A Regressor's Guide to Hunting in the Academy-Chapter 46

Chapter 46
As Carlo and Oliver's swords clashed, the surrounding area rippled with Aura. The intense energy of their Aura overwhelmed everything nearby.
The students couldn't understand what was happening. Carlo had suddenly killed the guards and tried to swing his sword at them-and Oliver had stopped him.
They understood it with their eyes, but their minds couldn't grasp the situation at all.
The students began murmuring.
"What the hell......"
"Did the Department Head just try to kill us?"
"No way...... That can't be......."
Even so, the students' gazes were drawn to Oliver. After nearly a week of canceled classes due to health reasons, he had suddenly appeared-and his first action was to attack Carlo.
"You should have just run away, son."
"Possessed by demons-you've truly gone mad, Father."
-Crackle! Crackle crackle!
Sparks flew from the colliding Aura.
The pressure made the surrounding gravity feel several times heavier.
But Carlo's Aura was several times larger than Oliver's, and it began to gradually overwhelm him.
Oliver gritted his teeth and held on.
'I'm sorry to Professor Henrik, but I couldn't let Father do as he pleased.'
Crack!
An ominous sound came from the sword, as if it were splitting.
"You think you can stop me alone?"
"Mother wouldn't be happy about this, Father!"
"No, Margaret wants to be revived. And you call yourself her son?"
"That's not Mother! Father! A demon is possessing Mother's body and controlling you!"
"Shut up!"
'Can I even stop him?'
As Oliver hesitated, breaking into a cold sweat, Carlo gripped his sword with both hands and pushed Oliver back.
-Bang! Clang!
The powerful force sent Oliver flying into the wall. The sword blade he'd been holding shattered from the impact.
The students' murmuring grew louder.
But they weren't focused on Oliver being thrown.
What caught their attention was Carlo's right arm.
Swish-
The Department Head had a new arm.
An arm with jet-black skin that flickered like black flames.
It was a trace of Black Mana.
"No way...... a demon?"
"The Department Head is a demon?"
"But...... Black Mana is exclusive to demons......."
"The Department Head is a demon......."
The students fell into confusion.
Carlo's sudden transformation came as a huge shock.
As Oliver struggled to his feet, Carlo slowly approached him. Those crushed by the pressure emanating from him froze in place, unable to move.
"I'm disappointed that my own son would say such things about his mother, Oliver."
Just as Carlo raised his sword to behead Oliver, thin threads appeared from behind him and wrapped tightly around his arm and sword.
Bound by the sturdy threads, Carlo turned around to see William pulling on thin, sharp steel wires, restraining him.
"The old man handles interesting tools."
Protecting his body with Black Mana, Carlo changed targets and swung his sword at William.
In that moment, as Oliver regained his senses, he heard a familiar voice beside him.
"Are you all right?"
A cold, calm voice.
When he looked up, Henrik was standing in front of him.
"......Why? What about the magic circle? Leave this to me and go destroy the magic circle-"
"I'm going to subdue Carlo here."
"What?"
Oliver was startled by Henrik's sudden words. Henrik glanced at William, who was engaged in combat with Carlo, and spoke.
"Even if we destroy the magic circle, it's meaningless if everyone dies at Carlo's hands. So the right decision is to quickly subdue Carlo here and stop the ritual."
"......Do you think that's possible?"
"......."
Henrik didn't answer Oliver's question. But he quietly extended his hand to Oliver. He seemed to be saying, 'We won't know unless we try.'
Oliver immediately grabbed Henrik's hand and stood up.
Meanwhile, William was engaged in combat with Carlo.
Sword Aura burst from Carlo's sword.
-Whoooosh!
As Carlo swung his sword, Sword Aura flew through the air.
However.
-Bang!
His Sword Aura was blocked by something and dissipated. Carlo narrowed his eyes with interest as he looked at the figure before him.
An old man in butler's clothing.
He was using thin, sharp steel wires like whips to deflect his Sword Aura.
Sword Aura poured from all directions, and sharp steel wires filled the space, breaking through the Sword Aura. The thin, elongated threads moved as if they would slice everything to pieces.
A battle between equals at Grade 4!
Carlo, who freely wielded Sword Aura.
And William, who used long, thin steel wires like whips to neutralize the Sword Aura-even in this urgent situation, their display was enough to draw admiration.
After exchanging several rounds, Carlo sensed that William's skills were formidable and took a different stance, concentrating power in his right arm.
The new arm imbued with demonic power.
His right arm began to writhe and undulate.
'What is that......?'
The moment William backed away cautiously, Carlo's right arm transformed into a sword shape and grew in size.
The arm, now a massive greatsword, swung down like lightning.
-CRASH!
"......!"
The sword embedded itself in the ground with a sharp sword wind.
The earth shook, and a massive tremor rang out. Students watching the battle from a distance staggered and lost their balance from the shockwave.
As William also lost his footing from the tremor, Carlo didn't miss the opportunity and charged forward immediately.
-Whooom!
The flat side of the broad greatsword blade, swung like a blunt weapon.
There was no escape.
William gritted his teeth and spread his steel wire to block it.
The greatsword struck viciously against it.
-BANG!
-CRACK!
With the sound of breaking bones, William's body was launched into the air.
Unable to offset the impact, he slammed into the ground and rolled.
Henrik approached William, who was groaning.
"Can you stand?"
"Ugh."
William brushed off the dust and rose unsteadily with a groan.
"He's no longer in a human body. We must be careful."
William said, looking at his broken right arm.
Henrik watched Carlo approaching silently, then handed William a healing potion.
"Can you draw Carlo's attention again?"
"One more time?"
"Yes. I need your help."
His eyes suggested some plan had come to mind, so William exhaled with a sigh and clenched his fist. The pain was there, but moving his broken arm wasn't too difficult. The healing potion's effectiveness exceeded his expectations.
"You make difficult requests sound so easy."
Henrik opened the potion pouch at his waist.
"This will help."
"......What is this?"
"An awakening potion."
"Awakening potion......?"
"The effect should be quite good."
"Fine. I'll give it my best shot."
As William downed the potion in one gulp and pulled his steel wire into position, Henrik handed the warhammer to Oliver.
"Oliver, can you use a warhammer?"
"What meaning would there be if a knight couldn't handle polearms?"
As Oliver nodded and gripped the hammer, Henrik turned and drew out a hammer handle he'd hidden at his waist.
Henrik and Oliver simultaneously downed the remaining awakening potions.
After drinking the potion, Henrik felt the effects rise and charged at Carlo first.
Oliver followed behind and asked.
"Do you have some kind of plan?"
"I think we'll have to watch and see."
"What? Watch what exactly......?"
Henrik didn't answer, merely scanning Carlo's body with sharp eyes.
His gaze looked as if searching for something.
-Whoooom!
As the menacing greatsword came down aiming for Henrik's head, Henrik angled his staff diagonally to deflect Carlo's attack.
Or rather, he tried to deflect it, but the monstrous strength was tremendous.
Even a glancing blow carried considerable impact.
As Henrik staggered, William stepped forward to block.
-Whoooom!
William caught the second attack with his steel wire and pulled taut.
A momentary contest of strength.
Surprisingly, William held firm, and with one arm locked down, Carlo bit his lip and swung his left sword to engage Oliver.
-CRASH!
The warhammer pressed Carlo hard.
Carlo staggered with each swing.
The impact seemed considerable.
'Amazing....... This is Professor Henrik's potion!'
Oliver marveled at his dramatically enhanced physical abilities. Due to the curse's effects, his stamina was still weakened and he wasn't in perfect condition, yet after drinking the potion, he felt far stronger than when he'd been at full strength.
The same was true for William.
He didn't easily lose ground in the contest of strength against Carlo.
The awakening potion's effects had changed the atmosphere.
Between William and Oliver's pressure, Henrik silently observed Carlo with his staff tip aimed.
'Not yet?'
He could see Carlo being slowly pushed back.
As Carlo continued retreating until his back touched the wall, his brow furrowed.
He seemed to have realized he was being overpowered.
However, even while being pressured by the two, Carlo's gaze never left Henrik.
The one to be most wary of among the three.
He focused on the weapon Henrik held.
It was a staff of ambiguous length.
Too short to be called long. Too long to be called short.
That kind of staff.
'So he was the culprit.'
But the ore attached to the pointed end of the staff-Carlo recognized what kind of ore it was at a glance. That faint divine power flowing from it, however small, couldn't be hidden.
Sephirum.
The ore Margaret had so desperately wanted was in his possession.
The small ore embedded bluntly brought a sense of revulsion just by looking at it.
Sephirum is dangerous.
His mission was to eliminate any threats while the magic circle was being completed.
He felt the need to eliminate Henrik as the top priority.
However, the two clinging to him like flies were quite troublesome, so it seemed he'd need to deal with them first.
But then.
"P-Professor Henrik!"
"Even Professor Oliver? What on earth is happening?"
"Wha-huh! Who's that? How!?"
Students came rushing toward the training hall from the direction of the dormitories, and instructors began joining one by one.
They were Academy professors.
As the professors joined in, urgency flashed across Carlo's face.
He had to deal with the three in front of him before more people gathered at the training hall.
Flash-
Carlo's eyes began turning black.
At that moment.
Thud!
Oliver's hammer struck Carlo's chest.
A sunken wound.
Oliver gritted his teeth and aimed for Carlo's head, crying out.
"Please stop! Father!"
"Shut up!"
In an instant, Carlo's right arm bulged grotesquely and swung wide with a whoosh!
Tremendous strength.
William, who had been holding on, was sent flying, and Oliver was grazed by the fist and slammed into the ground.
"No one can stop Margaret's resurrection! I will bring Margaret back!"
Madness gleamed in his contorted face.
Was it brainwashing? Or his own choice?
The demonic trace staining Carlo's right arm began spreading across his entire body.
Shortly after, Carlo-his whites turned completely black-had become a being with black skin.
His greatsword, now even larger, was reminiscent of a Berserker.
Carlo, his body greatly enlarged, roared.
"Grr... Grrraaaaaah!!!"
The air trembled with vibrations, and at the Howling that seemed to tear eardrums, several students watching the scene collapsed right there-thump!-sitting on the ground, trembling.
'Dangerous.'
Judging from the aura emanating from his body and his savagely transformed energy, he looked on the verge of a Rampage.
But it was also the opportunity he'd been waiting for.
To maximize Sephirum's effect, Carlo was in an ambiguous state-neither human nor demon.
Right now, Carlo's aura was thick with demonic energy.
A chance to maximize Sephirum's effect.
"William!"
When Henrik gave the signal, William gritted his teeth and lowered his stance.
The moment his eyes widened, hot steam began billowing from his body. Simultaneously, the muscles throughout his body expanded greatly-rip!-tearing his clothes.
Especially his thighs.
The muscles in both thighs swelled to an unnatural size.
'Body Enhancement, Self-Discipline'
It was a unique technique William had created by analyzing the MacClane Clan's secret arts, despite not being part of the clan himself.
Bang!
The moment he kicked off the ground, William's form vanished.
Incredible acceleration.
He spread the steel wires wide and ran around Carlo's perimeter. Carlo aimed his greatsword and pursued William, but whether due to the Rampage's influence, though his strength had multiplied several times, he'd lost his reason and his movements had become sluggish.
Swish!
Running swiftly around the perimeter while spreading the wires like a fishing net, William, once preparations were complete, immediately wrapped the wires around his hand like a whirlwind and yanked them like lightning.
The wires spread like a net bound Carlo.
The moment he thought he'd caught him, Carlo began going berserk.
"Graaaaaah!"
"Nnngh!"
Even though his strength had increased several times over normal thanks to the awakening potion and muscle enhancement, it was hard to hold on for long.
Instead being dragged and rolling on the ground, William urgently called for someone.
"H-Henrik!"
Thunk!
Henrik thrust the end of the staff toward the target caught in the net.
As a gentle light flowed from the Sephirum, Carlo screamed and staggered back.
It definitely had an effect.
But that was all.
Carlo, who had flinched momentarily, began going berserk again and started breaking through William's steel wires.
Thwack-!
Oliver's hammer struck Carlo's head, but he only swayed without taking much damage.
If Carlo broke free from William's restraining wires and started rampaging, he had no confidence in stopping him.
No, the damage to the training hall would certainly be severe.
It had to end here.
Henrik thrust his staff frantically, keeping Carlo in check.
'Damn it, too hard.'
The blunt ore lacked sharpness, and Carlo's black skin was far too hard to pierce through with force.
The bound steel wires also snapped one by one-snap! snap!
The rampaging Carlo gradually began regaining his freedom.
Henrik, aiming the staff's end, let out a groan.
'I need to pierce that shoulder...'
While William and Oliver kept Carlo in check, Henrik searched for Carlo's weakness. He found the demonic trace in his right arm and discovered a weak point.
"Kyaaaah!"
Henrik thrust the staff's end at Carlo's right shoulder again.
Carlo screamed and roared. But soon he grabbed the staff and began slowly pushing forward.
Henrik gritted his teeth, holding firm and pushing the staff with all his might.
"You're weak."
If only the staff's end had been a bit sharper, or if only his strength had been a bit greater...
Just then, Oliver's shout rang out from behind.
"Henrik! Duck!"
"...!"
Having watched Henrik's battle and grasped his intent, Oliver gripped the hammer with all his might.
He saw his father, transformed into a monster.
The father he had once respected and loved above all others. His family.
Gritting his teeth, Oliver glared at the staff handle Henrik had left behind and clenched his jaw.
"Snap out of it! Please!"
Kwaaaaang-!
The hammer struck the staff handle viciously.
Like hammering a nail, Oliver brought the hammer down on the staff repeatedly, driving Carlo back.
The sephirum at the staff's tip slowly burrowed into Carlo's skin, then pierced through.
The moment the sephirum touched the source where the demonic trace began on his black right arm, white light began bursting forth.
Flash-
Keuaaaaaaak!
Carlo let out a terrible scream and staggered.
His right arm, impaled by the staff, began swelling rapidly like a balloon.
Then-
Pyeong-!
"...!"
The arm exploded, causing a massive blast around them.
Henrik, Oliver, and William were swept up in the explosion's aftermath and sent flying backward.
"...Kuh, is everyone alright?"
"I'm fine."
"Me too."
Hudududuk-
Something fell from the sky.
Black rain.
Remnants of black mana poured down from above.
The three got to their feet and slowly walked toward where Carlo had been.
"..."
They saw a familiar man collapsed against the wall.
Carlo Mandolin, once the head of the Mandolin Family and a knight who had left a powerful impression.
He now lay there withered like a mummy.
His right arm was completely gone, making him look even more pitiful.
"F-Father!"
Oliver examined Carlo with a twisted expression.
When he checked his pulse, it was extremely faint but still beating.
His breathing was weak but present.
Was there hope?
"Ol...i...ver."
Just then, Carlo regained consciousness, forcing his eyes open with difficulty as his hand reached up to touch Oliver's face.
"I'm sorry..."
His eyes, which had been stained red, were now completely clear, returned to normal.