Chapter 950
Chapter 950
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 950
Chapter Title: Academy's Savior
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“You don’t want to make a contract with me? Then you’ll have to pay the price for entering my territory... and that price is your life!”
Amoh lunged at me.
I calmly activated Moment to slip past his charge. I had already anticipated this. His contract "offer" wasn't a negotiation; it was a set of impossible demands designed to justify his hunger. He never had any intention of contracting with me.
If he had, he would’ve proposed something a human could actually survive.
“Lord Amoh! What are you doing?! He is my student!” Kalles screamed.
“Even if he is your student, he is no contractor of mine. I’ve been craving human flesh... and this one smells like a vintage delicacy.”
Amoh’s elongated body coiled and shot into the sky before plunging straight into the shadows on the forest floor. His massive form vanished into the darkness in less than three seconds.
My golden eyes scanned the surroundings restlessly. Through my enhanced vision, I could see his silhouette slithering through the shifting shadows beneath our feet.
“...So you weren’t joking earlier.”
“Didn’t I tell you? My jokes are terrible. I haven’t cracked a single one today,” Amoh’s voice echoed from the void.
Kalles bit her lip, her hands trembling slightly. “Lord Amoh... please. Let my student and me leave in peace.”
“Kalles, stay out of this. I have no desire to eat you. My goal is simple: I will devour the bloodline of that traitor. If I consume him... I will surely reach a new peak of power. I can’t wait.”
Amoh’s body erupted from the shadows directly behind me.
I didn't hesitate. I summoned Stormbreaker in its longsword form. Blue sword aura and crackling lightning surged along the edge of the blade.
“Die, you overgrown centipede.”
Shadow Heaven Style: Thunder Light.
A streak of cerulean light cleaved through the giant centipede's body. But just as the severed halves were about to hit the ground, they reconnected instantly, as if time itself had rewound.
“I am the darkness,” Amoh hissed. “You think a puny physical strike can harm me?”
“Keep bluffing.”
The attack had landed. The blue lightning still dancing on his scales was proof enough. Amoh was a spirit of darkness, but he had materialized a tangible form to devour me. If he could touch me, I could cut him.
“Lord Amoh!!” Kalles rushed forward, shielding me with her body. Amoh’s crimson eyes narrowed.
“Move, Kalles. I told you I don’t want to kill you.”
“I don’t understand this! You were always so composed. What is the real reason you’re targeting Yu-jin?!”
“I smell that woman’s scent on him. You know the history. The traitor bore a child, and that bloodline ends here. This is your last warning. Move.”
I put the pieces together. The "traitor" he was referring to was Sung Ha-ri. I remembered the Spirit King mentioning something similar once before.
“This is just petty revenge,” I said, stepping past Kalles. “Yu-jin isn't the one you're looking for.”
“Revenge is revenge, no matter how petty. Your mother devoured my dearest friend. Consuming you is simply balancing the scales. Besides, the power I’ll gain... it’s the perfect transaction.”
“You’ve changed, Amoh,” Kalles whispered. “The spirit I knew wouldn't act like this. Don't tell me... you’ve entered a new contract?”
“I have. And I’ve learned quite a bit from my new master.”
“With whom...?!”
Before Kalles could finish, Amoh charged again. Startled by his sheer speed, her reaction was a fraction of a second too slow.
'I can't let her get hurt. Moment!'
I snatched Kalles by the shoulder and leaped aside, the giant's jaws snapping inches from where she had been standing. Amoh skidded across the ground, his dozens of legs scratching at the earth as he pivoted back toward us.
“Moka!!”
I summoned the thunder owl.
“Kweuk!”
Moka assessed the threat instantly and unleashed a dome of lightning. Amoh, who had been creeping along the ground, flinched at the brilliance and retreated back into the shadows. I cursed under my breath; even with Spirit Eye, I couldn't track him once he fully merged with the darkness. He was using a concealment ability on par with my own vision.
'He’s wary of Moka.'
It made sense. Moka was a mid-tier top-grade spirit on the verge of high-tier, and his lightning attribute gave him a massive elemental advantage over Amoh.
“Teacher, can you stand? Are you hurt?”
“...You think an S-rank would go down that easily?” Kalles stood up, her face grim. She scanned the treeline and bit her lip. “He’s severed our contract. Amoh really intends to finish us here.”
“Can a contract be broken that easily?”
“When the spirit holds the dominant position in the pact, yes.”
“What’s the plan?”
“We can’t talk him down now. We have to get off this mountain before the sun sets.”
Weeeeng!
A high-pitched buzzing filled the air as a darkness mosquito the size of a dinner plate zipped toward us. Kalles reacted instantly, drawing a dagger from her thigh holster and slicing the pest in half with a blade wreathed in black aura.
'Right. She was an assassin. Her dagger skills are S-rank for a reason.'
“This way!” she commanded.
“That’s not the path we came in on.”
“He’s already rigged the main path with traps. We’re going through the thicket.”
I followed her, but Amoh was getting impatient. Realizing we weren't falling for his ambush, he erupted from the earth again, this time targeting Kalles’s legs.
She leaped to evade, but Amoh’s follow-up was relentless.
“Moka!! Lightning Flash!!”
Moka turned into a bolt of pure energy, smashing into Amoh’s flank. The centipede was blasted into a nearby tree, his legs writhing in fury. “You damned bird...!!”
Amoh coiled his body around Moka like a constrictor. Moka didn't try to escape; he simply anchored himself and released a continuous barrage of electricity. Hundreds of bolts illuminated the forest like a strobe light.
“Teacher! Move now!”
“...What? We’re just leaving him there?!”
“Moka can handle it. I’ll unsummon him if he gets into real trouble. Go!”
Kalles bolted toward a clearing. I followed, keeping a mental eye on Moka’s status.
'Moka, that’s enough. Return. You know where the emergency spirit orb is—eat it and recover.'
Kweuk. Moka’s weary confirmation echoed in my mind as he vanished from the battlefield. He had done his job; Amoh was too injured to chase us immediately.
“Teacher Kalles, something’s wrong,” I noted, catching up to her. Sweat beaded on her brown skin.
“...He’s locking down the mountain. We can't leave without his permission.”
I checked my phone. No signal. Amoh was jamming everything.
'I could call Makina through our link and get Mom’s help... but Ha-ri would make a scene. Kalles would lose her job for putting a student in danger. It’s better if we handle this ourselves.'
“Change of plans,” I said.
“How?”
“We stop running and start hunting. I can’t kill an upper spirit yet, but I can land a blow that’ll make him regret being born. Once he realizes we can actually kill him, he’ll let us go.”
Kalles raised her hand, and shadows began to pool in her palm. She activated Forest of Darkness (A+), her own aura clashing with the residual energy of the mountain.
“I’ve found him. He’s weakened. Yu-jin, I need your lightning. It’s the only thing that can deal critical damage to his core. Can you do it?”
“Of course. It’s either that or we die here.”
Kalles’s eyes widened for a moment. “...What?”
“Is something wrong?”
“Nothing. You just... you reminded me of someone. A similar situation, a long time ago.”
I checked her status window while she was distracted.
I swallowed hard. Forget the psychology—70 favorability is marriage territory. If I survive this, I’m definitely taking her home.
We found Amoh coiled at the base of an ancient, gnarled tree. He was resting, trying to knit his wounds back together.
Kalles gave me a sharp nod. The plan was simple: she would draw his fire, and I would wait for the opening to deliver a lethal shock.
Amoh’s antennae twitched as we stepped into the clearing. “You came back to me? Idiots.”
“The sun is still up,” Kalles countered. “Once it’s night, your power becomes absolute. This is the only time we have a chance to kill you.”
“Kalles, for old times' sake, I’ll give you one last chance. Hand him over. I’ll even forgive your betrayal and re-sign our contract.”
“...You’re pathetic. You must be in a lot of pain if you're begging me for a contract.”
“You dare insult me?!”
Kalles charged. I flanked him, waiting. He prioritized her, completely ignoring me—just like we planned. A swarm of darkness bugs rose to intercept me, but they were nothing more than fodder.
Shadow Heaven Style: Flowing Line.
My sword moved like water. I cleaved through the nearest spirit bug, then the next, and the next. They didn't even leave corpses; my blue aura simply dissolved them back into the shadows.
'Moment!'
While Amoh was locked in a clash with Kalles, I bridged the gap in an instant. Squelch. Stormbreaker’s blade sank deep into the chink in his armor on his back.
“You repulsive little bastard...!” Amoh roared.
“Perfect! Hold him there!” Kalles shouted.
I took a deep breath and flooded the blade with everything I had. Crackle! Lightning surged into his internal organs.
“GAAAAAAAHHH!”
Amoh screamed as he tried to drag himself into the shadows to escape the pain. I gritted my teeth and held on, the sticky darkness threatening to swallow me whole. I was at my limit.
I let go just as the shadows engulfed him, but I wasn't finished.
“Moka!!”
“Kweuuk!”
Moka manifested again, fully energized by the orb. His talons shredded Amoh’s antennae as lightning rained down from the canopy. Amoh tried to flee into the ground, but Kalles slammed her hand down, seizing control of the local shadows and pinning him in place.
Moka’s talons finally found their mark, and with a final burst of electricity, the great spirit's body shattered into a thousand pieces of harmless mist.