Surviving as the Academy’s Weakest NPC-Chapter 118 : Chapter 118

Chapter : 118
[Second Trial, you have entered the Room of Mirrors.]
The Room of Mirrors?
Theo frowned, lowering his body in caution as he entered.
Hearing the name, he had imagined a room filled with mirrors, but the room was empty, let alone mirrors.
As he looked around in wonder, a thin ice sword, like a flash of lightning, grazed past him, cutting through the cold air.
If he had turned his head even for a moment, his neck would have been pierced.
Startled by the sudden attack, he touched the nape of his neck and quickly looked around.
The source of the attack was nowhere to be found.
“What the hell?”
Theo immediately erected a wall of ice to prepare for the next attack.
An ice sword crashed against the ice wall, and ice shards fell.
Alright, I've figured out where the ice sword came from!
‘Over there!’
Theo’s eyes lit up, and he immediately stretched out his hand.
His hand went through the inside of the wall and grabbed something soft.
Theo pulled out what he had grabbed from inside the wall and threw it outside.
It was another Theo.
A doppelganger created exactly like Theo, as if an image were formed in a mirror.
“So this is why it’s called the Room of Mirrors!”
The Mirror Theo, who had been hiding inside the wall, took a step back from the unexpected counterattack.
I won’t miss!
Theo immediately shot an ice sword, identical to the one that had attacked him, at the Mirror Theo.
At that moment, a fierce gust of wind blew. It was the mirror's counterattack.
The trajectory of the ice sword instantly reversed and flew towards Theo.
A tug-of-war between the ice sword trying to move forward against the wind and the wind determined to push the ice sword back.
The Theo born from the mirror was an identical existence to Theo Lisitoel.
Mana control, concentration, everything was replicated. However, there was a difference in stamina.
Due to the exhaustion of stamina, his concentration wavered for a moment, and the ice sword, riding the wind, flew towards Theo in an instant.
Then all I have to do is dispel the magic!
Theo dispelled the magic before the ice sword could pierce him.
However, the dispelling was a little late, and an ice shard grazed his cheek, drawing red blood.
“Keuk!”
This was a fight that was disadvantageous for Theo and advantageous for the mirror.
As the Mirror Theo smiled confidently, three pillars of earth shot up from the floor in an instant.
It’s me, but he’s really annoying!
Theo gritted his teeth and used the Circle of Water to turn one of the earth pillars into mud.
He jumped over the rest in an instant to create distance.
He thought he had created a little distance, but the Mirror Theo passed through the pillars in an instant and rushed at him.
“Ah, this is so unfair!”
Just because it has no physical form, it can just pass through magic?!
Isn’t that a cheat character!
The astonished Theo made the ice crystals he had scattered in the air earlier rain down on the Mirror Theo.
The sharp ice crystals grazed the Mirror Theo's thigh, but no blood spurted out.
He closed the distance in an instant without any injuries!
Theo immediately used his skill without hesitation.
「The mirror’s movement stops.」
The hastily scribbled words.
The Mirror Theo stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened.
“Aha.”
So it can’t copy my exclusive skill, huh?
Theo grinned. If so, then it’s worth testing something else.
The Mirror Theo, released from the skill, held an ice sword in his hand and approached Theo fiercely.
The moment the tip of the sword grazed the nape of his neck, Theo once again stopped the mirror’s movement with his skill and escaped from the sharp sword path.
The mirror perfectly replicates the human who challenges the trial.
That was the power of the mirror and the core of the trial.
However, Theo had a power that even the mirror could not replicate.
The Mirror Theo took a step back and calmly looked at Theo.
“Not going to attack?”
Theo beckoned to the mirror with his finger, then crossed his middle finger over his index finger.
“You have a much bigger advantage than me, who’s out of stamina. Scared?”
At Theo’s provocation, the Mirror Theo thought.
Theo Lisitoel is a cunning human.
He and himself were the same, so he knew better than anyone.
That human would surely think of a way to win by using the difference in power.
The Mirror Theo calmly created over 100 basic circles in an instant.
Looking at the circles that densely filled the air, Theo felt both dejected and like he was about to laugh.
Now that the test results were out, all he had to do was execute the plan he had made.
“Haha!”
But this is too overwhelming.
Did the students who faced me in the tournament feel like this?
But I can’t just let myself be beaten like this.
Theo endured the tingling sensation and created a huge shield made of the Circle of Earth.
Pababak!
The sound of countless spells and the shield colliding was heard.
The shield began to crack, and by the time all the spells were used, the shield had completely shattered.
Taking advantage of the shield fragments obscuring the Mirror Theo’s vision, Theo unleashed ice swords in four diagonal lines.
“……!!”
The Mirror Theo leisurely deflected the swords with the Circle of Wind.
And he created a barrier with the Circle of Water to prepare a counterattack.
As if waiting for it, dozens of ice shards attacked the Circle of Water.
Crack—
The Circle of Water, consumed by the cold of the ice shards, shattered.
The shattered fragments scattered in all directions.
Amidst the flying ice shards, Theo’s and the Mirror Theo’s gazes met.
Theo used his skill once again.
「The mirror cannot move.」
The movement stops.
This power cannot be defied. But the time it could be stopped for had become shorter.
The moment the mirror exerted its power, blood burst from Theo’s mouth.
“Keoheok!”
His mana was depleted. The skill could be used at most once more, and six more spells would drain all his mana.
The moment he vomited blood, the formless power that had been holding the mirror’s movement also disappeared.
The Mirror Theo combined his magic.
A fire arrow wrapped in lightning flew with a fierce momentum, as if to tear Theo to shreds.
Theo, who had briefly caught his breath, created a lightning rod with the Circle of Earth and a barrier with ice magic.
The lightning was drawn to the lightning rod and scattered to the floor.
And the fire arrow, which was barely a remnant, disappeared as it shattered the ice barrier.
“Heh heh….”
Theo let out an evil laugh like a villain.
“So this is the trial of the mirror, is it?”
The essence of the being before his eyes was a mirror.
A perfect replica that had copied Theo’s appearance, power, and memories as an image.
However, it seemed that it had failed to copy the knowledge of ‘South Korea’.
If it had, there was no way it wouldn't have recognized the crossed fingers, a gesture that meant ‘you have a much bigger advantage.’
Theo lightly snapped his fingers.
Snap!
Along with the cheerful sound, the Mirror Theo’s form blurred.
‘Why?’
As his form collapsed in an instant and blurred into a mass of light, a look of astonishment appeared on the Mirror Theo’s face.
The answer is simple.
“This whole room is the mirror that makes you up, right?”
As long as Theo exists in this room and his image can be reflected, the mirror can exist.
That is the principle on which the Room of Mirrors is built.
There are two basic ways to get rid of the image formed in a mirror.
Get rid of the light or get rid of the mirror.
However, since getting rid of the light in a room with no discernible light source seemed far-fetched, all he had to do was cause diffuse reflection in the room itself.
Induce diffuse reflection by creating cracks in the uniformly surfaced room.
That was the method of victory that Theo had thought of.
The endless barrage of ice magic was also all for this purpose.
“I used your magic well, too.”
Inducing the Mirror Theo to use magic endlessly was also to amplify the diffuse reflection.
Since the entire room was a mirror, it wouldn't have been enough to cause diffuse reflection in just one or two places.
Creating enough cracks to cause diffuse reflection throughout the entire room was quite a difficult task for Theo as well.
It would have been impossible without the mirror's merciless magic attacks.
Saaaaa….
The blurred and scattering light soon disappears completely.
[You have passed the trial of the mirror.]
At the relief that the second trial was finally over, the strength in his legs gave out, and he collapsed to the floor.
“Heeeuuuu.”
I’m exhausted.
I want to just let go and lie down and sleep soundly all day.
But there was still one more trial left.
Two, including the boss room.
“Let’s get up.”
At a time when every minute and second is precious, I can’t waste time resting.
Theo looked at the time decreasing in real-time on the system window and moved forward.
* * *
The strange feeling gradually turned into a strange certainty.
A strong premonition that something big had gone wrong powerfully dominated Lucius’s entire body.
The distance between the hideout and the dormitory was not far, and Lucius, who had run straight to his dormitory room, tightly gripped Albedo, who was peacefully napping on Theo’s pillow.
Sting!
He could feel the stigma screaming.
It was shouting to annihilate this demon immediately.
Lucius, lightly ignoring the shout, immediately asked.
“Albedo, you definitely know where Theo is. Right?”
[What in the world are you talking about.]
When he opened his closed eyes, Lucius’s figure filled the lizard’s red eyes.
The breath that had risen to his chin and the sweat on his forehead, as if he had been running nonstop.
From the intense gaze, Albedo couldn't help but realize that something was wrong.
Well, the human who was his contractor was always running around causing trouble, as if he were under a curse to die if he didn’t get into trouble for a single day.
He had been a little quiet, saying he was preparing for exams, but it seemed he had finally caused trouble.
[Of course. Could I be called a demon if I didn't even know that.]
Unlike the contracts between humans, which could only confirm well-being to a certain extent, a demon could easily know where its contractor was.
In Theo’s case, some kind of power that had piqued his interest was acting like a protective shield, making it impossible to detect his exact location, but it was possible to pinpoint his general location.
According to Theo, was it called a GPS… He had said something incomprehensible again.
“Is Theo safe?”
Albedo had no reason to answer the question of someone who wasn't even his contractor.
Moreover, wasn't the man before his eyes the archenemy of all demons, the hero?
However, considering the merit of being informed that his contractor was in trouble, he decided to specially answer that question.
[It's certain that he's caught up in some kind of accident... but his life is safe.]
At the same time, Albedo frowned slightly.
At his appearance, as if something unpleasant had occurred, Lucius felt anxious.
[He’s safe for now… but I don’t know what will happen in the future.]
“Tell me in detail, Albedo.”
Force entered Lucius's hand that was holding Albedo.
What a murderous face. It was a face that was, no matter how he thought about it, very far from that of a hero.
Albedo, who had been quietly gauging Theo’s location, slipped out of Lucius’s grasp in an instant and went into his pocket.
[I suppose I’ll have to go find that troublemaker myself.]
“That story is….”
[It seems he’s gotten himself into something quite dangerous.]
At those words, Lucius barely managed to swallow a scream.
What on earth did you get yourself into again, Theo! Lucius’s insides burned with anxiety.