Chapter 75
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Sudden Gate (4)
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‘Even if it collapsed right this instant, it wouldn’t be strange at all.’
The long walls stretching out to either side were cracked everywhere without a single intact section, and parts of them had half-collapsed already.
The cadets seemed to sense how dire the walls’ condition was, furrowing their brows and chattering about how on earth they were supposed to repair something like that.
“We have to climb up on those walls and fight?”
“It looks like a monster could just body-slam it and bring the whole thing down.”
“Even repairing it for a few hours wouldn’t make a dent.”
Just as they said, a few hours of repairs wouldn’t cut it.
It might be better to just tear them down and build new ones from scratch.
‘The problem is, we don’t even have time to rebuild.’
With an attack scheduled for today, repairs were the only option.
“At least the walls themselves are pretty tall. About twenty meters?”
“Twenty? Looks more like seventeen from here.”
Perhaps annoyed by all the chatter, Hero Park Jeong-hoon, who had escorted them this far, bellowed loudly.
“Quiet down! We’re starting wall repairs now! Any cadets who can repair the walls, come over here!”
Only one cadet stepped forward toward Hero Park Jeong-hoon.
Upon checking, it was Jo In-jun, the student who always stood out in elemental magic class.
‘Lee Seojun said he’s the top in magic for our year, right?’
With his short hair and refreshingly neat features, he seemed like the type who’d be popular with girls.
I watched Jo In-jun stride forward, then glanced at Hong Ju-a, who was still standing put.
“......Why are you looking at me?”
“Just checking if you were going out there.”
“I don’t know how to repair walls.”
Surprisingly, Hong Ju-a admitted frankly that she didn’t know.
‘I figured her strong pride would make her snap or make excuses instead.’
The moment that thought crossed my mind, Hong Ju-a shot back at me.
“But what’s with the question? You happy that I said I don’t know?”
“Not happy. I just asked because you’re good at magic.”
“Everyone must look like a magic prodigy in your eyes.”
Still taking it negatively, Hong Ju-a muttered to herself soon after.
“I’ve only ever learned fire-element magic since I was little. I don’t know anything else.”
Listening to her, I recalled what Lee Seojun had told me.
Hong Ju-a had acquired countless acquired abilities through her mother’s torturous methods from a young age.
‘Her attitude now is probably some kind of defense mechanism.’
There was nothing I could say about that.
Any words from me would just come off as clumsy consolation to her.
“Good! The rest of you, fill the gaps with rocks and mud, then bake it with fire!”
I wondered briefly if stuffing rocks and mud into the gaping cracks would really work, but it was just a temporary fix anyway.
‘Makes sense. We’re not planning to live here forever.’
If we could hold out for one or two weeks at most, it’d be fine.
Besides, the walls looked ready to crumble any second, so patching them like this seemed better than nothing.
‘Let’s start by summoning some spirits.’
I summoned two spirits I thought would be useful.
‘Water Spirit. Earth Spirit.’
Fwosh!—
A blue spirit and a brown spirit appeared before me at once.
The Water Spirit and Earth Spirit flew around my face, expressing their affection the moment they arrived.
[Finally, you’ve called us, my contractor.]
The Water Spirit, with her long straight hair and pure, innocent looks, spoke happily as if thrilled to be summoned.
The Earth Spirit beside her, with her straight bangs covering her eyes and a prim bob haircut, nodded in agreement.
“Yeah. I need you to repair... no, reinforce that wall over there.”
It’s best to keep instructions to spirits as simple as possible.
Their comprehension was about on par with a child’s, so you had to match that level.
[Reinforce it?]
But the Water Spirit tilted her head, looking confused.
As a water spirit, she couldn’t grasp the idea of making a wall sturdy.
“We’ll need mud too. But first, Earth Spirit—can you fill in those cracks in the wall over there?”
Nod—
The Earth Spirit nodded, then promptly sealed the cracks I pointed to with rock.
“......”
That one act drained a quarter of my mana.
‘I’m currently switched to Spirit User as my class.’
Even with all the Spirit User skills applied, filling the wall took a hefty chunk of mana.
Figuring it was because my own mana pool was low, I started thinking of alternatives.
“You can actually handle spirits...?”
Hong Ju-a, watching from the side, muttered in shock.
‘Is it that shocking that I can control spirits?’
In truth, it wasn’t entirely my own ability.
Joo Ha-yeon had helped with the contracts, and I was using an online game class for their powers.
‘So there’s no reason for Hong Ju-a to be shocked.’
Unfortunately, she didn’t know that, and I had no intention of telling her.
Assuming she’d get over it on her own, I decided to use the two spirits to make some mud first.
“Earth Spirit, gather some soil from the ground here. Water Spirit, turn the gathered soil into mud.”
[Got it.]
As the two spirits moved to follow my orders,
“Lee Seongmin! Come here and talk to these spirits for me!”
Joo Ha-yeon, who had summoned a swarm of spirits nearby, called out to me.
Unlike me, her mana grade must be higher—she had over ten spirits out and looked fine.
‘What’s Joo Ha-yeon’s mana grade?’
Definitely higher than mine, maybe C-rank or B-rank.
“How should I talk to them?”
“Just tell them to fix the wall, right?”
“They might not understand ‘fix.’”
“Nah, they’ll get it.”
Joo Ha-yeon shook her head, insisting her spirits were smart enough.
The issue was, if I relayed the message and they messed up, the blame would fall on me.
‘Guess I’ll have to phrase it right.’
With no choice, I called out to Joo Ha-yeon’s summoned spirits.
“Hey, you lot. Make that wall sturdy.”
[Huh? Oh! A human we can talk to!]
[Wall? Sturdy?]
[Sounds fun! Should we start now?]
Just one sentence, and responses came flooding back in numbers I couldn’t count.
That’s one downside to summoning multiple spirits—I nodded anyway.
“Start now. Oh, and this is what Joo Ha-yeon said.”
[Got it!]
[Let’s get to it!]
I couldn’t take my eyes off the spirits moving in perfect unison.
I needed to check if they’d actually do it right, but surprisingly, they worked diligently.
‘They’re better than I thought.’
Every time an earth spirit patted the wall, the cracks filled in.
Even useless ones like fire and water spirits hauled rocks bigger than themselves.
Watching them work steadily against my expectations, I wondered if I’d misjudged them all this time.
“Wait, did you just... talk to the spirits?”
Hong Ju-a asked again, her face shocked once more.
“Yeah.”
“Yeah? No one’s ever communicated with spirits before.”
“There aren’t many spirit users to begin with. Anyway, you gonna help or what?”
“......Fill those gaps with rocks and mud. I’ll bake it with fire.”
I nodded at Hong Ju-a’s words and instructed the Water and Earth Spirits to pack the cracks with rocks and mud.
Thankfully, unlike when the Earth Spirit sealed them alone earlier, the mana drain was minimal this time—totally manageable.
‘If we keep using the spirits’ power, we could repair the walls in no time.’
The walls stretched two or three kilometers to either side, by rough estimate.
It’d take a ton of mana, but it wasn’t impossible to figure something out.
“That spot looks good. I’ll fire it up.”
While Hong Ju-a and I focused on repairs,
“Hey! Park Jeong-hoon! Bring the kids and let’s eat!”
Someone called out to Hero Park Jeong-hoon from the Hero Association, suggesting they grab food.
Checking through another body’s view, I saw soldiers and residents had already eaten the food laid out in the training grounds and left.
‘At least everyone looks in brighter spirits.’
After starving until now, the tasty meal had lifted the soldiers’ and residents’ moods far more than before.
They’d kept soldiers and residents out of the cafeteria, probably planning to feed the cadets there.
“Lee Seongmin! It’s mealtime. Let’s go together.”
“Sure.”
We’d been working nonstop, but the wall repairs were barely at 10%.
Wondering what I’d do if the walls fell today, I followed Hero Park Jeong-hoon to the cafeteria.
“Wow, Jo In-jun, right? Your magic is incredible. Made this whole job a breeze.”
Hero Park Jeong-hoon kept patting Jo In-jun’s shoulder and heaping on praise.
‘What the heck did he do to get that reaction?’
I’d filled cracks in the walls, while Park Jeong-hoon and Jo In-jun handled the half-collapsed sections.
Not being in the same spot, I had no idea what Jo In-jun did, so I just eyed him curiously.
-Jo In-jun becomes the youngest grand mage later on. He can handle most magic already, so repairing walls is a piece of cake for him.
“......”
Lee Seojun had called him a grand mage, but it hadn’t really sunk in.
I hadn’t sensed anything uniquely grand mage-like when I fought him as the Destroyer.
‘Guess I’ll have to show off some real magic sometime.’
I resolved to turn one of my Absolute Clones into a grand mage when the chance came.