I Became the Academy’s Genius Shikigami Summoner

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟏𝟒

“Screech!”

“Crash!”

Shin Do-hoon’s body, which had been targeting Myung-yul’s neck, was swept away by a wave of spiritual power, losing control.

Seizing the opportunity, I rushed forward and supported Myung-yul, hurriedly pulling him back.

“Myung-yul-nim, are you okay?”

“. . . Is it you? This is embarrassing. Did Arietta cast that spell?”

“Yes. She’s unharmed as well.”

Myung-yul calmly stood up, but his arms and legs were trembling slightly. His strength had already been completely drained.

Observing this sight, I roughly grasped the situation.

「 𝙎𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝘿𝙤-𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧. 」

Moreover, his body now possesses inhuman regenerative abilities. It must have been a difficult fight for Myung-yul, who had already retired from the front lines.

「 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮. 」

That means either Myung-yul was extremely weakened, or Shin Do-hoon’s power had grown far beyond our expectations.

“. . . Has the perfected one regained her senses? How did you do it?”

Shin Do-hoon faced us, a look of annoyance on his face as he sheathed the dagger he had been holding.

His eyes were bloodshot like Arietta’s earlier, and untamed spiritual power spilled out in all directions.

「. . . 𝙃𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚. 」

It could be a kind of trance, commonly seen in this type of black magic.

As if to support that thought, Myung-yul, who had been holding his breath, spoke urgently.

“Step back. He has completely succumbed to the forbidden elixir. He’ll probably go berserk soon.”

“Berserk?”

“Yeah, I saw it once when we were confiscating the forbidden elixir. He’ll become a monster who loses all reason and hungers only for human flesh and blood.”

I had expected it to some extent, given his S-rank trait, but Shin Do-hoon was unable to fully control the power of the forbidden elixir. In that case, it would be better to end this as quickly as possible before he went berserk.

I estimated the amount of spiritual power remaining in my body.

「 𝘼𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩. 」

I had already been in one battle, and I had used up a lot of power healing Arietta and infusing my blood with spiritual power.

I had the spiritual power stored in the Baryok Beads and the Spirit Absorption trait, but either way, I needed to end this quickly.

“Come forth, all of you.”

Swish.

Poof!

Roar!

Black Yin, Elder Water Ghost, Sori-soe, and Ggong-sam-yi.

At the same time, I drew Gloom of Darkness and strengthened Black Yin and Ggong-sam-yi, who had the strongest fighting power.

Whooosh.

Crackle.

It was a battle formation for a decisive battle. Seeing this, Shin Do-hoon also rallied his strength and spoke to me.

“I didn’t notice before because I was focused on something else, but you’re not just some random nobody. You must have been the one who woke up the perfected one.”

“So what if I did?”

“I’ll kill you before you can cause any more trouble.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Shin Do-hoon lunged at me without giving me a chance to react.

His speed was incredible. He was definitely moving much better than before. I quickly checked the information window and confirmed that his weakened strength had returned.

“Burn.”

Roar!

“Kugh!”

Shin Do-hoon, who didn’t dodge the flames and took the hit head-on, was momentarily bewildered by the unexpected damage caused by the Cleansing Fire trait.

However, he quickly pushed through it and closed the distance.

“Damn, this fire hurts.”

“. . . Azure Serpent Binding.”

Clang!

Rustle—!

Several strands of blue chains shot out from the talisman I threw, binding Shin Do-hoon.

However, those chains were also severed within seconds by his monstrous strength.

Just then, someone blocked Shin Do-hoon, who had gotten right up to us. It was Arietta.

“. . . You shall not pass.”

“Move aside. Even if you’re a perfected one, do you think you can defeat me when you haven’t even awakened your own power?”

Shin Do-hoon quickly gathered spiritual power and stomped his foot.

The intermediate-level attack spell, Sky Blade.

It’s a type of spell that exerts its power in close-range combat.

Arietta also began to counterattack, but Shin Do-hoon’s might, now that he had fully regained his strength, was not something that could be easily overcome.

Screech!

Clatter!

Zzzing—!

“Ugh.”

“I guess you’re not as impressive as I expected. You’re quite skilled for your age, but you’re not special enough for me.”

“. . . Then how about this?”

Arietta prepared an incantation for a higher-level spell and, with impeccable timing, revealed her hidden trump card.

It was the shikigami White Yang, contracted through the Half-Moon Stone embedded in her earring.

Flash!

Whirl!

Whooosh.

『 Screech—! 』

“Luminous Spirit Bomb!”

“Heavens. . . Huh?”

Just as Shin Do-hoon was about to cast a defensive spell, the spiritual binding shot by White Yang ensnared him.

In the end, Shin Do-hoon was completely defenseless against the attack and his entire body was ravaged.

Boom!

Clatter—!

“Kyaaaagh—!”

“Whew.”

Arietta’s breath grew ragged after casting so many spells in such a short amount of time. She wasn’t able to use her shikigami as efficiently as I could, so summoning White Yang must have been quite a burden.

However, despite taking all of those attacks, Shin Do-hoon still hadn’t died, and his body was rapidly regenerating.

His regenerative abilities were truly beyond those of a human.

“. . . Junior. You need to take Master and run.”

Seeing this, Arietta seemed to sense that she wouldn’t be able to defeat Shin Do-hoon right away, so she quickly retreated and switched to a defensive stance.

However, Shin Do-hoon wasn’t about to let us escape.

As the dust cleared, revealing Shin Do-hoon’s bloodshot eyes, Myung-yul, who was standing behind us, quietly uttered a single word.

“. . . Be careful. It’s probably about to start.”

Immediately afterwards, Shin Do-hoon’s face became distorted. It looked like he was suppressing something, and also like he was enduring unbearable pain.

Then, an intense energy began to emanate from Shin Do-hoon’s entire body.

It felt more like the aura of a monster than spiritual power.

“Kugh! Stop it! Why now. . .!”

Those energies gradually consumed Shin Do-hoon’s body, growing larger and larger.

“Why. . .! Why is this happening. . .! I should have perfectly adapted to the forbidden elixir. . .! Cough!”

Shin Do-hoon’s voice, which had been struggling for a long time, suddenly stopped.

And in his place, there was no longer the human Shin Do-hoon, but a single monster.

「𝙎𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩.」

Ding!

【 Blood Ghost 】

▶ Level: 58

The system now recognized Shin Do-hoon as a monster, not a human. He had been completely consumed by the forbidden elixir, and his nature had changed.

『 It smells dangerous. 』

“. . . .”

As Sori-soe had said, the current Shin Do-hoon exuded an even more eerie aura than before.

From now on, I had to approach this battle as if I were facing a powerful yokai as an exorcist.

“Sori-soe, enlarge.”

『 Got it. 』

Whooosh.

Swish!

Essentially an A-rank yokai, in some ways it was similar to the manticore we fought last time, but that time I had seen through all of its movements and several powerful exorcists were fighting alongside me.

From the looks of it, Myung-yul wasn’t able to recover his strength quickly due to his age.

In the end, Arietta and I were the only ones who could fight the blood ghost in front of us.

「 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮, 𝙄’𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙜𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙬 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚. 」

Of course, their nature might not be exactly the same, but at least I had judged that Shin Do-hoon, in his current state, was a yokai of the same type based on his emotional functions.

In that case, he would definitely possess the powerful physical abilities and regenerative abilities unique to blood ghosts. Even more so now that he was in a berserk state.

Therefore, it was time to come up with a countermeasure for that as our top priority.

“. . . Junior, my spells don’t have enough firepower.”

“Yes, I know.”

If Myung-yul had his grand spell, it would be a different story, but that was out of the question for now.

However, I did have one idea.

It was to feed Shin Do-hoon Arietta’s blood.

「 𝙎𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝘿𝙤-𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙨𝙤 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠. 𝙃𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝘼𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙖’𝙨 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙗𝙨𝙤𝙧𝙗𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙗𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙭𝙞𝙧. 」

That’s how this type of forbidden technique works.

Shin Do-hoon’s body, which was already in an unstable state, would likely go into overload the moment he absorbed her blood, completely losing its functions and collapsing.

When I explained this to Myung-yul, he nodded as if he understood.

“Indeed, I think it’s a method worth trying.”

“. . . Then you and I will have to stop him from moving.”

What we had to do wasn’t much different from when I fought Arietta earlier. However, the difficulty level would be much higher.

With that, I steeled my resolve, approached Arietta, and held out my arm.

“. . . Why?”

“You should consume blood.”

“Blood?”

In fact, I had already confirmed that Arietta’s unidentified trait had awakened earlier.

【 True Noble Blood (S) 】

▶ She possesses the blood of the original race. She can replenish it through the flesh and blood of living creatures, and by consuming it, she can obtain powerful strength.

「 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚. 」

Originally, the Night Nature trait should have been there, but instead, it was the True Noble Blood trait that had been unlocked.

And that was the trait possessed by Beatrice, the powerful enemy in the sequel to the series that I had mentioned before.

「 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙨𝙚, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙩. 」

One of the simplest ways to use it is to temporarily amplify one’s physical abilities by absorbing the blood of living creatures.

「 𝙊𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚, 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙. . . 」

As a fairly skilled exorcist, my blood would be enough to significantly boost Arietta’s physical abilities.

“Didn’t you feel something strange when we came here earlier?”

“. . . My body did feel lighter.”

“Yes. From my perspective, you were much faster than usual.”

Only then did Arietta’s expression show a hint of surprise, as if she finally understood what I was trying to say.

“Junior, you’re not. . . feeling bad, are you?”

“I almost died, so what does that matter? We don’t have time.”

It wasn’t that I was being unreasonable, but we really didn’t have time. When I pushed my arm forward, cutting off her objections, Arietta made up her mind and cautiously brought her mouth to my arm, sinking her teeth, which had somehow become sharp, into my skin.

Chomp.

It was a slightly soft but warm sensation, followed by a slight pang of pain.

As Arietta absorbed my blood, her eyes began to turn red once again.

“. . . Yeah. This might actually work.”

And now that the two of us were together, there was another secret weapon we could use.

“Can I borrow White Yang for a moment?”

“. . . The fox? Sure.”

“Thank you.”

Flash!

『 Screech. 』

The twin shikigami, Black Yin and White Yang, could be fused together to temporarily summon a special shikigami.

「 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙧-𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙨𝙤 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙗𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙤𝙤 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨. . . 」

Perhaps some of the burden would fall on Arietta, as the master of White Yang, but it should be possible somehow.

Whoosh.

Whooosh.

Crackle.

With that, I extracted all of the spiritual power stored in the Baryok Beads and simultaneously activated the Spirit Absorption and Mental Spellbook traits, gradually forming the spell.