WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Surviving the Assassin Academy as a Professor

Translator: Touch

Editor: Grass

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Chapter 44: [Main Story] No.1: Treason and Collapse (1)

Everyone in Zone 0 held their breath as the strange and grotesque creature appeared in the sky.

And soon enough, an airship flew toward the massive yet majestic monstrous entity, like Icarus soaring toward the sun.

They say that in moments of crisis, people who once stood divided come together united. That was the case for the cadets of Zone 0.

They had noticed strange happenings throughout the day: many neutral professors skipping class, and the remaining ones growing increasingly restless.

Then, amidst the chaos, a colossal unidentified creature appeared in the sky out of nowhere.

Needless to say, every single cadet of the Assassin Department felt uneasy.

And so, regardless of their faction, they all prayed that the airship would be the answer to their anxiety.

As they clenched their fists in anticipation throughout the battle…

“It’s falling! No!!!”

“No, this can’t be happening…!!”

People screamed in horror as their only hope began to crash. 

At one point, something unfurled on the sides of the ship in an attempt to resist the fall. But it quickly shattered, and the witnesses could only sigh in further despair. 

With less than 500 meters left before impact, the weak-hearted cadets closed their eyes.

But suddenly, another set of wings appeared—wings so massive they defied the laws of physics.

As they flapped with force, the airship’s descent began to slow.

“Wha—?!”

“It’s slowing down!!”

The cadets were left speechless at that miraculous sight.

⋮

The Black Dragon Division also watched the sky in stunned silence.

Then, Balmung’s crystal watch flickered with a signal, and his jaw dropped further.

“Huh?!” he exclaimed.

“What is it?” a cadet asked.

“…I managed to detect Gray’s tracker. But it says she’s inside the airship!”

“What?! Then Miss Gray is doing that?!” Kwan cried.

“Ha! That’s insane…! I didn’t know she was this capable!”

Even Kendrake—who rarely praised anyone—was astounded by the power of her Illusion Art.

“Wow… I guess all that training paid off…” Elize said, gasping in admiration. 

But one cadet’s expression remained hardened.

It was none other than Kaiser.

…There’s no way.

Though his expression was always stern, this time, he was genuinely alarmed inside.

This is most definitely Professor Dante’s doing. There’s no doubt about it.

His reasoning was simple.

There was no one else in Zone 0 capable of crafting such an intricate illusion—except for Dante.

This is insane… This really makes no sense…!!

It was a given that Professor Dante was powerful. That much hardly needed to be proven anymore.

But now, it felt like his abilities had reached a level completely beyond human comprehension.

What was up with that illusion?

At its core, Illusion Arts are simply sensory deception techniques. When refined to a high degree, they can slightly interfere with the physical realm.

But at the end of the day, they were still called illusions because the interference with reality was so weak.

So then… what was that?

Could those wings really be called an illusion? A mere trick of the eye?

No. Kaiser couldn’t convince himself of that.

If the interference with the physical realm has reached such a level, that’s no longer an ‘illusion’... It should be called a ‘creation’, no?

Kaiser shivered in excitement. But these were not thoughts he could afford to voice aloud. 

As he watched in awe, another cadet’s expression began to stiffen. 

It was Rebecca.

The princess possessed the ability to see mana and could confirm that the wings were not created using Gray’s mana.

Her ability to see mana was akin to seeing the flow of particles in a fluid.

As the illusion was cast, the paths and dispersion of the mana particles were visible to her.

It was as if she could see a circuit diagram while looking at a computer, or read the cooking recipe just by glancing at a loaf of bread.

She didn’t know why her eyes held such power, but that was simply how it was.

And from her perspective, the mana forming the wings supporting the airship was shockingly refined.

…But some parts of it aren’t.

So she came to a clear conclusion.

Another entity’s illusion had been layered on top of Gray’s.

“Dame Reim,” she called.

“Yes, Your Highness?” her maid-guard answered.

“I want you to identify all the passengers on that airship.”

Even Rebecca, who rarely lost composure, felt her heart race at the sheer brilliance of that mana control. She had to know who was responsible.

“Yes, Your Highness.” Dame Reim replied at once.

Suddenly, Rebecca’s crystal watch buzzed.

Her eyes narrowed as she read the message from her knight.

——

– Cheong-ru: Battalion’s treason has begun.

The operation that was originally scheduled for three days later had been initiated.

Her decadent red eyes turned toward the monster outside the window.

Was that thing the reason why everything had been moved ahead of schedule?

There wasn’t much Rebecca could do at this moment, but that didn’t mean there was nothing she could do.

“Elize,” she called out. 

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“Come with me.”

“Yes.”

As they walked, Elize asked, “Is this a mission?”

Rebecca nodded.

“Yes. Let’s go kill a few more neutral professors.”

* * *

“Already? I thought it was supposed to be in three days?”

On the outskirts of Hiaka Academy, a chief professor from the Mage Department questioned Battalion, to which he nodded.

“We were planning to wait a few more days because of the cold wave. But the timing is even better now.”

“Because of that hand thingy in the sky?”

“Exactly. So get ready.”

“Understood.”

As of today… no, as of right now, a rebellion that had been secretly plotted for the past ten years was about to begin.

A total of 6 chief professors and 39 senior professors from the Warrior, Mage, and Assassin Departments planned to abandon Hiaka Academy and defect to the enemy, Kreutz Academy.

It was like uprooting and destroying one of the main pillars supporting Hiaka’s only national academy for combatants.

Taking advantage of the resulting power vacuum, assassins from Kreutz would then strike at key magical facilities.

This act of treason would significantly disrupt the delicate power balance between nations.

“…Which is why they should’ve paid us better if they didn’t want this,” Battalion muttered. 

At that, the mage scoffed. 

“Oh, please. You were already treated better than the other chief professors.”

“As it should be. But those damn bastards didn’t appreciate all the years I spent being loyal to Hiaka.”

“That’s true. The same goes for me,” the mage agreed.

Battalion bared his fangs in a grin.

“This is all because the royal family and the academy tried to pinch pennies.”

As they continued talking, the Level 8 teleportation spell『Mirage Gate』neared its completion.

But something was bothering Battalion.

“…That's somewhat concerning.”

“What is? Oh, that…?” 

The two professors looked off into the distance where the airship had safely landed, supported by its illusory wings.

“…Yeah. Who on earth cast that illusion? They’ve got to be a chief professor at least,” the mage murmured.

“Could it be someone from the Mage Department?” Battalion asked her.

“What are you talking about? Didn’t you see how fast those wings deployed? That’s an assassin-style Illusion Art. We can make bigger illusions, sure, but we can't deploy them that fast.”

“…You’re right.”

“Besides, Hiaka doesn’t have that many Illusion Arts specialists to begin with. Most died in the Habanero Incident.”

“But I heard there’s one left.”

“Indeed, there is.”

“Who?” Battalion asked.

“Oh. You haven’t heard? Must be because our two departments aren’t communicating enough.”

The mage chief professor tapped her cloud-like hair with a smirk.

“It’s me.”

She was Gloomy, Chief Professor of Illusion Magic Studies at the Mage Department.

“And I stole all of Hiaka’s core Illusion Arts research,” she added proudly.

“…Right.”

“This rebellion should’ve marked the end of Illusion Arts at Hiaka… but that bugs me as well. Who on earth is behind that?”

Battalion scowled. Her agreement with his concern only worsened his mood.

He had assumed the Assassin Department had brought in a mage to help them out.

…But an assassin is behind it all…?

He tried to recall every potential suspect, but no one fit the bill. 

Which meant…

There was an Illusion Arts monster in the land he had forsaken—one he did not know of.

“This is… off-putting,” Battalion muttered.

“Why?”

“Just… something about the person who made that…”

Whoever they were, he had a feeling they would become a serious obstacle to his future plans.

Damn it. One of my goals was to completely crush Hiaka’s research in Illusion Arts to begin with…

Just then, the mage chuckled quietly.

“You’ve already fully become a Kreutz patriot, huh?”

“What? Oh… I guess I have…”

He had already relocated his family and like-minded colleagues to his new country. And while the language and culture were slightly different, it was no big deal.

So what if they called him a traitor? He was already being heavily judged for being a neutral professor at Hiaka.

All that remained for him was a future full of riches and glory.

By then, the magic circle was complete.

Battalion gave the signal to those waiting on the other side of the clock tower—around a dozen other chief and senior professors.

“All right, everyone. Let us depart to a new world!”

“Let us go.”

『 Mirage Gate 』

And thus, a desert unfolded within the clock tower.

As they stepped forward on the sand, the clock tower vanished behind them.

They were now in the Kingdom of Kreutz.

The final piece of the puzzle for the “Treason” storyline had fallen into place.

Next came the chapter of “Collapse.”

Upon landing safely on the ground, the medics and other professors rushed over to manage the situation.

“P-Professor Dante…!”

“I’m fine. Get Gray and the captain to safety first.”

“B-But Professor… Your eye…!”

My eye?

As I gradually regained control of my senses, I noticed that my vision in my left eye was gone, blood soaking my left cheek and jaw.

Did it get damaged?

I hadn’t noticed until now due to the dizziness from the mana overload.

“I’m fine. See to them first.”

“Y-Yes, sir!!”

The situation was quickly brought under control.

Chief Toy was under the effects of the Curse of Domination. But as the 「Hand of Domination」 was destroyed, the curse was lifted. He descended safely with his parachute, though by the time he landed, he had already passed out and was quickly taken to the hospital.

Collider, who had been stabbed by Chief Toy, survived. The blade had missed his heart, but Toy’s monstrous mana had pulverized his internal organs.

Chief Angela, wielder of the Grim Reaper’s scythe, was half-petrified—from her lower body to the left side of her torso. If I hadn’t switched her out with an illusion, she would’ve been swatted like a fly by Jinxsite’s hand.

Viper and Leo were relatively okay. Viper only had one petrified hand, while Leo suffered some broken ribs after getting hit by some debris.

The captain was severely petrified but survived.

Gray’s arm was also badly petrified, but she had even bigger problems—she was still recovering from the flu, was drunk, overworked, and mana-overloaded. Her body was in terrible condition.

And despite all that, she had gone up to the ship deck to cast an illusion.

This girl was unbelievably tenacious.

I stayed by her side in the hospital room, watching over her.

For some reason, I was quite fond of her. Maybe it was because we both used Illusion Arts?

And what was with that sudden spike in our bond level? It had gone up by 30 points, but I had no idea what had caused it.

The textbox only captured someone’s superficial thoughts, not the depths of their psyche.

And ultimately, the textbox was a gameplay feature meant for player engagement. What it chose to reveal or hide was entirely up to the whims of the system’s developer, the 「Systematic Star⧉」.

Some blood-soaked hair had fallen into her mouth, so I gently reached out to brush it away.

But the moment my finger touched her cheeks, Gray turned her head in her sleep, avoiding my touch. 

When I reached out again, she squirmed and turned her whole body away from me. 

“…She’s such a cat,” I murmured, then pulled the blanket over her properly and stepped outside.

Fortunately, no one had died during the battle.

The petrification could be reversed by medics who wielded divine power. In the end, we had successfully minimized the damage.

But at the end of the day, this wasn’t a victory. Nor was it quite a defeat.

Jinxsite was still alive, squirming ominously high in the sky.

Another arm was crawling out of the rift next to the one remaining 「Arm of Petrification」 we had failed to destroy.

I felt a twinge of despair. 

The speed at which it was emerging was much faster than I’d anticipated. 

If the fourth arm is already coming out... then the others will appear within a day or two.

Two arms had been destroyed. Five remained.

And there was still the main body—the horned head. It didn’t have any specific powers, but it was part of the demon.

These would all appear in the coming days as the main story continued.

But with so many of our chief professors and senior faculty out of commission… we’d be forced to face a stronger version of that monster with severely reduced manpower.

“The damage will be enormous,” I muttered.

This wasn’t a game where you could charge into battle half-naked, swinging a sword and killing everything in sight.

It was a game balanced on a razor’s edge—one that required optimal decisions for maximum efficiency.

Back in the real world, when I was battling cancer, I’d been completely absorbed by this game’s complex yet vast systems.

Even while sick in bed, I kept researching its mechanics like I was working in a lab.

I turned that research into strategy guides and posted them on R*ddit and other forums. Many players, including international ones, eagerly waited for each new guide.

Because of all that, it’s no exaggeration to say I understood this game’s balance nearly perfectly.

And with that knowledge…

Fighting Jinxsite with five remaining arms during the "Treason and Collapse" arc, with diminished manpower?

It seemed hopeless, no matter how I looked at it.

Even if I pulled off a miracle, more than half the remaining professors and faculty would die.

I was still brooding over the weight of it all when a system message suddenly popped out of nowhere:

⧉ Hotfix Notice

Hello, this is 「Systematic Star⧉」.

We have identified a bug concerning the early appearance of the One-Horned Demon Jinxsite. Therefore, a hotfix has been scheduled accordingly.

We apologize for the increased difficulty in gameplay caused by this bug. With this hotfix, Jinxsite will now appear at the correct time, and the elements affected by this demon will be adjusted.

– Hotfix Details:

a. Review and correction of the timing of Jinxsite’s appearance and related errors.

b. Adjustment of elements affected by the demon.

c. Compensation rewards.

We will notify you again once the hotfix is complete.

We apologize for the inconvenience and will do our best to provide a smoother gameplay experience.

Thank you for your understanding.

If you wish to read ahead, there are 10 advanced chapters available right now!

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