I Got a Fake Job at the Academy
Chapter 391

-Swoosh.

Dust poured down from the ceiling.

The secret mansion, which had steadfastly guarded its secrets for hundreds of years, was now meeting its final moments.

The disappearance of countless mysteries yet to be solved was regrettable as a magician but Limrei felt rather refreshed.

As the situation had come to this point, his mind cleared, and he knew what he needed to do next.

He still had work to do.

And that would be his final task.

‘My physical condition…isn’t very good.’

The wound inflicted by Rudger was bigger than expected.

Though he drank a recovery potion, the blood already lost didn’t return. He had slight anemia.

‘That stubborn fellow. No mercy even against an old man. Young people these days, really.’

But fighting Rudger despite knowing this was entirely Limrei’s responsibility.

Limrei didn’t regret his choice.

This body was already too old to turn back anyway.

“It’s not strange to think of laying down this soon-to-die body a little earlier.”

Limrei looked straight ahead and asked.

“Don’t you think so, having grown old together? Tortei.”

“Limrei…!”

Through the falling debris, he could see Tortei’s face contorting.

Seeing that expression, he felt more satisfaction in angering his opponent than fear of death but that alone wouldn’t be enough.

Limrei gripped his stone staff and took his stance.

‘Let’s go. This is the end.’

No one would understand him and the name Limrei would be branded from sage to criminal.

But what did that matter?

It was just an empty reputation to begin with.

He didn’t care if it was disgraced and trampled in the mud because that wasn’t what was truly important.

He saw flashes of light appear before his eyes.

It was light created by the Truth Faction mages as they each cast their magic.

The lights, shining like stars in the dawn sky, were beautiful yet cruel.

Each one was death itself, aimed at taking his life.

In his current condition, when he wasn’t at full strength, blocking them was unthinkable but he couldn’t retreat either.

The moment he stepped back, they would seize the opportunity to flee so he would hold on until the end.

Limrei charged toward the Truth Faction, kicking off the ground with legs strengthened by magic power.

He could see the Truth Faction mages panicking beyond.

Their hastily fired magic flew toward Limrei, having lost accuracy.

-Whoosh!

Magic grazed past his arm tips and above his head.

His robe burned black from the magical power containing high heat, and the skin underneath turned red.

Still, Limrei didn’t stop.

“Why, why won’t he stop!”

“That, that madman!”

Limrei’s figure charging toward them with fierce momentum was truly like an evil spirit.

“Eek! Keep attacking! Attack!”

Tortei shouted orders and harassed those around him while beginning to prepare an even larger unavoidable spell.

Perhaps the shouting worked, as the Truth Faction mages desperately deployed their magic, and soon an unavoidable wave of cold energy approached.

Limrei activated an artifact.

Each of the consumable artifacts that were now few in number was an expensive item, but this wasn’t the time to be saving them.

A translucent barrier formed in the air, blocking the cold energy but spells flew in and struck the barrier one after another.

The artifact’s protection couldn’t overcome the numerical disadvantage and shattered.

Some of the weakened magic hit Limrei’s body.

Limrei forcibly endured it by surrounding his body with magical power to strengthen his flesh.

Intense pain ran through his body but Limrei didn’t stop.

In the slowly flowing time as he passed by the cracked corridor, something reflected in Limrei’s eyes.

They were scenes from his past experiences.

With each step forward, the scenes he saw changed.

There was his younger self, rejoicing at successfully casting magic for the first time.

One step.

He saw himself being congratulated by academia for having his magic thesis recognized.

One step.

Having grown from youth to adulthood, he met a woman.

His awkward self shyly confessing to her seemed quite amusing now.

One step.

A child was born. His daughter, whom he held for the first time, was so small and soft. There was himself crying tears of joy.

Another step.

There was himself going on outings with his wife and daughter.

There was himself staying up for days and nights when his research hit a wall.

There was himself endlessly grieving when his wife passed away from illness.

There was himself watching from behind as his daughter worked hard, saying she would become a magic scholar.

His footsteps contained all the years he had walked.

Just then, Tortei activated the magic he had been preparing.

“Die!”

5th Tier Magic [Mana Stream].

It was magic that combined pure mana discharge with reinforcement.

Its power was upper-middle class even among 5th tier magic. It was the most powerful magic Tortei could use right now.

The killing intent swirling within the magical power conveyed the will to definitely kill Limrei.

‘If only I could go a little further forward.’

The moment he judged this couldn’t be avoided, the magical power in Limrei’s body went wild and a Giant Spirit Soldier burst out from behind him.

-Kwoeeeeh!!

Limrei’s magic soldier, the Giant Spirit Soldier, jumped out on its own without even receiving an order from its master.

The suddenly appearing Giant Spirit Soldier wasn’t in a normal state.

Not yet recovered from the fight with Rudger, its body was missing diagonally from the left shoulder.

Still, the Giant Spirit Soldier swung its remaining right fist toward Tortei’s magic.

-Kuwawawawa!

The Mana Stream that collided with the Giant Spirit Soldier’s fist greatly fluctuated and changed direction.

One side of the mansion’s wall was scraped away by the high-density magical power.

Breaking debris and falling fragments scattered like powder in the aftermath.

In that destructive scene, Limrei looked at his magic soldier with trembling eyes.

“You, why…”

A familiar doesn’t reveal itself arbitrarily without its master’s orders, that was common knowledge.

Yet the Giant Spirit Soldier came out forcibly and blocked the magic with its unrecovered body.

Even though it must have known that doing so would make recovery impossible.

At the same time, Limrei realized the reason.

It knew too, that its master was now trying to meet a glorious end.

That’s why it blocked the magic in Limrei’s place.

To push its master’s back one last time and share a final farewell.

─Thank you.

Limrei turned his back on the Giant Spirit Soldier as it disappeared into powder.

This was enough for a final farewell with a longtime friend.

Thanks to the Giant Spirit Soldier throwing its body, Limrei was able to reach right up to the Truth Faction.

Right in front of him, he could see Tortei chanting a spell.

The moment he thrust his stone staff toward Tortei, a magic barrier appeared between them.

-Kwagagak!

Sparks flew as the concentrated magical power at the tip of the staff collided with the barrier.

Tortei observed Limrei’s appearance up close and shouted.

“His body is a mess! Don’t be afraid and push on!”

The bloodstains visible beneath the robe and his tired complexion couldn’t be hidden even if he tried.

Even that terrifying Giant Spirit Soldier magic soldier only had half remaining, didn’t it?

“Limrei! You dare to face us in such a condition!”

Tortei threw a sneer while looking at Limrei.

A man who normally would have easily blocked all magic and counterattacked either dodged everything or took it with his body.

His aged body bore severe wounds.

Just breathing and being alive seemed close to a miracle.

Tortei felt foolish for being so scared at first.

No matter if he was a 6th tier magician, in such serious condition, there’s no way they could lose.

However, Limrei didn’t answer those words. Instead, his eyes stared at something beyond Tortei’s shoulder.

“What are you looking at in this situation!”

Tortei frowned as if displeased.

Clearly he had the advantage, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of being constantly ignored.

Tortei looked behind him but saw nothing.

Only the mansion’s corridor, slowly crumbling, stretched out desolately.

Limrei sneered at such a Tortei.

There was no way he could see it.

What Limrei saw now was like a vision that only he could see.

There was that child there.

The back figure of his daughter who couldn’t properly close her eyes at the end, who ended her life here.

Was that his daughter’s real soul trapped in this world?

Or was it just a hallucination he desperately wanted to see at the end?

Either was fine.

Just a little more forward.

Just a bit more and he could reach that place he so longed for.

“Limrei. The time spent with you was truly insufferable.”

Tortei implemented a magic formula, thinking to end it now.

Magic circles rose around him as mana began to concentrate at the center.

The mana concentrated to its limit at the center of the magic circles was eventually shot following its master’s designated path, leaving a long trail.

Limrei watched that scene with hazy eyes.

Just before the mana bombardment that seemed it would leave not even a corpse hit his body, Limrei recalled the mana from his staff tip and wrapped it around his entire body.

Tortei twitched his eyebrows watching that sight.

“It’s too late to use any magic now!”

Simultaneously, Limrei activated magic while burning up his last life force completely.

Not his original magic, but magic that someone else had used.

Limrei’s body, wrapped in mana, contracted into a point in the air and disappeared.

─Rudger Chelici. You took my magic as you pleased.

Right after, the mana bombardment swept through where Limrei had been but Tortei couldn’t rejoice.

“He disappeared?”

Where the vanished Limrei reappeared was beyond the mana barrier, right behind Tortei.

─Then I too, must take yours once to feel satisfied.

The magic that Limrei unleashed at this moment, squeezing out all his strength, was the spatial movement magic that Rudger had long researched and used.

The distance moved was merely 2m.

The result of a 6th tier magician wringing out his soul for magic was just crossing over 2m.

Though it was too insignificant to be considered spatial movement to Limrei it was a great step taken at the end of his life.

“What?”

The moment Tortei turned around in surprise, Limrei’s stone staff pierced his back.

-Squelch!

Tortei coughed blood from his mouth and rolled his eyes to glare at Limrei.

“H-how did you get through the barrier…”

Instead of answering, Limrei pulled out his staff.

Tortei collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.

Tortei’s corpse, with eyes wide open, couldn’t seem to accept his own death.

“It’s over.”

Limrei slumped down in place.

His vision spun and his head hurt.

It felt like his brain would melt away in the hot heat.

Though it was just 2m, the price of using spatial movement magic was too great.

“That bastard, he kept doing such crazy things…”

Under that normal face, just how much terrible madness was he holding?

Though he thought he had walked quite a harsh path himself, it couldn’t compare to that fellow.

Limrei knew well the end of those who carried such fate.

What exists at that end is only destruction.

Not much different from himself now.

“Well, still.”

Limrei smiled with his wrinkled face.

─Try your best.

“Limrei! How dare you!”

The Truth Faction mages who had been frozen until then ground their teeth and prepared magic toward Limrei.

Limrei watched it without thinking of blocking or avoiding.

Not only was his physical condition terrible, but there was no need to.

-Rumble.

The mansion’s vibrations grew more violent and the ceiling collapsed.

The mansion was unstable to begin with, but Tortei’s final magic became the finishing blow.

Though the Truth Faction mages belatedly realized the situation, it was too late.

“Aaagh!”

“Ev-everyone run away!”

Screams filled with terror and fear were rampant.

However, that commotion soon disappeared, buried under the mansion’s ruins.

* * *

Rudger looked back at the mansion collapsing with a thunderous sound.

He didn’t know what happened inside there.

Only the occasional bursts of magical power waves indirectly told of the situation but that too ended.

The mansion sank down with a crash, raising clouds of gray dust.

Anyone in there would have died crushed by the enormous mass of debris.

“Leader. Grandfather is…”

Rudger silently shook his head at Arpa who asked him.

“Ah…I see.”

“But he would have gone without regrets. At least that’s what I think.”

He didn’t feel sad or regretful.

Limrei tried to kill people and betrayed them after all.

Of course, he hadn’t truly harbored evil intentions. If he had, he would have killed Roina and Sempas.

He had that power, and there were plenty of opportunities.

Yet he didn’t do so, perhaps because of his last remaining conscience.

It was a useless consideration but because he received that consideration, Rudger also silently withdrew from that place at the end.

Having received, he returned just as much.

“Good heavens, the mansion.”

“There was still so much we hadn’t found.”

The mages looked at the collapsing mansion with empty faces.

Among them, Samuel’s familiar face could also be seen.

So that fellow was really alive.

Just as he was thinking that fellow’s life was quite tenacious, huge energy burst through the mansion’s ruins.

-Kwaaa!

The blue energy that shot up through the ground was massive mana flowing through the ley lines.

The ley line energy soaring as if piercing the sky collided with the dome covering the Kasar Basin.

Small mana meteors showered in the air.

They collided with parts of the forest, destroying trees and causing magical sparks.

The mages watched that scene with bewildered faces.

“The ley lines are overflowing.”

At this moment, everyone gathered there realized that the mansion’s collapse was just the beginning of an anomaly.

The overflowing ley line energy swept through the mansion’s ruins and slowly began spreading around.

“Everyone withdraw! Return to the forward base!”

“But, but people who haven’t come yet…!”

“There’s no time for that now!”

The mages retreated in panic.

The standby personnel watching the situation from outside also hurriedly packed their belongings and joined the retreat.

The exploration party, now considerably reduced in numbers, broke through the forest much faster than when they came to the mansion.

It was easier since they were returning on the path they had pioneered, but surprisingly there were no beast attacks.

The beasts too were all tensed up and crouching.

To beings full of only instinct, the overflowing ley lines must be dangerous too.

In a way, it was fortunate in misfortune.

“We’re almost there!”

The mages who thought they just needed to somehow reach the forward base couldn’t close their dropped jaws at the scene unfolding before their eyes as they emerged from the forest.

“Wh-what is that?”

Explosions were continuously going off at the forward base visible in the distance and black smoke rose.

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