The witch’s gaze locked onto my staff.
Taking into account the blocked spatial magic, the things I’d said, and the activation word “Caw?”—
“…Dimensional Crow!”
“Correct~.”
The Dimensional Crows were masters of space magic.
Of course they would know how to block it.
It’s entirely possible to borrow their power through an item as well.
Her panic lasted only a moment.
The Witch of Exhaustion quickly assessed the situation and stared at me with a chilling expression.
“So all I have to do is take that staff….no, just kill you.”If she could stop me from using [Caw?] somehow, she might get another chance to use spatial magic and escape from here.
At that, the Sword Queen and the principal scoffed and stepped forward.
“Looks like you still haven’t grasped the situation.”
“You think we’re just going to stand around and watch?”
Just counting the number of S-ranks, it was two against one.
On top of that, we could sense faculty and parents closing in from all directions.
Yet despite being at a huge disadvantage, the Witch of Exhaustion raised the corners of her mouth.
It was probably because she had concluded that she didn’t need to defeat everyone. She just needed to capture me.
“Try protecting him, if you can.”
With that, the witch slowly rose into the air.
The Sword Queen immediately followed by leaping up after her.
“Strike first to gain the upper hand!”
“Aren’t you supposed to be guarding me?!”
“I don’t care about that!”
Boom, boom!
The two of them clashed midair.
The principal watched the scene unfold and shook his head.
“She’s so hotheaded, seriously. Anyway, you go hide somewhere for now.”
“I need to stay here.”
“Because of that crow magic?”
“Yes.”
The Witch of Exhaustion probably believed that her spatial magic had been blocked just because of my presence alone, but [Caw?] actually comes with limitations.
It has to be used before the spatial spell is completed, and the target has to be within a certain range.
If I were to leave the battlefield, the witch would be able to escape.
She might use Blink, skills imbued into her equipment, or even have a few more transportation scrolls left.
To avoid the disaster of letting a nearly captured witch slip away, I had to stay here until the battle was completely over.
Hearing the explanation, the principal frowned.
“This just got a bit tricky.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be running around just fine on my own.”
“No. We can’t risk putting a Monarch in danger.”
Sure, the principal acknowledged my skills, but there was nothing to gain from walking a tightrope on the edge.
If I got taken down, they’d lose both a Monarch and the chance to catch the witch.
And since we had the advantage in strength anyway, there was no reason to take unnecessary risks.
Soon after, he issued instructions to the vice principal and the guards nearby.
“Protect this one above all else. If he asks for anything, cooperate. I’ll keep moving around.”
“Understood.”
Everyone positioned themselves around me.
Meanwhile, even while being driven into a corner, the Witch of Exhaustion stayed calm, her eyes coldly scanning for an opening.
Suddenly, she whipped her staff and thick, inky black slime burst out in all directions.
Schwaaak!
“Ugh, how gross.”
Most of it was sliced away before it could reach the Sword Queen, but some of it clung to her like sticky spiderwebs, restraining her movements.
Using that moment, the Witch of Exhaustion widened the distance and flung open a dimensional rift.
Kuwaaaaah—!
A torrent of high-level undead poured out like rain.
Skeletal knights on bone horses, massive flesh golems the size of houses, and even boss monsters that had been turned into undead.
I’d heard she had expended a lot of her undead in A-rank dungeons, but true to her centuries of experience, she still had plenty of power left.
Still, this must be everything she has left.
If she failed here, it would really be the end, so she must’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel.
In other words, if we could stop these, we’d win.
Not that it would be easy. Each of them was high-tier.
Soon, a skeletal knight who looked like a commander raised his bone sword and pointed it straight at me.
And with that, every undead on the battlefield turned their focus toward me, charging in all at once.
Leading the charge were the skeletal knights.
Riding ghostly horses, they accelerated rapidly and rushed forward in a brutal charge.
The guards stepped up, pulling out their shields and forming a solid front line.
The next moment, the two sides collided.
Booooom-boom-booom!
The guards staggered slightly from the impact but held their ground firmly. Then they launched a counterattack.
The skeletal knights were taken down one by one.
Some of them threw spears, but the vice principal casually stepped in, deflecting or catching them.
This is incredibly comfortable.
Good thing I didn’t insist on running around alone.
If I had, I’d probably be sprinting like my feet were on fire by now.
Yelling “Save me, Kim Ho!” the whole time.
Honestly, this battlefield is far too high-level for me to act recklessly.
Most of the undead were B-rank, with some even reaching A-rank.
Instead of doing something foolish, it’s better to leave the fighting to the grown-ups and focus on my own role.
What’s my role?
A space magic suppression totem.
Just by existing, I prevent the witch from even using Blink.
Thanks to that, the Sword Queen seems to be having a much easier time.
I turned my gaze back to the front lines.
Srrk!
A skeletal knight was cleaved in half by a staff member’s sword.
The knights were nearly wiped out.
But then, flesh golems and undead boss monsters began arriving one by one.
A flesh golem swung its massive fist, and a giant undead snake lashed its tail.
The guards barely managed to hold them off, but the front line was starting to give ground.
Of course, it wasn’t just the enemies that arrived.
Whooosh!
Krakoom! Boom!
The flesh golem was engulfed in flames, and the giant undead snake was scorched black by a lightning strike.
The handiwork of Father Hong and Father Song.
“Kuahaha! We’ve got warriors to spare!”
“No way it’s already been breached. This is Dragon Slayer Academy, after all.”
Father Song replied calmly.
He shot me a glance, then continued fighting.
With the other parents joining in, the front line stabilized once more.
But just then, something massive crashed down onto one part of the battlefield.
Baaaaaang—!
It was a pitch-black tower, the size of a building.
Magical circles etched into its surface began to glow ominously.
From the base of the tower, a black aura quickly spread outward.
Drain Tower.
The Witch of Exhaustion’s signature structure, used to cast Drain.
The mana and stamina it absorbs are used to strengthen and restore the undead.
Sure enough, as the black aura touched me, a wave of sluggishness swept over me like I’d turned into a human sloth.
My health was probably draining in real time.
Soon, system notifications popped up.
[‘Pain Delay’ has been activated.]
[‘Retrocovery’ has been activated.]
[Cooldown: 2 days 23:59:58]
The fatal flaw of Retrocovery and Pain Delay.
It activates automatically even against DoT damage. That is, damage over time.
It must have triggered three times at 99%, healing me back to 100%, and now it’s probably dropping again to 99%, then 98%.
Truly, it’s a garbage trait if there ever was one.
Give me infinite healing or an invincible defense skill already.
Anyway, I’ll need a plan for area-of-effect and damage-over-time attacks.
They are my weaknesses, after all.
It’s about time I invested in armor or defense-type skills and traits.
Of course, for now, defending wasn’t the solution.
We had to destroy the tower. The source of the Drain.
The vice principal seemed to reach the same conclusion and gave instructions to everyone.
“Those capable of ranged attacks, concentrate fire on the tower.”
Soon, all kinds of magic began flying in from every direction, and blue beams of energy slashed across the air nonstop.
Booom-boom-boom!
As a result, the middle of the tower was dented inward, but it was so thick that it didn’t collapse, holding its ground.
Worse, it even began to slowly regenerate using the drained energy.
At this rate, it would take a considerable amount of time to bring it down completely.
That is… if it goes on like this.
The principal was flying straight toward the tower.
The holy sword in both hands blazed with a brilliant golden light.
In the next instant, the sword expanded to dozens of times its size, then swung down toward the Drain Tower.
Boooom—!
A massive chunk of the tower’s midsection was cleaved off, and it swayed violently.
Then the principal retrieved the huge holy sword like an axe and swung again.
Boooom—!
The Drain Tower crumbled and collapsed in a heap.
And with it, the Witch of Exhaustion looked like her heart had crumbled along with it.
“Kyaaaa—! My tower—!”
“Is that really your concern right now?”
The Sword Queen scolded her before slashing her blade diagonally.
Just before she was split in two, the Witch of Exhaustion vanished with a whoosh and reappeared some distance away.
Then, she let out a dazed sound.
“……Huh?”
In a semi-conscious state, she had cast Blink reflexively. And to her surprise, it had worked.
Soon enough, not just the witch, but even the principal and the Sword Queen were looking at me with puzzled eyes.
It was as if they were asking, “Why didn’t you stop her?”
I met their gaze with a calm, unaffected expression.
Obviously, it’s psychological warfare.
By now, countless questions must be racing through their minds.
– Wasn’t all spatial magic supposed to be blocked?
– Had it all been a bluff until now?
– Is there a cooldown? Maybe a long one?
– Or can it only be used once?
They’ll want to find out.
The number of undead was dwindling by the second, and the Drain Tower had been destroyed.
In such a hopeless situation, a faint glimmer of hope appears?
There’s no way they could resist testing it.
As expected, after a few more exchanges, the Witch of Exhaustion cast Blink for a second time.
With a whoosh, her figure disappeared and reappeared a short distance away, and the principal’s and Sword Queen’s swords slashed through empty air.
“……!”
A flash of elation crossed the witch’s face for a brief moment.
She was now convinced that I couldn’t block spatial magic.
Though she kept up the fight without showing it outright, she occasionally stole glances at me.
She’ll use it again soon.
The third Blink.
She was probably calculating that this time, she’d teleport as far away as possible and then use a teleportation scroll.
The Witch of Exhaustion exchanged blows with the S-rank heroes for a while.
Then, a triumphant smile crept onto her lips, and I could sense her focus zeroing in on a single point.
At that moment, I raised the Crow Branch and began to speak the activation phrase.
“Caw?”
“Huh.”
The witch froze in midair.
Blink, which she had assumed would activate without fail, was blocked once again.
Before she even had time to panic, the principal and the Sword Queen slashed her in a cross pattern.
Ssshhh—slash!