I Became a Genius Mechanic at the Academy

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“What, what is this… what the hell is going on?”

In the audience.

One spectator muttered as he suddenly laid eyes on the enigmatic structure that had appeared in the arena.

The structure, woven with vines and wood, formed a dome shape, yet it pulsated as if it had a heartbeat, like a human organ.

The bizarre sight elicited a sense of revulsion from within.

“This… is a spell I’ve never seen before?”

However, those with a high-level mastery of magic were watching the construction created by Charlotte with intrigued expressions.

While others couldn’t see inside the twisted wooden structure filled with vines, those capable of using ‘clairvoyance’ could peer within.

“To create such an alien space on a small scale… what family did that child come from?”

“The Verdian family.”

“Verdian family? How could that weak family pull off such a technique…”

Yet the identity of the one who had used such a unique spell was unexpected.

The Verdian family.

To think someone from that feeble house would use such ferocious magic.

“I’ve fallen into a trap.”

However, for the past four days, it was no surprise for Charlotte, as she trained Edgar.

Steam of destruction.

The moment Charlotte consumed the cursed steam developed by Edgar to annihilate demons, she would surely break free from the Verdian family’s characteristic frailty.

“Just as I designed. I can win.”

Design.

Edgar had ‘designed’ Charlotte’s battle to assist in her revenge.

If she was to defeat an A rank in mere four days, a special combat method that transcended conventional wisdom was necessary.

Thus, over the last four days, Edgar focused on exposing Charlotte to the plants of the dark forest and making her realize their essence.

Normally, Charlotte would have rejected creating such horrific creatures, but having consumed the cursed steam, she unabashedly learned from the deadly forest’s flora.

“Now all that remains is the show.”

Unfortunately, the size of the forest she could manifest was small.

Simply lining up several monster plants in a space of about 70 pyeong wouldn’t be very threatening to her foes.

Therefore, Edgar decided to accompany an illusion spell.

To ensure the enemies would feel fear, he would cast the illusion spell within the space.

“With the illusion powder inhaled, they should be completely ensnared.”

On top of that, Edgar made Charlotte inhale actual illusion powder.

He planned for Charlotte to hide the illusion powder in the rock wall she summoned, so that when the opponent broke the wall, they would inhale a large amount of the released powder.

Thus, when Cardmos broke the wall, he inhaled a massive quantity of illusion powder and could only perceive the space created by Charlotte through a distorted lens.

“The ‘Forest of Death’ unfolded before his eyes.”

【GRAAAAHHHHH…】
【CRACKLE─ CRACKLE CRACKLE─】

So Cardmos faced an eerie forest that seemed to be alive.

All around him filled with Charlotte’s chilling laughter, and surprisingly, Charlotte was making her space more akin to the Forest of Death.

The illusion powder and illusion magic were merely stalling tactics.

While Cardmos was entrapped by the illusion spell, the forest was already perfectly completed.

“Damn it… what the hell is this crap…”

As Charlotte added more details to her forest, the scenery became increasingly grotesque and terrifying.

Especially for Cardmos, who had inhaled both the illusions and the illusion powder, this place was nothing short of hell.

【Hehehe… Uhhuhuhuh…】

Thus, the surroundings were filled with sounds of death.

Faces of people absorbed into the trees continuously grinned, scattering red light.

-Plop. Plop.

Cardmos stumbled through the swamp.

The deathly swamp was saturated with blood, and human bones along with tangled hair were floating around.

“Haah… Haah… Haah…”

With this monstrous spectacle, his breath grew increasingly labored.

Yet, the more he breathed, the tighter his chest felt.

The toxic gas of the forest and the poison permeated into the air invaded his insides.

“DAMN IT!! Come out!!! Don’t cowardly hide, face me!!!”

Overwhelmed by fear, Cardmos tried to overcome his terror with rage.

As he wandered through the expanse of the forest, he swung his sword madly at whatever came into sight.

-WHOOSH!

-SLASH!

But the traces left by his sword were strange.

Despite merely cutting the trees, blood gushed out of them, almost as if they screamed.

Cardmos realized he had messed with something he shouldn’t have.

【GRAAAAAHHHHHH…!!!】

The forest itself felt like a living organism.

The trees he had cut with his sword thrashed wildly, and bubbles started to boil up.

-SLASH!

Then, something erupted through the bubbles.

A vine? No, it was a bizarre creature in the form of a tentacle.

The tentacle surged towards Cardmos in a straight line.

-BAM!

Cardmos instinctively swatted away the tentacle.

However, bubbles boiled up from every place where his indiscriminately slashed sword had hit, giving rise to more tentacles.

Could he really fend off such innumerable tentacles?

“Haaah… Haaah… Haaaah…”

The horrifying sight made his earlier fury evaporate.

The entire forest seemed to howl with anger towards him.

-CRACK… CRACK…

At that moment.

Trees that resembled humans began to change shape.

Trees that should have firmly anchored their roots began to open their mouths wide, revealing their hidden teeth.

“What, what, what…”

Those trees were not singular entities.

Several of them tore their bodies apart, displaying their teeth within.

Yet inside the mouths of the trees were soaked with blood, filled with clotted hair and flesh.

Fingers, noses, ears, and even plucked eyeballs.

There were even still-intact human faces.

The head of a person who had not lost its shape…

“Sha… Charlotte?”

Charlotte.

The identity of the head was none other than Charlotte’s.

The severed head of Charlotte lay within the mouth of the tree.

“!!!”

As soon as Cardmos realized the identity of the face belonged to Charlotte, the severed head of Charlotte suddenly opened its eyes wide.

Her deep smoky makeup and red eyes glimmered, glancing at him, then curved into a smile.

【Kuhuhuhuh…】

And then, she began to emit a chilling laughter.

That sound was filling the air all around.

“Ah… Aah… UAAAAHHHH!!”

Losing his sanity, Cardmos swung his sword in a frenzy.

He aimed especially at the ceiling glowing with a crimson light, launching all his mana into the sword’s aura.

-CRACK!

As a result, the trees laden on the ceiling broke apart.

However, within those shattered trees were filled with crimson veins.

Each vein pulsed like hearts, transporting fluid, but ultimately they were ripped apart by the earlier sword strike.

-PLOOOOSH!!!

Then, it started to spray like blood from a severed carotid artery.

However, the fluid spewing out from the wound of the monstrous wood was anything but common.

-FIZZ!

“GAAAHHHH!!”

It was acid.

Acidic blood rain began to pour down over the entire forest, starting to corrode everything.

-Bubble bubble bubble…

Following that, bubbles began to rise throughout the forest.

Black, tentacle-like appendages surged up, rushing towards Cardmos.

“AAA… AGHHHHH…”

And there was no end to the tentacles.

Dozens, even hundreds of tentacles rushed towards Cardmos, attempting to pierce his body.

-FIZZ!

“GAAAAHHHHH!!!”

He was caught between a rock and a hard place.

From the sky, blood rain poured down, while tentacles surged from all directions.

-WHOOSH!

Ultimately, Cardmos allowed an attack to happen.

One tentacle pierced through his thigh.

-CRACK… CRACK… CRACK…

Yet, the tentacle that stabbed into Cardmos’ thigh began to suck his blood.

The creepy and unpleasant sensation of his own blood being drawn dominated Cardmos’ entire body.

“AHHHHH… s-save me… I… I was wrong…”

Finally, he lost all will to fight.

The acidic rain pouring from above.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Dozens of tentacles embedding into his body.

Slowly, toothy trees were approaching him.

Cardmos could not endure all of this.

The more he swung his sword, the more the situation plunged into despair.

-CRACK… CRACK…

So Cardmos stood, pierced by the tentacles while being doused in acid rain, just helplessly watching as the carnivorous trees advanced upon him.

As the carnivorous tree drew closer, the size of its mouth slowly widened, and Cardmos could make out the identities of the faces embedded throughout the wood.

They had been consumed.

This carnivorous tree had wholly devoured people, leaving their traces imprinted on the bark.

“Ugh… uhhuhhh… uhhh…”

Now, it was his face that would leave such a mark.

***

“It’s over.”

In the special seat located at the topmost tier of the arena.

Elena muttered such as she leaned back in her chair.

With her ability to observe the flow of mana with clairvoyance, she could vaguely discern what was happening within that bizarre structure.

“Yawn. It’s quite an interesting technique, isn’t it?”

However, the princess beside her didn’t need to activate clairvoyance to know what was going on inside.

The royal family’s unique eye.

That special ability allowed her to see through everything inside.

“The more I see it, the more fascinating it is. How come you can see everything without clairvoyance?”

At that moment, Elena asked the princess who was yawning beside her.

Then, the princess, who was rubbing her sleepy eyes, grinned with the corners of her mouth curling up as she replied.

“Hehe. It’s hereditary ♥”

“What? Hahaha. Yeah, your lineage is indeed impressive,”

Elena burst into laughter at the princess’s joke-like answer.

Certainly, answering with ‘hereditary’ fit perfectly for explaining her special ability.

After all, it was the strongest power that had brought everyone to their knees across the continent.

‘I’m curious, but it seems she doesn’t want to tell me.’

However, Elena was well aware that such an answer from the princess meant ‘avoidance.’

She didn’t want to speak of her abilities.

Because she had asked about her powers several times in the past, and each time, the princess naturally shifted the topic to sidestep the question.

Even though they were like sisters who shared everything in common.

‘An eye that sees the truth…’

She had once let slip a passing remark like that.

Saying her eyes were those that see the truth of this world.

And thus, it brought upon feelings of extreme loneliness and solitude.

“Ughnii~! What are you thinking so deeply about?”

At that moment, Sephilia strapped her arms around Elena tightly.

Elena patted the princess’s head, replying that it was nothing.

Eventually, their gazes turned to the arena.

The bizarre structure created by Charlotte began to decompose.

-SSSSSHHHHHHHH…

The Forest of Death began to disperse into red particles, rising into the air.

What remained were Charlotte, wearing the mask given by Edgar while looking down at Cardmos, and Cardmos himself, who appeared almost like a zombie.

“Ughhh… ughhh… ughhh… I-I was wrong… p-please forgive me… ughhh… I was wrong…”

Cardmos had wholly lost his mind.

Yet the spectators who looked at him understood why Cardmos had gone insane.

His miserable appearance.

There were traces of flesh torn from his body, and marks where blood had been drained.

The skin melted by the acid rain was drenched with pus, and his hair was entirely stripped away, revealing hideous wounds.

“P-please… s-save me… I-I was wrong…”

Cardmos begged for his life, shedding tears incessantly.

Those who knew Cardmos were horrified by the shocking spectacle.

After all, he had boasted not long ago about taking Charlotte for himself.

-SWISH.

At that moment.

Charlotte met the gaze of Cardmos, who had fallen to his knees.

As soon as Cardmos saw Charlotte’s eyes, he recalled the horrific witch’s visage he had seen in the Forest of Death.

The witch presiding over the Forest of Death, high above, bathed in crimson backlighting.

“Do not let me see you again. If we meet again, I will truly kill you.”

And the witch of the forest warned him.

If he wanted to preserve his life, he must not let her see him again.