This Is What an Academy Is
It was a powder-keg moment—war could have erupted at any second. Yet, astonishingly, the other side was the first to pull back.
“Darkness commands us to gather our strength!!!!”
“Tremble in fear! We will return!!!”
“This retreat is only so we may build momentum...!”
Some frowned at the sight of classmates who had been fighting beside them mere hours ago, now twisted into traitors. Others burned with rage that their friends had been reduced to such a state. Still, no one dared move rashly. Exhaustion from the endless assault weighed equally on both sides.
Instead of chasing the fleeing enemies, they chose to fortify the castle further. With the Archmage on their side, time itself was their ally.
Watching it all, I gleaned a clue: whoever had orchestrated this was monitoring the situation from within. All that remained was to break out of here and use the bait to reel them in.
“...I’m sick of these already.”
Riri shoved her fifth Calorie Mate into her mouth and let out a baby-like burp. Completely devoid of manners or pretension. I sighed and pulled a sixth one from the shadows for her.
“Stop whining and eat. The walls matter, sure—but you’re the only one who can deal with that.”
“Ueee...”
I jerked my chin toward the ominous magic circle. She flopped onto the ground like a child throwing a tantrum over side dishes, yet still sucked on the Calorie Mate with soft little noises.
Having these was the only reason she could refill her mana so comfortably. Without them she’d have to dodge the lunatics, hunt field monsters, and pray for a mana-recovery item to drop through layers of probability. Just imagining it was enough to make my soul wither.
She knew that too—hence the reluctant chewing. The fact that her complaint was “I’m sick of the taste” rather than “it tastes awful” already meant she was living in blessed circumstances. Anyone forced to eat high-calorie combat rations that stayed disgusting no matter how you cooked them would suddenly understand what an angel tasted like. Dwelling on it would never end, so I just chewed her out in my head. My fault for getting transmigrated. Fuck.
“...So, you got a rough idea what it is?”
“Yeah.”
Still lying on the ground, Riri stretched a hand toward the sky and shaped it like a camera. Five magic circles instantly layered over her pupils like lenses.
“Severance. Rejection. Deception. Contamination. Domination. Faith.”
With each word she spoke, characters appeared and vanished inside the circles. The geometric arrays spun and adjusted distance as if being tuned; the transparent eyes within them darted constantly, observing the target without pause. Then she crossed her outstretched hands, narrowing and merging them.
“Its essence is an altar... or a cradle.”
The completed circle was identical to the one floating in the sky—only pure white instead of ominous black-violet. She had reproduced something nearly identical to the original simply by looking at the magic in the air.
“The medium is this.”
Riri tapped the blue gem set in her chest. So the problem was the magic circle and the Barrier Cells. My doubts about the inspection grew sharper.
They came all this way and missed something like that? Unless the inspectors were complete idiots, they should have noticed something was off. Hong Su-ah had been on edge because of that inspection—though she never explained the details. And because of it I’d taken real damage, so the offense was even heavier.
“Disassembling it itself is easy. But...”
The circle on her hand scattered at once. She had only reconstructed it to grasp the formula’s structure; without the will to activate it, the magic simply dissolved back into mana.
“It’s forcing someone’s sacrifice. Even now, continuously.”
Riri closed her eyes quietly as she continued. Her voice was blunt as always, yet heavy with a subdued emotion—perhaps recalling her own past.
I had to frown at those words. Altar or cradle—neither sounded good. Anything born from toying with others’ minds, forcing sacrifice, and draining mana and life force couldn’t possibly be pleasant.
“Who cast it?”
Riri reabsorbed the ambient mana into her body, circulating it, then slowly shook her head.
“They’re not here.”
In other words, the mastermind had only tampered with the Barrier Cells and was watching from outside the barrier. The word “deception” had been among the components—perhaps false information had delayed outsiders from noticing the anomalies inside.
Now that a whole pack of screw-loose idiots had been eliminated, they’d have no choice but to notice. The plan had been designed for concealment from the start. Even if the faculty finally realized and moved to resolve it, simply stalling until the end would fulfill the attackers’ goal. Subtle interference—pretending to make small mistakes at critical moments—could drag things out for a long time. Maybe that was why the faculty still hadn’t produced any real results. With barriers and magic, clumsy interference could trigger catastrophe, so caution upon caution was required.
“...Haa.”
A sigh escaped me. The situation was still complicated, but my heart felt lighter. The reason I’d been worried was different from what I’d feared, so at least one burden was off my shoulders.
They wouldn’t use the phrase “soon” for something only a day or two away. Whatever the woman had mentioned would happen after the freshman welcome party at the earliest. The sudden chaos had rattled me, but a little deeper thought made it clear her “great turmoil” and this incident were separate.
If monsters poured out in numbers large enough to cause massive casualties, tying down the skilled faculty inside the barrier would be far more profitable than targeting rookies like us. When monsters overflowed in earnest, the first to be trampled would be the weaklings lacking skill. So this incident and the monster swarm had no connection. Whether the planner of this was involved remained to be seen—but at least the outside of the academy was safe for now.
“...How long until you can break it?”
“Minimum ten minutes. Maximum two hours.”
“Assuming no interference, right?”
Slurp, gulp.
Riri finished the last of the Calorie Mate without answering, merely tilting her head in acknowledgment. It might have looked half-hearted, but that was only natural. Even while talking with me she was already constructing a new formula to dismantle the circle and escape this place.
Simple disassembly wouldn’t work. That would release every scrap of energy the circle had gathered as sacrifices in one burst—an enormous mana explosion that would kill everyone inside the barrier. She had to dismantle it, reconstruct it, and birth an entirely new magic with the opposite nature. That was the task given to Riri this time.
Even to a magic layman like me it looked insane. Any mage handed the same task would say the same. Interfering with someone else’s already-deployed magic—not even your own—was like poking a ticking time bomb with no safety measures. Yet the girl in front of me could do it as if it were nothing. She had been made capable of it. And she possessed the talent to fully make that power her own.
“Sinwoo.”
Ban Taewung returned from sharing information and leading the others outside. I handed him a Calorie Mate instead of water. It was all we had to drink right now. I’d never expected the stockpile I’d bought in bulk—practically clearing the shelves—to shine like this, but whatever. Good things were good things.
“Everyone’s ready to fight at any moment.”
“Any new cases of mental contamination?”
“Thanks to Narae casting Protect, no one showed signs. Once combat starts, though...”
Narae—that blue-haired girl from earlier. I nodded and stood. For now that was enough.
“Let’s get ready.”
A message had just arrived from the Hive: the enemies were on the move. Reading the battle in my expression, Ban Taewung’s face turned serious. Kid’s tense. I lightly punched his chest as I passed.
“You’re the vanguard and the commander at the same time. Don’t you dare fall.”
“Yeah. I’ll protect everyone no matter what.”
“Protect your own body first, you idiot.”
Honestly, what was I even supposed to say to this guy? He was the protagonist, yet he acted like those surrounding characters in delusional stories who automatically rewrite the asshole protagonist’s actions into something noble. If I talk shit, he should understand shit. Why bother conversing if he’s just going to interpret it however he wants? Only makes the speaker’s mouth tired.
The problem was that even his dumb, headlong charges looked so perfectly protagonist-like that I could only sigh. Fine—telling him to take care of himself would never land as well as this.
“If you want to protect them, never lose. The moment you go down, the first one to die will be the guy right behind you.”
“...Yeah.”
Ban Taewung swallowed hard, his expression hardening further as he looked at me.
That’s right. Think with that head of yours. Understand how important you are. If it looks like you’re going to die, run. Even if the world itself is protecting you, you’re still human in the end. A momentary slip when you fall won’t kill you—but the people around you will die. They’ll take the full force of the headwind you were holding back and die screaming, miserable and desperate. If you don’t want to see that, don’t make mistakes. Don’t fall. Don’t scream and give up like someone else.
“Let’s go.”
Go do what you have to do, protagonist. Shine brightest at the front and lead everyone. And when you want to collapse along the way—I’ll kick your ass from behind and tell you to snap out of it. Isn’t that a teacher’s duty?
“Yeah!”
Shing!!
He drew his sword. Sparkling currents of mana swirled around him—gold and black intertwined, so powerful that every gaze in the castle snapped toward him at once. Even under that full weight of attention, Ban Taewung neither flinched nor shrank.
“Everyone, prepare for battle!!!!”
Firmly, proudly, he received those stares and shouted with courage. At his voice the already-hurried people moved even faster. Those who had finished thorough preparations followed him out beyond the walls and formed ranks. Weapons were drawn and equipped; mages raised their mana, ready to fire at any moment.
I didn’t need mind-reading to know their hearts. At first they had followed simply because he was from Class S. Now, after seeing everything Ban Taewung had done, they genuinely wanted to fight beside him.
“Our target is the center of the magic circle!! Reach the middle, dismantle it, and victory is ours!!! Free our friends from this horrible curse and escape this place!”
““Uooooooo!!!!””
He thrust his sword skyward. Everyone roared in answer—and at the same moment a glittering light burst from beyond the thicket. Ban Taewung was already in front of the forest, swinging his blade.
Kra-shaaash!!
A sound like shattering glass as he cut the light itself as if it were solid. Ordinary light it was not—it was aggressive attack magic.
That was the job trait of his class, Indomitable Warrior of Reversal. His sword could cut anything, material or immaterial. Because his unique job skill required him to face and counter everything, he naturally gained the power to touch all things. Mana, magic formed from mana—it made no difference. Everything he truly believed he could cut was split and shattered by his blade.
“Chaaarge!!!!”
“O light!!! Return to darkness!!!!”
“Die! Die!!! Die!!!! Dieeeee!!!!”
The figures that burst out with the ambush looked so emaciated it was a miracle they were still alive. Skin-and-bones, on the verge of collapse—even a human who’d spent two years as a vegetable in a hospital bed would look healthier. The problem was that even in that state they pressed the attack. As if death held no fear, they used their own bodies as shields. Their eyes had already gone mad; drool ran from mouths that wouldn’t fully close, underscoring how far from normal they were.
“Kh...!”
“I-impossible...”
“Alex!! You too?!!”
“You filthy villain bastards...!!”
The grotesque sight sent ripples of agitation through the ranks. If it spread, it would soon turn into terror—the fear of becoming like them.
Kuuung!!!
“Uooooooo!!!!”
As if to erase that fear, a roar answered from behind Ban Taewung. A giant of a man. Short blond hair and lake-blue eyes—the classic image of a young noble. He unleashed his powerful physique without restraint, swinging his sword and blasting the approaching zombies away.
“Pull yourselves together, all of you!!! We have to take them down as soon as possible if we want to save them!! Before that ominous circle devours every last scrap of their lives!!!”
Reus Vagna—the giant whose face was twisted with rage—shouted. He was a knight. Knights existed to protect people. This situation was a blatant mockery of his very reason for being. So he raged. That rage slowly infected the students who had been shrinking from the grotesque figures; one by one, resolve hardened on their faces.
“Fuck...! Fuck...!! Fuuuuck!!!”
“I’m sorry... but you’re more important!!!”
“Live!! You have to live, please...!!!”
And so a bizarre spectacle unfolded: mouths shouting “Live!” while weapons mercilessly struck the enemies. Watching from the start, I could only sigh at the sheer idiocy of it. Still, thanks to them a path had opened—so I supposed I should be grateful. Leaving the students who were already dissolving into light and retiring behind us, we began to move.
“Time to go.”
“Yeah.”
Riri stretched both hands toward me as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I frowned but still grabbed her waist, set her on Growl’s back, then climbed up behind her.
“Whoa, so fluffy.”
“Grrung...”
In that brief moment she had already stood up and started squishing Growl’s ears. I smacked the top of her head, forced her back into place, and firmly fixed our bodies with shadows so we wouldn’t fall.
“...A skill?”
“Equipment effect. It’s made of my mana, so adjust it yourself if it feels tight.”
“Mm, just curious.”
Riri began showing off—tugging the shadow saddle, briefly cutting off part of my mana to return the shadows to their original form, then restoring them. Eventually she even manipulated a magic circle in her palm and created a crude shadow dagger that resembled mine.
I stopped what I was doing and just stared blankly.
...She copied that in that short time?
Goosebumps rose. Even I used it without fully understanding the principle, yet this girl had turned it into her own magic. Talent. Overwhelming talent, plus the power to realize it—that was the only way such insane skill was possible.
“Does this have a name?”
Even after that monstrous feat she spoke as calmly as if she’d merely found something interesting—exactly as usual.
Monster.
The thought flashed through my mind, but I forced it away. Thinking that way was disrespectful to her. I bit my tongue to clear my head and checked my status window to recall the forgotten equipment name.
“Doteron’s Masterpiece – Black. It’s an item effect, not a skill or technique.”
“Doteron?”
She kneaded the shadow like clay, lost in thought. I forcibly yanked her out of her reverie.
“Enough. Think later—right now we clear that first.”
“Ah, okay.”
She released the shadow she’d been playing with and cast new magic around us. Instantly my body felt lighter, as if strengthened by mana. Overall physical ability rose, and something glittering seemed to coat my skin.
“Haste, Iron Body. Enough?”
“...Yeah.”
Not her specialty of assembled spells, but ready-made magic. The quality of the mana used as material was high enough that the effects were more than sufficient. I wrapped shadows around Growl and myself for full armament, then leaned over Riri protectively and gripped the shadow reins.
“Clench your teeth. You’ll bite your tongue.”
I wasn’t waiting for an answer. The moment the words left my mouth, Growl shot forward.
“Eek...!”
Startled by the sudden motion, her body went rigid for an instant, then began trembling. Given our position, even small shivers were easy to feel. She was shaking so hard that when I glanced down I saw her eyes squeezed shut, fists clenched in Growl’s fur hard enough to pull it out. She could soar high into the sky while flinging magic around, yet this kind of speed scared her? Her fear was completely off-target. Instead of showing consideration I simply tightened the shadows wrapping her.
“Incoming.”
Shuuuung!!
An arrow flew straight at Growl. I extended a shadow and forcibly twisted us aside. A terrifying strike laced with the power of wind.
“Kihi, kihihi... Darkness... darkneess...!”
German Jenimia. Skin stretched over bone, looking ready to drop dead any second—but it was definitely him. I’d valued his bow and spirit abilities enough to put him in the hunting team, and the bastard had turned traitor. After contact was lost I’d assumed he’d already retired, yet here was an S-class spirit user reduced to this. Pathetic.
At the same time, alarm bells rang hard. This was exactly what made mental contamination so annoying. Enough self-awareness remained that only ideology was rewritten, so they could still freely use every technique they already knew. No matter how strong your mental fortitude, once breached you kept allowing further invasion. Even healing left deep scars; at worst it could turn a perfectly normal academy student into a complete wreck like this.
People looked sturdy yet were surprisingly fragile—especially in mind and thought. And these were still-growing adolescents. Even more so.
“Tsk.”
I clicked my tongue and released the shadows at my waist. Dodging was out. Either frontal breakthrough or keep going after retirement. A glance at the magic circle in the sky told me we didn’t have that kind of time.
“Hey.”
“Y-yeah?”
“You handle it alone.”
Not a question of whether she could—just an order to do it. The white-haired girl forgot her fear, blankly opened her eyes, and looked back. I draped more shadows over her.
“Uwah.”
In an instant she was covered in a shadow raincoat. I gave her one look, blocked the arrow that had closed in from behind with a shadow shield, then stood straight on Growl’s back.
“Don’t worry—trust me. And smash that goddamn thing.”
That should snap these bastards out of it a little. More importantly, Ban Taewung and Lucia were catching up from behind. Even while dealing with clinging enemies they were closing the distance at high speed; they’d arrive almost right after I finished this guy.
“Only do what you can. Don’t push yourself.”
With those words I roughly ruffled the white head staring blankly up at me, then leapt from Growl’s back. Riding the wind, I nocked an arrow aimed at the head of the bastard who was already drawing a bead on us.
“Ki, kihik?”
“You think you’re the only one who can shoot a bow, you piece of shit.”
Twing!
Swaaash!! Kwaang!!
Arrow met arrow. For a clash of mana and spirit power it was pathetically weak. In the end my mana-laden arrow punched through his wind arrow and reached him.
Tung!
“Kihik...!”
An earth spirit appeared too late to block, but he still toppled and hit the ground. I landed and immediately moved.
Kwaddeuk!!
The earth folded like dentures exactly where I had been standing a second earlier. My lips curled.
“You’ve gotten weaker, huh?”
The power was less than a quarter of a quarter of what I’d last seen from him. The real him would never have used such a shoddy trap—he’d have opened a massive sinkhole under the entire area, dropped me in, and sealed it. He’d beaten close-combat warriors multiple times with that exact tactic without ever loosing an arrow.
No... maybe it’s only natural.
The weakness of spirit arts that borrowed a spirit’s power was that full strength only appeared once trust was built and the bond strengthened. Looking at his condition, nothing about him was normal. The spirits floating around him used to be so vivid even people with no spirit affinity could see them clearly; now every spirit at his side was hazy, on the verge of vanishing.
No need to look for the reason. He was thrashing around in a body that could die at any moment. The spirits were simply squeezing out what little power they had left, desperately lending it so he wouldn’t die. Spirits were nature’s friends, its sons and daughters. Nothing was sweeter than the life force drawn from a living being so closely tied to natural energy. His body, far more emaciated than the others, was proof.
I flicked a finger, projecting mana at the earth energy that flickered as if about to go out.
“Kallion.”
Snap!!
At the mana’s resonance a massive lizard appeared exactly above the bastard’s head. He flinched in shock and tried to dodge, but my shadows were faster.
“Ki, kihi...”
“What? Laugh again, you fucker.”
Kung!!!
“Kek...!”
Pinned perfectly under Kallion, he twitched his arms a few times before white light swallowed him and he retired.
Kallion has leveled up.
Kallion’s skill Reverse Scale has leveled up.
Strength stat has increased by 1.
“Geeeh...”
Annoyed by the uncomfortable sensation of something under him, Kallion stuck out his tongue and shifted. Where he had been lay a small gem glowing deep brown. Faint spirit power still clung to it. I quietly formed a shadow pouch and stowed it.
I’d never heard of items dropping from retiring students, so this had to be the remnant of a dead spirit. It had poured out power until the very end and then died. I didn’t know what this bastard had meant to the spirits, but I wondered if they’d really needed to throw their lives away protecting such a piece of trash. Summons and spirits were similar yet different categories, so I couldn’t say for sure—and that left a bad taste.
Time to move. I invested the points from Kallion’s level-up into Intelligence, climbed onto his back, and poured even more mana into the shadows covering my whole body.
Destination: where Growl was. Weaving between trees would take too long. Doing it this way would also make it easier for Ban Taewung or Lucia to find us.
“Ignore everything and run.”
“Grrrng!!!”
Using Reverse Scale, he grew scales that protected me like armor and charged forward. Unlike Growl’s straight up-and-down motion, the zigzag feel was completely different. So was the way he smashed through trees and rocks without a care. Honestly, the ride quality was near the worst possible—rough, constantly shaking, every impact transmitted straight through rock-hard scales until my crotch felt like it was about to cramp. Yet pure speed alone rivaled Growl’s. So this was what it felt like to run on nothing but raw physical power, no technique at all.
Whether catching up immediately had been worth it or not, I soon spotted Growl and Riri ahead—dodging someone’s attacks while constructing magic.
“...What the hell is that?”
The moment I saw the enemy blocking their path, a question mark planted itself in my head.
For some reason a girl who looked exactly like Riri—only pure black, the complete opposite in color—stood there.