The Extra’s Academy Survival Guide - Chapter 157

Clang! Clang!

By the time ‘Condemnation’ hit the floor, the result had already been decided.

Crash! Slam!

Arwen, who was pierced by Ed’s dagger, smashed onto the floor. She coughed, splattering blood out of her mouth.

Ed sat on top of Arwen as he pushed the dagger further into her shoulder. His hand was tightly wrapped around the handle as he pushed even deeper into the floor.

“Keheub… Keuk…”

Arwen was a skilled swordsman, but she’s not the type with absolute strength.

Once Ed overpowered her, it was impossible for her to easily escape. However, Ed didn’t know about that, either, so he continued to push down on Arwen as he held the dagger tightly, shoving it further into her.

“Keuuueuk…”

Arwen tried her hardest to stand up several times, but as she kept bleeding out from the dagger, she was losing strength little by little.

Soon, she stopped struggling as her trembling arms lay quietly down on the stone floor.

Ed, who had clenched his teeth suppressing Arwen, started to relax his body little by little. He realized that Arwen no longer had any energy left to resist.

Arwen closed her eyes as she spoke.

“Finish me.”

“Sister Arwen!”

At that moment, Tanya, who barely managed to stand up, shouted out.

Behind Ed’s back as he sat on Arwen, Tanya staggered, approaching them.

“We don’t have to do this.”

Tanya spoke with tears running down her face.

Tanya, who had just entered the fight, didn’t fully understand the situation. Even so, despite Arwen’s bizarre appearance, she was sure that the girl in front of her was her older sister Arwen, who held her tight and genuinely cared for her in the past.

“I don’t know what you’ve been through, but…”

Tanya was one of the people who was closest to Arwen.

More than anyone else, Arwen was praised as a suitable heir to House Rothstaylor. She also understood Krepin’s deepest and innermost thoughts.

As she was the first heir, there was a high chance that Krepin also sympathized with Arwen, not hiding anything from her.

That was why she was the person who probably realized the darkness with Krepin faster than anyone else.

Still, Arwen didn’t go against him. Tanya couldn’t believe that.

“…We can start all over again… Let’s just talk first.”

“One thing’s for sure…”

Arwen spoke clearly despite coughing up blood.

“When my body is free, I will raise my sword again. Of my own will.”

“There’s no reason to do that!”

Tanya ran over, looking at Arwen as she cried saying,

“Look at the situation now. The mansion is destroyed, monsters are flying in the sky, and people are dying… Is this really what you wanted, sister? You wouldn’t have wanted something like this!”

“Ed.”

Arwen spoke with her eyes closed.”

“End me.”

When Tanya heard that and was about to say something more, Arwen continued saying.

“I also need to rest.”

Hearing those words, Tanya was left speechless.

Arwen’s body, pushed onto the floor and barely breathing, was in no way fine.

Some of her body had been restored by Mebula’s power, but her original body was already half-gone.

While being a part of Krepin’s research for a long time, she had endured an enormous amount of pain and held on no matter what. That was because she knew that if she died, his next target would be Ed and Tanya.

In the end, she even dragged that body of hers over to fight. She was stabbed by a dagger alongside the already innate pain throughout her body. Just as she said, Mebula’s power brought gruesome pain.

“I’ve lived a hard life. I’ve suffered a lot.”

“Was it worth it?”

Arwen only smiled at that question.

She followed Krepin all her life. As his daughter, his heir, and the only one who understood his self-proclaimed evil nature and evil deeds.

To acknowledge him, she turned her head away from moral standards. She lowered it in front of her brother and sister, who walked a different path, and could only shake it towards her vassals who tried to dissuade her.

So, Ed only had one question for Arwen.

Was it worth it?

She didn’t answer. That meant he had to see Krepin for himself.

Ed slowly closed his eyes, opening them once more. He raised the dagger high. A ceremonial dagger that was used for various ceremonial occasions within Rothstaylor Mansion. It was one of the few tools that Ed had when he first started out in the wild.

The dagger that had gone through highs and lows with him shone bright in the moonlight.

It was the end of someone’s long journey.

* * *

After entering the estate and traveling at full speed for a long time, the mansion finally started to get closer.

Princess Penia traveled across the road with her body close to the horse’s head. The escort knights accompanying her also quickly traveled at a high speed on their horses.

Traveling on the galloping horse, the monsters in the sky started to slowly come into view.

The monster that was covered in eyeballs and a horrific mass of flesh was clearly the Evil god of the Mythic age, Mebula.

What was unbelievable was the fact there was another monster that was exchanging attacks one-on-one against Mebula.

Boom! Bang!

Mebula’s advent was still incomplete. However, that didn’t mean it was an enemy that a single human could handle.

Mebula was a walking disaster, but right now, there was another disaster fighting against her.

The number of magic circles that covered the sky were all advanced magic circles. Just casting one required a skilled magician to use all their strength.

A magician who could cast countless advanced magics as if it were nothing. It was hard to see who she was because of her small size and the fact she was far away, but Princess Penia recognized her right away from her silhouette. After all, they were acquaintances.

Lucy Mayreel. The rare genius who attended Silvenia.

It was obvious why she was fighting Mebula like that. It was probably to help Ed Rothstaylor.

Princess Penia knew that Lucy Mayreel was someone who was strangely close to Ed Rothstaylor.

Clip! Clop!

Finally, the exterior wall of the mansion became visible. And right at that moment she was going to enter inside with the escort knights—

Clang! Slash!

Princess Penia could see a fairly large number of knights. They wore armor that was engraved with a turquoise vine of sorts, making it evident that they were the Telos Religious Group’s Knight Templars.

They were fighting against all sorts of tentacles, gremlins, and fleshy monsters that were in the shape of humans at the entrance of the mansion.

“Shit! We have to get through this way! But even more hordes of gremlins are coming from further inside!”

“We can defeat them, but…! There are too many! If we want to protect the Saint, we have to clear the path and enter at once…!”

“I think we will have to be in separate groups to enter! It looks like we will only be able to reach the central mansion, where the Saint is, if we have multiple groups that go to separate buildings!”

The gremlin army seemed to be commanded by someone.

Only an appropriate number of them were sent to subdue those who were wandering alone. But against a huge army, the number of troops mobilized was a larger number.

Also, the entrance was too narrow.

Once they could break through towards an open area, they would be able to disperse the enemy forces by moving in separate groups towards different buildings. After all, the goal wasn’t to defeat all of them, but rather to rescue the Saint.

However, there was only one entrance on that massive outer wall, which was rather narrow for the troops to go in and out of. So, the side that was defending had the overwhelming advantage.

Fwoosh! Clang!

As soon as Princess Penia’s escorts reached the battlefield, they jumped off their horses joining the fight. They struck the tentacles with magic as they used swords against the gremlins that held blades.

“Y-You all…! No…! I apologize! My manners!”

The commander of the Knight Templars, who was leading the fight from the rear, saw the face of Princess Penia as he quickly knelt down.

As soon as the aides around him, who were also helping, saw Princess Penia they also quickly lowered their posture.

Princess Penia shook her head, telling them all to stand up. Now it wasn’t the time to show their respect.

“What’s the situation right now?”

Princess Penia quickly jumped off the horse as she rolled up the hem of her dress. Although it was already covered with dirt, Princess Penia didn’t care, looking as dignified as always.

“We haven’t been able to figure out the entire situation yet. Since the Saint is participating in the social gathering, we camped outside here, waiting. And then, suddenly… It’s as you see…”

There wasn’t a need for a longer explanation. The situation was dire, and you could tell the status of things just by looking at the present situation.

Princess Penia bit her lower lip as she looked above the mansion. All sorts of advanced magic spells of an unbelievable scale were being traded between Lucy and Mebula.

The sight was so extraordinary that you couldn’t help but drop your mouth in awe looking at it.

The night sky continued to be lit up by their magic. Even though it was a useless metaphor that didn’t fit the urgency of the situation, it was dazzling like a fireworks display.

Then, at that moment—

Boom! Boom!

The thick exterior walls of the Rothstaylor Mansion. The other side was smashed open by advanced magic.

Kwakakakak!

Fwoooosh!

In an instant, a large hole was formed as dust rose in the air. The knights were startled as they prepared for battle. If a horde of gremlins were to pour out of there, it would be no different than being attacked from their side.

However, the first person’s face that came out was… Sinir Bloomriver, the head of House Bloomriver.

She was breathing and sweating heavily. Before all the knights could react, Sinir looked back as she shouted.

“Everyone, run out here now! The Knight Templars are here!”

A group of distinguished guests, who were being escorted by spirits, ran out of the mansion’s walls.

“Ahhh! We’re alive!”

“We finally escaped from that hellish mansion! I survived! I survived!”

“Oh god, thank you! Thank you for saving this worthless life of mine!”

Seeing the group of distinguished guests run out, the commander of the Knight Templar quickly ordered his men to protect them all.

The reliable knights quickly ran over to the guests, who shed tears, overwhelmed with emotions as they sighed in relief.

“We need to quickly tell the imperial family what took place here!”

During it all, a nobleman who had come to his senses raised his voice.

“More than three high-ranking nobles have already died, and more than ten nobles of smaller regions have died. Anyone who conspired such an act should be reported to the imperial family and hung in the gallows!”

“Yeah! Those Rothstaylor bastards! They were crazy bastards to do all of this!”

“Prepare to send a letter to the imperial family right away! We need to tell them just how horrific the catastrophe here is!”

“Princess Selah was even here, yet they committed such an act… This is clearly a challenge against the Imperial Family.”

Little by little the nobles began raising their voices.

Shortly after they exchanged opinions with each other, they rushed towards the commander of the Knight Templar.

The moment they were about to tell him to prepare a report for the imperial family, Princess Penia came into their view.

The third princess, Penia Elias Kroel. There was no need for any further introduction after hearing that name alone. She was the most famous girl amongst the imperial family, whom all the nobles looked up to highly.

“P-Princess Penia!”

“Wh-What are you doing here Princess Penia…?!”

“No, this place is…!”

The nobles’ faces began to turn red. They didn’t know why Princess Penia was there, but if she had seen it all, then there was no need to explain just how atrocious House Rothstaylor’s actions were.

Princess Penia was one of the key individuals within the imperial family that held great influence. If they could convince her of the situation, then everything afterwards would be handled easily.

“Princess Penia! Look at what has happened! We saw everything that took place inside! House Rothstaylor has been planning this slaughter for a long time!”

“That madman was going to sacrifice us all to that monster! We had no choice but to escape like this!”

“The same goes for the rest of those Rothstaylors! Whether it be his successor Tanya Rothstaylor or his son, Ed Rothstaylor! They are all worthy of death! So are all his vassals! Many of them have already turned into monsters!”

Princess Penia calmly judged the situation as she listened to the nobles shouting.

The one who was buying time against Mebula, who was flying in the sky, was definitely Lucy Mayreel, who is on Ed’s side.

In that case, Penia concluded that at the very least Ed wasn’t on Krepin’s side. Rather, the correct judgment would be that he is standing in opposition to him.

Otherwise, there would be no reason for Lucy to be fighting against that giant monster.

Princess Penia, who had quickly judged the situation, was about to evacuate all the nobles to a safe area when—

Fwooosh.

A few spirits flew back inside the broken wall.

The huge number of spirits that covered the sky as well as those that flew through the wall… There were very few elementalists in the world who could handle such a number of spirits.

The few spirits that hovered around them seemed to be confirming their safety. They then flew back towards the hole as they went back into the mansion.

Before anyone could stop her, Princess Penia jumped onto her horse and quickly went towards the broken outer wall.

“Wh-What?!”

“Princess Penia?!”

The knights were so startled they couldn’t react. After all, who would go back into that hellish mansion like that?

However, Princess Penia got off her horse as she followed the spirits. Jumping over the broken outer wall and running alongside the walls of the mansion for a while, she finally saw the final destination of the spirits.

A sparrow sat on top of the girl’s hand as it fluttered its wings a few times, chirping. It was as if it was a subordinate that was reporting everything it had seen.

What Princess Penia had witnessed was the girl who had rescued and escorted all of the nobles outside. It was clear that she had contributed greatly to reducing the number of casualties as much as she could, by leading them out with her army of spirits.

On top of that, that girl was alone, surrounded by a pile of gremlins.

She had saved dozens of high-ranking nobles by herself.

It was a great achievement in itself that wouldn’t only receive imperial commendation but also a small title… Though the girl didn’t seem to care about that at all. In the first place, she barely showed herself in front of them.

Rather, she seemed rather busy. As if there was something more important that she had to do.

“Yeah, I got it. It’s important to clear up the misunderstanding, but it’s more important to stay alive right now… But I have to go to Ed… You can persuade me later.”

The girl quickly exchanged thoughts with a spirit underneath the moonlight.

Only then did the girl seem to notice Princess Penia.

“Ehh!”

The girl, whose appearance was innocent enough to not match her power, was startled by the appearance of Princess Penia.

The cat had caught her tongue as her arms fluttered in the air. She seemed perplexed, unsure of what to say.

“You… Protected all the nobles, Yennekar Palerover.”

“I just did what Ed asked me to do. But now I have to go to him.”

Yennekar didn’t explain much. Although she succeeded in minimizing the number of casualties, they still hadn’t completely shut down all of Krepin’s plans.

The most important thing was to defeat Krepin. He was the mastermind behind everything, and the medium in which the Evil God Mebula would descend upon them.

“Ed… Rothstaylor…?”

“Princess. You can’t listen to those nobles. I know they are saying to tear down House Rothstaylor, but…”

Yennekar looked straight at Princess Penia as she spoke.

“Right now, Ed is trying to stop Krepin Rothstaylor. Please believe me. Even though he is a direct descendant of Krepin, at the very least he wasn’t involved in his plans. Even though he is a member of the House, on his own Ed is…”

“I understand. I believe you.”

Seeing Princess Penia’s calm response, Yennekar’s hand trembled.

She didn’t think that Princess Penia would calmly trust Ed like that.

She thought she would have to convince her with a more logical explanation. However, Princess Penia had never doubted Ed from the start.

If he really did stop Krepin, he wouldn’t be hung in the gallows—rather, he would be revered as a hero of the empire.

“However, I need to meet with him in person to see it myself. Where is he now?”

When Princess Penia spoke, Yennekar turned her gaze towards the annex of the mansion.

On the roof, there sat Krepin Rothstaylor.

* * *

The sound of footsteps on the stairs echoed up to the roof.

Clang!

A sword was dragged across the floor and shortly after, there was the sound of someone stepping on the stairs.

A blonde boy, covered in blood, walked up the stairs to the rooftop.

In one hand, he held onto a dagger, and in the other, he held the handle of the great sword ‘Condemnation’. It was an item left behind by Arwen.

Luden’s holy sword, which had the advantage over any defensive magic as well as acceleration magic… Now, it belonged to Ed.

The other great sword Arwen wielded, ‘Dawn’s Blade’, was much heavier than he thought. Also, the elemental spells engraved on it were ones that Ed was already capable of, so he didn’t take it.

In the first place, Ed had never trained in swordsmanship. So, even if he carried a greatsword, no matter how powerful the weapon was, he couldn’t fully draw out its abilities.

Clang!

However, he had a different reason for carrying the sword.

As he climbed the stairs, the sound of the greatsword striking the stairs echoed through the roof.

Krepin Rothstaylor had a gut feeling. Ed Rothstaylor was coming.

He was a monster covered in blood, who had lost all respect towards his family. He came with only the goal to hunt down Krepin.

The mansion was already a living hell, but the annex was strangely quiet, as Ed had cleared the path.

Tanya sat next to Arwen’s body.

She took her hand, which was getting colder, as she buried her face into her shoulder. Ed left Mugg to watch over her as he climbed up to the roof by himself, leaving Tanya alone so she could calm herself.

Clang! Clang!

The sound of the blade of the sword hitting the stairs came to an end as it slowly changed into the sound of it being dragged across the roof. He had finally reached the roof.

Under the open sky, a boy that was covered in blood walked towards him.

Carrying the greatsword he dragged on the floor, he glared at Krepin, who had been sitting quietly on the broken railing.

Krepin recognized the greatsword in Ed’s hand at once.

“You’ve come.”

Hearing Krepin’s words, Ed didn’t answer. All he did was take out Arwen’s greatsword, which he had been dragging along, and shoved it onto the floor.

Clang!

The blood-covered sword struck the floor.

The reason he brought the sword was to clearly show him who he had to cut through to get here.

In the end, the road Ed walked was a thorny one. Krepin knew that fact as well.

From the railing that looked like his throne, Krepin quietly stood up. The sacrificial magic circle was still working. Although it was far from being complete, the target was still clearly aimed at the nobles.

Even at that moment, the nobles had no idea that the magic was still aimed at them.

“It’s been a long journey.”

Krepin spoke softly.

“So, let’s finish it now.”

Ed stood next to the greatsword that was on the ground as he quietly raised his head.

That was where his relationship with the horrific House Rothstaylor would come to an end. He quietly lowered his head as he finished readying himself to use his full power. While drawing magic power out of his body, he stared at Krepin with intense eyes on his blood-stained face.

The wind blew by.

On the roof of the annex of Rothstaylor Mansion, a swirling wind whirled around Ed.

As the rising wind quickly subsided, the howl of a massive wolf rang out.

Awoooo.

Merilda’s cry cut through the night sky over Rothstaylor Mansion.

She could be seen at a glance from anywhere across the Rothstaylor Mansion.

A huge wolf, which was overwhelming just looking at it, growled on the roof of the annex.