I Became the Academy’s Genius Shikigami Summoner – Chapter 251

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟓𝟏

“. . .It’s better not to think about going against it. Because God has a power that is scary.”

The girl seemed to think that my idea to go against it was childish and shook her head.

“The whole town gathered their wealth and asked the Taoist masters for help, but they were all devoured.”

If that was true, then this was no ordinary yokai.

Since it was an era where yokai ran rampant, if someone called themselves a Taoist, they must have had some real skills.

“What do you think?”

『Of course, this world is filled with natural energy. It’s an environment where powerful yokai can be born.』

In other words, Verdi also concluded that there was a high probability that it was a high-level yokai.

『Well, if it doesn’t work, then we can just run away, right?』

Since that was certainly the right answer, I asked the girl again without hesitation.

“It doesn’t matter, so tell me.”

Then the girl sighed and slowly opened her mouth.

“The god is big. In terms of length, it’s about seven times that of Oppa. And its skin is very hard.”

With just those words, I was able to immediately grasp what kind of form it had.

“Is it a snake yokai?”

“People call it the god of White Rock Mountain. It moves by crawling on the ground, but it can also jump high and is very fast. That’s all I know. . . . . . .”

Even though she was in danger of being eaten soon, the girl was calm and her explanation was quite logical.

“I also survived by offering the villagers as sacrifices. . . . . .I have no complaints.”

However, it seemed that she couldn’t hide her fear of death, as her body trembled slightly.

「𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙈𝙮𝙪𝙙𝙪𝙨𝙖 𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣-𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙣𝙖𝙠𝙚.」

At that moment, something began to be felt from afar.

A faint but sharp and intense demonic energy. It was definitely the snake god of the rock mountain that the girl had mentioned.

“Step back. It’s coming.”

“. . .It must have sensed the offerings on the altar. If we leave here, it might get angry and head straight to the village.”

“Then hide quickly once it arrives.”

Even to my words, the girl shook her head gently.

“No. If Oppa dies, they will blame me for trying to run away.”

“. . . . . . .”

I responded, but it seemed that the girl didn’t even think for a moment that I would win.

Well, from the perspective of someone who had been oppressed by it all her life, that might be natural.

If that was the case, there was nothing I could do. I had no choice but to turn my back on the girl and fight while protecting her as much as possible.

『It seems to be here.』

As soon as Verdi finished speaking, something strange appeared from one end of the rock mountain.

━Shhh!

Just by the description, I thought it might have a similar shape to a snake, but it was a bit more bizarre than that.

It looked like a mixture of an earthworm and an eel, with a civet mixed in.

Moreover, it seemed to be a bit larger than the Myudusa I had seen before.

「𝙎𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩.」

Ting!

【Water-footed, flat-faced ghost】

▶ Level 67

Roughly speaking, its strength was similar to that of Myudusa. It was ferocious-looking enough to make me nervous, but it didn’t have that overwhelming power.

「𝙊𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚, 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧. . . . . . .」

I felt my tension ease and instead, that space was filled with confidence.

Of course, I wasn’t the same as I was back then.

“Geusdae, Black Yin, Hwa Baek, Elder Water Ghost.”

With Ggong-sam-yi added to that, a total of five shikigami faced it and began to emit an intense energy.

And I also took out Cheong Juhwa’s special talisman, infused it with spiritual power, and softly recited the incantation of the spell.

━Shhh!

“Don’t get cocky. I’ll finish you off soon.”

I grinned, and it rushed at me.

Like that, about 30 minutes passed before the conclusion.

Kukung!

Looking at the flat-faced water ghost that had collapsed on the ground in a mess, I just moved my stiff shoulders around.

🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷

“. . .Oppa really is a great Taoist master. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Her eyes, which had once been filled with disbelief, were now completely wide-eyed as she guided me to the village.

Well, for her, who had been oppressed by that yokai that had oppressed her and the villagers for a long time, I must have seemed like a messenger from heaven.

“The Taoist masters who were supposed to be inside were too busy trembling in fear or running away in front of the god. . . . . . .”

Well, of course. Where could you find such a yokai?

Although I had won the victory without much difficulty, it was because I had won a fight that I could win, not because my opponent was weak.

If it had been just a little stronger, I would have found it difficult to confront it head-on.

“Are there any other yokai around here that pose a threat besides that one?”

“No. It seems that they’re too scared of the god to think about settling down nearby.”

However, if you interpret that in a different way, it means that there are those who are waiting for an opportunity anyway.

As expected, in this era, it was taken for granted that yokai were rampant to an extent that couldn’t be compared to the modern world.

“We’re here. That’s our village.”

As I had expected, it wasn’t a particularly splendid or wealthy place.

In modern terms, it was probably a bit more advanced than an Amazonian indigenous village?

Still, it was clear that it had been a long-standing settlement.

“No, So-yul, how did you . . . . . . .”

Only then did I realize that I hadn’t even heard her name until now.

The girl’s name was So-yul.

She didn’t have a surname, and even its meaning was extremely simple.

So-yul told the villagers that the snake god had been defeated and also mentioned my exploits.

When she finished her story, the villagers looked at me with complete awe.

“Oh, you are truly a distinguished Taoist master. . . . . .To defeat the god of that rock mountain, we are truly indebted to you!”

Stopping the old man who was trying to bow first, I asked the villagers the question I had been wanting to ask.

“What region is this? And do you happen to have a map of the vicinity?”

At those words, the villagers answered right away and brought me several maps from somewhere.

“This village doesn’t have a particular name, but people around here call it White Stone Mountain. If you go north for two days, you’ll reach a larger village, and if you go west for four days from there, you’ll reach a city called Cheongra.”

Only after listening to the villagers’ additional explanations was I able to guess roughly where I was now.

「𝙁𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩, 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝘾𝙝𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙧𝙖.」

Since that was the city that Yoo Ha-on and her party visited in the original work, it would be much easier to track my companions’ whereabouts if I went there.

After greeting the people, I left the village right away, and So-yul, who had packed her things in a hurry for some reason, followed me and spoke to me.

“. . .Please let me follow Oppa for a while.”

“What are you talking about? What about your parents?”

“I don’t have any parents. And now I want to settle down in the city. I’ll take care of the chores, so can I accompany you to Cheongra?”

So-yul asked me with her usual expressionless but somewhat earnest eyes.

I thought about it carefully for a short moment and then nodded.

“Okay. Do you know the way?”

“Yes. I’ve been to the village with the villagers to buy necessities.”

I needed someone to guide me anyway.

The maps of this era were completely unfamiliar, so it wasn’t easy for me to interpret them properly on my own.

And so I left with So-yul and headed for the village to the north first.

It was a two-day journey, but since I was riding Sori-soe, I would arrive in half a day, so I planned to spend a day there and then head to Cheongra again.

During that time, So-yul was amazed by something and kept poking Sori-soe’s back, and Sori-soe grumbled and twisted his body.

How many hours had we been traveling like that? When the arrival of the northern village was just around the corner, the presence of many people was felt from the northwest.

At first, I wondered what it was, but it seemed that two groups were fighting each other.

“. . .They’re probably bandits. I’ve heard that they often target caravans traveling through the village to Cheongra.”

As I listened, it seemed like that was the case. As we approached a little closer, we could clearly see a group of bandits attacking carriages and people.

“Are you going to help?”

“We should.”

I didn’t particularly want to meddle, but if they were a caravan headed for Cheongra, they could be helpful in many ways.

Since it wasn’t a difficult task, it would be a loss to ignore them.

Ting!

When I used the sentiment function, information about them began to be organized and appeared before my eyes.

「𝙏𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙮-𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣, 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙮-𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚. . . . . . .」

After checking it for a bit, I erased all the information that came up and sighed.

Since I had been dealing with such powerful enemies all this time, their existence felt too insignificant and petty.

“Giant Ogre, Ox-Head Ogre. Come out.”

I didn’t need any other shikigami.

I summoned a few artificial shikigami and sent them out as they were, ordering them to subdue the bandits.

When a few of them were instantly killed, the remaining bandits realized that things weren’t going well and ran away as fast as they could, disappearing from sight.

Only then did the representative of the group, who had barely managed to sort out the situation, approach me and express his gratitude.

“Thank you very much. . . . . ., We almost all died screaming.”

“Are you guys a caravan headed for Cheongra?”

“Yes, yes. We originally planned to stay for a day in the village of Hapgwan, which is just ahead, but we encountered those bandits right in front of us. . . . . . .”

As So-yul had said, they were a caravan heading for Cheongra, and when I asked to accompany them, they accepted it with pleasure.

“Are you a Taoist master from Daehwa-rym?”

“No, I’m not. I come from a place quite far from here.”

“Oh, we’re really lucky.”

Daehwa-rym was definitely mentioned in the original work. It didn’t seem to be very important, but it must have been one of the groups made up of Taoist masters.

「𝘿𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙫𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙨?」

If that was true, then it wasn’t strange for them to think of me as one of their members.

Anyway, it was fortunate for me to have met people who were familiar with the caravan.

The group was all skilled and experienced, and in the end, I was able to arrive at the city of Cheongra, which was my goal, more easily and quickly than I had expected.

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