Editor : Amethyst00



“Another bust.”

Leo grumbled as he arrived at the fourth lake.

He had been searching for the lake where Luminus was sleeping, but all four attempts had turned up nothing.

‘So the last one is the lake by the ruins?’

Leo had already wasted several hours wandering around the city district.

And during that time, he had been hit by multiple curses.

Curses that would have already eliminated any other student by now, but Leo was perfectly fine.

‘Because I know all of them.’

Leo gave a short laugh at yet another curse activating nearby.

In his past life, Leo had been exposed to curses to the point of exhaustion—he knew every method of dispelling them.

This one was a curse that disrupted the nervous system.

‘No need to even undo this one.’

A curse that made your left leg move when your right arm did, and your right leg when your left arm moved.

It was one of the more troublesome types of curses, but Leo simply mapped out the interference in his nerves and adjusted his movements accordingly.

‘Besides, curses like this wear off on their own after some time.’

Even if his strength was diminished, the experience of a Great Hero hadn’t disappeared.

Handling curses with ease, Leo turned his gaze toward the ruins.

“Guess I should head that way soon. The others must be having fun fighting by now.”

Most students had probably already left the city district and were battling in earnest near the ruins.

“Hm?”

Leo stopped walking and looked up at the sky.

His sharp senses had picked up something.

‘A wide-area curse?’

Leo narrowed his eyes.

It was a new curse.

‘Judging by the range… it covers all of Neigrang?’

A tremendously powerful curse on an enormous scale.

‘The land itself is being cursed.’

Something was off.

It was long known that Neigrang had been cursed land ever since the influence of the Hero Dungeon.

The curses that harassed students were all preexisting.

‘But now, suddenly, a new curse? And this one is…’

Leo’s face hardened as he identified it.

‘The Curse of Severance.’

A curse Tartaros often used in large-scale battles.

The curse itself didn’t harm people directly.

Its effect was severance from the outside.

In other words, an immensely strong barrier-type curse that isolated an entire area.

“Damn it!”

Aware that there was a traitor within Lumene, Leo grasped the situation instantly.

‘I need to regroup with the others, fast!’

Leo flared his aura and kicked off the ground.

Boom—!

A cloud of dust burst up as Leo dashed toward the fortress walls.

bl

At the same time.

The students back at the royal castle also realized the severity of the situation.

A student who had been eliminated during the department tournament wasn’t transported to Lumene and instead was gravely injured.

Outside the fortress, an enormous horde of monsters was gathering, while beasts had begun appearing inside the walls.

“Wind Fang.”

Grrroooaaar!

A piercing spear of wind skewered the Minotaur mercilessly.

The creature screamed in agony and swung its battle axe wildly.

“Kyah!”

A knight department student holding the line shrieked.

Abad quickly chanted a spell.

“Wind Breaker.”

Craaaash! Boom!

Gughk—!

The Minotaur was torn apart by the storm of blades, slammed into a building wall, and died with a final cry.

Ssshhhh!

“Th-thanks! Abad!”

The girl blushed and thanked him.

Abad raised a hand in response, but his face was grim as he looked toward the outer walls.

‘This isn’t just an inter-department tournament anymore. This is a full-on defense operation.’

But holding the outer walls was nearly impossible.

Even beasts were appearing inside the fortress.

‘The academy must already be working to resolve this… but with communications cut off, we can’t count on help anytime soon.’

Abad’s mind raced.

‘We don’t know how long we’ll have to endure, and our forces are spread too thin.’

His gaze turned to the ruined inner castle.

The final bastion had only one entrance.

That meant concentrated defense was possible—but it also meant there was no escape.

‘But in this situation, there’s nowhere to run anyway.’

In this cursed land, abandoning the fortress meant annihilation.

‘We need to consolidate our forces.’

“Everyone, to the inner castle.”

“What?”

“Our forces are too scattered. We need to gather in one place.”

“B-but Abad! Holding out in the inner castle is the last resort!”

“That’s in a normal siege. This isn’t a normal situation.”

Abad raised his staff and fired a signal flare spell toward the inner castle.

Fwoosh—! Bang—!

A bright light exploded above the fortress.

“This way, the sharp ones will get the hint and head for the inner castle! Everyone, retreat calmly but quickly!”

Following Abad’s command, the students began falling back.

Abad stayed on the front lines to cover their retreat.

Just as he predicted, the leaders guarding each gate had also realized they couldn’t withstand the endless tide of monsters.

The moment Abad’s signal went up, all the remaining students started converging on the inner castle.

Once everyone was inside, the students manning the gates pushed the doors shut with urgency.

Creeeeak—! Thud!

“Magicians! Reinforce the gates with magic!”

Spells locked the doors firmly.

“Set up anti-air defenses! I saw wyvern-type beasts earlier!”

“Knight department, hold the walls!”

They were only teenagers, but they moved as one, proving themselves to be true hero candidates as they quickly began fortifying the defenses.

Meanwhile, a group of students gathered by the battlements.

“What? Where’s Leo?”

Celia asked in alarm, and Chen Xia answered.

“Leo-doryeon went toward the outskirts instead of the center.”

“Why would he go there?”

Abad frowned, and Eliza clicked her tongue.

“He probably had some plan of his own. Who knows what he’s thinking, but I doubt he’s been eliminated. He’s annoyingly good at running away.”

The other students nodded in agreement.

“Still, I’m worried. To get here, he’ll have to break through that monster horde.”

Abad muttered, and Chelsea replied.

“Don’t worry, brother. Leo-oppa will make it on his own.”

“Yeah, let’s set Leo aside for now and focus on assessing the situation. First, let’s share information.”

At Celia’s suggestion, the students exchanged what they knew.

After the exchange, Jurgen wiped away cold sweat.

“So basically… we’re isolated in the middle of Neigrang during this abnormal event? And on top of that, under attack by monsters and beasts?”

The students swallowed nervously.

Then a knight student raised his hand.

“This might be an anomaly, but couldn’t it just be a sudden trial set up by the academy?”

“It’d be nice if it were just that! But the injuries are too serious to be some staged trial! Normally, eliminated students are teleported to Lumene, but they’re stuck here instead!”

Carl, who had just come from helping healers, shouted.

As a dedicated support student, he had studied emergency treatment extensively.

A summoning department girl argued.

“Or maybe that’s part of testing our ability to handle crises? This whole tournament was weird from the start! They suddenly threw us into a battle royale, then called it a final exam out of nowhere.”

Some students nodded.

“And this time, there are tons of external guests. So it’s likely an event staged for them.”

“True, if we shine here, we’ll definitely get noticed by influential leaders from all over.”

Several students’ eyes sparkled at that.

Carl snapped in frustration.

“Did you even see the injured?!”

“No…”

“There are kids who might’ve died if Nella hadn’t been there! Lumene may spring surprises, but never like this! Take this seriously!”

“What did you say?”

The summoner girl scowled.

“Now’s not the time to argue! Whether this is real or staged, it’s serious either way! So we treat it as real! Strategy first!”

At Celia’s words, Chloe raised her hand.

“For now, we should maximize the advantage of the walls and focus on defense…”

“No. I think it’s time to attack.”

Emio cut her off.

“If we all join forces, we can wipe out the monsters and beasts gathering outside.”

“Attacking recklessly is out of the question.”

Chloe shook her head, and Emio flared up.

“Why not? Isn’t it better to just wipe them out than hole up here? What do you all think?”

Some students agreed with him.

Duran sneered at the sight.

“Sure, abandon the advantage of the walls without knowing the situation. The professors will definitely love that.”

“Yeah. Defense is the right call here.”

Celia sided with Chloe, making Emio grit his teeth.

‘What, siding with her just because you’re classmates?’

He glared at Chloe.

‘What makes her better than me? She just copies assignments! A bookworm from the Magic Tower is useless on the battlefield!’

In the Magic Department, it was rumored that if Chloe had been performing properly, Emio never would’ve ranked third.

So he didn’t see her kindly.

But the majority leaned toward defense.

“Then let’s divide into teams.”

There were 96 combat-capable students left, excluding the injured.

“We should split into five groups to cover the gates and walls. What do you think?”

Everyone agreed.

“Anyone here who’s had formal training in command since childhood, raise your hand.”

Four raised their hands, including Celia.

All four were from hero families with formal leadership training.

“We’re one short. Who’ll take the last team?”

“I’ll do it.”

“I’ll take it.”

Chloe and Emio spoke up at the same time.

“Put your hand down, Chloe.”

“She’s more skilled.”

Celia frowned, but Emio scoffed.

“Chloe’s from the Magic Tower. She’s only studied her whole life. As someone from a military family, I’m more suited to command.”

“Fine. Then you do it, Emio.”

Chloe smiled and stepped back easily. She’d only volunteered because no one else had.

Emio smirked triumphantly, while Celia sighed.

With the leaders chosen, the groups were formed.

Once preparations were complete, Celia gave her final reminder.

“Keep this in mind. Our goal is only to hold, never to go outside the castle wall to attack the monsters!”