The Former Holy Knight. Having Lost My Job and Childhood Friend, I Decided to Start a Dark Guild - Chapter 79

There’s a lingering pain in my fist from punching Bumpy. I feel bad for hitting him, but it’s helped me gradually understand the makeup of this world.

One thing is clear: this is no mere dream world.

The smell of wood in the academy, the glossy scent of eau de parfum emanating from the nobility. The sunlight shining through the windows into the academy. Smell, pain—all of it is as real as reality itself. Yes, this place might as well be another reality.

The hypothesis that arises from this is, to put it mildly, dreadful.

While using the invisibility skill “Shadow Walk,” Kano is heading towards the underground storage, and with each moment, a sense of crisis grows.

It’s not just the nobles and holy knights who have been put to sleep by Lily’s skill. Follusa Maria, the murderous lunatic from Gambino, and Arius Jung, a class of madman in his own right. I’ve seen various heretics like them, previously confined in the dungeons of the Giant Stone Castle, now inside the academy. Like the holy knights and nobles, they too have been put to sleep and imprisoned here.

The holy knights all look tense, standing a little away from the heretics with their swords at the ready. The heretics haven’t grasped the situation yet and haven’t made any moves, but it wouldn’t be surprising if they were to start a combat at any moment. What would happen if we combine this situation with the earlier hypothesis…

Just then, I hear Lily’s voice in my mind, speaking from the real world.

(You’re right, Mr. Leon. The dream world isn’t just a realm of dreams. If you get hurt there, blood will flow from your physical body…)

“So it is.”

Meaning, the knights and nobles are simultaneously in danger in both worlds.

As I approach the corridor leading underground, a soft voice asks, “Do you sense Don here, perhaps?” I look around and see the bald head of Sokrate, a heretic escapee from my family, peeking out from the ceiling.

Sokrate, despite his fierce appearance, says with a look of regret, “Don, sorry. I failed the mission. I was put to sleep before I could extract Duke Leblanc.”

“There’s nothing we could have done against Lily’s skill.”

Sokrate reaches down from the ceiling. “I want to share some information, please come up here.”

I jump up, grab his hand, and climb into the attic. Sokrate, a big man over two meters tall, can surprisingly fit into such cramped spaces due to his agility.

Sokrate looks anxious as he shares, “I heard some holy knights say that if Kano-chan doesn’t spill the beans, they plan to cut off her ears and limbs to make her talk about the whole plan.”

As expected, the holy knights, like the inquisitors, do not shy away from torturing heretics. Naturally, if they cut off her ears, Kano in the real world would lose her ears too. We must act quickly.

“Sokrate, do you know where Captain Cecil of the holy knights is?” 

Just then, a brilliant light envelops the corridor and the attic where we are hiding. Following a tremor, the windows of the corridor shatter all at once, and a blast sweeps through the academy. The force is tremendous, filling even the attic with dust.

Undoubtedly, this is Cecil’s most formidable holy magic, “Star of Bethlehem.” It seems Cecil is currently engaged in battle, and it must be with a formidable heretic to necessitate such a spell.

Finally, I understand why the barrier protecting the real-world Cecil is weakening. Cecil can’t cast holy magic indefinitely; every spell uses mana, the source of holy magic.

Naturally, a major spell like this consumes a large amount of mana. The longer the battle in this world continues, the more mana depletes, and the protective barrier around the real-world Cecil weakens. This must be Prince Raymond’s strategy.

“Sokrate, can you create a disturbance in place of me to protect Kano? Just buying some time is fine.”

With a feeble expression, Sokrate nodded. “If Don orders it, I am ready.”

I instructed Sokrate to head to the storage where Kano was held captive. He gave a heavy nod, then disappeared into the darkness, crawling through the attic.

I descended from the attic to the corridor, now tattered by the blast from the holy magic, and leaped out of the window. Once outside, I could hear Cecil’s voice directing the holy knights in the distance. It seemed the battle was taking place around the first training ground.

I had just reached the archery range leading to the training ground when the effects of the “Shadow Walk” skill wore off, materializing my form. In the next instant, I felt a slash directed at me and swiftly jumped back.

Barely dodging the blade, swords swung from both sides. I ducked and leaped backward again, stabilizing my breath before facing forward, where three holy knights stood.

“Leon, it’s been a while,” one of them said.

The figures before me were three senior knights in full armor. I could not forget them—the senior knights who tried to capture me on the day I left the Order.

“I never thought I’d fulfill the royal command given to me by Prince Raymond in such a place,” one remarked.

With those words, the holy knights lunged at me, swords swinging.

I parried the slashes with a small knife, but sharp blows from the senior knights kept coming. From their relentless swordplay, it was clear they intended to kill me, fulfilling Prince Raymond’s royal command.

For a while, the deadlock continued. The holy knights used holy magic to slow my movements, then swung their swords. I continued to barely block their attacks.

I could turn the tide if I activated Seneca’s heretic skill “Light Speed Killer,” but after tonight’s repeated battles, my stamina was nearly depleted. Activating the heretic skill could be done only once, and I wanted to save any remaining strength.

As I blocked their swords, I said, “Hey! If you have any sense of justice, let me pass! If I don’t bring Cecil back to reality, the Order will suffer fatal damage!”

“Foolish, obeying the royal family is our justice! Did you not learn that much at this academy?”

Indeed, absolute loyalty to the royal family was a natural duty for a holy knight. Further discussion was pointless. I had no choice but to activate the heretic skill, but just then, a cold female voice rang out.

“What in the world are you doing?”

Following her voice, a sharp flash descended from the sky, and both the senior holy knights and I quickly stepped back. It was Sword Saint Lilis, of the First Holy Knight Order, who had swung the radiant longsword.

Lilis looked back and forth between me and the holy knights and said, “Really, it’s hard to tell who’s friend and who’s foe here.”

Then, Lilis readied her sword again.

“However, I think I understand the reason for this fight. For now, Leon, I’ll side with you.”