Chapter 26

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on January 2, 2025

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Episode 26: Invasion <2>

That day, the peaceful daily life at Crawford Magic Academy was shattered by a sudden explosion and shockwave.

The cafeteria wall burst open, scattering debris with a tremendous blast.

And then, from the hole in the wall, a massive “it” revealed itself, letting out a roar. The roar shook the air so violently that it threatened to collapse the building, as if the roar itself was a disaster on par with any natural calamity.

Right after the earth-shaking roar subsided…

One of the students who saw the pitch-black “it” widened their eyes, trembling in fear, and let out a terrified scream.

“A… A DRAGOOOOOOOOOON!!!”

That scream was the trigger, and like a dam breaking, the students in the cafeteria began to cry out in terror one after another.

“WAAAAAAAAAAH?!”

“Why is there a dragon here?!”

“R-RUUUUUUUN!!!”

“Someone, SOMEONEEEEEE!!!”

The reactions to the sudden overwhelming threat varied. Some were injured by the debris from the exploding wall, some were frozen in fear, unable to move, and others panicked, screaming as they bolted for the exit at the back.

The pitch-black dragon that had suddenly appeared in the academy watched the scene with apparent amusement.

“Good, good. This thrill… it’s been four hundred years. Scream more. Cry out more.”

“Fear me more.”

Just as the group running toward the back exit was about to make it through…

“——…!!!”

An explosion occurred right in front of the leading student, and several students near the exit were blown away by the blast.

“Ugh… oooh…”

As the students who had fallen to the ground groaned, those who had stopped running voiced their confusion.

“What was that?!”

“What just happened?!”

Then, a student who had seen the dragon’s actions moments earlier shouted.

“Fireballs! That dragon just spat a huge fireball from its mouth!”

Hearing this, the students’ fear of the dragon grew even more, and they screamed as they rushed toward the exit again, trying to escape before the next fireball came.

“…Hey!! Hurry up!! What are you doing?!”

“The front’s blocked!! Stop pushing!”

The exit was partially blocked by debris falling from above, and the students were taking time to escape.

In the midst of this surreal tension, one student, breathing heavily from fear, turned to look back at the dragon and immediately shouted.

“H-Hey! Look!! Another fireball!!”

“!!”

Behind the students, the dragon was opening its mouth again, generating another fireball.

“Dammit!! Fireball!”

One of the students unleashed a magic spell toward the dragon, and inspired by this, the surrounding students desperately began casting their own spells in resistance.

“WOOOOOAH!! Water Bullet!!”

“Flame Arrow!”

“Wind Blade!”

The spells unleashed by the students hit the dragon one after another, but not only did they fail to stop it, they didn’t even leave a scratch.

“…This is bad!! The fireball’s coming!!”

“WAAAAAAAAH!!”

Just as the dragon slightly pulled its head back, preparing to launch the fireball…

“Giant Thunder Fist!!”

“…!!”

A massive fist-shaped bolt of lightning struck the dragon’s face with a deafening roar.

Though it didn’t seem to take any damage, the dragon extinguished the fireball and turned its gaze to the left, where the lightning had come from.

“Such a foul stench… I came to see what it was. As expected, it’s one of his bloodline.”

There stood Alphonse Fried, the second-ranked student of the second year.

Alphonse shouted to the students near the exit.

“I’ll buy us some time!! Stay calm and escape with the injured!!”

With that, Alphonse advanced toward the dragon, unleashing high-level spells one after another.

A series of incredibly powerful spells exploded against the dragon.

“That guy… he’s Alphonse Fried, the second-year!! The S-rank!!”

“Alphonse Fried? You mean the descendant of that great hero?!”

“He’s amazing!! He’s stopping that dragon all by himself!!”

“We can escape now!! Move the debris and get the injured out!!”

Seeing this, the students regained their composure and began to escape one after another while Alphonse fought.

“You won’t escape.”

While deflecting Alphonse’s attacks, the dragon glanced at the escaping students and launched another fireball toward the exit.

However…

“Not happening!! Steel Rock Wall!!” Alphonse quickly chanted, creating a sturdy steel wall in the path of the fireball, blocking it.

“I’m your opponent, Black Annihilation Dragon…!!”

Alphonse shouted at the pitch-black dragon in the dragon tongue, and the dragon turned its gaze back to him.

“……”

And then, immediately after…

“——!! …Gah!”

The dragon, which should have been outside the building, appeared inside the cafeteria at an almost teleportation-like speed, slamming its tail into Alphonse with blinding speed.

The tremendous impact sent Alphonse flying, crashing into a far wall with a deafening roar.

“…Opponent? You think you’re my opponent? Don’t make me laugh.”

“Ugh… ha…!!”

“Someone like you could never be my opponent.”

The dragon had invaded the cafeteria. And now, seeing Alphonse Fried, who had just been unleashing incredible spells, taken down in an instant, the students were once again overwhelmed with despair.

“WAAAAAAAAH!! H-He’s down…!!”

“Dammit!! Hurry up and get out!!”

The students began to panic again, rushing to escape.

But then…

“Hey, this is bad!! The wall’s collapsing!!”

The upper part of the wall near the exit, which had been blasted by the dragon’s fireball earlier, began to collapse again, this time completely blocking the exit.

“N-No way…!!”

“Over there!! We have to escape through the other side!!”

One of the students shouted, and they began running toward the hole in the wall where the dragon had first appeared.

Seeing this, the other students desperately followed, running toward the hole.

“Kukuku… Good, good…”

The dragon watched the students’ desperate struggle with apparent enjoyment.

“Truly, the fear of humans is irresistible.”

The dragon began launching small fireballs one after another toward the fleeing students, causing explosions around them.

The students screamed as they desperately ran through the cafeteria, explosions going off all around them.

“More. Fear me more.”

The dragon launched even more fireballs.

“Kyaaah!”

While running, one of the female students was blown away by a nearby explosion, tumbling to the ground.

“Oww…”

As she tried to get up, one of the flying fireballs came dangerously close to her.

“——!!”

The girl instinctively closed her eyes tightly, bracing for her death.

But the fireball never hit her.

“…? ——!!”

When the girl cautiously opened her eyes, she saw Alphonse Fried standing in front of her, barely holding on, having created a wall from the ground to block the incoming fireball.

“…Haa, haa… Are you okay…? Can you stand?”

“…Y-Yes…!!”

The girl gritted her teeth and managed to stand up despite the pain.

“…Good, then hurry and escape.”

The girl, too terrified to speak, simply nodded and ran toward the huge hole in the wall the dragon had made.

“……”

After watching her go, Alphonse turned back to face the dragon.

“I was enjoying the humans’ fear. Don’t interfere. ——You’re not done yet.”

The dragon spoke to Alphonse.

“…Haa… haa… Not done yet…?”

“I’ll toy with that man’s bloodline to the very end. I won’t kill you easily. You’re for later.”

With that, the dragon appeared in front of Alphonse at blinding speed.

“!!”

“Step aside.”

With a flick of its wrist, as if swatting a fly, the dragon sent Alphonse flying through the ceiling, crashing into the second floor of the cafeteria.

“……Now then, the nuisance is gone. Humans, let’s continue the fun.”

…The injured students who had been left behind were once again plunged into deep despair.

◆

“Ugh… oooh…”

Alphonse, who had been sent flying to the second floor by the dragon, lay on the ground for a moment.

But he quickly mustered his strength and stood up, using his arm for support.

“…?!”

…And then, he saw a shocking sight.

The tables and chairs on the second floor of the cafeteria were scattered, and the dishes and food the students had been eating were strewn everywhere.

Hearing the earth-shaking tremors, the dragon’s roars from below, and the students’ screams, the students who had been eating here must have realized something was wrong and fled.

The students on the second floor must have evacuated through the connecting passageway, as no one was left——or so it seemed.

But there, in Alphonse’s line of sight, was something unexpected.

A male student, calmly continuing to eat his lunch as if nothing had happened.

“W-Wha… huh? W-What are you doing here…?”

Alphonse couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing.

The student, who was the only one still eating on the second floor, had black hair, black eyes, and a gray-lined uniform.

Alphonse, purely out of curiosity, spoke to him.

“…What does it look like? I’m eating lunch.”

“…Huh?”

This was abnormal.

It was an abnormality on par with the appearance of the Black Annihilation Dragon.

Given the state of the second floor, with tables, chairs, dishes, and food scattered everywhere, it was clear that the destructive impact had reached this floor as well.

And yet, all the other students had already evacuated.

——So why?

——Why was this male student eating as if nothing was wrong?

Alphonse, having lost his words from the sheer absurdity of the situation, quickly snapped back to reality and spoke to the male student.

“Lunch…?! This is no time for that! The Black Annihilation Dragon has appeared…!!”

“…The Black Annihilation Dragon? It was supposed to have been completely eradicated four hundred years ago.”

The male student, who had been silently eating even after Alphonse arrived, stopped and asked this question upon hearing Alphonse’s words.

“…That’s what the history books say, but it’s not the truth. The Black Annihilation Dragon has absolute immortality. Even Siegfried couldn’t completely destroy it. That’s why he used a sword imbued with sealing power to trap it deep underground, where it’s been sealed for four hundred years.”

“…So the seal was broken?”

“I can hardly believe it myself, but I think that’s what happened… I’ve seen the sealed form once before, and there’s no doubt that what appeared in this academy is the Black Annihilation Dragon.”

“…I see.”

“You understand now, right? This is a really bad situation. So you should escape as soon as possible.”

“…You’re not escaping?”

“Yeah, there are still injured people below who couldn’t get away…”

With that, Alphonse, still unsteady, walked over and picked up a sword that had fallen to the ground. It must have been a decorative piece that had fallen from the second floor due to the earlier impact.

“That’s a replica, you know.”

“Seems like it… I’ll use hardening and attribute-enhancing magic on it. It’s better than nothing.”

“I see.”

“Haa, haa… Well then… I’m going. You should escape as soon as you can too.”

With that, Alphonse jumped down to the first floor through the hole in the floor made when he was sent flying.

◆

Ted Evans, the fifth-ranked student of the second year, was now in a life-or-death situation.

When the cafeteria exit was completely blocked by the explosion of a fireball, Ted was one of the students who ran toward the hole the dragon had made when it first appeared.

However, along the way, debris from the ground exploded by the dragon’s fireball hit Ted, injuring his left leg and left side.

Ted tried to crawl away, but another explosion nearby sent him flying with the high-temperature blast before he could brace himself.

“Ugh…!!”

Ted groaned in pain, but inwardly, he felt a sense of relief. “(That was close… If that had hit me directly…)”

…But then, a sense of unease began to grow in Ted.

“(With all these fireballs flying around, no one’s been directly hit…)”

Ted looked around, and the unease grew stronger.

“(…!! Could it be?!)”

——He had felt it from the beginning.

——The way the dragon had destroyed the wall above the exit right after appearing, instead of going after the group of students running toward the exit.

——The way it had the power to instantly take down Alphonse Fried, yet it was deliberately launching small fireballs.

——And now, seeing the numerous fireballs still flying around, and the students being blown away by the blasts, rolling on the ground and groaning, Ted’s suspicion turned into certainty.

“(That bastard…!! He’s enjoying this!! He’s toying with us like bugs, enjoying our desperate struggle!!)”

“…Damn it.”

“(Me… the eldest son of the prestigious Evans family of mages…!!)”

Surpassing his fear of the Black Annihilation Dragon, a strong emotion exploded within Ted.

“Don’t screw with me, you bastard…!!”

With a roar, Ted unleashed the highest-level spell he could manage toward the Black Annihilation Dragon.

“Spiral Thunderstorm!!”

A powerful spiral of lightning shot out from Ted’s magic circle.

The spell hit the Black Annihilation Dragon directly, creating a loud thunderclap.

“Haa, haa… How’s that…?!”

But, as expected, the dragon didn’t have a single scratch.

“D-Damn it…”

Having used up almost all his magic power, Ted collapsed to the ground, only able to glare at the Black Annihilation Dragon with what little strength he had left.

“…I wanted to play a little longer… But fine. You want to die, don’t you?”

The dragon turned its gaze to Ted and spoke calmly.

“Then I’ll kill you.”

With that, the dragon opened its mouth toward Ted and began generating a fireball.

Ted, who didn’t understand the dragon’s language, had no idea what it had said. But he could easily understand that he was about to die.

Just as the dragon was about to launch the fireball…

“Chains of Hellfire!!”

“…!!”

Suddenly, the Black Annihilation Dragon was engulfed in flames, and the fireball that was supposed to hit Ted was stopped.

“Haa, haa… Good… You’re safe…”

A man, in tatters, ran up to Ted’s side, and Ted’s eyes widened.

“Why… are you… helping me…?!”