Chapter 17: Instant Explosion! Assisting the Counter-Kill! “Mm, just as I expected—something like this was bound to happen.”
Lomio climbed up the tree, activated Concealment, and set all the surrounding traps to standby, quietly watching as countless presences surged toward him through the forest.
The ground trembled, leaves were struck with a sharp crack, and dust billowed everywhere.
Wave after wave of intimidating magical energy swept right past Lomio’s feet, without even noticing his existence.
Or rather, they were distracted by something else, not bothering to investigate.
“They’re all Tier 1 magical beasts—just as I predicted…”
Lomio didn’t keep his eyes on the beasts for long.
There wasn’t much worth paying attention to in a clash with wild beasts. But fighting with people… now that was truly entertaining.
Bang!
A giant tree in the distance suddenly toppled over, its trunk splintering apart. Lomio shifted his gaze in that direction.
Four girls came into view.
At their head was a girl moving as fast as the wind, her Eastern-style attire torn and tattered, a long blade at her waist, one hand pressed to her side, the other poised at her sword’s sheath, ready to draw and strike at any moment.
Lomio’s gaze landed precisely on the cracked, dimly glowing academy badge on her chest.
“Chest pin damaged, teleport function disabled… That’s right, it’s her.”
Black hair, red eyes, looking somewhat disheveled, yet still struggling to escape from the other three’s encirclement.
Lomio leaped lightly down from the tree, hiding himself among the dead leaves.
Eastland, Higan Chamber of Commerce, Second Miss—Ibuki Rei.
The name surfaced clearly in Lomio’s mind.
In his previous life, she was a tragic figure in that game.
An NPC doomed to die young in an “accident” that was carefully orchestrated early in the story.
But to veteran players like Lomio, her demise was the greatest regret of the early game.
Such dazzling sword talent, and a mind capable of supporting a vast commercial empire—both vanished with her death.
But now, the variables have changed.
A rare warrior for the team!
And the Chamber’s family inheritance, business acumen!
“Plan successful—thank the heavens for this gift.”
Silently reciting this, Lomio activated all the traps, quietly awaiting the perfect moment.
“Still not triggered…”
Forcing herself to keep running through the pain, Ibuki Rei noticed something wrong with her chest pin.
No signal, location lost. Clearly, this was a setup.
A trap orchestrated by nobles who pretended to team up, but had long colluded, targeting the Higan Chamber of Commerce.
“Incompetent fools, lost out in business, and all they can do is resort to such despicable means…”
The taste of blood lingered in her throat, her legs gradually growing numb. Ibuki Rei recalled why she’d come to this academy—
Standing in for her overworked older sister, to forge good relations with the Principality, aiming to graduate with honors and earn a noble title from the Principality.
“Hah… So there were calculations from every direction, huh?”
Now that things had come to this, how could Ibuki Rei not see that, as the second daughter, she’d been pushed out by her family to take the blow?
But… did they truly understand?
Did they understand that the one truly handling the Higan Chamber’s business, resolving disputes, making connections, was not the “face” of the family, but her—the “roots”?
She endured to the end, only to receive betrayal in return…
“I could switch targets… No, if I do, they’ll be teleported away. Dying for nothing…”
With things so thoroughly stacked against her, Ibuki Rei had almost no room to maneuver.
Terrain, or backup—if only there was a variable, an opportunity, she was confident she could cut down one or two before she collapsed.
But that faint hope thinned with the encirclement, and with her blood loss.
Pain signals overwhelmed her nerves; each step pushed her life to its very limits.
Swish!
Ibuki Rei suddenly kicked off a roadside tree, changing direction mid-run.
Several crossbow bolts, mingled with spells, smashed straight through a tree thick enough for two people to embrace, shattering it.
“Tier 2 alchemy cards… they’re really sparing no expense!”
Using up the last of her strength, Ibuki Rei dashed into the forest, taking refuge in the shadows, pressing close to the tree’s cover, gasping for breath.
The footsteps grew closer and closer.
Ibuki Rei gripped her blade tightly, preparing for the worst.
Even if it meant death, she would never let these wretched scoundrels remain in the academy.
She had to eliminate all three!
“My time… has come…”
A silent sorrow filled her heart as Ibuki Rei gazed up through the tree canopy at the sky.
The world was still beautiful—pity that it had never truly belonged to her.
Boom!
A sudden explosion, fierce and violent, swept the forest with a shockwave.
In the next instant, Ibuki Rei saw one of her pursuers beside her hiding tree get blasted silently away.
“?”
Ibuki Rei froze for half a second, then immediately stepped out from behind the tree!
Whatever caused the explosion, she absolutely couldn’t let this chance slip by!
The pain tearing at her side slowed her slightly, but just enough for her to hear two startled screams.
“A trap!? How could there be one here?!”
“Who is it, sh—”
The screams were cut off by sudden silence.
When Ibuki Rei peered out, she saw two girls holding alchemy cards, their faces rigid with shock and fear—and behind them, a tall, shadowy gray figure.
When?!
Ibuki Rei’s eyes went wide.
With her martial artist’s senses, she could even dodge a sneak attack from a companion behind her, escaping from a fatal blow with only a wounded side.
But she hadn’t even noticed there was someone else in the forest?!
An… assassin!
He got that close—was he planning to get blasted by the alchemy card—
No!
Ibuki Rei noticed that the mouths of the two students were moving, as if trying to say something, but not a sound came out.
And the alchemy cards in their hands had gone completely dim!
Silence!
Someone had even prepared this kind of card!?
“Whoever you are… thank you!”
All her blood seemed to surge at once, and Ibuki Rei forced her body into motion again, dashing forward, her long-gripped right hand gripping her sword hilt.
Vengeance, in a single flash!
At the same time, she saw the gray shadow reach forward, straight for the alchemy cards in the two girls’ hands!
They’re mine!
Got them!
The two figures swept past each other.
Just as the silence card in Lomio’s hand dissipated, his right hand closed around the card in the opponent’s hand.
At a Tier 2 assassin’s speed, he seized the card with almost no resistance.
In the next instant, a sword whistle rang past his ear.
Swish!
The shining blade flashed without pause, slicing through both girls’ bodies and triggering the faint light of their chest pins.
“So ruthless!”
Lomio immediately pulled back, gripping a paralysis card in his hand.
If not for those protections, these two would have been cleaved in two on the spot, blood spraying in every direction, bodies in pieces!
No wonder she’s considered the most desirable NPC, a white moonlight destined to die for the plot!
This decisiveness in battle was almost on par with Kafnir!
The forest fell silent once again.
“Classmate, it looks like you’ve run into some trouble?”
Lomio saw Ibuki Rei’s reopened wound at her waist, took out bandages and ointment from the system space, placed them on the ground, and backed away a bit:
“Perfect timing. I have a huge business deal—are you interested?”
Dropping [Concealment], Lomio no longer hid his presence.
“Yeah, it’s awful…”
Ibuki Rei gave a bitter laugh, turning around to thank him, but suddenly froze.
“So beautiful…”
The words slipped from her mouth before she could stop herself.
He was so handsome it was almost unreal. His academy uniform was sharp and immaculate, his manner gentle and easygoing, and those azure-gold eyes shone with warmth and concern.
Even after more than ten years of training, Ibuki Rei’s heart couldn’t help but tremble.
A man…?
Could he really be real?
“Tell me about your business.”
After several deep breaths, Ibuki Rei calmed her heart, forcibly shifting her gaze, not daring to look at him directly.
“All right.”
Lomio smiled brightly, voice light and cheerful:
“Let’s go and take down the King together.”