The Strongest Student of the Weakest Academy - Chapter 340

Chapter 340: The Beginning Of The End [II]

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

A violent explosion shook the air, echoing across the mountain range like a drum of war. The faint shockwave rippled through the trees, scattering dust and leaves.

“Good,” Aestrea muttered, his back pressed against a rough tree trunk as he watched faint flashes of light in the distance.

“Looks like they’ve started the attack on the first layer.”

His voice was calm, almost too calm for someone standing this close to a battlefield.

Truthfully, there was a secret passage leading directly into the mountain’s core. He knew about it from one of his past lives, but he never mentioned it to Christina or the others.

If they came through this way, the outer and middle layers would surround them instantly.

No, this was something he had to do alone.

It was more efficient this way.

“Alright,” he whispered, gripping his sword tighter, his eyes glowing faintly.

“It’s time.”

Fwoosh

He shot forward, like a streak of black lightning cutting through the fog.

Within seconds, he reached a clearing where five figures stood guard, their bodies faint and distorted. Gods of Invisibility.

“HUH? INTRU—!”

Splurt!

The first one didn’t even finish his word before his head flew off, spinning once before thudding against the dirt.

His blood sprayed out in a fine crimson mist, dyeing Aestrea’s sword, [Midnight], a deeper shade of red.

The other four instantly turned, spears raised and ready.

Aestrea’s lips curled slightly.

His crimson and white eyes glowed intensely as faint runes formed within them.

The air around him rippled.

“Thank you for the ability~” he whispered softly.

Swish…

His form suddenly flickered and vanished from their sight.

“WHAT?!” One of them shouted, spinning around wildly.

“HE’S ALSO A GOD OF INVISIBILITY?!”

Before they could react, a faint whistle cut through the silence.

SHNK!

One’s chest burst open as a black blade pierced straight through from behind. The god gasped, blood gurgling from his mouth, before his body fell limp.

Swish!

Another turned to run, but Aestrea appeared right in front of him, eyes cold.

The man’s pupils widened, and then Aestrea’s hand gripped his face and slammed it against the ground, the impact carving a crater into the dirt.

“Three left,” Aestrea muttered.

FWOOM!

A spear of divine energy shot toward his side, but he tilted his head slightly, letting it graze his cheek.

In that same moment, he stepped forward, his sword moving in a smooth, curved slash, splitting the attacker cleanly from shoulder to waist.

“DAVID COVER MY BACK!”

“I’M FUCKING TRYING DUDE!!!”

The remaining two panicked, shouting something as they tried to retreat into the mist.

But it was useless.

The air behind them shimmered, then Aestrea appeared again.

SWOOSH!

His sword danced once, twice, and two heads flew through the air, spinning slowly before landing beside their fallen comrades.

Silence returned, broken only by the faint dripping of blood onto the dirt.

Aestrea sheathed his sword and exhaled lightly, his eyes turning toward the faint glow deeper inside the mountain.

“…Five down,” he muttered.

He stepped over the corpses, his boots leaving faint ripples of dark energy in the ground as he silently pushed a small hidden lever in the snow.

A ring of light opened in the ground, showing a teleportation array glowing in a pale yellow color, but Aestrea didn’t enter it yet.

Instead, he grabbed one of the hoodies the Gods of Invisibility were wearing and put it on before turning himself invisible.

He activated the effect of the hoodie, and now, people could see a hoodie flying in the air.

This was simply to hide his identity as soon as he got teleported to their base.

“Alright, let’s enter this shit now…”

He stepped onto the glowing yellow array, and after waiting for the flickering glow to disappear, he was finally teleported away.

FWOOM!

The world twisted, and in an instant, the snowy forest vanished.

Aestrea reappeared inside a dimly lit stone tunnel. Torches lined the walls, their golden flames flickering weakly.

“…John, is that you?”

The voice came from ahead as a tall man holding a spear, walking toward him.

Aestrea didn’t answer right away. He took a breath while shaking his head, and then changed his tone, perfectly mimicking another voice.

“David.”

“Ah, David, huh? Guess it’s my turn to watch over the passage again,” the guard said, scratching the back of his head. He started walking closer, still half-asleep.

Then his brow furrowed.

“…Why are you looking around so much?” he asked suspiciously.

Aestrea tilted his head slightly.

“…Why is the base upside down?” the man suddenly muttered, confused.

SHNK!

His head spun off cleanly, blood spraying upward in a crimson fountain. The body collapsed in a heap, twitching for a moment before going still.

Aestrea kicked it aside without emotion.

“Lucky,” he muttered quietly.

“It’s only him in this section.”

He took off his hoodie and sneakily peeked around the stone corner. But the sight that greeted him made his expression darken.

“Mhm~, it seems that you guys improved a little bit~”

The voice was smooth, sweet, dripping with charm, and one he recognized immediately.

Selindra, the Goddess of Lust.

She stood at the center of the hall, her long hair glowing faintly under divine light, her presence intoxicating even from a distance.

Around her, several gods were kneeling, holding spears crossed over their chests.

“Of course, we did, Goddess Selindra!” one of them said proudly.

‘…Is she part of the Seraphic Division?’ Aestrea frowned lightly.

He didn’t want to fight her, not because he feared her strength, but because her authority could be dangerous.

He didn’t know how strong it actually was since he had only been under a weak part of it when he was in the cafeteria teasing the others.

‘Tsk… it seemed that I’ll need to take a contour.’

Aestrea backed up.

He was confident that he could definitely kill her; however, seeing how high she was getting treated, this probably meant that she was someone important, so he needed to be extra careful, as he didn’t know if she had guards or something like that.

So, instead of taking the right like he did now, he went to the left, where he entered a narrow tunnel where the sound of bubbling liquid echoed faintly.

From a corner, he saw several gods in white robes stirring large vats filled with glowing green fluid.

The smell was sharp, like burned herbs and metal.

He slowly walked without making a sound between them, reaching the next section in an extremely sneaky, bicky style.

‘…This… fuck.’

Aestrea sucked a cold breath as he noticed three 5✯ True Gods heartily talking with each other.

He could probably deal with them, but he needed to bring out his 『 ✯ Moon Mark ✯ 』, which he didn’t want to.

He could deal with 5✯ True Gods puppets in a single strike, but those puppets didn’t exactly have authority; they simply had the attributes.

And an Authority increased battle power a lot!

‘…Tsk, can I actually deal with them without the Moon Mark? There are three of them… if it were only one, it wouldn’t be a problem, but three… that complicates it a little.’

He rested a hand on his sword, his fingers tightening slightly.

[Ding! An option choice event has been triggered. Please choose one option!

Option 1: Take the three of them head-on! Get the Domain of Silence (Creates a domain that doesn’t make any sound and is hidden from prying eyes. The cooldown of the domain is 48 hours.).

Option 2: Leave the place. None

Option 3: Make a sound to lead them on and try to kill them one by one. Get a temporary strength boost card (Increases attributes by 1.5x during fifteen minutes).]

‘Huh…?’

Aestrea’s eyes widened.

‘Is this the option function she meant…?’ He raised an eyebrow as he began reading all the options.

‘Mhm…’

It was obvious that the second one was a no-go.

However, the first and third options were also quite hard to decide.

But he decided to go with the first one, as the Domain of Silence was actually permanent despite having a cooldown, while the strength boost card was only fifteen minutes.

[Ding! You have gained the Domain of Silence!]

So, Aestrea didn’t waste any time as he deactivated his invisibility and slowly walked towards the three gods.

“What the—?!”

One of the gods turned sharply as Aestrea stepped into view. His sudden presence made all three of them stop talking at once.

The tallest one frowned and raised his hand, divine energy flaring around him.

“Who are you?! State your—”

But before he could finish, everything around them changed.

FLASH!

In the blink of an eye, the rocky hallway vanished.

The air itself twisted, and suddenly they stood inside a completely white room, smooth and empty, with no walls, and more importantly, not a single ounce of sound.

Not even their footsteps echoed.

“What… what is this place?!” one of them shouted, his voice coming out silent; his lips moved, but no sound escaped.

His eyes widened in panic as he clutched his throat.

The second god also tried to yell, but nothing came out either. He turned to his partner, gesturing wildly, confusion spreading across all three faces.

Then their gazes locked on Aestrea.

He stood there calmly, sword lowered at his side, his cold silver eyes staring back at them.

They focused their divine senses on him, and what they felt made them pause.

“…A 2✯ True God?” one mouthed silently, before grinning in disbelief.

The second one smirked, shaking his head.

“You’re kidding me… a little 2✯ dares to walk into our chamber?”

The third laughed, shoulders shaking even though no sound came out.

Their lips moved again and again, mocking him, calling him arrogant, foolish.

But Aestrea didn’t respond; he calmly reached down, sheathing [Midnight], the faint metallic click echoing only in his mind.

Thrum…

A black mist began to rise from his feet, swirling slowly around his body. His aura grew heavier, thicker, darker, until the air itself seemed to vibrate from pressure.

The three gods instantly stopped laughing as they felt a dangerous aura coming out of his body.

At their reaction, Aestrea’s lips curled up, and then a cold breath escaped his lips as he spoke, and surprisingly, they could hear his voice.

“『 ✯ Authority of Ice ✯ 』”