Academy’s Undercover Professor-Chapter 308: The Lesson (1)

Luypholdt dismissed Ludger’s words as mere bravado.

Real magic?

How dare someone talk nonsense about such a thing before the presence of a being who had become ultimate?

“Well then, why don’t you try blocking this first?”

With a snap of his fingers, Luypholdt unleashed a wave of black energy.

The ripple passed through Ludger.

But Ludger remained standing in place, unmoved.

Luypholdt narrowed his eyes.

The whites of his eyes had turned black from demonic power, and his pupils gleamed with a yellow hue—yet confusion flickered in his gaze.

“...Strange.”

At first, Luypholdt felt irritation. But now, what welled up was doubt.

A power that gnaws at the heart and breaks the mind—an attack that cannot be defended against, no matter how much mana or aura one summons.

That was the demonic power he wielded.

“No human is without weakness or scars in their heart. So why are you so unaffected? Are you using demonic power too?”

“You talk too much.”

“That only makes this stranger. How could someone survive a demonic attack with mere human strength?”

Luypholdt couldn’t understand Ludger.

A man who was no more than a teacher at an academy... resisting an attack that had brought down swordmasters and Lexuror-class mages?

And even now—

Even now, he was the one giving Luypholdt that persistent, gnawing sense of unease.

“I’ve never been unaffected.”

Ludger’s reply made Luypholdt arch a brow.

“That foul power definitely invaded my mind. It showed me some truly filthy memories.”

“What?”

“But the moment I realized they were ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) false, I woke right up.”

Luypholdt stared at him, trying to discern whether Ludger was lying.

But he sensed no deceit.

Which meant... Ludger had truly resisted demonic power with his mental strength.

“That’s... possible?”

“The world isn’t limited to what you know. And now, thanks to that experience, I’m in a really bad mood.”

Ludger tapped out the ashes of his burnt pipe.

“I’m not in the mood, and you helpfully got rid of all the witnesses. I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity.”

Luypholdt glanced around Ludger’s surroundings.

Since lighting the pipe, mana had begun to overflow from Ludger, forming a dense blue mist around him.

But instead of dispersing, the mist condensed further, clinging tightly to his body.

It was... strange.

Most mages couldn’t control all their mana at once.

That’s why a mage’s power was often judged by how much mana they could control and how efficiently they could release it.

And yet Ludger was clearly manipulating mana far beyond his supposed limit.

It was like watching a cart designed to carry a few crates suddenly carry an entire mountain without breaking.

And then there were his eyes.

Or rather, perhaps they hadn’t changed—they had returned to their original color.

The blue hue that once filled them was simply the massive mana stored within.

That’s not normal either. How could someone store that much mana even during combat?

Perhaps that lingering discomfort Luypholdt had been feeling all along was born from that.

“...Hah. Whatever. Doesn’t matter.”

Realizing he had let himself be distracted, Luypholdt gave a dry laugh.

Ludger was impressive—but maybe this was all he had.

Besides, Luypholdt had already implanted cells from the World Tree, absorbed the bodies of multiple mages, and wielded demonic power.

Ludger might be unusual, but in the end, he was still just human.

“I’ll admit you’ve got impressive mental fortitude—enough to resist demonic influence. But a fight isn’t won with willpower alone.”

“We’ll see about that.”

His voice didn’t sound like empty bravado.

Luypholdt found Ludger’s attitude more and more irritating.

To stand tall like that in front of someone who possessed overwhelming strength?

Even to claim he would teach a lesson—as a mere teacher?

How arrogant could one be?

“Let’s fix that spine of yours first.”

As he muttered, crack—

The faces growing from Luypholdt’s shoulders opened their mouths.

It was the signal to activate the magic stolen from the mages he had absorbed.

At once, searing flame and freezing cold surged toward Ludger in a fierce storm.

Ludger calmly drew in a portion of the swirling mana mist around him.

The shimmering mist shifted, thinning and twisting into intricate spell formulas.

In an instant, spells of fire and frost were completed.

Ludger’s fire canceled out Luypholdt’s ice—and the ice, in turn, extinguished the flames.

Watching it, Luypholdt cast his next spell.

Blades of vacuum, like razor-thin air currents, shot toward Ludger in succession.

Rumble—!

The earth trembled, and a stone wall surged up in front of Ludger.

The vacuum blades dug into it, leaving gashes like a beast’s claw marks.

Then Luypholdt conjured a massive boulder in the air.

He dropped it right over Ludger’s head.

But just before it could crush him, a spiraling wind rose around Ludger like a drill.

The whirlwind pierced through the center of the boulder, scattering its fragments in all directions.

Even amid this fierce exchange, Ludger hadn’t moved a step.

Luypholdt didn’t like that.

Another face, this time protruding from his abdomen, opened its mouth and glared.

A magic circle spread out before it—and a massive tidal wave surged forth to swallow Ludger whole.

The mana mist writhed and shaped itself into another spell.

A massive vine stem—formed of pure mana—rose like a wave to counter the tide.

The vines drank up the water, expanding in size, and began to devour Luypholdt instead.

“...What?!”

Luypholdt was flabbergasted.

But he quickly ignited flames and incinerated the plants entirely.

As sparks scattered through the air, he glared at Ludger.

“Were you hiding your strength all this time?”

Ludger didn’t respond.

His will became spell.

Once again, spears of light—the same kind that had harassed Luypholdt so many times—rained down.

Luypholdt knew these were the most troublesome of Ludger’s attacks.

Too fast. Too hard to block.

He shrouded himself in black demonic mana, enveloping his entire body.

He would block the assault coming from all directions.

At the same time, he gathered mana in both hands and conjured thunder.

Violet lightning crackled as he prepared to launch it at Ludger.

But then—

He realized he couldn’t see anything.

What...?

Looking around, Luypholdt’s eyes widened.

Darkness.

Pitch-black, impenetrable darkness surrounded him.

He looked down in confusion—and the ground beneath his feet gave way.

Caught off guard, Luypholdt lost his balance and fell into the pit.

At the bottom—countless metallic spears, glinting in the dark.

Luypholdt was impaled without resistance.

“GRAAH!”

He grabbed the shaft of one that pierced clean through his chest.

This was no ordinary spear.

It was made with metal magic, alchemy, and reinforced enchantments.

Luypholdt gripped it and snap!—the shaft broke.

“With this?!”

He swung his arm, wrapped in black mana, and shattered the remaining spears.

Then leapt out of the pit.

But waiting for him was a storm of magic from every element.

Tree roots bound his limbs—then a spear of light pierced his abdomen.

He flexed his limbs to tear the roots—but a wind bullet struck him square in the forehead.

He tried to ignore it and exert force again—when a massive weight struck from behind.

A giant boulder dropped from the air and crushed him.

React—

As he fell toward the ground, pinned beneath the rock, Luypholdt racked his brain.

And just then, the ground itself rose, forming a perfect rectangular metal pillar.

Still crushed by the rock, Luypholdt was slammed between stone and steel.

The force shattered the boulder, scattering debris in every direction.

Through the gaps in the fragments, spells of every element poured in like arrows, striking him over and over without rest.

What is this...?

A magic storm—so relentless that it gave him not even a single moment to recover.

Within the storm of spells, Luypholdt could do nothing but endure—he couldn’t so much as lift a finger in response.

What the hell is this...?

There was only one opponent.

And yet, he was struggling more now than when he fought against multiple enemies at once.

How can a human wield every elemental attribute?

That was what Luypholdt couldn’t comprehend.

According to everything he knew, a mage could only command a limited number of elements.

Of the ten known elements in modern magic, there were no recorded cases of anyone handling more than seven.

And yet Ludger was using all ten.

When Luypholdt had seen him use the rare element of light, he had thought him lucky.

But now he was wielding darkness, plants—even metal.

This was absurd.

Talent.

That short but overwhelming word echoed in Luypholdt’s mind.

He didn’t want to admit that he had hit a wall as a mage.

He had trained to the brink of collapse, pushed himself to the edge in every battle zone.

Yet a wall had always stood in front of him.

A wall called talent—unscalable, no matter how he clawed at it.

It hadn’t taken long to realize that he would never surpass it through proper means.

So he chose another path.

Even if it was vile and corrupt—if it made him stronger, then so be it.

What caught his eye in that moment... was black magic.

So Luypholdt joined the Liberation Army, built connections in the underworld, and offered himself as an experiment.

Through inhumane procedures, he strengthened his body.

He killed and grafted the bodies of living mages onto himself and even accepted demonic power.

All of it... was to overcome the wall of talent.

Because in the end, power and results were what justified everything.

And it worked—he became strong.

Now, all that remained was to revel in this power.

He would crush those who once scorned him and bask in superiority.

To prove them wrong.

To declare that in order to become powerful, any method was acceptable.

Right and wrong were for the victor to decide.

At least, that’s what he had believed.

But what the hell is this man?

An unexpected threat had appeared.

A man who had stayed quietly among the ordinary—while hiding true talent the entire time.

Even as Luypholdt struggled desperately, Ludger used multiple unfamiliar spells with ease, exhibited an unbelievable level of mana control and release...

...and on top of it all, resisted the effects of demonic power entirely.

That was what rippled deep inside Luypholdt’s heart.

No.

This couldn’t be.

The world couldn’t be this unfair.

Ludger’s spells had not dealt lethal damage to his body.

But they had shaken something far more critical—his inner inferiority.

A wielder of demonic power was now... mentally overwhelmed?

The irony couldn’t be greater.

“Graaaahhh!”

Luypholdt released a surge of demonic power.

Black mana roared out, pushing back Ludger’s spells—

No, it didn’t just repel them. It deconstructed them.

The transformation didn’t stop there.

Black mana concentrated in both of Luypholdt’s arms, causing them to swell like balloons.

His fists, now as massive as his entire torso, clenched tightly.

He slammed both arms into the ground.

Cracks spread like spiderwebs, and the ground buckled beneath the force.

Debris exploded upward, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Within that dust, a flash of yellow light—

And then, like a cannonball, Luypholdt shot toward Ludger.

At the same time, a wave of black energy radiated from his body—

But unlike before, it wasn’t scattered over a wide area.

It was focused, entirely, on Ludger.

The wave struck Ludger’s body with a violent shudder.

He didn’t lose consciousness.

But the mist of mana he had been controlling momentarily scattered.

The spell he had been preparing fizzled out.

That was the exact opening Luypholdt had aimed for.

Even if his target didn’t collapse like the others, he had calculated that a concentrated wave could at least disrupt a spell.

And it worked.

Luypholdt closed the distance and pulled back his grotesquely enlarged right arm.

A horrifying smile stretched across his face, all the way to his ears.

If he landed this punch, Ludger’s frail human body would be shredded like soaked paper.

He admitted it—when it came to magic alone, Ludger was the strongest present.

But battles weren’t decided by magic alone.

Victory meant using every power at one’s disposal.

And in that sense, Luypholdt had no hesitation wielding demonic strength.

But then, Ludger did something strange.

He stretched out an open palm toward Luypholdt—

As if making one final, desperate move.

“Pointless desperation—!”

Luypholdt’s words never finished.

Suddenly, a crushing pressure slammed down on him from above.

He didn’t even get to swing his fist.

Instead, he was flattened to the ground like a frog.

“......?!”

His eyes widened in disbelief at the incomprehensible force.

Despite the immense resistance, Luypholdt managed to lift his head slightly to look at Ludger.

His left hand was raised vertically, as if in prayer, placed over his chest.

His right arm was still extended toward Luypholdt.

A simple gesture.

And yet, the effect it produced was beyond comprehension.

“A... mudra?”

It resembled one. But something felt... different.

Luypholdt could feel it instinctively.

“I told you, didn’t I?”

Ludger looked down at Luypholdt, who glared up with a disbelieving stare.

“That I’d show you what real magic is.”