The world is unstable.
So much so that even the tiniest crack in a dimension can lead to its destruction.
Could this become the scenario of the end?
The totality of will, indescribable in any language, in any words, responds without fail.
* * *
She had always kept an eye on Do Gyeonu and his group’s movements.
Naturally, she had also obtained information that, using Lisa Grace’s near-abduction by O Junsu’s gang as justification, they had left for the Black Magic O Family’s villa together with the student council.
“Jeongjin was the same, but Student Kang Hanbyeol really does have a lot of enemies around him. Well, with that strange habit of trying to plunder other people’s weapons, I suppose it’s inevitable. To think he even resembles Jeongjin in that regard, really… He could go around saying he’s not just Jeongjin’s disciple, but his child.”
The top floor of the Faculty Hall, the chairwoman’s office.
So Hyeyul, the Star Witch, smiled bitterly.
She found Kang Hanbyeol, who seemed intent on causing trouble first and worrying about the consequences later, nothing but interesting.
At the same time, she was curious about Do Gyeonu, who had uncovered O Junsu’s gang’s conspiracy in advance and used it as justification to stir up the others.
‘What is he thinking?’
Charging into the Black Magic O Family’s villa was an extremely emotional response.
It was reckless.
It stood in contrast to the rational side he had shown when he secured evidence from O Junsu’s gang and thought to bring in the student council.
So Hyeyul could not fully evaluate Do Gyeonu, who seemed broad-sighted at times and narrow-minded at others.
‘I can’t get a read on that child.’
But Do Gyeonu surely had not acted thoughtlessly or blindly.
She could not know for now, but there had to be a reason.
So Hyeyul decided to watch how things unfolded and choose the position most advantageous to herself.
“…”
Thus, she looked out the window at the night.
It was in the direction of the Black Magic O Family’s villa.
That was when the anomaly occurred.
───!!
A massive wave of mana spread across the entire academy city like ripples on water.
The epicenter was in the direction of the Black Magic O Family’s villa, where So Hyeyul had been looking.
‘What on earth is this energy…?’
It was absolutely not something she could lightly ignore.
Something was wrong.
Her expression changing, So Hyeyul hurried out onto the balcony.
Then, upon seeing the magic circle that had appeared in the sky, her face hardened.
“That is…”
A magic circle illuminating the night sky in violet.
It was too far away to examine in detail, but even at a glance, it was anything but ordinary.
Judging by the energy reaching her even at this distance, it was at least comparable to magic of the Fifth Tier or higher.
Above all.
‘The dimension is becoming unstable.’
Space was distorting and cracks were forming here and there in her field of vision, enough to be seen with the naked eye.
Judging by the scale, the wave from moments ago seemed to have greatly affected the World Tree.
Soon, monsters revealed themselves.
Grrrr!
“…”
Pterosaur-type monsters with sharp thorns sprouting here and there, their bodies covered in black scales.
Upon spotting the Rank 4 monsters, Thorny Ptera, that had appeared in the night sky, So Hyeyul furrowed her brow.
Even just the ones visible at a glance seemed to number roughly ten.
If she expanded the range to the entire academy city, she could not even guess how many monsters had appeared.
‘The situation is serious.’
Rank 4 monsters, which one could encounter in gates of green grade or above, were difficult for ordinary Hunters to deal with.
Unless they were Hunters with a certain reputation, they could not be subjugated reliably.
If such creatures began rampaging in earnest, chaos was bound to descend upon the academy city.
Moreover, this was only the beginning.
Cracks were continuing to form without stopping, and the magic circle that had brought about the situation was still shining.
It could grow even worse than this.
‘There’s a limit to what I can see from here, but it seems to be ritual magic of the black magic type…’
As someone bearing the epithet Star Witch, after analyzing the magic circle.
It seemed the magic had merely been prepared and had not yet activated.
That meant that if the magic circle activated completely, the situation could become even more serious.
At that moment, a massive crack appeared in the night sky around the magic circle.
Craaaack!
The cracked sky fell away like shards of glass.
From within it, a red castle revealed itself.
“That is…”
“It appears to be Pandemonium of the Demon Realm. Its exterior closely resembles what is known of it. I can also sense a dense demonic energy from that place.”
“…I see. So because of that magic circle, this world and the Demon Realm have been connected. If demons start crossing over from there… that’s not good.”
“Yes. They were demons who, by contract, took negative emotions even if only in a limited manner, so they will see this as an opportunity and try to run wild as much as they please. They will also put forward the logic of the Demon Realm—winner takes all, the strong prey upon the weak.”
“They may try to make us slaves to emotion.”
O Seung-a, who was well-versed in black magic, said.
Though she had severed ties now, she had once belonged to a branch family of the Black Magic O Family, so there was no harm in taking her opinion into account.
Having gained at least a rough understanding through her, So Hyeyul nodded quietly.
“Is there anything else you know?”
“As I see it… I think they may be trying to form a contract with a demon of quite a high Star.”
“Hmm… Even summoning a Sixth-Star demon probably wouldn’t cause something of this scale. In that case, are they trying to summon a demon of an even higher Star? For instance…”
A Demon King.
When her thoughts reached that point, So Hyeyul sighed.
She muttered as if this had become troublesome.
“I think I know who did this, and he’s unbelievably foolish.”
An Eighth-Star demon, worshiped by demons as a Demon King.
Modern black magic considered forming contracts with them taboo.
There had never once been a successful case, and they were extremely dangerous—dangerous enough to deal a massive blow to the world.
Just like now, when the academy city’s dimension had become unstable.
‘Does he have no thoughts at all? Or is he simply saying we should all die together?’
The culprit was likely the Black Feather of the Black Magic O Family… no, that good-for-nothing O Junsu.
So Hyeyul could not help but find him pathetic.
After instantly disposing of the Thorny Ptera that had tried to harm her, she swept back her hair.
“If it comes to it, I’ll have to use the staff. Before the situation gets out of hand.”
In the worst case, she would have no choice but to use the artificial satellite drifting through space, Star Lightroad.
It would erase the academy city and its surroundings, but in order to keep the damage to a minimum, it would be unavoidable.
If the dimension remained unstable like this, the world could very well be destroyed.
Therefore.
‘I hope the children do well…’
In order to resolve this as peacefully as possible.
So Hyeyul prayed for the good fortune of Do Gyeonu and his group, who were probably at the center of the situation.
* * *
Even though darkness had settled over the forest, there was no need to worry about getting lost.
In any case, we knew the direction of the Black Magic O Family’s villa, and a paved road wide enough for cars to pass through ran through the forest.
Thanks to that, we were able to advance toward our destination without wandering around in confusion.
Grrrr! Bark! Bark!
That did not mean there were no difficulties at all.
With darkness draped over the four directions, we could not secure visibility far ahead, so we had to stay alert for any potential danger.
In addition, monsters appearing here and there were swarming toward us.
Already bothersome creatures became even more troublesome as their wildness doubled under the influence of the night.
“A group of monsters appearing at ten o’clock! Estimated rank is Rank 2, number of individuals… six!”
“We’ll clash soon. I’ll take those with the Guardians. Just support us from behind.”
If there was one fortunate thing, it was that the students Do Sieun had brought were properly assisting in battle.
Other than consuming stamina, we were able to avoid taking any damage.
“Eunsol, can you attach one light spirit to each person to illuminate the darkness?”
“Okay.”
The deeper we went, the darker our surroundings became.
At this rate, we would not be able to see ahead.
Having judged that, I asked Cha Eunsol, who was flying nearby.
She obediently complied.
Fwoosh!
Spirits manifested in the forms of animals suffused with golden light moved toward the others.
As they shone brightly on their own, they illuminated the darkness spread across the forest.
Chirp, chirp!
The chick that came to my side also did its part.
‘What’s gotten into her…?’
Considering Cha Eunsol’s tendency toward laziness, there had been a possibility she might refuse my request.
So I had even been thinking of a way to coax her with food, but I never expected her to agree so readily.
I could not help but feel inwardly flustered.
‘Did the skills I gained this time have an effect?’
Charisma and Command, the skills I had obtained a few days ago during the base defense class.
Vaguely deciding it must be the effects of those two skills, I resolved to focus on the goal of defeating O Junsu.
Meanwhile, the threats we encountered while running through the forest were not limited to monsters.
‘It was like this in the game too.’
Currently, a dimension leading to the Demon Realm was open above the Black Magic O Family’s villa.
Beyond it, a red castle could be seen.
It was Pandemonium, where the Demon King and his subordinate demons were based.
“Demons are coming.”
“…”
Given the circumstances, it was Pandemonium, ruled by the Demon King with whom O Junsu had tried to form a contract.
From there, demons the size of forearms were crossing the dimension while flapping bat-like wings.
Even at a glance, they did not seem friendly.
They looked ready to point the tridents in their hands at us at any moment.
“Be careful not to get stabbed by those tridents. They have an effect that induces nausea.”
“How does Gyeonu know that?”
“…I was interested in black magic a long time ago, so I once read related books. I saw it there.”
“That sounds suspicious somehow…”
“That did happen. I remember Gyeonu rambling to me about black magic for a while. I think he was really obsessed with black magic back then because it overlapped with puberty. Yeah, probably… He even tried to go to middle school wearing a black robe, didn’t he? With bandages wrapped all around his arm…”
“I never did that, Haneul.”
“Gyeonu, then do you know what comes out if we defeat those demons? It won’t be magic stones. I’m curious.”
“Who knows. Even if the dimensions are connected, they probably couldn’t cross over easily. Looking at previous cases, they may have created virtual bodies to come across. Bodies made of mana, I mean. So even if we deal with the demons…”
“You’re saying nothing will come out. Tch, what a shame. Then we can’t take those tridents either?”
“It’ll serve as experience instead.”
According to my knowledge from the game, the demons coming after us were First-Star Knirugel.
They were not enemies we could not handle.
Soon, once the distance between us and them closed, we entered battle.
Because the connection between this world and the Demon Realm was incomplete, the creatures had weakened compared to their original selves. They were almost helplessly defeated and vanished into particles of mana.
They had returned to the Demon Realm.
Depending on the individual, they may have suffered a heavy blow to their souls and met annihilation instead.
‘That’s why the demons aren’t crossing over carelessly even though the dimensional gate is open. It’s not connected in a complete state yet, so restrictions are placed on them when they cross.’
For now, only First-Star demons were crossing over, but as time passed, demons of higher Stars would set foot in this world in sequence.
So if we wanted to lower the difficulty of the raid, we had to defeat O Junsu as quickly as possible and sever the link connecting this world and the Demon Realm.
The final threat blocking our path was O Junsu’s people.
“You cannot pass any farther. If you wish to pass, defeat us first.”
“However, we’ll let Kang Hanbyeol go. The rest of you will have to fight us.”
“This is private property of the Black Magic O Family. We cannot forgive further insolence, so leave at once.”
“I apologize, but we cannot allow you to reach the young master.”
“You lot will have to pay the price for setting foot on someone else’s land without permission.”
“…”
O Junsu’s closest associates, the employees of the Black Magic O Family’s villa, the Hunters stationed at the villa, and so on.
Those whose minds had been brainwashed by O Junsu were also enemies we had to deal with alongside the monsters and demons.
In the game, however, Kang Hanbyeol’s party members would leave the party each time a battle broke out in order to send Kang Hanbyeol ahead first, then return one by one during the boss fight…
Only the party members who won their battles could return.
In any case.
‘This isn’t a game, so is there any need to create a situation where our forces are scattered?’
It would be one thing if we had the objective of sending Kang Hanbyeol to O Junsu first in order to rescue the kidnapped Lisa.
Unlike in the game, however, Lisa had not even been kidnapped, so there was no need to force ourselves to imitate the original flow.
On the contrary, it would only waste our strength for nothing.
So.
“We’re busy enough as it is, so let’s just comfortably beat them down with numbers.”
We push through like this.
We do not have to be fair and square.
There is no reason to hesitate.
I gave orders to my friends.
I Became the Childhood Friend of the Mid-Boss