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The Extra Saved the Terminally Ill Princess and Ran Away - Chapter 18
🕑 Added 2024-12-30 14:01:46 +0000 UTCChapter 18: Entanglement
***
Soon she came into view. She was absently caressing her engagement ring while gazing at the sky. Perhaps thinking of the fiancé she couldn't meet.
-Grind-
My teeth clenched involuntarily. First, because I had no idea who her supposed fiancé was.
And second, because watching the woman I loved reminiscing about another man right in front of me was more than a little bitter.
'It's fine... still fine...'
I took a deep breath to steady my slightly ragged breathing. It was a technique I'd developed while assassinating nobles.
The Sword Saint's talent wasn't just for show—my learning ability in combat situations had been multiplied several times over, allowing me to quickly develop my own breathing methods.
'The problem is, this is the only breathing technique I can use right now'
I don't know exactly why. All I know for certain is that I still can't utilize more than half of Finn's abilities.
More precisely, I can only use basic swordsmanship that forms the foundation—I can't use Finn's unique sword techniques.
Or perhaps just as there are as many paths of the sword as there are people, despite inheriting his experience, my sword path was completely different from his.
'Or maybe... starting out as an assassin had a major impact'
Old habits die hard, they say. My first kill was an assassination, and since then my sword style has resembled that of assassins who strike from the shadows.
"Hah..."
As I sighed, the demon I'd been waiting for finally appeared.
...From the sky, no less. Wings fluttering.
'Oh for fuck's sake, I can't jump that high with magic yet.'
The demon stretched out its hand, preparing to cast magic at her. She looked up at the sky, sensing the alien magical energy.
The demon smiled smugly, as if mocking the naive girl for noticing too late.
Without making a single sound.
...Truly a vicious method.
Unlike other stories where demons shout "Muhahaha!" or "You're dead meat!!" announcing their terrorism to the world,
In Academy Demon Hunter Chronicles, demons launch their surprise attacks in complete silence. No waiting around for the protagonist's party to prepare their magic.
Some demons even went so far as to hide the protagonist's sword beforehand to prevent him from drawing it.
Look at this one—even while making eye contact with her.
No "Die!"
No "Cursed humans!"
Not even the cliché "You shouldn't have been alone!"
"...?"
But something was strange. The demon's silence was one thing, but Lili too remained completely silent, merely fixing her cold gaze on it.
...Why wasn't she running or screaming?
Before I could find my own answer to that question,
-Crackle... crackle...
The magical energy gathering in the demon's hand signaled an imminent spell. Anyone could see the ominous dark sphere with red sparks dancing across it—the sphere clearly revealed itself as demon magic.
I placed my hand on my sword hilt, intending to cut down that sphere before it could reach her.
"Hah..."
I exhaled deeply, emptying all the air from my lungs. My heartbeat slowed steadily.
The demon smiled with an otherworldly expression. At the same time, the sphere flew rapidly toward her.
Just as I was about to step forward in time with my slowed heartbeat and draw my sword—
"How dare a mere demon... look down on the Imperial Princess?"
She spoke these words with a gaze as cold as midwinter ice, spreading her hand wide and slashing downward from sky to ground.
Both demon and sphere plummeted toward the earth.
-BOOM!!!
A thunderous explosion rang out, but it wasn't from the demon hitting the ground. It was the demon's sphere exploding on impact.
The difference in ability was clear to anyone watching.
The magic the demon had gathered and launched, Lili had casually deflected with a mere wave of her hand.
"Kugh..."
The demon barely managed to deploy a magical barrier beneath its feet to maintain distance from the ground.
Now the demon looked up at Lili.
A complete reversal of their positions from moments ago. Lili continued to speak in that piercing tone.
"Crawling on the ground suits a demon well... especially a worm like you."
Lili began twisting her outstretched hand into a clenching motion.
The demon's joints began twisting and crumpling as if the space around it was contracting.
"KUAAAGH!!!"
Perhaps even a demon couldn't bear the pain of its entire body being crushed—it began writhing and screaming with a split voice.
"Tch...!"
The writhing seemed to have some effect, as Lili frowned when her grip—or rather, her magical grip on the demon—began to loosen.
"How annoying...!"
Lili flicked her left hand at the demon struggling desperately to escape her constricting magic.
-BANG!!!
"AAAAGH!!! AAAAAH!!"
The demon's body burst into red flames and vanished, leaving behind an acrid burning smell that stung my nostrils.
'Well, at least we can confirm it wasn't human'
In the story, they were called "ma'in" (demon-human), so I'd wondered if they might be somewhat humanoid, but that seems to have been just my overthinking.
A human body wouldn't produce this smell when burning, nor would it vanish so quickly in flames.
"...How dare you try to kill me, the Imperial Princess? I'll at least acknowledge your effort."
Lili spoke these words while gazing at the spot where the demon had burned away.
"..."
But no, that wasn't the real issue. A mere demon wasn't the problem.
'That just now, was it colorless magic...?'
Not the flames that burned the demon.
The magic that slammed the demon and its sphere into the ground, that tried to crumple it like paper.
'That must have been the main heroine's colorless magic...'
Colorless magic. Unlike normal magic that contains elements and colors, it manifests without any specific properties or hue.
But within my knowledge... that is, in the original story, Selina the main heroine was the one who mainly used colorless magic. And knowing why other characters were shocked when they saw Selina's colorless magic,
I too couldn't help but gape in surprise when I realized Lili was using colorless magic.
'So this is why Lili couldn't properly use magic in the original story...'
While colorless magic was fundamentally overpowered, affecting space and gravity itself, it had a major drawback:
The magical energy required to activate and maintain it was equivalent to casting 3-4 normal spells.
That's why the original Lili couldn't use magic despite being a mage.
Her innate magical energy was too insignificant compared to the main heroine's.
But now, thanks to the elixir she received from me, she had possessed magical power rivaling accomplished mages since childhood...
'No wonder the main heroine couldn't get top marks...'
Here was the answer to why a colorless magic user hadn't achieved first place—something I'd been puzzling over.
Of course Lili would have the advantage over an equal colorless magic user, having started with the cheat item of the elixir.
"...!!!@#! ...!!!@#!"
Someone's shouts could be heard running toward us, presumably having heard the explosion.
There was no need to guess who—it had to be Ian.
Lili must have heard it too, as she briefly glanced in my direction. Then her gaze shifted to the opposite side.
'...She was just looking around'
For now, I should take Ian and leave before drawing more attention.
My original plan to rescue her from her trials was likely to be blocked from the start, given her current state.
I couldn't even properly predict what trials would befall her now that she had become powerful enough to surpass the main heroine.
And seeing her just now, it was clear my clumsy attempts at romance, with my experience count of zero, wouldn't work on the current her.
'I should keep my distance and observe the situation for now'
That's what I thought.
***
But not a chance.
Events that completely overturned my expectations were about to descend on us—or more precisely, on Lili and me.
"Lilisiana Yekaterina, Berry. You two will go to Section B-04."
"What?!"
I couldn't hide my shock at the instructor's words.
The reason being that Lili and I had been selected as partners for tomorrow's joint practical training between the Knight and Magic Departments.
And we had been assigned to go to this Section B-04.
And...
'That's where Selina and Ian are supposed to struggle hard to clear... where the main heroine and protagonist grow closer and learn to rely on each other during their joint event'
This was originally meant to be the protagonist and main heroine's event location.
But what was even more shocking...
"Teacher, I don't have a partner. Do I get the day off?"
"Ah, let's see... Knight Department's Ian Cedric? Your partner is... Magic Department's second place, Selina. Stand by for now."
"Yes! Understood!"
We were heading there because the main heroine hadn't shown up on the very first day.
