<793 – How to Prevent the Professors’ Corruption (4)>
The distance between Goblin World and the Middle Realm was originally quite far.
However, due to several issues, the distance between the dimensions of Goblin World and the Middle Realm had significantly narrowed.
Zoom!
The invasion of Eroadilon.
Boom!
The director’s dimensional defense spells.
Crash!
The dimensional destruction caused by Oknodie’s clones.
Pulling and pushing each other, the once fixed distance between the dimensions began to reorganize due to the evaporation of several dimensions and the weakening of multiple dimensions’ powers.
Now, thanks to the loss of dimensions turned to ash that even left no name behind, the weak Goblin World could slyly edge closer from the periphery of a hundred dimensions to the center.
Just like the cautious and stealthy steps of goblins, it was caught in the enormous dimension of Corruption Dimension that drew in countless meteorites from the neighboring galactic belt.
If it had stuck to the Corruption Dimension, Goblin World might have complained, saying:
“Where’s the foundation? Why aren’t people corrupting? What am I supposed to live off now?”
The foundation corrupts people.
With money, reason, and sometimes even dark mana.
Naturally, the foundation became the easiest organization to utilize the power of the God of Corruption, and contrary to the director’s intention of considering all hundred dimensions as invaders, there were many in the shadows secretly using the powers of the God of Corruption under the pragmatic school of thought that said to use what you can.
Just like that, the Wahyhiemhai Foundation, which had the most followers, collapsed overnight.
As the essence of corruption transmitted to the Corruption Dimension decreased, it was only natural that the power of the dimension itself weakened.
Goblin World, which had nearly fallen into the hands of the extreme Corruption Dimension while wandering through the countryside, barely escaped.
Although it had a strong pull, the dimensions weakened by the aftermath of the last war pulled Goblin World closer to the Middle Realm but couldn’t firmly imprison it around them.
Thus, Goblin World, dragged along by the struggles of numerous planets, eventually had its time ratio with the Middle Realm narrowed down to a level of 1 to 1.
“Tch. So, if I go to Goblin World, there’s no future where the useless professors grow old and die, or all the strong seniors graduate and our world comes to us?”
“Ugh. It’s a bit disappointing. The chance to become the mysterious former Countess who disappeared for decades from the Sebiche family is gone.”
Titosso and Arcadia, who had hoped for the dimensional time shift and the ensuing changes in the Middle Realm, expressed great disappointment, but Rosgini, lacking any sense of time travel, butted in with a sullen face.
“What nonsense are you talking about? If you get caught up in such a thing, while wandering the dimension for a bit, Oknodie will already be a grandmother.”
“No way!! I can’t accept an Oknodie who ages alone in loneliness without any friends!!”
Suddenly, they realized that the tragedy brought about by the distorted time ratio was not to be taken lightly, even if they were not as frantic as Hestia tearing her hair out.
Irene also added a remark about the tragedy of time travel to her naïve peers with a somber expression.
“Even if the money stored in a bank account with an interest rate of 4% multiplies 50 times in a hundred years, if all the people and family to protect with the increased military funds are dead, what good is that money?”
“Huh? Pirates naturally have a lifespan of a day, so if they just go to the tavern and drink one round, the crew will replenish infinitely?”
“The greatest archaeologist is someone who travels through time until the present becomes the past… I kinda wish I were that way as a vice leader of an adventurer’s group.”
The nearby peers were startled by the absurd thoughts of Jigoku and Isabel, who had been poisoned by the academy’s madness.
“Get a grip, Jigoku. You’re the exemplary pirate captain who cares for even the lowly crew members. If you’re not around, they’ll get beaten up and end up failing.”
“There are plenty of seas outside the academy.”
“In a hundred years, they’ll get beaten up and not leave even a line in history, and the whole Jigoku Pirate Group will vanish?”
“How can I fail with that huge ship we conned from the foundation?”
“What will you do if the captain sells it off and retires?”
“You ungrateful scoundrels!! I’ll smash a hole in your heads!!”
“That’s just an example, just an example!”
“Grab that guy!”
With a growth rate of 500% in the sea, Jigoku’s struggles, now set against the ultimate showdown of army vs. foundation, were astonishing, dragging half a dozen strong peers along.
“Calm down. Anyway, if we take advantage of the difficult situation of the professors, we can create a grade shuttle that gives us credit without assignments. Are we really going to fight among ourselves over such a sweet deal?”
“Hmm?”
“As a pirate, it’s only right to shake down the professors for grades, don’t you think?”
Ishitar’s persuasion was compelling enough to easily sway Jigoku.
As they stood before the dimensional gate, more realistic worries began to engulf the students.
“Will it really go as easily as we think?”
“Is it even questionable that a professor would be in such a dire situation?”
“Honestly, can you even imagine the professors getting beaten up?”
Until they crossed the dimensional gate, the students had been skeptical about whether the professors would pass willingly into Goblin World.
How could a Goblin Warrior pose such a threat to the professors?
Would they summon an enormous number of kin and launch a barrage until their mana ran dry?
The students, picturing goblins clad in primitive clothes barely covering their vitals, were taken aback by the strong mana response welcoming them.
Zzzzzt!
Students grasping their pounding heads collapsed upon entry in succession.
Even if they hurriedly raised their mana to protect their bodies, the headache wouldn’t subside; instead, it only grew worse.
Jigoku was in so much pain he was shooting off mini-explosives at his thigh, and Irene was inflicting self-harm by slicing her palm with an ice knife she’d created.
While the other students were horrified at seeing this, Ishitar recognized that this behavior wasn’t the result of madness from pain.
“Start self-harming immediately! This is… Mana Poison that gives continuous pain to those above a certain stamina threshold!”
“Can’t we just drive the poison out? If we declare mana over the area…”
“Stop! Doing that will trigger the Detection Artifice that’s lying in wait!!”
“?!”
A cruel poison that only affects humans.
The moment they try to eliminate that poison, their location information would be sent to the relay stations set up across the continent.
Titosso, who had already caused an incident with rapid execution, glanced nervously but, before Ishitar could sigh, a flash of light appeared beyond the horizon.
━━━
[Human Mass Destruction Weapon Aegis-Class 10500mm Mana Cannon]
Sniper + Aiming + Hit + Rapid Fire + Charge + Amplification + Annihilation + Extermination
8-Chain Human Mass Destruction System Human Annihilation Cannon
━━━
The huge defensive magic that automatically unfurled from Titosso’s light stand blocked the bombardment of the Human Annihilation Cannon with an overwhelming amount of mana.
The spectacle of a human bearing a mana capacity that could pierce through a ship in one blow was shocking, but once that sniper shot was blocked, the mana from five nearby relay stations converged, and five human annihilation cannons began to fire in rapid succession.
The ground melted, and the sight of the projectiles, which bounced off the shield and erased a mountain, made the other friends hesitate to get close.
“Ugh, help me!”
With both arms over her head, Titosso was being subjected to a murderous barrage in front of her. Unable to stand it, Ishitar swung her Holy Sword.
━━━
Holy Mirror Modification
Activation Effect: Absorb and Reflect Attacks
━━━
Charging the prior Human Annihilation Cannon shot into the mirror and firing it back at the next human annihilation cannon, she blocked the enemy’s attacks.
Even with such decent defense, risks were involved.
Ishitar could feel her mana that maintained the path of the mirror rapidly diminishing, and the backlash piled up onto her real body.
‘This is as shocking as when I faced the director…!’
Of course, the attack she received from the director was merely a fraction spread thin while dealing with Oknodie’s avatars.
Even if it was just that fraction, there were very few who could withstand and survive among the peers of Class 981.
Feeling a heavy response charging over a dozen more times throughout Goblin World, Ishitar urgently called out to the girl in the fox mask.
“Remove your response, quickly!”
As Zouang’s hand swiftly brushed over Titosso’s face, the stealth artifice activated, pulling along the markings smeared on Titosso.
━━━
Steal
Activation Effect: Deceives the identification of the targeting marks owned by Titosso, stealing them.
━━━
Once they hastily combined efforts, the targeting marks thrown into the dimensional gate caused the human annihilation cannons to fly toward the other side of the dimensional gate.
Bahhng!
As the dimensional gate shattered, Rosgini and Irene collapsed, bleeding from the backlash of magic destruction, but thanks to this, they barely managed to surpass a hurdle.
“Jeez, that was insane…”
“Ugh, I thought I was really gonna die…!”
“What on earth was that just now?!”
Arcadia, who had been studying various subjects to compensate for the lack of personal combat power and had some knowledge of magic engineering, deciphered the human annihilation cannon system.
“It’s an automatic extermination system.”
“Automatic extermination…?”
“It seems to be a system that targets humans with a certain level of strength who have a will to resist and automatically aims to eliminate them.”
A world with a cruel system where humans could not possibly survive.
Even in ancient times, attempting to create it would designate them as enemies of all, and despite their overwhelming power, there was no escape from death, as was the system created by the Three Great Evils.
Without mentioning how much hell the professors who had endured in such a harsh environment were going through.
“Be careful. An artificial world domain that detects mana beings on the surface through planetary mana scanning has also been deployed. If caught, those things will come flying at you again.”
This wasn’t just the foundation; it was a hell where they could grab humanity as snacks and devour them, with Outsider hands involved.
Instead of convincing the professors, the real challenge would be in persuading the Goblin Warrior, who had established this insane human extermination system!
“Things are getting difficult. The ominous feeling here… The ‘Trigger for the Activation of Stealth Artifice’ is still far from over.”
Dorothy, the guide of the Monster Forest, frowned, trembling with familiar fear.
“Taking more than a hundred steps will trigger targeting. Touching your hair with a finger will trigger targeting. Calling for help will trigger targeting…? Oh no!”
Kiiying!
While reading the triggers, she inadvertently said “help me,” and a massive mana response started to gather again from beyond the horizon, freezing Dorothy in place.
“Run to Gehenna!”
Ishitar screamed in terror.
Dorothy, panicked, found her legs giving way.
“Dorothy’s gonna die!”
“Vanilla, deploy the shield!”
“Yep!”
As the light flickered on the other side of the horizon, the nearby students hurriedly deployed a defense in front of Dorothy.
Titosso had plenty of mana, so they held on, but could they really withstand it?
With the students’ tension rendered meaningless, the attack struck Titosso, who was barely escaping in a panic.
“Ugh, why am I the only one getting shot at!”
Vroom!
Barely fending off the attack with the light beam from the light stand, Titosso took a few steps back toward Gehenna.
Only after Titosso’s figure was no longer detected on the surface did the situation finally calm down.
“Now I get it.”
Irene, who had been observing the situation much more calmly than before, realized something.
“This is magic targeted at professors. And the number one person with more mana than the professors in this area is Titosso.”
In other words, it was a cruel structure where no matter who got caught by the detection artifice, only Titosso would be targeted!
