Chapter 141
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 141
Chapter Title: War Between Two Factions (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The next day.
"It's a Glacial Crystal?"
Joo Ha-yeon widened her eyes as she looked at the Glacial Crystal I'd brought.
I'd received the Glacial Crystal today after visiting Instructor Kang Ju-young's private office.
"It's a Glacial Crystal, right? You can contract with the Ice Spirit using this, yeah?"
"Yes, it's possible. Though there's a chance of failure."
Huh?
"There's a chance of failure too?"
Joo Ha-yeon nodded calmly in response.
"The Glacial Crystal is needed to lure the Ice Spirit here. But if the Ice Spirit isn't in the mood to show up, there's no helping it—it'll fail."
"We'll have to pray it comes out, then."
I'd gone through all the trouble of getting the Glacial Crystal, only for the final step to boil down to prayer.
"Oh. And the more Glacial Crystals you have, the higher the odds of an Ice Spirit appearing."
"......Really?"
Hearing that, I considered summoning the private merchant, registering some Glacial Crystals, and buying around ten.
That said, Glacial Crystals had no use outside of spirit contracts, so there didn't seem to be much point in registering them.
'This time around, it'll work.'
On top of that, I decided to place my trust in Joo Ha-yeon's potential and skills.
"By the way, where did you get the Glacial Crystal?"
"I'm set to receive 500 points from Joo Tae-ho this time. But Instructor Kang Ju-young gave me a Glacial Crystal instead of the 500 points."
"You did well. Glacial Crystals are rarer than they seem."
Joo Ha-yeon called Glacial Crystals rarer than expected, but I wondered if they were rarer than a level 10 Skill Stone.
"Anyway, are you planning to do the contract now?"
"Yeah. No point just holding onto it otherwise."
Joo Ha-yeon nodded as if she understood, taking the Glacial Crystal from my hand.
"But why do the other spirits need something like Glacial Crystals?"
Hong Ju-a, who had been watching from the side, asked in confusion.
Since I'd asked Joo Ha-yeon right after dinner in the club room, everyone was still hanging around.
"From what I heard, unlike the four cardinal spirits, they have far fewer individuals. Think about it—people who possess Ice Spirits or Lightning Spirits are pretty rare."
"Rare? They could just summon them with Glacial Crystals or Thunder Crystals and make a contract."
"Summoning is possible, but they hit a wall at the actual contract stage. Still, since Lee Seong-min can communicate with spirits, you'll succeed for sure."
Normally, spirit contracts depended on affinity.
But since I could communicate, it was all about persuasion through conversation.
'Fair enough. If your affinity's lacking, persuasion's the way to go.'
With that in mind, I decided to attempt a contract with an Ice Spirit, with Joo Ha-yeon's assistance.
Joo Ha-yeon took the Glacial Crystal I'd handed her, hugged me from behind just like before, sang her song, and summoned the spirit.
'The Glacial Crystal's disappearing.'
The Glacial Crystal in Joo Ha-yeon's hand dissolved away, melting into mana.
As the Glacial Crystal gradually melted and vanished, the temperature in the club room began to drop.
"Ah. It's here."
Sky-blue spirits started appearing one by one around us.
I recognized them as Ice Spirits and moved to contract one, but ran into an unexpected snag.
'No humanoid ones.'
Looking around, I saw everything from rabbits to foxes, turtles, seahorses—and even a snowman.
All the four cardinal spirits I'd contracted so far were humanoid, so I wanted a humanoid one this time if possible.
'No way it fails like this, right?'
I'd summoned the Ice Spirits with the Glacial Crystal, but we might have to abandon it due to a lack of humanoid forms.
What's more, the Glacial Crystal had already melted away in Joo Ha-yeon's hand, so failure now meant no contract for the foreseeable future.
"Lee Seong-min? Aren't you going to contract?"
"Just a moment."
Fortunately, more spirits were trickling in one at a time.
Very rarely now, but still appearing.
'No humanoids, huh.'
I was debating whether to just contract one of the ones already out or hold off, feeling a vague regret—
'Huh?'
—when the last spirit to appear turned out to be humanoid.
Upon closer inspection, it had long, straight hair like my Water Spirit, along with a cold expression.
"Let's contract."
[......Contract?]
The Ice Spirit echoed "contract" with an inwardly startled look, clearly hearing my words loud and clear.
[Yeah. I'll do it.]
Right now, my online game class was set to 'Spirit User.'
The Spirit User class skills were enough to substitute for spirit affinity, so the Ice Spirit readily agreed to the contract.
'Looks like the other spirits won't be so tough either.'
The online game Spirit User skills were that powerful.
Convinced that contracting other spirits would be a breeze too, I asked Joo Ha-yeon,
"Joo Ha-yeon. Besides Lightning Spirits, what other kinds are there?"
"Light Spirits, Darkness Spirits, Wood Spirits, Sand Spirits—there's quite a few."
"Those probably need special stones too."
"If you keep summoning, they show up very rarely."
Joo Ha-yeon sounded just like she was describing character pulls in a mobile gacha game.
Having settled on that approach, I messaged black market dealer Song Bi-yeon to gather up some Thunder Crystals and the like.
'I know the academy has Thunder Crystals, but the rest are unknowns.'
In the midst of my thoughts, I grew curious whether the Glacial Crystal I'd used was exclusive to spirit contracts.
"By the way, is the Glacial Crystal only for spirit contracts?"
"I heard spirits like it if you give it to them. Of course, not your run-of-the-mill ones, but top-grade Glacial Crystals."
"Top-grade? Even Glacial Crystals have grades?"
"Yes. For reference, the one Lee Seong-min brought was low-grade. Top-grade ones possess an immense aura, like nature itself condensed."
Only something like top-grade would really make a spirit happy.
'If I snag some top-grade ones later, maybe fuse them with [Artifact Evolution].'
If I registered them with the private merchant and kept evolving, I might end up with something worthwhile.
Of course, that was a matter for when I actually got top-grade ones, so even asking black market Song Bi-yeon would take time.
"Yeah. Thanks for the info."
"If you're really grateful, snag some Glacial Crystals for me too."
"Got it."
Joo Ha-yeon was saving up points herself, so she could probably just buy them faster, but I agreed anyway.
A certain region in Japan.
Della had crossed into Japan with help from one of his villains, then headed to the location Lucas had provided.
The villain capable of spatial transfer could move to spots where stake-like markers had been planted.
Naturally, the number of stakes was limited, so he couldn't roam the world freely—but he had at least one per country.
"This must be the place."
Upon arrival at the spot Lucas indicated, they found an abandoned village devoid of any human life.
"Fits them perfectly."
Jake, who was tagging along with Della again this time, muttered softly before asking what the plan was.
"What're we doing? Want me to sneak in?"
Jake's innate ability, short-range spatial leap, was handy for infiltration.
His movement paths were more flexible than most, giving him solid confidence in stealth ops.
"Nah."
But Della shook his head, saying there was no need.
"Sneak in? Just go in and wipe 'em all out."
Realistically, their objective here called for infiltration.
The goal was to capture the Geneva Cult's atrocities on video and spread it far and wide.
"Wipe 'em out?"
"Yeah."
But Della chalked half the blame for his current mess squarely on the Geneva Cult.
The other half went to the mystery assailant who'd brazenly attacked their lair and stolen the Holy Grail.
"Wiping them out and snagging that Holy Grail will finally settle the score."
Since the cult had kicked off all this just to reclaim the Holy Grail, stealing another one would make it even.
Jake stared blankly at Della's words for a moment before grinning and nodding in approval.
"Sounds good. Let's cut loose."
"Still, stay sharp. It's an archbishop—we're probably looking at someone stronger than your average S-rank."
That said, Della had his aces up his sleeve.
One was the poison enhanced by the healer's bracelet.
The other was Lorella, who had subjugated an S-rank boss monster.
"No sweat. I don't lose the opening fight."
Jake was confident he'd win handily so long as the enemy didn't know his innate ability.
Last time at the Hero Officer Academy, Joo Tae-ho had known it and turned the tables—but that was the exception.
"Got it. Alright, Lydia—handle it."
Della then asked Lydia to pinpoint their location.
Lydia nodded and activated her innate ability, [Memory Observation], to track where the Geneva Cult members had gone.
"That way. They entered a building like the village hall."
"No people around, so they picked somewhere spacious."
With the position confirmed, there was no more stalling.
"Lead with Lorella's monster. And don't forget to attach the body cams, everyone."
With a plan so bare-bones it barely qualified, Della charged ahead, putting Lorella's Vampire Troll at the vanguard.
Kwang!—
At Lorella's command, the Vampire Troll smashed through the building's wall, exposing the interior.
Inside stood a rudimentary altar, surrounded by roughly thirty corpses laid out in neat rows.
And then.
"As expected. The heretics have arrived."
There were Heretic Inquisitors, clad in pristine white masks and armor.
The Geneva Cult had anticipated that stirring up trouble like this would draw the Villain Alliance before long.
"......Didn't expect Heretic Inquisitors."
Della realized he'd let his anger get the better of him upon spotting the ten or so Inquisitors.
He should've predicted it under normal circumstances, but the recent clash with the healer had left him too off-balance to think straight.
"Della, looks like they were lying in wait."
"It's fine. Doesn't change a thing."
Della answered as he readied his innate ability.
The Inquisitor who'd overheard him scoffed derisively.
"You're right—it changes nothing. You'll all make fine sacrifices."
"Everyone, fall back!"
The Inquisitors charged in unison the moment he finished speaking.
Della unleashed his prepared innate ability, blanketing the area ahead in poisonous mist.