NOVEL NEXT Chapter 77
A sudden intruder.
Everyone’s gaze was fixed on the female student who appeared through the wall.
Confusion, shock, disbelief, annoyance.
Negative glances filled the space. Elisa shrank under those stares but swallowed hard and reached out to the girl.
“Quick, come this way!”
Time, which had stopped, began to move violently again. Cain and three unidentified men. And Elisa and Viola. The ground rumbled like it was going insane. Since a total of five feet were pounding the earth.
Fortunately for Viola, she was standing closest to Elisa and could barely reach Elisa before Cain’s group. The moment Elisa felt a soft touch in her hand, she immediately pulled it back. With a heavy weight, her body fell back.
With a sound like the view spinning, the two tumbled through the passage. There was no time to close the door.
“Ah!”
“Ouch…”
“What is this passage? Why is that girl here! Hurry up and chase them!”
“We’re not your subordinates.”
“Then are you going to mess this up?”
The voice filled with annoyance quickly snapped the two, who were still disoriented, back to their senses.
They had to run. Far away. And fast.
Without caring who was first, the two started running down the passage. Fortunately, there was enough width in the passage for them to run, so they squeezed every ounce of strength to dash through the tiny tunnel. The direction was the opposite of Yeomyeong-gwan. It was Elisa’s decision made in a dizzying situation.
If they were caught going to Yeomyeong-gwan, things would get a lot more complicated.
“I never knew there was a place like this!”
“Th-that’s because it was just made not long ago…”
“Just made not long ago?!”
Her curious gaze swept over the tunnel. From her perspective, she was full of curiosity about this tunnel, but curiosity wasn’t the problem right now. If they got caught by the men chasing them from behind, they wouldn’t even have time to satisfy their curiosity before facing a dire fate.
The two ran through the tunnel in a frenzy.
Their hearts raced and their feet ached, but there was no time for the two to stop and rest. The distance between them and the kidnappers was gradually closing in. No matter how fast they ran, there was a fundamental difference in speed.
Unless it were the Knight Department, the poor physical abilities of Alchemy and Magic Department students, who were buried in research in their little rooms, would be caught in no time. The only reason the two hadn’t been caught yet was solely thanks to Viola, who was behind Elisa, throwing potion bottles.
“You bitch! Just wait until I catch you!”
“Am I gonna get caught? Get lost! You can’t catch the genius Viola of the Alchemy Department!”
Breathless and full of bravado, Viola shouted. It was so obvious she was bluffing, but bizarrely enough, Cain and the kidnapper’s faces were turning bright red at the idea of losing track of Viola and Elisa.
They had never expected things would turn out this absurdly wrong.
“Shit!”
“Cai, what the hell is going on? Didn’t you say there were no secret passages?!”
“I didn’t know either! If I had known there was a passage like this, I would’ve used it ages ago!”
‘Things have gone to hell.’
According to the original plan, they should have already escaped the academy by now. But Elisa’s unexpected appearance had thoroughly messed things up. If things kept going like this, it was clear that the security forces would become suspicious of him, and if this matter got caught, it wouldn’t be easy to brush it under the rug even with his connections, causing Cain to become anxious.
‘…If things get messed up, might as well…’
Should I bury it all? This tunnel was a place he didn’t even know about. Even amidst the urgent chase, he had successfully closed the door of the secret passage, so this place was close to a sealed room. If he could somehow kill them all here…
‘…There’s no need to take a risk yet.’
It was said that businesses with great returns inevitably come with high risks, but that didn’t mean he had to forcibly take on risks. Cain pushed the plan of killing all the kidnappers and female students to the back of his mind and wrapped his whole body with magic.
He was once a swordsman from the Knight Department.
Until now, he had been unable to gain speed due to the potion bottles coming at him, but they hadn’t been flying at him for a little while now. In other words, the only choice left for those two was to keep running.
It was an important piece of information.
‘…It’s a chance to catch my last target, Elisa, in one go.’
“Get out of the way! I’ll catch her!”
Turning crisis into opportunity. Cain admired his judgment, putting force into his toes. His body shot forward like a bullet. The terrifying speed made the kidnappers directly in front of him bounce off. The backs of the two female students that had been some distance away were suddenly getting closer.
“Wh-what do we do?! If we get caught…”
“I don’t know! Run!”
In a situation where their breath was caught in their throats, they both felt they would be caught soon. It was only natural. That unpleasant 3rd Platoon Captain wouldn’t have gotten into the position by chance; he was a man who had excelled in the Knight Department, and his skills hadn’t dulled.
“What the hell is that speed?!”
Viola’s scream echoed through the tunnel.
A pursuer running at a speed that could only be compared to a horse. As much as they ran, the two with the stamina of an ordinary female student were fated to be caught. To twist such a fate…
‘Use, I have to use it!’
It was impossible to escape by running, so there was only one choice left. But Elisa couldn’t help but hesitate.
‘If I’m found out, I might get expelled from the academy. And…’
The end wouldn’t be just expulsion. At least in her mind, that’s how it was. A witch would be treated the same as a dark sorcerer. If her existence was discovered, it wouldn’t just be her that would be harmed. A look of fear appeared on her face as she thought of Professor Lennon.
‘I don’t want to be expelled.’
She had studied hard to repay the kindness of Professor Lennon, who raised her. She had dreamed of graduating from the academy with flying colors and helping Professor Lennon as his successor. That small dream was on the verge of shattering.
But if she got caught, her dream would shatter like a glass dropped on the floor.
‘I have no choice but to use it.’
“Y-you go first!”
“What? What do you mean? The opponent is the 3rd Platoon Captain!”
“I-I have a plan!”
Elisa, running ahead, slowed her pace and moved behind Viola. Using magic required a brief moment of focus. Ultimately, she had no choice but to fall behind. Viola hesitated for a moment, but then kicked off the ground and ran. There was nothing she could do to help.
“I’ll find someone! You can’t get caught!”
With Elisa’s voice fading into the background, she closed her eyes. A witch’s magic didn’t require complex formulas or precise mana manipulation. It simply necessitated a desperate prayer to bring magic into the world as she wished.
Elisa clasped her hands together and closed her eyes.
A sense of calm flooded her heart.
On Elisa’s face, soaked with sweat, tranquility found its place. Even the 3rd Platoon Captain, who had been rushing to catch her, momentarily slowed down, taken aback by her aura. Though Cain didn’t know much about her, he unsheathed the sword at his waist at her unexpected behavior.
Whatever she did, he would cut her down.
‘I have to block the path!’
“Don’t come any closer!”
As if to represent her unwavering will, massive roots emerged in the tunnel. Roots taken from trees near the tunnel. The thick roots filled the passage, forcing the 3rd Platoon Captain to stop in his tracks.
“I haven’t heard of such magic before.”
“She’s a witch. That girl is a witch! We must capture her! If we can at least capture her—”
“Don’t get in my way! You’re annoying!”
Cain abruptly silenced the panicked voice of the kidnapper who had lagged behind, channeling magic into his sword. A grayish aura flowed gently from the sword. The ominous energy a knight ought to be able to wield. Aura.
“Such things cannot stop me!”
The sword was swung diagonally. The gray aura transformed into a crescent-shaped blade of energy and flew toward the roots. The roots, trying to resist, hardened but were just roots after all. No matter how strong the roots were, they were ultimately just roots. They were inevitably cut, scattering sap as they fell.
‘I-I’m going to get kidnapped…’
Having forced herself to use magic in her utterly exhausted state, Elisa had no strength left to run. She merely stared blankly at Cain, who was approaching her with a twisted smile as darkness clouded her vision.
‘Th-that person must have escaped…’
She had saved someone. A faint smile crossed Elisa’s lips. Although she would be caught, if that person was safe…
“Ahhh!”
With a shock striking her stomach, Elisa rolled and screamed. She couldn’t breathe properly. Holding her belly, Elisa gasped for air.
“You worm. You should’ve stayed in your academy like usual. What do you think you’re doing crawling out here?”
Anger-filled eyes were fixed upon her face.
Elisa could only tremble.
‘It hurts, it hurts…’
The pain in her stomach was horrendous with every breath she took. It was the first time she had ever experienced such suffering. Elisa looked up at Cain through her blurry vision. She couldn’t see his face clearly, but she believed without a doubt that there was a twisted smile on his lips.
“Do you know how much loss we’ve suffered because of you?”
Cain’s boot crushed Elisa’s face. She could do nothing but be exposed to Cain’s violence in her powerlessness.
Her consciousness was fading.
A single tear streamed down her cheek.
“That’s enough. This girl is my most important bargaining chip…”
“There are many bugs here.”
“What?”
A strange voice.
It was hard to tell whether it was a man or a woman, as the voice echoed.
Cain and the kidnappers narrowed their eyes at the source of the voice coming from beyond the passage. A small lamp was visible. Cain rested his hand on the hilt of his sword and spoke.
“Who are you?”
“You don’t need to know who I am. For now, I suggest you cool your head first.”
“What? You crazy bastard…”
“Craf-”