Danmachi - Infinite Mana System! - Chapter 165 - Altena 05.

[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Orario.

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Lucius looked at the person approaching with a disdainful smile, narrowing his eyes at the individual who appeared to him through the identification brooch, affiliated with the Roadster family and also a teacher like him.

"Who are you?" Even so, Lucius asked calmly, more to hear what the person was doing there than to find out who he was from the information he already had.

"I am Bartolomeu Roadster, a Battle professor. I remember seeing you many years ago when you were just 10 years old... You have certainly changed a lot, Van Laiac," Bartolomeu said, finding Lucius's appearance rather odd, as if he had dyed his hair blond and drawn a tattoo on his face. It was quite bizarre, but Bartolomeu decided to let it slide.

"Really?" Lucius knew exactly what was going on and raised an eyebrow while glancing at Victoria. "Just a Battle professor? You didn't have anyone better to call? Like, the headmaster or someone important from the school?" Lucius asked, while the girl kept her eyes fixed on the destroyed mannequins, remnants of the instant magic he had unleashed. She stared at him, unsure of what to say, as did the other students, who remained silent, swallowing hard and wondering if what they had just witnessed was real.

The professor, who had barged into the class, looked at the mannequins for the first time. Despite not fully understanding the atmosphere of the room or even Lucius's comment, he made his observation.

"I imagine that whoever did that to the mannequins must have been my niece, a mage with a bright future in Altena. I must say I heard the explosion from outside this room, Victoria. I'm quite pleased with the results. I’d like to take a closer look. I'm sure your father would love to hear about this."

Bartolomeu believed the accomplishments were his niece's doing, but he turned his attention back to Lucius, the professor in question. He was familiar with many members of the Laiac family and held a certain disdain for them. Despite their prominence due to Van Laiac, Bartolomeu considered him arrogant and believed it would lead to his downfall. After all, Bartolomeu himself was a respected mage of level 3 and a member of the Atena family as well.

"Hey, you idiot, did you really come here to disrupt my class? Go fetch the headmaster. Tell them there's a delinquent teacher here," Lucius suddenly said, breaking the silence.

"What did you say?" Bartolomeu asked, surprised and irritated, not understanding what that even meant, as it seemed like an unprovoked insult. He tried to maintain composure and decided to handle it with a degree of decorum. "Anyway, I'm here to see how you’re conducting your class. There have been some reports that you’re under suspicion."

He saw this as an opportunity to undermine Lucius. Turning to the students, he demanded, "Tell me, how is he teaching?"

Some students seemed nervous until Bartolomeu pointed at a girl who looked anxious but nodded.

"He proved that we’re slow at casting magic, saying we should achieve at least 10 seconds," the girl said timidly, and Bartolomeu raised an eyebrow, annoyed.

"How dare he demand that?” The bare minimum should be 15 seconds for the fastest spell. How could such an incompetent professor demand so much… He couldn’t believe it and continued addressing the students, but Lucius interrupted him.

"Hey, you idiot, can you leave my class now? I’m trying to teach these kids something useful," Lucius retorted, as though he were much older than them.

"You think you’re the center of the world, don’t you?" Bartolomeu mocked as he heard the insult again, growing angrier and narrowing his eyes. "I imagine you can’t produce such an impressive result as you’re pretending to. I bet you can’t even come close."

Lucius, indifferent, simply crossed his arms while Bartolomeu looked around, waiting for his niece or another student to continue saying that the professor was wrong. But everyone remained silent, and the same girl spoke again.

"His assistant managed to do it—in 4 seconds—with two double spells," she said, making Bartolomeu lift his gaze, incredulous.

"You’re lying, aren’t you?" he asked the class, ignoring Lucius.

No one shook their heads, and even his niece nodded with a stunned expression, still staring at Professor Van as if he had done something extraordinary.

"Can you tell me your name?" Bartolomeu approached the assistant, who stared back at him with a severe look but did not respond.

Seeing this, Bartolomeu grew irritated. "Tell me your name now!" he demanded, attempting to touch her to gather information about what the students were talking about.

Just as his hand was about to reach her shoulder, it was stopped by Lucius. Bartolomeu was surprised, but before he could react, a punch landed squarely on his nose, breaking it. Bartolomeu was flung across the room, rolling until he hit the wall and crying out in pain as all the students stood frozen, stunned by the scene once again.

"You dare touch my woman? You must be joking," Lucius said in a tone filled with anger.

Bartolomeu, still on the ground, felt blood dripping from his nose. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. Dazed, he got up and looked at Lucius with a mix of hatred and disbelief.

"Well, I’ll give you all a real lesson on combat," Lucius said seriously to the students. "It doesn’t matter who your enemy is, no matter how weak they may seem... If they provoke you, show no mercy." He declared this to everyone, who remained shocked.

"Do you have any idea what you’ve just done? I’ll..." Bartolomeu began to shout angrily, trying to regain his composure.

He didn’t even have time to finish his sentence. A purple lightning spell came directly at him, blasting him into the wall. Lucius remained standing in the same spot, his hand still raised and pointing at the now-destroyed wall after casting the spell.

"Did you kill him?" Riveria asked, somewhat surprised. It was clear she would not have allowed anyone to touch her, and Riveria was glad Lucius had acted on his own. Still, she was astonished at the brutality with which he had dealt with Bartolomeu—a man who should have been a respected mage at the academy.

"I don’t think he’ll give me much of a fight," Lucius mocked. "In any case, I see no one has gone to fetch the headmaster. It’s time to really get their attention," he said, ignoring the students’ gazes.

Victoria, the redhead, was in shock as she watched her uncle being so thoroughly beaten. Bartolomeu, still lying on the corridor floor after being hurled out of the classroom through the wall, struggled to move. The corridor quickly filled with curious onlookers drawn by the explosion.

"Hey, what’s going on here?" someone in the corridor shouted, seeing Bartolomeu’s body sprawled on the ground, electricity still crackling around him as he groaned in pain.

The spell Lucius had cast was a basic rank 1 spell, but even a level 3 mage would suffer from it due to Lucius’s level 7 magic proficiency. A simple spell from him could incapacitate completely.

Suddenly, Bartolomeu felt someone pressing him against the ground. He couldn’t react to the overwhelming impact his body had endured. But then, inexplicably, his wounds began to close. Confused, he looked at his body as it rapidly healed.

The next moment, Lucius lifted him. Bartolomeu stared at him, astonished. Before he could say a word, Lucius struck him with a punch to the stomach, sending him flying down the corridor with brutal force. Bartolomeu soared through the hallway as the students watched the scene through the hole in the wall Lucius had created with the previous spell, their expressions incredulous.

"Hey, what’s going on here?" more voices called out from the corridor, seeing Bartolomeu flying, injured.

"You!" Bartolomeu murmured, quickly trying to get up despite his difficulty. Lucius hadn’t put much force into his attack—enough to avoid breaking all his bones—but even that was enough to leave Bartolomeu weakened. Magicians were not physically resilient in defense.

Now, Bartolomeu looked at Lucius with fear, wondering if this man truly was the Van Laiac he had heard described. The spells he used were strange, cast instantly, without incantations—something that should have been impossible.

Lucius merely raised one hand, forming a fireball, and aimed it at Bartolomeu. The man, terrified, hastily began to conjure a shield, one of his three spells, meant for defense.

"You’re going to take a while, but I’ll wait. Go on, keep working on your shield," Lucius mocked, as more and more people gathered in the corridor, staring at the scene in astonishment.

Finally, the man managed to form his shield, though he was clearly humiliated. Lucius raised his hand and fired the fireball. The explosion struck the mage, shattering his shield in an instant and burning his body. Bartolomeu screamed in pain as the students, now outside the classroom, watched the scene utterly stunned and trembling with fear of their current professor. He was so powerful and brutal.

Lucius calmly walked toward Bartolomeu, who was coughing on the ground, struggling to catch his breath.

"Your shield can't even withstand a fireball. Are you really a level 3 Battle mage? What a disappointment," Lucius declared as he began healing the man again.

"What are you doing?" Bartolomeu asked, his voice devoid of any arrogance, replaced now with pure fear.

"I want to see if you can back up all those words you've been saying," Lucius replied as he grabbed the man’s body.

He lifted him effortlessly, using his superhuman strength, and moved down the corridor. He hurled Bartolomeu with such force that the mage's ribs cracked. Bartolomeu smashed through a window, flying out and landing on the ground outside the academy.

Lucius vanished from the corridor in an instant. Riveria, watching the scene, knew this would cause major problems but followed Lucius outside.

"You know... I've always wanted to test something interesting," Lucius said, healing Bartolomeu once again. The mage trembled with fear, unable to look away from his aggressor.

"Stop... I beg you..." Bartolomeu murmured, shaking.

Lucius ignored his pleas, disappearing from his side and reappearing some distance away. He raised his hand, creating a magical circle in the air. He knew he needed to draw attention, so he decided to do it in a grand manner.

Before him, enormous magical circles began to appear, growing to an impressive diameter of 10 meters.

At the center of the circle, a creature began to take shape, larger than anything Lucius had ever summoned before. Its shadow grew until, finally, its colossal form became visible: a Goliath, with pale skin and a titanic size of 15 meters, landed on the ground, cracking it around its feet and letting out an earth-shaking roar.

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Lucius had summoned a dungeon creature using an ability worth more than 20 million points from the system he had earned but had never had the chance to use before.

Bartolomeu, lying on the ground, stared at the Goliath, unable to comprehend how such a thing was possible. The monster turned its gaze toward the mage, awaiting its master’s orders. Lucius, standing beside the creature, smiled with satisfaction.

The Goliath's roar echoed throughout the academy, drawing the attention of everyone inside and even outside its grounds. Students, professors, and staff ran outside, stunned by the sight of the giant creature in the middle of the courtyard.

"What is going on here?" At that moment, an authoritative voice called out from the academy gates.

A young woman with purple hair, beautiful and exuding authority, holding a golden staff, advanced toward the commotion, accompanied by other members of the academy. Some wore distinct uniforms, signifying positions of high rank.

Lucius looked at the woman leading the group. Based on the brooch on her attire, he identified her: it was Atena, the goddess herself and sovereign of Altena, her name displayed with a golden symbol before his eyes.

Beside her stood the academy’s headmistress, a level 5 member of her family.

He had found Atena faster than he had anticipated.