The mage rubbed the back of his head and glared at me.
Ignoring him for now, I quickly scanned my surroundings.
In the distance, I saw Yoon Hayoung staring at me with a shocked expression and Yoo Ara lying unconscious on the ground.
…Wait a minute. Is Yoo Ara okay? She’s not dead, right?
I hurried over to her and shook her.
“Hey! Are you okay?”
“Ugh…”
Yoo Ara let out a faint groan. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at me.
“…Kim Sun-woo?”
“Phew. You’re alive.”
“Cough! Cough! …Ugh!”
Still suffering from the aftereffects of the demon’s attack, Yoo Ara remained sprawled on the ground, struggling to catch her breath.
Thankfully, she seemed to be in pain but not in any life-threatening condition.
As I sighed in relief, the demon stared at me in bewilderment.
“Who the hell are you?”
He directed his question at me, and I shifted my attention from Yoo Ara to the enemy before me.
Then, I noticed something—the wound on his body, still burning with a pure white light.
The energy emanating from it was unlike any ordinary magic.
‘…Could that be the power of Demon Eradication?’
I glanced at Yoon Ha-young.
She was staring at me blankly, as if she had no idea what kind of power she had just awakened.
I couldn’t believe she had unlocked Demon Eradication’s trait this early.
This was another major change from the original storyline—this event was supposed to happen months later.
‘Enough pondering…’
I needed to focus on the enemy in front of me.
This demon wasn’t someone I recognized.
Of course, I hadn’t encountered many demons personally, but if he were an important character, I would have recognized him at a glance.
“Haah…”
Facing an unknown villain made me a bit uneasy.
It felt like going up against something completely unpredictable.
Still, judging by his aura, he was probably around A or B rank.
If he was A-rank, that would be… more than a little dangerous.
But if he was B-rank, I could handle him.
Besides, he was already severely wounded by Demon eradication’s power.
Now was the perfect time to take him down.
I gathered mana throughout my body.
[Activating the ability ‘Heart of the Great Nature.’]
[For one minute, mana recovery speed increases by 1000%.]
Thump!
My heart pounded rapidly.
As I relished the surge of mana, I began forming a spell.
With every moment my mana replenished, I continuously compressed it into the magic sphere I had conjured.
“…Who are you?”
The demon’s expression stiffened.
He must have realized what kind of magic I was preparing.
“How can someone your age use that kind of magic?”
“I’ve been practicing magic for a long time, even for my age.”
“What?”
A flicker of unease crossed his eyes.
He quickly conjured dark magic and fired it at me.
Pew!
A magic blast shot toward me at high speed.
But his attack was blocked by the translucent barrier floating above my palm.
The effect of my mana-alloy bracelet—‘Spell Shield.’
“…!”
The demon’s face twisted in shock, as if he hadn’t expected his attack to be stopped so easily.
“Now it’s my turn.”
I extended my hand.
The magic sphere, brimming with immense energy, flashed brilliantly before shooting toward him.
Kwaaaang!
“Arghhh!”
His agonized scream echoed through the explosion.
As the smoke cleared, his figure emerged—his body now missing several parts.
“Ugh… How could you use magic of this caliber?”
The demon stared at me in horror.
Without hesitation, I conjured another spell.
Right now, I was overflowing with mana.
I could attack as much as I wanted.
Pang! Pang! Pang!
Magic spheres rained from my hands.
The demon struggled to block them, but he couldn’t withstand the relentless barrage.
One by one, holes were blasted through his body, twisting him into a grotesque form.
“Arghhh! You bastard!”
His eyes darkened, turning pitch-black.
A sign of ‘Demonic Frenzy.’
A dangerous situation.
But I didn’t panic.
I needed to turn this crisis into an opportunity.
Right now, he was completely defenseless.
This was my chance to finish him off.
Once again, I gathered mana into my hand and compressed it.
A vortex of energy swirled, gradually forming into a concentrated sphere.
This would be enough.
I reached out and launched it toward his head.
A brilliant flash occured—
And then, his head exploded.
The attack on the Magic Academy by the demonic beings was subdued faster than expected.
The general consensus was that the most decisive reason for resolving the incident so quickly was the rapid deactivation of the barrier set up in the third-year exam hall.
“No, it wasn’t me.”
“Haha. Don’t be so modest. If it wasn’t you, Jung Yoon-seul, who else could have disabled the barrier so quickly?”
“Agh! So frustrating. I said it wasn’t me!”
“Jung Yoon-seul, you must be more shy than I thought. Haha. Regardless, you did a great deed. Thanks to you, there weren’t many injuries, and the situation was handled well.”
“Ugh… Whatever. Think what you want.”
In the VIP room of the Magic Academy, a crowd had gathered around Jung Yoon-seul.
Among them were members of the Magic Association who had come to express their gratitude, as well as reporters eager to spread the tale of her heroism.
“The S-rank mage Jung Yoon-seul, who had been missing for a year, protects the young sprouts of the Magic Academy with brilliant wit. How does that sound for a headline?”
“Oh, that’s good. Let’s go with that.”
In the distance, reporters were busy typing away on their laptops, discussing their articles.
Jung Yoon-seul stared at them in disbelief, unsure where to even begin correcting them.
“Jung Yoon-seul, I have a question. I heard the barrier that was set up was at least A-rank. But it was deactivated in under five minutes. Do you have a special method?”
As she listened to the question directed at her, she thought to herself.
‘That’s what I’d like to know too.’
No matter how she looked at it, it made no sense. The barrier was at least A-rank, possibly higher. It had clear signs of being meticulously crafted over several days. Even as an S-rank mage, she would have found it nearly impossible to disable it in less than thirty minutes.
Yet, the barrier had been deactivated in less than five minutes.
Who in the world had done it?
There was one person who came to mind.
But the thought was so absurd that she couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud.
It was easier to just assume that the one who had set the barrier had also been the one to deactivate it.
“Sigh. Anyway, I’m busy, so I’ll be going now.”
“Huh? Wait a moment!”
“Miss Mage! Please speak with us a little longer!”
Ignoring the voices calling out to her, Jung Yoon-seul stepped outside.
“Phew…”
Looking up at the sky, which had already darkened, she let out a deep sigh. The sudden return to peace after everything that had happened today felt strangely unsettling.
At that moment, someone approached her.
“Guild Leader~ You’re looking especially cool today.”
“…Shut it.”
The person greeting her was Park Minhee, the senior guild member of Runes of Enlightenment.
“But seriously, you didn’t disable that barrier?”
“No.”
“Then who did? If it covered the entire exam hall, it must have been quite the high-grade barrier.”
“Exactly.”
Muttering to herself, Jung Yoon-seul couldn’t shake the name of one person from her mind.
As soon as the barrier in the third-year exam hall was lifted, Lee Seo-jun contacted Lee Hyun-joo and Shin Young-joon, then rushed to them.
Together, the three of them fought off the many monsters that had appeared in the academy, making a significant contribution to the battle.
Now, they were sitting on a park bench late at night, reminiscing about the day’s events.
“Wow. What even happened today?”
“Seriously. Why would demonic beings attack a school?”
“At least no one died. That’s a relief.”
Then, as if remembering something, Lee Hyun-joo turned to Lee Seo-jun.
“Oh, right. Seo-jun, you were in the third-year exam hall today, weren’t you?”
At her words, Lee Seo-jun lifted his head.
“Huh? Yeah.”
“How was it there? It must’ve been total chaos.”
“Well… I wasn’t there at the time.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I was with Kim Sun-woo somewhere else for a bit.”
“Kim Sun-woo? He was there too?”
Lee Hyun-joo widened her eyes.
“Yeah.”
“Where did you two go?”
“Um… Somewhere.”
Lee Seo-jun answered with an awkward smile.
“Ugh, come on. Tell me.”
As the three of them continued their conversation—
A man stood atop a distant building, watching them.
“Lee Seo-jun is safe.”
—That’s a relief.
The man was on a call. The person on the other end was a young woman.
“By the way, why did the demonic beings suddenly attack the school? That really caught me off guard.”
—There must be a reason. Maybe they were looking for something.
“They’ve been acting really suspicious lately. You don’t think their target was Lee Seo-jun, do you?”
—No, that’s unlikely. If their goal was Lee Seo-jun, they would have been actively searching for him.
The man nodded.
“Yeah, that makes sense. Besides, from what I saw, the one who fought Lee Seo-jun wasn’t even that strong.”
—Keep an eye on him just in case. You know how important he is to us, right?
“Of course.”
—If his life is ever in danger…
The man smirked.
“Then I’ll just kill whoever’s threatening him.”
—Good. Stay on guard, Jin.
Back in my dorm, I was checking my messages.
[B-rank villain ‘Jin-san’ has been successfully eliminated.]
[Causality has increased by 0.4.]
[‘Savior’ achievement unlocked.]
[Reward: 3,000 points.]
[Character ‘Yoon Hayoung’ feels gratitude toward you.]
[Yoon Hayoung’s interest in you has increased.]
[Yoon Hayoung’s affinity level: 1]
[Reward: 2,000 points.]
[Character ‘Yoo Ara’ feels strong curiosity toward you.]
[Yoo Ara’s interest in you has increased.]
[Yoo Ara’s affinity level: 1]
[Reward: 2,000 points.]
A few rewards had come in for all the trouble I went through today.
0.4 increase in causality and 7,000 points.
I still didn’t fully understand what causality was, but it seemed beneficial to accumulate it, so I didn’t mind.
“Hmm…”
But today’s events had caused a major shift in the story.
Yoon Hayoung had awakened the power of Demon Slayer a whole month earlier than in the original timeline.
Demon Slayer.
The name alone signified its power—the ultimate weapon against demonic beings.
Though she probably didn’t realize it yet, her power would one day be the key to defeating the so-called King of the demonic beings, an entity akin to invincibility.
Fortunately, the only witness to her power had been the demonic being I personally killed, so word wouldn’t spread to others for now.
At least for the next few days, Yoon Hayoung would be safe.
“But what’s going to happen with the exam?”
Today’s sparring class had been canceled due to the demonic attack.
It had been a great opportunity to earn a lot of points, so that was disappointing.
“Hm. What about tomorrow?”
There were exams tomorrow, the day after, and throughout the entire week.
I wondered how the school would react after such an incident.
Just then, my smart student notebook pinged with a notification.
[Notice to all students: Tomorrow, regular classes will proceed instead of the midterm exams. Please take note.]
“As expected, it’s canceled.”
That answered my question.
Still, I thought they might cancel classes altogether, yet they were proceeding as usual. That was surprising.
Another message arrived.
[Sun-woo, thanks for today. You saved me, haha.]
It was from Yoon Hayoung.
I had heard she was hospitalized, but she seemed to be doing well.
Then, another message followed.
[Ara says thanks too.]
Yoo Ara?
Oh, right. They were sharing a hospital room.
The fact that Yoon Hayoung was addressing her by name rather than surname suggested that today’s events had brought them closer.
In the original story, it took them a whole year to become friends, yet here they were already.
“…This is unsettling.”
A friendship forming this early between Yoon Hayoung, the Demon Slayer, and Yoo Ara, who would later bring endless chaos…
What kind of butterfly effect would this create?
I couldn’t help but worry about the future.
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