The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All

The army of undead — moments ago bearing down on us with the momentum of a tidal wave, looking ready to swallow us whole — stopped dead in place, as if it had all been some kind of lie.

While I was still wondering what the hell was going on, a notification window opened in front of me.

At first I thought it was an error. Then I remembered — the text on the window was the complex, encrypted language used by sorcerers.

Obviously, I'd never sat down and learned the language system unique to sorcerers.

What I did have were the memories of "another me who chose a future as a sorcerer" — pieces I'd absorbed back in Margo's dungeon and, unlike the others, almost never thought about since. I had to claw those memories back up with effort.

Even so, that didn't mean I could actually read what was written on the notification window.

I could pick out a few scattered phrases — "mighty will," "inflict harm," "undead," "designate a target," and the word "Yu Ji-hyeok" — and that was about it.

But even that was enough to piece together what had happened.

My mouth closed on its own.

And it wasn't only me. Milited was just as thrown.

Even through the haze of its mist-form, the shock in its voice was impossible to hide.

A few more notification windows opened in succession.

[Entities of mighty will press their will into this place in turn.]

[From this moment, no undead may maintain its form within this space.]

[From this moment, the power of all beings who live in defiance of the natural order is diminished within this space.]

These were nothing but more lines I couldn't read.

But I could roughly guess what they meant.

The instant the windows appeared, the undead began melting away on the spot, as if they'd been illusions all along.

And then, at last, one more window.

That one, I could read at a glance.

[The Seven Calamity's venom saturating this space begins to be purified.]

[From this moment, no 'Seven Calamity' venom holds effect within this space.]

[You can faintly feel the mighty will gradually fading away....]

"......"

I'd pay my respects later.

I tightened my grip on the sword in one hand and the spear in the other and let my eyes sweep around.

The undead were gone, but Milited's nine children hadn't gone with them.

Even in death, even with their existence wiped clean from the world, they hadn't wavered for a moment. They were still serving it.

Landschi, Natalia Milited, Gracius.

And alongside the ice spirit I'd just seen — beasts you didn't run across easily, lined up one after another.

A werewolf nearly the size of an ogre.

A hydra with all nine heads gleaming gold.

A kelpie — a monster fused from a fish's lower half and a horse's upper.

A troll in a heavy robe, gripping a staff.

And last, a hobgoblin hung all over with daggers and weapons.

Every one of them must have made a name for itself in its time.

Weakened or not, none of them was something to underestimate.

I could feel it on instinct.

If I'd been the me from right after killing Margo, I'd have died here. The me from right after killing Sbeungali would have struggled badly without King of Thorns.

Right. The me back then would have.

Which was another way of saying — not the me right now.

Milited muttered the words, sounding hollow.

Ahriman, is this what you meant...? Yes, now I finally understand your aim....

In a situation like this, of course... that's what it is, isn't it? Anyone who isn't a fool can see it.

But.

Milited let out a sound I'd never heard from it before and spat the next words with savage menace.

The monologue wasn't aimed at me.

Do you think I'll move the way you want me to...?

Me? Milited? Ruler of countless names, the one who once devoured half the world!

The one who governs all knowledge, who in the end will conquer all things!

Do you think I will dance to the plans of a half-thing like you, Ahriman — something that can't even properly establish its own existence?!

I'll kill him.

I don't need his corpse anymore, I don't need his essence — I'll kill him and wipe his existence clean from this world.

I'll erase every trace, every footprint. I'll kill everyone connected to him too, so there's not one person left who remembers him.

And when your precious plan falls apart because of it, I wonder what you'll have to say...?

With every sentence, Milited's manner shifted — sobbing one moment, raging the next, then muttering with obsession, then breaking into wild laughter. At the end it cut off abruptly, its face going flat, and exhaled a long, deep breath.

The time you whispered the old oaths to me — it has come, here and now.

Offer up your souls for my sake, as is right.

Cut the breath from my enemies.

At the word, the clones spasmed, every limb jerking as if jolted by a high-voltage current.

Then I saw their dull lye-colored eyes all flush a deep red-black, and without a word I just adjusted my grip on the sword and spear.

I was running World Tree's branches and Henir's Shadow to keep the others safe, which left me to fight on raw physical ability alone — but there was nothing to worry about there.

The only questions were how long it would take, and how I was going to drag Milited out once these nine were down.

"Grrrrr..."

The first to move was the werewolf in front... or rather, the hobgoblin behind it, with the werewolf as bait.

I pretended not to notice and stabbed the spear at the werewolf as it leapt for me.

I was about to swing the sword at the hobgoblin lunging in low at the backs of my knees with a dagger reversed in its grip when —

"Kyeeek!"

A burst of flame from somewhere wrapped the hobgoblin up. It let out a short shriek and crashed away.

In the same instant, every eye snapped toward the source of the fire.

Han Su-yeong's buckler was hovering in midair, spinning, the face of its shield turned toward me.

A moment later, something burst up out of my shadow and crushed the burning hobgoblin's head flat. For a second I couldn't tell what it was — its whole body was covered in sleek, sharp-edged black scales.

But then I saw the long black hair — and it's a cliché phrase, I know, but it was hair beautiful enough to look like a slice cut straight out of the night sky — and I knew immediately it was Jin Ye-seul.

She was wearing, head to toe, the armor I'd given her, forged from my own scales.

Milited had taken the words right out of my mouth.

Jin Ye-seul, with even her face covered, looked at me blankly.

She stood there with the headless hobgoblin's corpse hanging from one hand, gazing at me, then quietly turned her face aside and murmured,

"Sorry, Ji-hyeok."

She'd take whatever punishment came later.

A moment after, everyone who'd been inside my shadow came out — not through mine, but through Jin Ye-seul's.

Inside the shadow, they had been able to see and hear everything.

And they'd been able to move as their own will dictated.

Jin Ye-jeong, Alice Blesbuck, and Evangelline Loengreen had agreed to focus entirely on treating Ivan Hunt, and Belluna had been standing beside them, blankly watching the face of her son as he lay there with his eyes closed.

Kath Ryle, whose condition seemed to have improved a little, was sitting off to one side, quietly fiddling with something in his hands.

"...This is a really strange feeling."

Ahn Do-hun muttered it, looking at the World Tree branch lodged in his arm.

To be honest, he didn't really understand why he was still in this place to begin with.

He'd come because of what Choi Hyun-woo and the others might be walking into — couldn't be helped, he'd told himself, putting on a show of being dragged along to lend a hand. At most, he'd figured it would be like the guild invitation event: a few unhinged terror cells or some anti-social outfit showing up to start something.

In other words, he hadn't dreamed something like this would happen.

Seven Calamities, clones of the dead, armies of the undead — those were all distant things to him. Right up until a few minutes ago, anyway.

"What the hell even is this..."

He muttered it and glanced sideways.

Off in one direction, the biggest cluster of people had gathered.

Choi Hyun-woo, Han Su-yeong, Jin Ye-seul, Lee Ye-eun, and Lee Yu-na.

Plus a woman beautiful enough to knock the breath out of you for a second — six of them in all, deep in some conversation.

"......"

Ahn Do-hun remembered the moment a beat too late and felt his face heat up slightly without meaning to.

Pathetic, getting caught staring at someone's face, even for a second. Even he found it ridiculous.

The reason he'd managed to snap out of it so quickly was the woman's massive horns and tail, which made it absolutely clear at a glance she wasn't human, and the formidable aura that — calm as it was — still made his nerves go taut.

But more than that, it was because of who came drifting up from a corner of his mind.

"Ahem, hm."

Ahn Do-hun cleared his throat softly.

Memories were surfacing — going to a baseball game together, both of them in caps pulled down low; making the mistake of bringing up something he didn't know about and getting cornered for three solid hours on the team's history; being suddenly hugged when a home run pulled out a come-from-behind win.

He pulled himself together, decided sitting alone was going to feel even worse, and slipped over toward Choi Hyun-woo — the friendliest face in the bunch. As he got closer, the conversation came in clearly, and he immediately tuned in.

"...So you're saying you really can block a Seven Calamity's venom?"

"Yes. There were several things this one overlooked, but this one is not so foolish as to repeat the same mistake twice."

Minerva nodded at Han Su-yeong's question.

"...This one was mistaken about several matters. By their very nature, Seven Calamities exhale traces of venom with every breath they take. Just as this Minerva, long renowned for her command of poisons, was famed for the deadliness of her own breath. Yet at that time, you and the other humans were perfectly fine, were you not? I had calculated — given your capabilities, you would be all right for a while. What I honestly did not foresee was that it would scatter itself deliberately and use that to target only the internal organs and vital systems. That was this one's miscalculation."

"......?"

Why is she making it sound so complicated.

That was what Ahn Do-hun was thinking as he casually slotted himself between Choi Hyun-woo and Lee Ye-eun.

They were the two people in this group he had at least some passing connection with.

"But as I said before, in matters of poison this Minerva claims, with confidence, that no other Seven Calamity could match her. Since I came into contact with it while out there, I can right now produce antibodies — or simple charms — that will resist Milited's venom."

As she spoke, Minerva flicked her tail once.

Ahn Do-hun kept stealing glances at the soft sweep of her tail with what he tried to pass off as polite disinterest, but his fascination was obvious.

"And whatever the reason, the venom out there is also being gradually neutralized. You will have more than enough time to hold out until it has all been purified and gone."

"Then there's no reason to wait, right? Minerva, please. Could you make them for us?"

"That is no trouble. Before that, though, there is something I would like to ask."

Minerva looked steadily at Han Su-yeong.

Her eyes were on her alone, but in truth the question was meant for everyone there.

"Why do you all wish to go back out there so badly?"

"...Hm?"

"You see what I mean. Honestly speaking — if you went out, how much help would you actually be?"

Minerva's words drove, unhesitating and razor-sharp, into a place no one wanted them touching.

There wasn't a flicker of mockery or scorn in the way she asked it.

"Let us speak openly. If he had moved alone, he would likely have killed Milited some time ago, or he would already be deliberating what to do with the wretch who's been reduced to mist and is whimpering for its life. But look at the situation now. How did it end up like this?"

"......"

Han Su-yeong's mouth closed.

So did everyone else's.

It was the question they'd all been turning over in their hearts and never, never letting out into the open.

Are we really something he needs?

The truth was, Choi Hyun-woo had been gnawed at by the fact that no matter how hard he trained, the gap between him and Yu Ji-hyeok kept widening. Lee Yu-na had braced herself for so long for the fight against Milited and then hadn't been able to do a thing when it came — a kind of guilt weighed on her now.

And it was the same for Han Su-yeong, and Jin Ye-seul, and Lee Ye-eun.

Different in shape and direction, but the same doubt at the root.

The starting point was the same for every one of them.

Honestly, does he even need us?

"...I don't know either."

A long while passed before Han Su-yeong finally opened her mouth, quietly.

"No, I do know. I know it. I know that out of all of us, the only one fit to fight at Ji-hyeok's side is you, Minerva. I know perfectly well that no matter how hard I try, I'm not going to be that much help to Ji-hyeok. And it's not just me. I think all of us know. The gap between him and us has opened up so far now that there's no closing it."

She let out a thin, bitter laugh.

Everyone there felt the weight of what she was saying.

Back when he'd fought Minerva, he'd already been on a different level entirely, as the saying went.

And now he was a far cry stronger than even then.

That truth had been settling into their bones a little more with every day that passed.

"But... call it selfish if you want, say I don't know my place, I can't argue."

She gave a weak smile and fidgeted with her hands.

"It's just — I was like this before, and I'm like this now, and... going forward too, I want to be useful to him in some way, any way, no matter what. I can't help wanting that."

"......"

At her words, Minerva nodded slowly.

Then, just as slowly, she opened her eyes and spoke.

"...Each of you, prepare yourselves. The charms will take only a moment to make."

She turned her gaze toward Jin Ye-seul.

"If you exit through his shadow, there is a risk the one resting in there might be expelled along with you. Use your own shadow to make the door. The root is the same, so it will not matter."

Jin Ye-seul nodded in understanding.

Choi Hyun-woo let out a long breath and picked up his sword.

For whatever reason, the look on his face was the look of someone who'd just shaken loose a problem that had been gnawing at him.

"I've been ready any time you needed me."

"......"

At Lee Ye-eun's words, Lee Yu-na nodded.

The two of them looked equally fired up, ready to spring out the moment the chance came.

Ahn Do-hun, figuring he'd better go too, was just reaching for his flagpole and greatsword —

"Oh, and — I can only make five. Bear that in mind."

"......"

At her words, Ahn Do-hun quietly set the flagpole and greatsword back down.

And the situation returns to where it was a moment ago.

Han Su-yeong, Lee Ye-eun, Lee Yu-na, and Choi Hyun-woo, who had stepped out through Jin Ye-seul's shadow, settled into position around Yu Ji-hyeok naturally — surrounding him in a stance that was less a circle than a guard.

"Why on earth...?"

He looked around, baffled, and muttered the words.

"Ji-hyeok, save your strength."

Lee Ye-eun gave the bewildered Yu Ji-hyeok a bright smile.

"You're the one who has to deal with Milited. We'll handle the small fry."

"That's right. We can handle that much. So..."

Choi Hyun-woo said it as he drew his sword.

Jin Ye-seul settled into stance with the same look.

"...At least let us do this much."

For some reason, Lee Yu-na half-whispered it as she began to spin the hilt in her hand around and around.

"Sorry for acting on our own."

Last of all, Han Su-yeong said it and gave him a light, easy punch on the shoulder.

"And — didn't I tell you before? It's me — it's us — saying we want to help you. What does that have to do with you, anyway?"

She finished and snapped her fingers crisply.

The Crystal and the buckler that had been drifting in the air flew over and began circling around her.

"After getting given a thing like this, if I couldn't even pull off this much, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night from sheer indignation."

The smile still on her lips, she turned her gaze forward.

"So — you'll let us earn our keep, won't you?"

Something sloshed faintly in her arms as she spoke.

Han Su-yeong touched it carefully.

A potion bottle holding the blood of another version of herself — one whose stopper she hadn't once pulled out since the day she'd received it.

Han Su-yeong knew on instinct that the time to use it had come.

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