distance themselves from him.

For now, I quickly shot an arrow each at the remaining demons, catching Epheana’s eye.

Without needing to say anything, her smile and the direction of her gaze conveyed enough.

—Yelin, rescue Evan.

As the Royal personnel dispatched and the Headmaster exchanged blows with the Shaman, it seemed like they wiped out the demons guarding the vicinity.

Now that they seemed to be bothered by Yelin and Evan, I lightly nodded.

“Elvis, Tania, get ready.”

The enchanting power of the spirits imbued the arrow perched on the tight bowstring.

“With something that can obscure the view of that mage in the back.”

—That boy in the back shouldn’t get hurt, right?

“Correct, but you can roast the blonde mage.”

—With this much mana… it should be enough to incinerate their magic too!

The spirit’s flames possessed the power to burn away only the things I desired. However, it required a considerable amount of mana, a strength I hadn’t effectively utilized until now.

But I was different now. After being tossed around across the kingdom, my mana reserves had significantly swelled, making me feel bad comparing them to before.

‘For the shooting style, we’ll go with the thumb-style shooting.’

Having hastily swapped the bowstring, it was now set with a tighter pull.

I performed the movement to easily draw greater power. I placed the arrow on the thumb joint and pulled back.

Using the pinching technique with my index and thumb, contrasting with a Mediterranean style where I would load the bow between those fingers—and since this technique relies on the strength of the thumb, potential risks of not having a thumb joint were resolved by surrounding my mana.

With the bowstring taut, I focused on the warped bow, aiming for the target.

‘…If possible, I should be able to kill in one shot.’

I aimed for Yelin’s head with Dead Release.

Holding my breath for a moment and releasing a small gust of air, I waited for the tremor from my breathing to settle.

“……!”

As the sunlight reflected off the sharp arrowhead and caught Yelin’s attention, the arrow shot forth with a fierce velocity.

Bang—!

Noticing the arrow aimed at her head, Yelin immediately ducked.

I hastily infused enough magic into the arrow to give it recoil, but my arrow was not so easily dodged.

“Ugh!”

Instinctively raising her hand to block, Yelin’s palm turned, leaving a long gash across her cheek.

But that wasn’t the end of it. A veil of flames spread chaotically, obscuring the vision of both the Shaman and Yelin. More, it was burning their magic to nothing, leaving them with no time to escape the mess of mana I was letting loose.

As Yelin, now pinned against the wooden pillar, glared in frustration, the Elder spat out curses.

“I thought being a royal professor would mean you were enough to deal with it. And now even the Headmaster is caught off guard by a mere archer!”

“I saw the arrow…! She definitely used magic to change its trajectory—!”

Our knights and mages were not the type to waste this opening.

“Excuses later, Yelin.”

“Epheana…!”

“You said you’d end up dead anyway, didn’t you?”

Epheana unleashed a flurry of magic.

She was confident.

While the Divine Faculty’s leftovers had continuously interrupted her, and her fellow knights hadn’t been satisfactory, this time was different.

Furthermore, Yelin, in a rush to grab a potion strapped to her waist, was about to defend herself when—

“You won’t fall for the same trick.”

With that, her magic was unleashed.

A magic of precision that resembled that of a knight rather than a flashy explosion imbued itself into her body.

‘Is that amplification?’

An ancient magic I had learned simply by observing Shione’s practice.

As diverse spells coalesced onto her sword, peculiar tricks and reason took form within it.

Lightning-fast and sharp, enhanced by weight, Yelin’s arm was sliced off.

I expected she would go for Yelin’s neck next, but instead, she swiftly pulled Evan away and retreated.

“You filthy wench!”

“Right now, you should focus on royal knights instead of me.”

Yelin turned, confirming the knight’s sword was aimed at her.

At that moment, as she attempted to move to counter,

Brought face-to-face with the sensation of losing her arm, she collapsed, just as Epheana froze the ground beneath her feet.

“……!”

“Though of common birth, your talent was promising. What a shame.”

Woosh—

The sword pierced through her chest, sticking out the back.

Even so, Yelin strained to squeeze out the last drops of mana for magic.

It was only after the knight twisted the sword and pulled it out that her defiant gaze dimmed.

The only foes left were the Shaman and two knights up close. The situation was clearly about to come to an end. Yet for some reason, the Shaman still held onto hope.

“Do you think I’ll go down easily?”

The Shaman, releasing a thick stream of blood, began to collide with the knight’s expectations.

Suddenly, a beast emerged from the magic circle sprawled beneath Yelin, devouring her whole as the Shaman’s spirit surged.

Perhaps sensing something instinctively, as the knight stepped back, another beast burst forth from beneath him, vanishing just as swiftly.

“Everyone, step back!”

With the Headmaster’s shout, everyone retreated. Finally, the hidden storm of mana began to stir.

As I rushed back to Shione’s side, Epheana approached, carrying Evan, and spoke to us.

“Lady, and Sir, you should step back a bit further. The other students have already taken cover… staying here will only get you caught in the Headmaster’s magic.”

“Are you saying we’ll get caught even here?”

“The Headmaster is truly angry. Do you recall the incident 40 years ago, when the dragon’s roar echoed through the North?”

Did that imply there were even dragons alive in this world causing chaos?

“It seems the Lady is already aware, but you don’t seem to grasp it yet. Knight Ray, this is your first time hearing it.”

After being led by Epheana to widen our distance, she warned,

“Now that the students are out of the way, you’ll soon witness it firsthand. The Headmaster struggles with controlling his power.”

The magic unleashed by the Headmaster was akin to the blanket bombardments of mages I had expected.

A colossal force clashing shook the very ground. Whether the Shaman had endured the onslaught of spells or merely unleashed certain death remains unclear; however, the vast attack reflecting the Headmaster’s rage lit the valley like a signal flare.

We swiftly seized the upper hand, and soon enough, we could dispatch the remaining rabble.

[Quest Completed.]

A satisfying Status Window appeared.

However, what had been completed was merely the student rescue quest.

“This time, these cultists leave too many questions unanswered. The more Shaman we kill, the thicker the magical energy spreads through the valley…”

Ultimately, the battle ended, yet the aftermath brought up even more queries.

“Just how did that cultist come to wield Divine Power?”

The conclusion of the battle heralded the start of our questions, and we still had a mountain of mysteries to unravel.

 

---