The protagonist group discovered the lair of the secret cult.
Coincidentally, the person in charge of the cult within the school was running out of the lair to check the situation.
Imagine his surprise when he found out that all the traps he set had been released ahead of time.
Frankly, way more ahead of time.
They hadn't even planned the exact process or sequence of the attack—
which group would intercept the students and which group would distract the teachers.
The students and teachers who had turned to their side weren't briefed on anything.
So basically, they were at the budding stage—where they had just recruited the students.
Today was meant to be their first gathering to solidify the enticement and start talking about their plans.
So what on earth happened while I was gone?
And how did it blow up to this point in just five minutes??
The only thing saving him is that the commotion is still within the school premises.
News of this hasn't made it to the forces outside the school and in the capital.
But it had probably reached the headquarters by now.
Honestly, he really wanted to flee and abandon the plan.
But returning to the main organization without finding anything noteworthy would be a death sentence.
So he planned to use the chaos to investigate what had happened—in and out.
That's what he thought until he crossed paths with a group of students.
If it were any other students, he would have killed them immediately and used extreme torture to relieve his stress.
But the students standing in front of him were all people of interest.
A student from a normal family who had the talent to get into a school for nobles—on recommendation from the strongest teacher.
A low-rank noble who was said to be arrogant and worthless in all aspects.
He was ignored by his family and a disappointment to his father.
He was qualified as a candidate for joining the cult, and a move had been made on him by another student.
But something went wrong, and he ended up heavily injured—last known to be at the brink of death.
Suddenly, he woke up and became a changed person.
Everything about him was different.
His trash ability changed, and he became one of the strongest students in the school—on par with the one recommended by the strongest teacher.
His arrogant behavior and wanton lifestyle stopped.
His demeanor was sharper, and his stride confident.
Such a big change obviously aroused the suspicion of the cult.
The manager had already sent a message to the main force about him—
and another person.
The youngest among them, who had shown massive talent since childhood.
That alone wasn't enough to arouse the cult's interest—after all, there were many talents in the world.
But his fighting style was special.
It was said to be the same skills the first hero used to defeat the demon king—
the demon king with whom the cult had close ties.
So this last person was seen as a threat.
Now, all three of these people were standing in front of him.
Not alone, if I might add—but with others they had been keeping tabs on.
The princess of the kingdom, a talented ice swordsman,
and someone who would be a very efficient hostage in a crisis.
The daughter of the merchant family said to control the entire business world with just one pinky—
someone the cult viewed as a source of income through brainwashing or captivity.
The twin siblings of the mage family, who were the major source of magic scrolls, spellbooks, and inventors of new spells.
The cult wanted to grab all those resources for themselves—or at least blow them up in the capital to cause substantial damage or a good distraction.
The talented only son of the contractor family, rumored to be from a half-dragon species and to know the secret of finding one—
a secret coveted by the cult to enslave dragons and magical beasts.
Lastly, the Duke family—dubbed the kingdom's guardians.
They produced countless warriors, swordsmen, archers, spearmen, and magic warriors.
Each side branch of that family produced standard warriors talented in battle.
The main branch, however, developed at the level of the extraordinary.
Speaking of talent, the most talented member of that family was said to be the daughter of one of the side branches,
with a reputation second only to the main family.
She would have become the strongest—if not for the youngest son of the patriarch,
a genius since his days as a baby.
The same person who used the techniques of the first hero.
The manager would never forget their faces—especially since he had just sent an image of those exact faces to the main cult earlier that morning.
He had gone off to receive the reply through a special channel outside the school.
It said that they would dispatch a high-ranking member to assist him,
due to the fact that the same skill that defeated their founder had resurfaced.
The manager didn't have time to celebrate his easy success before receiving word of the chaos happening at the academy.
He immediately rushed over through the secret passage of their lair—
and ended up meeting this group.
The students attacked without giving the manager a chance to speak.
And why would they, when he was so clearly suspicious?
The school was in chaos, and many students were dying.
The teachers were nowhere to be found, and there were no clues.
So it would be faster to capture the manager and interrogate him to get the location of the students.
The two sides went into battle without much suspense.
The swordsmen in the group attacked at close range,
while the mages attacked from the back.
The summoner issued a command to his summons to block the exit.
The manager was at the level of a teacher, but there were too many of them—
plus, those three in the lead were almost as strong as he was individually.
And they were getting stronger with each second.
The manager felt it was very unfair and tried to flee instead.
A cultist's most important tool is obviously a means of escape.
But those brats were so sharp that they immediately found him—even in the form of a shadow.
The manager sat bruised on the ground, glaring at them.
"Where are the teachers?" the blond one asked, putting a sword to his neck.
"Like I'll tell you idiots. Long live the darkness!" the manager tried to bite a pill hidden beneath his tongue.
But his jaw was gripped by the youngest person,
and the black-haired one shoved a hand into his mouth and yanked the pill out.
"I enjoy dealing with cultist bastards like you," the young one said, rolling up his sleeves.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure to treat you well."
The blond one placed his sword in its sheath and rolled up his sleeves too.
The manager looked at them with fear—and the beatings began.
Eventually, he couldn't stand the torture from their combined attacks,
which seemed especially volatile to the dark magic he used.
They didn't believe it wasn't a trap and forced him to lead the way.
The manager inwardly cried in relief at not being beaten—
but inwardly, he cursed their intelligence and wished they'd fall for something.
He reluctantly showed them the right way to the meeting room.
"Open the cage yourself," the black-haired boy said, dragging him over to a table with an array still functioning.
The manager nodded submissively, but he was smirking inside.
He slowly reached out to the array when his hand was suddenly impaled by a sword.
"Ahhhh!" He was surprised and flustered at the sudden pain, unable to hide his ferocious expression.
He glared at the young boy with white hair.
"I don't like how that one looks. Try again," he said, picking his ear with one hand.
"You… you…" the manager gasped, clutching his bleeding hand.
If you don't like it, then say so—why did you have to disable my hand??
The manager gritted his teeth and looked back at another array with a scared expression again—
but his eyes were sharp.
Before he could place a hand on it, two of his fingers from the injured hand flew off.
"I suggest you think longer about your answer," the blond one said, sheathing his sword.
These damn kids… I'll definitely kill you this time.
The manager had completely lost it, his face revealing his killing intent fully.
He swiftly reached for the array again—
this time, his whole left arm flew off, and a sword was placed between his legs.
"There are other ways to kill people without actually killing them," the black-haired one sneered.
The sword pressed against his pants, and the manager didn't even dare to scream this time.
What if he moved and his manhood flew off?
He obediently did what they wanted and released the teachers.
The teachers appeared in the cave and began to inquire about the situation—
but they were interrupted by the manager.
He was tied up after doing what they wanted and guarded by a teacher.
He used the opportunity of a slight loss of attention to draw an array.
"I might not be able to kill you with my bare hands, but I can certainly bring someone who could," he cackled as his skin dried up and he turned into a husk.
The cave exploded, and the students along with the teachers were transported outside.
Opposite them were robed figures with strong auras—
the core members of the cult.
They had planned to sneak into the capital today under the cover of the chaos at the academy.
The plan was to spread what had happened to those outside the school,
bringing attention from major powers that could act against them.
This would cause most of the firepower to focus on the school,
giving them ample cover to use a low-level teleportation scroll to sneak into the capital.
They would hide their aura and blend in,
then develop quietly in the capital using the academy as their shield and main resource.
This would continue until they had enough manpower to launch a war on the capital.
The plan was hasty and developed on the spur of the moment—
after learning that something had gone wrong in the first stage of their plan.
They chose to improvise, because this kind of opportunity—supposed to happen much later—would not come again soon.
So they seized it and were just about to use the scroll of the high-ranking member already scheduled to investigate the issue.
It was supposed to be flawless.
So what on earth happened??
Why were they in the school they were supposed to be far away from??
The truth was that the manager had used an array to teleport himself to the side of the high-ranking member after encountering danger.
But he had gone mad from the torture and from having his manhood slashed even after releasing the teachers.
So he used his life and dark magic to reverse summon the high-ranking member.
His goal was to kill those students—his crazed mind not thinking about the teachers.
Through a series of coincidences,
he summoned the core members of the cult.
And just as the high-ranking powers in the capital had come to investigate,
the two sides immediately went into battle.
The students were in charge of killing the cultist members who weren't part of the core group.
They fought, and the budding cult group was exterminated.
Their stronghold was exposed from one of the mentally weaker members.
The teachers who were still agile took care of the monsters running around.
The student cult members were gathered together and taken to the stronghold to find a way to fix them.
The follow-up was quick, and the stronghold didn't last a minute without the core members.
The students were expelled at the assembly the next day after being cured.
The whole matter ended in two days.
This message was sent to the four people who had been living in the clock tower since the beginning.
[ Congratulations ]
[ You managed to speed up the plot by 200% ]
[ Your gameplay will be recorded in the Hall of Fame ]
"Oh, it's done." Shae Harris stretched, making the blanket slide off her shoulder.