LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 32
When Reina saw the appearance of the Lich Knight, she pretended to be somewhat flustered.
Well, it was just an act. Her expression and tone of voice were completely those of someone not at all flustered.
“Looks like the coordination went a bit wrong. This is a real problem.”
“That doesn’t sound like a problem at all.”
“Well… it’s somewhat off, but it’s within range.”
Seems like the range is a bit wide.
“Then, Rudion. I’ll prepare for the capture, so please handle things until then. It’s fine if you get hurt, but be careful for now!”
Well, if she’s preparing, I might as well attract some aggro.
I charged at the Lich Knight, poking it in the side with my sword to grab its attention, and then ran straight in the opposite direction of where Reina was.
Grrroooar!!
Whether my taunt worked or not, the Lich Knight quickly pursued me. Each step it took made a clank sound since it was clad in armor.
The Lich Knight. Literally, a mix between a Lich and a Death Knight.
It’s a creature you wouldn’t normally see unless you were looking for trouble, and here it is now!
Its appearance is not much different from a typical Death Knight swinging a sword, but the difference is that the Lich Knight also uses magic.
Thanks to the armor of the Death Knight, it’s very resistant to physical attacks, and because of its Lich characteristics, its magical defense is extreme.
You could say it’s a case that compensates for the weaknesses and maximizes the strengths of both magicians and warriors. A true amalgamation of abilities.
WHOOSH!
BOOM!
Its great sword was swung at me.
It didn’t seem to be that fast, so I didn’t even have to use evasive maneuvers; I just shifted my body out of the way. But thinking back, I might have been a bit too dull in reacting to an attack that could take me out in one blow.
Still, it didn’t feel very dangerous.
Did the training with Lilith impact me after all?
Anyway, the Lich Knight was swinging its sword and throwing magic around in a frenzy, trying to hit me, but sadly, after facing Seria’s serious magical bombardment, it felt like child’s play to me.
“Professor, how much longer do we have?”
“Almost done.”
I was getting tired of stalling, so I asked, and that was the response I received.
So it would be over soon, but suddenly someone barged in between me and the Lich Knight.
“Wait aaaaaan!!”
I could see someone rushing in from afar, and it turned out to be the Necromancer, who was the villain of this episode.
An annoying voice. Unkempt, messy hair. Thick horn-rimmed glasses. Short and chubby physique. Ragged clothing that looked like it had been thrown together.
It was the kind of face that anyone would agree was unlikable, so there was nothing to mistake it for someone else.
Wow, that’s really ugly… I guess after seeing only handsome and beautiful people at the Academy lately, seeing something below average is quite stunning. How did they get so uniquely ugly?
The ugly one began to rant at me.
“I’ve done everything here! So that means he’s mine too!”
Looks like he was claiming ownership over the Lich Knight, stating that he had cursed this land.
Glancing at the Lich Knight’s face, which sparkled with excitement, it seemed like he was genuinely imagining dominating it and going on a rampage… But sorry, that’s not happening.
If he could control something like that, he wouldn’t have been kicked out as an early villain.
At that moment, the Lich Knight roared.
“Grrrrr!!!”
Whether he felt the emotion of anger after being toyed with through dodging and parrying, I couldn’t say for sure.
How could you tell if a skeleton-head plus armor combo could feel emotions?
But one thing was for sure… the Necromancer standing in front of it was a prime target, unlike me, who had been dodging all attacks.
“W-wait! Stop! Obey my command!”
“Grrrr!!”
The Necromancer tried to cast some ridiculous magic to control the Lich Knight, but the outcome was obvious.
SWISH-
The Lich Knight’s sword cleanly severed the Necromancer’s left arm from his body.
“Uh…?”
I could have helped, but I didn’t particularly want to go out of my way to save the villain.
Unlike the main characters, I felt no attachment. Maybe it was because Reina was nearby, able to provide healing. At the very least, I didn’t feel any sympathy seeing him in pain.
“AAAAHHHHH!!! My arm!! My arm!!”
However, his loud screams and the blood gushing out were indeed gruesome.
When I saw the crumpled limb before, I was out of it, but now that I was in my right mind, it was quite nauseating.
Still, he wasn’t dead. Once we captured him, Reina would heal him as needed.
Just then, Reina yelled over to me.
“Rudion! I’m all set, so try to hold him down!”
It seemed she was ready, so I lightly swung my short sword.
CLANK!
The Lich Knight’s attack, which had been approaching me, bounced off, and the heavy armored body fell backward.
At the same time, Reina threw the magic stone she had been fiddling with toward the fallen Lich Knight.
The magic stone absorbed the Lich Knight whole and began to glow with energy as if it might burst at any moment. But when Reina held it and infused it with mana, it gradually calmed down.
“Arm!! My arm!! AHHHHH!!!”
Ignoring the commotion beside her, Reina focused on the magic stone, and only after it completely settled did she turn her gaze to the Necromancer.
She then kicked the detached arm aside, rolling it next to the Necromancer, and proceeded with the healing.
Though it looked like she was doing it half-heartedly, the effect was anything but lackluster.
The severed arm reattached itself.
“AAAAHHHH!!! AAHHH!!!”
But he kept screaming without realizing he was healed… suddenly, Reina executed a spinning kick to the back of his neck.
“Ugh.”
THUD.
As the loud screaming stopped, silence fell all around.
“…Wow, she’s fierce. Our professor.”
“Stop mocking. I was going to knock him out anyway.”
Reina said it as if it was no big deal and stored the Lich Knight into a magical stone in her pocket.
A pocket monster… that reminds me of a certain cartoon, but it feels like saying the name might lead to trouble.
After successfully capturing the Lich Knight, Reina and I rode back to the Empire.
I had decided to carry the unconscious Necromancer, but thanks to that, the weight of the load that had gotten lighter with the magic stone returned to about the same level.
“Are we heading back to the Academy?”
“No. Please take me to the Knight Order.”
Once Reina returned to the Empire, she said that to the mage.
There was no way I could bring the Necromancer to the Academy.
Even if it was the nearest Knight Order, it was still a considerable distance, and handling the transfer of the Necromancer seemed to take quite a bit of time, but… this should prevent any later incidents, right?
Looks like I unintentionally solved a problem.
Later, we returned to the Academy as quickly as we could, but it was already past midnight and turned into dawn.
“You did well. It’s late, so hurry back and rest.”
“Thank you for your hard work too, Professor.”
After parting ways with Reina near the entrance, I walked alone back to the male dormitory.
Suddenly, my messenger in my bag went off.
Who could it be at this hour?
Checking the messenger, I saw it was the one who had been sending messages as usual.
[Seria: Rudion.]
…Seria? Why is she still awake when she usually goes to bed by ten?
Seria’s messages kept coming.
[Seria: You must have come back.]
[Seria: I was worried since you were late.]
[Seria: What happened that you came back so late?]
[Seria: No wait. I’ll listen directly, so you don’t need to reply.]
[Seria: For now, please come back to the dormitory.]
Come back? Is she waiting outside?
Thinking that, I quickened my pace, and on the way, I ran into Seria walking toward me.
As she approached me, Seria smiled, her face showing signs of fatigue.
“…Rudion. You’re back.”
“Why are you still awake at this hour?”
“I was waiting for you, and since you didn’t send any messages, I thought maybe you forgot, so I sent you a message.”
Seria said that as she took out her messenger and showed me.
There was a list of messages she had intended to send me.
[Seria: Rudion? Did you get back safely? (Delivery failed)]
[Seria: Are you still not back? (Delivery failed)]
[Seria: It’s already past ten. (Delivery failed)]
[Seria: Are you still not here? (Delivery failed)]
[Seria: Still? (Delivery failed)]
[Seria: Rudion. (Delivery failed)]
[Seria: Rudion. (Delivery failed)]
[Seria: Rudion. (Delivery failed)]
[Seria: Rudion. (Delivery failed)]
[Seria: Rudion. (Delivery failed)]
…What is this, this is scary.
Was it because of the bright red delivery failure messages? Seeing my name repeatedly written out sent a chill down my spine.
Nevertheless, Seria continued with what she was trying to say.
“So… I was waiting until you got back.”
“What would you have done if I didn’t come back today?”
“…Well, I don’t know. But since you’re back like this, isn’t that what matters?”
She really has no plans. I appreciate that she waited for me.
Not wanting to just leave Seria, who said she waited, I decided to walk her to the front of the female dormitory.
It’s against the rules to go near a dorm of the opposite gender, but… who’s going to be around at this hour?
It didn’t take long for me to realize how naive that thought was.