Academy’s Undercover Professor-Novel - Chapter 122

ACADEMY’S UNDERCOVER PROFESSOR

[Translator – Alice]

[Proofreader – ilafy]

Chapter 122 – Hunting Night (1)

The man stood on the iron bars of the building that was shaking unsteadily, and it looked like he was floating in midair.

The beast of Jévaudan looked up at him.

The crimson light in the eyes of the ferocious beast calmly faded.

Unlike when he’d recognized the other humans as his prey, it seemed like he recognized that man as someone equal or beyond it.

Whiirrr!

However, the subsiding flame within the monster’s eyes burned fiercely again and boosted the monster’s body.

Awoooooooo───!!!

The three heads roared.

Not only that, the countless heads of the beasts over its body shouted in unison.

The roar that resembled thunder spread throughout the city of Leathevelk.

The citizens who were watching from afar covered their ears with their hands while bowing their heads, the weak people foamed at their mouths and fainted.

It was no different than a roar that’d crept up from far beneath Hell.

As he heard the roar right in front of him, Ludger slightly squinted his eyes behind the raven mask.

The frightening roar that seemed like a nightmare to other people somehow sounded like some kind of rising longing to him.

‘Yeah. It was also like this back then.’

—When he was active as the hunter ‘Abraham van Helsing’.

The achievement that had given him the reputation of being the best hunter was when he’d hunted the Beast of Jévaudan.

To point out the difference with that time, it was that the appearance of the King of Beasts that was glaring at him was different.

Looking at the changed appearance of Hans due to his uncommon physical type, the proof of it was the fact that it strangely had a humanoid shape.

Having confronted the creature directly, it seemed less ferocious and animalistic.

However, even so, he couldn’t declare that the guy in front of him was weaker than the one he’d confronted in the past.

On the contrary, as Ludger saw that it didn’t move rashly even when he was obviously vigilant toward it, it seemed to be extremely smart.

‘Still, I wished he would recognize me for even a bit and become well-behaved, but was it an empty hope?’

He understood.

Because even though Hans could maintain his consciousness as a human being after he changed into another beast, he hadn’t been like that in the past.

Whenever Hans transformed, he repetitively showed that he couldn’t easily shake off the instincts of a beast.

On the other hand, the Beast of Jévaudan was a monster far beyond ordinary beasts.

Just by looking at the countless heads of beasts that the monster was composed of, he could vaguely see how great the lunacy of a predator that existed in that monster’s genes was.

If he was an ordinary human, he probably would’ve turned completely crazy when encountering the monster, or his consciousness would have been erased.

‘However, Hans is still alive.’

Even though he roared like that due to the ferocity that inherently belonged to the Beast of Jévaudan, he’d recognized Ludger for the slightest moment.

—It was evidence that Hans’s consciousness was still alive within the beast.

Even after everything, they had known each other for a very long time.

Also, he didn’t know what had happened, but Hans had used the fang that he’d said that he wouldn’t ever use, even if he was on death’s door.

It must’ve been because he didn’t avoid fighting and only ran away like a coward, but he possessed some kind of determination.

“It’s also the leader’s duty to watch over the growth of his men.”

And if that subordinate was in a crisis…

It was also naturally the leader’s duty to reach out to his subordinate to help them.

“Let’s see your ability.”

At the same time, Ludger stepped off of the iron bar where he was standing and fell down.

* * *

‘James Moriarty!’

Casey glared intensely at James Moriarty as he suddenly fell down from the air so that she wouldn’t miss him.

A shadow darker than the night wriggled under the moonlight as it protected his body.

As the Beast of Jévaudan thought that the man was more dangerous than her, it showed its teeth while bristling up his furs.

Even though it hurt her pride as the beast ignored her—the rare owner of a color title…

She had no choice but to acknowledge him.

‘James Moriarty was called Abraham van Helsing in the past.’

Casey had visited the Kingdom of Durman before.

The royal museum in the center of King’s castle…

She’d seen the stuffed Beast of Jévaudan’s corpse there.

When she’d seen it, she’d thought that the rumor of the beast’s appearance being so terrifying that anyone would be frightened to see it was even under exaggerated.

However, nearly 70% of the monster’s corpse had been destroyed.

The only remaining parts were half of the head, one side of the arm, and the bones which let her barely estimate the beast’s shape.

The other parts had been so horribly destroyed that people couldn’t figure out what they were or just completely missing.

‘All of it was done by that man…’

The King of Beasts that reigned over the ‘Bloody Night’…

The owner of a nightmare which would remain in history…

That hunter had single-handedly murdered such a beast.

He’d blown away 70% of the monster’s body that couldn’t be damaged by ordinary magic and that could regenerate wounds in an instant.

Thus, she understood…

—The fact that the Beast of Jévaudan was wary of that man.

—The fact that the beast was focused only on that man and ignored her.

Casey Selmore bit her lips.

She actually wanted to catch James Moriarty alive right there and then.

However, because the Beast of Jévaudan’s attention was distracted after a long time, the citizens’ evacuation was the most important.

Fortunately, it seemed that the man planned to set in for a fight with the Beast of Jévaudan.

If he attracted the monster’s gaze, then it was well-welcomed by her.

When she had made her mind, Moriarty collided with the Beast of Jévaudan.

The Beast of Jévaudan opened his mouth wide to devour the shadow…

At that moment, the shadow shrunk in the midair.

Soon, he appeared on the middle of the beast of Jévaudan’s head.

High speed movement? No.

There was no time delay between his disappearance and reappearance.

Casey widened her eyes as it looked like he’d leaped through space.

‘He leaped through space?!’

Shiiing.

A white sword appeared as Ludger pulled out the handle of his cane using his right hand.

Ludger thrusted the sword into the beast’s eyeball.

The tormented monster shook its head fiercely. Ludger got onto its back neatly and cut down the beast’s heads that thrusted their mouths at him as he was sliding down.

It was a neat movement without any unnecessities.

It was a prowess beyond simple body reinforcement that could only be shown after mastering swordsmanship for a long time.

However, the Beast of Jévaudan was not a being that would collapse from only that kind of attack.

Even the heads mutilated by the aura within the other Knights’ swords had regenerated…

‘They didn’t?’

The heads that Moriarty had chopped didn’t regenerate.

On the contrary, the chopped parts gushed out black shadow along with a sizzling sound.

‘Is that sword made of a special material, or is it some kind of magic?

The Beast of Jévaudan swung its tail without letting her analyze it.

‘First of all, this is not the time for sightseeing.’

Casey warped the surroundings with a water curtain while looking at the people.

“Everyone, please stay far away! You will be swept away!”

She could only wish that James Moriarty would stop that monster.

* * *

Sraaaak!

Even the trained knights had to focus so they could barely avoid the swinging tail that continually stretched out.

The attack could even explode solid steel pillars like a bomb, so it wasn’t something that could be endured by human’s body.

They would immediately die if even it only flashed across them.

As he encountered that, Ludger concealed himself in midair again as if he already knew about it.

The space movement which he’d shown a moment ago was displayed again.

The Beast of Jévaudan looked in all directions to search for the disappearing Ludger.

Not only the three heads which could be said as the main ones, but the countless eyes of the beast also rolled while chasing Ludger’s trace.

Soon, all the heads looked together in one direction as they seemed to have discovered the target they were chasing.

Right above its head was the sky.

At the moment it discovered Ludger, a myriad of pills poured down from the air.

The Beast of Jévaudan swung his tail like a whip and swatted them all away.

As the pills got destroyed by his tail, the white powder within spread all over the place.

The white powder descended on the Beast of Jévaudan, resembling dew at dawn, and it reacted.

Rruf! Ruf! Grrrr!

The countless heads on the monster’s body sneezed and coughed as it groaned.

Save for the three main heads, the heads over its body all showed the same reaction.

‘What the hell is that…?’

As she saw white powder flying through the window, Casey recognized what the powder was right away.

“Hmph!”

—It was tear gas powder.

Casey immediately warped a thin water curtain to the surroundings.

Moreover, as if proving that it wasn’t a common powder, it radiated a severely bad smell that made respiration difficult if someone sniffed only a bit of it.

‘Is he using that too?’

Knowing that the beast’s heads were particularly suffering, it must’ve been made using a special material.

It was a shuddering smell, even for her as a human, she couldn’t imagine how it would be to the beast that had an extraordinarily more sensitive smelling sense than humans.

Due to the severe smell and the effect of the intense tear gas, the Beast of Jévaudan’s sense of smell was almost paralyzed.

Especially since the other eyes of the beast kept getting teary, it created countless gaps to the beast that usually didn’t have any blind spots.

Grrrrrrrrr.

The Beast of Jévaudan seemed to think that it shouldn’t continue like that, so it crouched his huge body.

The beast heads on its body wriggled while they were twisting violently.

Soon, the heads fell out from its body and rolled on the ground.

“Heek! Wh-what’s that?!”

Elendil’s complexion paled.

The beasts that escaped from the beast of Jévaudan’s body weren’t only his heads…

There were also torsos. Not only torsos, there were also arms and legs.

In an instant, the beasts that walked with four legs staggered and got up from their spots.

Some of them also stood on two feet like human beings.

Sometimes, in the case when the heads didn’t have a completely perfect body, they swallowed the scattered rats in the surroundings.

Thus, as they chewed, chunks of meat swelled up and their bodies were completed.

“Th-those are cryptids.”

“They multiplied?”

As they were watching the scenery from afar at a safe distance, the Clockwork Knights were drenched in cold sweat.

Five years before, when the ‘Bloody Night’ happened…

It was the moment when the question of why there had been so many cryptids appearing in the city of Jévaudan was solved.

The Beast of Jévaudan possessed an ability that enabled it to create countless proliferators.

The heads were usually merged and created a cluster of bodies that controlled countless mouths.

—That was the Beast of Jévaudan.

Moreover, the scarier part was that, when the main body became empty after the heads fell out, new heads started to grow again.

It was evident that the Beast of Jévaudan would endlessly create cryptids if Ludger did nothing.

—That was something that Ludger was aware of.

“You threw away the messed-up heads due to the tear gas and changed them with new ones. In the end, you know how to use your brain, unlike back then.”

Just like snakes shedding their skin, its choice to throw away the existing heads was not bad.

However, there was obviously a weakness in that choice.

Whiiiiiirrrr!

A white flame was ignited in the air and covered the Beast of Jévaudan’s body.

The heads that were about to grow were burned, as they couldn’t endure the superheated flame.

“When you’re just shedding your skin, your defense is weaker than ever. In that state, even a third-tier flame spell can burn you.”

Grrrrrrr!

The huge three heads were loathefully glaring at Ludger.

Somehow, Ludger had already stood in front of it while watching it as if it was Ludger’s puppet.

It wanted to swing his arm and crush that human, but its beast instinct realized that it would be useless.

No. The decision was, on the contrary, mixed with a fragment of rationality.

“You’re not coming?”

Ludger deliberately tempted it to move as he seemingly saw an opportunity.

As it realized that, the Beast of Jévaudan raised its wariness of its surroundings instead.

“You have a quick sense.”

However, no matter how much it raised its vigilance, it was already too late.

—Because his magic had been activated beforehand.

Ziiiiing!

There was light flowing out from under the ground debris where the Beast of Jévaudan had stopped.

At the same time, the ground suddenly soared up like huge spears and pierced through the beast’s back feet and two palms where it was stepping on the ground.

A cloud of dust that densely filled the surroundings.

As they were watching the fight, the people were confused by the sudden cloud of dust.

Roaaaaarr!

The Beast of Jévaudan’s body twisted in the smoke, but its pierced hands and feet didn’t budge an inch.

The Beast of Jévaudan gave a command to his multiplied cryptids, and a black wave surged at Ludger.

Ludger swung his sword stick when he saw the monster wave before putting it down.

“There are too many.”

He pulled out two black revolvers from his waist instead.

Bang bang bang bang!

Countless mana bullets burst out and pierced through the foreheads of the multiplied beasts.

Since it shot mana, there was no need to reload it.

Dozens of cryptids were shot in their heads in an instant and collapsed.

As he put the revolvers back into their holsters, Ludger stared at the Beast of Jévaudan as if asking whether there was anything else it would do.

When their gazes met, the Beast of Jévaudan’s body cowered.

If its legs and feet hadn’t been pierced, it would have unconsciously stepped backward.

As he saw that, Ludger thought that it was over.

‘It’s best to stun him like this, but there’s no need to make such an effort.’

Ludger raised his head slightly.

He could see something twinkly flying under the moonlight in the dark night.

Boom!

Immediately after, a huge harpoon impaled the Beast of Jévaudan’s cervical spine.

It seemed like the power was so strong that the Beast of Jévaudan’s upper body,  possessing a huge physique, fell down.

Yeeelp!

The harpoon that tore its flesh and reached its bones released the drug of an ampoule within the harpoon.

—It was an antidote to release the beast form that Ludger often conveyed to Hans.

────!!!

The beast of Jévaudan’s scarlet eyes expanded widely.

Soon, the beast’s huge body started to get smaller at a fast pace.

Drop.

Immediately after, Hans collapsed on the ground, as he had returned to a human form completely.

At the same time, the black shadows in the air fell off one by one.

A big, white-haired guy wearing a mask on his face threw a piece of straw mat over Hans, who’d collapsed on the ground, before carrying Hans over his shoulder.

—His other hand carried the thrown harpoon.

“Leader. Is that buddy alright?” Alex asked Ludger while wearing a mask as he came with Pantos.

“He’s fine. Because his recuperative power is high when he’s in a beast state, he will recover soon, even if there’s a wound. Rather than that, you got here just in time.”

Chew.

Ludger answered while chewing the mana pills he had prepared before.

Since his use of mana was severe when he fought while using āter Nocturnus, he had to dope himself like that.

“Since ’Kafka’ has safely secured the items, let’s leave now. We delayed too much.”

Now that the Knights’ sights were covered by smoke, it was the right time to flee.

“Stop!”

At that moment, Casey Selmore appeared.

Ludger stared at her, who’d called him, without a word.