Chapter 43: Tyrant

In front of the main gate of Mystra Magic Academy.

Because the new students were participating in a live combat test, and it was also lunchtime, there weren’t many students coming or going inside or outside the academy. The two elderly custodians in the gatehouse were enjoying their lunch, occasionally glancing out the window.

Everything appeared calm and as usual, until that figure appeared.

She looked like just an ordinary street urchin, her dark brown hair hanging in messy tangles, wearing a gray robe faded from washing, barefoot, her ankles stained with dirt.

Her face was pale and delicate, about thirteen or fourteen years old, gray eyes downcast, the whole person exuding the haggardness of malnutrition.

Such children were not uncommon in the magical city, mostly refugees from the borders or orphans who had lost their parents. Occasionally, kind-hearted students or professors would offer them some food or spare coins.

She stopped about twenty meters away from the academy gate, a flicker of complex emotion passing through her gray eyes.

“This is it. My former ‘home’…”

She murmured, her voice so soft only she could hear it.

“Plunderer.”

“I’m here.”

A cloaked figure appeared soundlessly at her side. The Plunderer kept a slight bow, and only half of a pale face could be seen beneath the hood.

“Is the Synthetic Beast unit in position?”

“Thanks to the Chaos Cult’s friendly assistance, the Beastmaster has successfully led the Three Hundred Synthetic Beasts to lie in wait in the woods west of the academy. The Alchemist’s squad has also reached the weak spot of the barrier at the back mountain, just waiting for your signal.”

The Stitched, or rather, the girl now standing here under the name “Elinor”, nodded lightly.

“I see… Teacher, is Headmistress Krolova currently in the academy?”

“According to Frost’s report, the Headmistress was indeed seen in the academy this morning, presiding over the opening ceremony of the combat test. But after that… her whereabouts are unknown. Both the Headmistress’s office and the Residential Tower are shielded by powerful barriers; our investigative methods cannot penetrate them.”

“Is that so…”

Elinor gazed at the academy gate, a hint of nostalgia surfacing deep in her gray eyes, but it was quickly replaced by determination.

She lowered her right hand and slowly brought both hands together before her chest.

“Let’s begin.”

The moment the words fell, her aura changed abruptly.

The former haggardness of a street urchin vanished, replaced by a suffocating sense of oppression. Her dark brown hair billowed though there was no wind, and an eerie blue light shone in her gray eyes.

The ground beneath her feet began to crack, fine fissures spreading out like a spiderweb.

The two elderly custodians in the gatehouse almost simultaneously dropped their utensils and rushed outside.

“Who goes there?!”

“This is academy property—”

The warning was abruptly cut off.

A complex summoning circle over ten meters in diameter formed instantly beneath Elinor’s feet, eerie blue lines of magical power twisting and weaving like living things, radiating a chilling darkness.

At the center of the array, space began to twist and tear, as if some immense being was forcing its way into this world from another dimension.

“Alert! High-energy magical reaction detected!”

“Enemy attack! Activate First-Level Defense!”

The academy’s alert system was triggered instantly, shrill alarms piercing the sky. The eyes of the Sage Statues on either side of the gate lit up, and a translucent pale golden barrier swiftly unfolded, covering the entire academy.

But it was already too late.

From the rift in space, a gigantic claw sheathed in dark purple armor reached out.

Just the claw alone was larger than a carriage. Then came a second claw, and after that, a head beyond words to describe.

Its form was dragonlike, but the skin was a rotting purple-black, stitched all over. Three eyes arranged in a triangle, a maw of fangs dripping corrosive saliva that hissed on contact with the ground.

Then came the body, wings, tail…

When the creature fully crawled from the summoning array, its size dwarfed the academy gates, standing over thirty meters tall with a wingspan close to sixty meters, its entire body armored and scaled in dark purple. Twisted human faces and animal limbs could be glimpsed between the scales.

Ninth-Tier Synthetic Monster—[Tyrant].

“ROOOAR——!!!”

The Tyrant raised its head and unleashed a deafening roar, the shockwaves visibly rippling outward. The windows of the buildings on either side of the academy gate shattered instantly, and the two elderly custodians were blasted off their feet, crashing hard to the ground and losing consciousness.

“Go.”

Elinor spoke softly, as if giving an insignificant order.

All three of Tyrant’s eyes fixed on the pale golden barrier above the academy. It opened its massive maw, gathering a swirling ball of three-colored energy deep in its throat, radiating destructive force.

In the next instant, three beams of light shot forth!

At the very moment the beams struck the barrier, the ground throughout the magical city shook violently. At the point of impact, blinding light erupted, and a ring-shaped shockwave tore up and shattered all the stone pavement in front of the academy.

The pale golden barrier rippled violently, surface flickering with countless waves of light, brightness surging and fading. Cracks began to appear on the surfaces of the two Sage Statues supporting the barrier, quickly spreading.

CRACK—!

Five seconds later, under the Tyrant’s sustained energy blast, the barrier finally buckled and shattered with a thunderous crash like fragile glass!

The shards dispersed as countless motes of light.

The academy gates stood wide open.

Almost at the same time, a deafening chorus of beastly roars erupted from the woods on the west side of the academy. Hundreds of Synthetic Beasts of all shapes and sizes surged forth like a tide, charging toward the academy under the Beastmaster’s command.

Among them were wolf-like beasts with three heads and six arms, giant bears bristling with bony spikes, flying serpents with wings covered in eyes… Each exuded a twisted and ferocious aura.

And in the direction of the back mountain, the Alchemist led a squad of ten elite members silently through the weak spot in the barrier, racing toward the area where the Dark Chimera was sealed.

Elinor remained where she stood, gazing up at the Tyrant as it spread its wings and flew deeper into the academy, the fires and explosions reflected in her gray eyes.

She raised her left hand and gently tapped the air with her fingertip.

A spectral blue portal unfolded before her.

“Time to see the teacher.”

She murmured, stepping into the portal.

The Plunderer followed close behind.

At the same time, Camilla’s party had already finished “checking in” at Crescent Spring.

However, Camilla’s mind was not on the mission. She frowned, looking toward the academy’s main gate.

“Did any of you feel the ground shaking?”

“Huh? Really?”

Tom, carrying an unconscious, wounded teammate, looked blank. The others also shook their heads, saying they hadn’t felt anything.

“Hm, maybe it was just my imagination…”

For just a moment earlier, Camilla had sensed an immense surge of dark energy, so strong it disrupted the flow of magic in the air.

She turned to look at the next task point given by Crescent Lake—Ice Ridge Forest.

Located about eight kilometers northwest of the swamp, it was an artificially created subarctic woodland, covered by thin ice year-round. On the game map, it was less than two kilometers in a straight line from the place where the Dark Chimera was sealed.