I Became the Academy’s Genius Shikigami Summoner – Chapter 18.2

Roar.

Crack!

Only then did the curse that had been trying to consume my body finally break away.

There was no way that Seo Ji-an or Pyo Ji-eun could have cast such a vicious curse. Sensing something strange, I was about to open my mouth when Go Daehye spoke urgently, a step ahead of me.

“Stop!”

Then she quickly looked around and showed a puzzled expression.

“. . .There’s no one here. Who on earth. . .”

At that moment, Pyo Ji-eun, who was next to me, suddenly grabbed her throat and started choking.

“Cough! Cough!”

I turned my head slightly and saw black incantations wriggling up Pyo Ji-eun’s neck.

Go Daehye quickly ran over, checked her condition, and prepared a healing spell.

“How dare you attack with a curse while I’m here?”

As Go Daehye took out a straw doll and held it out, the patterns that had been flowing over Pyo Ji-eun’s body were quickly absorbed into the doll.

Go Daehye, who had picked it up, deployed another spell. It seemed to be the kind that would track down the opponent.

“Hmph. I found him.”

Rumble!

Whooosh.

As she scattered black talismans around and chanted the keywords, a barrier was formed around the students.

The assistant who had handed us the dolls before the evaluation began approached Go Daehye. Go Daehye gave him instructions.

“Have you requested support?”

“I’ve already reported it to the nearby guards.”

“It doesn’t seem to be a person. It’s probably a C or D-class. It’s lurking by the lake. I’ll cast a curse in reverse, so go and subdue it.”

“Understood.”

The lake was where Seo Ji-an and I had talked earlier. I watched the assistant running quickly and used the emotion function.

「𝙎𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩.」

Ring.

【Heo Tae-yeop】

▶Level 35

▶Ability Scores

【Stamina: C+】

【Spiritual power: B】

【Spellcraft: C+】

【Mental Strength: B-】

▶Traits (4/10)

【Iron Will (B+)】

【Spiritual power Amplification (B)】

【Skilled Hunter (C+)】

【Strong Bones (C-)】

Against a C or D-class yokai, he should be able to handle it. He also had the support of Go Daehye, who was over level 40, so there shouldn’t be a problem.

「𝘿𝙞𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣?」

At first glance, it looked like a curse-type yokai.

It must have been stimulated by the offensive and defensive battle with curses nearby and popped out.

However, I didn’t remember anything like this happening in the original story. In that case, there shouldn’t be any big casualties.

Just then, Go Daehye reassured the students as if it was nothing.

“It’s okay~ It’ll be taken care of soon, so please wait at ease.”

However, there was something that bothered me.

The Six-Syllable Bright Truth Mantra that I had used earlier was a fairly powerful intermediate-level offensive spell. The curse that had targeted me was completely dispelled, and the opponent must have felt it.

But it immediately attacked Pyo Ji-eun again?

「𝙐𝙣𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙞𝙩 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩.」

We also had the overwhelming advantage in numbers. It couldn’t possibly be unaware of that, even instinctively.

My anxiety soon became a reality.

“Cough! Cough!”

Even though she was clearly protected by the barrier spell that Go Daehye had deployed, one of the students started to show the same symptoms as Pyo Ji-eun earlier.

“W-What?”

The flustered Go Daehye hurriedly cast a healing spell. However, the attacks didn’t stop there.

“Cough!”

“Gulp!”

“This can’t be. How are they all breaking through the barrier. . .?”

Go Daehye hurriedly repeated the healing spell, but she didn’t have enough hands. In the end, as soon as an opening appeared, black incantations began to dig into Go Daehye’s body as well.

“Ugh!”

Of course, Go Daehye wasn’t a pushover. She realized it and immediately used a healing spell on herself.

However, anyone could see that the appearance did not belong to someone with leisure.

「𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙.」

Simply in terms of the intensity of the curse, it was weaker than the attack I had received earlier. It wouldn’t be a problem for a teacher like Go Daehye.

However, since Go Daehye’s barrier was useless, she didn’t have enough hands to protect the students.

「𝙅𝙪𝙙𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙄 𝙜𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙃𝙚𝙤 𝙏𝙖𝙚-𝙮𝙚𝙤𝙥, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩, 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙.」

In other words, it meant that we were helpless until the support that I had requested earlier arrived.

“Teacher! What about the support?”

“W-Well, this is in the mountains, so it’s going to take a while. . .”

The only ones who were barely holding on were Class A’s Pyo Ji-eun and Seo Ji-an, who had a similar ability score.

I turned my gaze slightly and looked at Go Daehye’s face. It was an expression of complete despair.

Only then did I recall one fact that I had forgotten.

「𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙝, 𝙄’𝙢 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮.」

The exact situation wasn’t described. However, there was a part that I could guess if I thought about it carefully.

Before the first semester final exam, the Yeongwol Island incident. A rumor that helped change the atmosphere of the game and gave the players a sense of tension.

It was said that students who had gone outside the school during the midterm evaluation had an accident, and there were many casualties.

「𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙗𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝘼𝙧𝙩𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨?」

Apparently, a Class A student and the assistant teacher of the class were among those killed, and it was used as a macguffin to give the first-year protagonists, who were also Class A, a sense of unease and foreshadow the Yeongwol Island incident that would happen later.

「𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚.」

The ending is set.

That is, unless someone changes it.

Go Daehye, who was busy protecting the students, couldn’t do anything more.

In other words, I was the only one who could move now.

Seo Ji-an looked at me with an uncomfortable expression as I made a strange face.

“Yoo Ah-in is nearby.”

“Are you asking me to catch him?”

“. . .I’m not going to let you get away from me.”

Indeed, we couldn’t be sure that there was only one enemy in the lake. If Yoo Ah-in, who prioritized Seo Ji-an, was involved, the sacrifices of others would be of no consequence to him.

「𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨, 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤𝙤.」

In fact, it was certain that Go Daehye’s limit would come before the support arrived.

Judging from the fact that there were several casualties in the original story, the monster in the lake was likely to attack this place, taking advantage of that gap.

「𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙬.」

However, my spiritual power had been steadily draining as I blocked the curses that had been coming in and out since earlier.

One of my biggest weaknesses right now is the amount of spiritual power I have.

The moment it decreases, I won’t be able to control the situation on my own. That was dangerous.

I made a quick decision.

「𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙨𝙖𝙛𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙚’𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙂𝙤 𝘿𝙖𝙚𝙝𝙮𝙚.」

I calmly told Seo Ji-an, who had approached me,

“It might be a little dangerous. Do you think you can help me?”

“. . .I have no choice. I’ll be in trouble if you’re gone.”

Since things had come to this, I decided to create a new trump card in preparation for the Yeongwol Island incident.

「𝙎𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙤𝙧𝙮, 𝙞𝙩’𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙮.」

The third method of using shikigami, which I had mentioned before.

「𝙇𝙚𝙩’𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙬.」

It was time to try local procurement.

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