I Got a Fake Job at the Academy
Chapter 462: The Cycle of Life and Death (1)

Chapter 462: The Cycle of Life and Death (1)

Ventmin's pupils contracted as he saw the blade that had pierced through her chest.

‘What is this? A blade? Where did it suddenly come from?’

Ventmin's head barely turned to the side and she saw the figure of a mysterious person shrouded in black shadows.

Like someone who had emerged from his own shadow, the man had stabbed her in the back with full force.

Eventually, as the plague doctor mask covering the man's face disappeared, his face was revealed.

"John...Doe?"

Ventmin stammered in disbelief.

"How...how...?"

It wasn't just an illusion.

Even though it was an attack from afar, she definitely felt the sensation of crushing John Doe with roots while wielding the World Tree's power.

Just looking at how the surrounding elves were stunned when John Doe was struck proved it.

Ventmin felt dizzy from something that defied common sense and understanding.

"Don't tell me, from the beginning..."

"I already knew you would be watching me."

Rudger spoke in a low voice.

"I knew you would keep watching me and launch a surprise attack at a crucial moment. So I took out my own insurance. I set up a fake double."

"That's impossible. There's no way I could have mistaken it for a fake..."

"What if it was a fake that was close to the real thing?"

"What?"

Ventmin widened his eyes, asking what that meant.

"Look."

As Ventmin monitored the battle situation, she discovered something strange at Rudger's words.

She definitely had crushed John Doe with roots.

She properly felt the sensation, and judging by the surrounding reactions, it wasn't an illusion.

However, now she saw a completely different scene from what he had witnessed.

Someone was sitting on top of the tree roots that had grabbed John Doe like a cocoon, waving her hand in this direction.

Hair divided into black and white, and quite revealing adventurer's attire and a parasol held in one hand.

"Hello!"

Ventmin had definitely heard that cheerful voice before.

"Hel, lia..."

The First Order who was newly recruited to replace First Order Esmeralda after her death.

It was Helia, whom she had clashed with from their first impression because she didn't like her, who had interfered with her.

Ventmin's mind raced quickly.

The John Doe she believed was real must have been a fake created by Helia.

Given that she felt the sensation, it was probably a fake that gave a similar feeling to the real thing.

She had momentarily overlooked the potential of her unique ability that got her recruited into Zero Order.

She had simply thought she was just a woman who had lost her mind somewhere, but did she actually have the skills to take such frivolous actions?

"Even so, how did you get to the cradle...?"

"Didn't you guide me here yourself?"

Ventmin finally recalled the uninvited guests she had brought separately.

Her eyes rolled toward Hans, Alex, and Bellaruna who were collapsed in a corner of the cradle.

Alex, who had already regained consciousness among the three, grinned at her as an artifact that appeared to be a communication device was conspicuously held in his hand.

'From the beginning, they got captured to track my location?'

What would have happened if she had killed all those uninvited guests right there?

Such hypothetical thoughts were meaningless.

It was her own choice to deliberately bring hostages to mock the opponent's struggles in an advantageous situation.

"High elves are all arrogant. Once they think they have the upper hand, that's when they start getting complacent."

Rudger saw right through the thought process of elves like Ventmin.

Ventmin had ostentatiously brought his companions to the cradle, and Rudger, who had been waiting for the signal from the artifacts his companions carried, confirmed the coordinates and revealed himself to stab Ventmin.

All the performances shown by Alex, Hans, and Bellaruna were nothing more than groundwork to create this moment of opportunity.

'Even so, without Helia's help, it would have been difficult to devise such a strategy.'

Who would have thought that the external helper that Ambella brought would be Helia?

Rudger recalled the night he encountered Helia.

When Rudger first encountered Helia in a completely unexpected place, the first thing he felt was wariness but Helia raised both hands to emphasize that she had no hostility toward Rudger.

-Don't be like that. It's too burdensome when you glare at me with such intense eyes.

-...

-The joke didn't land either.

-What brings you here?

-What do you mean what brings me here? I came because an elf I somewhat knew asked for help, isn't that too harsh?

-As if you'd really come to help.

At Rudger's scathing point, Helia playfully twirled the parasol in her hand.

-You're right. Actually, more than wanting to help, I have plenty of personal motives.

-Personal motives?

-I don't like Ventmin Lifrey.

Though Helia spoke with a smile, her eyes flashed quite ominously.

Though she had dealt with her with a smile that day at the Order Synod, she had been harboring ill feelings toward Ventmin inside.

-I've been secretly looking into what Ventmin Lifrey is trying to do on my own. Her plans are completely different from the values I pursue in life.

-So you're saying you'll help me? Why should I trust you?

-How strange. It's not like we're on bad enough terms to fight each other, right?

Helia asked as if she genuinely didn't understand but for Rudger, he couldn't trust the words of Helia, who was a demon.

Helia gave up trying to persuade him.

-Just think simply. They say the enemy of my enemy is a friend, so since I don't like Ventmin and you need to stop her, wouldn't it be fine to join hands just for this moment? If you have my ability, it will be helpful to you too.

This wasn't a situation where he could simply reject Helia because of his emotions but Rudger warned Helia with a cold gaze.

-I won't let it slide if you try to hold me back.

-Oh my, how scary~. I'll think of it as your way of encouraging me.

That's how Rudger formed a temporary alliance with Helia.

And now Rudger succeeded in landing a fatal blow on Ventmin by taking advantage of her moment of carelessness.

"To, to end like this...so futilely..."

Ventmin's head drooped down.

Rudger pulled the sword stick's blade from Ventmin's body as Ventmin collapsed lifelessly and wasn't breathing.

Since he confirmed there was no pulse either, she was definitely dead.

"Sedina."

"Te-Teacher."

The moment Sedina saw Rudger, all the emotions she had been holding back welled up.

Tears like chicken droppings streamed down her two eyes.

Though she tried hard to act calm, Sedina was still a student in the end.

Rudger slowly walked toward Sedina.

"Sedina. Let's go back."

"Who says so?"

Ventmin's voice, who should have been dead, was heard.

"Leader! Watch out...!"

Before Alex could shout a warning from behind, a massive wave of force struck Rudger from behind.

[Aether Nocturnus]

Rudger hugged Sedina's body while simultaneously giving orders to Aether Nocturnus.

The shadows wrapped around his body greatly expanded and transformed into a barrier as a massive energy swept over it like a storm, barely missing them.

Rudger dismissed the barrier and turned to look at Ventmin with an incomprehensible gaze.

"How?"

He had definitely stabbed a vital point and confirmed she was dead but Ventmin Lifrey was alive.

She slowly rose from her position with her injured body and was staring this way with eyes full of murderous spirit.

"Did you think I would fall to something like that?"

Blood wasn't flowing from Ventmin's wound.

The wound where Rudger had stabbed had already healed and transformed to be like tree bark.

That trace carved into skin that had been as white as a symbol of purity drew attention like a scar.

"You, did you give up on being an elf?"

Ventmin didn't answer Rudger's point.

With a slightly bitter expression, she carefully traced her wound area with her fingertips.

The hard and bumpy sensation felt on the soft and smooth skin.

Without even body temperature being felt, that coldness gave an emptiness as if something of the soul had been cut away.

Ventmin Lifrey had definitely died.

She had met a biological death.

But thanks to that, Ventmin Lifrey was able to transcend the limitations of being an ordinary living being with the authority of the World Tree and its endless vitality.

This was one of the contingencies she had left in case of unexpected situations.

"Yes. I had expected this would happen someday."

Ventmin looked down at her palm.

The ends of her smooth palms were starting to crack little by little like the surface of a tree.

"If you use the World Tree's power excessively when it doesn't suit you, you end up paying the price."

"..."

"You know what? These roots of the cradle are actually not ordinary roots."

At Ventmin's words, Rudger could finally properly see the roots that composed the cradle.

Throughout the roots, there were faint traces that appeared to be someone's face.

The sight of faces screaming as if in agony protruding out evoked eerie ghost stories.

"Don't tell me..."

"This is the end that befalls those who use the authority without receiving the World Tree's permission. After Plante disappeared, this is the final appearance of our Lifrey family's retainers."

When the Plante family disappeared and Lifrey took possession of the World Tree Lifrey faced a great crisis.

No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't resonate with the World Tree like the Plante family.

The more deeply they tried to dig, the more strongly the World Tree pushed them away.

Rather, the backlash from that caused many to have their minds break down.

Nevertheless, the Lifrey family didn't give up.

They continued to grind away their family's manpower and continued experiments to be able to use the World Tree's power.

At the end of that, Ventmin Lifrey became able to handle just about 1% of the World Tree's power.

Most of the roots settled in this cradle were elves who had assimilated with the World Tree in that process.

After those long sacrifices, the power they could handle was only 1%.

It was only natural that Ventmin, feeling those limitations, desired the final key that Plante held.

"Only after giving up being an elf could I grasp stronger power. Was that such a great greed?"

Ventmin muttered dejectedly.

She was no longer an elf now. After dying and being resurrected now, she had assimilated with part of the World Tree.

It wouldn't be wrong to see her as literally a living tree.

If previously she couldn't handle even 1% of the authority, now she felt confident she could exceed at least 5%.

However, even while savoring that sense of omnipotence, what filled her was not satisfaction and ecstasy, but endless rage and hatred.

The arrow of that hatred was aimed straight at Rudger who had killed her and Sedina beside him.

"It's all your Plante family's fault."

The killing intent imbued in Ventmin's voice spread throughout the entire cradle.

As if responding to that, the tree roots composing the cradle wriggled and moved, and then something in human form began crawling out one by one.

It was the elves of the Lifrey family who had coveted the World Tree.

Rising up after becoming one with the trees, they were like undead, neither living nor dead.

There was no term more fitting than wood zombies for them.

"Having come this far, I have no choice but to go all the way."

Ventmin thought it was rather fortunate.

Yes. She hadn't given up on being an elf. Rather, she had transcended it.

Now she would become one with the World Tree and achieve her aspirations by becoming an omnipotent being.

She would turn this entire continent into a paradise solely for elves.

"John Doe. By drinking your blood and that Plante child's, I will return this star to the primordial era."

"You've completely lost your mind. Who says things will go as you want?"

Ventmin laughed while shrugging her shoulders at those words.

"That is the right of the strong."

Following her hand gesture, the entire cradle began to vibrate.

The Wood Zombies rose like an army, and the World Tree's branches and leaves that resonated with them shook as if struck by wind.

"And in this place, I am absolute."

* * *

The Three Nobles' forces that had completely occupied the outer wall were now on the verge of conquering the inner castle as well.

Although the resistance at the inner wall was much fiercer than at the outer wall, it wasn't enough to overcome the difference in military strength.

Of course, from the moment they breached the gates, war of attrition would break out in every complex and narrow path of the inner castle, so it was too early to predict victory.

Still, if this level of forces continued to be deployed, they could push through even if the enemy went into a siege.

Darish, the head of House Radix, called his subordinates while looking at the cracked gates.

"Everyone withdraw!"

"The head of the house will take action!"

After confirming that the soldiers attacking the gates had withdrawn, Darish raised a bow as large as his own build.

Darish pulled with great ease the bowstring that would be difficult for several strong men to pull together.

What was nocked to the string was something so large it could be called a spear rather than an arrow.

Strong Bow Darish, his title once again showed its presence here.

The fired arrow collided with the solid gates and caused an explosion.

It was a greater force than dozens of elf soldiers hammering together and the tattered gates collapsed with a crash.

-Waaaaaah!

The soldiers let out victory cries.

Darish was secretly proud of that sight and was about to give orders.

"...What is this?"

If not for countless tree roots surging like a tidal wave from inside the collapsed inner castle.

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