I Became the Academy’s Genius Shikigami Summoner – Chapter 248

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟒𝟖

After the completion of the nationwide barrier formation, South Korea regained its stability, at least on the surface.

It didn’t mean that society was back to normal, but it was enough to guarantee the citizens a minimum level of safety and space for activities.

“Is there any problem on the perimeter?”

“No, sir!”

I glanced at the exorcists guarding the barrier’s exterior and fell into thought once more.

「𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙘𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙩𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡.」

At least the yokai below the B-rank could not maintain their physical forms inside the barrier, and the exorcists were able to send most of their forces outside the barrier to carry out efficient relief efforts with minimal personnel.

Of course, the situation hadn’t changed much since the yokai were still appearing constantly, but the barrier was excellent enough to make me think that things could have been resolved by now if not for it.

「. . . . . . .」

The current situation where most citizens and exorcists had small smiles on their faces.

However, I was the only one who felt a lingering sense of unease.

「𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. . . . . . .」

Of course, that couldn’t happen.

The next crisis would come eventually, and it had already been proven that it would be a longer and more difficult battle than I thought.

I had focused on training myself continuously and had traveled around to help exorcists repel the yokai.

And exactly four weeks after Bi-gang’s death, with the help of several exorcists, I was able to defeat another great yokai, Cheongwiho, who had revealed himself.

「𝘼𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙠𝙨 𝙖𝙜𝙤. 𝙉𝙤, 𝙞𝙛 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝘽𝙞-𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙘𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚, 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙜𝙤?」

That was the interval at which the great yokai appeared, as I had judged.

And through the battle with him, I was finally able to come up with a plausible hypothesis.

「. . .𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩.」

In fact, in terms of level or ability score, Bi-gang wasn’t that different from what I knew.

He had shown a different pattern from the one I had encountered in hard mode at the end of the battle, but that was all, if I thought about it.

However, Cheongwiho was different.

Cheongwiho was a great yokai similar to the nine-tailed fox in folklore.

And he boasted a level of 79.

It was a level that was clearly high even compared to the original, and it was an even more noticeable difference in difficulty than Bi-gang.

The implication was simple.

The enemies that would appear in the future would be increasingly stronger than I knew.

「𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚, 𝘽𝙮𝙖𝙠𝙪𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙬𝙖, 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙬𝙞𝙝𝙤, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩, 𝙔𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙮𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙟𝙞𝙣, 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙧.」

And as far as I know, there are still five great yokai who can be called the main antagonists of the third Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

The two who would appear last were even on a completely different level from the others.

In such a situation, I felt a sense of absurdity beyond reason.

「𝘿𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚?」

To be honest, it wasn’t easy to defeat them even in hard mode.

No one would have even tried unless they had really studied the game and honed their skills.

But now, the enemies were becoming so powerful that I couldn’t even get a sense of them.

I pondered countless times, calculated the possibilities, and finally came to a conclusion.

「𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙣.」

Even in the recent battle with Cheongwiho, one of the elders of the Baek family had died.

Even Cheong So-ha, the strongest person in South Korea, could die at any time against them.

The next one, Byakuganwa, was the limit.

Perhaps from the next one on, we would start to see significantly greater damage, and eventually we would all be on the path to destruction.

「𝙄𝙩’𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨.」

In the end, the true final enemy would set foot on the Korean soil that was the stage of the work, but until then, the situation in other countries wouldn’t be much different.

Since this was reality, if there was a country that lost its strength and collapsed first, we might suddenly have to bear the brunt of it.

「𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚.」

Really.

I had experienced countless crises, but this time, there was no estimate at all.

In order to respond to this situation, I had to completely change my mindset as well.

“I have to meet Echinacea Lianqi.”

The key to turning the situation around lay solely with her.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

After the start of the last Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, Echinacea Lianqi had been busy traveling the world.

She had observed the hidden masters of the countries that she hadn’t been able to check during her time as Yahwak, and she had also kept an eye on the growth of the talented people she had picked out in advance.

After some time, Echinacea Lianqi had no choice but to set foot on Korean soil again, convinced.

「𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢.」

Of course, there were quite a few people with excellent skills or strong talents.

There were even a few who were comparable to the famous Taoist priests of old.

However, Echinacea Lianqi wasn’t looking for just such people.

The one and only being who could turn all this around and bring light to this land.

There was no point in bringing anyone else if not him.

「𝙔𝙤𝙤 𝙃𝙖-𝙤𝙣. . . . . . .」

A strong candidate taught to her by Han Kang-yoon, who could read the future.

He had clearly stated that Echinacea Lianqi had chosen Yoo Ha-on with her own hands in the future.

And in fact, Echinacea Lianqi had also felt such a possibility from Yoo Ha-on.

“Long time no see.”

“You are. . . . . .?”

As promised, Han Kang-yoon had given her a leg up, so she was already acquainted with Yoo Ha-on.

After spending about a month following Yoo Ha-on and watching over her, Echinacea Lianqi couldn’t help but be convinced.

Yoo Ha-on might be qualified enough.

“You’re a mysterious person. I feel a possibility that I’ve never found in anyone I’ve met before.”

“. . .Is that so?”

“Yes. You have excellent talent and the Five Elements, but there’s something else that can’t be explained by that.”

Among those Echinacea Lianqi had met so far, the greatest was Ho-chung, who had been called the Heavenly Daoist Master, but he was practically close to something that transcended humans, so it was right to exclude him from consideration.

And even Ho-chung, with his human body and lifespan, had not been able to completely prevent the disaster in the end.

「𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙜𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙨𝙤. . . . . . .」

While recalling the pessimistic thoughts that she still couldn’t shake off, Echinacea Lianqi sincerely praised Yoo Ha-on.

“Since you have the heart and the will, you must be the one who will light the way for the people.”

“. . . . . . .”

Tilting her head at Echinacea Lianqi’s words, which sounded like they were from an old era, Yoo Ha-on smiled with a modest expression.

“I’m not that great of a person. The one who really fits those words better. . . . . . .”

“Is there such a person here?”

“W-Well, it’s just my personal opinion, but doesn’t Echinacea Lianqi already know?”

Han Kang-yoon.

Echinacea Lianqi recalled her memories in a daze as she heard the name.

Certainly, Han Kang-yoon was also an extraordinary person.

And to be honest, Echinacea Lianqi had also been feeling a strong, inexplicable intuition from Han Kang-yoon all along.

“Do you think he’s that great?”

It wasn’t strange for people around him to feel that way since he certainly had the power to foresee the future to some extent.

However, what Yoo Ha-on was trying to say didn’t seem to be related to that part.

“To be honest, if you ask me if I know him well even now, I can’t give you a definite answer. Rather, I’m closer to not knowing him well.”

“But why?”

“. . .I just felt that way.”

In Yoo Ha-on’s opinion, if there was someone who could truly lead people in the world to come, it was Han Kang-yoon.

And that answer left a small ripple in Echinacea Lianqi’s mind.

「. . . . . . .」

Coincidentally, that evening, Echinacea Lianqi came face to face with Han Kang-yoon, who had come to find her.

And for some reason, the two people who faced each other felt a strong intuition.

That everything would change right here, right now.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

As I had expected, Echinacea Lianqi had been closely observing Yoo Ha-on’s figure amidst the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

Perhaps she had needed time to grasp the situation and become fully convinced.

And the her who I met again had a determined expression on her face, as if she had shaken off all her worries for some reason.

“It seems like you have something to say.”

“Yes. Isn’t it the same for you?”

It was a strange situation where both of us coincidentally had something to tell each other.

In that situation, it was me who spoke first.

“The situation is not good.”

“It looks that way to me as well.”

“I’m certain. At this rate, we won’t be able to overcome the ordeal and will eventually collapse and meet our end.”

Echinacea Lianqi didn’t seem to disagree much with those words either.

In her view as well, South Korea’s current strength was insufficient to stand up to the great yokai.

“Coincidentally, we influenced each other, and they seem to have increased the size of the bowl from the inside as well.”

“. . . . . . .”

“Although the elders of the Three Great Houses are quite strong, the day when they reach their limits doesn’t seem too far away.”

Echinacea Lianqi’s judgment was indeed accurate. And I came to know that she had come to me with a similar errand to mine, strangely enough.

「. . .𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙮 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙔𝙤𝙤 𝙃𝙖-𝙤𝙣?」

Anyway, since there was no time to waste, I didn’t hesitate to get to the main point.

“Have you found out for sure? She needs your choice right now.”

“You said you had only seen a part of my future self, but you seems to know more than I thought?”

“. . . . . . .”

I couldn’t really argue back against Echinacea Lianqi’s cold gaze.

Honestly, it didn’t mean anything to make excuses like this and that at this point.

“Certainly, I’m realizing more of the truth than I told you back then. However, one thing is for sure. I also swore to stop the disaster myself.”

“I can tell that much. In the end, our goals are the same.”

After taking a short pause, Echinacea Lianqi stared at me head-on and suddenly put her arm on the table and grabbed my hand.

“. . .Ugh.”

“So, there’s something I have to confirm with you. If you don’t answer this question, I won’t cooperate any further.”

It was an unexpected attitude, and I looked at her face in bewilderment.

However, there was no choice.

As I nodded slightly, Echinacea Lianqi asked a question with an unwavering attitude.

“In the future you saw, did I really choose her?”

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