I Became the Academy’s Genius Shikigami Summoner – Chapter 289

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟖𝟗

Whoosh!

Ggong-sam-yi’s flames struck Taotie, and Do-young followed up my spell, casting curses at Taotie, mimicking my spell.

It was no use.

The scales of the fully transformed Taotie repelled the attacks as if they were armor.

Cheong Juhwa threw a special talisman and Arietta threw a javelin, but the results were no different.

“It’s not even a scratch. . . . . .”

“Ordinary attacks won’t work anymore.”

Not only that, the power behind Taotie’s casual attacks had been extraordinary from the start.

For that reason, a subtle standoff had continued for a while.

I realized what he was up to and quickly raised my voice to my party members.

“He’s acting passively. He must have sustained some damage from earlier and is trying to buy time to heal.”

“. . .That makes sense. Oppa is right.”

It was Guimei, who had been staying out of the battle until now, who spoke up.

“I guess it’s time for me to step in.”

Guimei waved a fan she had pulled out from somewhere and began to chant an incantation. Surprisingly, her appearance changed from that of a young, black-haired girl to a mature, white-haired woman.

“Taotie, it’s time to finish this fight, isn’t it?”

『Do you really think you can stop me now!』

With a rumble, terrifying red lightning bolts shot towards Guimei, but she somehow dodged them all at close range.

Next, a mist filled with the power of illusion filled the area around Taotie.

『How dare you!』

As Taotie unleashed his power, the mist lost its form and dissipated, but Guimei took advantage of the opening to summon strange flowers on the ground and scatter sparkling powder into the air.

Meanwhile, Ho-chung, who had been watching, helped by shooting a dazzling light that quickly blinded Taotie.

『This. . . . . . .』

As the powder touched his body, Taotie writhed in agony, then quickly summoned natural energy to create a whirlwind and blow it all away.

“. . .It’s not easy. I didn’t expect him to have this much hidden power.”

Guimei had tormented Taotie with various spells, as befitting her title as a master of a thousand tricks, but unfortunately, she seemed far from being able to inflict any significant damage.

Seizing a moment of respite, Taotie roared, and the ground split open as hot steam began to engulf us.

Boom!

Crash!

“Azure Sky Wall!”

“Dragon’s Breath!”

The party members each used their defensive spells to block it with difficulty, and I changed the target of the Dark Mist  to Black Yin and Do-young and flew into the sky on my wings.

『It’s futile.』

“Is that for you to decide?”

As soon as I finished speaking, Seo Ji-an, who had drawn natural energy from deep within the earth, created a giant water dragon and sent it at Taotie.

At the same time, Arietta summoned a storm of blood needles, similar to the one she had used in her previous battle with Bi-gang, and Sophia, who had drawn upon an immeasurable amount of spiritual power, unleashed an offensive grand spell.

“Blood Rain.”

“Nine Revolving Heavens Wave!”

A truly unprecedented series of relentless attacks.

Even Taotie had no choice but to defend himself against the relentless barrage of attacks.

BAM!

BOOM!

A few blood needles that he failed to block pierced Taotie’s scales, and the Nine Revolving Heavens Wave crashed into him.

As Taotie staggered from the impact, I cast Hektel’s grand spell, Death Transmigration, at him.

SWOOSH!

『Gah!』

A fierce battle was certainly taking place. However, despite the full force of our spiritual power attacks, Taotie showed no signs of falling.

His extraordinary defense and regenerative abilities were nullifying most of the damage we inflicted.

「. . .𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙.」

Apart from Sophia, who had a vast amount of innate spiritual power, the rest of the party members were bound to get tired as the battle continued.

This was especially true in a situation like this, where even minor spells were ineffective. It was no exaggeration to say that we were being forced to expend an enormous amount of energy.

We needed something that could reliably and effectively bring Taotie to his knees.

“As expected of the foremost of the nine children of the heavenly dragon, you are able to fight on par with these powerful beings.”

With an expression of disbelief, Guimei soon smiled faintly and gave the somewhat exhausted party members a clue.

“The current Taotie is a being with a mixed essence, neither one thing nor the other. It is difficult to say that he has achieved a perfect balance of power.”

Even so, Taotie was strong. With his own power being so great, it honestly didn’t matter how he was.

However, I was able to infer another possibility from her words.

“Do you mean that there might be a weakness somewhere?”

“That’s right, Oppa. His defense is ridiculous, but when I tested it earlier, there was definitely something suspicious.”

Although she knew that it wouldn’t be a fatal blow, Guimei had been pestering Taotie with various tricks, so it seemed that she had had this in mind from the beginning.

Guimei pointed to the back of Taotie’s head and continued speaking.

“It’s very small, but. . . . . .the current Taotie has reverse scales. If we can hit that spot accurately, we might be able to significantly reduce his power.”

In any case, it would be difficult to decide the battle with ordinary attacks.

We nodded and turned our attention back to Taotie, who was preparing to attack again with renewed vigor.

“Donors, I will create an opportunity.”

“I will help too, so just focus on seizing the moment.”

Ho-chung and Guimei began to slowly time their actions, and I also flew into the air again on Black Yin’s wings, closing the distance.

『Unbelievable!』

Taotie summoned red lightning bolts again, darkening the sky, but Azure Dragon desperately suppressed it.

『. . .I will leave the rest to you.』

Azure Dragon, who had given it his all, returned to the Blue Heart Jade, and the party members did not miss that brief moment.

BAM!

Guimei’s fan unfolded once more, changing the flow of the atmosphere and sweeping away all the black clouds that Taotie had summoned.

At the same time, Ho-chung also unleashed his unique binding technique with renewed vigor.

WHOOSH.

“Jumaseongcheon.”

As before, a stream of light flowed across the ground and bound Taotie’s body.

Taotie struggled to break free, but it didn’t seem to be easy, even now that he was stronger.

『Ugh. . . . . . .What a powerful spell. Did someone other than Seo Cheon-ye really exist in this era who could cast such spells?』

As if he couldn’t believe that his movements had been restricted for a moment while he was in dragon form, Taotie laughed in disbelief.

Those of us who had our hands free took advantage of the opening to aim for Taotie’s reverse scales.

「𝘼𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙. . . . . .𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨.」

Cheong Juhwa cast advanced spells in succession to draw his attention, and Yoo Ha-on prepared a blow imbued with the power of Anti-Demon.

Even Sophia began to cast another grand spell, so the mighty Taotie hunched over, wary of everything around him.

「. . .𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙏𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝.」

Taotie’s reverse scales were only about the size of a fingernail, so Hektel’s spell, Death Transmigration, wasn’t very effective at targeting such a small area.

With the help of Black Yin, I continued to approach, and I put a different kind of incantation in my mouth than before.

『It’s useless!』

As Taotie roared, filling the heavens and earth with his energy, the ground shook.

My internal organs shook and my ears felt like they were going to go deaf from the intense impact. However, even that wasn’t enough to stop us, who had each reached our own realm.

“Now, Oppa!”

As Han Seo-ah concentrated and cast her spell, the scales covering Taotie’s reverse scales transformed into several butterflies and disappeared.

And that was where Seo Ji-an’s water spear and Sophia’s Nine Revolving Heavens Wave struck directly.

BAM!

BOOM!

『Gah!』

A slightly larger area of scales was peeled away, and Taotie’s body shook violently for a moment.

His defenses had been broken, unable to withstand the power of the repeated attacks.

Yoo Ha-on’s follow-up attack flew in immediately.

“Faithful Broken Shadow!”

BOOM!

『Ugh!』

A grand spell filled with the power of Anti-Demon. Even for Taotie, it would be difficult to properly withstand it with his defenses down.

Yoo Ha-on’s Faithful Broken Shadow accurately struck the area near Taotie’s reverse scales, and I could clearly see a crack forming in the reverse scales through my field of vision.

「𝙉𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚. . . . . .!」

I couldn’t afford to hesitate.

Concentrating my strength and spirit, I quickly finished chanting the incantation and completed a grand spell.

“Loan Thunderbolt.”

The spell used by Shin No-eul, the captain of the Red Unit, was a precise attack spell that could effectively hit an exact location.

A spear of spiritual power about 10 meters long appeared in the air and struck Taotie’s reverse scales like a bolt of lightning.

PING!

BOOM!

『Gaaaaaaah!』

My power had definitely increased, and its power was far greater than Shin No-eul’s. The cracked reverse scales were completely shattered, and Taotie let out a pained groan.

Taotie, who had begun to fall to the ground, made a loud noise as he hit the ground, unable to regain his momentum.

CRASH!

WHACK.

The earth and dust billowed up, and a murky energy began to erupt everywhere.

And in the midst of it all, Taotie, who was catching his breath, had somehow transformed from his majestic dragon form back to the horned demon form we had first seen.

“. . .Ugh, cough.”

He was a tenacious opponent, so I couldn’t let my guard down, but the pained expression on his face didn’t seem fake.

As Guimei had predicted, Taotie’s power had yet to overcome its instability.

“It seems like the battle is over.”

“Ridiculous, nonsense. . . . . .”

Taotie stood up again, his eyes bloodshot, but he didn’t have the same presence as before.

At least, he wasn’t strong enough to take on all of us, who still had some energy left.

“Why don’t you give up? You’ve lost, Taotie.”

Guimei, who had returned to the form of a young girl, smiled faintly, and Ho-chung also approached and took up a guard to prevent Taotie from doing anything reckless.

Taotie remained silent, as if he was unwilling to admit defeat to the end, but it felt like he had already realized in his mind that there was no hope.

“Since we have won, we must receive our reward.”

“Do you humans intend to mock me? I have no desire to live, so kill me now.”

However, that was not possible. I had made a promise to the people of the Pyeong Clan.

“Is there a way to undo the yokai transformation that you cast on Pyeong-eun-ha?”

Taotie seemed reluctant to answer, but he soon opened his mouth briefly, as if he had a question.

“Pyeong-eun-ha? Is she the woman you took away? But I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“What do you mean?”

I was about to retort with a frown, but for a brief moment, I felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding.

And as I tried to shake it off, I opened my mouth again and asked a question.

Translator’s Blog

Blog

• Cat vs Dog in a Post-Mortem Snack Showdown
• That Cringey Anime Obsessed Kid In Your Class: A Guide to Not Being That Guy (Or Gal)
• Naruto and Sasuke: Bro-mance or True Love? The Ultimate Anime Bromance Debate
• When You Realize You’re Too Old for Anime: A Midlife Crisis in 2D
• Goku Goes Yandere: A Dragon Ball Z Nightmare