Chapter 105: The Aftermath

"Vice Dean Albert!"

Several instructors stood up the moment this man entered.

Albert ignored their reactions and walked straight toward the central monitoring platform, his gaze falling on the already dead Abyssal Bone Spike Wolf.

His expression was far from pleasant.

"Casualties?"

"One student has been confirmed dead, four are seriously injured, and several others have suffered injuries of varying severity. The rescue team has already secured the northern region and is conducting a comprehensive search."

"And the screening?"

"It’s been suspended. All students are currently being evacuated in batches."

Albert nodded. "Terminate it immediately."

"But Vice Dean, the ownership of the third badge hasn’t been..."

"I said terminate it."

His voice wasn’t particularly loud, but the entire hall instantly fell silent.

"This is no longer a normal screening. It’s a serious academy safety incident. If we continue, are we supposed to wait until even more students lose their lives?"

The instructor lowered his head. "Of course not."

Albert turned toward the footage of Victor’s final battle and remained silent for a moment.

"Also, regarding Victor’s unauthorized entry into the screening area, there will be no disciplinary action for the time being."

Everyone was slightly stunned. Then someone spoke.

"Vice Dean, he destroyed the emergency passage, and..."

"If it weren’t for him, the number of deaths you’d be counting right now would probably be far greater than one," Albert interrupted him. "The academy’s rules exist to protect students, not to force them to wait for death right before our eyes."

At this point, his gaze swept across everyone present.

"I will personally report everything that happened today to the Dean."

"As for why that magical beast appeared in the Third Enclosed Ecological Zone..." Albert’s voice grew slightly heavier. "That is a question the academy must answer to every student and parent."

...

Half an hour later.

Starlight Royal Academy, Central Medical Center.

Victor had been placed inside a private treatment room.

Gentle golden light enveloped the hospital bed, while several complex purification mana patterns slowly rotated across the floor, continuously extracting the residual abyssal corruption from his body.

A senior healer stood beside the bed, his brows tightly furrowed.

"Strange..."

The assistant beside him hurriedly asked, "What’s wrong?"

"The abyssal corruption inside his body is decreasing on its own."

The senior healer stared at the detection crystal, a trace of confusion flashing through his eyes.

"With this level of concentration, under normal circumstances, it would take at least three advanced purification sessions to completely eliminate the corruption."

"But now..."

He looked at the steadily declining numbers.

"In just half an hour, the corruption has already decreased by nearly half."

The assistant widened his eyes in surprise.

"Could it be the effect of the purification array?"

"No."

The senior healer shook his head.

"The array’s purification efficiency isn’t nearly that high."

He examined Victor’s body once more before finally arriving at a conclusion.

"This child’s constitution is probably somewhat special."

In reality, they had no idea. Even while Victor was unconscious, the Mana Devouring talent inside his body was still slowly operating.

The residual abyssal mana remaining in his body was being decomposed little by little.

However, because his body was already approaching its limit, the decomposition speed was far slower than normal. Furthermore, he couldn’t convert all that chaotic energy into his own mana.

Most of the corruption could only be expelled from his body through the purification array.

Even so, it was already astonishing enough.

...

Outside the hospital room.

Leah sat on a bench, both hands tightly holding the recovery potion bottle Victor had previously stuffed into her hands.

She had already finished drinking the potion.

But she still couldn’t bring herself to throw away the empty bottle.

"Are you still not going back to rest?"

Cecilia’s voice came from beside her.

Leah raised her head. The Third Princess had already changed out of her academy inspection uniform and was now wearing a simple white dress.

"Your Highness." Leah hurriedly stood up.

"There’s no need for formalities."

Cecilia sat down beside her, her gaze falling on the tightly closed hospital room door.

"The healers said his vital signs have already stabilized."

Leah nodded gently.

"I know."

"Then what are you still worried about?"

Leah was silent for a long time. Then, she spoke softly.

"If it weren’t for me, Young Master wouldn’t have suffered such serious injuries."

Cecilia glanced at her.

"Do you think he was injured because you’re too weak?"

Leah didn’t answer, but her expression had already explained everything.

Cecilia sighed softly and looked her in the eyes. "Leah, do you know what level that magical beast was?"

"Level 45."

"When it entered the Berserk State, it was Level 50," Cecilia corrected. "Forget about you. Even those elite students around Level 40 and above in the academy would find it extremely difficult to escape unharmed after encountering a monster like that."

"You only awakened your profession recently. Being able to hold on under those circumstances until help arrived was already an impressive achievement."

Leah lowered her head, clenching her fist. "But..."

"No buts." Cecilia’s tone suddenly became serious. "The ones who truly need to reflect on what happened are the academy authorities."

"We allowed a group of first year students to enter what was supposed to be a safe screening area, yet we failed to discover in time that a Second Tier magical beast had appeared inside."

She looked toward the hospital room door.

"As for Victor..."

At this point, Cecilia’s expression became somewhat complicated.

"He clearly knew how dangerous that magical beast was, yet he still rushed inside. That proves that, in his heart, you’re far more important than those rules."

Leah’s fingers tightened slightly.

Of course she understood that.

And precisely because she understood, she found it even harder to accept that she could only stand behind him and watch Victor face that monster alone.

After a moment, the young girl slowly raised her head.

"Your Highness."

"Hmm?"

"I want to become stronger."

Leah’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was exceptionally firm.

"I don’t want Young Master to be the only one standing in front of me the next time we encounter danger. I want to reach a point where I can truly help him."

"Then you’ll have to work hard. After all..."

Cecilia recalled the figure in the monitoring footage, covered in blood yet still standing with his sword in hand.

"Your young master isn’t someone you can catch up to so easily."