Chapter 299

While Sivar was playing tag with Rust,

Luna was busy dealing with the monsters pouring in like a tidal wave. They just kept coming.

Thank goodness the refugees were separated, or it would have been a real mess if they had all crowded together.

The United Academy was surrounded by a forest, resembling a castle, after all.

Normally, the monument would have kept the forest acting as a wall, but not now.

Monsters from all over the forest were rushing in. If they had all charged at once, it would have been catastrophic.

-Swoosh!

Nol’s head was neatly severed. He looked as if he hadn’t even recognized death, his eyes still wild with fury.

Eventually, Nol’s head fell to the ground, followed by his body crumpling down.

“Haah.”

Luna sighed as she looked at the bloody corpse of Nol. She then eyed the sword in her hand.

It separated with surprising ease, despite hardly using any magical power. It was like slicing through tofu.

The Usuk sword that Sivar had gifted her. She thought highly of it, but it was way better than she’d expected.

Thanks to this, even though the battle had dragged on, she wasn’t physically exhausted at all.

“Rwaaaah!”

A fierce roar pierced Luna’s ears. She turned her head towards the source of the noise.

There it was, an ogre galloping towards her like a knight on horseback, its eyes glazed over just like Nol’s.

It didn’t make sense for monsters to coordinate their attacks like this. It meant someone was pulling the strings.

Luna gripped her sword with both hands and charged at the ogre. Just then, someone shouted from behind her.

“Flame! Shoot forth like light!”

The sharp voice reached Luna’s ears as a wave of heat tore overhead.

Flames pulsating with a crimson glow spiraled out, and soon struck the ogre squarely in the face.

-Boom!!

The fiery ray landed perfectly on the ogre’s face. Magic with speed and destructive power combined.

However, since it was fundamentally fire, it couldn’t pierce through the ogre’s face entirely.

“Graaaaah!!”

That was enough. The previously fearless ogre staggered back.

Thanks to using the ogre’s own momentum against it, the damage was doubled.

Luna immediately channeled power into her legs and surged forward. The ogre still hadn’t regained its senses.

‘I can’t do it like Sivar…’

If it had been Sivar, he would have taken this chance to split open its head.

She could leap high enough to reach the ogre’s head. But then what?

Rod told her to avoid high-risk strategies whenever possible. It only had to work if she could handle the consequences.

Sivar could tackle the ogre and come out unscathed. But she wasn’t Sivar.

-Swish! Swish!

Instead, Luna sliced cleanly through the ogre’s ankles.

Though it was a clean cut, it undoubtedly severed the tendons, that is, the Achilles heel.

-Thud!

Thanks to that, the ogre’s sturdy form toppled forward. Now, all that was left was to end its life.

No matter how big it was, once it was down, taking it out wouldn’t be hard.

-Thwack!

Luna’s sword accurately pierced through the ogre’s skull. It went in so deep that it stuck in the ground.

The ogre’s body quaked a bit before going limp. It was completely finished.

“You did well. That should be the end for now.”

Grace approached Luna, who was retrieving her sword. It was her magic that had just been unleashed.

Luna nodded and looked around. Monster corpses were scattered on the ground.

It wasn’t just Luna and Grace who took down those monsters. Some skilled refugees helped a whole lot.

“Surely that’s it, right?”

“Even if there are more…”

Grace shrugged in response and nodded towards the distance.

When Luna turned her head, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

A mountain of corpses. And standing tall on top of it, a muscled giant.

-Snap!

The giant’s huge hands crushed something’s head completely. Blood dripped down like it was squashing a tomato. If you looked at it superficially, it was pure evil.

‘Seriously…’

Luna clicked her tongue. The monsters she and Grace dealt with were just a handful on the ground.

But the ones Rize had taken down were stacked like a mountain. The gap in their abilities was painfully clear.

This was expected. While everyone else fought fiercely, Rize just punched them, and that was the end.

Her light punches turned the monsters into mush.

“Thanks to the Saint’s support, we can relax a bit now.”

“She really is amazing.”

It wasn’t just the two of them; everyone started praising Rize’s skills.

A true supporter isn’t someone who heals people, but someone who directly eliminates the cause.

Her words matched her actions, and she had the skills to back it up, making it impossible not to admire her.

“Is anyone hurt? I’ll help!”

Even Erica, buzzing around behind her, was earnestly treating the wounded.

Although she wasn’t as brawny as last time, her healing abilities were top-notch.

Situations like this were flowing smoothly. Much smoother than expected, in fact.

‘Sivar is probably fighting by now…’

With the monument completely incapacitated, there was a very high chance a powerful demon had come through.

While Rize was busy helping people, the absence of Rod and Sivar was proof of that.

They needed to rush to support, but unfortunately, there were just too many monsters overrunning the area.

‘But with the Principal around, it shouldn’t be too dangerous.’

Luna had faith in Rod. He was one of their greatest powers alongside Rize.

All she had to do was protect the refugees. If she misjudged, it could mean disaster.

-Pat. Pat. Pat.

Rize, who had been standing atop the mountain of corpses, slowly made her way down. Blood dripped from her fists.

Now that things had calmed down a bit, it felt like she was taking a break. Luna, on the verge of relaxing her grip on her sword, was suddenly interrupted.

-Beeeeep…

An annoying noise cut through her ears. Thankfully, with the area quiet, she could actually hear it.

‘What is that sound?’

Just as Luna turned her head toward the source, she noticed Rize also looking in the same direction.

“There you are.”

“Huh?”

“Luna, more monsters will swarm in from here. Hold the line.”

“What??”

-Boom!

Before Luna could even process what was happening, Rize shot off like a rocket. A single leap cracked the ground beneath her like a spider web.

Then Rize was gone in an instant. Luna stared in shock at her disappearing figure.

Despite leaving behind vague, confusing words, Rize was off somewhere—Luna quickly gathered herself.

-Thud-thud-thud-thud!

The familiar rumble of the earth began to swell. Monsters were charging in.

Luna steadied herself and glanced around. The others seemed tense too, as if they could feel the tremors.

“It seems it’s not over yet.”

“Yeah, it seems that way.”

Everyone had their work cut out for them. Luna hastily readied herself.

‘But where did the Saint go?’

******

The Chaos Forest is incredibly vast. It’s so extensive that saying “it’s just big” doesn’t do it justice.

The reason monsters can pour out like a tide is due to this vast expanse.

Even if the external monsters are all wiped out, the internal ones just keep popping out.

Thus, the more monsters summoned, the stronger they tend to become as well.

[Graaaaaah!]

[Graaaaaaah!]

[Kyaaaah! Kyaaaah!]

The forest was stirring up. The residents of the forest were madly racing towards a single direction.

These weren’t just goblins, Nol, or orcs, and ogres—it was trolls, lycanthropes, owlbears, and more.

The more the Academy held its ground, the stronger the monsters came crashing in. It was like pouring water into a bottomless pit.

And the root cause of all this chaos was a man in black and white casually watching the oncoming monsters.

“Cough! Khurp…”

The man was leaning against a tree while coughing up black blood. His condition clearly wasn’t good.

It would be fair to say half of his body was blown away. One arm had completely gone, exposing bone and internal organs.

His heart barely escaped the damage, but whether that was fortunate or not was questionable. The injuries were just too severe.

-Hisssss…

Demons, especially those above azure rank, have incredibly high recovery abilities. Even if they were cut in half, they could recover given enough time.

But the demon known as ‘the Clown’ was taking a painfully long time to heal.

Not just that. Instead of healing, it was slowly burning away like paper touched by fire.

“It’s fortunate I found you early.”

“Cough!”

“From the way you’re avoiding the fight, I reckon Sivar is your number one target?”

Standing before the Clown was a muscle-bound giant.

A long, silver mane danced in the faint breeze as Rize stood triumphantly.

She’d realized early on that the Clown was summoning monsters and had rushed over to ambush him.

The ambush yielded great success. If he were anyone else, he would have perished long ago. The only reason the Clown still lived was thanks to his nature as a demon.

“How did you… how do you know…”

“Not your concern.”

“Cough! Krhh…”

The Clown struggled to suppress the flames consuming his body. The result of Rize’s holy punches was clear before him.

The great demon’s ultimate weapon, the one he feared most, was the Saint, Rize.

Her basic strength was nothing short of extraordinary, combined with overwhelming power and divine will.

Additionally, the Clown specialized in chaos and multi-fight scenarios, so his personal strength was slightly lacking.

As such, he aimed to bring considerable confusion to the Academy, then step back and enjoy the chaos from a distance.

“Honestly… Cough! I just can’t understand. That girl is…!”

“I know. She’s your hope.”

“But why? Why are you stopping it? The will of Chaos cannot possibly be against this!”

“Yes. This is purely my will.”

Rize clenched her fist tightly and walked toward the Clown. He staggered back in fear, but unfortunately, there was no space left.

Even desperate last-ditch efforts would be meaningless against a being like the Saint. Every move he made would be thwarted.

“I once viewed you positively at first. But once I realized what that hope was, I knew I couldn’t let it slide.”

“You won’t bring harm to the human world… Cough! Just wait.”

“Not right now, no. And does Sivar have any happiness?”

“I can make him happy… Cough! I have confidence.”

“No.”

Rize coldly rebutted. She then gathered her power into her fist and started to lift it up slowly.

“Happiness isn’t something given, it’s something created.”

“Cough…!”

“It was nice meeting you, Clown.”

-Whuummm!

Rize’s fist began to gather magical and holy energy. The Clown watched in despair as it happened.

Dealing with a Sword Saint was hard enough; now a Saint was in the mix. How on earth could he counter that?

‘This can’t be happening…’

Just as the Clown desperately tried to move his remaining arm…

[That’s far enough.]

A voice cut in between them. Both Rize and the Clown turned towards the sound.

In the dim forest, they couldn’t see well, but Rize could clearly make out the figure.

“You are…!”

-Wham!

Before Rize could finish her sentence, she swung her fist in the direction of the voice.

-Boooooom!!

Waves of intense energy erupted from Rize’s punch. This was an attack that combined her divine energy with her magic—a cataclysm for demons.

The unexpected visitor hadn’t uttered a single word, but Rize was quick on the draw. It was almost a moment too late.

[Teleporting.]

-Shwoop!

They vanished. The magical energy shot from Rize’s fist, along with Rize herself.

With nothing but a word, they completely vanished—even their presence was erased.

The Clown witnessed the scene through wide eyes. His expression shifted from bewilderment to a blank stare.

“You seem to be in a serious state. Are you okay?”

“You’re late… Cough! Agh!”

“Oops, let’s have you rest a bit. Teleporting.”

-Whoosh!

With a simple command, the Clown vanished in an instant.

The newly arrived figure clicked their tongue and turned their gaze towards the direction of the Academy.

“Shall we go then?”

He walked leisurely.

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