I Became the Academy’s Genius Shikigami Summoner – Chapter 290

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟗𝟎

“She continues to suffer from the ongoing yokai-fication after forcibly signing a contract with you. Don’t you know that the best?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know why you’re asking me that.”

I sighed at his uncooperative attitude and continued to press Taotie, but as time passed, the thought that something was strange began to gnaw at my mind.

“Didn’t you see it just now? Pyeong-eun-ha was already halfway through her yokai-fication, and her appearance was also becoming more like a yokai.”

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about? That woman was clearly in human form.”

The conversation is strangely out of sync.

It’s unlikely that Taotie would have hallucinated such a trivial matter, and it was impossible to figure out what was going on.

As the frustration grew, the party members also got angry, and Taotie, unable to bear it any longer, shouted out his emotions without filtering them.

“My contract with that woman wasn’t like that in the first place. There was no chance of yokai-fication like you said, so stop the sophistry and finish it quickly.”

It was a really strange thing to say. The reason I first learned of Taotie’s existence was because of the Pyeong Clan’s request, and the content was none other than to cure Pyeong-eun-ha’s yokai-fication.

Something is strange.

Something feels out of place.

I don’t know for sure, but it’s clear that we’re missing something.

“If you tell me for sure, I won’t bother you any further. Did Pyeong-eun-ha appear as a human to you?”

“I’ve been saying that from the beginning. I didn’t feel any yoki, and I didn’t see any of the basics of yokai, so I don’t know why you made such a stupid judgment.”

He’s not lying.

For some reason, Taotie really doesn’t know anything about Pyeong-eun-ha’s case.

However, Shin Pyo-eul and I definitely felt the signs of yokai-fication from her, so it doesn’t make sense that Taotie, who met her face-to-face, didn’t notice it.

「𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙏𝙖𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙚’𝙨 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨?」

But I don’t know if that’s possible. It’s something that can’t be explained in my realm of knowledge, at least, to completely twist the perception of a great yokai like Taotie.

“Was there anything strange when you made the contract with Pyeong-eun-ha?”

Taotie, who was getting annoyed by the constant questions and was about to rush in with his last ounce of strength, suddenly stopped and asked me with a much more serious expression.

“. . . Your attitude is strange. Are you saying that I was deceived by that woman?”

“She asked me to ask you to heal her of the yokai-fication caused by the contract with you. Since our perceptions are different, it’s clear that at least someone is involved in this case.”

I had to get information no matter what, so I tried to appease Taotie and hear as much as I could from him.

However, Taotie suddenly noticed something and widened his eyes, letting out a horrified voice.

“No way. . . . . .That can’t be!”

“Is there something you’ve figured out?”

“Damn it! Release this restraint now! I’m going to find that woman right now. . . . . . Ugh!”

In an instant, Taotie screamed in pain and fell to his knees on the ground.

And I could feel the yoki flowing out of his whole body like a flood.

“Ugh! How dare you, how dare you deceive me!”

Taotie, who had lost his vitality in an instant and became as thin as a mummy, died.

Looking at his body, Cheong Juhwa muttered in a trembling voice.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. It seems that there was an intervention that we didn’t know about. . . . . . .”

A creeping sense of ominousness, and Ho-chung and Guimei must have felt it as well, as they spoke with serious faces.

“Taotie was a genuine great yokai. To turn him into this in an instant. . . . . . .”

“It’s ominous, Oppa. I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

I don’t know for sure, but one thing is for sure. We need to hurry and find Shin Pyo-eul and Pyeong-eun-ha to check on their condition.

“They might be in danger.”

So we quickly headed to the Pyeong Clan’s mansion, where we were met with a shocking sight.

“Junior, what the hell is this. . . . . . .”

The mansion was in ruins, and in the center of it lay Shin Pyo-eul and Seo Cheon-ye, bleeding and slumped over.

I rushed over to them and asked what had happened.

“What happened?”

“. . . Oh my god, no way, no way it could have turned out like this.”

Seo Cheon-ye muttered as if she couldn’t believe the fact that she had witnessed, her mind completely blown.

“I kept her by my side the whole time and didn’t notice anything. How is this possible? This doesn’t make sense.”

She kept talking incessantly, but Seo Cheon-ye was completely disoriented.

As I lifted her up and supported her, she didn’t refuse and let her body fall, muttering in a trembling voice.

“That’s a being of a fundamentally different nature. . . . . .Something is out of our perception. If this continues, the chaos of the past will be. . . . . . .”

“You have to pull yourself together! What the hell happened?”

As I grabbed her by the shoulders and shouted, Seo Cheon-ye, who raised her head with dull eyes, soon uttered a single truth in a deadpan voice.

“. . . Polar Night has returned.”

It was the moment when our journey in this shamanistic world finally reached its final stage.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

Fortunately, Shin Pyo-eul’s condition was mostly fine, thanks to Seo Cheon-ye’s desperate protection.

After treating the two of them, we were able to hear a more detailed story.

“. . .Things happened suddenly. From what I heard, it was probably when you guys were finishing off Taotie.”

Pyeong-eun-ha, who had been resting after leaving the battlefield with Shin Pyo-eul. A sudden change occurred in her.

“How should I put it, it felt like her whole being was changing in an instant. I’ve never heard or seen anything like that in my life, so I was a little late to react.”

She felt something strange and hurriedly tried to subdue Pyeong-eun-ha, but Seocheon was counterattacked and defeated in battle in an instant.

“That being kept muttering something I didn’t understand. . . . . .But I could understand some of it. And I couldn’t help but figure out who it was.”

Polar Night.

Seo Cheon-ye said that the being that possessed Pyeong-eun-ha’s body was clearly the notorious ancient monster.

“I thought it had finally achieved its long-cherished goal, so by now it must be absorbing the power of countless yokai into its grasp, as recorded in the old secret history.”

It was simple, but it was enough to realize that the situation was desperate.

Above all, the fact that Polar Night had revived through Pyeong-eun-ha’s body made us even more confused.

“Were we all fooled?”

Seo Ji-an muttered, lost in thought, but no one could give a definitive answer to that question.

The situation was so sudden in the first place, and there was a lack of information.

「𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙏𝙖𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙋𝙮𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙜-𝙚𝙪𝙣-𝙝𝙖 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙚𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧. . . . . . .」

However, I heard that the contract was unilaterally concluded by Taotie.

Since Taotie himself said so, there should be no mistake in that part.

「𝙉𝙤, 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙮. . . . . .?」

One of the abilities of Polar Night that we originally knew was to dominate all yokai.

In addition, according to the information Xue Laifu had previously given us, the yokai dominated by Polar Night had described their feelings at the time as follows.

It was not a feeling that could be simply expressed by words such as submission or subordination, but rather a feeling that they had no choice but to follow Polar Night naturally, as if it were something that should be done.

To put it bluntly, it was the feeling of conforming to an absolute principle, not of having their personal will controlled.

So, if it was the ability of Polar Night, wouldn’t it also be possible to twist the thoughts and thinking of the dominated yokai at will?

“I think Taotie acted on his own will, but maybe he was played by Polar Night from the beginning.”

“I think so too. Donor. Maybe even the encounter and the contract from the beginning were all part of a thorough plan. . . . . .Polar Night seems to have a more fearsome ability than we thought.”

If we assume that, then it would be more accurate to say that Polar Night had been revealing its intentions within Pyeong-eun-ha for at least several years.

It might have deceived us on purpose and dragged us in, or the personality of her that we knew in the first place might have been false.

“What the hell is going on. . . . . .We have no way of knowing for now.”

So the first priority is to decide on our next course of action.

And I felt that a great turning point was approaching at this point.

“What do you think we should do?”

Now, Ho-chung and Seo Cheon-ye, as well as everyone else present, knew what I meant.

Polar Night probably already knows about our existence, so it might be better to return to the outside world before any unnecessary danger strikes.

No, in fact, if we think rationally, that’s what we should do.

At that, Seo Cheon-ye frowned as if she was about to say something, but Ho-chung cut her off firmly.

“I understand. Donor. Maybe those of us here, Seo Cheon-ye and I, are already failures. . . . . .Staying here might only lead to the same end. I will not blame you for leaving like this.”

Ho-chung’s words were logical, but I felt a twinge of bitterness in them instead.

Yes, the people here are, after all, beings of a bygone era for us.

I asked the party members for their opinions as well, but this time, everyone had to think carefully.

“Certainly. . . . . .Polar Night is dangerous. Even the five great yokai were like that, but if it’s him, he might actually figure out a way to use us to get to the outside world.”

“I think so too. Junior. If we’re not careful, we might be wiped out here before we can even do anything.”

It’s true that we had just fought a fierce battle with the monstrous great yokai, Taotie.

And everyone seemed to be shocked by the fact that he had killed Taotie, who had given them all a hard time, in an instant.

“That’s right. This time. . . . . .It’s really dangerous.”

I agreed with that opinion as well.

However, no matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something was amiss.

At the root of it was a really simple question.

「𝙄𝙛 𝙬𝙚 𝙜𝙤 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨, 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙙?」

We’ve uncovered a lot more information than before, but the fundamental secrets of Polar Night are still a mystery.

I don’t know about the other great yokai left in the upper chamber, but if we continue like this, I wonder if we’ll be able to deal with the unknown being called Polar Night in the outside world.

Also, the clue that Ho-chung in the outside world wanted to convey had not yet been revealed.

Something, something, if we could just gather a little more clues, it felt like we would gain something, but I couldn’t help but frown as I thought about giving up on it.

So, after much deliberation, I finally told the party members my opinion.

“I want to stay.”

For some reason, I felt a pure intuition deep down that I should do so.

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