Academy’s Undercover Professor-Chapter 288: The Chimera Corps (1)
The remnants of the Liberation Army scattered throughout the city via the underground tunnels they had prepared in advance.
Even as dust trickled from the ceilings and dim, rust-colored lights made it difficult to see, they moved with practiced speed—as if it were their own backyard.
“First Branch has been hit.”
An intelligence agent relayed the recent report to the Grade 1 operative leading the group.
“What about Karl?”
“He’s been captured.”
“They moved faster than expected... How many came at them?”
“W-Well... It was just one person.”
“What? Just one?”
“Yes. And... it was Ludger Cherish, one of the teachers from Theoron.”
Not just anyone—a teacher. And not even a knight, but a mage.
The operative tried to make sense of it.
Ludger Cherish might be a well-known name, but how could a single academy professor take down an entire branch alone?
“...He must have launched a surprise attack from afar. If that’s the case, they wouldn’t have had a chance to fire before being subdued.”
“What shall we do? Should we pull out? It looks like we’ve been discovered.”
“No. We proceed with the operation. If we retreat now, we might never get another opportunity. It has to be now.”
As the Grade 1 operative spoke, the other Liberation members behind him nodded grimly.
There was no fear in their eyes—only burning hatred for this world.
Their revolution was already in motion.
Now that they had come this far, there was no turning back. Failure couldn’t be allowed.
They were all ready to die.
“For a better world.”
As the operative murmured, the others echoed him like a vow.
With their resolve renewed, the Liberation Army dispersed again at a junction.
They moved in teams, checked their weapons, and emerged above ground.
Using manhole covers to surface, they stealthily crept out and surveyed their surroundings.
The bright street was bustling with people enjoying a peaceful day.
The sight filled them with uncontrollable rage.
‘Filthy bastards! Some of us want to die just to escape the misery of each day!’
Wilhelm, a young Liberation soldier, clenched his teeth.
He had lived with his ailing mother, doing everything he could to buy her medicine.
He worked constantly, but the money he earned barely qualified as spare change.
He cut back on sleep, skipped meals—just to scrape together enough. But in the end, he failed.
His aging mother passed away.
Wilhelm still remembered cradling her cold body in his arms, screaming in grief.
He came to hate the world.
Did those born with everything ever once struggle to survive like he had?
Did they ever stay up all night oiling machines in a grimy factory? Did they ever haul dirt until their bones ached?
Workers slept in coffins—literally. That was the good case. Sometimes, they just tied themselves to ropes and slept upright, like corpses.
But the wealthy never knew such things.
They had simply been born lucky.
This world was unfair.
And Wilhelm understood one thing: the world wouldn’t change unless someone forced it to.
That was why he joined the Liberation Army. He was ready to give his life.
‘Not yet...’
Their targets were specific.
And soon, they saw them approaching.
Leading the way was a mentor mage, followed by a tight-knit group of Theoron Academy students.
That was their target.
Children of nobles and wealthy merchants.
Some might’ve been commoners like Wilhelm—but that didn’t matter.
His hatred had burrowed so deep that he couldn’t even consider such nuances.
And even if he had, he would’ve found a way to justify it to himself.
‘They’re here.’
Wilhelm exchanged glances with comrades hidden in the alleyway.
They nodded firmly.
Just as the students entered their strike zone—
“We stop here.”
The mentor in the lead halted the students and gently urged them back.
The iron-masked mage from the New Magic Tower—Roteron.
A 6th-circle mage. The Liberation soldiers recognized him and were caught off guard by his unexpected move.
‘What’s this?’
‘Do we wait?’
‘But what if we miss the opportunity?’
Paralyzed by indecision, the field commander—the highest-ranking officer present—gritted his teeth and gave a hand signal.
‘Proceed!’
He decided they couldn't risk further delay.
At the signal, Liberation agents surged out of the alleys.
People on the street paused, confused by the sudden mass of people spilling out.
They didn’t yet understand the malice these newcomers carried.
Hatred for the privileged exploded—triggered by one act.
They pulled their triggers.
Bullets of hatred were fired.
TUTUTUTUTU!
Countless muzzles lit up with flame.
It was a massacre. The bullets flew, intended to kill everyone—
Especially the Theoron students.
But not a single person fell.
“...What?”
A Liberation soldier, now out of ammo, stared ahead in disbelief.
A shimmering emerald barrier enveloped the area, blocking every bullet.
It encircled the Liberation soldiers, shielding everyone they had tried to kill.
It was the work of Roteron, the 6th-circle mage.
“H-How?!”
“This wasn’t part of the plan!”
Panic broke out among the Liberation soldiers.
They knew Roteron was powerful—but why was he blocking physical attacks with a mana barrier instead of using Silence of Fire?
And similar scenes played out all across the capital.
“H-How...?”
The mass terror the Liberation Army had prepared was thwarted from the beginning.
Their bullets didn’t take a single life.
The surprise attack was useless.
The mages had been waiting for it.
They blocked the shots with barriers and immediately counterattacked.
The knights acted too.
The Nightcrawler and Coldsteel knight orders, stationed in crowded areas, moved in the moment the Liberation Army revealed themselves.
With physical prowess far surpassing any mage, the knights gave the enemy no time to react.
“W-What is this?!”
The Liberation Army was thrown into chaos.
There was no way this could happen unless the enemy had known everything—every move, every contingency.
The mages knew about their special gunpowder.
The knights knew every target location.
“Unbelievable...”
Caroline Monarch faced her own group of enemies.
Small and casual, she let out a sigh of annoyance.
Around her lay groaning Liberation soldiers, arms and legs broken.
She picked up a rifle from the ground and pulled the trigger.
The bullet embedded itself in the ground.
“So it’s real.”
She still had Silence of Fire activated on one hand.
The Liberation Army had used gunpowder that ignored the anti-fire spell.
‘If I’d tried to respond with Silence of Fire instead of a barrier...’
Even a 6th-circle mage might have been seriously injured.
The attack had been real. The bullets lethal.
Since he was at least a 6th-Circle mage—superhuman level—he had managed that much.
But what if it had been a mage of a lower circle?
They might have died without being able to do a single thing.
The moment Caroline recalled that possibility, a chill spread across her whole body.
[Silence of Fire] was the most basic tactical protocol modern mages used when firearms were involved.
But that common sense had just been shattered here and now.
She recalled the contents of the communication that had just been sent to all mentors.
—This is Ludger Cherish. I have something to inform all mentors.
It had come through the emergency contact device she carried for unforeseen situations.
Ludger had relayed the information he’d discovered to the mentors.
—Liberation Army members are hiding in the capital. They’re moving in the shadows right now and planning acts of terror. Naturally, their target is the students of Seorn.
The news that a terrorist attack could happen at any moment shocked the mentors.
But that disturbance lasted only a brief moment.
They first made «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» sure the students hadn’t overheard the transmission, and then waited for Ludger’s next words.
—The terrorists are using a special type of explosive. Gunpowder that isn’t suppressed by mana—meaning [Silence of Fire] doesn’t work on it.
The mentors were startled by that statement.
They were surprised not only that the terrorists had acquired such a thing, but also at how someone like Ludger—just a teacher—had come to know of it.
The only one who wasn’t surprised was Casey Selmore.
‘That man.’
Casey recalled the time she had confronted Ludger.
He had been moving with a knight whose identity couldn’t be verified. She hadn’t imagined he was working on something like this behind the scenes.
—Please prepare for the possibility of an ambush. If you choose to inform the students, you may do so. I’ll leave all further action up to your discretion.
He passed on what he knew, and even so, did not overstep—leaving the response entirely in the mentors’ hands.
Even if Ludger had risen to a senior position within Seorn, most of the mentors still outranked him in terms of magical experience.
The fact that he’d even accounted for that earned their silent admiration.
Ludger’s conduct was precise—neither lacking nor excessive—and even included consideration and respect toward those he was addressing.
—However, if you end up engaging the terrorists, remember this one thing. Show no mercy to those who dare to threaten innocent lives.
With that, Ludger’s transmission ended.
“Hah. Unbelievable.”
Phyron, who had been sweating it out in the gymnasium, slipped the communicator away and let out a short laugh.
They weren’t out wandering the city, so there was no immediate threat of terror. But this wasn’t someone else’s problem.
The important thing was that something was happening in the capital—right now.
And in this kind of situation, high-ranking mages couldn’t just sit still.
Phyron turned around.
The Seorn students who had followed him were all sprawled across the gymnasium floor, gasping for air.
All except one, who still stood on both legs.
“You little bastard. You look like some pampered noble brat, but you’ve got guts.”
“Huff... huff...”
Even as he struggled to breathe, Freuden Ulburk did not avert his gaze from Phyron.
He was the very image of a noble wolf.
Phyron nodded, satisfied.
“Good. You can take responsibility and lead the others.”
“Huff... Lead them... where, sir?”
“There’s going to be a mess soon. This gym is under my name, so most won’t dare touch it. But it looks like the bastards moving this time have guts the size of mountains.”
Freuden wasn’t oblivious—his expression turned serious.
“Take the students and go.”
“Where should I take them?”
“To the Imperial Palace.”
At the mention of the palace, Freuden’s eyes widened.
It was certainly the safest place—but not somewhere one could just walk into freely.
“But how...?”
“I don’t know either. But the transmission said to head that way, so that’s where you’re going.”
“And where will you go, Mentor?”
“My muscles didn’t really loosen up from that last round of exercise.”
Phyron grinned as he pulled on the outer robe he had taken off earlier.
“Think I’ll go break a real sweat, for old time’s sake.”
* * *
While the other mentors and the knights were taking action, Ludger and Passius hadn’t been sitting idle either.
Ludger had located the closest area to the 1st Branch—the one he had already raided—and attacked the Liberation Army operatives who had been waiting there.
Passius approached him and reported.
“This side is all clear. How about yours?”
“Finished a while ago. Looks like this was the last of them.”
All around them, Liberation Army terrorists lay unconscious, most of them not even having had time to draw their weapons.
The two of them had taken down over thirty terrorists on their own.
“H-How is this possible...?”
Most had lost consciousness, but one remained.
The commanding officer of the scene—a 1st-class agent—had been spared by Ludger, deliberately knocked out and tied down rather than killed.
He sat there, wearing a blank look, as if he couldn’t believe the whole operation had unraveled before it even began.
“Your terror plot is over. That so-called special gunpowder—immune to mana—never even got to see daylight.”
At the mention of the gunpowder, the 1st-class agent’s expression darkened.
Since the enemy already knew about their secret weapon, a surprise attack was meaningless.
In reality, most of the terrorists had been subdued—and they hadn’t managed to kill a single person.
Some had tried to blow themselves up in the chaos, but the quick response of the knights on scene had limited the damage to a few broken objects.
What could have been an unprecedented disaster in the heart of the Empire had been shut down—almost laughably easily—by one man.
“So you knew everything all along.”
The 1st-class agent hung his head low.
Passius thought it was the despair of someone who’d realized all their long-prepared efforts had ended in vain.
But that wasn’t it.
“Heh, heheheh.”
When the agent suddenly started laughing, Passius frowned, sensing something off.
“That’s... a relief.”
The agent raised his head again. But this time, there was no trace of despair on his face—only ecstasy and a grin.
“Because it looks like you didn’t know this part.”
At the same time, a manhole cover from a nearby sewer shot off with a thunderous explosion.
Ludger and Passius instinctively turned their gazes toward it.
Inside the gaping hole of the sewer...
Strange sounds echoed—and a beast began to crawl out from the depths.
