How To Live As An Academy Extra Villain

101 – Acceleration (5)

-Thump thump thump!

At the sound of a knock on her door, Christina, who had been sleeping motionlessly, opened her eyes.

Christina reached out her hand and pulled back her curtains. She wondered if she had overslept, but outside it was still the time of the moon and stars.

Christina frowned and threw her blanket all over her head. She was in a bad mood because her sweet sleep was interrupted.

Christina was dreaming that dream again today. She was a market expert. She had a fight between the light people and the shadow people, but no one could stop them. However, the fight ended when a vicious horse trampled them both.

She laughs happily at the sight, and her male horse approaches her. It was a male horse with a black mane and gray eyes. After stroking the horse’s mane a couple of times, he immediately climbed onto the horse’s back, which had neither a saddle nor stirrups.

Her horse galloped towards the wide plains, and riding on its back, I felt an infinite sense of freedom.

Her dream began after her trip to the South. At first it was just a vague recollection, but as the same dream repeated itself every day, I could now feel its clear outline.

Christina also realized something. The time for her to fulfill her duties is just around the corner. It has been nearly 10 years since she was designated as the next saint.

Her first dream as a saint was a prophecy and a revelation. She did this to all saints in her history, and even her predecessor, Erich, subjugated Tarasque right after he had his first dream.

The gigantic monster that roamed the northern part of the empire was now stuffed under the cathedral and kept as evidence of faith. She was so surprised when she first saw it. A scourge with a lizard’s head, six lion’s feet, a turtle’s shell, and a scorpion’s tail.

But when Christina asked her in the past, Erich simply answered calmly. She said she just dreamed that she caught a naughty kitten.

If even her kitten was a huge monster, then what on earth does her dream imply? A light person and a shadow person, a fierce male horse with gray eyes.

The revelation seemed out of her grasp. She only vaguely reminded me of one person.

-Thump thump thump!

When there was no answer from inside, there was another knock on the door. Christina couldn’t hold on any longer and she kicked the covers away. And she walked nervously toward her door.

She said several times that she would definitely not hold the early morning service. If the fat priest spoke nonsense again, he was going to kick her ass this time.

– Jump!

“…Sister Rosanna?”

“Saint. It’s been a while since I saw you.”

Contrary to Christina’s expectations, a middle-aged nun wearing neat clothes and glasses was standing in front of her door. Although she was two or three times her age, the nun politely treated Christina as soon as she saw her.

The nun was also someone Christina knew well. When she was studying in the Holy Kingdom, her teacher was Pharaoh Sanna.

“Oh my god. What’s going on in Westford?”

“I have urgent business to deliver to you, so I have come to you at this late hour despite the rudeness. Please forgive my rudeness…”

“That’s rude. Don’t say anything absurd. Come inside…”

Christina opened her door and gestured, but the nun shook her head and did not move a single step. Instead, she took out a small piece of rolled up parchment from her arms and handed it to him.

“How can I cause such trouble? Instead, do this…”

“…What is this?”

“This is Erich-sama’s last dream. Also, now that the Holy Sword has awakened from its sleep, I am telling you to prepare for the future…”

“…Then?”

Sister Rosana nodded her head silently in response to Christina’s question. Although she suggested it several times, Rosanna went back and instead of going back to her bed, Christina turned on the light in her room.

Among all the saints of the past, Erich was exceptionally special. Her predictions were comparable to those of the greatest astrologers. Although difficult dreams occasionally pop up, the interpreted prophecy has never gone astray.

And judging from the expression that the Holy Sword woke up from its sleep, Erich’s last dream was definitely related to a hero.

Christina sat on a wooden chair and unfolded her parchment. There was only one line of sentence written there in neat handwriting.

‘The planned starlight has gone awry, so we can only move forward by lighting our own path.’

“…?”

Christina narrowed her brows and fell into deep thought until dawn.

***

There was a strict order not to return until all the evil beasts were slain, and a tracking party was formed centered around the vice-commander instead of the knight commander who was supposed to protect the imperial family. The knights faithfully performed their mission, and after twenty days of pursuit, they were finally able to catch the tail of evil.

The place where the knights are now was the border with the East. The empire was vast, but the ruined eastern part accounted for much more than 50% of its area. The deep wounds had been healed, but even the recovery of the East, let alone the Eastern Continent that had been lost forever, was still a long way off.

There was no way to catch them if they hid in those ruins, but fortunately, we were able to catch up with the traces of those who were running away from this village. Most of them died during the battle or chose to die themselves when it became difficult, but a few people were able to be secured.

“Huh…Huh…Kkiik…”

In the village square, there was a man kneeling, tied tightly. The black tattoo of the Omangseong Fortress was clearly visible on his arm.

There were corpses with tattoos like that scattered around. The knights gathered the bodies in one place and prepared to set them on fire.

Several long bamboo needles were stuck in his head, and behind him, a knight in armor was repeatedly inserting and withdrawing needles into every corner of his head.

Depending on where he inserted the needle, the expression of the man on his knees distorted and relaxed repeatedly. He pushed it in so deeply that his brain fluid and blood came out all the way to the ear of the needle.

“Vice-captain. I’m ready.”

As soon as the needle got stuck in a certain part, the engineer turned his gaze and nodded. There, I saw another man wearing plate armor with a lion symbol on it. His body and bones were magnificent, and there was no part of his face that was not scarred. After checking the driver’s signal, he immediately began interrogating him.

“Tell me. How did you break through the imperial palace’s protective barrier?”

“…Bloody reversal…Squeak…Find the person holding the snake and monkey…Cut off the limbs and head according to the instructions of the inverted star…Squeak…”

The fierce resistance from a moment ago disappeared, and the man calmly began to spew out the facts he knew.

After hearing the devil worshiper’s words, the vice-captain narrowed his eyes. It was because that horrible scene came back to me again. The guardian trees were all withered and dead, and human bodies were lying in pieces around them. With traces of black magic unfolding through it.

“What is the poison?”

“… Extracted from the last basilisk’s tooth… Ugh… Mixed with the helmet flower… Yaaa…”

“Basilisk…?”

The vice-captain closed his eyes tightly. I hoped not, but ominous predictions are never wrong.

The Basilisk was a monster that had already been confirmed extinct decades ago. To be precise, the empire came forward and stopped the seed on a large scale. All the bodies were burned and disposed of, and now only unconfirmed sightings from the borderlands are occasionally floating around. All the grass in the place where the big snake passed was withered and dead.

The enemy targeted the princess instead of the absent emperor, but her assassination failed and the princess only received a light cut on her arm.

But the princess’ condition worsened day by day, and her healers found it difficult to even maintain her current condition. Even her divine power did not affect those wounds. That was also the reason why the Basilisk was exterminated.

The vice-captain continued the interrogation, trying hard to swallow the boiling hatred.

“Why did you attack the imperial palace?”

“…Ugh…The cornerstone is broken…If this goes on…Prophecy…Evil…Division…Agagak…”

“Petri. Are you sure you released it correctly?”

As the questions and answers continued, the condition of the kneeling man gradually became more and more bizarre. When the vice-captain sensed something strange and asked, the engineer behind him looked at the area where the needle was inserted. Then he answered in a puzzled tone.

“…I’m sure.”

“…Tsk. Who was the one who ordered the work?”

“Agagak…gag…gya gya…”

The man was now letting out unpleasant groans without answering. The vice-captain gave instructions to the driver behind him as if there was nothing he could do.

“It looks like there’s a ban on it. It doesn’t matter if it’s completely broken. Increase the intensity.”

“Yes.”

The knight listened to the command and pushed the needle deeper into his brain. Tears flowed from the man’s eyes and saliva flowed from his mouth like a never-ending waterfall.

“Who’s behind it?”

“That…uheo…je…priest…”

-Puck!

The man’s head exploded before he could finish speaking. The frowning vice-captain wiped away the blood, then raised his head and attempted to give instructions to the knight in front of him.

“Petri. Bring on the next one…Huh?”

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah…”

The vice-captain was momentarily speechless at the eerie sight before his eyes.

All that was left of Petri’s eyes were gaping black holes, with a few strands that looked like bundles of nerves hanging down. The two eyeballs were lying helplessly on the stone floor.

Looking around, the knights who were resting around them were suddenly clutching their eye sockets and letting out helpless screams.

“Oh my…!”

-Rustling

The vice-captain immediately drew his sword and prepared himself. The sound of his feet stepping on fallen leaves was heard from behind the vice-captain. And the moment he turned his body, the vice-captain’s vision also turned upside down.

“Huh?”

The vice-captain saw his own body with its head cut off. Blood was gushing out from the cross section, and the limbs that had lost control were shaking violently as if they had chills. Soon his severed head fell and the floor became the sky.

The last thing that came into my blurry vision was a shadow with a bronze mask covering its face and a crown of thorns.