An Angel Lives in the Academy
Chapter 164: The Angel Who Raids a Dungeon (2)

But there was something he had to do, regardless of his courage.

‘Help!’

*Dash dash dash*—

Leffrey quickly ran towards the vice principal's office.

‘I need the adults' help.’

The Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings were incredibly powerful beings. Each of them capable of destroying nations and turning the world upside down.

Although Leffrey was lucky enough to defeat two of the Heavenly Kings…

‘I nearly died each time.’

He survived the first battle thanks to Drewmark’s Ultimate Skill, and in the second battle, he was able to escape due to Soya's efforts.

However, against Ormantor, that cunning Dragon Lord, such methods wouldn't work.

‘I need the help of all the professors…!’

Knock knock—Leffrey knocked on the vice principal’s office door.

But there was no answer.

“Huh?”

Come to think of it, today’s swordsmanship class was taught by the assistant teachers. Classes being taught without a professor present wasn’t unusual, so he hadn’t thought much of it.

‘I should inform another professor about this…’

Then the Martial Arts Department.

“The professor’s out at the moment. What’s the matter?”

“It’s urgent….”

“Urgent, is it? Well, the matter the professor left for is also really urgent, you might have to wait a while, Leffrey.”

For Lusa, who loved lazing around, to be urgently called away meant that something serious was happening.

Then the Magical Studies Department?

“The professor? He’s on a business trip. You’re asking where he went? Ha, do I really need to tell a mere undergraduate student about that?”

And the Archery Department?

“The princess? She’s currently assisting the vice principal. Why?”

The Theology Department?

“The Saint is…”

Surely not the Assassination Department too?

“Heeh. Heeh.”

All the professors were gone. Surely, it should be a principle to leave at least one professor behind to protect the Central Superhuman Academy.

“What on earth is going on?”

He had to find a professor-level executive quickly. He had to stop the students from entering the Dragon Lord's Nest for now, and also share information about the true nature of that dungeon.

‘While I’m wandering around like this, our academy students are entering the Dragon Lord's Nest one party after another.’

Thinking it was a pushover dungeon.

Unaware of the hell that awaited them.

Moreover, the Central Academy’s midterm exams are graded on a curve. They’ll try to be the first to explore the Dragon Lord's Nest, faster and deeper than anyone else.

It was possible that most of the Central Superhuman Academy's students could be lost there.

‘...Then it would be the end of the Central Superhuman Academy.’

Shudder—

Leffrey shook off the chills and looked around.

His panicked eyes fell on the silver castle.

‘Headmaster Iriel. Right, Iriel can’t leave that castle for long periods of time. Whatever's happening, at least Iriel would still be there.’

That’s right. Iriel, the revived angel, could only live normally inside the castle that’s made of blessed silver due to her Angelic Power deficiency.

Even if all the professors were gone,

Iriel would remain.

Knock knock knock—Without hesitation, Leffrey knocked on the door of the silver castle.

After a moment, as the door began to open, a voice was heard.

“You've come at last.”

And then came the voice of a girl.

It was a voice coming through the gap in the door.

The name of that beautiful girl, who somehow resembled Leffrey, was Iriel.

The headmaster of the Central Superhuman Academy.

* * *

“Iriel, it’s an emergency!”

“…First, calm down. If you’re hasty, you’ll miss the stones beneath your feet.”

(TL Note: The proverb is similar to “Haste makes waste.”)

Haa—haa—Leffrey, after calming down and catching his breath, looked at Iriel again.

“Where did all the other professors go?”

First, he had to know why the professors were absent.

What kind of incident occurred that not even a single professor remained to protect and oversee the academy?

“It’s a long story.”

“Then make it short.”

“Alright.”

Iriel spoke with her palm open. Then, folding her fingers one by one, she explained the reasons.

“First, Park Jin-ho left to prevent a gate that was about to open in Old Seoul. It was a massive and dangerous gate.”

“I see. Then what about the other professors?”

“Second, the World Tree was attacked. I heard about a third of it is burning. Lusa had no choice but to go out to protect the World Tree.”

Her explanation continued.

Professor Klein, the magical studies professor, went to stop the contamination of another dimension called the Cursed Sun, the Source of Curses, and the Dimension of Fallen Prayers. Saint Rebecca convened the cardinals to prevent a civil war within the church.

Iriel took a sip of tea after finishing her words.

“For such incidents to occur one after another suddenly. Wait, what about Professor Merrill from the Assassination Department?”

“…”

Iriel shook her head.

“I can't speak about that child.”

“You can't speak about it?”

“That’s right.”

Can't speak about it, huh. Well, Iriel must have her own secrets too.

“But this is too strange.”

“Isn't it?”

“For so many incidents to occur all at once.”

Ah—A sudden realization struck Leffrey. He looked at Iriel without saying a word.

“Your thought is correct.”

A battle between karma users.

One of the techniques used during such a battle…

“The demon king is manipulating cause and effect using karma.”

“No, if he could use it on this scale, then why didn’t he…”

“Why didn’t he use it from the beginning?”

Iriel shook her head.

Indicating that Leffrey's thought was wrong.

“Handling Karma isn't easy even for the Demon King. Moreover, using it so frequently and on such a massive scale at once is bound to have its repercussions.”

Iriel looked at Leffrey with an expression that said, ‘You know that too, don’t you?’ Having experienced passing out after using it twice in a row, Leffrey could only nod in agreement.

“It’s a good thing that the demon king is suffering from the backlash, but what are we going to do about the Dragon Lord’s Nest that’s appeared in the East Sea?”

“So it was indeed the Dragon Lord's Nest. For such a dungeon to appear at a time like this, it can’t be a good sign.”

“Ormantor is one of the demon king’s top three. Our students are entering that dungeon without knowing this. If this continues…”

“They might all die?”

A moment of silence fell.

Iriel’s cold expression. The same expression she had when she forced countless people to sacrifice themselves.

Leffrey glared at Iriel, feeling a slight sense of betrayal.

“Leffrey.”

“….”

“Why do you think professors exist?”

“It’s to raise heroes.”

“…There are only two reasons why professors exist.”

Iriel shook her head. And answered.

“First, to deceive the demon king by pretending that we're raising heroes. You know this too. Only a hero can kill the Demon King. The rest don't matter in this world.”

“I don’t think that’s entirely true.”

The angel who looked like a girl, opened his mouth.

“…That’s how the demon king thinks. That’s why we made humanity’s strongest individuals into professors. Heroes who should be on the front lines of humanity, commanding troops, were being used to teach mere students.”

In hindsight, it was true.

If the professors really were humanity's strongest, wouldn't it be much better for the world for them to be on the front lines instead of teaching students?

For such power to be tied up teaching students, while those who are much weaker than them are fighting on the front lines.

And for an entire world to be lost,

And for countless defeats to lead to a losing war.

“Yes, all of it was to fool the demon king.”

Iriel continued.

“All of it. It was all a deception to make the demon king think that we were raising heroes, to buy this world a little more time.”

“Do the other professors know about this?”

“The vice principal does.”

Iriel's confession was a somewhat shocking.

Leffrey fiddled with his blonde hair and asked again.

“Why are you suddenly telling me all of this?”

“Because it’s necessary for what I’m about to say.”

“What you’re about to say?”

Iriel looked at Leffrey. Her expression was still cold.

“Leffrey, take the three heroes and conquer the Dragon Lord’s Nest. There will be no support from the professors.”

“What? What nonsense is this… No matter how strong our heroes are, they're absolutely not at the level to fight and win against a dragon!”

“Nothing is impossible for heroes.”

What is she even saying. Actually what is she talking about.

Did she really still believe in fairy tale nonsense that heroes can accomplish anything. Barely holding back the anger bubbling up inside, Leffrey looked at Iriel.

“The heroes are far too weak compared to the professors. Are you telling me you're going to send kids who haven't even finished learning when even the professors can't guarantee victory?”

“Yes.”

“Iriel!”

But Iriel didn't stop speaking.

“Leffrey, the professors have another role to play.”

“….”

“To act as living bait to deplete the demon king’s karma. For that most crucial moment when the fate of humanity will be decided.”

Iriel continued speaking with a cold attitude.

“Right now, the demon king doesn’t have the karma to support the dragon.”

“That’s understandable. A monster who can take on all the professors alone, what kind of support would he even need.”

“But the heroes have you.”

Seriously, what is she talking about?

No matter how powerful Leffrey might be compared to others his age, he wasn't at the level to match the professors' skills.

“Was the Fallen Hero strong?”

Lisera, the Fallen Hero.

That child wasn't strong.

She was just an ordinary girl with a little bit of divine power.

“She wasn’t strong.”

“Then why were you so wary of her?”

“B-Because Leffriel's memories told me to.”

Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure why he had been so wary of the Fallen Hero. In fact, if we're talking about danger level, the first-year students at the Central Academy were much more dangerous than Lisera.

“A hero is someone who changes the world.”

Words he had always heard.

A hero is someone who changes the world.

“They’re the strongest karma users, incomparable to other Karma users. Even prophets who can only chant predetermined future, fortune tellers who only read the flow of karma, and angels who guide the world in the direction they choose.”

Iriel continued.

“It's ultimately up to the heroes to decide.”

…Hearing this, Leffrey thought.

The professors had their duties to fulfill. If even one of the tasks the professors were preventing failed, it would start the end of the world.

But could they leave the Dragon Lord's Nest alone?

If they fail to conquer the Dragon Lord's Nest, if the Dragon Lord's Nest is fully summoned to this world…

‘In the past timeline, we tried desperately to prevent that situation. In the end, we couldn't stop it… and the fully manifested Dragon Lord’s Nest ravaged this world.’

In the end, there was no other way.

Wait for the professors to return after finishing their tasks? Then the Dragon Lord’s Nest would be completely rooted in this world.

Someone had to stop it.

The three young heroes, still lacking in many ways, and Leffrey, the K-Angel, who was just as flawed…

“Leffrey, please take the heroes and conquer the dungeon.”

They had to conquer the dungeon somehow.

“I’ll give it a shot.”

Leffrey, the Manly Angel, activated.

Since he had decided to do it, then he would do it in style.

Of course, his sparkling eyes and clenched fist just looked cute.

“But I have a condition.”

“What is it?”

“Open the academy’s treasure vault for me.”

Sparkle sparkle—Leffrey’s eyes were still shining.

“II'll use it for money-mak… I mean, for the dungeon raid.”

“Uh, uhm…?”

Sparkle sparkle sparkle sparkle-

Iriel, who had been talking non-stop until now, was at a loss for words seeing Leffrey's sparkling eyes.