The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All

A series of deafening crashes and shockwaves tore through the air as if heaven and earth themselves were splitting apart.

Han Su-yeong, Evangelline Loengreen, and Alice Blesbuck threw up protective wards in time, and more than anything, Yu Ji-hyeok — now in dragon form — planted himself between the storm and the others, his body acting as a living shield. Thanks to that, they came through with hardly a scratch.

But Milited and its clones, who'd taken the storm head-on, didn't get off so easily.

They paid the full price for standing against a force of pure, unstoppable violence.

[Kraaaaaah!!!]

The dragon roared and unleashed storm after storm from his mouth in quick succession.

"...At this rate, this whole space is going to give out before he does. The barrier itself might crack."

Evangelline, who had been shrieking in shock only moments earlier, said it with perfect composure. She gave her trademark pointed hat a few brisk pats to clean it off and set it lightly back on her blond hair. It was the little habit she fell into whenever she felt awkward or flustered.

"More importantly... that treasure right there, alive and moving in front of me. My eyes were going. How could I have walked past a treasure like that without recognizing it?"

[Grrrrr....]

After five or six storm breaths, the dragon — Yu Ji-hyeok — finally let out a slow, satisfied breath, like something heavy had eased in his chest. Then a woman slipped out from between his scales and alighted lightly on top of his head. It was Minerva.

"My dear. It's about time to return to your original form. This space cannot endure any more."

She tapped lightly between his eyes as she spoke.

"And you cannot endure much more yourself. Push it too far and you may be consumed, as before..."

The dragon's head dipped slightly up and down.

His body shrank, folding back into the half-crouched shape of a human, and as if she'd been waiting for it, Minerva slipped behind him and drew her own robe around his body to cover him. She was wearing something with a much fuller, looser cut than usual, and the fabric was more than enough to wrap him.

"...What are you doing?"

At his exasperated question, Minerva answered with a touch of smug satisfaction.

"You're naked at the moment. I am aware that, by human custom and propriety, it is unbecoming to display one's nakedness to others."

"I can just cover myself with Henir's Shadow. And I've still got my pants on."

"Hmm, this one will not allow that. Surely you know — your shadow has long since become an extension of this one's own limbs. It would obey this one's will before yours."

"......"

He pinched the corner of his eye, like he had no comeback to that.

In the middle of it, someone hit the ground beside him with a "Pwahh!" and a sharp exhale.

Belluna — half her body scorched, scrapes and cuts large and small all over her.

"Oof, I really thought I was a goner."

She grumbled and tossed Yu Ji-hyeok's coat — which she'd somehow snagged on the way in — at him.

"You couldn't have spared one word? 'Get back!' or 'Watch out!' or something."

"I figured you'd be fine, Belluna. A storm's just wind too, isn't it?"

"Honestly, one good smack on the head and I'd feel a whole lot better..."

Belluna muttered it down at Yu Ji-hyeok, who was busy fumbling the coat on. Then she turned her head and looked at the spot where Milited and its clones had been — now a pulverized wasteland, like it'd been hit by an air strike.

"Oh my, some of them are still alive, even after that."

She murmured it with mild surprise.

The ordinary clones really hadn't left a trace, but a handful — the so-called "special" ones — were still holding their shape and moving. Though even they were riddled with wounds that could send them collapsing at any second.

"...As a descendant, I should do my duty."

Lee Ye-eun stepped up beside Yu Ji-hyeok and murmured it.

She swept her hand forward, and a branch of the World Tree shot out to snag one of the clones that hadn't yet lost its form — barely standing, but standing — and dragged it in front of her.

A clone of the first priestess of the World Tree. The resemblance to Lee Ye-eun was close enough they could've passed for twins.

For Lee Ye-eun, this was an ancestor from the distant past.

She pinned that ancestor's clone down with one hand and, with the other, drew an arrow and drove it straight through its throat.

"Hahh..."

Lee Ye-eun let out a quiet sigh, looked down at the clone of her ancestor as its form crumbled apart, and closed her eyes for a moment in mourning. Meanwhile, Kath Ryle moved several of his homunculi out and finished off every remaining clone, snuffing out the last of them.

"Hahh, hahh."

Then he sank to a half-crouch, all but spent. Alice Blesbuck caught him as he swayed, steadied him, and dabbed the cold sweat from his brow, telling him over and over that he'd done well.

"I'm starting to feel like we came here for nothing."

When Ivan muttered it, Jin Ye-seul glanced at him and turned her head away, openly unimpressed.

That was a yes.

"......"

"......"

"......"

Han Su-yeong, Choi Hyun-woo, and Lee Yu-na stood there in silence.

The three of them were looking in different directions and thinking very different things.

Of the three, Lee Yu-na was looking at the same place Yu Ji-hyeok was.

There, in the wreckage, was Milited.

'...You said you needed me.'

She kept her lips pressed tight together and stared at Yu Ji-hyeok's back.

'This time. At least this time, you said I was the most important...'

Her clenched fist was trembling, just barely.

A hurt she couldn't smooth over, and a helpless, self-loathing despair at her own weakness — both wrapped around her.

"Pathetic-looking, aren't you."

Whether he knew it or not, Yu Ji-hyeok was looking down at Milited, whose body had been blown half away. From where it had crashed face-down on the ground, Milited dragged its head up with effort and met Yu Ji-hyeok's gaze.

"Th-there's still... room to negotiate, surely...?"

It shot a sharp glance at Minerva standing beside Yu Ji-hyeok, then forced a smile.

"R-right... up close like this, I can feel the powers inside your body. Minerva's is strongest, and... Sbeungali, his stink's pretty thick too. Astonishing. To hold two Seven Calamities inside you, keep your sanity, and stay alive and whole on top of it... hm? What?"

Milited muttered the words like it couldn't believe what it was sensing.

"Margo, that wretched little idiot, is in there too? But this is almost... heh. Even now, the wretch is still..."

It shook its head with what looked like genuine disgust.

Minerva caught herself nodding along in small agreement before she could help it.

"Anyway. What's the difference between three and four, really...? And if I've got this right, you must have a great many questions you'd like answered. I'd be in a position to answer every last one."

"......"

"What's tied to the pendant, how to get back to your original world, why your little sister was in this place, even Ahriman himself..."

"Cut the bullshit."

"What...?"

Yu Ji-hyeok raised the spear and drove it straight down into Milited's body.

He twisted the spear in deeper, like he couldn't stand the short scream that rang out.

"You're stalling for time. You're spitting out whatever comes to mind to buy yourself enough seconds to adjust your body."

"......"

Caught dead-on, Milited fell silent.

It had seen, in Yu Ji-hyeok's cold flat gaze, that there was no opening anywhere for it.

And beside Yu Ji-hyeok, Minerva wore the satisfied expression of a parent watching her young grow up before her eyes.

"S-such..."

Milited muttered in a daze.

"Then..."

Tears spilled out of its eyes all at once.

"I'll have to put your friends' lives on the scale."

A bursting sound went off, and on its heels a scream tore through the air.

It was Jin Ye-jeong's scream.

"Hk!"

"Heh, hahah... hah!"

Yu Ji-hyeok tore through Milited's body in an instant, but ripping every drop of liquid out of it was effectively impossible from the start. Milited, now stripped of most of its physical form, sobbed and laughed at the same time as it scrambled backward.

Minerva pushed off the ground, glaive in hand, and went after it.

Yu Ji-hyeok clicked his tongue and whipped around to look behind him.

He'd leave Milited to Minerva and get the wounded triaged first — that was his thought.

And the person lying there was the last one he'd ever expected.

"H-he shielded me..."

Jin Ye-jeong was saying it as she pressed down on the wound of the person in her arms and sprayed potion over it.

Cradled against her was Ivan Hunt, one of his arms gone.

No one panicked.

Not one person in that group was green enough to lose their head over something like this.

Even Jin Ye-jeong, who was on the verge of tears, was administering first aid with quick, precise motions.

Evangelline Loengreen and Alice Blesbuck both came tearing over and dropped down beside the unconscious Ivan to help her.

"It melted away...? No, this is reacting to mana...!"

"Stop the bleeding first — the wound isn't closing!"

The two of them barked the words back and forth, smearing on potions and rattling off incantations to stabilize him.

And Belluna stood there, blank-faced, just watching.

"...My son?"

Belluna murmured it in a small voice.

"...My baby?"

Whether from shock or blood loss, Ivan had already lost consciousness.

Cut, blown apart, melted — there was no way to tell which — but whatever the wound was, blood and something unidentifiable kept flowing out of the gaping ruin of his right arm.

"Ivan...?"

For the first time, Belluna whispered her son's name, her voice shaking.

For her, in that moment, nothing else in the world existed.

Then a voice rang out, humming through the air like an echo.

It was Milited's voice.

The voice was faint now, weak, its presence fading — but full of confidence.

Was I stalling for time to adapt my body? Yes, you were right about that. But before that... the moment I saw all of you, I was already turning my body to mist and scattering it. Sealing this space off so I couldn't escape was a real blunder on your part.

Sadly, I didn't have time enough to disperse the volume of my body needed to dissolve everyone. But picking out one person to kill, or laying mortal wounds on the ones with frailer bodies — that I can manage.

You were all so worked up fighting the clones. Humans breathe deeper and faster when they're pushed. Which means pieces of me are already settled deep inside your bodies.

It let out another laugh, soaked in tears.

"Ugh...!"

Han Su-yeong clamped a hand over her left eye and bent forward.

Sticky blood was running out from beneath her palm.

She wasn't the only one hurt.

Jin Ye-jeong suddenly clapped a hand over her mouth, and dark, dead blood seeped between her fingers.

Kath Ryle, Lee Ye-eun, Lee Yu-na — and even Choi Hyun-woo, Jin Ye-seul, and Ahn Do-hun, whose bodies were comparatively durable — all of their expressions hardened.

Between Ahn Do-hun's blessing and Yu Ji-hyeok's rings, they could resist to some extent, but everyone knew that was only buying time.

Milited's voice rolled out, low and savage, vibrating through the air.

"Minerva."

Yu Ji-hyeok ignored it and quietly spoke Minerva's name.

Minerva, glaive still in hand at his side, turned her head to look at him.

"Come back into my shadow. While you're out here... I can't use any of my other abilities."

"...Very well."

Minerva slipped soundlessly back into his shadow.

Once he confirmed it, Yu Ji-hyeok raised his right arm without a word.

From his right arm, branches of the World Tree flowed out — exactly as many branches as there were members of the group.

"Don't fight it, any of you."

The branches lashed out toward all of them at terrible speed.

They punched into each of their bodies and took root, fast and firm.

His mana flowed in through the branches, mingling with each of their mana, but no one fought it, no one rejected it.

Milited caught itself muttering, dumbfounded.

To pour your own mana into someone else and synchronize so completely, that quickly, with that many people at once — it was something even it could barely believe.

It had no way of knowing Yu Ji-hyeok possessed a skill called Synchronization.

Nor that Yu Ji-hyeok had already finished testing exactly how it could be used and applied.

Synchronization (Unique/Special)

[Effect][Active]

By channeling your mana and life force into a target you are touching, you can temporarily fuse the target with yourself.

"......"

He didn't stop there. Yu Ji-hyeok spread Henir's Shadow wide.

The bodies of those touched by the shadow began to sink slowly into it, like they were being swallowed by a marsh.

Shadow Swamp.

One of Henir's Shadow's abilities — anything that touched the shadow, living or otherwise, could be pulled down into it.

With it, Yu Ji-hyeok was hiding the entire group inside his own shadow, cut off from the outside world.

"Hey, wait! This is actually all right?"

"Wait — Ji-hyeok!"

Ahn Do-hun muttered it, his face thick with reluctance.

Han Su-yeong shouted his name in urgent panic even with blood still trickling from one eye.

Jin Ye-seul, Lee Ye-eun, and Lee Yu-na all had things on their faces they clearly wanted to say, but the shadow swallowed them up, and whatever they'd been holding inside was swallowed up along with them.

Once he'd confirmed the last of them was inside, Yu Ji-hyeok slowly drew the wide spread of shadow back in.

That wasn't the end of it.

While he'd been tucking them into the shadow, he'd also drawn out a peculiar potion bottle. The instant Milited saw it, the words tore out of it in genuine, undisguised shock.

Yu Ji-hyeok ignored it and downed the potion in one go.

It was the very same potion he'd received as a reward from Choi Hyun-woo's awakening event.

Earth's Lifeblood (Legendary/Bound)

This item cannot be transferred or used by another.

Effects only manifest if the entire contents are consumed.

Cures all status ailments.

Lifts all curses.

Heals all wounds and fully restores health and mana.

It hurt a little to burn it here and now, but he didn't hesitate.

Whether Milited had deliberately left it unsaid or not, it was a Seven Calamity all the same.

And a Seven Calamity's poison worked on humans as something so lethal there was no countering it.

To safely bring back the group, already poisoned by Milited's venom, this much was the bare minimum.

[I see — you mean to turn your own blood into a panacea and channel it through the link, do you...?]

Sbeungali murmured the words, and for once there was real admiration in his voice.

When he sensed the group hidden inside the shadow beginning to recover, Yu Ji-hyeok let out a small breath of relief and walked out to the middle of the now-empty space.

"What's left, then? What are you going to barter with next?"

Milited only kept its silence.

Drip, drip — the steady sound of liquid hitting the ground, on and on.

At some point Yu Ji-hyeok realized that nine clones had surrounded him.

Milited's children.

The voice was iron-firm.

At its word, the clones began dying, and the liquid they left behind started bubbling and seething.

Spawn the clones, kill the clones, and from the trace the dead clones left behind, summon another wave of servants without end.

That was why Milited's old forces had once been called an army of the undead.

Even one carrying a Seven Calamity's power — you're still human, and a human will tire eventually. Take as long as you like. I've waited it out three hundred years sealed in that cramped little cage of mine, after all!

I'll kill you.

I'll kill your comrades.

And you and your comrades will serve in my forces as members of my army.

Milited, scattered into mist, said it, and gave a single order to the servants who had filled the cleared space.

At the word, dozens, hundreds, possibly thousands of undead and clones threw themselves at Yu Ji-hyeok all at once.

Yu Ji-hyeok drew in a deep breath, planning to use Dragon Blood — King of Thorns came with its penalty — to meet them.

And then.

Something happened that neither Yu Ji-hyeok, nor Milited, nor Minerva, nor Sbeungali had foreseen.

Even Han Su-yeong, the owner of the Crystal, hadn't seen it coming.

The Crystal, which had been too large to fit inside the shadow and was hovering in midair, began to glow faintly.

And from within Yu Ji-hyeok's shadow, where Han Su-yeong had been watching the whole scene, she reached up to touch a forehead that had suddenly turned hot. It was the spot where another version of herself had once kissed her, calling it a blessing.

[An entity whose identity is unknown reveals its mighty will here, in this place.]

[No undead may inflict harm upon, or display hostility toward, the designated targets.]

[Targets have been designated.]

[The currently designated targets are 'Yu Ji-hyeok,' 'Han Su-yeong,' and 'Choi Hyun-woo.']

A necromancer's blessing — one that would never come again — wrapped itself around Yu Ji-hyeok.

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