The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All

A wave of mana exploded outward — vast enough that everyone could feel it, those at the scene and those far from it, no exceptions.

Every single person locked in combat stopped almost in unison, as though on cue, and turned to look in the same direction.

Even the undead.

In the direction they all faced lay the shopping district — their destination.

"What… what is this…?"

It was a horror so visceral it felt as if his heart were being clawed out, with nowhere to run.

Without realizing it, Lee Myung-jun had pressed a hand to his chest to check his heart was still there, and he let out a quiet breath.

He slowly pushed the impaled undead off his trident, shook his head, and muttered:

"This feeling… no way."

Evangelline steadied her trembling body. Even as she muttered, her fingers wove a sign that ground the gawking undead to paste in an instant.

"This energy, this feeling… and the mana on top of it. No matter how I look at it, it belongs to the Seven Calamity that took the dragon's form. But…."

Something was off.

She could feel that the difference was fundamental.

She couldn't pin down what that subtle difference was, and the frustration only grew. Just then, Laura — who had carried her interrupted prayer all the way to the final word — gave the answer.

"Source power was mixed in."

"Source? The source like I know it, or your side's kind of source?"

"Our kind."

Magic and divine power were alike, yet different.

If the source Evangelline meant was vague in the literal sense, the source Laura meant was something far more concrete.

The yang force, the wellspring of light, the energy of life, the spirit of nature….

And among those who handled powers close to what they were describing was the World Tree clan.

Mana from the Seven Calamity everyone had banded together to bring down… no, to be honest, that Yu Ji-hyeok had taken down by himself.

And carried inside that mana, a trace of the World Tree.

No matter how she turned it over, this wasn't something to brush off.

"…We need to wrap this up and get over there, as fast as possible."

Everyone agreed with Laura.

And that "everyone" included Natalia Milited.

Hovering in the air, her face caught in thought for a moment, she looked down with something like regret.

Her eyes were on Evangelline Loengreen and Laura Hartmann.

"Tch."

Natalia ran her tongue over her lips, genuinely sorry to let this go.

Both of them just her type, and that blonde-and-silver pairing on top of it, as if curated for her — how her pulse had jumped the moment she'd laid eyes on them.

Just imagining the two of them attending to her was almost more than she could bear, but she still had enough sense left to read the situation clearly.

Bearing the title of the Ten Powerhouses, those two couldn't possibly be weak.

And the man standing alongside them with the trident was nothing to laugh at, either.

Even one of them would be a handful — try taking on all three at once, and she'd be the one pushed back, no question.

Even now, weren't all of them still keeping their guard up against her, never letting it slip?

More than anything, the matchup was bad.

A Great Witch and a holy knight.

Taking them with their limbs intact, and especially without marking up their faces — that would take real effort.

And in a situation like this, she couldn't afford to burn her strength like that.

On the surface, Milited's children had no ranking among themselves, but in practice, both Gracius and she herself knew well that Landschi was as good as their leader.

And that Landschi had said that for the sake of their master Milited, they had to find the 'mana left behind by a powerful one from another world' that was hidden somewhere here.

She didn't want to admit it, but if he said so, then it had to be done.

'…Well then. What to do.'

Worst case, there was the option of abandoning Gracius, snatching only the mana, and running.

But the priority right now was linking up over there first.

Fortunately, with Gracius and the undead he'd summoned, they'd tie this lot down for a good while….

"Ngh?!"

That was when a silver bullet came tearing through her thoughts.

She flicked aside the round — fired dead-center between her brows — and cradled the back of her hand, scorched as if burned, her eyes narrowing as she glared down below.

"……"

There stood Alice Blesbuck, pistol leveled at her.

Afraid, plainly — and yet her eyes held a firm resolve.

At the sight, Natalia Milited's mouth tore open all the way to just below the ear, and the fury she felt began pouring out of her without restraint.

"How dare — how dare you point that at me——!!!"

A mere possession of her mother's — a botched product who couldn't even do its one job and ended up ruining her parent's work — dared to level a gun at her, and at the fact of it her body shook with rage.

"Yes, my dear daughter. Looks like you need another lesson in manners…! Just like the old days — I'll gouge out both your eyes, snap your arms, and string you up in the air by a leash. And at night you'll sleep face-down in a feed trough in the pig pen. And this time, even if you cry and beg me to forgive you…!"

Bang.

A dry crack of gunfire rang out again.

This time, the shot hadn't come from the pistol in Alice Blesbuck's hand.

"You…!"

Natalia threw up a hand and caught the bullet mid-air, her face twisting uglier by another degree.

At the end of her glare stood Kath Ryle, calmly chambering the next round.

"You… you damned worms, all of you, I swear…!"

There was a sickening grinding sound, and blood spilled from the corner of Natalia's mouth.

Her nails began to lengthen into sharp chisels, and the vampire raised them slowly, opened her blood-soaked mouth, and let out a high, meaningless shriek.

"KYAAAAAH!!!"

Natalia hurled herself straight at the two of them, and whatever thought she'd had about heading toward the source of that exploding mana was long gone.

All that remained was the single urge to tear the two loathsome things in front of her to shreds.

"Hmph."

Watching the whole scene from high above, Belluna gave a sniff.

"…So can I just turn back from here?"

Belluna wasn't easily frightened — most opponents didn't even warrant her wariness.

She had the power and the ability to back it up.

That was why she hadn't been particularly worried when slipping out from among Milited's children, and why she'd answered Landschi's summons — possibly a trap — without much concern, either.

She'd been confident that even if it had been a trap, she could pull herself out of it just fine.

An ancient spirit once revered as a god — a spirit who was, in herself, the order of nature.

That was Belluna Hunt.

Even so, there were beings even she found unsettling, beings she had no wish to tangle with — and at the very top of that list was none other than Minerva.

And from the direction they were now heading, she could feel Minerva's energy.

Honestly, Belluna did not want to go.

"No."

But Nam Hyun-hwa, dangling from her grip, shook her head.

Whether Belluna scowled or not, she only spoke in a stern voice.

"You're going to take me there, just like you promised. Once we get there, run away or whatever — do as you like."

"Ugh…."

"You're not actually thinking of breaking your promise, are you?"

For a spirit, a promise made of their own will carried a weight no one could override.

And both Belluna and Nam Hyun-hwa knew that perfectly well.

"That was a scam! You con artist — you tricked me!"

Belluna grumbled, refusing to accept defeat, but Nam Hyun-hwa only snorted.

In truth, there hadn't been a single trick or shortcut in their match — only a difference in skill, and no one knew that better than Belluna herself.

Because she knew it, all she could do was whine like a child and throw a tantrum.

If Nam Hyun-hwa had really cheated the way Belluna was claiming, one of them would have dropped dead long before now.

"You — once this whole thing's over, you're playing me again! Got it?!"

"…How many times do I have to say it — not 'you,' Nam Hyun-hwa."

Nam Hyun-hwa let out a sigh, though her fingers toyed once with the sword she was carrying.

Her body hadn't fully recovered yet, but she could move well enough now.

And she owed every bit of that recovery to Belluna.

"……"

Nam Hyun-hwa thought it over for a moment, then nodded.

"Sure… why not."

"Hm?"

"Once this is over, I'll play you however many rounds you want."

At that, Belluna broke into a fierce, eager grin.

She lifted Nam Hyun-hwa up and shot toward the shopping district at full speed.

"You really promised, right?"

Belluna pulled her a little closer and added:

"Once this is over, you and me — we're playing Go-Stop¹. Got it?"

Nam Hyun-hwa said nothing, only toyed with the sheath in her hand.

The first thing he felt was that his heart was hot.

Then a heat like a roaring flame moved through his chest and stomach, into his shoulders and legs, and finally all the way out to his fingertips and toes.

His whole body felt like it was burning away.

Each time, a scream tore out of his throat — neither human nor beast, belonging to nothing he could name.

But what reached his ears sounded only like Minerva's roar — the one he'd heard back then.

He could feel bone snapping, muscle tearing, skin splitting open.

The pain was so terrible he wanted to black out right then and there.

Yet every time he breathed out, every time his heart pulsed and pumped fresh blood, the pain melted away like snow — and he came to realize it.

Naturally, he turned his focus to his breathing, and before long, his body had filled completely with what was being newly pumped through it.

[You can feel Minerva's heart settling perfectly into the deepest part of your body.]

[Your blood will soon become a dragon's blood, and your breath will soon become a dragon's breath.]

[You have gained absolute resistance to all status ailments!]

[You have acquired the skill 'Dragonification.']

Notification windows kept popping up in front of his eyes, but none of it mattered to him.

What mattered was that his body was swelling.

[Deactivate King of Thorns — now!]

At Sbeungali's shout, Yu Ji-hyeok released King of Thorns at once.

And the moment the armor holding back his expanding body was gone, his frame surged in size at a terrifying rate.

No — it wasn't just that his body was ballooning.

His form itself was changing, as if he were shedding a skin.

His back and shoulders split open, and gaunt, bone-like wings emerged. From there, his arms thickened, scales pushing through the skin.

His spine curved, and like his arms, his legs sprouted scales and claws.

A tail that had no business being there tore itself out from near his hips, and horns broke from his skull and pushed up through his forehead.

[Krrgh….]

An involuntary groan escaped him at the foreign sensation and pain — both new to him.

And by the time he realized that the sound coming out of his mouth was a dragon's howl, he'd already become a fully formed dragon.

[A-ah. How can this be…!]

A voice reached his ears.

It was Minerva's voice.

[Goodness — I had foreseen this might come to pass, and yet. And yet, that he should take such a form…!]

She let the words out as though she couldn't believe it.

[Why, is he not utterly darling!]

Apparently not realizing her voice was reaching him, Minerva murmured on in a dazed, genuinely awestruck tone.

[The curve of that tail, the angle of those wings, the pattern of those scales, and the very shape of those horns…! How beautiful — such beauty as this, oh! Heavens, had I beheld him in days past, I might well have spirited him away to my la—?]

Picking up on something off mid-sentence, Minerva stopped.

She muttered, dread creeping into her voice:

[…Beloved?]

Yu Ji-hyeok carefully opened his mouth.

[…Mind telling me how I'm supposed to move?]

[@#$%@%#~!!!!]

At his response, Minerva let out a long, high-pitched shriek of pure nonsense.

So using her authority let him hear her voice, then.

Yu Ji-hyeok finished the thought and moved his foreleg.

— Krrk! Khh!

A single swat sent a giant the size of a decent building flying, helpless to stop it.

But apparently it couldn't feel pain — the giant kept lunging at him, only to get knocked back by his foreleg each time.

And every time, its flesh tore open along stitched-together seams, foul fluid spilling from the gaps.

— Kh, glrrgh….

Making that strange noise, the giant fixed multiple, spider-like eyes on the dragon that had once been Yu Ji-hyeok.

Then, without warning, its torso ripped open down the middle, and Surtr's flames poured out and washed over his body.

[Hm.]

He felt no pain, but the pressure kept him from pressing forward.

He tried to dodge, tried to move his body — but the sensations of this new flesh were unfamiliar, and nothing worked the way he wanted.

That was when Minerva spoke up in a tiny, hesitant voice, barely above a whisper.

[…Draw forth thy breath as though wringing it out from deep within thy chest.]

He took her at her word without question and began drawing the breath together, as if wringing it out from deep within himself.

Then, picking up on something off, Minerva's voice climbed in panic.

[N-nay! Beloved, thou must temper thy strength — hold thy power in chec—!]

Before she could finish, the breath tore loose from deep inside him.

In the next instant, his breath swallowed not just the giant and Surtr's flames still pouring out of it, but everything else in his line of sight, sweeping it all away.

Unleashed at full force by a dragon who had inherited Minerva's power, the breath tore through the ground, half-collapsed the shopping district building, and wiped out six structures in its path before its momentum finally began to fade.

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