I Became the Academy’s Genius Shikigami Summoner – Chapter 174

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕𝟒

As I had expected, the situation was as bad as it could be, but there were some unexpected benefits.

The first was that my level had definitely increased significantly compared to before.

「𝙃𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙡𝙮, 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩.」

Of course, I understood it numerically. Nevertheless, I felt a more striking difference when I actually fought in a real battle.

In fact, the Madu-yuksa I met earlier would have been an individual that I would have had a hard time catching if it were before.

「𝙉𝙤𝙬, 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙙𝙪𝙚 𝘼-𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚.」

If I think about the ultimate Geusdae, I probably won’t be pushed back by A+ class yokai either.

However, complacency and arrogance were taboo.

In the first place, all of that was possible on the premise that I maintained my maximum skill and concentration.

If I make a mistake for even a moment, I, too, will lose my life, following the precedent of countless exorcists.

「𝙄𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙬.」

The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons was a huge crisis, but it was also an opportunity.

Just like Yoo Ha-on and her party did in the original, I would be able to grow rapidly by catching the overflowing yokai.

「𝙐𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙢𝙮 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨, 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚.」

That was my current goal and the reason why I accepted Hwang Gwang-sun’s suggestion to lead the search party.

Arriving near the first destination, I stopped the exorcists with a gesture and opened my mouth slightly.

“There are yokai everywhere. We’ll run into them no matter which way we go.”

“I don’t feel anything here. . . . . . .”

“That’s because there’s quite a distance.”

Of course, it was also because my detection technique was much more systematic, but there was definitely a noticeable difference in skill between them and me.

Except for the middle-aged man who introduced himself as a 2nd-grade exorcist, Lee Chang-soo, he wouldn’t be able to deal with yokai of B+ rank or higher.

「. . .𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙖 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙄 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙮.」

After falling into this world, I was the one with the advantage in strength in almost all situations.

But now, I feel like the experienced Defense Corps exorcists are getting in the way, so I realize how much I’ve changed.

「𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨.」

It’s a course that goes through Bongcheon-dong, passes through Naksung Grand Park, and passes through Yoohan Hospital, which is the largest in the vicinity.

Perhaps that alone would allow us to expect news of the missing people and the acquisition of effective information.

Since I thought it was too early to give up, I stopped the party and summoned Sori-soe and Black Yin from the shadows.

“I will secretly subdue the monsters in the path of movement. If there is a commotion, everything around will flock, so I would appreciate it if you could hide your presence as much as possible.”

“I-Is that possible?”

It is possible with these two who are good at stealthy actions. I strengthened Sori-soe and Black Yin through the mist of the urn in my arms and shared my vision to quickly eliminate the enemies.

“Yes. It’s done.”

“. . . . . . .”

The exorcists looked puzzled for the time being, but when they encountered the corpses of the monsters during the move, they looked at me with surprised eyes.

A gaze as if looking at a monster that defies common sense. It’s a gaze I’ve been receiving quite a bit over there.

We effectively avoided the yokai and arrived at our destination, and hurriedly began searching for the missing people.

“A-Are you exorcists?”

“Yes. Your family is waiting. I’ll take you to a safe place.”

Of course, I couldn’t find all of them, but surprisingly, a considerable number of people were staying in their homes, as the citizens of the shelter had told us.

Also, their testimonies were unanimous.

They said that there was a sudden commotion and the communication was cut off, and they were hiding in their houses in fear.

“Didn’t you say that the communication was working normally?”

“Yes. I’m still getting a signal. . . . . . .”

However, even though one exorcist contacted several other people, no one responded.

“Oh, no. I’m sorry. It seems that the actual communication is blocked.”

“. . .I see. I understand.”

In that case, there will probably be a yokai somewhere with the ability to interfere with it.

I thought there wouldn’t be anything like that since I had already killed the yokai at the game center, but it was also my mistake.

「𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡, 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙡𝙤𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙠𝙖𝙞 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡.」

Moreover, as I’ve said several times, this is a world of hell difficulty. You can’t predict when, where, or what will happen.

We continued our exploration with more caution.

In the process, we were able to find several people who were already too late.

“T-Thank you. Heuk. I have no family at home and I can’t even contact you. . . . . . .”

I shot a spell without hesitation at the girl who was crying with tears in her eyes, appealing for fear.

Whoooong,

Zzzzt!

“Azure Serpent Binding.”

“W-What are you doing!”

The exorcists exclaimed in horror and tried to dissuade me, but my eyes, which already had the ability to sense emotions, could clearly see the identity of the yokai that had taken over the girl’s body.

【Shikimengui】

▶Level: 43

In the end, the girl wielding her sharp claws, revealing her true colors, the exorcists could only watch her end in dismay.

“. . .I think anything can happen. Don’t be careless.”

“I’m sorry. I never thought there would be such a guy.”

The eyes of the exorcists, which had been somewhat lacking until a while ago, changed completely to those of soldiers on the battlefield.

It was once again realizing that his life could be lost at any moment.

“This place seems to be roughly cleaned up. Now let’s move to Yoohan Hospital.”

So we headed to the last destination before returning to the shelter.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

The scenery of the hospital that we finally arrived at was not normal to anyone.

There were corpses of yokai everywhere, and among them were several bodies that appeared to be exorcists.

Even inside the hospital, there was no one there, as if it were a ghost town.

The exorcists gulped at the strange sight.

“. . .What on earth happened here?”

“This is really disastrous.”

If something like this had happened, it would have come to our ears in some way, but we hadn’t heard any such information at the shelter.

The reason for this was easy to understand.

“There’s no communication here either. Maybe that’s why no one knew.”

In other words, it meant that we were virtually the first to discover it.

“W-What do we do?”

We were now given two choices.

First, evacuate the secured citizens to the shelter and inform others of this information, or find out the cause of the incident and resolve it immediately.

I came to a conclusion without hesitation and gave instructions to everyone.

“First, let’s return to the shelter once and make preparations. It’s not too late to act after that.”

I felt it the moment I saw it, this place is not normal.

That’s because the inside of the hospital was completely empty, as if it had been attacked.

If a battle had taken place, there should have been at least one corpse of a yokai or a human.

「𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙛 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙.」

I don’t know, but it was clear that something beyond common sense had happened here.

And I already know who can do such a thing.

「𝘼𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝘼+ 𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠.」

A yokai of that level is lurking nearby.

「𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚.」

There are many citizens attached, and I don’t want to fight alone against a yokai of that level.

Well, in the first place, fighting high-ranking yokai was basically a group battle.

Unless you can produce firepower that is more than a group, like Sophia or Cheong So-ha, it’s better to avoid solo subjugation as much as possible.

「𝙄𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚, 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙠𝙞𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙞, 𝙨𝙤 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙄 𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩. . . . . . .」

There is no need to take risks. It was a very important policy in this war.

But unfortunately, the incident happened at that very moment.

“Everyone. Something strange is going on here. . . . . . .”

A beautiful flower with crimson petals.

But instead of being in a flowerpot or something, it was sprouting on the floor of the ward.

Of course, it wasn’t a normal phenomenon since the floor was made of hard material.

The moment I confirmed it, I was able to grasp at once what had happened here.

“Do not approach!”

However, the exorcists had already approached the flower at the strange sight, and soon a powerful wave of energy surged in from there, and my eyes flashed.

Soon, what unfolded before our eyes was a huge garden filled with an eerie atmosphere.

“T-This is. . . . . . .”

“What’s going on now?”

The surroundings were already dark as if the sun had set, and a red moon with a different atmosphere than usual was rising in the sky.

As I expected, this place seemed to have swallowed the people of the hospital.

「. . .𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚𝙡𝙮, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮?」

When I went to find out information about the previous Myung-yul, Cheong Jong said that during the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, mysterious spaces or structures would appear very occasionally.

In fact, the forbidden elixir that Myung-yul got involved with was said to exist in an unidentified temple.

「𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛.」

I knew the information too, but to be honest, I didn’t care much.

That’s because it’s an event with a very low probability, as even Yoo Ha-on and her party only encountered it once in the entire story.

And near the entrance to such a huge garden, dozens of people who seemed to have lost their minds were huddled together for some reason.

They also approached with a surprised expression when they found us and opened their mouths.

“W-Who are you? Where did you come from?”

“We got caught up in this place while searching for civilians who had not evacuated. What happened here?”

However, at our answer, the man bowed his head with a noticeably desperate look.

“Damn, you shouldn’t have come here.”

“. . . . . . .”

“W-We need a special-grade exorcist. If not, we’ll all die here without fail.”

When I checked the information, the man’s level was 50. It was definitely not a low level.

Nevertheless, he was terrified and completely lost his will to fight.

Seeing that, I thought that what he said was probably true.

「𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩.」

Of course, the reason why they are dying at the entrance must be because there is no way to get out of this place other than eliminating the cause.

“. . .There is a yokai in the form of a woman in front of me. The bastard devoured all those who entered the garden as its nourishment.”

“Then why are you okay?”

“It’s the bastard’s whim. She said he wouldn’t touch those who don’t step on the garden.”

From the man’s words, I was able to grasp two facts.

The first was that the bastard had enough intelligence to communicate with humans.

And despite calling it a whim, she is skillfully controlling her desires as a yokai to the extent of keeping them alive.

The implication of that fact was clear.

「. . .𝘿𝙖𝙢𝙣, 𝙞𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙎-𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠?」

Just a day after the second Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, it was the moment when I faced an unexpected difficulty.

Translator’s Blog

Blog

• How to Stop Your Friends From Thinking You’re a Weeb: A Guide for the Anime-Obsessed
• Naruto and Sasuke: Bro-mance or True Love? The Ultimate Anime Bromance Debate
• The Social Isolation Speech Impediment: How Being a Shut-In Can Make You Sound Like a Robot
• The “I’m So Deep in This Light Novel I’m Living It” Blues: When Your Waifu Gets NTR’d and You’re Not Even Mad (But Kind of Are)
• Kimonos, Cosplay, and Cultural Cancels: Nezuko’s Demon Slayer Saga in China