The Overpowered Cult Leader at the Academy Chapter 22

Chapter 22

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[Laboratory of Perdikaf] was an event dungeon. An easy difficulty level for its recomnded stage.

If you had the specs to clear Episode 9, it wouldn't pose any trouble. The problem was that I had just barely cleared Episode 1.

"A bit cold."

The monsters that would normally have rushed at were nowhere to be seen. Even the generators that powered the laboratory weren't running.

I strolled around at my leisure. It felt like visiting a tourist attraction. The faint light radiating from the Holy Scripture gave the place a gentle atmosphere.

The surfaces—too clean to be made of stone—caught my eye. So did the occasional strange letters engraved into the walls.

"Hmm."

I paused in front of a door in the middle of the hallway, debating. Should I check every room one by one, or head straight to my destination?

Clearing it quickly was ideal, but if I checked everything, I'd likely find plenty worth taking. This wasn't an opportunity that ca often.

I opened the door and stepped inside.

"Pretty, actually."

For a laboratory, it wasn’t all sharp lines and coldness. This place felt more like a temple or ancient ruins.

Looking at the delicately carved decorations, I found myself captivated by the scenery. The soft lighting added the finishing touch.

"Found sothing, at least."

That was enough gawking. I started looking for anything that might be worth money. Soon, I spotted a painting on the wall that looked expensive.

Unfortunately, it was too large to carry out. I stared at it in silence. The painting showed a man sitting on a chair.

"Perdikaf, maybe."

Pale skin untouched by sunlight and a face full of wrinkles. A firm mouth and piercing eyes—an old man with a stubborn look.

His impression was sharp, but I didn’t feel much. Embarrassingly, once you’ve experienced the first impression of Anaye, soone like this feels trivial.

Whether or not he was really Perdikaf, I couldn’t say. His na only ca up among students from ti to ti. In the ga, this area was simply marked as [Laboratory—301].

"Looks like a living space."

The furniture scattered about seed connected to daily life. People probably lived here once.

When I rifled through the desk and drawers, I found ancient gold coins. Real coins made of actual gold. They still held a golden sheen, untouched by tarnish or corrosion.

Their value would depend on rarity, year, and condition, so I didn’t know the exact price, but just in terms of pure gold content, each would be worth about 19 Knuckles.

‘Do I even need to check the kitchen?’

Next, I arrived at the kitchen—or more accurately, what seed to be a dining area. Since I’d decided to search thoroughly, I planned to leave no stone unturned.

I ignored any art pieces, since I didn’t know their value, but I took everything that looked expensive—tal or gemstone alike.

About a third of the backpack provided by the combat departnt was now full. A smile crept onto my lips.

"Hmm."

As I casually gathered items while chuckling to myself, a sudden sense of unease crept in.

This place had been a facility for conducting so sort of research. The fact that it was built underground and required a special key already implied that it had housed sothing important.

Even if the generator wasn't running, I was moving around far too freely. What bothered was that there weren’t even the most basic security asures in place.

My knowledge from the ga wasn’t much help once I’d infiltrated this far.

“If it were ...”

I would’ve installed an ergency generator, or security devices that operated without needing the generator’s mana.

There’s no way intelligent researchers wouldn’t have thought of what even I considered. Unable to shake the discomfort, I left the dining hall.

“Looks ssy.”

The next place I arrived at felt more serious. I’d never been to a modern laboratory before, but this might be what it looked like.

Papers were strewn everywhere, filled top to bottom with writing I had never seen before. I tried reading them out of curiosity, but couldn’t make sense of any of it.

Disinterested, I rummaged through the piles of docunts. These might hold historical value, but I had no way to sell them.

Just in case, I packed away one bundle that looked well-organized.

“Tastes good. Really good.”

I chuckled for the first ti in a while. I’d felt it back when dealing with the Forest Guardian too, but it really was delicious when things ca easy.

There wasn’t anything that would be considered a jackpot, but I’d still gathered valuables and gold coins here and there. My backpack now carried a pleasant weight.

I sat down against the wall. I was tired from walking for so long.

“Surprisingly decent.”

It was edible. I chewed on so dried jerky I’d brought. It was pork soaked in salt to keep it from spoiling.

The texture resembled tree bark, and it was extrely salty, but there was a unique spice that gave it just enough flavor to eat.

“Hup.”

I only stood up after drinking down half my water flask. I hadn’t even reached the main lab yet. I planned to check it out before escaping.

I already knew the path from the main research lab to the exit well. There wasn’t much known about [Perdikaf’s Laboratory].

That was because the clues provided in the ga were extrely limited. All I knew was that the place had been used to study the power of so quasi-transcendent being.

I’d gotten excited thinking it might be an event boss, but the actual being was gone, and only its leftover remnants had welcod .

After looping around, I finally found a door that looked different from the others I’d seen so far.

“Was it shaped like this?”

I clearly rembered the appearance of the main research lab’s entrance. The doors I’d seen before had been wooden. But the door before now was made of stone.

I gave it a light push, but it didn’t budge—solid and immovable. I examined the area around it. In the center of the massive door, nearly three ters tall, was a hole just big enough to fit a fist.

“Oh.”

When I brought my hand near it, a blue magic circle appeared. Circular in shape and complex in design, it resembled a ritualistic shield.

At the center of the magic circle, the shape of a right hand appeared. It was a system that verified identity by placing your right hand into that spot.

I took out the dagger I had brought with . Using the blade, I cut my palm. Blood quickly pooled in my upturned hand.

—Clack. Thunk.

I brought my blood-filled hand to the magic circle. The circle, now touched by red blood, blinked a few tis before vanishing.

After that, I heard sothing moving beyond the door. The sound continued for quite a while.

Once it stopped, I slowly opened the door. The solidly sealed door began to move little by little.

“Guess I’ll need to et with the alchemist division.”

A laboratory designed to be cleared by solving every puzzle as a mage—yet I bypassed all of that by splashing so blood a few tis.

Of course, most of the puzzle elents were concentrated in the main research lab, so at best I’d progressed about 30%. Honestly, I felt I’d done well just to make it this far.

‘Is this the control room?’

The room I entered wasn’t the main research lab I had expected.

It was a space with one wall completely open. If you didn’t know it was a lab, its structure could easily be mistaken for a gladiator arena’s VIP seating.

Avoiding the piles of scattered junk, I walked toward the open side. It was clearly a place built for observing sothing from high above.

A place now only faintly lit.

“……”

I ca face to face with sothing I absolutely should never have encountered.

A pure, primal terror I was feeling for the first ti since arriving in this world.

[Difficult Dungeon] was a ga that made excellent use of interactive elents. Bosses could change depending on the character’s background, actions, achievents, dialogue, and many other factors.

A boss you fought in your first playthrough could beco your ally in the second. And vice versa.

There weren’t that many choices overall, so most things followed predetermined paths. The system was a asure designed for veteran players who wanted to challenge different bosses.

But so beings were unaffected by such interactions. Those destined to beco evil. Key figures of the storyline who would inevitably clash with you in the end.

Characters like Corrupted Bereninche, the Head of House Duhein, and the Spider of Absolute Evil.

“Why is that here?”

The structure was a circular building built around a hollow pit. I stood against one wall. Looking down through what must once have been a massive glass panel, I saw countless chains.

All of those chains existed for the sole purpose of binding a single being. On the left, white hair. On the right, black hair. A striking contrast.

A woman, wearing not a single piece of clothing, her head bowed, bound by chains. Her body emitted a faint, glowing light.

"Feels like PTSD is kicking in..."

[Lost Queen, Astral]. The unchanging final boss of Episode 9 out of the 13 episodes.

The Calamity of the Stars had appeared before my eyes. Eleven hours of trial and error—an absolute disaster.

"These guys… they’re just insane."

Research on a quasi-transcendent being. Even that should have its limits. That woman was a literal catastrophe.

Resurrected with help from the shadowy mastermind, the first thing she did was lay waste to the southern part of the Empire. That single attack wiped out 10% of the nation's territory.

Suppressing her was the central goal of Episode 9. You couldn’t clear it alone—you had to bring every nad character you could find.

What I realized after countless attempts was this: she was the only boss I considered stronger than Bereninche.

The lunatics who ran research here had made such a being into an experint subject. You'd have to have a death wish—or no sense of fear at all.

▶ You have been afflicted with status effect [Fear].

Cold sweat began to break out.

High-tier entities—like demigods or high spirits—naturally possessed a skill called Fear.

It activated just by recognizing their presence. A mind-type skill that forcibly induced terror. In the end, it was a technique designed to drive people insane.

If Winter were here, it wouldn’t be an issue—but she wasn’t.

"What the hell is this... what kind of absurdity..."

I slowly cald my trembling body. In this ga, status ailnts didn’t wear off on their own.

If I didn’t recover soon, I’d quite literally go insane.

'Too valuable to walk away.'

But I couldn’t bring myself to turn back so easily. The greater the risk, the greater the reward—that’s just how the world worked. Naturally, that disaster incarnate ca with jaw-dropping rewards.

Gear, skills, bonds, even rare materials. If I wanted to play it safe, running away would be the right call.

But Astral being in a weakened state was an opportunity I couldn’t afford to miss. I had to at least secure so kind of material—like a strand of hair, anything.

Rationality and instinct began to clash.

"Ugh..."

In the end, instinct won.

I approached the place where Astral was bound, throwing caution to the wind. It was hard to see in the dark, but the area was covered in bloodstains.

I couldn’t begin to guess what had happened here.

I knew that unless it was the magic of the true mastermind, there was no way she’d wake up. I knew that—and I was still scared out of my mind.

It hit again just how terrifying greed was, to push forward in spite of all this fear.

"What kind of person could..."

Up close, she looked even larger. Around 5 ters tall. The sheer size, comparable to a small building, was overwhelming. I slowly scanned my surroundings.

The Fear status still worried , but better to take precautions than to touch sothing and trigger a disaster.

Astral’s skin was, quite literally, cracked. Like a glass doll with fractures running through her. Fortunately, I found a few strands of her hair beneath her.

"...Hic."

While collecting the hair in a rather humiliating posture, I suddenly felt sothing off. Slowly, I raised my head.

My eyes t Astral’s. I froze on the spot—only then realizing that there was no focus in her eyes.

There didn’t seem to be anything else worth taking. Skills or bonds were obtained through subjugation. Equipnt or artifacts could only be acquired after defeating her.

"Hoo."

Just as I was about to make my exit, sothing grabbed my attention again. Sothing oddly eye-catching. A piece of tal embedded in the wall.

When I pulled on it, it ca out without much resistance. Its shape resembled a sharp arrowhead or maybe a pointed fingertip. Several similar pieces were stuck in the wall.

The tal shard had a symbol engraved on it. A butterfly pattern marked with a pentagram. It was the symbol representing Astral.

The sa symbol was etched into her collarbone.

"Was it not a fight?"

At first, I thought a battle had taken place. The bloodstains and all. But a closer inspection didn’t add up.

It was more like a ritual. The bloodstains were forming a deliberate pattern.

I hadn't gotten anything like this tal after defeating Astral before, but it didn’t seem like ordinary tal. I collected a few of the shards.

▶ A Faith Quest has been triggered.

As I touched the symbol engraved on the tal, a system notification rang out.

A sudden Faith Quest. As if under a spell, I opened the quest window.

▶ Faith Quest: [Anaye’s Regret]

Anaye is a hero proud of the path she has walked. However, there is one thing even she regrets.

Anaye wishes for her first child to resolve the sin she left behind.

Condition — Salvation of Astral.

Reward — Skill: Eye of the Celestial Body.

I froze in place. The connection between Astral and Anaye was concerning, but more importantly—the reward.

The Eye of the Celestial Body. Anyone who’s fought Astral as a boss would know that mont of helplessness. That instant-death chanic in Phase 2. Unless you had a specific NPC with you, it ant unavoidable mass extinction.

The prelude to [Starfall], where several teorites the size of buildings rained down. That was the skill being offered as a reward.

I glanced over at Astral. Her half-lidded eyes looked forlorn. Her loose, fallen hair had faded in color.

"I’ll co back."

I left behind words that wouldn’t be heard and turned away. The fear etched into my mory hadn’t disappeared. But if it was for that reward—I could co back again and again.