Harvesting Squad 8
I slammed my knee to the ground in front of Amagi Souma. "You... why?"
"Teacher! Hadomyeol, this dumbfuck looks like total shit, but he's still my blood brother. If you report this incident to the Cult Leader... that bastard's as good as dead."
Amagi Souma's expression hardened slightly at my words. He knew the Cult Leader's temperament instinctively, so he could tell I wasn't wrong.
Hadomyeol stared at me blankly, shocked either by me kneeling or by my vicious insults.
"Teacher. Half a year from now, at the successor deathmatch, I want a proper fight with this fucker. This dumbfuck keeps calling me a lucky no-effort bitch, and it's pissing me off so bad I can't sleep. You practice martial arts too, so you get it. You think martial arts are easy to learn?"
Amagi Souma rubbed his chin, lost in thought.
"I'll show you martial arts smashing his pathetic shaman magic to pieces. I'm not asking you not to report this necro dumbfuck corpse-fucker to the Cult Leader. Just hold off until the successor competition ends."
Even I thought it was a Solomon-level proposal. It satisfied his loyalty to the Cult Leader too, and Amagi Souma's pupils shook lightly.
"Hmm..."
Hadomyeol caught on that he was being persuaded and slammed his head down, tears streaming.
"Dojin's right. I beg you. Please spare me, Teacher!"
"Oh, look at this fucker. He's confessing he's a corpse-fucking dumbfuck. See, Teacher!"
"N-not that..."
Amagi Souma ignored Hadomyeol and looked only at me. He was mulling over my plea, but it looked like he was trying to convince me instead.
"This vicious bastard Hadomyeol killed his own mother, daughter, and even his maids to turn them into Fresh Golems. He's clearly already had his first awakening as a necromancer. No matter how good you are at martial arts..."
"I'll win."
Amagi Souma's lips curved up at my firm voice. He was almost convinced.
"I... just don't like his wicked nature."
"Ho... you mean the corpse-fucking?"
"Hic?"
Amagi Souma flinched in exaggerated panic, shrinking his neck.
"N-no, setting that aside... his nature is..."
"Assign Hadomyeol to the harvesting squad! Spending time digging herbs and befriending nature will wash away those corpse-fucking thoughts and teach him to value life."
Hadomyeol's mouth twisted into an S at my shout.
"Harvesting squad... instead of reporting to the Cult Leader... Amagi probably thinks Do-myeol would rather die than go to the harvesting squad..."
"I'll go to the harvesting squad!! Teacher!!"
Hadomyeol shot to his feet.
Amagi Souma's mediation went like this: No targeting each other's lives until the successor deathmatch. Friendly spars only under his supervision. I added that he wouldn't touch my people and would be kind to the harvesting squad members, and Amagi Souma nodded, including those too.
In an instant, Hadomyeol—who'd been rising fast in the special class—ended up in the same harvesting squad as me.
Amagi Souma pulled Hadomyeol aside for a long talk before leaving.
"What's the reason...?"
Hadomyeol asked me when he returned.
I scratched the back of my head. "Just... didn't wanna see you die by the Cult Leader's hand? If you're gonna die, better by mine."
"Kuhahaha. You're one crazy fucker, huh?"
"You're crazy too."
"But how'd you know I was a cor... fuck."
Hadomyeol started to ask how I knew he was a corpse-fucker but just shook his head. The public view of necromancers was nothing more or less than that.
"Listen to the harvesting squad leader. Even if you're from the special class, the squad has its own leader."
"Tch..."
That's when Harin came over with a bright smile.
"Hello! I'm Harin, Dojin-hyung's little brother! Nice to meet you, Hadomyeol-hyung!"
Hadomyeol remembered Hadojin telling this guy earlier, "In my eyes, you're prettier." And he'd said it to the academy's top beauty, Lucilia.
"Uh..."
He gave a vague reply and looked Harin over closely. Emerald-tinged dark brown eyes. Deep gaze with long lashes. Snow-white skin and the perfect pretty-boy look. Slender like me but with a solid martial arts build.
...What the fuck? How's a dude this pretty?
Hadomyeol's heart skipped. A thump he'd never felt even for Lucilia.
Fuck... no... cock-dripping crisis!! This fucking cock-dripping bullshit!! Can't go gay on top of corpse-fucking...
He had to squeeze his thighs together.
That's when it happened.
"Everyone, run!!"
Students bolted in droves. Screams spread like a plague across campus in seconds. Kids who'd been lazily strolling just moments ago scattered in terror.
"What is it! What's happening!"
"Monster! A monster appeared!"
Hadomyeol snorted. What a fuss over one monster. Pathetic for academy students.
He casually turned toward the monster.
In that instant, the leisure vanished from Hadomyeol's face for the first time.
Kugugugugu...!
The ground rumbled. The academy's pride, the massive trees in the central garden, ripped out root and all, shooting into the air. The earth cracked, and from the fissures, something black wriggled out like a giant earthworm.
Tree roots. But not ordinary ones. Living tentacles pulsing with blood-like red sap.
"Kraaaaaah—!"
Hundreds of root tentacles converged at a center, forming a massive shape. A torso like a human upper body, arms of twisted branches, ending in razor-sharp thorny claws.
And in the deepest part of that giant tree monster's chest...
A human face twisted in agony was embedded there.
"Sin... Jaeyul?"
I muttered lowly. In my eyes, it was clearly that local thug from the flower shop recently, Sin Jaeyul's face.
But now Sin Jaeyul's face was drowned in hatred and madness. His body had merged with the giant tree. Skin cracked like bark, hair turned to mossy vines.
"That's... fairy's forbidden magic..."
Hadomyeol muttered in horrified awe. Even as a necromancer, it was the worst black magic he'd only read about in books—drawing nature's wrath at the cost of life.
"Already... fairies showing up from the northern continent..."
I was shocked too. Fairies were supposed to appear much later, during the 10-year war.
And I knew the identity of that rotten magic.
"Immortal Tree Heart."
Fairy magic granting near-immortal regeneration and destructive power, but binding you eternally to the tree as a suffering living corpse.
"Ha... do... jin...!"
From the monster's chest, Sin Jaeyul's voice boomed out in a tearing roar.
"Because of you...! Sujin died because of you! Ha... but... now... I can... get revenge."
With his scream, a massive root tentacle whipped out like a lash, cratering where I'd stood.
Kukwang!
Asphalt shattered, debris raining like bullets. Student screams grew louder.
"Everyone, evade!"
The monster's rage targeted only one person: me.
"I'll kill you...! Tear you to shreds and make you my fertilizer!"
Root tentacles writhed like snakes, attacking everyone around. Landscaping trees toppled, smashing the outdoor lecture hall wall as it charged me.
"Hyung!"
Harin instinctively blocked my front. Her body trembled in fear, but she didn't retreat a step. Tank instincts and the will to protect the precious overrode terror.
"Move, Harina!"
I shoved Harin aside and stepped forward. In my hand was the Dragon Repelling Shield.
The problem was U Jeong, arriving late. She gripped her rapier, barely holding her shaking body, facing the monster.
"U Jeong! Fall back! Take Harina and get as far away as possible!"
"But Master!"
"That's an order!"
U Jeong bit her lip and grabbed Harina's arm, dragging her.
I gripped the shield against the incoming root tentacles.
An unexpected variable. The vampire incident got nullified, so the story twisted like this instead.
I'd never dreamed Sin Jaeyul would contact a fairy. His hatred had become the catalyst accepting the forbidden magic.
If this were a dungeon, at least A-rank, maybe higher.
Kang!
The first root tentacle hit the shield with a metallic clang. My arm went numb from the impact, but I held. The shield's special ability activated, scattering some force into the air.
But the monster's assault didn't end. Dozens of root tentacles swarmed from all sides. No escape.
"Hmph. Can't even handle one scrub."
That's when Hadomyeol stood beside me. Red flames burned like snakes in his hands.
"Step aside. This ain't your spot."
Hadomyeol smirked arrogantly and thrust his hands forward. Letters formed in the air as flames blazed fiercely.
"Dark Flame Spear!"
Twelve black flame spears materialized, flying at the root tentacles. They exploded on contact, turning the area into a black inferno.
Jijijijik—!
The roots burned, screeching like screams. But only briefly. Other tentacles wrapped the severed parts, regenerating the burned sections instantly.
"Regeneration that strong?"
Arrogance vanished from Hadomyeol's face for the first time. His dark flames weren't ordinary fire—they burned life force and corrupted mana, cursed flames.
Regeneration shrugging even that off.
"Unless you destroy the core, it won't die."
I said lowly. My gaze fixed on the monster's chest, Sin Jaeyul's agonized face.
"That's the heart. Smash that."
"You call that advice! How the fuck do we get through those tentacles?!"
Hadomyeol snapped irritably.
Then, from the monster's body, an even larger, tougher-looking thorny tentacle shot out like a spear. Its target clear: Hadomyeol, who'd attacked it.
"Kuh!"
Hadomyeol hastily raised a flame barrier, but the thorny tentacle shredded it like paper and pierced his shoulder.
"Guhk...!"
Blood sprayed. Hadomyeol groaned in pain, dropping to one knee.
"This... impossible...!"
The monster lifted the impaling tentacle, about to hurl him into the air.
That's when it happened.
"You monster fuck! Get away from my brother!"
A small shadow bravely charged the monster. The figure rushing to save Hadomyeol: Harina.
She shook off U Jeong's restraint, using her tiny body as a shield to block the monster.
No weapon in her hands. Just her two fists.
"Harina, no!"
I panicked. I could've crushed the monster with full power from the start. But I'd held back to watch Hadomyeol flail.
Never imagined Harina would move to save him.
I quickly poured mana into the Ancient Druid Wood Ring. The tree monster Sin Jaeyul became was still a plant.
"Yah! Fuck you, Sin Jaeyul! Trees are plants too!"
My shout echoed thunderously.
Wooddrdrdrdrdkdk!!
At my will, the monster's attack slowed.
Kwang—!
A massive boom, asphalt pulverized. Dust billowed thick.
"Harina? Master!!"
U Jeong's desperate voice.
Dust slowly cleared, revealing the scene inside.
Harina... was standing.
Her arms crossed in an X, she'd taken the massive thorny tentacle full-body.
And I stood beside her, shield raised high.
Harina's small frame trembled like it might shatter, but she endured.
"Nngiiit..."
The ground under her feet spiderwebbed with cracks, uniform torn and blood-soaked.
But her eyes didn't waver a bit.
"Heuuuung...!"
She growled like a beast and started pushing the tentacle back. Muscles swelled like bursting, faint blue mana veining under her skin like blood vessels.
"Ta... tank?"
Even Hadomyeol, clutching his shoulder, couldn't hide his shock at Harina.
"Harina. You okay?"
"Now, hyung!"
Harina spat blood and yelled. Thanks to the Ancient Druid Wood Ring offsetting the monster's movement, no major injury.
I gently stroked her hair. She'd shown tank qualities beyond our special training.
"Harina... you were pretty badass."
From my right hand, the broken sword slowly emerged. The Broken Dragon Slayer Sword.