Even powerful individuals often leave themselves vulnerable to mental attacks, so it’s not uncommon for them to fall pathetically to brainwashing spells or soul manipulation techniques.
From the enemies’ perspective, there’s no reason not to use such an effective method. So the appearance of mental-type opponents was more or less inevitable.
What they don’t know, however, is that I possess the cheat-level trait [Monarch].
The Monarch’s mental barrier was one of the most formidable among the many traits in “Dragon Slayer Academy”. It was one of the top-tier few.
To break through it, you’d need at least a couple of ranks above mine.
And I’m even an A-rank.
Mental attacks of the same rank don’t even make a dent, and even against S-rank attacks, I can hold out for a very long time.
That’s why, ever since I happened to get a random rank-up, I’ve more or less stopped worrying about mental-type enemies.
The man who looked like an elder of the Blood Cult had no clue about this and kept desperately casting soul-binding magic….only to end up trapping himself in an illusion instead.
In the end, he went half-mad and charged at me.“Blood Rules the World—! Blood Demon Forever—!”
Since he specialized in mental attacks, his actual fighting power should be lower….but still, he was A-rank.
If I take this lightly, I’ll be the one who gets hurt.
And there’s no guarantee this guy is alone.
I kept getting the feeling I was being watched. Maybe his allies were lying in wait somewhere.
So for now, I decided to play defensively and observe the situation.
I cast Ghost Dance to create distance.
Swish…
For a moment, the Blood Cult elder lost track of me, but he quickly sensed my presence and snapped his head in my direction.
Ice walls suddenly shot up in front of him as he charged forward again.
A combo of Tentacle Limbs and Ice Wall.
In response, the Blood Cult elder shouted,
“Graaaagh—!”
Boooom!
He bulldozed his way through with brute force.
The layered walls I had set up collapsed like dominoes.
Figures. Rank really is everything.
Ice Wall was a B-rank spell.
Against a first-year, it was a solid defense. But against someone ranked higher than me, it might as well have been paper.
In this world, if your specs fall short, even running away becomes a struggle.
But just then, blue lines of light suddenly streaked through the air, striking the Blood Cult guy’s body.
The next instant, bursts of magic bullets thudded into him.
Tududududu!
Turning my head, I saw Ahn Jeong-mi sprinting toward me. She was firing a magic gun in rapid succession.
“Kim Ho-nim, are you alright?!”
“For now.”
The fight had only just begun.
Even after getting hit by the magic bullets, the Blood Cult guy only flinched for a moment before continuing his attack on me.
“Blood. Dominates. The World—!”
But then, a bolt of lightning came crashing down from empty air, followed by a huge fireball dropping from above.
Krrrra-boom! Boom!
The Blood Cult elder took the one-two hit of lightning and fire head-on and was sent flying.
Right after that, two people appeared. It was Hong Yeom-baek, the Hong siblings’ father, and a middle-aged man with light brown hair.
Given the resemblance to the Song siblings, that must be the Topaz Tower Master.
Each of them spoke up.
“Kahaha! I thought I was bold, but these Blood Cult bastards are on a whole different level! Just barging in like this!”
“That’s not bold. That’s just foolish.”
It wasn’t just Father Hong and Father Song. More teachers and parents started emerging from all directions.
Most of them were A-rank or near S-rank powerhouses.
Even though we were some distance from the arena, there’s no way they would’ve missed the ominous energy of dark magic.
Not to mention that guy basically shouted, “Hey! I’m from the Blood Cult!!” like he was advertising it to the whole neighborhood.
Everyone formed a perimeter around him.
“You dare start something in front of Dragon Slayer Academy?”
“Surrender now. If you do, you might just walk away with your life.”
The Blood Cult elder slowly looked around, then began trembling like a leaf. Just like when he tried to cast that soul-binding spell on me.
“Th-This is… yeah, this must be… an illusion. It has to be an illusion.”
Then, once again, he released streams of purple demonic power and charged at the nearest parent.
“It’s just—! An illusion—!”
“…He’s clearly lost his mind. Let’s subdue him.”
As several parents coordinated their attacks, the Blood Cult guy was instantly reduced to a bloody mess.
While the staff rushed in to restrain him, the principal had appeared at some point and was now being briefed.
He kept nodding along, then looked over at me and walked closer.
“There really isn’t anything you’re not good at, is there?”
“I’m technically a victim too, you know.”
“Well, true. He’s the one who did wrong.”
Placing a hand on my shoulder, the principal looked around and said to everyone present,
“I’ll take this student with me. Please handle the aftermath.”
Since having my face out there any more wouldn’t help, he was trying to get me out of the scene first.
From here on, the guards would take care of interrogations, organizing the situation, and a full sweep of the area.
The vice principal who had been waiting nearby muttered a chant under her breath, and a portal to the principal’s office opened.
I bowed deeply to Ahn Jeong-mi, Hong Yeom-baek, and Mr. Song, basically those who had helped me. Then I stepped into the portal.
The principal followed right behind and asked,
“So, what exactly happened? Why was a Blood Cult elder targeting you?”
“I’m not sure myself.”
Considering he even knew my name and came looking for me, I was clearly the target…but I never got to hear what he actually wanted.
He just suddenly tried to use a soul-binding spell and then completely lost it.
I added one more thing.
“At the very least, he didn’t seem to know much.”
“True. If he had, he would’ve used a different method.”
If he’d known I was a Monarch, he wouldn’t have even attempted a soul-binding spell.
He would’ve tried to eliminate me or capture me and torture me.
And judging by the Blood Cult elder’s behavior, I didn’t seem all that important to him.
The most likely theory is that he approached me as a means to an end.
The principal furrowed his brow.
“We’ll have to get it out of him through interrogation. This just got more complicated.”
Since he was skilled in mental magic, interrogation wouldn’t be easy.
I voiced another of my suspicions.
“And I’m not completely sure, but I think he had an accomplice.”
“I figured as much.”
“Yes. I kept feeling like someone was watching me from behind.”
“We’re going to operate under that assumption too.”
The principal nodded, seemingly on the same page.
No matter how skilled someone is in espionage, operating completely alone carries too much risk.
Like the elders who came during the first semester, he was probably working in pairs or in coordination with a witch or someone similar.
The principal spoke.
“We’ve already started the search, and security will be tightened. Of course, that’s the teachers’ responsibility, so you just focus on the tournament.”
“Understood.”
“If there’s nothing else, you can head out now.”
“Yes.”
I was just about to bow and leave.
But then, I sensed someone outside the door.
The principal’s expression shifted slightly, and to my surprise, he personally walked out to greet the person.
“You’re here early.”
“A Blood Cult member showed up? I was just relaxing. What a nightmare.”
A young girl’s voice grumbled.
The principal let out a sigh and responded.
“Exactly. It seems they were trying to get something out of our student.”
“Where is the kid? Let me see.”
“He’s inside. I was planning to introduce you eventually anyway, so this works out.”
Soon, a young-looking girl, matching the voice, walked into the room.
The principal followed behind her and said,
“She may not look it, but this is the Sword Queen. Show some respect.”
“What do you mean, ‘may not look it’? Seriously. That’s how you introduce me?”
The Sword Queen scowled and shot him a sharp look. But when her eyes met mine, she froze in place.
Her wide-open eyes made it clear she was quite shocked.
I felt the same way.
Wait… she’s the upperclassman I saw in the preliminary rounds.
Aside from looking a bit shorter now, she was nearly identical.
I had thought she seemed unusually experienced for a student and now it made sense. The Sword Queen had secretly entered the preliminaries herself.
Just as I was about to say something, she suddenly appeared right in front of me.
It was Shift Step, an S-rank movement skill of the martial classes.
Then, grabbing me by the collar, she used Shift Step again and whisked me out of the principal’s office.
“I’m just gonna have a quick word with him!”
“Uh… sure, go ahead.”
Leaving the bewildered principal behind, the Sword Queen dragged me off to a quiet, isolated area.
Then she looked up at me and spoke slowly and clearly. One word at a time.
“What happened. That time. Keep quiet.”
I could more or less guess why she was acting like this.
I didn’t know the exact hierarchy, but just from seeing the principal speak to her respectfully, she had to be a great great senior.
And that same senior secretly entered the preliminaries… only to lose to a brand-new freshman?
That had to be incredibly humiliating.
When I didn’t answer right away, the Sword Queen pressed me.
“Keep your mouth shut, got it?”
“What happens if I talk?”
As if imagining the consequences, the Sword Queen trembled and her face went pale.
Then she shot a glare in my direction.
“If that happens, you die… and so do I.”
She probably wouldn’t actually try to harm me; it was just a figure of speech.
If I were just any ordinary student, that alone might’ve been enough to shut me up.
Unfortunately for her, I wasn’t just any ordinary student.
“I may not look like it, but I’m someone who sticks to his principles. I tend to say what I feel needs to be said.”
“So you’re planning to blab every little detail to everyone?”
“Not every little detail.”
I gestured toward the principal’s office with my chin.
“As you saw, I’m on good terms with the principal. There shouldn’t be any secrets between us, don’t you think?”
She might not kill me or hurt me, but with her influence, she could definitely make life difficult for me.
She didn’t seem like the kind of person who’d stoop that low. But just in case she did, I’d already made a preemptive move by pulling the principal into this.
But the Sword Queen seemed focused on a different part of the conversation and once again trembled.
“No. Not him. Anyone but that guy!”
Judging from the short exchange earlier, the two of them seemed close. They were always bickering but with a long history. If word got out that she lost to me, she’d never hear the end of it.
I figured I’d tightened the screws enough by now, so I decided to ease up a little.
“Thinking about it again… I guess it’s not important enough to go out of my way to bring up.”
“Right? Some things are better left unsaid.”
The Sword Queen let out a sigh of relief and agreed.
Then I casually added a suggestion.
“In return, I’d like to ask you a favor.”
“What is it?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
A wish ticket from an S-rank hero. That was the greatest reward I could possibly get right now.
The Sword Queen knew that too which is why she looked at me with clear reluctance in her eyes.
But with her weakness exposed, she had no other choice.
After some hesitation, she nodded slowly.
“…Fine. Let’s do that. Promise you won’t tell anyone.”
“Of course. I’m good at keeping my mouth shut.”
“Hmph.”
With a snort, the Sword Queen turned and headed back toward the principal’s office.