Chapter 183

Chapter 183

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 183“How! Howhowhowhowhow!! How did you break through my Deep-Space Barrier! My barrier isn't something even a dragon could easily break through──.”

The magic he'd used was one of the highest-ranked barrier spells, the ‘Deep-Space Barrier.’

A barrier that separated spaces from one another and overlaid illusions, making it extremely difficult not only to break but even to notice.

And yet.

That very barrier had now shattered into pieces right before his eyes. And by a barehanded man holding absolutely nothing.

The reason was extremely simple.

“How dare you compare some lizard bastard to my father?”

Because my father was overwhelmingly stronger than a dragon.

“Yuli!!”

The moment the barrier shattered, the man who had been standing behind Father spread enormous wings from his back and flew toward Yuli and me. His speed was at a level impossible even to follow with the eyes.

All I could tell from the fierce wind of the aftershock was just how fast he'd flown.

“...

Father?”

“Are you hurt anywhere? Do you have enough mana? It looks like you bled, are you dizzy or anything?”

Although he'd maintained an extremely cold attitude when I first saw him, he now caressed Yuli's cheek and examined her with an expression as though he had no idea what to do.

And Yuli, seemingly seeing this side of her father for the first time as well, wore the most shocked expression I'd ever seen on her.

Meanwhile, Father had already appeared in front of me and asked in a low voice while staring at the enemy before us.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Although he didn't turn around, his voice was filled with concern.

“No. I'm not badly hurt.”

Standing behind Father, I clenched my fist and stared at the monster before us, intending to put an end to the fight that hadn't yet finished.

Right. Since the battle wasn't over yet, he wasn't turning around.

His disposition seemed to show even in small things.

Then I should also──“Rest.”

“...

Pardon?”

“I alone am enough.”

Then he casually tossed something toward me, and I reflexively caught it. A silver watch rested on my palm.

“Hold onto it for a moment.”

Crack

- crack

-Father rolled his neck from side to side, rolled up his sleeves, and slowly walked toward the bastard.

“Don Vito Calione! Good! This might be a fun opportunity to strip away your false reputation!”

Seeing Father approach, the bastard spread both arms wide as though amused.

“Yes!! As I am now, an ordinary human like you──.”

“──You're noisy.”

It happened in an extremely brief instant.

Just a simple punch from a natural stance, nothing more.

A vivid red line merely appeared along its trajectory...

“Grrk?! G-gagagag...?!”

A hole had been punched straight through the bastard's enormous body, leaving him unable to say anything and only producing wet, rattling sounds.

A technique any player of CS couldn't possibly fail to recognize.

After all, how could anyone forget something that appeared at least once during every major scenario?

“Ariete(Ram).”

At first glance, it sounded like an extremely weak name, but that word had another meaning.

Battering ram.

A weapon used in ancient sieges, and the most iconic tool for breaking through castle gates.

It was far too grand a name to attach to a mere human technique.

But that man had accomplished it using nothing but his own strength.

Fortresses of monsters located inside dungeons. Countless walls collapsing from a single punch, gates shattering, castles falling.

Just how many could remain standing after taking a siege weapon like that head-on?

Any such existence would surely be called a monster rather than a human.

“Kyaaaaaaaak!”

And although the bastard in front of us now was weak and foolish, his body had undeniably reached the realm of a ‘monster.’

“K-keeeek! Krrrgh!”

Maybe his mind had too?

Even as the chunks of flesh filled the hole at insane speed, the man bearing the name Calione merely walked forward with complete indifference.

And just as he was about to throw another punch.

“Wait...”

A man stepped in front of him.

“I will handle this. Don Calione.”

“Will you be all right?”

“If I don't do at least this much, I feel as though I'll lose my mind.”

The man gave a bitter smile at Father's concerned words.

Then Dwich Rodman, his eyes dyed completely red, stretched out his hand toward the mass of flesh in front of him.

“Yesss...! Descendant of mosquitoes!! Dwich Rodmaaan?!”

The bastard tried to say something, but he couldn't continue.

Because.

Clench

-As Dwich made a grasping motion with his hand, all the blood scattered around the bastard rose into the air at once.

“Blood Maiden(Blood Maiden).”

At the same time, a coffin of blood transformed into hundreds upon thousands of spikes and trapped the bastard from both sides, then began to shake.

Dwich Rodman.

Compared to the others gathered here, his sphere of activity lay in the outskirts, and he had never caused any major worldwide incident... yet there was a reason the others still treated him with perfect courtesy and respect.

Red Moon.

On the day the red moon rose.

On that day alone, as a True Ancestor, he could use power close to the strongest level befitting the title of Lord of Blood.

“Be crushed.”

Creeeeak─With a sound like a screw being tightened, the blood coffin created in midair instantly contracted.

Clunk

- clunk

- clunk

-clunk

- clunk

-clunk--clunk

-clunk

-clunk

-clunk

-clunk

-clunkThe bastard seemed to be struggling desperately inside to escape, but the more he did, the blood he shed inside only made the coffin denser and sturdier.

In truth, the moment a living organism made of blood entered that place, escaping was anything but easy.

And finally.

Stop─The coffin suddenly stopped moving, and an enormous amount of blood began pouring out from the bottom.

“Did you kill him?”

Father asked with a completely calm expression despite the scene looking like something straight out of a horror film.

“Do you really think I would kill him that easily? He left a wound on my daughter.”

Creeeeeak──With an eerie sound, the coffin slowly began to open, and something so drenched in blood that its original shape couldn't even be distinguished dropped to the ground below.

“He's still alive. It seems removing the contaminated blood restored him properly.”

That's something I didn't know...

I never imagined draining all the blood contaminated by the seed could return him to normal.

I knew that if you lowered their HP to the absolute limit like catching a Pokémon, there was a certain chance they'd revert... but this was the first time I'd ever seen someone force it by literally extracting the blood itself.

These fathers are terrifying! Seriously.

And then.

“Peak.”

At Father's call, pitch-black light instantly spread around us with a ta-da! and Peak appeared.

“Yesyes! Did you call Peak~!”

“Does this look like a joke to you right now?”

“...

I'm sorry.”

Even she, who had always been full of mischief no matter the situation, apparently hadn't expected us to get this deeply involved, because at Father's rebuke, she lowered her head and knelt in midair.

“You are the one in overall charge of security for this event, so I assume you've prepared proper compensation for what happened?”

“Yes... yes, of course.”

Don't tell me she was planning to use the reward she'd promised us to cover that too?

“Father. Lady Peak did nothing wrong. In the end, we were the ones who accepted the request.”

“...

A request? What do you mean?”

I glanced at Peak's expression and saw her staring at me in horror.

Seriously. This is why fairies can't be trusted.

They'll definitely honor contracts, but they'll also do everything they can to gain more from them...

How laughable.

“It's really fine. Fortunately, none of us were seriously hurt.”

When I said that with the face of a good child, Father and Dwich Rodman both turned to look at Peak from either side.

“In that case, the situation is different. You've prepared both the compensation promised to the children and compensation for the apology, haven't you?”

“Uh... well... guardians... please calm down...”

“Calm down? My daughter's face has been scratched, and you tell me to calm down? I've always wondered what fairy blood tastes like. This seems like the perfect opportunity to find out.”

“Hiiiiiik!!”

Caught between the monsters of the century, Peak had no idea what to do and slowly backed away.

“Junior, Junior.”

At that moment, I heard a whisper beside me.

When I turned my head, Yuli, whose injuries had already completely healed, was looking at me with a smile.

“Leaving it to our parents. It's better than I expected.”

“Right?”

Seriously, they're the most reassuring people in the world.

______________

After Yuli and I were rescued.

Peak ended up giving both Yuli and me two rewards in total: the reward for the request and compensation as an apology.

During the process, Peak sobbed loudly and desperately claimed she'd be penniless now, but...

Yeah, not giving it back. Go away.

Could that wealth really be more precious than her life?

Not with Father and Dwich Rodman standing there with bloodshot eyes.

Faust, as the person in overall charge of the event, also gave Yuli and me thorough examinations to check for further injuries, promised that something like this would never happen again, and said he would send compensation.

As a result.

“A fairy's gift. You've obtained something precious, Young Master.”

“Looks like it.”

Two boxes about the size of my head had been stacked on top of each other on the table.

Parnello stood beside me.

I'd wondered what he'd been doing this whole time, but according to him, he'd remained still under Father's orders.

Apparently Father had said something along the lines of, ‘I'll handle it myself.’

Thanks to that, I got to witness Father's strength directly, so I was very pleased.

But there was one question that kept bothering me.

“Parnello. There's something I'm curious about.”

“Yes. If it's something I know, I will answer as sincerely as possible.”

“How did Father know I was trapped inside the barrier?”

It was a question that had been bothering me the whole time.

Gary Franche's barrier was covered in illusions specifically to prevent outsiders from noticing anything unusual.

As far as I knew, the spell's setting made it nearly impossible to detect from the outside, so how had Father known?

“Ah, you mean that.”

Hearing my question, Parnello covered his mouth with his fist and chuckled.

“To tell you the truth, I didn't notice either... but suddenly, the Don said, ‘Something is strange about Eugene.’”

“...

Hm? That's it?”

“Yes. From far away, you appeared to be speaking with others alongside Lady Rodman. The Don said the sight was strange and immediately ran toward that place.”

Of course, the moment I saw Father's strange movements from inside, I immediately entered bracing mode...

Still, it was a reason that couldn't be explained logically.

And yet, for some reason, I felt like I understood it emotionally.

“Because he's my parent?”

“Yes. Because he's your parent.”

Perhaps for parents, distinguishing their son from an illusion was easier than expected.

“Then what about Dwich Rodman? Did Father call him?”

But Parnello shook his head.

“He turned toward the barrier almost at the exact same time as the Don. He said, ‘My daughter would never smile like that while talking with a man she doesn't know. She would never link arms with him.’ Honestly, even I found that sight a little frightening.”...

Isn't that just madness?

And why? Yuli seems like she'd do something like that as a joke all the time.

More importantly.

“That's more unexpected than I thought. Senior said her father viewed his children as tools for the family.”

At my words, Parnello burst into laughter.

“Hahahaha! The thoughts of a father with a son and a father with a daughter may indeed differ. Think of it this way. If Young Lady Ji-yoon got a boyfriend──.”

“──I'd kill him.”

“No, suppose she got a boyfriend who's capable and handsome──.”

“I'd kill him.”

“...

That must be it. One cannot allow just anyone to occupy the place beside a daughter more precious than anyone else.”

Ah, of course, if some worthless rogue approaches the Young Lady, I plan to deal with him first.

Parnello chuckled as he said that, and for the first time in a while I could feel killing intent from him.

Poor Ji-yoon's future boyfriend.

“Then, shall we start checking the gifts?”

The event was nearing its end.

Judging by the weight of the boxes, the contents didn't seem particularly large, so I decided to open one of them here.

The first thing to check was the box Peak had given us as the reward for the request.

With my heart pounding in anticipation, I slowly unwrapped the box and opened the lid...

Hm?

It appeared!!