The Academy’s Weakest Became A Demon-Limited Hunter

Isaac briefly stared at the Eternal Prison that filled the sky.

There was no time to get lost in emotions. He immediately reverse-summoned Daikan and flew back towards the elevator.

Please…!

While Om fought the Nether King, he had to somehow reach the elevator. Against an opponent that powerful, at least a few seconds could be bought.

Please, please.

Before he knew it, Isaac was almost at the elevator leading to the Icy Lake.

Boom!!

“…!”

In no time, the Eternal Prison exploded, and the Nether King reappeared.

In the midst of the roaring sound, Isaac felt a chilling sensation.

It was already too late.

When he looked up, an enormous arm formed from the Nether King’s mana was descending.

The arm of a god with absolute power. It was [Heaven’s Hand].

Isaac’s Cloak of the Radiant Wolf detected the danger and deployed an ice shield.

Boom!!

“Ugh!!”

[Heaven’s Hand] struck Isaac down.

His body was sent flying through the air, crashing into the ground.

He briefly lost consciousness, but quickly regained it.

The cold air brushed against his skin. The elevator was nearby. He had to reach it somehow.

Using his remaining right hand, Isaac scratched at the ground and tried to spread his [Ice Sovereign] wings again.

“Kugh!”

At that moment, someone stomped on Isaac’s waist.

It was the Nether King.

[Ice King, I must deliver judgment to thou for breaking order.]

Frost Dragon Hilde tried to unleash ice magic on the Nether King, but the dragon was caught by [Heaven’s Hand], which appeared out of thin air.

Isaac reverse-summoned the Frost Dragon.

The whistling of the wind and the sound of his own ragged breathing filled Isaac’s ears.

“Ah, this is driving me crazy…”

He couldn’t think of a way to outrun the Nether King.

It was right in front of him, if he could just get inside that elevator.

But he couldn’t see how that would be possible.

[I see. Thy name in the living world was… Han Seong Ho, is it?]

“…!”

Isaac was greatly shocked to hear his name from his previous life.

[The being within thyself is known as Ozma, I see. Have thou reached the level of a transcendent being?]

Ozma. The name of the mysterious monster residing within Isaac’s essence.

[Thou were mimicking the game system of thy’s world to aid thyself. However, even that game is likely the work of Stella.]

He was referring to ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱.

The truth that the Nether King mentioned was something Isaac had already vaguely suspected.

Allets…

The director of the ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱ game had called themselves Allets.

The English spelling was A, l, l, e, t, s.

Spelled backwards, it reads Stella.

He had thought it was just a backward spelling of the fairy’s name in the game.

But after being thrust into this world and experiencing countless events, his suspicion that Allets was Stella had solidified into certainty.

[I can weigh the balance of life. I possess eyes that allow me to see through lives for the purpose of judgment.]

Seeing through Isaac, Ozma, and the system’s existence was a simple task for the Nether King.

[Thou art deeply compassionate. Thou have performed many good deeds, lived by human laws, and helped the innocent. If thou had lived a normal life, thou surely would have reached a good place.]

The Nether King slowly closed his eyes and opened them again, speaking softly in monologue.

[Someone such as thyself, unjustly swept into a god’s game, meeting a tragic fate…]

The Nether King let golden mana rise in his right hand.

[Poor mortal. I shall remember thy name.]

Han Seong Ho.

That name began to flood Isaac’s mind.

Ah, that’s right…

He had been an ordinary person.

Though he had tried to blindly live through the reality that had been forced upon him, he had already painfully realized it.

How could an ordinary person like him possibly handle all of this? It was laughable.

I knew it… I knew all along…

The stories of heroes in novels and movies. The mindset they held as heroes.

Because of such exemplary stories, even though the crushing weight of responsibility threatened to overwhelm him, Isaac had somehow managed to mimic the image of a hero.

He was good at acting, after all.

Since he had been pushed into this situation, he had no choice but to act as a brave hero to survive. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to bear the burden.

But still, I’ve come this far.

Now, the thing that scared him the most was the guts to give up.

Even in the midst of it all, his body resisted the idea of giving up.

At that moment, a system window appeared before his eyes.

[Would you like to use the unique trait [Divinity]?]

[Yes]

[No]

Isaac stared at it in a daze.

[Divinity]

If he used this, he might be able to face the Nether King.

He might be able to survive here.

Clinging to a shred of hope, Isaac’s remaining right arm trembled as it moved towards the [Yes] option.

Didn’t he say that this system was Ozma helping me…?

He judged based on what the Nether King had said.

It was just as he had expected.

Ozma had been helping Isaac by mimicking the game system from ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱.

He still didn’t fully understand what had happened, or how the system worked, and many things continued to be shrouded in mystery, however…

What was certain was that if he activated [Divinity], he might somehow solve the current problem.

[Activation Conditions]

■■■■■■■■ ■■■■

The mysterious [Activation Conditions] surfaced in Isaac’s mind.

At this point, did the conditions even matter?

He was on the verge of death, after all.

“…”

Suddenly, Isaac felt a strong sense of unease and stopped his hand.

One question led to another.

Why is Ozma helping me?

What kind of being is Ozma?

What exactly is she?

He tried to force his blood-deprived, hazy mind to think.

─ The one who sealed the Evil God will be helping you.

─ But if you want to live, trust nothing.

A note left by the Primordial Ice Sovereign, Veronica Aslius, flashed through his mind.

Isaac’s mind recalled the conversation he had shared alone with Dorothy.

─ The thing with many eyes inside me, Stella’s first kin… You’re talking about Ozma, right?

─ Yes.

─ By any chance, do you know what kind of person Ozma was, Dorothy?

─ Hmm…

─ You don’t need to strain yourself thinking about it.

─ Sorry… honestly, I don’t really know. She’s from a long time ago. But I think I remember Stella mentioning something about her. What was it again? I think…

Isaac’s arm slowly lowered.

─ I think she said even though she was her kin, she wasn’t someone you should trust easily…?

[Divinity] mustn’t be activated.

Even if he lost his life.

Even if everything ended, he would not activate it.

Buzz…

As he made that resolution, static appeared on the Status Window, and countless eyes emerged.

Now, the scene was clear.

As if forcing a decision, the many eyes filling the Status Window glared at Isaac.

You used me… damn bitch.

With Isaac’s realization, the blank spaces in the Status Window were filled in.

[Activation Conditions]

■■■■■■■■ ■■■■

************‎‎‎

*********‎‎‎

******‎‎‎

*** ‎‎‎

[Activation Conditions]

Physical Body

  

Even though he didn’t know the exact details, Isaac was able to infer a lot.

If he had been given too much power from the start, Isaac’s body wouldn’t have been able to handle it.

So Ozma had been giving Isaac power gradually, allowing his body to grow stronger.

Potential enhancement, rapid growth.

Simply increasing his stats didn’t immediately improve his abilities because of that.

Perhaps distributed experience worked in a similar way.

Now that I think about it…

Is something like distributed experience even possible?

The world he had thought was part of a game turned out to be reality. But the game system still remained in place?

That was strange…

Only then did Isaac recall the possibility he had overlooked.

There might not have been such a thing as distributed experience at all.

The levels were ultimately just numbers shown by Ozma. He could change and manipulate them however he wanted.

In ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱? That was a game. It was natural that players had to feel like they were developing their characters.

In reality, there might not have been any distributed experience, and the students could have just been growing at their natural pace.

Think about it. Did the students who leveled up by defeating enemies ever show dramatic growth?

No, they didn’t.

Besides, I’m here because of Stella’s plan.

He was someone who had learned the scenario through ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱. His possession here was likely part of Stella, the game’s director’s, plan.

So Ozma had been giving him the power to grow in the direction Isaac, the game player, chose.

Scenario completion rewarded stats. Achievement bonuses.

They were all things Ozma had bestowed upon Isaac, referencing ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱.

Ozma had prepared “plausible reasons” to provide Isaac with power while avoiding suspicion.

He recalled Malrog the Envious.

The Status Window initially identified that demon as human, preventing [Hunter] from activating.

What was once incomprehensible now made sense.

In ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱, Ian couldn’t see the Status Window. The one who could perceive it was the player.

That was why the player thought Malrog was human, only to be shocked by the twist that he was a demon.

That was right. It had followed the game’s mechanics.

It was all to mimic the familiar Status Window for Isaac, the game player.

What about [Hunter]?

Whenever Isaac activated extreme power through unique traits like [Hunter]…

Isaac could use the “Skill Tree +10” effect to activate unlearned magic without even calculating it.

That was likely because Ozma was directly using Isaac as a medium to release his power.

The reason my stats maxed out at level 100, is it because that’s what I could handle without overloading?

Even though Ozma was using Isaac as a medium, there had to be limits to what Isaac could endure.

In the Fictional Hell, Isaac had achieved EX-level stats, but that was only possible because it was an illusory world where anything could happen.

The [Ice Sovereign] he gained there persisted because it was something he truly realized while experiencing becoming the strongest.

That was why, as soon as he left the Fictional Hell, his stats returned to normal and he could no longer handle [Ice Sovereign].

In the end, if the Status Window and system aren’t objective… then what are they? Something that mimicked the game system… yeah, it’s the “Covenant”, isn’t it?

The “Covenant” Isaac had occasionally made with others, which activated when both parties’ wills aligned.

The way Ozma had been channeling power into Isaac was likely also a form of this Covenant.

It was just a contract, disguised under the form of a “Status Window”.

Gaining stats and assigning them to specific attributes was how the contract was being formed each time.

Having already grown accustomed to the game system through ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱, Isaac could understand what abilities he would gain and align his will with it.

And it all happened so naturally.

That’s how it deceived me… And when I fully believed that the Status Window was my power…

In the end, the “Status Window”, which had gained his complete trust, would betray Isaac.

─ Offer your body.

In accordance with the covenant, it would claim his strengthened body.

Ozma’s goal was resurrection.

It wanted to take Isaac’s body to become human again.

What about Stella?

Stella, the Star Fairy, had made Ozma her first kin.

Moreover, Stella was the director behind the creation of ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱.

In other words, Stella created a game that allowed one to familiarize themselves with this journey in order to defeat the Evil God.

Among the humans who played that game, the system was designed to deceive the chosen one, just as it later deceived Isaac.

Ozma followed that method and took on the form of a Status Window.

It was a collaboration between the fairy and her kin.

Did Ozma go along with Stella’s plan just to steal my body…

There were still questions left unanswered, but Isaac was confident in his reasoning.

It felt as though time had stopped.

Isaac laughed at the realization that he had been nothing more than a toy for the gods.

Thinking about the meaning behind his laugh, he realized it was nothing more than self-mockery.

[Would you like to use the unique trait [Divinity]?]

[Yes]

[Yes]

[Yes]

[Yes]

[Yes]

[Yes]

An unpleasant notification window appeared.

You’re going to die here anyway.

Everything you’ve gone through will be in vain.

Will you still give up on everything?

Isn’t it better to choose the lesser evil rather than the worst outcome?

Are you not even going to make one final effort?

He did not use [Divinity].

Why make such a choice?

The reason was simple.

Fuck you, that’s why.

In the notification window filling his vision, countless bloodshot eyes glared at Isaac as if they wanted to kill him.

Foolish bastard.

“Eat shit, you bitch…”

Isaac closed his eyes and let out a weak, hollow chuckle, his bloodstained face showing his exhaustion.

Damn bastards.

Fuck the Evil God and all the shit I’ve been put through until now.

They can all burn in hell for all I care.

Isaac continued to curse them silently in his mind.

Then, the Nether King’s power descended upon Isaac.

Szzzzz!!!

Boom! Crack!

[…!]

Suddenly, a sharp bolt of lightning screamed towards the Nether King.

The purple lightning branched out in multiple directions, repelling the Nether King’s magic.

Startled, he quickly retreated, dodging the series of lightning attacks.

Isaac didn’t even have the strength to be shocked. He simply realized that something unexpected had happened.

He lifted himself slightly and turned his head, seeing a holy, pure white figure.

A warm sensation wrapped around his entire body.

Isaac’s eyes widened in astonishment.

He had felt this sensation somewhere before.

[Why art thou opposing me…?]

Even the Nether King was surprised.

[For someone such as thyself to be here now, thou must have set out when the Ice King appeared. Thou have chosen to stand against me without a hint of hesitation? Inconceivable. Why…!?]

The Nether King demanded, his voice menacing.

An unexpected confrontation.

Suddenly, a memory surfaced in Isaac’s mind.

Michelle. She was a character who hadn’t appeared in ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱.

Isaac recalled hearing from Saintess Bianca Anturaze that Michelle had used some strange power to deal with all the adults.

That red-cloaked girl had likely been saved by the pure white figure standing before him.

— May the blessing of the incarnation be with you.

It was a story Isaac was familiar with.

There was once a witch who lived in a candy house.

To lure in lost children who wandered through the forest, the witch had built her house out of sweets.

The witch loved children.

She wanted to protect children.

She had devoted her life solely to the study of magic, all to save children in danger.

One day, Hansel and Gretel came to the Candy House Witch.

The witch tried to save the two children, who bore the sacrificial mark of the evil dragon, but tragically, she couldn’t save Hansel.

In the end, the witch was falsely accused, gaining infamy as the “Great Witch of Heaven’s Wrath” who committed atrocities against children, and was immediately executed.

As she lost her life in Gretel’s arms, whom she loved… Isaac finally understood what emotions she must have felt.

Anger…

It was only natural.

The Candy House Witch must have been furious.

Her blood must have boiled, her teeth ground together, and tears must have flowed from her overwhelming rage.

She must have wanted to strike down those damn adults who profited by sacrificing children.

Thus, she called herself the “God of Wrath”.

“The Incarnation…”

She must have named herself the Incarnation.

She was likely the overseer of the Midheaven Realm, appointed by the Nether King, known as the Great Witch of Heaven’s Wrath.

She nodded at Isaac, signaling for him to go quickly.

Whoooom!!

Isaac immediately spread his [Ice Sovereign] wings and flew toward the elevator.

He was close. He could make it.

[Step aside!]

The Nether King, who valued his subordinates, couldn’t easily harm the overseer of the Midheaven Realm.

However, the Candy House Witch stood firm and held her ground.

[So that is the decision thou has come to. If thou truly chose to defy me, I shall respect it.]

The Nether King, his face filled with rage, summoned multiple [Heaven’s Hand], while the Candy House Witch unleashed a blitz attack against him.

Thus, the two beings clashed, releasing vast amounts of mana.

The Candy House Witch was a transcendent being. She could hold her own against the Nether King, if only for a while.

As the two entities battled, Isaac threw himself into the elevator.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Blood poured from his entire body, and intense pain surged through him.

Rumble!

The massive doors of the elevator began to close, emitting a chilling cold.

The scene gradually narrowed. Beyond it, Isaac could see the Candy House Witch being overwhelmed by the Nether King.

Her arm flew off, her leg was severed, and she lost half her body, yet she continued to fight against the Nether King.

“Why… are you helping me?”

Isaac felt the warm sensation spreading through his body.

The soft voice of an old woman seeped into his mind.

— How could I stand by and do nothing when someone risks their life to protect so many people?

The elevator doors were almost fully closed.

Isaac took in the sight of the Candy House Witch being defeated and fading away at the hands of the Nether King.

Before she completely disappeared, the Candy House Witch turned her head and looked at Isaac.

He caught a fleeting glimpse of an elderly woman with a hooked nose.

There was a smile on her lips.

— Give my regards to Gretel.

The overseer of the Midheaven Realm, who had broken the rules, vanished.

The Nether King had suffered a painful loss, but there was no time to shudder in the torrent of emotions.

He hastily stretched his arm towards the elevator.

[Heaven’s Hand] formed a fist and struck toward the elevator.

Whoooosh!!

An impenetrable ice shield enveloped the elevator.

As the realms of control divided, the [Heaven’s Hand] collided with the ice shield and was neutralized, sending a tremendous shockwave in all directions.

The elevator doors had already closed. It was too late.

Light rose from the ground as the elevator began to descend with a great rumble.

[…]

The Nether King swallowed his silence.

The lowest level of the Nether, the Icy Lake, was overseen by another. The Nether King had no control there.

The Nether King quietly stared at the spot where the elevator had departed, then turned to the place where the Candy House Witch had vanished.

The only sound that filled the silence was the chilly wind.

It was natural to uphold order, but the fact that he had destroyed his own subordinate with his own hands brought forth an indescribable sense of loss.

At least Isaac was on the brink of death. He would likely die from excessive blood loss in the elevator, far from crossing the Icy Lake.

Even if he managed to survive, he wouldn’t be able to surpass the monsters of the Icy Lake or its guardians.

But if Isaac were to overcome the impossible and meet the overseer of the Icy Lake…

[…That would be dangerous.]

A human who could shatter the order of all things might be born.

For a long while, the Nether King silently looked up at the sky, where a hole had been pierced.