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The bike slammed down onto the deck of the airship, as if descending from the sky.

Crash!! Screech—!!

With an incredibly harsh landing sound, the tires let out a scream against the deck, leaving deep skid marks as they came to a stop. The smell of burnt rubber filled the air.

Everyone’s jaws dropped wide open. They momentarily lost the ability to react to this bizarre intruder’s sudden arrival.

Although he was an uninvited intruder on the airship carrying the princess, given the circumstances, one might think he had come to rescue her. But how on earth did he manage to approach an airship floating 1,000 meters in the sky?

To those who weren’t aware that Ion had ramped up the bike to top speed and used Osnia’s teleportation to arrive, it seemed as if he had flown up to the sky on the bike in an instant.

The crew of the airship didn’t know how to respond to the situation and turned their gazes to Elizabeth, the ship’s captain.

And as for Elizabeth, she had been wide-eyed and frozen in shock since the moment Ion appeared on the bike.

“Instructor Ion…?”

It was an unexpected occurrence. That he would appear here.

No matter how remarkable a hero of the continent might be, I never considered the possibility that he could reach such heights. No matter how superior his combat abilities were, he couldn’t possibly fly. Only a wizard like the red sage could manage to arrive at such an altitude.

Moreover, the airship was constructed with the Empire’s cutting-edge technology, and magical jamming was deployed in the area. It was a fortress in the sky, impossible for even a great mage to approach recklessly.

Honestly, even if help were to arrive, I thought it would be from the Knight Order or the Mage Guild on the ground; I never imagined someone would fly directly toward the airship from such a height.

Eradicating a terrorist organization and rescuing students in a midnight forest, and saving a princess faced with an assassination threat—those two scenarios drew entirely different levels of interest.

Inevitably, external attention would be drawn, and a situation might arise where he could no longer conceal his identity. He could be targeted by those who might think he was part of a faction behind the assassination.

But Ion did it. For a student he had only just met.

Faced with someone who had come to rescue her, Elizabeth felt more puzzled than relieved. Did he fully understand this situation? Was his decision to come here made after considering everything?

Why?

While Elizabeth looked on, stunned, Ion spoke calmly as if it were an ordinary day. His demeanor was no different from that during class.

“You’re safe.”

Those words were uttered with the concern of an instructor worried about his student’s safety.

Elizabeth hesitated for a moment about how to respond to him.

However, before she could answer, a loud commotion erupted on the deck.

It was Doctor Brown’s voice. He looked more haggard than before and greeted Ion cheerfully.

“Hey! Look who’s here!”

“Doctor, you’re here too.”

“This airship is like my own child! Of course, I need to see it soar!”

“That child of an airship seems to be about to explode again…”

“If my calculations are perfect, it won’t explode this time! But I appreciate your coming. I just don’t know what you can do in this situation!”

Ion quickly scanned the deck. Even now, the airship was gradually descending, and it seemed inevitable that it would crash to the ground like a bird with broken wings if it lost its balance for even a moment.

His gaze lingered briefly on Colonel Alfred, the captain of the airship. The moment his gaze fell on the captain, it momentarily froze before quickly shifting back to the doctor as he asked, “What’s the situation?”

“It’s not good! Very serious! The main problem is that the engine is completely out of commission, and the ship has lost power. The flames are stronger than before, so we can’t even go inside. It’s a fire on top of a fire, and even if we want to repair the engine, the ship will fall before that can happen!”

“Hm…”

Ion thought for a moment, then abruptly strode toward the engine room filled with flames as if he had made a decision. Doctor Brown gasped and shouted in panic.

“Are you crazy!? Going in there barehanded will turn you into a charred corpse! And what can someone without mechanical knowledge do in there!”

“Isn’t it just a matter of supplying power to the ship?”

“What, what did you say…?”

There was no need to enter the engine room through a door. Half of the deck had been torn away by an explosion, so the flaming engine located in the center of the airship was clearly visible from the deck.

Ion leaped fearlessly into the flames. He was too fast for anyone to stop him.

Those watching gasped and drew in breath, but the painful screams they expected to hear as he burned were nowhere to be found.

While the academy’s instructor robes could withstand a certain level of heat like students’ uniforms, they couldn’t provide enough protection to survive in such flames. Nevertheless, Ion pushed forward through the fire as if he were completely unaffected.

Ignoring the destroyed engine, Ion approached the turbine connected to it. He gripped the fiery red-hot turbine tightly.

Sizzle!

As he clutched the turbine, it sizzled against his gloves. But Ion didn’t care and pushed the turbine with all his might.

Creeeak, screech—!

The turbine had automatically locked because the engine had stopped. However, the strength he exerted was so immense that the locking mechanism was torn away, and the turbine gradually began to turn.

Everyone watching gasped in shock, their mouths agape. Doctor Brown, too, muttered in a mix of disbelief and astonishment.

“My goodness… is that really the power of a human?”

“Doctor, is that really such a difficult task? If you had just told me how—”

“Those parts weigh several tons, Lady Katarina. Can you really move that with your bare hands?”

“Se-several tons? That’s…”

It was possible. For a very brief moment. If all her magical energy were focused into her Strengthening Technique to amplify her strength, it could be manageable.

But simultaneously maintaining a magical barrier to protect herself from flames while also amplifying her strength, and continually moving that heavy part weighing several tons?

Even Master Class Katarina wouldn’t be able to do such a thing. Yet the man before her was doing just that, and he didn’t even seem to be using any Strengthening Technique.

Who on earth was this person? Although the princess called him an instructor, he was demonstrating feats that an ordinary instructor could never achieve.

Whirr, whirr, whirr!!

The speed at which Ion turned the turbine began to pick up. With that, the turbine accelerated. Each time he pushed the turbine as if it could push mountains, the airship steadied itself from its rough swaying.

The crew of the airship cheered.

“It worked! We’re saved!”

“Everyone! It’s not over yet! Just because the power has returned doesn’t mean everything’s fixed! The ship could explode together with the engine at any moment! We need to ditch the ship as soon as we land safely!”

“Understood! Doctor!”

Following Doctor Brown’s orders, the crew swiftly sprang into action to prepare for landing. Fortunately, the cockpit and other essential components hadn’t been destroyed, so even with black smoke pouring out, the airship began its descent in search of an open space.

Doctor Brown turned to the side with an embarrassed expression.

“Oops, my bad! I didn’t mean to overstep your authority as captain.”

“It’s fine. Doctor, you know this ship better than any mere captain.”

Colonel Alfred nodded heavily in agreement.

“By the way, this is indeed a big deal.”

“Yeah, it’s definitely a big deal. An event like this occurring on parade day—I’m not sure if my beloved airship will even be able to be built again…”

“No, that’s not it.”

Worrying about the airship more than the princess’s safety—such a statement was truly classic of Doctor Brown, renowned for his eccentric engineering. However, Alfred paid no mind to that and continued.

“I never expected The Faceless Hero to intervene. I wanted to avoid taking direct action unless absolutely necessary.”

“Huh?”

Before Doctor Brown could comprehend the meaning of those words, Colonel Alfred drew his sword.

A rough blue magical energy burst forth from his entire being, and he charged toward Elizabeth like an arrow. The blue magical light left a long afterimage in its wake.

“You scoundrel! How dare you…!”

Katarina responded late to the attack. She swiftly drew her sword to stand in front of Colonel Alfred, but she stared wide-eyed at the deep blue aura surging from his sword.

Kaaang!

She hurriedly raised her sword to counter the attack. Though she avoided being sliced in half in one blow, being caught off guard still sent her sprawling backward.

That was Alfred’s intention. Now, there was no one left to stop him in front of the princess.

“Your Highness!!”

Upon turning her head, Elizabeth witnessed her escort being sent flying in an instant.

“Stop—”

She opened her mouth to cast a spell, but it was already too close. Before she could properly complete the word, Colonel Alfred’s sword was undoubtedly descending toward Elizabeth’s neck.

‘Ah…’

For a brief instant, she felt the unavoidable presence of death.

Just then. Faster than Alfred’s sword, something was shot toward him. It was a long blood-red spear, sharp as a thorn.

Alfred instinctively swung his sword to parry the strike aimed straight at his heart, but the immense power behind the spear merely altered its trajectory slightly.

Purrk!!

“Graaah!!”

The spear pierced Alfred’s shoulder, continuing its flight until it embedded itself in the wall. Alfred remained stuck to the deck, mouth agape in agony as he let out a blood-curdling scream.

Alfred’s gaze laboriously followed the direction from which the spear had come.

There stood Ion, arms extended powerfully as he glared at him with a chilling gaze.

 

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