Academy’s Undercover Professor-Chapter 307: The Azure Mage (2)

Casey’s attacks came in an unrelenting storm.

The water-forged weapons that rained down from the air resembled an endless monsoon—ceaseless, soaking, and overwhelming.

“Amazing.”

Even Passius couldn’t help but admire the sheer force Casey unleashed.

The reputation of single-attribute elemental mages being on a different level from ordinary magicians was clearly no exaggeration.

But more than anything, what truly stood out was Casey’s extraordinary mental fortitude and her precise control over a massive quantity of water.

Luypholdt had attempted to resist several times using multi-attribute magic, but against Casey—who could continuously draw from groundwater—he simply couldn’t hold out.

Realizing he wouldn’t last at this rate, Luypholdt cloaked himself in black mana and conjured a shield resembling a turtle’s shell.

Each time the water-forged weapons struck the black shell, a sharp metallic clang! echoed through the space.

“You think something like that will protect you?”

Casey sneered at Luypholdt and immediately changed the nature of her assault.

The individually-sized water weapons began to cluster together.

Soon, they coalesced into a massive sword fit for a giant’s hand.

A colossal water greatsword imbued with immense weight and mana.

Even the blade’s edge was formed from water streaming at incredible speed.

Luypholdt’s eyes widened slightly when he saw it.

Moments later, the greatsword came crashing down, as if to cleave through his shell.

Kagagagak!

It didn’t shatter the shield completely, instead sliding along the grain of the shell with a grinding screech.

However, a portion of the shell was gouged out in a chunk, proving the weapon’s terrifying power.

It was the product of massive weight combined with a high-pressure water stream, creating a deadly cutting force.

Luypholdt’s expression stiffened—he had believed he could block it completely.

But several more greatswords of similar size began to fall just like before.

To think she could wield so many weapons of that mass...

Luypholdt, though inwardly impressed by Casey’s strength, found his mind wandering—if he devoured her, perhaps he could obtain the ability to manipulate water too.

That thought, born of hunger and greed, quickly twisted and turned to action.

Luypholdt deactivated his black mana shield and charged at Casey.

He had lost the long-range output war—so now he chose a different method.

Luypholdt’s body, enhanced far beyond human limits through experimentation, moved with afterimage-like speed.

This wasn’t a mindless rush—there was calculation behind it.

Surely, Casey wouldn’t expect him to suddenly engage in close combat. He intended to exploit that moment of carelessness.

Luypholdt dodged or ducked under the streams of water blocking his path, drawing near to Casey in an instant.

But then he caught the unwavering gaze in Casey’s eyes—she wasn’t the least bit flustered. Something felt wrong.

“You think this is the first time someone’s tried that on me?”

She’d faced enemies who, despite being magicians, used unpredictable movements to attempt close combat.

She had more than enough experience.

In fact, Casey had been waiting for Luypholdt to approach.

The space between them shimmered, and the thin water veil dissipated.

Inside had been hidden water-forged soldiers, wielding spears and shields, who now surrounded and restrained Luypholdt.

He tried to break free by force, but no matter how powerful the body, it was no match for sheer volume.

He had been caught off guard.

Bound at the limbs, Luypholdt glared at Casey.

His eyes overflowed with hostility—and with it, a flicker of greed for her power.

Disgusted, Casey forced water into his mouth.

“Gkk—! Gagh! GAAAAH!”

For the first time, Luypholdt screamed.

The water that entered his body began to boil.

It even resonated with the blood flowing through him, causing all his blood to heat as if aflame.

“Kuuuuuagh! Kuhuhu!”

But Luypholdt’s screams gradually faded, and a twisted smile crept across his lips.

Casey clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Even after resorting to such extreme measures, Luypholdt still didn’t die.

Rather, he resisted the pain and was building resistance to it.

Casey decided to change tactics.

The water soldiers binding him melted down.

Then they engulfed Luypholdt and began to morph into a giant.

Kuoooooo!

The giant seized Luypholdt in its hand and slammed him into the ground.

But it didn’t stop there—it swung him into a wall, then drove him deep into the base of the World Tree.

His vision spun, his body ached to the point of breaking—Luypholdt couldn’t even regain consciousness.

The water giant grasped him with both hands and opened its mouth wide to swallow him whole.

The giant's form collapsed and transformed into a massive sphere of water.

On the surface, it looked like a simple sphere—but inside, a violent vortex surged like a whirlpool.

Like a child shaking a container filled with bugs.

Luypholdt was tossed around endlessly inside the water prison.

Even as this continued, Casey’s expression didn’t change.

By now, he should have died a hundred times over—but Luypholdt remained alive.

His body was growing stronger.

He didn’t even drown.

He had become something that no longer needed oxygen to survive.

While Casey contemplated what to do next, it was Ludger who provided the answer.

A massive wave of cold air burst from Ludger and surrounded the water prison.

Crack—crack!

The water froze rapidly upon contact with the frost, turning white.

But the sphere was so large that Ludger alone couldn’t handle it.

Then others joined in.

Roteron, Chris, and the War Mage joined forces.

All three cast freezing magic, and Bellaruna threw a vial of coolant.

Veronica summoned her aura and focused it on the water sphere.

At last, an enormous prison of ice over 50 meters in diameter was formed.

Luypholdt was sealed inside, frozen in place like a taxidermied insect.

Yet no one felt relieved.

Casey continued to draw groundwater to reinforce the ice prison, and the others froze it in real time, expanding its size.

If they couldn’t kill him, they would trap him like this forever.

Then a voice echoed from inside the ice.

“That was impressive.”

Though no sound should have escaped from inside, Luypholdt’s voice invaded everyone’s minds as if it were physically present.

“But playtime is over.”

At the same time, a black wave burst out from the giant ice sphere.

The same kind of demonic wave Andrei had used through the power of demons.

The group responded immediately—as if they’d been waiting for it.

They raised their mana ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) and aura, resisting with all their strength.

But Luypholdt’s mental assault was far stronger than Andrei’s.

The black wave slipped through the cracks in their minds and drilled deeper, deeper inside.

It touched the dark, buried emotions they had hidden away—then amplified them explosively.

“What the...?”

Casey was taken aback by the pitch-black world that suddenly unfolded around her.

Luypholdt? The others? Where had everyone gone?

And then, someone appeared before her.

Assuming it was an enemy, Casey readied herself—but once she recognized who it was, she let her guard down.

“Grampa... Virgie?”

The man Casey had admired since childhood.

The reason she became a detective despite her talent—was now standing before her.

But her grandfather didn’t wear his usual gentle expression. He stared at her with contempt.

“I’m disappointed in you, Casey.”

“Huh? W-why...?”

“Why, you ask? Casey, I asked you to make this world more just.”

“Yes... you did. That’s why I did my best—”

“Did you really?”

“...”

Casey couldn’t answer.

Her grandfather’s gaze shifted, and Casey instinctively followed it.

There stood Ludger.

Cradling a child’s corpse in his arms, unable even to weep.

Casey had deemed that Ludger was evil—and chased him down.

And when it was all over...

People cheered only the name of the detective Casey Selmore.

“Did you really fight for justice?”

“Ah...”

Casey sank to her knees.

With trembling eyes, she looked up at her grandfather.

But the cold eyes staring down at her didn’t belong to the man she knew.

“I’m disappointed, Casey. So deeply disappointed. In the end... you were nothing compared to your sister.”

“N-no... I...!”

Just as Casey tried to shout something back, her grandfather’s skin melted like mud.

A bare skeleton emerged—and caught fire, laughing maniacally at her.

Eyes wide, Casey turned and ran.

“You’re running? Just like back then? Turning away from the truth again?!”

A voice bellowed behind her.

But Casey ran through the darkness, as if she couldn’t hear it. On and on.

How long did she run? When her chest felt ready to burst and she stopped for breath, someone else appeared before her.

It was a pair of children.

The siblings from the slums who had cheered for her when she defeated James Moriarty.

“Liar.”

“Fraud.”

The two children spoke coldly, as if feeling betrayed by Casey’s true self.

“That’s not true... I...” 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Casey tried to explain herself, but the siblings had already vanished.

The words she was about to deliver were swallowed into the darkness, stripped of purpose.

“I...”

In her lowered gaze, the tip of a shoe entered her vision.

When she slowly lifted her head, she saw the man standing before her in full.

He was once known as James Moriarty, and now, he bore the name Ludger Cherish.

He looked at Casey with the same emotionless eyes as always.

Or rather, what she had thought was the absence of emotion had only been her own illusion.

This man—he was someone who, in truth, felt the pain of others more deeply than anyone else.

Once her perspective shifted, Ludger’s eyes appeared completely different.

The inorganic gaze she had once mistaken as cold now shimmered with sorrow, disappointment, and pity.

“In the end, you couldn’t save anyone.”

The moment she heard those words, Casey’s mind collapsed.

* * *

Crack! Shatter!

Moments later, the ice sphere burst apart, and Luypholdt emerged, his entire body cloaked in black mana.

“You were all truly insignificant.”

Luypholdt murmured, looking over the unconscious figures sprawled across the ground.

Even Casey Selmore, who had pushed him so far, lay as if asleep.

The same was true for both swordmasters, Passius and Terrina.

Even those deemed transcendent had weaknesses.

Their bodies may be strong, but the human mind was fragile.

The power of a demon excelled in exploiting that.

No—it was vicious enough to be truly worthy of the name demon.

It wasn’t a physical attack—it disrupted the mind, amplifying every negative thought and confusion.

Not even a 6th-circle mage with unshakable will could endure unscathed.

“So these so-called paragons of strength can’t even handle a little mental strain.”

Great mana, vast knowledge, and transcendent physical prowess—

Even those who possessed it all crumbled helplessly before the power of the demon.

Luypholdt looked at the scene with a blend of pity and satisfaction.

In the past, even a single one of these people would have made for a fierce battle.

But now, look at them.

He had won. The others had all fallen.

And yet, Luypholdt was far from satisfied.

This was only the beginning.

He would grow stronger. Strong enough to destroy the Empire and build a new order to his liking.

“To do that, I’ll have to absorb your power first.”

His gaze turned to Andrei.

Despite being enveloped by the mental wave, Andrei hadn’t fainted.

Because he too had infused himself with demonic power.

But that didn’t mean he was unharmed.

Even he was affected by a stronger force.

Proof of that showed in his pale complexion and the fatigue weighing heavy in his eyes.

Luypholdt could sense the unstable emotions radiating from him.

“It’s tragic, really. Watching your beloved daughter suffer and die from an incurable disease—what that does to a father.”

At the same time, Luypholdt skimmed over Andrei’s trauma-laden memories.

“If you had only known the illness, if there had only been a cure... if you’d studied medicine harder. But regrets don’t bring back the dead.”

“Shut your mouth!”

“So you chose a path no one would walk, hoping no one else would suffer like you. You let people despise you—because to you, saving lives was more important than being liked. Though, I’ll admit, even from where I stand, your methods were... lacking.”

Luypholdt stepped right up to Andrei and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him effortlessly.

“But now, it ends. Once I’ve absorbed your power, I’ll devour everyone else here—and then even those above. At least your journey won’t be lonely.”

Despair spread across Andrei’s face.

Luypholdt began to absorb his power.

Then his expression froze cold.

“...”

Luypholdt narrowed his eyes and turned around.

In a battlefield where even swordmasters had fainted under demonic pressure, one man still stood tall.

“How surprising. You’re still standing after all this.”

And it had to be that man—the one who had always irritated him most.

“It was you, wasn’t it? The one who tried to kill me before I woke up.”

Ludger didn’t reply.

Instead, he silently glanced at the unconscious bodies around him, then reached into his coat.

He pulled out a pipe.

With a small spark ignited from his index finger, he lit the pipe.

Inhale... exhale.

The white smoke that billowed out was thick—almost like a toxin.

Luypholdt watched, intrigued.

So he was smoking now? But it wasn’t just tobacco.

The smoke trailing from Ludger’s lips carried a powerful, toxic energy.

“Planning one last stand before you die? Even when the combined strength of all of them couldn’t kill me?”

Luypholdt sneered, gathering his mana.

The countless human faces clinging to his body laughed alongside him.

“I’ve finally become the ultimate mage. I’ve devoured countless mages and now command all elements. And you think you—some pitiful little magician—can challenge me?”

Ludger took another drag from his pipe and exhaled before speaking.

“Knocking everyone unconscious was your mistake. You saved me the trouble of eliminating witnesses.”

“What?”

“I am a professor at Seorn Academy. And a teacher’s duty... is to impart lessons.”

A defined, blue mist began to rise around Ludger.

At the same time, his eyes turned crimson.

Even as he witnessed the change, Luypholdt failed to grasp its significance.

“Hah. So you teach kids, is that it?”

“Indeed. And today, I’ll be teaching you something.”

Luypholdt scoffed at him.

“Oh yeah? What kind of lesson? You think someone like you could possibly teach me?”

“Don’t worry.”

Ludger’s gaze glinted coldly.

“You’re about to learn what real magic is.”