Terminally-Ill Genius Dark Knight - Chapter 67

Chapter 67

My crisis sensors have been working well.

 

For the record, the current situation is difficult for any one person to handle.

Professor Lars von Celestia would have something to do with Mein Ludgwig. What kind of person does he anticipate?

I don’t know if there’s any connection between the two.

But at the very least, I need to buy myself some time to figure things out.

“Professor Lars. What are you doing?”

I ask in a flat voice, sheathing my sword for a moment, my gaze darting toward Professor Lars. As if I were confident I could slay the demon in front of me at any moment.

Of course.

[6 minutes and 40 seconds left in the active skill ‘Time of Genius’].

Time continued to pass.

If I could hold it back, even for a moment, I would.

“Even if you’re a professor, you won’t be able to escape responsibility if you let a demon in, so please choose wisely.”

Now that I’m delivering a despicable villainous line, my murdereous intent suddenly feels more real.

……Well, I’m the villain, right?

So why is there this nagging feeling in the back of my mind?

Maybe the triangle of my conscience hasn’t been rounded yet.

Luckily, Professor Lars seemed to get my meaning right away.

“Sure. Don’t worry. Just give me a minute to talk to him.”

He said, “I’ll take care of the rest,” or something to that effect.

I watched Lars walk slowly toward me and pondered. What was the story between them?

I realized that the scenarios in Inner Lunatic are vast.

It’s not exactly the kind of story you’d want to tell while rolling around in a game like this…….

‘When you think about it, it’s not surprising, there are countless characters and stories in Inner Lunatic that I haven’t discovered yet, and considering I’ve cleared it 27 times and have less than 30% of the achievements… I suppose it’s only natural that something like this would unfold.’

However, why does it feel so foreign?

A story to be told by character A, who is nothing more than an extra.

Maybe it’s because I didn’t realize that the fingerprints were too much.

As the incident continues, Lars continues to take steps toward Ludwig. His lips finally parted to reveal the words.

“Ludwig… you hideous creature. Why have you become so ugly? Didn’t I tell you, you have no talent?”

Talent.

It was something Lars had been overly obsessed with.

Could it have something to do with this?

Ludwig’s face crumpled at Lars’s words.

His voice trembled, his eyes glazed over.

[……Who do you think you are to say that, Professor Lars, and who do you think you are to cast me into the deepest abyss?]

“You had no talent as a mage. You were doomed to die on the battlefield. Besides… you were already missing an arm.”

My ears perk up. When I first met Ludwig, his right arm had indeed already taken the form of a sword that had sprouted from the demon’s power.

That means he lost an arm in the past.

There must be a connection to what they’re talking about now.

Ludwig scoffed.

[Is that why you abandoned me, because your apprentice is a talentless one-armed bastard?]

“I didn’t abandon you, I gave you a chance to live. You were never meant to cling to your vain honor with that body, and though you ended up like this… I really didn’t want you to.”

Lars sounded furious.

This was indeed his former pupil.

Otherwise, that blunt professor wouldn’t be talking to him like that.

Why he was obsessed with me. It had to have something to do with that.

It was a gamer’s intuition.

The professor’s shoulders slumped.

He looked practically in pain right now.

“Have you forgotten how many people have died on the battlefield because of their talent? I told you to stop being so foolish. Do you not know that I too… had a child I did not want to lose!”

[However, I wanted to be honorable].

“You said you would throw away your life to maintain your nobility……? Do you really think that’s the right thing to do? If I hadn’t been swayed by those empty words… my son wouldn’t have died in vain!

That’s why I wanted to protect you. That’s why I expelled you. It was because you kept trying to go to war as a one-armed man!”

[Even if that made me an outcast from my family? My expulsion from Eldain completely destroyed my reputation and that of my family, and you abandoned me].

A few more words were exchanged.

In the meantime, I was able to find out what happened behind the scenes between the two of them and…….

I lost three minutes of [genius time].

I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to catch him ……, but I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time.

* * *

The long and short of the story is this.

Ludwig the Demon.

No, not yet a demon, but a student of Eldain, and the man responsible for expelling him from the school.

Lars von Celestia.

As it turns out, Lars and Ludwig got along quite well.

Lars thought he could control it, although Ludwig had a self-destructive tendency to take on too much responsibility at times.

He thought he was a good teacher, and Ludwig had talent.

But this was arrogance.

One day, Ludwig returned from a mission with his right arm missing.

Lars realized in that moment.

My son, the one who died, was too obsessed with fame.

He didn’t want his reputation as a professor to be tarnished by a corrupt family, so he went to battle and died, even though he didn’t want to.

He returned a cold corpse.

His honor tarnished.

In truth, Lars felt a sense of pride when his son said he was going to fight and earn his honor. Finally, he would be treated better.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel that way.

But I didn’t realize it until I lost him.

My son’s room. The diary lay there, a daily account of his anguish and fear of war. It was a tribute to his father.

Lars realized.

That his son had gone to a battle he didn’t want to go to, and that he had died because of it.

He didn’t want to pass that on to his apprentice.

Still, in his obsession with performance, Ludwig’s arm was blown off….

which paralyzed his reason.

When Ludwig asked to be reinstated, Lars refused and expelled him. So he does not return to the battlefield.

If he did, he would not die.

It was an act of selfishness.

The incident ended up dragging them both through the mud.

Ludwig was disgraced and made a fool of himself. He wandered the continent, trying to find work, but no one would hire a one-armed wizard.

He was alone, and a small voice whispered to him.

[Do you want power?]

Power.

It was the one sound Ludwig hoped for.

He decided to join hands with the one who was supposed to give him power.

Even if it was a demon.

In the meantime, Lars…….

had been working long hours on a study.

To complete a certain paper.

* * *

Lars von Celestia.

He is portrayed in the game as a headstrong, stubborn professor on several occasions. However, not many people thought there was a reason for his backstory.

It was just assumed to be his personality.

It was easy to dismiss it as just a personality.

He’s virtually impossible to recruit and doesn’t have great combat stats.

I’ve seen him occasionally in events with professors and instructors…….

but even then, it doesn’t mean much.

Furthermore, while Lars’ family was prestigious, this was only a development in his generation.

As you might have guessed from past reminiscences, his family is not wealthy.

They don’t have a backbone, and they don’t have someone to back them up, so their efficiency isn’t naturally high.

…But underneath all that, there’s a deep-seated trauma that people don’t pay attention to.

There’s the professor who lost his son in the war and wishes his student hadn’t died.

And a man struggling at the end of his life.

I know.

‘The name of the journal that Lars is studying and about to publish…….’

[about improved tools and disciplines for the disadvantaged, and their feasibility].

In a nutshell, it’s about making magic and swords accessible to those who can’t use them.

For the uninitiated, Lars doesn’t even ask for a patent on his work.

Even though he’s now a respected professor, he’s not using it to enrich himself.

‘The value of Lars’ thesis in the game doesn’t end there.

The accomplishments of the thesis are then used to craft and enhance artifacts.

This is where the artifact creation and enhancement system comes in.

While it does have some adverse effects on the villains……, these were minimal.

His thesis ended up saving a lot of underdogs.

But Ludwig doesn’t know this.

And even if he did, he’d deny it, because their relationship has now crossed the river of no return.

[You have taken everything from me by expelling me in the end, and I can never forgive you, Professor].

“……You are my disciple. Your sins are my sins, so I will stop you.”

[Professor, you cannot kill me].

Ludwig menacingly transformed his newly sprouted arm into a single black blade.

That was shape-shifting magic.

It was often used by disfigured mages to overcome their weaknesses.

Naturally, it started with demons.

To restore what had already been lost was tantamount to trespassing on forbidden territory.

Something inherently unacceptable.

But Ludwig, the demon, saw no such thing in his eyes, only a swift lunge to kill his former mentor.

On the other side, Lars has also made up his mind and manifests his magic.

Ziying.

The magic that had begun to radiate from his body was energized into the magic sword in his hands. It was an ancient magic tool used by the professors.

But I didn’t relax.

There were two reasons.

The first was that Lars wasn’t very strong.

He’s a great professor, but he didn’t get there by force.

The limits of his own natural talent were pretty clear, as his son was not gifted either.

Taking on a demon?

It’s easy to see that it’s not so easy.

It’s usually a team effort between the main character and the characters around him.

So, yeah.

Lars’ chances of winning here aren’t very high.

The second reason is even simpler.

If Ludwig is going to die anyway, I need to hit him with at least one more blow.

Unlike normal monsters, boss monsters have different contributions.

One hit on the boss gives the same amount of experience?

This is the best way to break the balance. This is why Inner Lunatic has made sure to prevent this from happening.

When it comes to hunting boss monsters, experience is distributed differently based on contribution.

What does that mean?

To maximize my life pool, it’s better to take on Demon Ludwig myself. If I’m going to kill him anyway, I might as well take advantage of it.

I gripped my sword hesitantly.

Not knowing what to expect. A mist of dirt rises.

Ludwig kicked up his feet, blocking my view.

Also, it was then.

Wham!

(chwaaas!)

 

A solid line formed on Professor Lars’s shoulder, a splash of red blood.

I immediately turned my head and didn’t stop using my greatest weapon.

[Active skill ‘Time of Genius’ is activating].

[Time remaining is 1 minute and 26 seconds].

‘That’s enough.’

I gestured with confidence, and Lars gritted his teeth.

He looked like he couldn’t get over the shock.

I thought I knew why. The tool Ludwig had used to close the distance between him and Lars in one fell swoop.

That was the problem.

“What…! That power…!”

‘The artifact Ludwig used was artificially created. It was the culmination of Lars’ life’s work. He had no idea that it would fall into the hands of a pupil who had chosen to become evil and threaten him.’

Sometimes a great invention can be used for the wrong reasons, and this is one of those times.

The danger of artifacts made for the weak falling into the hands of the enemy.

Lars hadn’t given it much thought when he began this thesis.

And now his apprentice has used it to attack him.

He can’t help but be shaken.

I stepped between them and said.

“Leave Professor Lars out of this. That sword is personal.”

I play the misunderstood Nox.

Two clear lavender eyes glow eerily in the moonlight.

I tighten my tone.

“Be still, for nothing can be called.”

I stay in the moment, tapping into the subtlest of crevices.

Lars’ pupils narrow as the momentum shifts.

I leap forward, not even paying attention to his reaction.

A clatter.

Something falls.

I know it. This foolish minion, Ludwig, who first appears, is nothing more than a device to keep the main character afloat.

And there is no protagonist in this world.

Not that I have any intention of becoming one.

[Ebony Dawn]

A blackened blade draws the first act of the Supreme Black Sword.

The layered darkness shoots precisely at the enemy, slicing through his regenerated arm, then through him again.

Then one, then two…….

Again and again, [Ebony Dawn] rips through his body.

Slash!

(seogeog!)

 

Tearing.

(jjijgo.)

 

Slash!

(seogeog!)

 

Tearing again.

(jjijneunda)

 

It was painful to listen to, but I never stopped.

The world of the Inner Lunatic.

Such is life in the Arkheim Empire.

It wasn’t long before his body finally collapsed.

Then, with a thud, Ludwig’s body crashed to the floor.

Without looking, I can guess the expression of the professor standing behind him.

His eyes are clearly sad.

It’s like looking at the back of an old man who has crossed an irreversible river.

He cries out without making a sound.

“Ludwig… it’s not…… you that’s stupid, it’s me…….”

Patter.

(hududug.)

 

The sound of something falling, like rain, lingered for a while.

Saying nothing, I stared down at Ludwig’s slowly hardening body. I’ve killed quite a few people in this life.

More times than I can count in this world.

I thought to myself in silence, listening only to Lars’ sobs.