’I’m frustrated? Me? You guys attacking the Academy?’

Cillian mused inwardly and scoffed.

He found their words funny.

"They messed up. It’s so bad that the only thing they could do is to kill the Black Shepherds."

The White Shepherds reveal the information about the Captain, a black shepherd. Saying that they are frustrated, asking the people from the Academy to clean up the job they messed up.

Cillian found it incredibly funny.

Just a week ago, he was thinking about what he needed to do in the academy tournament. Today, he was trying to escape from the attack these bastards made.

How the situation changed almost instantly was truly baffling and amazing in its own way.

"Ah fuck. School’s over, I guess."

There are finally no academy arcs! One of the clichés authors could do with their books is finally over.

’But then again, there are six more sorcery academies across the land of humanity. Maybe we’re just going to get transferred?’

Just as he was thinking about it, someone from another route called out to him.

"Cillian...!"

Vin and Phillip approached Cillian, who was still looking somewhere above the bone maze. This made the two follow his gaze, but they only saw the same towering bone pillars standing firmly in place.

Cillian glanced beside him, which made Vin and Phillip stop. The face he was wearing was still one of the corpses that had attacked the magic shield earlier.

Obviously, they didn’t know that it was him.

"Uhm, excuse me. Have you found some guy roaming around nearby? He’s quite a crazy guy and has a few screws on his head, but if you ignore it, he’s a pretty chill dude to hang out with ."

Phillip asked as if he truly meant it, making Cillian step forward as though he wanted to hit Phillip’s head in frustration.

This sudden action and seeing the current face of Cillian, who seemed pissed, only made Vin and Phillip put their guard up.

"Do you want to be beaten to pulp?"

Cillian asked as he couldn’t help but click his tongue and added inwardly.

’I don’t want to switch faces for now, since it’s going to be a waste of chances to change faces. But if not, then the group will know that I’m a Ruiner.’

The dream of being a hidden manipulator was slowly fading away from his grasp.

He was slowly realizing that he was always putting himself in the spotlight, but if he didn’t, it would sabotage his chances for survival.

His life or his enjoyment?

The choice was too obvious.

"What?!"

Both Vin and Phillip were surprised. However, Vin slowly calmed himself down as if he realized that Cillian was similar to him, also a Ruiner.

Phillip was different.

"You look hideous!"

"Okay, stop overreacting. Where are the others anyway? Did they die already?"

"That’s taking it too far, Cillian."

"Fatty, I know, and I’m kidding."

Soon, they regrouped. Cillian, who had already obtained two fragmented pieces and an artifact from the fight, learned that they had taken longer to find him because an invisible wall had blocked their path.

After this invisible disappeared, they scattered around towards the available route, and it was his club members who found him.

’That invisible wall... Is it the same platform where those White Shepherds were just standing a while ago? Whose power was it?’

Remembering his encounter with the White and Black Shepherds, Cillian told the group to move first, as the Black Shepherds might come in groups now that their companions had died. It was something the Mouthful Eye had warned them about.

Along the way, Cillian saw Vin handing out his bow and quiver that he had left inside the magic shield earlier.

Then, after receiving them, Cillian demanded.

"Hey, show me your golem again. This time, try to use an active ability as much as possible. As long as it’s not taxing for you."

Once everything had settled, Cillian shared what he could with the group while keeping certain details to himself.

...

Only thirty Black Shepherds were sent to retrieve Aster’s Swords of Chaos, but it was enough to bring the status of their Sorcery Academy down.

Because of how chaotic these Black Shepherds are, they tend to act alone and charge forward even at the cost of their lives. Some group together, but they eventually break apart since it doesn’t suit their style.

Black Shepherds dropped down, but the corpses of students, instructors, and workers made the casualties far too many.

The corpses of students and instructors lay scattered throughout the bone maze, filling its paths with the scent of blood and death.

The rampage of these Shepherds had accumulated over time. A single amateur Black Shepherd was capable of slaughtering fifty students on its own. Those with skill to match their bloodlust, however, were nightmares that neither weaker instructors nor inexperienced students could handle alone.

However, some stronger instructors are enough to fend off a Black Shepherd themselves.

"Ugh!"

One of the Black Shepherds tried to escape from Darwin’s wings, which had sprouted from his back and held him aloft in the air.

Around him were the bodies of the lifeless students that Darwin couldn’t afford to look at.

The students that he was trying to protect were dead.

"You black fucking shepherds! I already wiped out all of you thirty years ago! H-how... how did you revive yourselves again!"

It was a long yet distant memory for Darwin. However, the horror of meeting them again, even hearing it first from Jack Trade, brought back to him the worst memories he had of them.

The Shepherds were just that dangerous a group.

However, even when he was in a chokehold, the black shepherd laughed. With a struggle from being choked, he managed to cough up the words while smiling.

"Is it about the two hundred shepherds you killed...? Ah... that was... intentional."

Darwin’s eyes shook.

"Huh...?"

The black shepherd paused and cackled in a broken laugh as he was still being choked.

"I said... it is intentional... you fucking True Calamity bastard! Your title... achievement... and everything is something we mold you to! It is... a well-known story amongst the shepherds!"

The True Calamity title wasn’t just a title for display. It was something he earned after fighting in the shadows, hunting enemies of humanity.

The mission related to Shepherds was the largest mission he had taken, alongside a few elites, and the achievement he earned from it led him to retire and become an academy instructor, eventually rising to become the third-year principal of the Sorcery Academy in the Viola Territory.

It brought painful memories, but by the end of the day, this achievement was heavily recognized by those who knew about it.

But it was all planned...?

Darwin couldn’t believe it. He refused to believe the words of the spiteful mouths of what once he thought an enemy he had wiped out.

Then, he questioned their identities.

"Why are you showing up now?! Why? After so many years!"

The black shepherd giggled.

"I don’t know... We were just ordered by Captain to come here... I’m just a very long-ranking person, even amongst the black sheep, anyway. Why? You want another... retirement plan, you stupid fucker—"

Splash—!

Darwin cut the shepherd’s throat using the talon of his grotesque wings. Throwing the black shepherd’s body, the third-year principal stomped his feet on the ground.

His eyes were clouded with questions before one person came to his mind.

"That’s right. That guy... The one who calls himself Captain. Maybe he knew more... maybe..."

Darwin weakly walked away from the victims of the Black Shepherd he had killed earlier. Guilt and remorse weighed on him for failing to protect anyone, yet his eyes remained fixed on the one he had failed to kill earlier.