The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 110: Gathering Of Evil (1)

<Darkest Academia> was a game with some elements of RPG so it had a levelling system.

As the player’s level rose, the game became easier, of course. The character and their companions’ stats would increase, and you also learned various skills and functions.

[Your EXP has reached a certain level. A new function has been unlocked.]It was from level 55, probably.

Vermel glanced over the hovering System Window.

[You can now gauge the current mental state and stress level of those around you.]He didn’t really need anything else. He flicked his finger thinking that he only needed to be able to manage the stress levels of the Dark Day. Then another translucent window popped up in front of him.

*Stress Level[Aether : 30/100 (Normal)]

[Angelica Totzfel : Unable to gauge due to Status Effect]

Although he wasn’t sure what his level was, he could guess based on the ability he gained whenever he met a certain criteria.

Level 55, is it.

It was a high enough level for this point in time.

If this had been Easy or Normal, that is.

In the Nightmare difficulty, it was a challenge even if you started at max level. This would just be enough to barely clear the game by a veteran’s standard.

Vermel turned his head and looked to Aether. The black-haired, gold-eyed girl was adjusting the unconscious Angelica so that she wouldn’t feel discomfort when she woke.

Can’t even say anything to this guy either....

Even if the girl in front of him hadn’t been the beginning of the world’s destruction, he wouldn’t have been able to be forceful simply because they were from the same homeland.

It had been twenty years since Vermel fell into the world and he had been alone all this time. He had met many elves and humans and interacted with them, but there had still been something missing.

It wasn’t easy to find the source of the void, likely because he was the only one who knew about the end of the world.

And in that situation, he met someone in the same circumstances. He couldn’t help but be glad.

But the kinship he felt had been brief.

“If this doesn’t work either, can I hit her again?”

“... Please try not to.”

This transmigrator occasionally talked and acted like the original Aether.

No, not even occasionally.

Let’s say that the style of speech happened to overlap. The problem was the behavior.

The Prince was one thing, but beating up Angelica suddenly and bringing her in here had been an act that Vermel would have never expected. The instant he had seen Aether running out with her staff, he had thought his heart and other organs would fall out.

Anyway, it was a behavior that he had trouble understanding as a modern, civilized person. Wasn’t resolving something like this with words the reasonable thing to do?

There was something problematic about pulling out the staff just because you felt a bit irked, like you were spraying pesticide at a mosquito. This was a characteristic that all Magic Beasts displayed since they viewed humans as insects.

Did their memories mix?

He had to be careful, at least until they defeated the Demon King.

[SYSTEM : The probability of the world heading towards the Bad Ending is currently 46%.]Even if things were going well right now, you never knew when they could go wrong.

That was what this game <Darkest Academia> was.

Of those, the ‘Eight Iron Formations’ was an impregnable fort used as both a military and research facility.

It was located in the deepest part of the territory occupied by the Beasts and being designed to be as solid as the ‘Iron Magic Tower’, it was practically impossible to enter without authorization.

Anyway, it was obvious that the facility served as the control tower of the Demon Army.

“Oh my, how diligent.”

By the time that Rosemary arrived at the Eight Iron Formations with Blanton, Secundus, Tertius, and Quintus were sitting around the round table in conversation.

Except Quintus, the other two were higher in rank than Rosemary who called for the gathering.

Originally, the higher ranks had rights to refuse the summons of a lower rank without a reason. That was why Primus didn’t need to participate in anyone’s summons request.

“I thought you’d be too busy to come, Akasha.”

“I just happened to have some good news. I would’ve ordered a summons myself even if you hadn’t.”

“Good news, you say?”

It did seem that way seeing Akasha’s crisp smile. It was a smile out of character for a Golden-Eyed.

“What news is making you so happy?”

“I got the tokamak from Aether.”

“And what would that be?”

Rosemary didn’t know exactly what the tech department that Secundus belonged to was doing.

“There’s something like that.”

“I guess you did come in contact with Aether in Saliere County, then. So, how was it?”

“Don’t be shocked. She briefly recognized me!”

“What...?”

Rosemary’s head turned with a crack. Tertius, who’d been quietly counting shells nearby, also focused their gaze on Akasha in interest.

“What do you mean. She regained her memories?”

“... Explain it a bit more.”

“Don’t even get me started. She called my name! And it was my nickname, too! Do you know how long it’s been since I heard it?”

Indeed, no wonder she was overjoyed.

But this remark was the opposite message of what Rosemary was presenting today. Pursing her lips, she took a sip of coffee.

It tasted sweet, likely because of all the beryllium that had been added to it. On the contrary, her mind was flipping inside out.

If, if what second sis was saying was true....

Ha, then big sis is dating that elf with a sound mind?

Unless she was a Golden-Eyed in a state of complete oblivion like a blank slate, there should be a hint of something regarding humans and elves if she had retained even a little bit of memory from her Demon Army days.

[That might not be the case.]

A word interjected.

Including Rosemary, everyone turned in the direction where that came from.

The inside of the Eight Iron Formations turned pitch black. A pair of inverted crosses emerged out of the darkness and came closer.

The clack of a staff, the heavy atmosphere. An intimidating force that even pressed down on fellow Cataclysms.

There was only one entity capable of this within the current Demon Army.

The Primus of the Great Nine Mechas, the Radiant Dragon Jǫrmungandr.

“... What brought this about, Primus? You don’t normally show your face here.”

Jǫrmungandr’s attendance rate had been abysmal until now. She hadn’t shown her face even once in the past few hundred gatherings.

So it could only be baffling to the rest of them to see her suddenly show up like this.

“What would it be? It’s simply for entertainment”

“A whim, you mean.”

While everyone was shocked still by Jǫrmungandr’s appearance, someone spoke up against Primus’ words.

A tone mixed with sneering and criticism.

It was Rosemary.

“How about you don’t try and make the excuses of a slacker sound eloquent?”

“It has been a while since I have stepped outside yet you greet me with such harsh words.“

“Harsh words? Why would these be hard words?”

Rosemary became even more unreserved with her remarks. Akasha gave her a look saying ‘here we go again’ but she ignored it and continued.

“You belong to the Demon Army yet you’re half-hearted about everything. You’ve even turned down the plan of recruiting the beastkin to invade Saliere County numerous times. That’s the attitude you’ve displayed consistently and yet you thought you’d be welcomed just for showing up all of a sudden like this?”

There were two kinds of people that Rosemary despised.

One was the human and elves.

And the other was the lazy and idle.

While Rosemary had driven three nations to ruin and exterminated the dwarves, Jǫrmungandr had holed herself up in Pitchblende Mountain with her pension. She was living in comfort for the sole reason of being the oldest friend of the Demon King.

“I’ve been meaning to say something when you showed up, so this is good. Why don’t you do some work, hm?”

Jǫrmungandr scoffed ‘ha’ in disbelief.

“Do you not think you’re being a little hard on a thousand-year-old dragon? This one has done much throughout these years.”

“Not at all. If you are at all willing to resurrect our King.......”

But Rosemary’s words stopped there because she sensed something strange.

She looked forward. There was nothing where Jǫrmungandr should’ve been.

[Insolent fool.]

The sound came from behind. Rosemary and the other Beasts quickly turned their heads.

Crash!

The chandelier fell from where it had been hanging on the ceiling and made a mess on the round table.

[Shall I teach you once more why ranks exist?]

It was the left this time.... No, was it the right?

Rosemary quickly summoned her staff from the mana-infused scroll.

But not long after she got a proper grip on the violin string, the sleeve of her elegant dress ripped off.

“Ugh...!”

The heat coming from her right wrist was intense. She had been struck so hard that the skin tore. With the artificial skin made to perfectly imitate a human gone, only a metallic dermis remained.

[Acting so impudent merely because you received this form when you were only human once... I would not have said anything if you’d remained humble as the original Secundus had been.]

Rosemary stumbled while holding her arm dripping with oil. A harsh sound leaked through her teeth.

“But my point was valid....”

As she said that, she slumped onto her chair. It was a loss of resolve, or in other words, a declaration of defeat. It was then that Jǫrmungandr also dispelled the darkness and revealed herself.

“I meant to deliver some news and return, but we’ve only upset each other.”

Tap, tap. Jǫrmungandr walked over using the restriction rod as a cane. She pulled a handkerchief for her pocket and tossed it to Rosemary, then slowly opened her eyes.

The unfocused eyes of the blind, yet they hadn’t lost their light.

“A question for you all. Do you think that this one took things too far against a comrade?”

There was no one who dared answer. Akasha would have been able to, but with the atmosphere being what it was, she, too, kept her mouth shut and waited.

“This may be condescending of me, however... here is some advice for the young ones here who were born after the Demon King was sealed. When you are choosing an opponent like now, learn how to gauge their capability first. Because thousands and millions of comrades were slaughtered by the Elementals during the Great War in the past because they failed to do so.”

“... This isn’t about that.”

“And who instigated this? If you did not draw your staff, Quartus, it would’ve ended with a light warning. So as I was saying, just as those weak humans run as soon as they see you, you also need to be ready to run when you encounter a high-level Elemental. If you don’t recognize the difference in power and rely on willpower or a momentary technique.......”

Bang, bang, baaaaaaang─!!

“You will not be able to live a full life.”

The most uptodate nove𝙡s are published on frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓.

As soon as Jǫrmungandr finished her lecture, one of the walls of the meeting room crumbled.

“What is that...?”

Most of the Beasts who had been listening looked around to figure out what was happening.

Even Akasha was somewhat bewildered. There were only two who were still calm despite seeing the damage to the conference room’s outer wall–Jǫrmungandr who had placed a detector beforehand and the manager of the Eight Iron Formations, Schudelgeiger the Tertius.

“Here we go again.”

Schudelgeiger’s chair went screee as he got up. When he stood up straight, his height reached seven meters.

“Ah....”

A low sound belonging to a woman could be heard from beyond the wall. It was the voice of a human instead of a Beast.

“What’s going on?”

“An attempt to escape. There’s a bitch who’s been acting out recently.”

“How reckless of them. Who is it?”

When Quintus asked with a scoff, Schudelgeiger stated the name in a calm voice.

“Klais Hasfeldt.”