Chapter 17
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Volume 2 + Chapter 17: Don’t Charge Ahead
Xia Yi could hardly believe her eyes. She doubted her own vision.
Closing her eyes, taking a deep breath, then opening them again—
Hill Gibran.
The name remained unchanged. It was indeed her student, Hill.
“How could this be…”
Xia Yi felt dizzy, her head spinning.
She had never imagined such a situation would occur.
She hadn’t recognized that girl as Hill.
Back when she was the Human Sword Saint, Wright had taught swordsmanship to many students.
Among them, talents varied—some good, some bad.
Some students were simply foisted upon him by powerful families, there only for prestige. If he could teach them to slaughter a chicken with a sword, that was already an achievement.
These were the students Wright truly disliked teaching—they only wasted his time.
Yet due to political reasons, the Schubert family had forced him to instruct these useless nobles, filling Wright with disgust.
But others were different—born in poverty and obscurity, yet possessing outstanding talent.
Like Daniel.
Wright held great approval for these students, guiding them into the wondrous world of swordsmanship, letting them experience the beauty of the blade!
Unfortunately, such students were rare. And the time he could spend teaching them was always short—once they showed promise, they would be noticed by various factions and taken away in political exchanges.
Hill, however, was different. She belonged to neither of these categories.
She was special.
Gifted with outstanding talent, yet also from a distinguished family background.
The Gibran family, though far from matching the Four Great Houses in the Rhine Kingdom, still held considerable prestige.
Of course, Wright didn’t care about family backgrounds – talent was what mattered most.
Hill possessed exceptional talent and was even a candidate for Holy Sword Wielder.
When Wright taught her swordsmanship, she grasped the fundamentals almost immediately and progressed with astonishing speed.
Back then, the Human Sword Saint even felt this child might one day succeed him.
But then he went to challenge the Silver Dragon Queen and never returned to the human world, never got to witness this child grow up.
At that time, Hill had been an adorable, shy little girl who loved following her teacher around like a baby duckling. She’d even made naive, cute declarations like “When I grow up, I’ll marry Teacher!”
Looking back now, those were truly wonderful memories.
However, girls change dramatically as they mature.
In just six years, that little girl had transformed into a tall, sophisticated teacher with an air of mature elegance – so much so that Xia Yi hadn’t recognized her at all.
She never would have imagined the change could be this drastic.
With Hill’s qualifications, she was certainly capable of entering Laurel Academy as a faculty member.
So when Laurel Academy students came to research the “Black Tide of Golde” project, they had brought Hill along as their supervising teacher.
Damn it!
Xia Yi grew furious – how dare these humans put her student in danger!
She glared at the students lost in their delusions, itching to kick each of them in the face.
“Your Highness? What’s wrong? Your expression seems unusual,” Serra noticed Xia Yi’s sudden emotional turmoil, quite different from her previous calm demeanor.
“Where is your supervising teacher?” Xia Yi grabbed one of the students slumped on the ground by his collar.
“Huh? Ah…take me…take me away…”
The Laurel Academy student’s mind had already deteriorated, his mouth spewing nonsense as drool dripped from his lips.
“Answer me!”
Xia Yi’s silver eyes glowed faintly as she unleashed the Dragon King’s oppressive aura, directly assaulting the student’s mind.
The king’s wrath briefly overwhelmed the student’s consciousness.
He froze, his mouth hanging open before slowly uttering two words: “The…shore…”
Xia Yi released him.
“Your Highness, are you alright?” Serra asked with concern.
“…I’m fine.”
Xia Yi shook her head.
In her agitation to learn her student’s whereabouts, she had momentarily lost control of her emotions.
Truthfully, wielding the Dragon King’s oppressive aura still placed a considerable burden on her when used seriously.
But the little princess paid no mind—all that mattered now was finding Hill and ensuring her student’s safety.
……
“Hehe…haha! Charge!!”
Albert, bound tightly with ropes, writhed near the shoreline in a state of manic excitement, shouting incoherently.
His eyes were bloodshot, his face twisted into a savage grin.
Hill stood nearby, her voice sharp as she commanded, “Albert, stop charging forward! Snap out of it!”
She even stepped forward and slapped the student across the face.
“Charge! Charge!! CHARGE!!!” Albert ignored her completely. The closer he got to the sea, the more frenzied he became.
Hill’s expression darkened as she watched his deterioration.
She didn’t understand how things had come to this.
Several days ago, the city had begun to change—and with it, the Laurel Academy students. Each nightfall, they would all slip into the same shared dream.
All of them had become ensnared by the siren song of the deep sea, unable to break free. Upon waking, they were left with an overwhelming disgust for reality, unwilling to move, yearning only for night to return so they could plunge back into that eerie dreamscape.
The same phenomenon had begun affecting Hill as well.
Had she not once trained under the Human Sword Saint, tempering her swordsman’s resolve to resist mental intrusions, she likely would have succumbed like her students.
But even she teetered on the brink of collapse. During daylight hours, she could barely distinguish reality from illusion.
One moment she stood on solid ground—the next, she was drowning in the ocean’s depths.
The students’ condition was no longer sufficient to sustain further research on the subject. As their teacher, she judged that they had to leave this place—otherwise, what little rationality remained would be utterly exhausted.
Originally, she had planned to leave after tonight.
However, her student Albert seemed to have gone mad. As soon as night fell, he recklessly abandoned the abandoned church that served as their base and ran off toward the sea.
Hill couldn’t abandon her student. She locked the church gate, lit the lamps inside, and went after Albert to bring him back.
Along the way, Hill had to struggle to maintain her own sanity while also searching for Albert’s trail…
It took tremendous effort before she finally found him.
Albert had truly lost his mind—shouting, screaming, trying to rush into the sea, even attacking his teacher when she tried to stop him.
Hill had no choice but to subdue him, tie him up, and drag him back.
But Albert still wouldn’t calm down, thrashing relentlessly.
“They’re coming!! They’re coming!! We’re here, they’ve come for us!!” Albert howled, his face turned toward the pitch-black sea.
The weather tonight was terrible. Thick clouds blotted out the moonlight, the tides churned violently, and the howling sea wind carried a bone-chilling cold that seeped deep into the marrow.
Hill lifted her head and glanced at the sea—then froze.
In the wind, she thought she heard an enchanting song.
An impenetrable darkness lurked beneath the waves, steadily approaching, drawing nearer to the coastal city.
The Black Tide was coming.
