Became a Traitor in an Academy

The Suicides (3)

The news and video of Heros Academy students being attacked by villains spread like wildfire, literally in an instant.

In an age where even hero-villain battles are consumed as entertainment and turned into articles, this might be natural, but it was mainly due to a video filmed by a citizen.

They shuddered at the enormous wall of flames, rare even in battles between decent heroes and villains.

They felt satisfaction watching villains who threw themselves into the wall of fire without a moment’s hesitation getting thrown back out along with pavement blocks.

And they were shocked seeing those students appearing at the end of the video and the Gate that swallowed them in an instant before vanishing.

In an age where everything in the world has a price tag, citizens who saw the video were busy making their own evaluations.

Saying that red-haired girl would surely become a ranked hero later.

Saying she was more suited to become an S-rank hunter than a hero.

Someone jumping into that argument saying are you blind, clearly those are Hero Department uniforms.

Someone else rushing in to say you’re the one who should shut up if you don’t know, those are Hunter Department uniforms.

Even the worried opinions were just concerns like “a Gate appeared downtown but what is Heros Corporation doing” or “I live near there, are property values ruined?”

Concerns for the students were instantly buried.

Because they’re Heros Academy students. Because there are heroes. Because Heros Corporation will step in.

Even if they got caught in a Gate, it would work out somehow.

Most people just thought that way.

However, those who recognized the gravity of the situation had already gathered at the scene.

“That is the current situation.”

Justitia relayed the rough situation to those gathered at the scene.

“So… my granddaughter is caught in a Gate right now. And of all things, before she got swept into the Gate, she killed the one who opened it. So, there’s no way to intervene from outside?”

“I apologize but… that’s correct. This is the first case of an individual opening a Gate… if we interfere with a channel opened by another, we don’t know how conditions inside the Gate might change. If we make a mistake, the students could be put in danger…”

“Tch. So in the end you’re saying you can’t do it.”

The dimensional technician from Heros Corporation broke into a cold sweat while trying somehow to improve her mood.

“That’s… true, but according to the video footage, since villains came out from inside the Gate, there should only be one boss monster inside the Gate. Because magical beasts don’t discriminate between villains and heroes.”

However, that wasn’t enough to improve the mood of a Returner who couldn’t confirm her granddaughter’s survival.

“But in the end they still need to defeat the boss. Without even knowing what rank it is.”

“I’m sorry, Altera-nim…”

The woman called Altera seemed displeased as she struck the ground with her tail hard enough to crack it, then twisted the earth to create a chair.

“If anything happens to our precious pebble, you’d better think carefully about the consequences.”

The dimensional technician answered “understood” thinking failure meant his head, while fiddling with dimensional equipment.

“Please don’t worry too much. The students, and your granddaughter too, will be safe. Because those children are strong.”

Altera was about to respond irritably, but after confirming this was their homeroom teacher, she answered with a somewhat softened attitude.

“That would be… nice.”

“B-Blanca. That way is blocked, here, this way.”

The dungeon interior was like a labyrinth in structure.

But thanks to Lapis, we could head straight to the boss room.

She could detect vibrations too, so she was drawing a map in her head while tapping the walls.

I knew her body was unusual due to Returner bloodline, but seeing it directly was fascinating.

“You’re doing well, Lapis. Let’s keep going this way.”

“U-um!”

“A boss monster… what could it look like…”

“I don’t know either. I just hope it’s not strong. Yeonhwa, is your lighter okay?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s good then… Jin-hyeon. Make sure to control it so we don’t get caught up in it.”

“Got it.”

Honestly, I would’ve been worried if it was just Lapis, Yeonhwa, and me.

But with that guy stepping up too, honestly I don’t think we’ll lose.

The boss monster might be strong, but it can’t handle someone who can call forth fire and ice lightning from thin air.

Maybe I won’t even need to step in.

Though I knew I shouldn’t, I held onto a hopeful expectation that maybe we could get through this easily.

During this, Lapis finally warned me that there was something huge ahead.

“There’s something like a big door, ugh. Beyond it, there’s something… terrifyingly scary…”

“That’s the boss monster. We found it well. Everyone ready? From here on it’s real combat. You could die the moment you let your guard down. So, pour everything you’ve got without mercy.”

Yeonhwa’s complexion worsened a bit as if that memory came back, but soon realizing it couldn’t be helped, she quickly answered that she understood.

The others also steeled their resolve.

“…Alright. Then let’s go. I’ll draw its attention from the front, so use your big techniques only when I won’t get caught up in them.”

“Will you be okay, Blanca? Even if you lived in the outskirts…”

Hmm. It was just something I made up, but it seemed to work too well.

Still, it’s not completely wrong. The laboratory was in the outskirts.

“Don’t worry, worry about yourselves instead of me.”

Though it shouldn’t come to this, but I’m confident I could survive even if you all died.

I grinned while tapping my chest with my fist.

However, the atmosphere sank further. Became more solemn, you could say.

It was meant as a joke. Seems it had the opposite effect.

“Okay, let’s do our best…!”

Well, since they’re really burning with enthusiasm, I guess it’s fine.

When I placed my hand on the huge door, the hieroglyphs carved into it began glowing strangely and the door started opening.

And beyond the heavy iron door, a huge minotaur appeared, sitting quietly while bound in chains.

About three stories tall, I’d say.

“…Grrrr-“

The minotaur tensed its body trying to break the chains and stand up, but screamed as it was caught in a storm of flames that instantly swept over it.

“GWAAAAAAHHH!!!!”

“Now, Jin-hyeon! Lapis! Before Blanca has trouble, let’s take it down!!!”

The kids poured out techniques so big I wondered if they’d have any magic power left, before I could even approach.

Lapis literally wielded the ceiling, walls, and floor with her ability to strike the minotaur, while Jin-hyeon froze its limbs as it stubbornly approached despite getting beaten.

Yeonhwa literally created a vortex of flames and was searing the minotaur’s body with it.

“GWAR, GAAACK!!! GUEEEK!!!”

Even if I wanted to do something, I couldn’t.

Because of the flames and air pressure, if I sprayed gas it would flow back this way instead.

At times like this, my ability’s inability to attack at range felt a bit pathetic.

It would be nice if I could control what I emit from my body, or at least project it from range.

Since I couldn’t do that either, just watching while twiddling my thumbs was all I could do.

“Hah, hah…! Can’t let everyone… struggle anymore…! Kugh…!”

However, it seemed like their power was gradually decreasing as time went on.

It wasn’t just my imagination, it really was decreasing.

The minotaur that was getting completely rolled over at first was now managing to resist and crawl toward us.

Yeonhwa’s flames were still strong, but Jin-hyeon was the problem.

Being someone with little experience using his ability, his efficiency seemed terrible as he was already panting like his magic power was nearly depleted.

“Just, die, already, you, brute…! bastard!!”

Lapis seemed quite tired too, but compared to Jin-hyeon she looked clearly better.

But you know.

What am I supposed to do if you all collapse?

Just like kids, they really didn’t listen.

…If they had been just a bit stronger, or if Jin-hyeon had even a little proficiency with his ability.

Then maybe fighting like this would have been fine.

But as things stood now, those three weren’t enough.

I’ll have to step in after all. I sighed and asked the kids:

“Lapis. Open that bull-head’s mouth. And Jin-hyeon. Bind it. Yeonhwa. Could you put out the fire?”

“B-Blanca? No, we can…!”

“It’s too much for you. I’ll do it. Still, thanks for the thought. You saved me some trouble. I’ll take it from here.”

Yeonhwa bit her lip as if frustrated by her lack of strength and withdrew her flames.

Sorry. I’ll treat you to a meal later.

Feeling guilty, I gave them a forced smile and ran toward the minotaur.

With a roar from behind, two giant hands rose from the walls and grabbed the bull-head’s upper and lower jaws.

Of course the minotaur resisted, but Jin-hyeon’s last ice mass that he squeezed out while literally twisting his body froze it in that position.

While drawing up magical power, I simultaneously created something terrible inside my body.

Something with an unbelievably simple molecular formula but unbelievably terrible power.

A normal body would melt the moment it contained something like this.

But I wasn’t like that.

…That was why my ability was Special type.

Enhancement type because I could strengthen my body with drugs and hormones.

Transformation type because I could recombine substances in my body to create other substances.

Emission type because I could release those combined substances outside my body.

And Aberration type because ordinary poisons and acids had no effect, rather I could break down poisons and convert them to other substances.

I reached toward the minotaur’s wide open maw.

And sprayed high-purity hydrochloric acid gas.