Academy’s Genius Swordsman

< 92. Shoot at the Dawn (5) >

#92

I couldn’t figure out why the disappeared person was wandering around here. However, Ronan instinctively knew what he had to do. Dr. Sabak. The sound of footsteps stomping on the dust followed her.

‘I’m not good at following.’

It was an occasional night walk. The bookshelves in the form of columns that rise irregularly were reminiscent of giant trees in the primeval forest. A chill, unsuitable for summer, was floating around the bookshelves.

‘…it’s like a haunted forest.’

Ronan licked his lips. Today’s library was somehow eerie. It seemed as if the screams of the trees that had been slaughtered to make a book could be heard. Even the moonlight glowed a gloomy blue like a rotten corpse. He frowned as he followed the woman while maintaining a certain distance.

‘Damn, where are you going?’

It seemed like he had walked for more than twenty minutes, but there was no sign of stopping. Ronan’s whole body was wet with sweat. It was because he had paid all his attention to walking quietly. Then the woman stood still.

‘finally.’

Ronan held his breath and stepped back slowly. Whoops! Suddenly, her upper body leaned back, revealing a pale face. Seeing that the back of his head was touching his waist, Ronan took a deep breath.

‘···!’

It was structurally impossible for a human being. Both of the woman’s eyes were filled with black. A strange voice came out of the gaping mouth.

“Ah ah ah ah ah.”

Ronan quickly hid behind the pillar. My heart was beating like it was going to rip through my chest. It was not difficult at all to swallow the swear words that went up to the throat.

‘Sister, what did I see?’

It was not a human, but a monster close to Molgol. After a while, the bizarre voice stopped. Ronan took a deep breath and quietly shook his head. The figure of the woman disappeared out of nowhere.

‘Where did you go?’

The sound of footsteps was no longer heard. Ronan, with his hand on the hilt, walked over to where she was standing.

He looked around carefully, but couldn’t find any traces of her anywhere. Only dust remained, floating in the gloomy moonlight.

‘Isn’t this possible?’

Ronan looked around with all his attention. A column-shaped bookshelf lined with books, a floor made of unknown white stone, and a very small amount of mana proving the existence of a woman here caught my eye.

‘Come to think of it···.’

I suddenly remembered that I had entered Airewa’s secret space a few days ago. She had opened the secret door by pulling a book.

read from n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲

Maybe here too? Ronan fumbled through the bookshelf once more. His gaze stopped at one place. The woman’s mana remained like a fingerprint on the back of the book with the title [Step Backward].

‘found.’

Ronan carefully pulled out the book. Contrary to expectations, no bookshelves were pushed back or the floor sank.

another book? It was the moment when he felt puzzled and put his hand on the bookshelf. My hand went straight through the bookshelf and went in.

“her?”

Ronan’s eyes widened. He swung his arms around, but he didn’t feel anything. The reality of the bookshelf had disappeared, and an illusion that was only a shell took its place.

‘You put a lot of work into it.’

It was a very high level magic. Seeing that the inside was empty, he walked into the bookshelf. A narrow, long staircase leading down was looming in front of them.

‘···I have to keep it.’

Ronan went down the stairs slowly. It was unbelievably deep for a space between the 4th and 3rd floors. Surprisingly, there was no such thing as vigilance or defensive magic. After going down for a while, he frowned.

‘It’s dark.’

There was not even a single point of light to be found in the passage where even the moonlight did not shine. It was not a level of darkness that I could adapt to over time.

Ronan, who had an ingenious idea, pulled out a La Mancha. Not long after I concentrated my mind, a red light came up from the sword.

‘This is it.’

It wasn’t enough to replace the torch, but it was still better than nothing. Suddenly, the stairs disappeared and a long hallway appeared.

The width was narrow enough for only two people to pass, but it was a strange structure that reached a height of 4 meters. He moved forward with his La Mancha raised. thump. thump. thump. The woman’s face had not yet been seen.

‘By the way, what the hell are you doing here?’

There were many hypotheses that came to mind, but I couldn’t be sure. Because the building of wizards was bound to hold so many secrets. While he was walking while thinking about various things, two paths appeared in front of Ronan.

‘Damn it, it’s a maze.’

Ronan clicked his tongue. It was the most troublesome type of structure. It was a car that was contemplating which way to go. Suddenly, a somber whisper echoed in Ronan’s ear.

[You are under a curse.]

“Fuck!”

I couldn’t stand it this time. Ronan swung his sword in the direction of the sound. Nettle! The horizontal sword strike left a red afterimage in the darkness.

Ronan, unable to feel the cut, pointed the sword again. No one was there. The voice rang out again.

[Hey. Don’t you want to break the curse that is holding you back?]

“What?”

It was a neutral voice that could not be distinguished by gender. When I listened carefully, the voice was ringing in my head, not my ear. Hearing the word curse, Ronan frowned.

“Where are you talking?”

[Come to me. Whatever it is, I’ll give you what you want. It’s on the right.]

The voice was cut off. The shock and fear I felt for a moment quickly turned into anger.

“…that’s disgusting, really.”

After spitting on the floor, Ronan moved to the right path. I did enough boring stuff to do. I don’t know who the hell is playing this kind of prank, but I thought I’d give it a proper look.

[left.]

[middle.]

[Yeah, a little closer… to the left.]

At each fork in the road, the old voice was heard. Ronan turned to his direction. It seemed that it would not be easy to find something quite complicated inside if a woman hid here. Then a dead end appeared.

Where are you going now? It was the car that Ronan was annoyed with asking a question. Something stood in front of the wall and caught my eye. It was a wooden platform that reached waist height, and a book was placed on it.

“Is that…?”

The book was thick enough to be used as a pillow. An unusual aura was exuding from the cover made by weaving unknown leather. Ronan’s face hardened. The heartache I had always harbored turned into certainty.

‘Forbidden.’

This was the forbidden zone that Ayre warned of. Forbidden realm where evil books are sealed. Ronan looked at the book and twisted his lips.

‘…I can see why you were told to be so careful.’

It was intense and seductive just by being. As soon as I read the book, I had an intuition that I could find the answer. Ronan, walking as if possessed, stood in front of the book. The most important thing for him now was to lift the curse.

‘great.’

Ronan, who was finally determined, turned over the cover. The words that appeared in the title were scrawled. It was written in characters I had never seen before, so I couldn’t read it.

‘Is this a text from another country?’

Ronan turned to the next page. The same characters as before were densely written. In the meantime, about five or six magical circles of bizarre shapes were drawn.

“This···?”

It was the moment he brought his face closer. Suddenly, the letters and magic circles shone brightly, and dark tentacles popped out of the book.

“Ugh?!”

[Heh ha ha ha, you got caught!]

Whoa! The tentacles quickly wrapped around Ronan’s body, leaving only the head. A terrifying laugh rang out. It was the same voice that guided the road a while ago.

It was then that Ronan realized that this book was the one he had been talking to. It didn’t take long to figure out the situation. This is what the forbidden book meant to eat people.

[It’s already late. There is no point in resisting, so be gentle with this Langeum-sama!]

“Fuck.”

Ronan, wrapped in tentacles, spit out cursing. His judgment, which had been clouded by his obsession with curses, was quickly returning. He asked with a sigh.

“Were you able to break the curse… was it a lie from the beginning?”

[Stupid, I don’t even have a story written about the curse.]

“Yeah… that’s right.”

I was wondering if that was the case, but it was nonetheless. At that moment, dozens of red lines were drawn over the tentacles. Whoa! A purple fountain of blood spurted along the line. Shredded tentacles fell down. A confused cry rang out.

[Uh, how?]

“Did you deceive me about the piece of paper?”

Ronan growled. Regaining his freedom, he held a flashing red La Mancha in his hand. In the first place, the tentacles had already been cut before wrapping around the body.

Ronan pointed his sword at the book as it was. Whoops! As the tip of the sword dug deep into each piece, a scream that made the hair bone muffled resounded.

[aah!]

“You seem to be feeling pain in the back.”

[Do it, get it done!]

“What?”

It was the moment he drew his sword to finish. Suddenly, the book uttered an incomprehensible sound.

All of a sudden, the whole place brightened up, and the back of his head became hot. Ronan hurriedly turned his head. Waves of flames were rushing in and filling the hallway.

“What else is this…!”

It was quite a level of magic. But there was nothing that could not be dealt with. Ronan, who had settled in his posture, raised his sword vertically. 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 Waves of fire split in half and flowed on either side of him at the same time. A torrent of flames that had rejoined the wall and hit the book.

[Awkward! Whoa!]

The book, engulfed in flames, screamed again. Care was taken to prevent this from happening when blocking a fireball flying towards the aircraft.

The screams gradually subsided, and then silence came. At the same time, the fire stopped. Seeing the woman standing across the hallway, Ronan lowered her sword.

“That’s how it happened.”

“Ah…aa…”

The afterimage of a flame was rising from her hand that was outstretched towards Ronan. Her eyes, which had been dyed black, were regaining their original color.

“Ahh···.”

The woman who was moaning fell to the floor. Ronan rushed over and supported her.

‘I was being controlled by a book.’

Judging from what the doll was doing, it was clear that he had lost his body in a similar vein. They probably disappeared in this way as other missing people. When I turned my head, the remnants of a completely burned-out forbidden book caught my eye.

“Sick.”

It was a really stupid ending. There were a lot of things I wanted to know, but first, saving people came first. Ronan reveals the fallen woman.

“Damn it, calm down.”

“Ahhh.”

It didn’t look good. It looked like I had to get treatment in a hurry. I had memorized the way in advance, so it wasn’t too difficult to go back. He had just come out of the stairs. A bright light poured over my head that hurt my eyes.

“Damn, what?”

Ronan frowned. It was dark outside the window, so it wasn’t open yet. The shouts of people could be heard from afar.

“Is there a fire…?”

The size of the commotion was not significant. The car was about to start moving in the direction he was about to hear the sound. A voice as low as hell resounded throughout the library.

【It’s interesting.】

Ronan stood still. An indescribable shiver ran through my body. Something unfathomably evil and mighty was behind him.

‘what···!’

I was afraid to turn my head. It had to be cut at once to win. Ronan, who pulled out the La Mancha, turned around. Pussack! The blade that flew at an oblique angle was lodged deep in the bookshelf.

“Heh, heh heh…!”

Books that had been cut fluttered and fell. Ronan let out a breath he had been holding back. The entrance to the Golden Library had returned to the original bookshelf.

‘what?’

The evil energy was gone. He was still in the midst of not getting out of the shock. The woman on the back moaned again.

“Ahhh.”

“Oh, damn it. Sorry.”

Ronan, who woke up late, ran in the direction of the sound. Before long, Ire’s figure caught my eye. She was floating in the air, making a look of not knowing what to do. Ronan exclaimed.

“Ayre!”

“Ronan! Where have you been? is he?”

“I am a missing person. One in six.”

“yes?!”

“Come on, take me. I think I need treatment.”

Her eyes widened. Ronan handed the woman over to Ayre. Aire, unable to keep up with the situation, stuttered and said.

“Wait, I need an explanation…!”

“I will tell you later. Ire. Haven’t you heard such a strange voice?”

“A voice?”

“yes. Damn it… no, it’s incredibly low and splitting. It’s a terrible voice anyway.”

“I didn’t hear that…?”

Ayre shook her head. Even though it was so loud that I couldn’t hear it, seeing it like this again, it seemed like only I could hear it, just like in Langeum.

First, we had to understand the current situation. Ronan, who calmed his emotions with a deep breath, opened his mouth again.

“Huh…by the way, what’s going on? Turn all the lights on in the middle of the night.”

“The culprit of the unfair case has been caught.”

“Aha, I still wanted to see your face, but it’s good. What are you doing?”

Ronan shrugged his eyebrows. Ayre, who hesitated for a moment, spoke heavily.

“…the third daughter of the Grancia family.”

“Yes?”