I Became the Academy’s Genius Shikigami Summoner – Chapter 178

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕𝟖

When I opened my eyes, a young man who didn’t look very old was staring at me with sparkling eyes.

「𝙇𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡 48. . . . . .2𝙣𝙙-𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙙𝙚?」

Since there was already a shortage of supplies and space, I didn’t have this small room to myself.

In other words, he was a colleague who would be with me during this subjugation.

“Is there anything wrong?”

“Wrong? Of course there is. Why did a greenhorn like you come here? Get out of here right now if you don’t want to die.”

Perhaps he had seen my age and assumed that I was not skilled enough to participate in the subjugation.

「. . .𝘼𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣?」

I had expected it, but there were quite a few cases like this. In the original work, Yoo Ha-on and her party were also ignored in similar situations.

“Damn it, we’ll definitely be moving in the same group in actual combat, but can I trust a weakling like you to watch my back? Be a good boy and get out of here.”

The man waved his hand with an expression full of annoyance.

However, upon closer inspection, there was no real hostility in it. Convinced of this, I was also able to grasp the man’s intentions.

「𝙎𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙮 𝙣𝙖𝙞𝙫𝙚.」

In other words, the man was not disgusted by me, but was worried that I would be injured in this battle and wanted me to drop out.

Well, even I would immediately shake my head if a middle school kid came up to me and asked to fight with me. Maybe that’s how the man saw me?

At that, I chuckled and ignored the man’s words, closing my eyes and going back into meditation.

I could feel the man glaring at me as if to say, “Is this all you’ve got?” but I didn’t feel the need to react.

Anyway, the meaning of their gazes towards me will change soon enough.

After a long meditation, I opened my eyes to see a man sitting in a chair with a sullen expression on his face.

“. . .Well, you’re a useful guy. I’ll admit that.”

However.

“Judging by your age, you must be a 3rd-grade. To be honest, there’s nothing you can do in this battle.”

The man also turned to someone other than me, as if he didn’t like the current reality, and continued speaking.

“Why do you think the headquarters accepted 3rd-graders like you? What’s your role?”

“. . . . . . .”

“Shields. Shields. Get hit once, stall for time, and die. Do you really think that has any meaning?”

The man’s words were quite accurate.

In fact, even though they didn’t say it out loud, that was roughly the role that the higher-ups expected us to play in this battle.

“. . .Have you ever participated in a battle like this?”

“Not S-rank, but I’ve seen up to the level right below that. 3rd-graders can’t do anything in front of them.”

One level below would be A+, and surely, even that level would be a yokai that was difficult for humans to handle with their own strength.

He seemed to know the details, so it seemed that the man himself was a warrior who had overcome life-or-death battles.

However, there was something that even such a man did not know.

“It won’t be that easy.”

“What?”

“In order to survive, you’ll have to throw away all the common sense you’ve had up until now.”

The man looked puzzled, as if he had experienced such a situation.

And at that moment, an urgent broadcast rang out throughout the building.

『All exorcists participating in the subjugation, please prepare immediately and gather at the entrance. I repeat. All exorcists participating in the subjugation. . . . . . .』

Upon hearing those words, the man clicked his tongue and started packing his things.

「𝙃𝙚’𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜.」

Finally, the moment of the showdown was approaching.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

In fact, I had contacted one person in a hurry before participating in this subjugation. It was none other than Seo Ji-an.

「𝙄𝙣 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙨𝙝𝙚’𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩.」

Yusu-bi is a yokai that handles only fire and earth, and Seo Ji-an, with her water god trait, is strictly speaking close to being its natural enemy.

In fact, I had been envisioning the current situation ever since I first met Seo Ji-an and helped her grow.

「𝘽𝙪𝙩. . . . . . .」

Seo Ji-an was not reachable right now. So I had to swallow my regret and sign up for the subjugation alone.

That’s why I couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“. . .It’s been a long time. I didn’t expect to see you in a place like this.”

“I could say the same to you. What happened?”

Apparently, Seo Ji-an was already part of the pursuit team that had first detected Yusu-bi’s appearance and was chasing after it.

So it was natural that she would end up in the current situation.

「𝙎𝙝𝙚’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙙, 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙚?」

In my case, I had actively used my connections to have Seo Ji-an participate as my assistant, but she probably didn’t have a way to participate in the subjugation officially.

Perhaps realizing my curiosity, Seo Ji-an turned her head away as if she had forgotten something and opened her mouth.

“. . .By the way, did I not tell you?”

“What?”

“I’m qualified too. I took the exam last time.”

I had no idea. If it was last time, it must have been the same exam as mine, but I had never heard a word about it.

Seo Ji-an blushed slightly, looking a little embarrassed.

“I chose a different location for the exam. I didn’t want to see too many familiar faces.”

Indeed, it meant that she had deliberately taken the exam without being noticed.

Well, at that time, the four of us were already gathering together and getting in sync, so she might not have wanted to throw cold water on us.

I felt a little sorry for having unintentionally pushed her away.

Seo Ji-an quickly changed the subject and asked me a question.

“. . .Anyway, which group are you in?”

“B-2 group.”

“That’s our side. We probably won’t be too far apart when we form up.”

That was good news. In any case, this meant that I could include Seo Ji-an in my calculations again.

Her presence alone would change what we could do by 180 degrees.

With that thought in mind, Seo Ji-an gave me a final exhortation.

“Be careful.”

“I will.”

“. . .If I couldn’t handle a nature-type spell of water, I wouldn’t have dared to set foot in this battle in the first place.”

Come to think of it, Seo Ji-an said that she had been chasing after it since the beginning. She must have had the opportunity to witness its power.

In Seo Ji-an’s eyes, there was a hint of triumph and a faint fear.

And as time passed, the overall commander and commander-in-chief of this subjugation, an exorcist, appeared before everyone.

“. . .This is my first time giving an official greeting. Nice to meet you all.”

He was the 9th elder of the Hwang family, Hwang Se-woong.

He was the father of Hwang Se-jin, who had had a conflict with me before, and held the title of special-grade exorcist.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

Hwang Se-woong’s greeting was not very long.

In the first place, anyone could see that the current situation was not normal. Because of that, the exorcists gathered there decided to head to the scene and start the subjugation, rather than engaging in a table discussion.

“It’s a long way to the summit where he is, so let’s move quickly.”

Even though we were still only at the foot of the mountain, the temperature of the atmosphere had risen considerably and the ground was shaking constantly.

The exorcists climbed the mountain, their cold sweat dripping down their faces at the strange phenomenon.

Meanwhile, next to me, Lee Eun-chan, the man who had stayed in the same room as me earlier, kept chattering away.

“Hey, did you know that person?”

“Do you know Seo Ji-an?”

“Of course, she’s the youngest girl in that group. I heard her give a lecture at the startup fair.”

Perhaps he had been interested in that field all along, but Eun-chan reacted very differently from before, with a lively response.

However, I could clearly sense the emotion in his words.

“Are you nervous?”

“W-Who?”

“If not, that’s fine.”

He’s not a bad guy, no matter how you look at it. He was genuinely worried about the life of someone he had just met, so his heart was rather pure.

That’s why I didn’t want to see him die if I could help it.

“. . .Get ready, here it comes.”

A wave of incredibly violent energy. At the same time, the ground began to shake even more violently than before.

Boom, boom, boom.

Bang!

Ba-a-ang!

The sight that unfolded before us was, frankly, hard to believe even with our own eyes.

“Oh my god.”

“W-What the hell. T-The mountain. . . . . . .”

Flames erupted from all over the mountain range, and black smoke and some kind of ash scattered along with it.

The ground was dented here and there as if a giant had stomped on it, and something with an unimaginable amount of heat began to flow through the path.

“I-Is a volcano erupting?”

It was an absurd thing to say. This Mt. Mudeung was a dead volcano, and the last time it had been active was in the distant past.

However, looking at the sight before our eyes, anyone would have said the same thing.

「𝙄’𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨. . . . . ., 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙯𝙞𝙣𝙜.」

It was a thought I had had countless times before, but it had never meant as much as it did now.

After all, what was approaching us now was nothing less than the wrath of nature itself.

「. . .𝙒𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙙.」

This is an artificially created phenomenon, literally a copycat.

There is no way that normal volcanic activity is happening right now, and nothing more than that is coming.

However, that was enough. In fact, the subjugation team had not moved a single step since a while ago.

They were completely overwhelmed by the sheer force of nature.

And then.

“Ugh, th, the heat. . . . . .!”

“Gasp. Huff.”

“. . .I can’t breathe.”

Even though it was just a copycat, all of those things were real.

The air was so hot that it seemed to distort, and the exorcists all breathed heavily and drew on their spiritual power.

Just standing there was draining their stamina and spiritual power.

For the subjugation team, this mountain was like the worst enemy territory.

“Phew. Inhale. S-Should we keep going?”

Someone asked Hwang Se-woong in a frightened voice.

However, Hwang Se-woong did not waver, even in the face of their attitude.

“Of course.”

Even though the opponent was a monster with unprecedented power, the same was true for this side.

Hwang Se-woong took a deep breath and finally gave clear instructions to the subjugation team.

“Move as planned, blocking the three directions. Everyone, follow your assigned groups and climb the mountain along the designated routes.”

At Hwang Se-woong’s firm will, the exorcists shouted loudly, shaking off their fear.

“Yes!”

And so, the subjugation team split into three directions, and I also climbed the mountain with my group.

“W-Well, a special-grade is different. He doesn’t even flinch at this sight. . . . . . .”

“He must be skilled enough to do so. We just have to do our part.”

I agreed with that much. Even though I had a bad relationship with his son, Hwang Se-woong is a great exorcist regardless of that.

However, as much as I trusted him, the news that soon came through left the group in great despair.

『T-The subjugation leader is critically injured! He was attacked by the enemy and is critically injured! We will go down the mountain immediately and treat him!』

It was a moment when everyone’s footsteps froze once again.

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