Chapter 37: The Southern Range [4]
Alden was still grinning. He couldn’t help it.
His eyes moved over the fallen beasts and the grin just kept getting wider.
’If Breath alone can do this, then the Concepts locked at twenty, forty, sixty, seventy-five percent—’
He stopped himself before the thought ran away completely.
’Two Supreme Concepts at ninety and one hundred.’
’I seriously cannot wait.’
Nicholas sheathed his sword. "Beasts are all down."
Roselle was still looking at Alden with the expression of someone who had been certain they understood a thing and has just found out they were wrong about most of it.
’What kind of mage is he, exactly?’
She was reaching toward her system panel to get a look at his class when—
"Wait what?" Alden’s expression changed.
The grin dropped. Something else replaced it, the look he got when Insight was telling him something.
He equipped it without announcing it.
Then he moved.
"Alden?" Leon called after him.
He was already sprinting toward the rocky formation ahead, a hollow between two snow-covered faces, dark inside.
"I can see it!" He pointed into the dark.
"The yellow Core. The Helion Core — it’s radiating from inside there."
"WHAT?!" Leon and Roselle said it at the same time.
Seris’s hand found her scythe.
"Then we move now." She was already running. "No time to waste."
Everyone followed.
The cave entrance was low and dark.
Inside, the narrow passage turned and split, snow and ice covering everything, the sound of the wind dropping immediately once they were past the opening.
Alden slowed his steps deliberately. Kept his footsteps quiet.
’It’s in here somewhere. They know the beasts didn’t stop us, which means they know we’re coming.’
Seris fell into step behind him naturally, then Leon, then Roselle and Nicholas side by side at the back.
Seris leaned close enough that her voice wouldn’t carry. "So it’s really in here?"
Alden deactivated Insight and glanced back. "Yes. Right here somewhere."
Roselle’s eyes had half-closed in concentration. Then they opened again. ’Yeah. I can feel it too. He was right.’
"Stay alert," Nicholas said quietly, sword already out. "Cover all sides. Move together."
Everyone nodded. They went deeper.
The only sounds were their footsteps on frozen ground and the occasional creak of the cave walls contracting in the cold.
Then—
"Alden?"
Everyone froze.
A figure stepped out from one of the side passages.
Alden felt his shoulders drop automatically.
"Professor Vincent?"
"You all came here as well?" Vincent smiled. The same warm, steady smile he’d had.
Alden’s tension eased without him deciding to let it.
He moved toward him.
"I’m glad you’re here, Professor. The Core thief is somewhere inside here, we found the signal. Now that you’re here, we can move in together and—"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Prediction Activated]
Incoming Attack
Target: Head
Direction: Front
Time to Impact: 2 seconds
Accuracy: 91%
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Alden’s pupils shrank to points.
’Front?’
"ALDEN LOOK OUT!"
Leon’s voice hit the cave walls.
Vincent was already moving. His sword had mana running along it, glowing, swinging in a clean horizontal arc aimed directly at Alden’s head.
There was no gap, it was too close for anyone else to reach him.
[Predator’s Instinct — Activated.]
His body moved before he thought about moving it. He snapped backward, spine bending, the blade cutting through the air where his head had been.
Slash.
A thin line opened across his cheek. Blood welled immediately.
He landed with both feet under him and put his hand to his face.
His fingers came away red.
’If I hadn’t activated Predator’s Instinct...’ He looked at the cut. ’That would’ve been my head.’
Vincent withdrew the sword slowly. A small streak of red sat at the blade’s tip. He looked at it with the same expression he wore when he was looking at student work that had exceeded his expectations.
"Impressive. To dodge that at this distance."
Leon pushed forward with fury in his voice. "What the hell are you doing, Professor?! You attacked a student! you nearly—"
"I know what I’m doing," Vincent said.
Leon stopped.
Roselle’s eyes went to the passage behind Vincent. Then the sword again.
"So... It was you."
The cave went quiet.
"You’re the one who stole the Helion Core."
Nicholas snapped toward her. "What?!"
Leon did the same.
Vincent said nothing.
Alden wiped the blood from his cheek with the back of his hand.
"Now it all makes sense." He looked at Vincent steadily.
"You’re the one who entered the Underground Chamber. You bypassed every security layer and reached the Core." He took one step forward. "You used Claire as a scapegoat. You knew she had access to restricted areas through her grandfather, which meant if she was found as the Core’s bearer, everyone would assume she was the thief. No one would question it."
Another step.
"You made her touch the Core. Let it take control of her. While the whole academy was dealing with the beasts and looking at Claire, you stayed. Acted like you knew nothing. Gave us advice. Helped the evacuation."
He tilted his head slightly.
"And when I said I was heading south with the search party..." His eyes sharpened.
"You followed."
Vincent was quiet for a moment. Then he smiled again. Slower this time. "Very impressive, Alden."
"Really nice game, Professor." Nicholas hadn’t moved. His sword was in his hand, but his arm hadn’t raised it. He was still looking at Vincent, hearing the words which he can’t believe to accept them yet.
"But why?" His voice came out quiet. "Why would you do any of this?"
Vincent turned his attention away from the others.
His eyes found Alden. Just Alden.
"I came here only for you, Alden."
The air in the cave got heavier.
"Because I’m afraid you know too much about things you shouldn’t." His hand moved into his coat slowly.
"If you’d stayed as ignorant as everyone else in this academy..."
His hand emerged.
The golden sphere sat in his palm. Soft light pulsed from it in steady against the dark of the cave.
The Helion Core.
"...you wouldn’t need to die here."
Leon’s voice came out like someone had knocked the air out of him.
"Die?"
Vincent looked at Alden.
"Yes." His grip closed around the Core.
"I’m going to kill Alden." Leon repeated the words back like he was hearing them in a different language.
"Kill... Alden?"
___________________
Author’s Note:
Hello, peeps! It’s your author again!
First of all... you guys are all stalkers! Yeah, STALKERS!
You purchase the Chapters, read them silently like little thieves, and then disappear without leaving even a single comment? or at least a simple "Thank you for the Chapter" to give your poor author some motivation to keep going? Me hurt... tears
But... I’m a kind author, so I’ll forgive you guys this time.
Anyway, let’s get to what I actually wanted to say.
I currently have 20 Chapters stockpiled in my drafts.
Yes. You read that correctly.
TWENTY ChapterS!
And no, I’m not giving them to you that easily because I’m a shameless and greedy author, I have a few conditions. Hehehe...
I’ll be dumping all 20 Chapters on the 1st of next month, and guess what?
I’m planning to set the Privilege unlocks at only 1–2 Coins for the 10-Chapter and 20-Chapter privilege tiers!
Happy now? BUT...
There is one little condition to unlock this glorious 20-Chapter dump, I want you guys to meet a gift requirement:
A Magic Castle or any gift above Magic Castle!
You guys have around 18 days before next month, so you have plenty of time to decide whether you want those 20 Chapters or not.
If the requirement isn’t met, then say goodbye to your precious 20-Chapter dump. Muhahaha!
Hehehe. I know that I’m evil.
And who knows?
If you guys go beyond just one Super Gift, maybe... just maybe... I might get greedy enough to throw in even more Chapters. Afterall, I’m slave for your gifts and stuff...
So, what do you say? Do you want the 20-Chapter dump or not?
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you’re enjoying the story!
Now go comment, you stalkers!
Also, you can join discord for updates.
Yours Greedily,
LayzQuill.