Escape (2)

Episode 9. Escape (2)
Sleet slaps my cheeks.
White breath trails behind me in long wisps.
Grrrrr…!
Howoooo~
Wolves howl behind me as I sprint at full speed.
Undead wolves—lying in ambush behind trees or buried in the snow—leap out one after another, blocking my path.
Without breaking my momentum, I shift into a boxing stance with my mutated right fist.
Then—rapid-fire jabs with my right hand.
Pupupak!
The undead struck by my right hand disintegrate into ash without so much as a scream.
“Wow.”
That’s one hell of an effect.
Even if they’re low-tier undead relying on numbers, just a single touch from the Stigma is enough to annihilate them.
I knew divine energy was a natural weakness for undead—but not that it was this effective.
Thanks to the Stigma, my speed’s gone up quite a bit… but I can’t let my guard down yet.
Instructor Dave is closing in by the second. The forest glows under the “Curse of Delirium,” and the wolves are howling like mad.
With all this chaos, everyone in Necropia must’ve realized something’s wrong by now.
“I’ve got maybe ten minutes, tops.”
If I don’t escape within ten minutes, every black mage and cadet in Necropia will flood into the forest to capture me.
I smirked at the thought.
“Like I ran here on a whim.”
Deep in this forest, there’s a teleportation gate.
A random teleport gate built for emergency evacuations in case of war.
I’ve never seen it myself, let alone used it—but I’m confident the information’s reliable.
“Because old hag Lienna told me herself.”
Of course, I don’t mean the Lienna of this timeline—I heard it from the Lienna of the previous loop.
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“War always comes suddenly. Especially in places like Necropia, where talent gathers—it becomes an easy target.”
“Speaking from experience?”
“Well… yeah. The gate teleports you to a random location far from Necropia, so it’s harder to track. Personally, I think it was a smart move. We kept it a secret among the instructors… but I suppose it’s not a bad idea to let you know too.”
It was a casual exchange between mentor and student.
She smiled proudly as she spoke, but there was a shadow on her face.
I never asked why.
Because asking wouldn’t have changed anything.
I recalled that conversation as I searched the forest.
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“Blindly looking for the gate in the forest will be hard.”
“But if you cast the ‘Curse of Delirium’ over the woods, finding it becomes much easier. The teleport activates by converting the curse’s energy into mana.”
“Look for the trees where the curse is weaker, and follow those—you’ll find it eventually.”
Following Lienna’s advice from my past life, I touched the trees with my left hand, sensing the weakening curses as I moved deeper in.
“Here it is.”
At last, I reached my destination.
A clearing, no trees, just a smooth sheet of snow.
I ran to the center and brushed away the snow.
Etched into the ground—a central circle, surrounded by arcane runes and geometric symbols.
A teleportation gate.
I placed my hand in the center and channeled mana.
Hummmmm…
The cursed energy from nearby trees drew into the ground, lighting up the snow.
The light converged where I stood.
“Aaron, cadet!”
Instructor Dave’s voice echoed behind me—
—and I was swallowed by the pillar of white light rising from the floor.
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Thud!
“Ugh… damn it…”
I hit the ground face-first and grumbled as I propped myself up.
Random coordinates. Unlike regular teleportation, this one wasn’t smooth at all.
No one was around. Lucky me—seems I landed in a deserted spot.
My right arm and both legs trembled from the backlash of the magic armor, so I flipped onto my back to rest, sprawled across the snowy ground.
Far in the distance, I could just make out the silhouette of Necropia Academy.
Even though it was dawn, every window was lit.
Now that I’d successfully escaped, Necropia must be in a full-blown panic—cadets, instructors, everyone.
“They could’ve just let me go. Would’ve been easier for both sides.”
Top of the class, about to graduate… and now I’ve escaped through a secret teleportation gate only the instructors knew about.
Not bad, even by my standards. “Mad Dog,” huh? Guess I’ve earned the nickname.
Still lying down, I pulled a crumpled map from my bag to check where I was.
On the Luknica continent, the Dark Empire lies to the west, the Holy Empire to the east.
Necropia isn’t too far from the border.
Sancternim Academy sits right near the midpoint between both empires.
If I push my body and run with magic armor again, I might just make it to the border before the patrols tighten.
I turned east and got to my feet.
From here on, it’s a race against time.
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In Necropia’s faculty room, all the instructors—including Dave—gathered in tense silence.
“Are you sure, Instructor Dave?” one asked, stammering.
“You’re saying Cadet Aaron escaped using the teleportation gate in the forest?”
Only Necropia’s instructors were aware of that gate. Not even the heads of the Dark Empire’s four noble families knew.
For a cadet to know that?
“That would mean… one of us tipped Aaron off.”
“Was there even a single instructor who liked that kid?”
“Well… fair point.”
Aaron’s temperament was infamous among the staff.
A walking time bomb.
What kind of fool would trust him with top-level academy secrets?
Dave felt the same.
“There’s only one real possibility,” he said. “Aaron figured it out on his own.”
“That’s impossible!”
“…Not if he used a demon’s power.”
“Demon? Are you saying Aaron made a pact with a demon?”
“Yes.”
With a demon pact, one can access “Descent-type” black magic.
In other words—
“Aaron has reached the realm of a Quad-Class. He now wields all four branches of dark magic.”
The room fell silent.
But Dave continued.
“Not only that—he’s contracted with a high-level demon. Lienna Baroness herself confirmed it after seeing him.”
“If that’s true, why would he run? Wouldn’t he be stronger staying put?”
“You’ve got it backwards,” Dave replied. “It’s because he’s contracted with a high-level demon that he had to run.”
“…Why?”
“You know payment is required for demon pacts, right?”
“Yes.”
“With high-level demons, payment doesn’t end there.”
They continually tempt their contractor, whispering until they’ve stripped away everything.
“What happens when there’s nothing left to give?”
“The demon takes their body.”
There are only two ways to break such a pact:
Either the demon agrees to end it… or the contractor dies.
Dave grimaced.
“Only Baroness Lienna has survived that kind of contract. Everyone else had their bodies stolen.”
“And when that happens…?”
“They become creatures of destruction—driven by the demon’s instincts. The only way to stop them is to kill them.”
“…”
A heavy silence fell.
Now that Aaron had escaped Necropia, the Dark Empire would stop at nothing to find him.
But if he crosses the border, it’ll be a different story.
“Alert the black mages stationed near the border. Whatever happens, we can’t let him cross.”
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On the third day of alternating between sprinting and hiding—
I finally reached a ridgeline near the border, undetected.
“Just past here is Sancternim…”
Lying prone on the snow, I pulled out binoculars and scoped out the barbed wire fence ahead.
The black mages posted at the border were hyper-alert, scanning the front with laser focus.
Not a single one was slacking off.
And…
Crunch… thud…!
Since I reached the ridge, I’d been hearing irregular but continuous crunching footsteps in the snow.
Grrr… urgh… rrraagh…
The air was laced with a chilling rasp, like someone scraping their throat raw.
As the sounds neared, I rolled to hide behind a tree.
Peeking out slightly—I grimaced.
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Lumbering shapes pushed aside dead branches and frostbitten shrubs.
Zombies made from various monster corpses were patrolling the border.
“How many of them are there?”
I scanned left and right—there wasn’t a single spot untouched by undead.
From the sound of it, every black mage stationed here had summoned all their undead.
And these weren’t mindless—some were turning their heads, carefully scanning the area.
Even mid-tier types like undead orcs were among them.
“Sneaking past is impossible.”
Even if I tried, defeating them would reveal my position to their summoners.
The moment that happened, every black mage nearby would descend on me.
“Tch. This is rough.”
But not impossible.
The only shot—burst through before they even know what’s happening.
Decision made, I concentrated a refined curse into my heart.
After three days of applying magic armor to my legs, I’d grown used to the strain.
“If I’ve adapted this much… I can probably handle full-body armor for a short burst.”
I spread the refined curse throughout my body.
Not just limbs—everywhere.
Arms, legs, torso, neck, face.
Thin lines of red blood formed across my skin.
Full-body Magic Armor.
Thud, thud, thud!
My heartbeat pounded wildly.
Every muscle in my body quivered.
With every stat amped to the limit, a rush of euphoria kicked in.
I clenched my leather-gloved right fist.
“Three minutes, maybe?”
Three minutes—until my body gives out from the overload.
“Plenty.”
Crack.
Pushing power into both feet, I spun around the tree—
Grrrk?
Raagh?
The undead froze in brief confusion at my sudden appearance.
Crack!
I immediately put strength into both feet and ran straight towards the border.