Chapter 150 : Chapter 150

Chapter 150: Preparations (3)

“Who did you hear it from? Which bastards are saying that? Don't tell me it's our classmates?”

“It’s not. You know. What Gerard-senior is to us. It’s not our grade, I think it’s probably the upperclassmen. 2nd years or 3rd years?”

Ivan's eyes narrowed.

Jealousy?

It wasn't that he couldn't understand.

If you were to grab a passing citizen and ask who the most popular cadet at the Academy currently is, ten out of ten would say Gerard-sunbae.

Moreover, this was the Academy.

A place where many nobles and upper-class children gathered due to the difference in prior learning and innate talent, and they were a prideful species.

It was perhaps natural for their pride to be scratched.

‘Still, there’s a limit.’

No matter what, it was too much to try to frame a senior, a friend and a future comrade who would fight together as a villain just because of a mere emotion.

It was a malicious act that had crossed the line.

Of course, no matter how much such a rumor spread, he knew that no one would identify Gerard with the Skull Mask, because of Gerard's past sacrifices and heroic actions.

‘Everyone will dismiss it as a baseless rumor.’

And Ivan's guess was roughly correct.

Because the speculative scandal that Gerard and the Skull Mask were the same person had completely disappeared in less than a day.

It was because the image that Gerard had been building up little by little throughout the semester was so solid.

As a result, Gerard's efforts to escape the death flag were bearing fruit in these unseen places.

In addition, it was a time when everyone was busy and hectic with the damage control and follow-up of the incident.

There was no room for personal stories about what Gerard did or didn't do.

Right.

There was certainly no room for that.

As the public's interest in the large-scale night raid on the Academy subsided.

And just as the situation seemed to have been somewhat resolved and daily life was being restored.

As if it had been waiting, an incident broke out in Icata.

***

The Main Building's Grand Conference Hall.

The professors gathered there.

They all looked worn out with fatigue.

And rightly so, they had to run around day and night to calm the situation, and after all the work was done, they had to gather in the conference hall and enter into a countermeasure meeting.

They had repeated that for three whole days without sleep, so no matter how outstanding their mental and physical strength was, it was reaching a point where it was hard to endure.

Naturally, that fatigue turned into irritation.

And the irritation led to anger toward the Beltus Cult.

Just then, a grand conference was convened by the Vice-Dean's order.

The agenda for the meeting was to delve into the Record videos they had been waiting for so long.

The professors maintained their silence and focused their gazes on the center of the table.

In the center was a rather large crystal orb, and soon, the transparent crystal orb began to emit a bright light.

“Turn off the lights.”

At the Vice-Dean's words, the Head of Personnel, Rodrig, cut off all the lights in the conference hall.

Then, a stirring movement began to rise within the transparent crystal orb.

The movement soon turned into a violent motion.

It was a single scene and a single gaze.

It was also someone's memory.

That someone was moving very violently.

Because of that, the background scenery whizzed by, and for some reason, it was also dark, so it wasn't very clear.

But there was no one sitting here who didn't know that the background in the crystal orb was not the school.

A first-person view.

It wasn't long before a flash of light suddenly appeared there.

It was easy to deduce the situation.

A surprise attack.

At the long-awaited singularity, the professors all widened their eyes.

At the same time, the silhouette of the attacker appeared in front.

“……Hmm.”

The professors, who had confirmed the attacker standing tall in the crystal orb, each let out an unreadable moan.

The attacker was wearing a skull-shaped mask.

He was also holding a sword and a staff, and on the hilt of the sword, what seemed to be a bird's head was carved.

Skull Mask.

And the sword-staff type artifact, Raven.

Everyone in this place knew who the owner of those items was.

The Master of Shadow.

The man who had once ruled the night of Icata.

He was an existence that was thought to have disappeared, and was thus slowly being forgotten from their minds.

But at some point, he had suddenly reappeared.

The first time they had heard the news was about three months ago.

When the Vault librarian, Ged, was trying to escape the Academy.

At that time, his existence was first mentioned through the mouths of the 890th class cadets, Karina Zain and Gwyn Gaiard.

Because of that incident, Karina Zain had to be confined to the recovery room.

And they clearly remembered it because she had made a fuss, saying she would catch him with her own hands and get her revenge.

However, the professors did not believe Karina and Gwyn's words.

Because it was just the story of mere new cadets with no experience.

In the professors' minds, Shadow was a guild that had long since been ruined and forgotten.

And some of them even had the experience of actually being deployed in the ‘Purification’ operation that had wiped Shadow from the world at that time.

They had seen their end, either directly or indirectly.

There was no way they could believe it.

However, as if to mock such thoughts, sightings of the Skull Mask came out several more times after that.

The eyewitness accounts of the researchers that it was the Skull Mask who had broken into the Research Wing's control room and broken the Obelisk.

And the testimony of the Central Knights that he was the culprit who had caused the zombie incident in Icata.

As sightings continued to come out like this and even the Central Knights, who were rich in practical experience, came forward, they had no choice but to admit it now.

That Shadow had reappeared.

Of course, no one knew if they were really Shadow.

Because it was possible that they were another new force that had just happened to acquire Shadow's sacred object, and thus had a completely different spirit and ideology.

Nothing had been confirmed, and information was scarce.

So the empire did not make this fact public.

They had created a villain named ‘Skull Mask’ and put a bounty on him and had taken the stance of watching the situation unfold while remaining silent.

‘And then something like this happened.’

The professors saw the Skull Mask as the culprit and mastermind of this incident.

And rightly so, because he was the one who had toyed with the professors and guards until the very end and survived.

What was even more shocking was that he had casually survived the attacks of Chaser Idna and Ronica Jasmine.

After the situation had ended, the professors, who saw Chaser appear with his whole body in tatters from cuts, could not help but click their tongues and tremble.

‘He pushed Chaser, who is called the next number one swordsman, this far……?’

Whether he was a descendant of Shadow or not.

It was certain that he was a formidable master.

So, in the eyes of the professors who were staring at the Skull Mask in the crystal orb, anger and a faint fear were intricately mixed.

It was then.

“……Hmm?”

The situation in the crystal orb suddenly changed.

A battle with the Skull Mask had already begun.

But at some point, with a flame and a dazzling light, the video suddenly ended.

“……What is it?”

“Is it over?”

The professors' eyes turned to the supervising professor who was operating the crystal orb, Ronica Jasmine.

At their question, Ronica nodded her head.

“This is the end.”

“Are you sure?”

A wrinkle formed on Ronica's brow.

“I've been up all night trying to recover this broken Record video, and you're going to be like that, really? Don't doubt me. It's certain that this is the end. I've checked it thoroughly with the Development Department Head until the very end.”

Ronica, who had answered so, operated the crystal orb and rewound the memory's timeline again.

Just before the light exploded.

And then she replayed the memory from there, at a slower speed than the first time.

Then, something that had been invisible before was now visible.

“……A mana bomb?”

At a professor's mumble, Ronica nodded her head.

“That’s right. A mana bomb.”

And she continued her explanation.

“As you can see, Ivan was caught in the explosion of a mana bomb while fighting the Skull Mask. Well, there's no one here who doesn't know this fact.”

That's right.

They had already heard Ivan's testimony and had come to the conclusion that the perpetrator who had set off the mana bomb was the Skull Mask.

However, the truth seemed to be different.

“Watch carefully from now on.”

The Skull Mask took out the mana bomb that was tied to his waist.

And he hurriedly threw it up.

At that time, the mana bomb was already on the verge of spewing out a reddish-black flame with cracks.

The key is now.

[Ru……n……g.]

……A voice came from the crystal orb.

It was so small and unclear that you couldn't understand it without concentrating, as it was mixed with noise and surrounding static.

What was certain was that it was not Ivan's voice.

“It seems to be the Skull Mask's voice.”

It was right to judge it that way from the circumstances.

The problem was the content contained in the voice.

“It seems he just told Ivan to run. Am I the only one who heard it that way?”

It was a question from the Vice-Dean, who had been quiet until now.

The memory of the crystal orb had stopped at the scene just before the mana bomb exploded.

“I heard it that way too.”

“Hey. No way. There's no reason for that, is there?”

“That's right. He was the one who had just attacked Ivan. It doesn't make sense.”

“I'm not sure. The sound quality is distorted. And there are various static mixed in.”

The professors' opinions were divided.

The Vice-Dean, who was listening to their stories, this time asked the Department Head Pirion.

“Ivan? What did he say?”

“He doesn't seem to know either. It was a very confusing situation, and he fainted right after.”

Once again, a regrettable moan erupted in the hall.

The Vice-Dean thought for a moment and then instructed Ronica.

“Hmm. Let’s watch the video again for now.”

“Yes.”

“Slowly this time, please.”

Ronica operated the crystal orb.

The scene of the Skull Mask throwing the mana bomb into the air just before it exploded.

And the mana bomb that spews out hot flames and a flash of light with the explosion.

The mysterious shadow that suddenly appears and blocks it.

And the light that completely swallowed the three of them.

“The man who blocked the Skull Mask's path at the end, who is he?”

“I don't know.”

At Ronica's answer, the conference room was engulfed in a heavy silence.

It was a grand conference convened because the restoration of the destroyed Record was finished.

And the professors had no doubt that the Record would be the key point in grasping the situation.

Because that restored video was the Record of Ivan, who had first faced the culprit at the time of the attack.

They had expected that if they watched it, they would be able to find out what the Skull Mask's purpose was.

And what his face was, and where he might be hiding, etc.

They had expected to be able to grasp the situation in an orderly manner and, if they were lucky, even get information about the Skull Mask's identity.

But after watching it, it felt like the questions had only increased.

It was when the professors were all dejected because of such thoughts.

The Vice-Dean suddenly let out a dry laugh.

“Why are you doing that?”

At Department Head Allen's question, he smiled.

“Because it seems to be the first time.”

“What is?”

“To see the two departments not raising their voices at each other, but working together and worrying about the same thing. It seems to be the first time.”

“……”

The professors looked at the Vice-Dean with blank eyes.

Then they turned their gaze and looked at the professors from the other department sitting across from them.

Come to think of it, that was right.

Every time there was a grand conference, they were the ones who had worried more about how to screw over the scumbag in front of them than the agenda for the meeting.

But at this moment, they were united with one mind.

For the Academy.

“Well, that’s natural. The Academy is like a sanctuary to us. In any case, everyone here is an alumnus of the Academy, aren't they.”

“That’s right.”

The Vice-Dean nodded his head.

He opened his mouth again.

“To get back to the main point and summarize, we haven't been able to find out whether the Skull Mask is the Master of Shadow. Or whether he is a pseudo-believer belonging to the Beltus Cult. But with this, one thing has become clear. That is, that the Skull Mask and the cult have split.”

“……!”

“The mana bomb that exploded then was a weapon of the cult.

It seems the cult gave it to the Skull Mask to use for this incident, but it seems that was the trigger for the betrayal.”

“Then will the Skull Mask now stop his hostile actions toward our Academy?”

At Ronica's question, the Vice-Dean shook his head.

“I don't know about that.”

“……”

“But if the Skull Mask has really split with the cult. And if he is really a descendant of Shadow, and an existence who has inherited its will.”

The Vice-Dean looked around at the professors and continued in a clear voice.

“He will not stand still. Before long, the cult will pay dearly for its betrayal.”

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