What They Call an Academy

I had said I would match her pace, but that never meant hanging back and pecking away from the rear.

Advancing to the front line and sowing chaos among the enemy was every bit as valid a form of support. There was a reason positions like sub-tank and sub-dealer existed in the first place.

“Huh…”

Watching her now, I had to abandon the shallow notions I had been clinging to. Half-hearted help would only get in her way. Even if I squeezed out every last drop of what I had, I wasn’t sure I could keep up with her.

Standing at the heart of a raging vortex of mana, she looked nothing like the typical mage I had seen until now. She carried herself like a knight.

I called her that because Reus Vagna had rewritten my impression of the “knight” class in this world. Unlike warriors who relied on raw physical power for close combat, knights used mana reinforcement. The catch was that once their mana ran dry, they fell behind even a warrior of the same rank—the drop-off was brutal.

A class that demanded simultaneous mastery of sword and mana when focusing on just one was already hard enough. I had written it off as the textbook example of a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Most of the knights I had seen so far had been mediocre, so the idea had stuck.

But watching Reus fight—and fighting him myself—had forced me to change my mind. As long as the mana held out, a knight could match or even surpass a peer of equal rank.

In that sense, Kang So-seon was the ideal knight made flesh.

Her skill Munmu-gyeombi laughed in the face of the knight’s classic jack-of-all-trades curse, flipping it with almost insulting ease. Even though magic was her specialty, she showed zero hesitation about drawing a blade. The intensity of that obsession was enough to make me wonder if she was a little unhinged.

From the moment the fight began she never once complained, and the instant her hand closed around the sword hilt a smile never left her lips.

KRA-CRACK!!

“Ahaha!”

The trajectory of her rapier—thinner than her own wrist—sliced cleanly through a section of carapace that had looked as solid as bedrock, then severed the waterfall behind it as if snipping a ribbon. That wasn’t the end of it. A massive gash carved into the cliff face, shaking the entire area around the falls. The destructive power was so absurd I had to wonder if a human body could even produce it.

My grip tightened of its own accord.

That sight was the perfect textbook of what would have happened if Reus had ever stopped playing pure defense and come at me with real intent.

“Buuuu…!”

Pshhhk!

Even a fragment of that carapace had been hard enough to turn solid earth into soft tofu. Having its pride and identity carved open in a single exchange must have hit the Earth Dragon hard.

“Growl!”

I didn’t waste the opening.

I condensed a thorn of shadow. Thanks to the correction from the skill Trap Installation, the mana moved faster than when I forged weapons, my hands blurring as if someone had cranked the playback speed.

I aimed for its legs. The aggro had long since narrowed to Kang So-seon alone. If I wanted to steal even a fraction of that attention, I had to hit hard enough to matter.

Puh-gwaak!!

“…?!”

The sudden spike of shadow erupting from beneath its feet made the Earth Dragon flinch. In that same instant Kang So-seon and Growl moved. Her body left afterimages as a massive diagonal slash carved across the carapace.

Chang!!

The clear ringing wasn’t steel on shell—it was mana colliding with mana. In the blink of an eye the creature raised its carapace and projected mana into it. The earthen brown shifted to silver, and the scratches already carved into it began rewinding, healing in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reverse as light washed over them.

It was a supernatural phenomenon that flatly rejected the laws of the world—characteristic or skill, something had activated.

“What is that?! I’ve never seen a reaction like that before! A reaction, and it’s so good!!”

Her tension had spiked so high she was spouting nonsense. She beamed and poured even more mana into the aura wrapping her. The aurora behind her back deepened, and the floating motes around her sparkled harder, as if refusing to be outdone.

Ting!

A pure note of steel being deflected. At the same moment her hand vanished.

Seogeok! Sagak! Puk! Chang!!!

Four clean trajectories embroidered the air a heartbeat later, scattering mana in their wake. Fresh wounds bloomed across the silver carapace. It was regenerating in real time, but her blade was faster still, carving new gashes above the old ones and driving the creature back.

With every exchange more of the shell cracked, and wounds began appearing on the flesh beneath.

…The gap between us was simply too wide.

It was like a bunch of kids having a water-gun fight when a fully geared survival-game pro suddenly dropped in. The difference was so extreme I felt nothing at all—just the occasional sigh or gasp of admiration. There was almost nothing I could do. At best I could keep harassing it with shadow traps; anything more was impossible.

Her assault was that fierce, that seamless. The problem was that the Earth Dragon was tanking the bombardment head-on and still standing. Cornered by her one-sided pressure, yes—but it was holding. It looked exactly like a veteran boxer waiting for the perfect counter.

What it had overlooked was that its enemy wasn’t only her.

Growl slammed into its rear like a living avalanche. Instinct had told him that attacking from the front or side would only get in Kang So-seon’s way.

Kwaduk!

“Buaaaaa!!!”

Growl sank his fangs into the hind leg. A trickle of blood darkened the tips of his white fur, the stain spreading the longer he hung on.

Judging it would be worn down and killed at this rate, the Earth Dragon took Kang So-seon’s blows on its body and raised one massive pincer. The instant I sensed mana condensing into that claw I ordered Growl to move.

Kwang!!

“Whoa!”

Mana erupted from the impact point.

Linked to me, Growl reacted instantly and scrambled from the leg onto the creature’s back. Kang So-seon, lacking that telepathic link, lost her balance in a heartbeat. Instead of dodging she drove her sword into the ground and braced.

Jjeojeok! Jjeojeojeok!

The earth cracked and dried like a drought-stricken field. Even with mana reinforcement, flying stone shards opened cuts across her body—only for soft green light to seal them the moment they appeared. One of the buffs she had cast earlier was doing its job. Barely scratched, she was already yanking her sword free to resume the attack.

But the Earth Dragon wasn’t finished.

I stretched a long ribbon of shadow, snared the still-unbalanced Kang So-seon, and yanked her to my side. The moment she landed I coated her uniform—and the bare skin it didn’t cover—in a second skin of shadow.

“Ah, thank you.”

Her eyes went round with curiosity. She pinched the clinging shadow, stretched it, let it snap back, then poked the contracted film with a fingertip.

“I get that you’re having fun, but maybe tone it down a little.”

“Buoooooo!!!!”

The answer came not from her but from the Earth Dragon. Roaring with rage, it locked murderous intent on the girl who had just arrived at my side and began hammering the ground as it charged.

Dugwagwagwagwang!!!

The merciless blows, like a construction excavator gone berserk, flipped the already-cracked earth and sent razor-sharp stone fragments flying in every direction. So it had a rampage pattern.

“Ice Pillar!!”

A wall of ice erupted in front of us, catching both the flying debris and the charging bulk. In that brief window she must have poured out a ridiculous amount of mana—frost was already forming on the creature’s hide where it touched the barrier.

Realizing it couldn’t advance, the Earth Dragon chose the next-best option: ignore its own safety and shake off the wolf still latched onto it. It hurled its own body into the air, landing on the spike-riddled ground.

I converted the saddle I had prepared on Growl into a binding veil, wrapping both the dragon’s body and the wolf’s, then flooded it with mana. That should let him weather a few hits.

Trusting the veil, Growl dug his claws in, raking and slicing while he kept his jaws locked.

“Buuuu…!!”

The wounds widened. Blood sprayed in every direction as the creature’s cry turned thin and pitiful. At last the thick hide and fat had been breached; the fangs had reached living flesh.

Kung!

Even after crashing and rolling, Growl refused to let go. Anxiety finally flickered across the Earth Dragon’s features.

“I won’t lose either! O sharp blade of wind, become my strength and pierce the enemy!”

The chant was far longer than any she had used before. A vortex of wind condensed in her grip and wrapped around her rapier. Space itself shimmered around the blade like heat haze, faintly green—compressed air sharpened into a cutting edge.

She didn’t launch it. She gripped it with both hands, focused, and flooded her entire body with mana, reinforcing every muscle.

Kwaduk!!

The ground shattered under her foot the instant she pushed off. Her afterimage vanished. A heartbeat later I found her again on the far side—standing before the Earth Dragon whose body was half-folded from the impact. An enormous current of mana poured from the blade buried in its flank.

I formed a spear of compressed shadow and hurled it at the arm that was about to swing the carapace, then reshaped the spear mid-flight into manacles that locked around its neck.

Cheolkeok!

A hasty attack, the restraint lasting only a moment—but a moment was enough.

Kwak!

She twisted the embedded blade. Mana detonated outward.

“Hurricane Blast!”

“…?!”

Puh-gwa-gwa-gagak!!!

The storm of mana released with the spell name tore through the Earth Dragon from the inside. Flesh shredded; blood sprayed in every direction. Even so, a wind barrier protected the caster—not a single drop touched Kang So-seon.

“…Boou…”

A low death-rattle that might have been a scream. Blood poured from its mouth; shredded pieces of organ slid from the gaping wound. The fight was decided. Yet ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Earth Dragon still refused to fall.

Instead, as if squeezing out the last of its strength, it began gathering a massive amount of mana into one pincer. One claw shrank while the other swelled grotesquely larger.

Kang So-seon’s eyes sparkled; she was already condensing mana to meet the attack head-on. From where I stood, there was no need.

“Hive.”

“Caw!!!”

“Hubae-nim?!”

Hive, who had been watching from the sky for an opening, plummeted.

Skill: Violence of Numbers.

Accompanied by the shadow crows I had prepared for the Magpie Bridge, Hive became a single streak of darkness that smashed into the Earth Dragon just as it finished gathering power.

Kwang!

“buo….”

With a sob that sounded almost resentful, the creature collapsed, crushed beneath its own overgrown pincer. It didn’t so much as twitch. The thread of willpower that had been holding its already-spent body together had finally snapped under Hive’s blow.

The usual system voice reported the kill, and a cascade of alerts followed, but I never got the chance to check them. Kang So-seon was already at my side, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me wildly.

“What—exactly—did you just do?!”

Her eyes, wide with shock, trembled as if she had been betrayed by someone she trusted. She looked exactly like a child who had opened a Christmas present only to find a brick instead of a toy—disappointment and despair mixed into one fragile package. One more push and she might actually cry.

But I was a cold-blooded adult, and I wasn’t falling for that innocent act.

“Sunbae-nim, why were you planning to take every single one of those attacks head-on?”

“B-but—!”

“But nothing. Are you an idiot?”

“Ugh… uuu…!”

I genuinely couldn’t understand why she would choose the absolute peak of inefficiency—meeting that attack face-first instead of simply dodging. She knew I was right, which was why she was only able to groan.

“…Hubae-nim’s blood must be ice-cold iron.”

“Iron hardens when it cools.”

“I know that!!”

She shrieked, then stomped over to the Earth Dragon’s corpse and began stabbing the oversized carapace with her sword, working out her frustration. What, was that her roundabout way of telling me to clog my arteries and die?

The shock must have been severe; she had completely forgotten the polite speech that was supposed to be part of her character concept.

So she had been forcing the honorifics after all. That faint unnaturalness I had always felt—unlike the other girl—came from exactly that.

She kept glancing at me while she whined, clearly fishing for comfort, but I simply stared back with the flattest eyes I could manage. So what?

She dropped the fake tears and raised both hands like a threatening red panda, growling.

“Kang So-seon will never forget this…! Never!!”

“Doesn’t it embarrass you to talk about yourself in the third person?”

“Shut up! This is all Hubae-nim’s fault!”

What a ridiculous frame-up. I had only stated facts.

Honestly, hearing third-person speech in everyday conversation was just weird. It triggered PTSD from my previous life. The company commander… the sergeant major… ugh, my head.

…Suddenly insisting on my innocence would only mean I was playing along with her game, which felt even more pathetic. I drew a shadow dagger and began practicing Dismantle. The huge hole already present made the work surprisingly easy.

The biggest prize was the mana stone.

It was noticeably larger than any I had seen before—about the weight of a smartphone, shaped like a plump sweet potato. I scraped off the blood and flesh with a shadow blade, shook it clean a few times, set it aside, and immediately moved on to the next task without rest.

I was examining how the muscles contracted, how the carapace grew and moved, the positions and functions of the pulverized organs, when a presence beside me made me look up.

“…Hubae-nim, I’m starting to genuinely worry about your personality.”

Kang So-seon’s eyes, the buffs having worn off while she watched me, looked darker than usual. Combined with brows drawn into a perfect 八 of pity, she made a thoroughly gloomy picture.

The object of that gaze was, of course, me. And I had a pretty good idea why.

“This isn’t corpse desecration. Like I said earlier, I have a purpose.”

“Really? So I don’t need to use my vice-president authority to request a re-evaluation of your psychological profile? You’re really doing this for work?”

“Does my face look like I’m enjoying myself?”

“…”

She couldn’t answer right away and turned her head slightly. A chill ran ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠down my spine—because just before her face fully turned away I saw the corner of her mouth twitch upward.

…What the hell was this woman plotting?

I had no good comeback if she claimed the “work” excuse was a lie, but I absolutely refused to let her brand me as a psycho who got off on rummaging through corpses just for revenge.

One wrong answer here and she really might drag me into a re-evaluation and make my life hell. And she would personally oversee the examination. Kang So-seon was a terrifying child.

“…Haa.”

I stopped the dismantling and stood. Her eyes immediately lit up as if she had been waiting for exactly that, and I sincerely wanted to poke them with two fingers.

She was testing me. The earlier talk had been nothing but pretext.

Her real goal was to figure out what I was doing. Not for some grand cause or hidden agenda—pure curiosity. She had followed me blindly and still had no idea why I had come here.

The earlier request to “rely on her” was the same thing. She wanted to know me, and she wanted more points of contact. A basic, frequently used social technique.

In short, she was twisting herself into knots trying to say she wanted to be friends. Because I kept stonewalling and pushing her away, she was throwing jabs and daring me to block them too.

I almost preferred a black-curtain minion.

The fact that she wasn’t one only made my head hurt more. If she had been, I could have strangled that slender neck without a second thought right now.

In the end the greatest enemy wasn’t some shadowy mastermind or an unknown god—it was a bothersome ally. Or rather, in her case she was simply too competent, which was why she had become this way. Maybe I should have wished for her to be a little dumber.

Though the moment she started swinging a sword her mental age seemed to drop to about eight.

How pointless.

Venting internally changed nothing.

She had taken an interest in me, and whether that interest was good or bad, my life had just gotten more annoying. Someone as sharp as her had probably already realized this wasn’t academy official business—just a private dungeon clear.

In that case, the right move was to show her my personal reason with her own eyes.

“…Don’t tell anyone else.”

“Okay, okay! I’ll keep it all to myself!”

The way she pounced on the bait of a secret made something instinctive recoil. It felt uncomfortably like training a pet with snacks.

…I still wasn’t sure this was the right call. But the die was already cast. There was no taking it back.

I normally never wanted to show this important card to anyone, but if I didn’t prove myself now she would stamp me as a mental patient and use that as an excuse to drag me everywhere.

If she was going to stick to me either way, the rational choice was the option that cost less.

Future annoyance versus immediate escape—the decision had already been made.

“Book of Summoning.”

Chwararak!

A black-covered book appeared in the air, greeting me with a swirl of mana. My efforts had paid off: besides the newly added [Mole], the name [Sub-Dragon] sat clearly beside the lizard entry, as if it had branched off.

So derivatives could form this way. I had originally planned to pick the fox with the highest intelligence, but I changed course and chose this one instead.

The overall appearance floating above the book was closer to a lizard with a healthy dose of dinosaur mixed in. If I had to pick a comparison, it was a Tyrannosaurus whose forelegs hadn’t fully atrophied yet.

Not that “less atrophied” meant much—just long enough that walking on all fours wouldn’t look awkward. That was about it.

What really stood out was the extreme stat bias. The strength was so overwhelming it made me click my tongue; it already outclassed Growl, whom I had planned to use as a front-liner from the start.

If even half of that strength had gone into intelligence, it would have been perfect.

Still, as something in the dragon family it did possess a skill called Demi-Breath.

The concept of consuming both mana and stamina at once was interesting, but for all the grand name it was basically just a loud roar mixed with mana to deal damage.

Come to think of it, every Sub-Dragon I had met so far had screamed its head off on sight.

Maybe they had wanted to use this but simply lacked the mana. I couldn’t say for certain—individuals varied—but seeing the base intelligence bottomed out made the theory a little more plausible.

Well, it was still something.

That shout might evolve into a real fire-breath someday. Thanks to the effect of The One Who Burns, my mana already carried a fire attribute, so the possibility wasn’t zero.

More importantly, I could freely allocate stats every level-up. Raise intelligence high enough and the day would come when it could actually use Demi-Breath.

Right now it was just a ground-bound lizard, but I had no doubt that with enough evolution it would spread magnificent wings and soar freely through the sky as a true dragon.

I didn’t bother naming it myself this time. The system’s naming sense was reliable enough.

See? A name that sounded just impressive enough. I liked it. No need to change anything; I confirmed it as-is.

Thump!

“Kh…!”

My breath caught. Something inside me was being wrenched free and twisted into something completely different. My head throbbed with pain.

This was the third time. I was finally starting to understand what the agony meant.

It was the sensation of my soul being torn. Not merely torn—mixed with something else and forcibly fitted back together.

I had thought the same during the fight with Nightshade: this kind of Summon was fundamentally alien. A soul wasn’t shape-memory alloy. You couldn’t shred it and expect it to snap back on its own.

Torn, mixed, stitched together again—it was still a patchwork. All I was doing was growing a little stronger so I could stuff the gaps and force the ruined balance back into place.

The process came with the feeling of needles stabbing every inch of my body, but I had endured far worse every day in my previous life. I could handle this too.

My mind stayed clear even as my vision blurred. I ignored it and poured every remaining scrap of mana into the book without holding back.

Woooong…

But the Book of Summoning seemed to decide that wasn’t enough. It began conducting mana into the scattered remains of the Earth Dragon and the mana stones I had collected on the way here, linking them all.

As if the answer wasn’t already decided. Why ask every single time?

“I… offer them.”

Even those few words left me gasping. Every remnant around me disintegrated and was sucked into the book. With each one the worn pages restored themselves to new, and elegant embroidery began appearing one stitch at a time across the leather cover.

Watching it, I kept swallowing, but my lungs prickled. My throat burned. Even though every corpse had vanished I still smelled blood—then I felt something hot running from my philtrum and the corner of my mouth. Blood. Nose and mouth both.

“Guek, ptoo…!”

No wonder it smelled. I spat the blood out and finally managed a rough breath through a slightly clearer airway. How long had this been going on?

The blood from my mouth seemed to have stopped, but the nosebleed kept flowing. I wiped it with my hand, then just let it run. Suddenly seeing so much blood made me incredibly tired.

It was quieter than I expected, though. I had been gasping and bleeding; I thought she would say something. Forcing my heavy body upright, I lifted my head and saw Kang So-seon on the other side of a translucent barrier, hammering at it with a look of pure horror.

Ah. Skill judgment—she had been automatically pushed out. So it came with a people-repelling barrier function too. If I could just endure this insane backlash, it would make a solid emergency trump card.

The terrible pain that had seemed endless finally began to fade. Was it roughly finished? The book responded to my thought. I gathered mana at my fingertips, flicked them, and spoke the name of my new family member.

“Kallion.”

Tak!

Kung!!

With a massive sound, a dinosaur slightly smaller than my field of vision appeared.

Reptilian eyes—bright and sharp, pupils slit vertically—locked onto me. Each blink closed a nictitating membrane first, then the brown scales with a faint black sheen. Overall it was a round, solid little thing.

Definitely better in person than in the photo. The hologram had felt like a textbook illustration; watching it move made me feel an unexpected attachment.

Sensing my emotion, it spun happily around me and tried to throw itself into my arms. I stopped it and settled for stroking just its head.

“Grrrr~”

It tilted its head at first, then closed its eyes in pleasure once it decided it liked the touch of my hand.

That was close.

Just because it looked small didn’t mean I could ignore it. That compact body weighed four hundred kilograms. If the number didn’t click, picture one of those giant tires used in strength shows—about the size of an adult man. That was roughly four hundred kilos. In other words, this thing was packed with insane compressed muscle. Its bones were probably dragon-grade too, Sub-Dragon or not.

A strength of 19 at level 1 wasn’t there for decoration.

If something like that body-slammed me in my current half-dead state, I would go flying and eat dirt.

Watching Kallion’s scales glitter as they reflected the mana light, I let out a long breath of relief. I wanted to accept the full hug, but I simply couldn’t. Sorry for being such a useless master. Reality is that even just your snout fills my arms completely.

Kallion began thumping the ground with its tail. The emotion I felt was contentment. Glad you like it that way.

Well, what can you do? Blame your own big body. I’m not at fault. At the rapid shift in attitude Kallion cracked one eye open and looked at me. Whether you chose this or not, I’m your master now. Grit your teeth and endure.

Tak-tak.

The way it drummed the earth with its tail looked pretty vicious. I had heard that among human weapons only the whip could break the sound barrier—getting lashed by that thing with its strength would be terrifying.

Not bad.

The cool feel of the scales soothed my overheated body. Were dinosaurs cold-blooded like lizards?

“Hubae-nim…!”

The barrier must have finally dropped. Kang So-seon rushed over, half-collapsed against Kallion as she supported me and laid me on the ground.

“O light, heal the woundedHealing!”

Warm light wrapped my body, but the exhaustion ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I felt didn’t come from physical wounds, so it was useless. From experience I only needed a short rest to recover; there was no need to worry. I wanted to tell her not to waste mana, but my mouth wouldn’t cooperate.

I had no choice but to stop her by weakly waving my still-moving hand and head.

That made guilt well up in her eyes, followed by tears that rolled down one after another. No. It’s not what you’re thinking.

I wiped her tears with a shadow to show I was fine. That only made the dam burst; the quiet tears turned into full-blown sobbing.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… sniff, this isn’t what I wanted… it’s all because of me… sniff, waaah…!”

Ah, damn it. This is exactly why I didn’t want to do it. What the hell am I supposed to do now?

I let the tone-deaf system messages wash over one ear and out the other, staring blankly while I waited for my body to recover.