I Became the Academy’s Genius Shikigami Summoner – Chapter 158

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟓𝟖

A massive serpent body that even anacondas couldn’t compare to, and a head that seemed like a fusion of a cat and a tiger.

It was definitely the very image of Myudusa as described in the original work.

「𝙎𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩.」

Tring!

【Myudusa (Cat-headed Serpent)】

▶Level 64

▶Ability Scores

【Stamina: A+】

【Vitality: S-】

【Spellcraft: B】

【Mental Strength: B】

▶Traits (9/10)

【Cat-Tiger God (S)】

【Instinct Enhancement (A+)】

【Iron Fortress (A)】

【Battle Instinct (A-)】

【Swift as Lightning (A-)】

【Vitality Amplification (B)】

【Circulatory System (B-)】

【Flexible Body (C)】

【Solid Bones (C-)】

「. . .𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜.」

Myudusa’s status, which I’m seeing for the first time since I’ve never encountered it in the game.

It’s not as high as the monstrous yokai that will appear later, but it’s definitely worthy of the S-rank.

It was said that it had enough power to destroy an entire city by itself.

「. . .𝙄 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙩-𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙨𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙤.」

Since we haven’t even properly observed its appearance yet, if the Red Unit, who happened to encounter it, doesn’t subdue it, the damage will increase exponentially.

It wasn’t for nothing that they fought desperately in the original work. They couldn’t just run away from it because they could predict the damage that would follow.

“. . .Shit.”

Swish.

Thud.

「𝙈𝙮 𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙩. . . . . . .」

As it revealed its massive body and released its spiritual energy, my body refused to obey me.

It’s not that I was particularly scared. It was just a natural reaction as a human and a living being.

The monster before my eyes was clearly a predator capable of devouring everyone here.

“H-How can we possibly. . . . . . .”

“Whew, hush. Try not to draw attention to yourself.”

In the midst of the chaotic street, the unit members were breathing heavily and instinctively using concealment spells.

They were partly following the instructions they had set out beforehand, but their survival instincts must have played a role as well.

「. . .𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙟𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨.」

Thanks to Shin No-eul’s quick warning, the worst-case scenario was avoided.

However, the situation was still very volatile.

Myudusa had appeared just outside the city, at the foot of the mountain, which meant that it would only take a few steps to reach the residential area.

I could already see people on the other side running away in panic, and some of them were frozen in place by Myudusa’s spiritual energy.

We didn’t have time to analyze the enemy or test its limits. Our first priority was to stop it from moving.

“Ugh, damn it. . . . . . .”

Realizing this, several unit members nearby cursed under their breath.

Just looking at the horrifying monster, they probably wanted to run away right now.

No, maybe some of them had already made up their minds to run, but were just waiting for the right moment.

However, the unit members had a beacon of hope to help them overcome their fear.

It was none other than Shin No-eul.

Thud.

“We’re going to form a battle formation now. Category D. Special Response Team.”

At the sound of her voice echoing through the chaos, the unit members lifted their heads and looked towards the source of the sound.

Myudusa’s gaze was also drawn to her as she confidently revealed herself, but Shin No-eul didn’t care. She smiled wickedly and continued speaking.

“Why are you all so scared? Are you not going to work? I’ll take care of it, so just support me.”

At her usual nonchalant words, the unit members suppressed their fear and stood up one by one to take their positions.

I also tried to head to my designated position to buy us some time to analyze the enemy, but I noticed that the body of the vice-leader, Lee Doo-sik, who was supposed to be in charge of the center of the formation, was trembling violently.

Looking closer, his breathing was irregular and his movements were unnatural. He must have suffered a significant injury from the initial blow.

「𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙙.」

Lee Doo-sik’s role was to give detailed instructions to the unit members from the center of the formation and to cover them overall.

If Lee Doo-sik couldn’t perform his duties properly, the formation would naturally fall apart.

So I slowly visualized the image of Lee Doo-sik as I had seen him during training.

「𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝.」

I had experienced large-scale battles and team leadership countless times in the game.

Without hesitation, I walked over to Lee Doo-sik. and grabbed his shoulder to steady him.

Thud.

“With that injury, you won’t be able to fight properly.”

“. . .This isn’t a yokai that the team leader can handle on her own. The unit members are also struggling to regain their composure. If I drop out now, the formation will collapse.”

“I’ll take over as the deputy team leader.”

“What?”

Lee Doo-sik looked at my face as if to say, ‘What are you talking about? It’s hard enough as it is.’ And then he looked a little surprised.

Unlike the other unit members who were visibly nervous, I was already fully prepared for battle.

Taking advantage of Lee Doo-sik’s hesitation, I delivered the final blow.

“If your instructions waver, the unit members will waver too. It would be much more helpful if you stepped back, treated your wounds, and joined up with the exorcists from the nearby Defense Corps.”

“. . .You’re a bit harsh, but you’re right. Are you sure you can do it?”

“I’ll do as well as the deputy team leader.”

“Well, I’ll be.”

Only then did the unit members, who had overheard our conversation, notice Lee Doo-sik’s injury and send him anxious looks.

Sensing this, Lee Doo-sik shouted.

“Han Kang-yoon will be in charge of the center! Maintain the formation and assist the team leader! We’ll call for reinforcements as soon as we can hold out!”

“Yes!”

And then he left me with a final message.

“When you’ve been on the front lines as long as I have, you can get a rough idea of your opponent just from their first impression. Especially if you’ve spent two weeks with them, you’ll notice most of it.”

“. . . . . . .”

“You’re a real one. I trust you to hold out until I get back.”

With that, Lee Doo-sik left without delay to do his job.

Almost at the same time, Myudusa fixed its gaze on us.

“Shiik.”

Swish.

Thud.

Its movements were hard to pin down.

Despite having the body of a snake, it only had a very small part of its body touching the ground, and it moved across the surface as if it were floating.

“Groan.”

“Ugh.”

As the distance closed and the spiritual energy pressed down on them, some of the first and second-year unit members grimaced and shook their heads.

In the meantime, Shin No-eul, who was standing alone in front of Myudusa, explosively increased her spiritual power and launched a preemptive attack.

Woosh.

“Wide Threads, Six Barriers, Feather Thunderstorm. . .”

The advanced spell, Sevenfold Strike, was versatile and highly powerful.

“. . .Let’s see how you like this.”

Screech

Clatter!

Boom!

The spell that Shin No-eul fired hit Myudusa directly, causing a powerful shockwave to erupt from its scales.

The unit members clenched their fists and their eyes lit up, but soon they could only be shocked at the sight that unfolded before them.

“It didn’t do any damage?”

“T-Team Leader’s spell?”

Their reaction was understandable.

To be honest, even to me, Shin No-eul’s spell seemed to be much stronger than usual.

However, Myudusa, who had taken it head-on, simply approached Shin No-eul again as if nothing had happened.

「𝙉𝙤, 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙘𝙩, 𝙞𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙙𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙚. . . . . . .」

But the damage itself wasn’t that great. It was a level that an S-rank yokai could easily handle with its regenerative abilities.

Even in such a desperate situation, Shin No-eul didn’t lose her nerve and once again increased her spiritual power.

“Huh, interesting. It doesn’t even flinch at this level.”

And then she began to cast spells with both hands in rapid succession.

This time, in addition to the Sevenfold Strike, she added another intermediate spell.

At first, I couldn’t tell what it was, but upon closer inspection, I saw that it was the detection spell, Joint Resonance.

Soon after, the wave of spiritual power that had been sent out earlier came into contact with Myudusa, and Shin No-eul concentrated her mind for a moment and fired off a spell.

“Sevenfold Strike!”

Screech

Clatter!

Boom!

It looked like the same attack as before, but the result was different.

Part of Myudusa’s scales split open and blood spurted out for a moment, and the creature let out a startled cry.

「. . .𝙄𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨.」

To be honest, I’m quite surprised.

Shin No-eul used the detection spell to analyze Myudusa’s body in real time, and at the same time, she resonated the tiny waves of spiritual power with the attack spell.

In other words, it was a precision strike with increased power, so it did some real damage.

「𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚.」

It seemed that she had put a lot of effort into researching her specialty, detection spells.

In any case, since that had created an opportunity, I quickly gave instructions to the unit members.

“Team 1 will cast binding spells on the parts that are touching the ground. The rest of you will fire attack spells at the same time.”

“. . .Got it.”

“Damn it, we have to do something while we have this chance.”

As expected of the Red Unit, most of the unit members shook off the pressure and quickly cast and fired spells.

Numerous chains and spikes of spiritual power pierced into the creature’s tail, and soon a barrage of attacks rained down on the bound creature like a carpet bombing.

Ping!

Ping!

Screech!

Boom!

Boom!

“Shiiiiiik─!”

No matter how strong its iron defense was, it couldn’t have been completely immune to the attacks, and it let out a sharp cry as it twisted its body nervously.

At the sight of this, a fierce desire for victory began to surge in the eyes of the unit members.

“. . .It’s not as bad as I thought.”

“Our spells are working on it too.”

“Don’t stop when you get a chance, keep it up!”

This sentiment was particularly strong among the first and second-year unit members.

Since they were the ones who had been the most scared, the gap was unconsciously large.

「𝙄𝙛 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙮, 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩. . . . . . .」

I alone knew that the real battle had yet to begin.

I slowly raised my right hand and concentrated on the creature’s movements that I could sense through the dust cloud.

And at the right moment, I quickly gave the order.

“Counterattack incoming! All teams gather together and cast defensive spells immediately!”

Those who had been building up tension in their bodies quickly followed my orders, but as expected, some of them were slow to react.

As I glanced over, Arietta nodded and gathered those unit members at the speed of light and brought them into the defensive formation.

Immediately after that, a strong shockwave slammed into the defensive spells that had been layered on top of each other.

Bang!

Crackle!

Boom!

Even though we had blocked it, the shock was so great that the air shook and our ears rang.

Realizing that their lives had almost been taken, some of the unit members gasped and panted heavily.

And it was only then that I was able to realize how the initial surprise attack and the current blow had been carried out.

「. . .𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙨.」

The creature hadn’t really done anything special.

It had simply swung its tail and struck the ground once.

However, the massive spiritual energy contained within it had created the current catastrophe.

Myudusa wasn’t really fighting us.

It had simply found a moving plaything and was interested in it.

That was when Myudusa’s gaze changed.

「. . . . . . .」

From an interesting plaything to the eyes of an enemy that could inflict wounds on it.

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