A massive roar continued to echo from elsewhere.
It seemed that battles were taking place beyond just this location.
However, there was no time to worry about anything else.
I had to help Lee Seo-jun, who was in danger.
As I rushed toward him, I suddenly sensed a murderous intent from somewhere.
At the same time, a radiant beam of energy shot down from the sky, colliding with the ground before me and erupting in a violent explosion.
“Ugh!”
A new demon had appeared in my path.
Of course, it wasn’t going to be that easy.
“I watched your fight just now. You use some interesting techniques. That snake earlier—was it an item?”
The new demon spoke to me with curiosity.
However, this wasn’t the time for idle chatter when Lee Seo-jun’s life was on the line.
Before my opponent could attack, I retrieved a mana elixir from my subspace and downed it in one gulp.
“Urgh…”
No matter how many times I drank it, I could never get used to the awful taste.
I wiped my mouth and tossed the empty bottle onto the ground.
“What did you just drink?”
The demon looked at me in confusion.
Mages typically possess a set amount of mana suitable for their level.
Forcing an increase in mana doesn’t necessarily improve one’s magic control, so he seemed unable to guess what kind of potion I had just consumed.
“Hoo…”
Feeling the effects of the mana elixir, I gathered mana into my hand.
A condensed magic sphere, radiating a dazzling light, formed in midair.
Upon seeing it, the demon’s expression twisted in shock.
“…You bastard. How can someone your age use such magic?”
There was no time to respond.
I had to defeat him quickly to help Lee Seo-jun.
Without hesitation, I fired the magic directly at the demon’s head.
BOOOOM!
The magic sphere left my hand, striking the demon’s head and causing a powerful explosion.
Black smoke surged up, and when it cleared, the demon’s head was completely gone, its body collapsing onto the ground.
“Haa…”
This just never ends.
At that moment, a familiar female voice rang out in the distance.
“Haaaaaah!”
I turned my gaze to see Choi Seo-yoon, wielding a massive ice spear, engaged in battle with a demon.
As expected of the first-year top student, she was skillfully overwhelming her opponent.
Fortunately, it seemed the demon she was fighting wasn’t particularly strong.
At this rate, she would gain the upper hand without my help.
I turned back toward Lee Seo-jun, who was still battling Seong jin.
He was barely holding on, dodging by only a bit.
Seong jin wasn’t someone I could handle just by stepping in.
I needed to figure out the most effective way to support Lee Seo-jun given my abilities.
A solution came to mind.
I opened the point shop and purchased a Superior Mana Concealment Potion.
It cost a hefty 20,000 points, but there was no choice if I wanted to save Lee Seo-jun.
After drinking the potion, I activated Heart of the Nature.
With its mana recovery ability stacking on top of the mana elixir, a surge of powerful mana roared within me.
I gathered all of that energy into my hand.
A magic sphere, gleaming with a silvery glow, began to form in my palm.
“Ugh…!”
Lee Seo-jun gritted his teeth, clutching his injured arm in pain.
He was barely fending off his opponent’s attacks, but he was already at his limit.
The difference in power was simply too great.
He instinctively knew—
The demon before him was one of the five strongest opponents he had ever faced.
“I can’t believe you’re holding out this long against me. You really do live up to the rumors.”
The demon, Seong jin, looked at Lee Seo-jun with genuine admiration.
He hadn’t used his full strength yet, wanting to see the power of the Demon Eradication firsthand.
Even without using his deadliest techniques, Lee Seo-jun’s raw talent was astonishing.
“…Ugh!”
Seong jin stepped toward him, closing the distance.
Lee Seo-jun’s sword emitted an even stronger light attribute aura.
Light attribute magic was particularly effective against demons.
Any normal demon would have been wary of the intense glow radiating from Lee Seo-jun’s sword, but Seong jin, an S-rank demon, was unfazed.
“Haaaah!”
Lee Seo-jun kicked off the ground, dashing toward Seong jin.
In an instant, his body flickered out of sight, reappearing right in front of Seong jin as he swung his sword with blinding speed.
Whoosh!
Momentarily startled, Seong jin deployed a barrier of magic to deflect the attack.
However, it wasn’t a perfect defense.
A deep slash tore across his chest, black blood dripping from the wound.
“…Unbelievable. Not only did you block my attack, but you even managed to wound me?”
Seong jin let out a short, astonished laugh.
What kind of monster was this human?
“It’s a relief, really. If another two years had passed, no demon in this world would have been able to stop you…”
He stared at Lee Seo-jun and asked,
“There’s something I’ve been curious about. Why haven’t you used your Demon Slayer’s Power?”
Lee Seo-jun stiffened at the words.
“Demon Slayer’s Power? …What are you talking about?”
“You’re playing dumb. On the day of the Magic Academy’s midterm exams, you were the one who dispelled the Demonic Barrier at the third-year testing ground, weren’t you?”
“…What?”
Lee Seo-jun’s eyes widened at the unexpected claim.
Was he talking about the barrier that Kim Sunwoo had broken?
“What are you even saying?”
“You’re making that guilty face. There’s no use hiding it.”
“Explain properly. Are you looking for the one who dispelled that barrier?”
Seong jin narrowed his eyes.
Lee Seo-jun truly seemed clueless.
“…Do you really not know?”
“Answer me!”
“Looks like you really don’t have a clue. Then who dispeled the barrier?”
Lee Seo-jun wasn’t the Child of Prophecy.
Seong jin had made a grave miscalculation.
If it wasn’t Lee Seo-jun, then who was it?
Who had broken the Demonic Barrier?
Seong jin fell into deep thought before a realization struck him.
He turned back to Lee Seo-jun, his eyes sharp.
“You… You know who did it, don’t you?”
“…How would I know that?”
Seong jin gathered his magic and began walking toward Lee Seo-jun.
His demeanor had completely changed.
Until now, he hadn’t been using his killing intent, but that was over.
In an instant, Seong jin vanished—only to reappear right in front of Lee Seo-jun.
“…!”
Lee Seo-jun tried to retreat, but it was already too late.
Seong jin’s hand wrapped around his throat, lifting him into the air.
“Ghhk…!”
Lee Seo-jun choked, struggling in pain.
“Answer me. Who dispelled the barrier?”
“I—I don’t… know…!”
“Tell me.”
“Ghh… argh…!”
“…You refuse to answer. Then you’ll just have to die.”
Seong jin’s grip tightened around his throat.
Lee Seo-jun’s face turned pale as he gasped desperately for air.
And then—
From somewhere unseen, a brilliant light suddenly flared.
A tremendous surge of magic energy shot toward Seong jin.
Since he hadn’t sensed any mana beforehand, he failed to react in time.
Swooooosh…!
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
“Guaaahhh!”
Half of Seong jin’s shoulder and upper body, which had been gripping Lee Seo-jun’s neck, vanished in an instant. Black blood gushed out, and his body erupted into flames.
Seong jin let out a scream of agony. Lee Seo-jun crashed onto the ground with a thud.
“Kuhek…!”
As his blocked airway finally cleared, Lee Seo-jun gasped for air, breathing heavily. Then, he turned his head toward the direction where the support had come from. Through his blurred vision, he saw a man standing. However, perhaps due to the lack of oxygen, he couldn’t make out the man’s face properly.
“Urghhh…!”
Seong jin writhed in pain before converting his body’s mana into regenerative power.
His missing body parts writhed grotesquely before slowly taking shape again.
“Kuugh! Who the hell did that?!”
With bloodshot eyes, Seong jin glared in the direction of the unexpected attack.
Far away, a lone human male stood. His youthful appearance made it hard to believe he was the one who had cast the spell just now.
But Seong jin had no time to process the strangeness of it. His mind was clouded with fury from the ambush.
“I’ll kill you!”
Just as Seong jin gathered his mana to charge forward—
Boom!
A thunderous sound, like the roar of the heavens, shook the sky. A storm of magical energy raged above, followed by a powerful lightning bolt that struck Seong jin.
Crash—!
“Graaahhh!”
The lightning pierced straight through Seong jin’s chest. Black blood spurted out once again, soaking the ground.
Crash—!
Another bolt struck, this time piercing his abdomen. Then another, and another. The lightning didn’t stop. Over and over, it rained down upon him.
“Kuaaahhh!”
Crackle. Crackle…
Electricity danced across the ground.
Through the crackling energy, a woman slowly walked toward Seong jin. Her long, messy blonde hair floated in the storm.
Charlotte—no, Bert—looked down at Seong jin.
“Who are you? Why are you after that child?”
“…And who the hell are you?!”
At Seong jin’s demand, Bert raised her hand to the sky.
A javelin crackling with thunderous energy materialized in her grasp, imbued with overwhelming mana.
“This is your last chance, demon. Why are you attacking Lee Seo-jun?”
“Heh… Heheheh…”
Seong jin let out an unhinged laugh.
He instinctively understood the situation.
This wasn’t good. The person before him was a mage of S-rank or higher.
He had already expended too much mana on regeneration. He couldn’t fight this opponent in his current state.
There was only one option left.
Dark energy spread from his eyes, gradually consuming his entire face in blackness. His tattered body began regenerating at an alarming rate, much faster than before. His body enlarged unnaturally.
The demon’s berserk transformation had begun.
“Phew…”
At least the situation was stabilizing.
Now that Bert had stepped in, the other members of Jaun would likely show themselves soon. If that happened, Seong jin would be taken down in no time.
Still, thinking back on it, the whole situation had been extremely dangerous—especially for me.
The spell I had unleashed was an all-out attack that took nearly five minutes to condense my mana.
It was the strongest attack I could currently muster.
Thankfully, it had landed a clean hit, but the problem came afterward.
True to his S-rank reputation, Seong jin had monstrous regenerative abilities and recovered almost instantly.
“Whew.”
I had only survived because Bert intervened at just the right moment.
That was way too close.
She looked absolutely furious back there.
Sssss…
I felt my body growing sluggish.
The effects of the mana elixir had worn off, and I was now experiencing mana depletion.
If I ran into another demon in this state, I wouldn’t even be able to resist—I’d just die.
…I needed to find a place to hide.
As I searched for a hiding spot, my mind drifted back to the conversation between Lee Seo-jun and Seong jin that I had eavesdropped on earlier using mana-enhanced hearing.
“…This is so ridiculous.”
Even now, I couldn’t believe it.
“The Child of Prophecy…? Lee Seo-jun?”
What kind of nonsense was that?
I never imagined the demons would mistake Lee Seo-jun for the Child of Prophecy.
And the reason Seong jin believed that? It was because of the dispelled magical barrier during the midterm exams.
A butterfly effect.
In the end, this entire situation had unfolded because of my actions.
To sum it up—
My actions had put Lee Seo-jun in danger.
“Haah… What do I do now?”
Even if Seong jin was eliminated today, the demons would never give up on Lee Seo-jun.
Especially not the Demon King, who feared the power of demon eradication above all else.
“…I need to come up with a plan.”
I turned my gaze toward the battle between Bert and Seong jin.
A clash between S-rank monsters.
The fight showed no signs of ending anytime soon.
Seeing these two face off—characters who had never interacted in the original story—left me with a complicated feeling.
Just then, five humans appeared behind Bert.
I instantly recognized them.
The other members of Jaun.
Their presence alone exuded overwhelming mana, on par with Bert’s. They immediately launched an attack on Seong jin.
The battle had suddenly shifted to six against one.
At last, this long fight was nearing its conclusion.
And if the story continued as in the original, a new faction would soon intervene, shifting the situation once again.
My role here was over.
All I had to do now was find a safe place to hide and watch what unfolded next.
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