"……So, the moment I’m discharged, it’s practical training again?"
Behind the Academy’s main building, before a gigantic iron gate from which an eerie mana seeped.
Leaning on my cane, I stood there, barely supporting my trembling legs.
"It cannot be helped, young master. The Academy’s ‘Underground Labyrinth Exploration’ is a required liberal arts course. If you are absent here, you may even be expelled……."
Benjamin made excuses in a shrinking voice, gauging my mood.
It was driving me insane.
Just when I thought I’d finally gotten some IV fluids in the ward and raised my vitality to 10%,
the moment I completed the discharge procedures, a hardcore schedule called underground dungeon exploration was waiting for me.
On top of that, on either side of me were Ellara and Sylvia, their eyes blazing as if they feared I might disappear from their sight for even a second,
and a little ways ahead, Princess Aurelia, who had come to observe the practical training under the authority of the student council president, was also waiting.
Of course, at the head of their group stood Lumen, the original protagonist, grinding his teeth after marking me as the “final boss who must be defeated.”
"The exploration begins! Enter the labyrinth by group!"
At the professor’s signal, the massive iron gate opened, and a musty mold smell and cold air rushed out.
‘Haa…… I’ll just walk around a little, then collapse and say my legs hurt.’
With an empty mind, I planted my cane and stepped into the labyrinth.
But it happened when I had taken exactly three steps onto the stone floor of the labyrinth entrance.
Rummmmble—!!
Suddenly, the ground beneath my feet caved in without a trace, accompanied by a bizarre surge of mana!
"Uh, uhhh……?!"
"Kailan?!"
"My lord!!"
Ellara and Sylvia reached out in horror, but the trap activated with precision and speed, as if it had been aimed at me alone.
Without even a chance to scream, I began falling endlessly into a pitch-black abyss.
"Ugh……!"
How far had I fallen?
I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for the pain of every bone in my body shattering, but what caught me was not cold stone floor.
Something sticky and soft, like a magic cushion made from a tangle of enormous shadows, perfectly absorbed the impact of my fall.
"……?"
As I sat up in confusion, dozens of torches in the gloomy underground cavern flared up at once with blue light.
And the sight that unfolded before my eyes was—
"O great master of the abyss. Have you finally arrived?"
Dozens of figures with black robes pulled low over their heads.
They were the members of the Academy’s underground black magic circle, “Black Dawn,” who had snuck into my dorm room a few days ago and worshipped me as the Demon King!
All at once, they lay flat on the floor and offered me a revoltingly reverent bow.
"Why are you here…… No, did you bastards dig this trap?"
When I asked in utter disbelief, the robed leader answered in a voice choked with emotion.
"Yes! O great king! In order to comfortably escort our lord, who had to perform that tiresome act while surrounded by the dregs of light (heroines),
we secretly prepared a spatial transfer trap!"
When the leader gestured behind him, the torchlight illuminated a gigantic structure.
It was a horrifying, massive “Demon King’s Throne,” exquisitely carved from the bones of countless demonic beasts and black magic stones, so cursed-looking that simply seeing it seemed contagious.
"In the deepest part of this humble labyrinth, we have prepared a throne for our king. Please, take your seat and give us your orders for the next massacre……!"
"You crazy sons of bitches, seriously……!"
I almost spat out a stream of curses out loud.
I was grateful that they had kidnapped me to let me rest comfortably, but for the method to be spatial transfer magic in the Academy’s underground dungeon and the construction of a Demon King’s throne of all things!
This was just an insane act that openly confirmed me as the “mastermind boss who infiltrated the Academy.”
If anyone saw me sitting on this throne, I’d be fit for summary execution with no room for excuses.
‘No, I have to get out of here right now!’
I hurriedly turned around and tried to look for an exit.
But perhaps because of the aftereffects of the fall just now, or because my stress level had reached its limit, the strength suddenly drained from my legs.
"Kh, ugh……!"
My vision spun, and I staggered backward.
And of all places, the spot where I plopped down on my rear happened to be that ominous, gigantic “Demon King’s Throne” behind me.
Thud.
As I sprawled on the throne with my legs crossed, the black magicians went wild as if they had witnessed the descent of a god and began banging their heads against the floor.
"Oooooh!! Our lord has taken his throne!!"
"The age of the abyss has arrived!!"
‘No, fuck. I sat down because my leg cramped……!’
Just as I was weeping tears of blood inwardly and barely trying to stand again by gripping the armrest of the throne—
Kwaaaaaaang—!!!
The thick rock ceiling of the underground cavern shattered and collapsed as if it had literally been bombarded.
Amid the piles of stone pouring down with a tremendous roar, three overwhelming presences of mana and aura crashed down like meteors.
"What insane insects dare dig a trap beneath my lord’s feet?!"
Ellara landed, spewing blue sword aura like a storm.
Behind her appeared Sylvia, freezing all the falling debris with the cold of absolute zero.
And last of all, Princess Aurelia, draped in crimson imperial mana like a cloak.
Even worse was the fact that, over their shoulders, the original protagonist Lumen leapt down with his red hair fluttering.
"I found you, you wicked rats of darkness……!"
Just as Lumen drew his sword and was about to shout at the black magicians,
Lumen’s gaze, and the gazes of the three heroines, all turned toward the deepest part of the underground cavern at once.
"……."
"……."
Silence.
A suffocating silence froze the underground space.
The sight that unfolded before their eyes.
A massive, horrific throne made of bones and black magic, before which dozens of black magicians lay flat in worship.
And at the very center of that throne.
With a pale complexion, dark circles deeply shadowing my tired face, my chin propped on one hand and my legs crossed, I (Kailan) sat at an angle.
No matter how one looked at it, it was not the sight of a pitiful victim who had been kidnapped.
In his secret underground kingdom, worshipped by fanatics, looking down at intruders with weary eyes…… It was the perfect image of the “final mastermind” itself.
"K-Kailan……?"
Sylvia’s lips trembled as if she could not believe it.
Lumen’s pupils dilated as if they would split apart from shock.
"L-look at that! Did I not tell you! That devil was not kidnapped! He was the true ringleader of the black magicians operating in the shadows beneath the Academy!!"
At Lumen’s scream, the black magician leader sprang to his feet, radiating killing intent.
"How dare you wag your tongue so carelessly before the throne of the great king of the abyss! Brothers! Tear those dregs of light to shreds and offer them as sacrifices to our lord!!"
Uoooooh—!!
Dozens of black magicians all spewed black energy at once and began rushing toward Ellara, Sylvia, and Lumen.
This was insane.
If a fight broke out here, this underground cavern would collapse. On top of that, if those black magicians so much as injured Lumen, the system penalty for damaging the original story would descend upon me!
To settle this insane situation, I gripped my cane tightly with trembling hands.
[Warning! The forces of darkness are beginning hostile actions toward the original protagonist!]
[Condition: Control the situation with overwhelming dominance befitting the “Dark Lord.” Upon failure, an instant-death penalty will activate.]
I slammed the armrest of the throne with my cane—bang!—and, enduring bone-deep agony, squeezed out the coldest, cruelest voice I could manage.
"……Who told you to touch my prey without my permission?"
Rummmmble—!
At my suppressed, metallic voice, the steps of the charging black magicians came to a dead stop as if it were a lie.
Leaning crookedly against the throne, I raised a pale hand and pointed at the black magician leader.
"Remember this, insects. That arrogant red-haired brat over there (Lumen) is…… my toy.
The sight of my toy breaking and falling apart only has meaning when it is done by my own hand, before my very eyes."
I gave a snort and added,
"If the likes of you dare put so much as a scratch on my entertainment,
then instead of the dregs of light, I will burn your souls in hellfire with my own hands. Step back and kneel at once."
Thud.
No sooner had my declaration ended than dozens of black magicians dropped to their knees on the spot as if struck by lightning and began trembling.
"F-forgive us, O great king! We nearly dared interfere with the king’s amusement!"
"We shall merely vanish into the darkness!"
Ssssss—
The black magicians all turned into black mist at once, then disappeared in an instant like rats through the cracks in the labyrinth walls.
Situation over.
No one was hurt, and I had safely avoided the system penalty. On the throne, I let out a deep sigh of relief inwardly.
However, there was something I had overlooked.
The power of the “powerful misunderstanding filter” installed in the brains of the four people remaining in this insane underground cavern (Lumen, Ellara, Sylvia, and Aurelia).
(Lumen’s misunderstanding inside his brain)
‘Impossible……! Those countless black magicians who had plunged this Academy into terror obeyed and vanished at a single word from Kailan, like dogs on leashes!
He is not simply their boss. He is an absolute monarch who rules over darkness itself! To think I dared try to oppose a monster like that……!’
Lumen looked up at me with despairing eyes, his hand trembling as it gripped his sword.
And the three women who watched that sight were—
(Sylvia’s automatic brain translation)
‘Ahh……! Again! In the end, so that our hands would not be stained with blood, he sat upon that repulsive throne himself, assumed the role of the villains’ king, and ended the situation!
He must be suffering terrible pain from mana backflow right now, having suppressed all those black magicians……!’
(Ellara’s automatic brain translation)
‘To think he sits alone on the throne in such a pale and precarious state.
I want to cut down that arrogant hero bastard this instant for failing to understand my lord’s lonely path of supremacy, but if he is a toy my lord personally claimed, then I must endure it.’
(Princess Aurelia’s automatic brain translation)
‘Kukuk, hahahah! I told him to kneel beneath my feet, and he went and set up a Demon King’s throne beneath the Academy to play at being king.
Insolent bastard. But that immense arrogance is precisely the finest spice to stimulate my desire to conquer him. So much so that I want to grab him by the collar right off that throne and throw him into my bed this instant!’
"……Hey."
Unable to endure the suffocatingly varied(?) array of gazes the three women and one hero were sending my way, I pressed a hand to my forehead.
"Stop staring already and just show me the way. Sitting on this musty bone chair is killing my back."
Even that ordinary complaint of mine must have sounded to their ears like an arrogant mastermind’s command: “This amusement is over. Dregs, clear the path.”
Upon the cold throne of the underground dungeon,
the academy standing of the terminally ill villain was, as of today, perfectly fixed as an unknown cosmic mastermind surpassing even the Imperial Family.