Academy’s Genius Swordmaster Chapter 92

< 92. Shoot for the dawn (5) >

#92

I didn’t know why the person who had disappeared was wandering around here. However Ronan instinctively knew what he had to do. Sabagsabag. The sound of her footsteps as if they were picking up dust followed her.

She said ‘I’m not good at tailgating.’

It was an unseasonable late-night walk. The bookshelves in the form of irregularly rising pillars were reminiscent of giant trees in a primeval forest. A chill that was unbecoming of summer was hovering over the bookshelves.

‘…It looks like a haunted forest.’

Ronan twitched her lip. Today’s library was somehow eerie. I felt like I could hear the cries of trees killed to make books. Even the moonlight had a dusky blue color like a rotting corpse. He who was following her woman while maintaining a certain distance frowned at her.

‘Where the fuck are you going?’

It seemed like I 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 focused all his attention on walking quietly. Then the woman stopped in her place.

‘at las.’

Ronan slowly backed away holding her breath. Crump! Suddenly her upper body tilted back and her pale face was revealed. Ronan gasped when he saw the back of her head touching her waist.

‘…!’

It was a structurally impossible position for humans. The woman’s eyes were completely black. A strange voice was coming out of her open mouth.

“Ah…ahhh…ah.”

Ronan quickly hid behind her pillar. Her heart was pounding like it was going to burst out of her chest. It was not easy to swallow the curses that rose up to her throat.

‘Fuck what did I see?’

He looked more like a monster than a human. Not long after the strange voice stopped. Ronan took a deep breath and quietly stuck his head out. Her feminine appearance came and disappeared without a trace.

‘…Where did it go?’

The sound of shoes could no longer be heard. Ronan approached her where she stood her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.

She looked around her carefully but she could find no trace of her anywhere. Only her dust remained floating in the gloomy moonlight.

‘This can’t be happening?’

Ronan watched her in every direction concentrating his entire attention on her. A cylindrical bookshelf with her books neatly placed on the floor made of an unknown white stone. A trace of mana that disproved the fact that the woman existed here caught her eye.

‘Now that I think about it….’

Suddenly she remembered that a few days ago she had entered a secret space with Ire. She opened the secret door by pulling out a book.

Maybe here too? Ronan fumbled with her bookshelf again. His eyes stopped on a certain place. The woman’s mana remained like a fingerprint on the spine of the book with the title [Stepping Back].

‘I found it.’

Ronan carefully pulled out the book. Contrary to expectations the bookshelf did not slide back or the floor sank.

Is it a different book? It was the moment when he felt puzzled and touched the bookshelf. His hand went right through the bookshelf and went straight into it.

“her?”

Ronan’s eyes widened. Even though he waved his arm around he couldn’t feel anything. The reality of the bookshelf disappeared and a mere illusion took its place.

‘You put a lot of effort into it.’

It was a very high level magic. After confirming that the inside was empty he walked into the bookshelf. A long narrow staircase heading down loomed before his eyes.

‘…I guess I’ll have to do it.’

Ronan slowly walked down the stairs. It was incredibly 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.’

Not a single point of light could be found in the passage which did not even receive moonlight. It was not a level of darkness that could be adjusted to over time.

Ronan suddenly had a brilliant idea and pulled out La Mancha. As soon as he concentrated his mind a red light appeared along the sword body.

‘This is it.’

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

The width was narrow enough for two people to pass through but it was a strange structure with a height of nearly 4 meters. He walked away with La Mancha raised. Step by step. Step by step. Step by step. Her female form was not yet visible.

‘Anyway…what on earth is this place doing?’

There were many hypotheses that came to mind but I couldn’t be certain. Because wizards’ buildings tend to contain a lot of secrets. While he was walking thinking about various things two paths appeared before Ronan’s eyes.

‘Damn it’s a maze.’

Ronan clicked his tongue. It was the most troublesome type of structure. I was wondering which way to go. Suddenly a gloomy whisper rang in Ronan’s ears.

[You’re cursed.]

“Fuck!”

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

Ronan who could not feel the cutting sensation aimed his sword again. There was no one. The voice rang out again.

[Oh my. Don’t you want to lift the curse that is binding you?]

“what?”

It was a neutral voice whose gender could not be distinguished. When I listened carefully I realized that the voice was echoing in my head not in my ears. Ronan frowned upon hearing the word curse.

“Where are you talking about?”

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

The voice broke. The shock and fear I felt for a moment was quickly turning into anger.

“…It’s really damn good.”

Ronan spat on the floor and took the right path. I’ve done enough frustrating things. I don’t know who on earth was playing pranks like this but I was thinking of taking proper care of it.

[left.]

[Middle.]

[Okay a little closer… it’s on the left.]

Every time I came to a fork in the road I heard the voice from before. Ronan turned as he was told. The interior was quite complex so if a woman was hiding here it would not be easy to find her. Then a dead end appeared.

Where do you go now? Ronan was about to ask an irritated question. Something standing in front of the wall caught my eye. It was a wooden platform that reached waist height and there was a book on it.

“Is that…?”

It was a book thick enough to be used as a pillow. An unusual energy was oozing from the cover which was made of unidentifiable leather. Ronan’s face hardened. The sorrow he had always harbored turned into conviction.

‘Forbidden book.’

This was the forbidden area that Ayre had warned about. A forbidden area where evil books are sealed. Ronan who was looking at the book twisted his lips.

‘…I understand why you told me to be so careful.’

Its mere presence was powerful and seductive. The moment he read the book he had an intuition that he would be able to find the answer. Ronan walked as if possessed and stood in front of the book. The most important thing to him now was to lift the curse.

‘good.’

Finally Ronan made up his mind and turned the page. The text that appeared to be the title was scrawled. I couldn’t read it because it was written in characters I had never seen before.

‘Is it a text from another country?’

Ronan turned to the next page. The same letters as before were written densely. In between about five or six magic circles of bizarre shapes were drawn.

“Is this…?”

It was the moment when he brought his face closer. Suddenly the writing and magic circle glowed brightly and black tentacles came out of the book.

“Ugh?!”

[Hahaha you got caught!]

Sigh! The tentacles instantly wrapped around Ronan’s body leaving only his head. An eerie laughter rang out. It was the same voice that had guided the way just a moment ago.

Only then did Ronan realize that the entity that had been talking to him all along was this book. It didn’t take long to understand the situation. This is what it means to say that banned books eat people.

[It’s already too late. There is no use in resisting so just become Langzium’s doll!]

“Fuck.”

Ronan who was wrapped in tentacles cursed. My judgment which had been clouded by my obsession with the curse was quickly returning. He asked as if he was sighing.

“Was it a lie from the beginning that you could lift the curse?”

[Foolishly there is no story written about the curse to me.]

“Yeah… that’s right.”

I asked just in case and it was the same. At that moment dozens of red lines were drawn on the tentacles. Sigh! A purple fountain of blood gushes along the line. The dismembered tentacles fell in a patter. A cry of panic rang out.

[Huh how?]

“Trick me with a piece of paper?”

Ronan growled. In his hands having regained his freedom he held the red blinking La Mancha. In the first place the tentacles had already been cut off before they wrapped around the body.

Ronan plunged his sword straight into the book. Phew! As the tip of the sword penetrated deep into the sheet a blood-curdling scream rang out.

[Kaaaaaaak!]

“It looks like you’re feeling some pain.”

[Get rid of it!]

“what?”

It was the moment when he pulled out his sword to finish it off. Suddenly the book started making incomprehensible noises.

Suddenly everything became brighter and the back of my head became hot. Ronan quickly turned his head. Waves of flame were filling the hallway.

“What is this…!”

It was a considerable level of magic. But there was nothing he couldn’t face. Ronan who had taken his stance raised his sword vertically. Sigh! The wave of fire split in half and flowed to either side of him. A torrent of flames rejoined the wall and engulfed the book.

[Whoa! Wow!]

The book engulfed in flames screamed again. Care was taken to prevent such a situation when blocking fireballs flying toward the airship.

The screaming gradually died down and silence soon came. At that moment the fire stopped. Ronan saw the woman standing across the hallway and lowered his sword.

“That’s how it happened.”

“Ah…ahhh….”

An afterimage of flame was blooming from her hand outstretched towards Ronan. Her eyes which had been dyed black were regaining their original color.

“iced coffee….”

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

She said ‘I was being controlled by the book.’

Given what happened to her doll it was clear that her body had been taken in a similar way. He probably disappeared like other missing people in this way. When she turned her head the completely burned remains of the banned book caught her eye.

“You idiot.”

It was a truly stupid ending. There were a lot of things I wanted to know but saving people was the priority. Ronan picked up the fallen woman.

“Fuck it come to your senses.”

“Ah…ah….”

It didn’t look good. It seemed like she needed to get treatment quickly. She had memorized the route in advance so going back wasn’t that difficult. It was the moment he came out of the stairs. A light so bright that it hurt his eyes poured over his head.

“What the fuck?”

Ronan frowned at her. It was dark outside the window so it wasn’t opening time yet. The murmuring of people could be heard from far away.

“Is there a fire…?”

The size of the commotion was unusual. He was just about to take a step in the direction of the sound. A voice as low as hell echoed throughout the library.

【That’s interesting.】

Ronan stopped in her tracks. Her indescribable goosebumps ran all over her body. There was something unfathomably evil and powerful behind him.

‘what…!’

I was almost afraid to turn her head. There was a chance of victory only if it was cut down in one go. Ronan who had drawn La Mancha turned around. Push! The blade flew diagonally and became deeply embedded in the bookshelf.

“Ugh huh…!”

The cut books fell fluttering. Ronan let out the breath he had been holding. The entrance to the forbidden library had returned to its original bookshelf.

‘what?’

The evil energy had disappeared from nowhere. He was still unable to recover from the shock. The woman on her back moaned again.

“Ahh…ugh.”

“Oh shit. sorry.”

Ronan who came to his senses late ran in the direction of the sound. Before long Aire’s appearance came into view. She was floating in the air and looking helpless. Ronan shouted.

“Aire!”

“Ronan! Where have you been all this time? “Who is he?”

“He is missing. “One out of six.”

“yes?!”

“Hurry and take him. “I think I need to get treatment.”

Her eyes widened. Ronan handed over her ladyship to Ire. Ayre unable to keep up with the situation stuttered.

“I need an explanation…!”

“I’ll tell you later. Ayre. “Did you hear anything strange?”

“Voice?”

“yes. Shit…no it’s extremely low and split. “Anyway it’s a terrible voice.”

“I didn’t hear anything like that…?”

Ire shook her head. Even though it was so loud that she couldn’t hear it seeing her do this made it seem like she had made it herself just like she did during Langueum.

First we had to understand the current situation. Ronan took a deep breath to control his emotions and opened his mouth again.

“Hehe…Anyway what happened? “With all the lights on in the middle of the night.”

“The culprit of the airship incident has been caught.”

“Aha I still wanted to see her face but it worked out. “What are you doing?”

Ronan shrugged his eyebrows. After hesitating for a moment Aire opened her mouth heavily.

“…The third daughter of the Grancia family.”

“yes?”