The Overpowered Cult Leader at the Academy Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Episode 1 Mid-Boss (3)

"Fiery eyes you’ve got~"

We took a break in the corridor connecting the main building to the dormitory. It was after that exhilarating mid-boss fight. I went over the things I had prepared.

When I finished checking everything, my eyes fell on soone who felt unusually out of place. She stood upright, bouncing lightly as if showing off so kind of acrobatic trick.

Canis, catching my intense gaze, tilted her head. I fell into thought. I was debating whether I should go all out on this one.

If soone with this much power were to help, honestly, I’d be thankful. But I had no idea what she might ask in return, and I couldn’t be sure she’d help properly either.

"Want to help?"

"No."

There was no reason to take on a risk I couldn’t foresee. I turned down her offer, as perceptive as it was. It’s not like I couldn’t clear it alone. I had no intention of courting danger just to make things a bit easier.

"That’s cold~"

There was no need to entertain her further. Ignoring her words, I stepped inside. The mid-boss waiting at the end—‘Coco, the Tailor’—was a tough one on the psychological front. What kind of lunatic nas a guy ‘Coco,’ anyway?

As I passed through the hallway, I felt the air change. There should have been a decent number of students and even a rescue team nearby, but not a single trace of human presence could be felt.

"Spooky."

Canis rubbed both her arms as she muttered. I carved a mark into the shovel and moved forward.

There was still a long way to go until the dorm supervisor's office on the third floor. The ceiling structure wasn’t designed for movent, so getting through was extrely uncomfortable.

"The rescue team?"

After sensing the atmosphere, Canis seed doubtful about moving forward. Probably her mage's intuition. I shrugged. It would’ve been nice if a professor or the Imperial Knight Order could co, but things never go that smoothly.

"Hmm?"

Canis, humming a tune, spotted sothing. Even if it wasn’t her, anyone could have noticed the change.

I slowly looked around. Occasionally, there were signs of scraping. They converged at an entrance that had been flipped upside down and now stood relatively higher up. Traces of a few people having struggled to climb up.

Beyond that point were signs of battle. Buildings gouged or slashed here and there, and half-destroyed golems sprawled out carelessly.

"Looks easy."

"Doesn’t seem like it~"

"Can you shut up?"

Thanks to that, there were fewer mobs for us to deal with. Though, avoiding them completely was out of the question. The rescue team that had arrived earlier probably wandered without a clear destination.

The golems we encountered here were different from the ones before. The previous ones charged in like zombies, but these were like well-organized knights.

Two golems clad in armor of unknown origin. Their numbers had decreased significantly, but they moved with more precision, and their equipnt wasn’t bad either.

Canis’s nitpicking had just about killed my fighting spirit. I spoke irritably as I took my stance. The golem ard with a shield and sword charged in first.

"Hmph!"

The sword swung from behind the shield. It wasn’t fast enough to be unavoidable. Davide’s status was pitiful, but his sense was surprisingly sharp.

Even though he had no real experience in weaponry or combat, his body moved naturally. He easily dodged the attack and swung his club. The feel of hitting the shield was exhilarating.

"Wow, that’s filthy~"

The fight didn’t last as long as expected. Canis kept sniping with her comnts. This ti, I couldn’t say anything back. It really was too dirty to be called a standard battle.

I stepped on its foot, kicked its shin, and struck the sa spot again and again. When I tried to attack, I’d line it up so that another golem would be caught in the path—a perfect positioning. It was incredibly effective against golems that lacked finesse and judgnt.

Canis, who had been cheering on at first, eventually wore a cold expression. Just watching seed to make her irritated beyond belief.

"Wow~ amazing!"

—Petty.

"Will you shut up?"

The battle ended without much difficulty, but left behind a lingering discomfort. I stepped in myself to save my glass beads and stamina as much as possible. It was good to confirm the potential, but this wasn’t exactly the picture I had in mind.

The barrage of sarcasm kept coming, but I let it pass through one ear. Even Anger joined in to add a comnt.

"I wonder what it feels like to fight like that~"

—Sha. Suicide.

"Why~ that’s a perfectly valid way to fight~"

—Contempt.

"You two must really want to find out how sharp this shovel is with your bodies."

The pair, who had been teasing back and forth, fell silent. Canis knew that I had really stabbed a fellow student, and Anger had been thoroughly wrecked by the Lightning Spike not long ago.

After glaring at the two with their lips pressed shut, I moved on.

"How about making an expression like you're putting in effort?"

"I said shut it."

I heard that after taking down two more golems. My mood was complicated. I’d never learned swordsmanship, so there wasn’t much I could do. It was just a simple process of reading the attack, dodging it, and striking back.

Probably because of my body’s ingrained habits, I kept pulling all sorts of tricky, dirty moves without thinking. By the ti I realized it, I’d already brought my shovel down on the head of a golem that had fallen in an almost pitiful way.

"Big one with a shield over there."

I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being toyed with sohow, but I adjusted my grip on the shovel. I saw one wielding a kite shield that covered about eighty percent of its body. Behind it stood another holding a long spear.

It was a far trickier combination than the two sword-and-shield knights. These ones were much bulkier than the knight golems and filled most of the corridor. Targeting the spearman was practically impossible.

I ran with all my strength and kicked the shield. It didn’t budge much, easily blocking the attack. A sharp spear thrust ca through a small gap as the shield twisted slightly.

I backed off quickly, creating distance. I wanted to show sothing cool, but had no real way to do it. I took out a glass bead from my pocket.

I threw the glass bead at the left wall and charged in from the right. The shield-bearer, who instinctively raised his shield toward the incoming object, hastily twisted his shield to block instead.

The spearman thrust his spear at the glass bead and put on a bizarre little show trying to hit it.

"Idiot."

At the sa mont, the glass bead exploded. The electricity spread in an instant, freezing both golems in place.

Since they weren’t living beings, I couldn’t expect a full effect, but that alone was more than enough. I kicked off the wall, vaulted over the shield-bearer, and swung my shovel at the spearman’s head.

Rather than slicing, it felt more like smashing. Leaving the collapsing spearman behind, I shattered the ankle of the shield-bearer, who had just recovered from the shock.

"Try beating it the hard way for once."

I kicked the staggering shield-bearer over and drove my shovel into his back. I added a couple more strikes to the vital points for good asure, then looked at Canis.

She voiced her displeasure with a sowhat disapproving look. Why go to such trouble when it could’ve been easy? I shrugged.

We’d be reaching the boss room soon. No need to waste energy. Aside from so minor scratches, my body wasn’t in bad shape.

The rescue team’s tracks were clearly heading toward the dorm supervisor’s office. Hopefully, as many of them as possible were still alive.

I leaned against the wall, cooling my overheated body.

"Sit still for a bit."

"But I’m bored?"

"Then go fight."

"That’s even more annoying."

"Just piss off, will you?"

I snapped at Canis, who was bouncing in place like a ball. Her stubborn refusal to lift a finger made scowl.

Why had she even co along? Probably just to watch fight. I wouldn’t have minded if she stayed quiet, but her presence kept getting on my nerves.

I spat the words like I was chewing them, and only then did she seem to start thinking about sothing.

"Hold on a sec."

She asked for a mont. Magic power began to surge from her cupped hands as if catching rain. That energy, likely mana, passed through a certain spell process and began forming a jewel.

A transparent crystal with a faint blue hue. It blood like a plant—crude, but it took the shape of a sword.

Canis’s magic was sothing worth watching. A secret spell that only the Ulbushis family could use. The crystal sword slowly floated toward .

"How’s this?"

As if under a spell, I snatched it up. It didn’t feel like sothing made of re crystal. The semi-transparent blade bent the light, dazzling the eyes. I didn’t know about its durability, but it was certainly capable of delivering fatal damage.

There was just one thing bothering . The sword’s center of balance was heavily skewed toward the front.

"Did you make this for throwing?"

"Huh?"

"The weight’s all up front. This is basically a long throwing hatchet."

"...I hate you."

"Can’t you make it properly?"

Canis pouted and took the sword back. Only after a fancy flower blood near the hilt did she hand it over to again.

I nodded at the roughly corrected balance. The sharp sound it made when I swung it a few tis was quite to my liking.

"Can I go back to playing now?"

"Yeah. With this, sure."

I approached a half-broken golem to test it out.

"Huh? That sword’s durabi—"

Clang.

"—lity’s kinda low…"

I hadn’t put much strength into it, just gave it a light jab. Golems were sturdy enough that I normally had to go all out with the shovel to break them. But the sword pierced through it like cutting tofu.

It was impressive. Ridiculously sharp, and with that cursed durability. The crystal sword shattered completely from just that one unimpressive strike.

"Again."

"…Ugh, seriously…"

"'Ugh, seriously'?"

"Eek! N-No!"

"What’s with the tantrum? Make another one!"

If you’re going to make one, make it right. I figured the thin blade made from crystal wouldn’t be too durable, but breaking from a light poke was over the line.

I scolded her as she pouted and whined. This wasn’t the ti to ss around—it was an ergency, in its own way.

Canis, half-sniffling, made another crystal sword. This one was a bit thicker. Still didn’t look like it’d last many swings.

"Let’s go. Get up."

—Monster. Scum.

"Will you shut it? If you’re going to make sothing with this kind of durability, just fire off your magic instead."

"I was doing that…"

"Shut up."

Even Anger chid in to criticize , but I didn’t care. Who goes easy on soone who’s openly trying to make you burn through your resources?

Canis knew that too and just grumbled with a mischievous pout. Here, Anger was the only one seriously losing it.

Loosening up a bit, we moved forward. I ca to a stop in front of a door. It looked completely ordinary—too plain to be the boss room. But the aura leaking out from within was far from ordinary.

"The trail leads inside?"

"I don’t hear anything, though."

The rescue team’s tracks continued into the boss room. But not even the tiniest sounds of battle could be heard.

Naturally, my thoughts went to the worst-case scenario. The battle was already over. It was highly unlikely they had cleared the mid-boss, which ant they had all been taken out. Clicking my tongue, I stepped into the dorm supervisor’s office.

"What the hell is that?"

The space had expanded dramatically. What was once a modest ten-pyeong room now resembled a small auditorium. The lack of sound was likely due to magical interference.

In front of us, pieces of the building were flying through the air in chaos. ‘Coco, the Tailor’. Wearing a brown robe, the mage flicked his hand, launching massive chunks of debris like missiles.

Taking those attacks were Soloven, wielding a shield wreathed in flas, and a familiar head of white hair.

"Why is she here?"

I clearly told her to stay put. Winter was dodging the incoming attacks with tears streaming down her face like a baby chick. She tripped several tis but sohow managed to narrowly avoid each strike.

Seeing a familiar face made my heart race.

"Go to Winter."

I left a word for Canis and dashed in. Several first-years and mbers of the rescue team lay scattered around the room, turned to stone. Traces of petrification magic were evident. The rescue team must’ve fought well if abilities from phase two had already shown up.

Thanks to that, the guy I’d been looking for was also left abandoned, turned to stone. Soloven displayed the prowess worthy of her position as second-year top student.

With just a slight twist of her shield, she disrupted the trajectory of the heavy debris. She held her ground, compensating for Winter’s limited movent range from a fixed position.

Coco noticed us and began preparing a powerful spell. It wasn’t anything fancy—he was just throwing all the debris at once instead of one by one.

But in the context of needing to block it, that was no joke. Soloven gritted her teeth at the sudden shift and braced her rear foot to prepare for the incoming impact.

—Zzzzzkt! Boom!

I quickly threw five glass beads. They collided with the giant debris, releasing violent electric explosions and forcing the barrage off-course.

Soloven’s startled gaze shifted toward .

"Protect Winter."

I passed her and dropped a word. Winter still wasn’t fit to survive here. But now that phase one was over, it shouldn’t be a problem.

"...You—!"

"Winter."

"…"

"Protect her."

I cut off Soloven as she tried to speak. Clearly exhausted, she hesitated for a mont before stepping back with a conflicted expression.

I turned my eyes once again to Coco, floating high in the air.