翁公和媛媛在厨房里猛烈进出

Who could be here knocking on my door in the middle of the night?

Sitting on my bed, I tried to use my eyes to peer through the peephole on the door, but it was blocked by something.

Silently moving across my room, I considered escaping out the window, but after thinking it over, I decided there was a likely trap there.

If this person was an enemy, why would they knock on the door, notifying me of their presence?

Clearly, they would want me to panic and try to escape the room.

Staring at the night-black sheath in my hands, I considered just handing it over to whoever was at the door in exchange for my life.

All the teachers at the Academy were at least C rank, and since my enemy was chosen for the school\'s battle royale, he had to be B rank at the minimum.

...But would he really let me live after I handed him over the sword?

Why did he even use the blood-red sword in the first place?

Why couldn\'t he just use some other magical artifact to attack the prince; there were plenty of artifacts in the world that could generate fire and explosions.

What was so special about this damn sword?

Recalling my initial encounter, where I was naturally drawn to the sword, I came up with an assumption.

What made me different from everyone else, even Lily, who was also from Earth?

I possess the special trait of a dragon\'s will.

This sword had to be somehow related to that attribute of mine for me to be attracted to it, while both Zeng and Astrid were indifferent to it.

*THUD-THUD*

Snapping me out of my thoughts, my door once again shook as someone knocked on my door.

Keeping my tone calm, I carefully concealed the sheath by putting it under my bed before responding.

"It\'s midnight; who the hell is knocking on my door?"

"IT\'S ME, OPEN THE DOOR!"

Almost falling down in shock at the sound of a familiar female voice, I rushed to the door, putting my ear right beside it.

"Who is this?"

"YOU KNOW WHO; OPEN THE DOOR."

Could it be a voice changer..? No, they don\'t have those in this world, do they...

Yanking open the door, I saw Irene in a tattered uniform standing right outside my door with a panicked expression.

Without waiting for my reaction, Irene rushed into my room, slamming the door behind me and immediately grabbing a letter and a piece of paper.

As Irene began frantically scribbling something on a piece of paper, I regained my composure and hurried to her side before asking.

"So, do you mind explaining to me what the hell is going on, or are you just going to con-"

Standing up from the chair, Irene walked to the window and pointed to something in the distance before answering my question.

"T-the main dorm has been attacked... the others are fending off the intruder right now. T-the intruder is a teacher from this Academy."

Rushing to the window, I followed Irene\'s finger and saw the scene of the Royal Dormitory, a building famed for its impressive decor and architecture, in shambles.

Numerous windows were broken, pillars were knocked down, and inside the building, I could see the flashing of lights, indicating that spells were being cast.

...Why in the world would the teacher go to the royal dorm building instead of mine when I held the blood-red sword?

In the first place... how did the teacher know Zeng had the blood-red sword?

The only way for him to know Zeng was carrying the sword while he was in the academy was for him to use a tracking device.

Staring at the corrupted sheath that was covering my blood-red sword, I realized that my corruption had probably blocked the signal radiating from the tracking device on the sword.

Astrid was the last person in the collapsed clearing, wasn\'t she..? Coincidentally, she lived in the royal dormitory, the target of the teacher\'s attack.

Seeing that his signal had been cut off, the teacher must have gone to the tunnel under the bakery and somehow discovered that Astrid was the last one in the room, then assumed that she possessed the sword.

Or... was this entire attack bait to lure me and the sword in?

Turning the panicked Irene, who was staring out the window, I asked.

"Why did you come to me...? The teachers should be your fir-"

"YOU THINK I CAME TO YOU FIRST? a-all the t-teachers were gone a-and the principal too."

All of them must be meeting with important figures and working on setting up the festival... but still, leaving 0 teachers at the academy is...

Ah, they did leave teachers behind; they left behind the one that was currently attacking the royal dormitory!

"But still, why me, of all people? What the hell do you expect me to do..?"

Turning to me, Irene stammered out.

"A-astrid t-told me to come to you after the teachers... then she and the others left to fight."

Staring silently out of the window, I seriously considered my options.

Back after the Alya kidnapping incident, Liam, Lily, Kevin, Alya, Zach, and Irene had all entered the same dream and completed it together, ascending to D-rank.

Would Ruby and the entire main cast be enough to take a B-rank? Well, at their peak, one of them could destroy an A rank with ease... but right now, they were all D rank or less, so it was 100% a no.

But... what could I even do if I joined the fight?

Even if I handed over the blood-red sword, the teacher would still kill us to leave no witnesses alive, so that was useless.

A single D-rank like me would definitely be unable to turn the tides of the battle... but could I really leave this situation be?

No doubt, the teacher would be able to kill all the students in the dormitory before reinforcements arrived, so leaving the situation be was tantamount to me allowing the entire main cast and Ruby to die.

Sitting down on my bed, I turned to Irene, who was staring at me with eyes filled with hope and desperation as Astrid\'s words about me must have given her some false hope.

Wasn\'t this the same girl who called a harasser not even 3 weeks ago?

Grabbing the sheath under the bed, I tucked it under my waist. If I came face-to-face with the teacher, I could use it to stall for time or catch him off guard, albeit making me his target alongside the prince, Bertus.

...Wasn\'t the first time-line better than this? In that world, only Astrid and Bertus died, but now the entire main cast was in danger.

Looking at Irene, who had just handed the piece of paper she was writing on to a carrier pigeon outside my window, I said.

"Go get help from the outside; I\'ll see what Astrid needs."

Beating or defeating a B-rank at my level was impossible, but with all the tricks and abilities in my arsenal, stalling him for a short period was possible.

With Ruby\'s teleportation abilities, she could evacuate everyone while Irene rushed to the capital and sought support.

...Was I really entrusting my life to Irene and Ruby? Just who was I anymore?

Well, if I really was on the brink of dying, I would 100% escape using one of my contingency plans, even if everyone wasn\'t evacuated, but hey, at least I was trying.

Watching Irene surprisingly listen to my instructions and rush towards the academy gate, I headed to my wardrobe, put on my cloak, and grabbed a couple of mana-boosting rings that I had gotten back from the museum.

Unlike my cloak artifact, these weren\'t permanent, but for a short period of time, they would increase my mana capacity by an insane amount.

"...Well, there goes my stockpile."

Now fully dripped out in artifacts, I headed outside my dorm building, which was eerily quiet as no one besides me had noticed the attack on the royal dormitory yet.

What if I just got every student in the academy to help me siege the royal dormitory and take down the teacher?

Well, it would be a massacre. The teacher could simply cast a couple of AOE spells at the charging crowd, instantly killing hundreds of them at a time.

It would be funny, though... charging into the royal dormitory with an army of sixteen-year-olds by my side.

As I stared back at my dormitory, I noticed that a figure was exiting the building... well, a small figure at that.

Running up to me, the small black cat jumped onto my legs before climbing all the way up to my cloak and once again diving into my hoodie.

Well... it was the cat\'s choice, not mine.

[A/N: Do you guys prefer this novel cover or the last one + new character illustrations.]