.｡.:✧ Chapter 49 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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On the third day of the festival,

While everyone else was enjoying the festivities, Sen was wandering alone around the dormitory, searching for anomalies.

‘It’s strange.’

She hadn’t noticed it before, but now that she heard someone might be up to something, the air in the dormitory felt different.

Now that she realized it, she wondered why she hadn’t noticed it sooner.

Given the Chokugen Faction’s training to be sensitive to mana flows, if Sen hadn’t noticed it, other students certainly wouldn’t have.

‘Where could it be leading?’

But no matter how much she followed it, the extensive range made it hard to pinpoint the exact location.

It was definitely near the dormitory.

‘Is it a student?’

As she moved from the 3rd floor, the boys’ level, up to the 4th floor, she noticed a girl wandering the hallway just like her.

“…Rin?”

Daniel and Ares’s childhood friend, popular among people and known for her magical talent.

They didn’t really have any direct connection, so she intended to just pass by, but she seemed to be searching for something as well.

‘Nothing to lose.’

She approached Rin and casually asked,

“Looking for something?”

“Hm? No, I just felt something odd.”

Watching Rin glance around with a vague expression, she was certain. She, too, had noticed the odd flow of mana and was searching for the cause!

‘Impressive.’

Even she only noticed this strange distortion after Daniel mentioned it, but she had found it on her own.

Feeling a strange sense of defeat, she extended her hand first.

“There’s a strange flow of mana in the dormitory, isn’t there?”

“Ah? Right. You knew?”

“I’ve been trying to find out what’s causing it too.”

With the realization that she had an ally, Rin smiled and pointed to a door.

“It seems like this room might be the problem, but the owner isn’t here right now.”

‘Already found the source?’

Honestly, she was surprised and followed where her finger pointed, recognizing the room.

‘Adriana?’

Next to Rin’s room was Adriana’s.

Approaching slowly, she felt a denser flow of mana than elsewhere and promptly took out a wire-like tool, inserting it into the keyhole.

Click.

As the door opened, Rin looked puzzled.

“Is it okay to just go in like that?”

“It’s fine.”

Daniel, who had quickly taken down Zavalanco, said it was dangerous. There was no time to just stand by.

“But, can you pick locks on men’s rooms too?”

“Why? Need me to open one?”

“No, last time I used magic, I think I got caught…”

As Rin coughed and spoke, she suddenly raised her mana to cast a protective spell, and Sen swiftly drew her dagger.

A barrage of magic projectiles aimed at them from inside the room.

The magic was intended to kill, but thanks to Rin’s quick reaction, they were unharmed.

“…”

Watching the end of the magic projectile barrage, her suspicion deepened.

‘Someone intended to kill any intruder. It’s certain Adriana is up to something.’

“All this was prepared?”

Even Rin was taken aback as they cautiously entered the room, immediately making both of them frown.

First, the pungent smell hit their noses.

It was the scent produced when various magical substances are mixed, and it was excessively strong.

The windows were boarded up, and similarly, magic set to kill intruders was placed there.

Walking into the room felt like navigating a minefield.

Layers upon layers of magic created a chilling scene.

“……”

“What is this…”

In the end, they couldn’t enter any further than the entrance, with Rin standing behind, staring blankly into the room.

“If we go any further in, we might die.”

“Why would someone put so much magic in a dorm room?”

As the two left the room, Rin crossed her arms and began to ponder, but Sen quickly drew her dagger.

“They’re coming.”

“……!”

Feeling the mana, Rin quickly took a defensive stance, and both of them eyed the staircase leading up to the fourth floor.

Thump thump thump thump

Heavy footsteps ascending.

It was naturally Adriana, filled with rage and mana, realizing that the magic in her own room had been activated.

“You, what are you doing!”

Unlike her usual self, Adriana hurled curses and mana attacks, shocking Rin, who had never seen her like this before, but Sen retorted.

“What are you up to, Adriana?”

“What?”

“The entire academy could be in danger because of you.”

Adriana’s eyes widened, a mix of anger and injustice. She suddenly vented her frustration.

“So what! You want me to just die? To go off and die alone without bothering anyone? Don’t talk nonsense! I want to live! I will survive!”

“She’s lost it.”

“Adriana, why are you acting like this?”

Sen scoffed, and while Rin tried to intervene, Adriana was already in a frenzy.

“I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die in such a degrading way, being torn apart by those bugs! I will live! Don’t interfere!”

“Bugs? So it was you.”

Recalling the bugs seen on the rooftop, Sen was convinced she had found the culprit. She intended to take Adriana down immediately and report back to Daniel that the task was complete, but something was off about Adriana.

As soon as Sen mentioned knowing about the bugs, Adriana’s boiling rage suddenly stopped, and she began looking around in terror.

“You, you saw the bugs?”

“Yes, on the rooftop at night.”

“That’s a lie…”

Crackle crackle-!

The sound of something crawling echoed in Adriana’s ears.

While Rin looked around, wondering what was happening, Sen charged at Adriana with her dagger.

“Stop messing around.”

Expecting Adriana to use the bugs for some nefarious purpose, instead, Adriana cast a protective spell, looking around as if she was having convulsions.

“Bugs? Was that the sound of bugs just now?”

“……”

Blocked by the protective magic, Sen realized something odd.

‘Why is she so terrified?’

If Adriana was summoning ancient monsters, why would she be trembling in fear?

Then, suddenly.

Adriana’s eyes widened, and she opened her mouth wide, trembling as she looked behind Rin and Sen.

Turning to check, Rin and Sen saw.

A giant bug clinging to the ceiling, watching the three of them.

“Bugs?”

Rin immediately recognized the monster and prepared to cast a spell, while Sen quickly checked Adriana’s complexion.

It wasn’t a look of summoning.

Instead, it was a look of terror, wanting desperately to escape, as if she was about to cry at any moment.

“They’re here! The creatures have come! Where’s Ares! Where’s Ares!”

In a panic, Adriana tried to escape through a window in the fourth-floor corridor, but a bug crawled in through the window instead. The bugs neither attacked nor showed any sign of aggression; they simply observed Adriana, who seemed to be pushed to a mental brink.

“Something’s wrong.”

Adriana wasn’t the one summoning the monsters.

Convinced of this, Sen attempted to calm her down, but it was too late.

“I don’t… I don’t want to die!”

Adriana became a mess of tears and snot, pulling all her mana in desperation.

Suddenly, light burst from her room, resonating with her mana, and the strange atmosphere spreading throughout the dormitory began to assist her.

“Incredible.”

Even Rin, knowledgeable in magic, was astounded by the level of magic. Adriana hadn’t simply relied on Ares; she had prepared herself.

She had sought and contemplated ways to kill the creatures attacking her and had put her plans into action.

A forbidden magic, agreed upon by the witches of the Black Forest not to be used.

Driven by a single-minded resolve to destroy everything, her mana resonated, and a magic circle began to form.

And what emerged was.

“Impossible.”

A towering body.

Antennae protruding from the head.

Eyes completely black, devoid of any whites, devoid of any emotion.

Muscles hard as armor positioned throughout its body.

A suffocating presence that forced Sen and Rin to their knees, barely able to breathe under the overwhelming stench.

“Ah, ahh…”

Tears streaming, Adriana sat on the floor, staring blankly at the being before her.

It was the creature.

The monster that had haunted her for the last four years, even in her dreams, tearing her apart.

It spoke with a heavy mouth.

“The King of Bugs, Apviel.”

Swarms of bugs began to gather in the corridor.

Not only the giant bugs that followed Apviel but also all nearby bugs were crawling towards their king.

‘Why? Why? Why!’

Adriana’s magic had been a desperate attempt to amplify her mana, granting her the strength several times what a magician could wield, not to summon such a monster!

In the midst of Adriana’s confusion, Apviel indifferently provided her with an answer.

“Under the covenant of witches, I have come to execute the witch who dealt with the forbidden.”

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