I Became the Mastermind Who Betrays the Heroines
Chapter 135

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 135 - Traitor (6)

A chill flowed through the air.

The cultists couldn’t bring themselves to move.

“……”

It was because of the old man who suddenly stood in their path.

Just moments ago, they had encircled the snake and seized the upper hand—but that thin thread of momentum had been completely reversed in an instant.

A massive killing intent swallowed the entire space.

Rrrrmmble...

Mana quivered violently, as if gripped by fear.

A crushing pressure bore down on their shoulders.

It felt like being an ant, moments away from being stepped on.

The old man hadn’t even lifted a finger—just stood there, calm and composed—yet his overwhelming presence was enough to choke the breath from the cultists’ throats.

Cold sweat dripped down their spines.

Meanwhile—

“Everyone seems rather tense.”

The old man wore a relaxed smile.

His very aura had been enough to erase even the lingering trace of the Death Dragon’s energy.

To these mere vermin, the man’s towering rank was utterly incomprehensible.

“……”

The cultists were frozen.

The old man spoke with a slow, ominous tone.

“Death is always clumsy when first faced.”

A glint of killing intent shimmered in his eyes.

Beyond that dim, muddied light surged a death none of them had ever known.

His single sentence crowned their fear with finality.

“It may be a pitiful end, but… I shall give you all a little push.”

In other words—

A sentence of execution.

“How disgraceful.”

The old man raised his hand.

The soft glow that began to leak from his palm was directed—

At the writhing insects before him.

The cultists couldn’t even think to run.

Perhaps they had already given up.

Such overwhelming Authority.

Among them, some began to recognize the man.

Their faces paled as they muttered.

“Could it be… the Lord…?”

\[Z2dKb... (REDACTED CODE)]

“I didn’t expect anyone here to recognize me.”

The Lord answered calmly.

One of the terrified cultists cried out toward the aged snake.

“A fallen Star…! Why are you helping the Academy!?”

“Well, I was commissioned to, after all.”

The old man’s lips curled with a faint twist.

“And besides… ‘Star,’ huh? It’s been quite a while since someone called me that.”

“You’ve been tracking us for the past three years… How far do you intend to defy His will—?!”

“That’s enough.”

BOOM—!

An even denser killing aura slammed down on them.

The cultist was silenced immediately.

Like prey before a predator, the sheer despair stole all strength from their legs.

The old man’s gaze as he looked down on them was ice-cold.

“To raise your voice before a Sovereign…”

Death rippled from his fingertips.

The power of a Star—or a King.

A flash of light tore through the underground darkness.

The Lord raised his hand toward the insects crawling before him.

That light carried no mercy.

No hatred.

Not even sorrow.

It was a cold, resplendent execution of judgment.

He spoke with grave finality.

“The verdict I pass upon you…”

A sentence of excruciating punishment.

“…is complete erasure.”

The light fired.

And in the next moment—

The cultists’ vision was swallowed by white.

A sublime end to their pitiful lives.

---

The Lord had arrived at the temple as reinforcement.

Everything afterward was handled swiftly.

Before the royal guard even finished arriving, the old man had swept the battlefield clean with a few flicks of his hand.

Perhaps it had been a while since he fought directly, and he was enjoying himself.

All that remained were traces of resplendent starlight and ashes from the burned corpses.

I muttered to myself.

‘Still has it.’

The old man’s strength hadn’t waned a bit.

I’d wondered if age had finally caught up to him—but that display erased all doubt.

Even without his right arm, he wasn’t diminished—if anything, he seemed sharper than before.

A true tyrant.

But that didn’t surprise me.

After all, once upon a time, we had fought each other to a draw with everything we had.

Few possessed the kind of rank required to even stand before him.

‘Anyway.’

Everything was wrapping up without issue.

It had all gone according to plan.

The cultists had poured effort into this operation. If the first unit went silent, they were bound to send reinforcements.

Which is why I’d contacted the Lord in advance, just in case.

Thankfully, he wasn’t too late.

I spoke casually.

“You cut it a bit close. I was worried you might betray us.”

“A dull joke. You think I’d ever side with cultists?”

“Who can say? That businessman’s working with them already. What’s to stop a king from doing the same?”

“You’ve gotten rather paranoid since I last saw you.”

“I’ve got things to protect now.”

“From the bottom, they’d call that weakness.”

“Most people call it peace.”

“Mm.”

Our banter was tinged with sarcasm.

The old man gave a faint smile, then shook his head as if losing interest.

“You already know. You’re just poking.”

“Know what?”

“That from the start, I was fated to be at odds with them. I’d rather die than join hands with the likes of those things.”

“…A duty carried over from your days as a Star?”

“More like vengeance. There’s still a debt I’ve yet to repay.”

“I see.”

We chatted for a while.

Once cleanup was complete, a well-dressed young man approached.

It was none other than the nameless one.

“We’ve secured the area as you instructed.”

“Well done.”

“Sooner or later, the faculty will catch on. We should leave before we’re discovered.”

“With all that commotion, I imagine they’ve already sensed something.”

“I’ll have the Unjust prepared for departure.”

“Do so.”

The nameless man stepped away first.

The Lord rose from his seat to follow.

“Well, I should be going.”

“Thank you for your help.”

“Think nothing of it. It just looked like fun, so I stepped in.”

“I’ll reach out again if we need you.”

“Even if you don’t, you could contact me from time to time.”

“What a dreadful thing to say.”

“Heh… Still as cold as ever.”

The Lord turned without hesitation.

His footsteps faded into the distance.

Their silhouettes disappeared, leaving only silence—

And the remnants of the ruined temple scattered across the ground.

As I swept my gaze across them, the realization sank in:

It was finally over.

\[EP23. The Awakening of Evil]

—Blood boiling, malice seething, life crying out for death—

We had successfully prevented the original story’s catastrophe.

There were zero casualties within the Academy.

I let the tension ease and leaned quietly against a nearby pillar.

Fatigue rushed over me, but I shook it off.

There was still one final task to complete.

The traitor.

The one who had leaked information about this attack.

I needed to retrieve the seed of ruin the cult had planted.

---

The chaos had passed.

Even the staged assault at the front gates had been quelled by the professors.

The Academy had survived the calamity without a scratch.

Among the students, it was seen as little more than a bizarre incident.

But—

“This is unacceptable!”

The faculty, on the other hand, was in an uproar.

A week had passed since that day.

The headmaster, professors, and lead assistants had all been gathered for an emergency meeting.

Naturally, the purpose was to discuss the events of that night.

“This attack was clearly the work of the cult!”

“Even if there were no casualties, this was an open provocation against the Academy!”

“How in the world did they breach our defenses?!”

“There are too many suspicious factors at play.”

“We need to investigate and clarify this situation immediately.”

The attack at the gates wasn’t the issue.

That had only been a diversion—there was a plausible infiltration route, and it had been handled in under five minutes.

The true problem was the hidden passage and temple discovered underground.

The entire Academy had come within a breath of collapse.

‘They have every right to be serious.’

I’d relayed what had happened below—albeit in a heavily edited version.

There were too many complications to tell the whole truth.

I omitted any mention of the Lord or the calamity.

Only reported the existence of the hidden passage and the attack launched through it.

When asked how the attack had been repelled, I simply brushed it off as luck.

Naturally, the mood in the room turned grim.

They hadn’t even realized such a danger existed beneath their feet.

The professors huddled together, reexamining the problem.

“This is the second time.”

There had been a similar incident before.

During the midterms—when Regia, Emilia, and I were pulled into the Abandoned Laboratory.

At the time, it had been written off as a teleportation error.

Selena, who had been supervising, had received disciplinary action, and the incident had nearly faded from memory.

But this new attack rekindled suspicion.

Once might’ve been a fluke. Twice? No.

The professors’ expressions turned cold.

“Someone’s pulling strings behind the scenes.”

“Whoever it is, they know the Academy inside and out. They had easy access to test data and procedures.”

“Even we didn’t know about that passage.”

“Which means they’re familiar with even the Academy’s classified intel. Either a high-ranking official—or someone who used to be one.”

“In short—”

There could only be one conclusion.

There is a traitor among the faculty.

A cold atmosphere settled over the room.

Even the headmaster, who had been leading the meeting, fell silent.

For a brief moment, his gaze seemed to meet mine.

“……”

Of course. A prophet would know.

He must have realized that I knew who the traitor was.

But neither of us spoke.

The meeting ended soon after.

Speculation about the traitor ran rampant—but in the absence of evidence, only distrust and conflict would grow.

All we could do was urge caution and adjourn.

I, too, rose from my seat.

And just as I stepped out of the conference room—

“Student Judas..”

A familiar voice called out.

It was Professor Cadel, who had been sitting across from me moments earlier.

I turned toward him, curious about his intent.

“There’s something I’d like to discuss. Seriously.”

“Discuss…?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. I thought we shared the same goal.”

“……”

The mood turned cold.

The man extended his hand toward me, unfazed.

And I couldn’t refuse it.

“Just for a moment.”

“…Then let’s hear it.”

Yes—

We did share the same goal, after all.

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]