chapter 21
* * *
Philip jumped up as if flying through the air and swung his sword.
The falling black object got caught in Philip’s sword, but he didn’t feel like cutting anything properly.
It was in the form of a lump made of wastewater, but Philip recognized the identity of the object in an instant.
‘Dark slime? Wait, what if?’
Half of the dark slime that was split in half hit Janice Murella.
“Kyaaah!”
Johnny’s screamed as a lump of black liquid hit his face.
“town! Whoops!”
She panicked in an instant as something soft and gooey began digging into her nose, mouth, and ears.
“miss!”
Stefan and Cheryl screamed.
Philip swung his sword at the remaining half of the dark slime in a cold sweat. In an instant, the dark slime, which was divided into several pieces, disappeared giving off foul smoke.
‘ruined. There must be a nucleus over there.’
Among the dark slimes that were split in half, the one that hit Janice seemed to contain a nuclear nucleus.
“What is this?”
Instructor Ferek hurriedly ran over and checked Janice’s condition.
“… … Slime?”
He hurriedly memorized the flame touch spell. Philip shouted.
“Stop!”
The side of the sword struck the cane held by Instructor Ferek. The magician’s weak grip could not withstand the swordsman’s blow.
Seeing Instructor Ferek’s gaze as if he was looking for an explanation, Philip quickly conveyed the information.
“He is a man who absorbs mana.”
Perek was greatly perplexed.
“yes? So what do you do… ?”
“fire! We need a fire made only with pure human power, without the use of magical powers.”
Philip was in a hurry.
Dark Slime was a terrible monster that only appeared in the middle of the original story.
It is not a naturally occurring monster, but a race that was born at the hands of demons, and is also called the ‘Wizard Grinder’.
If it is not removed beforehand, it will devour the victim’s brain and absorb the knowledge and experience to grow infinitely.
That meant the death of Johnnys Murella soon.
The best course of action was to douse it with oil and set it on fire as soon as it was found. However, flame magic was prohibited due to its ability to absorb mana, and since it was basically a liquid, it did not work well with swordsmanship.
As soon as he was in a hurry, Philip reached out to the dark slime that attacked Janice.
If I couldn’t open the way to breathe, she would die before I could solve the problem.
“… I can’t help it. Everyone stay away from me. It does not discriminate against the target.”
“I understand for now. Can you solve it?”
Instructor Perek asked, and Philip nodded.
“I can do anything.”
When his hand touched the body of the dark slime, Philip felt a terribly unclean aura pass through his hand.
As he raised his aura to the limit, the dark slime began to wriggle.
“okay. come to me.”
The demons injected only one instinct into the Dark Slime.
survival instinct.
Driven by an instinct to somehow survive and become a better being, Dark Slime soon began to move toward more palatable energy sources.
If reason had existed in it, it would have ended the life of Johnny’s, who was as good as the fish he had caught, but now it’s just a lump of inorganic matter.
Philip felt the dark slime climb up his arm. It was because Philip’s aura was more appetizing than Johnny’s mana.
My body trembled with fear and terrible discomfort.
Any misstep here would have his brain eaten instead of Johnny’s. But Philip was confident.
‘Come on, you bastard.’
Transformation of magical properties that I realized not too long ago. If you use it, you should be able to overcome the Dark Slime. Philip concentrated, forcibly ignoring the black fluid that came towards his face.
A power that symbolizes purification and destruction, opposite to the unclean and wicked mana that constitutes it.
That was the direction the secret book ‘Moonlight Sword’ pursued.
Soon, a faint halo of light emerged from Philip’s body. It was a pale light, like moonlight.
Philip sensed the dark slime’s struggle, like a scream. Soon it was about to break away from Philip’s arms.
“Instructor!”
Just then, Instructor Ferek threw down a robe that was on fire. It was strong firepower, as if it had been fed with oil.
It flew past Phillip and landed near Cheryl. Cheryl almost instinctively picked up the clothes and ran to Philip.
“Back off. It could be targeting you.”
Philip held on to Dark Slime, who was trying to get away, while remaining as calm as possible. Cheryl took a few steps back, and Phillip gritted his teeth and thrust his arm into the blazing flames.
The dark slime began to melt, giving off black, dirty smoke.
“… … .”
Philip didn’t remove his arm until his body was completely burned away.
Even though I protected my arm with an aura, I felt a burning pain. When he pulled his arm out of the flames, the sleeves that covered his skin had already turned to ashes.
“after… .”
As soon as Philip breathed a sigh of relief, the dungeon began to shake. It was as if an earthquake had occurred.
“school… Officer?”
“Everybody run!”
Philip exclaimed urgently. His honed instincts were screaming that this place would soon collapse.
If that was the case with Instructor Perek, he asked, looking at Philip.
“Instructor, move quickly!”
Even otherwise, Philip was already on the move. He lifted the unconscious Johnny in one arm and held Cheryl’s hand tightly.
However, the response was one step too late.
Phillip felt the ground cracking under his feet and hurriedly wrapped his arms around Cheryl’s waist.
It was clear that if I ran forward from here, the ground would collapse. The ground was so unstable that I didn’t even think it would withstand the weight of three people.
‘I’m going crazy. really.’
He sighed and called out to Perek and Priscilla.
“Take the students and get out of here. I will try to do something here.”
“Don’t talk nonsense! We must go out together!”
The moment Instructor Perek put a blood clot around his neck, the ground Philip was stepping on collapsed.
“Quaaa
Cheryl let out a sharp scream and hugged Philip.
* * *
Janice Murella opened her eyes with a shattering headache.
‘… breathe easy Am I alive?’
My body moved and my thoughts continued. Although the surroundings were dark, he was not blind.
“… Black.”
When I woke up, the first thing I felt was the fear, helplessness, and despair I felt until I passed out. The fear of death was too heavy for a sixteen-year-old girl to endure.
“Huh… Hee… .”
She cried and looked around. And soon she found Cheryl nearby, who was guarding her.
“miss?”
“She… reel?”
“Is your body okay? Are you not hurt anywhere?”
“I am… sniff… I think it’s fine. Where is this?”
“The basement of the dungeon. The ground collapsed while the young lady passed out… .”
Johnny’s suddenly felt uncomfortable. It was because Cheryl wasn’t looking at her. What’s more, Cheryl’s voice revealed a fear she couldn’t hide.
“What, what happened… ?”
Cheryl hesitated for a moment before answering.
“Instructor Philip fell with us while trying to protect us. After saying that the instructor was looking around, he went over there for a moment… .”
“Oh, people will come soon anyway. What’s the matter?”
“that is… I don’t think it will be that easy. It seems that the aisle has collapsed. Even if the academy sends a rescue team, I don’t think they’ll find this place any time soon… .”
The place they were in was a cave, not a dungeon. When Cheryl came to her senses, this place was blocked on one side, and the passage to the depths was on the other side.
“still… Because there is even an instructor… .”
Johnny’s thought as positively as possible. She knew about Philip. In the first place, there was no way that she, the daughter of a powerful family, would not have known him, a famous idiot among the nobles.
I just wasn’t interested.
At Johnny’s words, Cheryl forced a nod. In this situation, if Philip wasn’t there, I wouldn’t know if I would go crazy with fear.
But Cheryl couldn’t bear to speak.
To keep her and Janis from getting hurt, Phillip put himself on the bottom, injuring himself in the process.
“You have to move. I’m a magician who can be useful to the instructor. Maybe things will get better if I help.”
Johnny said that and got up from his seat. And at that moment she thought.
‘… Why is it so wet?’
The lower leg was strangely moist.
‘me… can i isn’t it? maybe me? Janice of the Murella family?’
No matter how much I denied reality, nothing changed. She cried and sniffed. It was an unbearable shame for her, who had lived her life beautifully.
“My lady, why are you like that?”
“ah… no. nothing.”
Even because of the smell, Cheryl couldn’t tell. Johnny’s noticed that Cheryl was deliberately pretending not to know.
Janis calmly accepted that consideration.
“… let’s go.”
“yes.”
Cheryl agrees that Johnny is one of the best wizards of her age. The two students followed Philip’s path at a distance.
“Is this blood?”
The two girls found bloodstains in the middle of the aisle.
“That, Instructor got hurt while taking the two of us with his body. maybe so… .”
Cheryl was also weeping. Johnny’s heart raced. She learned all possible fields of magic, but only healing magic was a field that required specialized talent, so she could not learn it.
The girls quickened their pace and eventually nearly caught up with Philip. Philip seemed to be facing something at the end of the passageway, at the passage leading to a large hollow.
Johnny’s body trembled involuntarily.
“uh… huh?”
“That… what… ?”
At that time, Philip sighed deeply, feeling the presence of the two girls who had followed him.
“Why don’t you just stay there?”
Giannis Murella trembled with fear and pointed his finger in the front.
“Instructor. That, what the hell is that?”
The one facing Philip had a human form.
However, it had wings made of skin, and its skin was much paler than that of a human.
Johnny’s almost hiccupped.
‘vampire… You’re a demon… .’
It was a vampire, a member of the demon tribe that only appeared in legends.
Johnny’s face was stained with despair. If that was really a vampire, Philip, she, and Cheryl would all die.
Vampires were treated on the same level as demons with titles. It was a story that even the best armed groups like the Aurum Knights and the Red Mage Tower were monsters that would never try to face them alone.
“… Kiik.”
The vampire smiled, revealing white fangs. Johnny’s hands trembled and he raised his wand.
‘It’s a headache.’
Philip thought so. His body was not normal.
No bones were broken or organs were damaged, but there was quite a bit of blood from scratches here and there. It was the same as giving all the vital points to the vampire in front of me.
‘Blood Manipulation’, a vampire’s innate ability, was so effective that it was called ‘authority’ against bleeding opponents.
It was less lethal to a swordsman who knew how to handle an aura, but it was easy for a vampire to make Philip bleed faster with his blood manipulation ability.
“Johnnys, Cheryl.”
Calling the students by name, Philip raised his sword.
If it led to a long-term battle, it would have been inevitable. I had to win at once.
Vampires, pure-blooded demons, would never die from minor injuries.
“I know you want to help me, but please do nothing and stay still.”
Truly forced, he had to use the moonlight sword he had only recently initiated.
Instead of the originally blue sword, instead of the iron sword that Neria brought, a pale moonlight tinged sword rose up.
It was the moment when the vision of ‘Otem’, the sword master of the distant past, was revealed to the world again.