What Is an Academy? (42)

I had overrun them in a single sweep, but the sheer numbers must have been why Hive and Kallion leveled up alongside me.

Hive had done nothing but support work, really, yet harvesting magic stones from the enemy corpses that kept raining down in real time was apparently that grueling.

I had charged in without a plan this time, so from now on I needed to either lure them toward the floating stones from the start or use Kallion's Force magic to grab the bodies and drop them in that direction.

Nothing flashy—just solid, steady growth. I dumped the points from the level-ups into Dexterity for Hive and Intelligence for both Kallion and myself, then locked it in.

It might not match the formula I had in mind, so I opened the Book of Summoning just to check. Luckily the summonable slots had jumped from three to four.

On top of that, right next to Crow sat a new option labeled Avian, the same way Lizard had branched into Lesser Dragon.

I put a closer look on hold. The racket might draw more monsters, so better to play it safe—extra safe.

More importantly, summoning a familiar left my body limp as a rag for a while afterward from the backlash. One wrong move and I could tumble straight off.

I ordered Kallion to circle and head for the nearest solid ground.

"We're landing for now."

"Ah, did that just raise your level?"

"Yeah."

The moment we touched down I dismounted with Lee Se-rin still clinging to my neck like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Then I had Kallion use Force to haul in the nearby floating stones, cobbling together a makeshift but decent base camp.

I flipped open the Book of Summoning again and checked the available list right away.

Avian first.

Just from the feel of it, this was a little different from Lesser Dragon.

Lesser Dragon had felt like a similar-but-different, more fantasy-flavored evolved race. Avian, though, felt more like the existing crow had expanded into every creature under the "bird" category.

I checked how far it went. From raptors like eagles and hawks all the way to those half-human, half-bird monsters I had seen earlier—everything was available. The race was listed as Birdfolk.

The first thing that popped into my head was Harpy.

But harpies weren't Birdfolk; they were classified as Winged Folk, a proper "humanoid race." Same with the dragonnewt and half-elf I had seen before—demi-humans, sure, but still filed under Dragonfolk or Fairyfolk, which counted as humanoid races.

In other words, the demi-humans that got their own racial categories felt like humans as the base with a little something mixed in.

This, on the other hand, was only called Birdfolk in name. It looked closer to a chimera that had taken a humanoid shape and mashed bird traits onto a bird base.

Just in case, I checked the encyclopedia. Exactly as I expected. Birdfolk were lumped in with demi-human races like goblins and orcs—pseudo-humanoids.

Meaning they counted as monsters.

I had no idea how the evolution would work, but for now they seemed like nothing more than a downgrade from Hive, so I didn't feel any real need for them.

What actually caught my eye were Lesser Spirit and Demon.

I already knew the practicality and strengths of spirits from the Salamander on Kallion's evolution tree. The real unknown was the demon. I had zero idea how that would even manifest.

I had gotten it by killing those pitch-black things that hatched from a weird tree, so I honestly had no sense of what a "demon" even was.

"Something on your mind?"

"Ah."

Right—there was a living history book standing right next to me. I hesitated for a second, but better to ask for her opinion and then decide myself than stew alone.

I already had a rough idea about spirits, so I started with the demon. Strike while the iron's hot. I dropped every polite preamble and just asked what the hell a demon even was.

"Hmm, a demon?"

"Yeah. Even a subjective take is fine."

What I needed right now was information on demons. Even the tiniest scrap would help.

"The common view is that demons are beings that sway emotions... but that's not the one-dimensional answer Doctor wants, is it?"

I didn't answer. She hadn't asked expecting a reply anyway. It was just her habit. She had spent so long alone that even when talking to herself she ended up posing questions as if someone else were listening.

It was the kind of muttering lonely old people did, but given her actual age it wasn't strange. Even someone who knew nothing about her would just write it off as her being a little eccentric.

"A demon... a demon, huh..."

She understood exactly what I was after. Her index finger tapped lightly between her chin and lips while she pretended to think. The thought process had probably finished ages ago; she was just hunting for the right words.

"Ah!"

Once ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she finished organizing her thoughts, Lee Se-rin smiled sweetly and spoke.

"A demon is a fool utterly faithful to desire, I suppose."

"A fool faithful to desire?"

"Yes. So faithful that they look like fools—blindly so. That's how I see it."

Faithful, yet a fool. So faithful they seemed stupidly single-minded. It sounded like a riddle, but if you knew that the root of demons came from emotion, you could piece it together.

In short, the demon race would do anything as long as it realized their desire.

They charged in without looking left or right, fire or water—hence the "fool" comparison. Thinking back, that tree had sucked the mana and life force out of the students without a shred of mercy for the sake of its goal.

I still didn't know its exact purpose, but it was obvious they were tormenting everyone around them under some flimsy excuse like "destroy the academy" or "get revenge."

"Was that helpful?"

"Yeah."

Thanks to her, I had decided what to pick.

I believe the most important thing for a living being is the desire to accomplish something. Motivation, hope, the obsession to see it through—all of it grows by feeding on the emotions born from some kind of craving. Humanity thrived because it competed and struggled so fiercely through that evolution.

Some philosopher from my past life even declared that a humanity without desire would inevitably perish. No need to belabor how vital desire is.

In that sense, I was thoroughly broken right now.

No real desire, no will to speak of, yet I still craved rest.

The moment my past self died, everything that had built "me" as a person burned away. All that remained was the leftover ash.

I was basically a walking corpse that couldn't even die properly, just following the muscle memory of my previous life. Even the vague emotion that barely qualified as desire had been so violently shaped by that past feedback that my entire mindset was locked onto peace and rest.

I really just wanted to rest. Some people would probably sneer that the only wish I bothered praying for was a comfortable break. But nothing in the world felt more urgent or desperate to me right now.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I was keeping the last warmth in these burned-out ashes alive solely for that.

Comparing myself to anyone else would be an insult—my thinking was that simple and self-centered. But so what? Humans are selfish creatures by nature.

I already knew I was broken. How would other people react if they saw me? I didn't want to deal with that hassle, so I desperately hid it and played at being calm.

Paradoxically, the fact that this world was completely insane was the only reason I could keep going while this irritated. Without that, every single moment I was forced to move would have been pure hell.

I might have become a real lunatic who killed every man, woman, and child I ran into just to vent. The first divine vocation offered to me had leaned hard in that direction, after all.

Whether that came from the influence of my past "self" or some power latent in this world's body of mine, I no longer knew. I had already chosen Summoner.

At first I switched to the most fringe class left among the options because I was pissed at being jerked around by a god's whims. Looking back now, I kept thinking it had been the right call.

The real problem was the current situation itself—where the bastard calling himself a god was openly obstructing the one thing that was basically my only goal. Knowing that full well, why the hell would I dance to some dog of a god's tune?

I just want to rest a little. Is that so goddamn offensive?

No matter how much wind you pump into a corpse, a heart that already stopped doesn't start beating again.

The problem was that this monster still alive with a stopped heart kept getting a string of "hope" dangled in front of it, forced to keep moving.

I hadn't come back by my own will, so of course I couldn't feel good about it even if I wanted to.

And yet, being human, if you keep showing me that string of hope I instinctively chase it. Like a moth flinging itself into the flames after the light. It's an unavoidable instinct.

I say I won't believe, yet some corner of me starts expecting. Then I arbitrarily feel disappointment and betrayal just because it falls short of some standard I set.

The moment the thought "maybe" takes root, I end up cradling both hope and despair at once. Ironic as hell.

Just that alone wears me down.

But I can't throw it away. Even knowing the chance is zero, I cling. The ember that's nothing but ash wants to go out as soon as possible, yet some corner of my heart still hopes it won't. Contradictory feelings all the way down.

Broken. Creaking and malfunctioning, but still moving. Call me sly and I have nothing to throw back. That's just the kind of person I am.

From that angle, a demon felt incredibly attractive.

According to Lee Se-rin, wasn't this a being that could even take over the desire of someone like me who could snuff out at any moment?

Like a navigation system that guides me along the shortest path to the destination without me having to move myself. I planned to use this thing as both my guide and my experimental subject.

Even if I hesitated or collapsed from exhaustion along the way, this creature that inherited my will would accomplish something in my place. Holding that vague expectation, I chose the demon.

My goal was only one.

The reason I was dragging this listless body around, exhausted and chronically fatigued, wanting to do absolutely nothing yet still putting on this whole goddamn circus.

I wanted to spend even a few peaceful days in this fucking world that was endlessly annoying and never quiet for a single day.

It was the dream my past self had desperately wished for until the very end.

I couldn't remember why I had wanted that dream—it had been too long—but if I had craved it that intensely, then even without knowing the reason I knew it was precious and important to me.

Therefore this life was nothing more than an extension of the previous one.

If I finished the dream I never completed, what waited at the end? If I achieved the dream I had wanted so badly I went through all that hell, what came next?

I wanted to see it with my own eyes.

That was why I wanted even more to grab that god bastard by the collar for trying to interfere with that peace, demand to know why the hell he did it, and then smash him across the face no matter what answer he gave.

"Select."

The floating window vanished and the Book of Summoning began to react.

Normally a holographic form would pop out here, but because of the racial trait the status window appeared first and started offering me choices.

"Oh?"

Normally the stats would have been randomly assigned per individual, but this time they came in a flexible state so I could allocate them however I wanted.

On top of the existing skills Lesser Demon and Sin, I could also slot in any skill I wanted for the third one. Limited to skills a demon race could learn, of course, but the increased freedom alone opened up all kinds of growth paths.

Looking at the current party composition: scout was Hive, main tank and sub-DPS was Growl, and with Kallion evolving into a dragon he had filled the completely empty long-range DPS slot.

That naturally left mid and rear lines open.

Balance-wise a healer or buffer would be ideal, but I couldn't discard the option of looping around and hardening the front line even further. The more complete the party, the easier my life got.

After a moment's thought I decided a priest tree wasn't bad either.

More precisely, I was aiming for a combat priest who could tank and heal at the same time. Normally stay in the back focusing on recovery and buffs; if the enemy overcommits a reckless charge to take out the annoying priest first, I open the path and crush them from both sides.

Imagining them getting wrecked right when they thought they had won sounded pretty entertaining.

Plus a priest who served a god despite being a demon—that would look even more unhinged than I expected. It also matched my current situation perfectly, so the concept was solid.

I checked the available skills for the empty slot, looking for anything related to recovery, buffs, or the equivalent.

At first it was mostly weapon-type skills, but the further I scrolled the more variety appeared—Barrier, Sorcery, Cooking, and so on. And nestled among them I found one.

"They even have something like this."

The skill name alone had been absurd, but the description made it even more so.

Intuitively, this was the kind of skill cult leaders would kill for.

Prove your own faith and turn it into a religion. If the doctrine was deemed legitimate, you could even gain divine power. With luck you might build a faith force rivaling the Church of the Radiant Sun.

A little scary.

Even with a skill like this existing, the Church of the Radiant Sun held such a rock-solid monopoly that it felt like the only real religion. Other faiths existed, but none had anywhere near its reach.

That meant half-assed efforts couldn't break through the wall of the Radiant Sun Church, and even if you somehow got recognized as a proper order, you'd face pressure that wasn't quite open hostility.

Nothing was harder to touch or more closed-off than an entrenched religion.

In that sense, this was the first skill I had seen that was so openly packed with defiance toward the gods. Well, of course—that was why it was on the list of skills a demon could learn. Nothing suited a demon better.

Which made me like it even more.

Direction set; next were the stats.

The "divine power" of priests and the "aura" of swordsmen were ultimately just types of "energy." Trace the current all the way back and you always found mana at the end.

Mana was a power that could do anything if you handled it well—literally "magic." It wasn't wrong, since you actually spent mana to construct spells.

That was why the lab bastards who had forced those experiments on Riri had been so obsessed with creating an Archmage.

They firmly believed that if you could handle mana more "perfectly," reaching the seat of a god itself wasn't just a dream. Becoming an Archmage was simply the means to that end.

Of the base 25 points, I put 14 into Strength and Dexterity—seven each—leaving 11.

The optimal play was dumping all of it into Intelligence, which contributed to total mana, but I deliberately wanted to put one into Luck.

It made the numbers nice and even, and more than that, having zero Luck just felt like it would create an unlucky bastard. I had already learned enough about the abnormalities that appeared from stat deficiencies through Kallion.

Just like before, I confirmed the summon without naming it myself, and the system slapped on a suitable name.

Echidna.

It appeared as a monster in Greek mythology and was often used as a demon's name in novels and games, so the moment I saw it I went, "Ah," and accepted it.

The sound wasn't bad, and since it was a direct quote from myth I could take it as a wish for her to grow that strong. Mythical monsters rarely met good ends, after all.

"Summon."

Thump.

The instant I confirmed, my heart gave a massive lurch. The surrounding sounds receded and I was suddenly wrapped in the sensation that I was the only one left in this space.

Throb.

At the same time a crawling pain began to rise. A bone-chilling cold washed over me in an instant. If I had to describe it, it was like every drop of blood in my body draining away at once. Regardless of the actual temperature I felt freezing, while my insides felt ready to boil over.

Crunch.

Something was being ripped out of me, and at the same ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moment all strength left my body. Before I could even think of bracing myself I watched the ground rush up toward my eyes.

Thud!

A dull impact sounded, but I felt no pain. Or maybe I was feeling it and simply couldn't register it because my senses had gone completely numb.

"Cough..."

Against my will, blood surged back up my throat. Pitch-black, dead blood. My body was dying by degrees. The reason was the absence of a soul.

Unlike previous times, the stretch felt long—probably because I had so little information on demons. The lack of a solid image, most likely.

The moment I realized that, my gaze naturally slid sideways. The woman with white-gold hair and golden pupils was staring down at me with a rigidly frozen expression. She looked like a meticulously crafted doll.

A body that had changed to reflect only my preferences. A form designed so that even if you didn't want to feel attraction, your eyes were drawn to it anyway.

The lively, alluring smile with a hint of mischief was gone, and the subtle sense of dissonance I had always felt vanished completely.

That was probably her true nature. She was either so agitated she could no longer maintain the act, or completely absorbed in something. Judging by the way she was unconsciously gripping the hem of her clothes so hard, it was the former.

Maybe watching me die was making her remember someone else.

Looking at that face, I felt an oddly exhilarating satisfaction. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠didn't really know why. Even as my heart gradually stopped, a bitter smile was forming on my lips.

Maybe it was because I had torn the mask off someone who had been hiding her true nature so tightly. The pleasure of revealing what was concealed behind a veil. That was my cautious guess.

Ah, I was definitely broken. I preferred seeing her tormented and desperate like this over any happy expression.

Then came the voice that announced the end of this stretched time. Deep down I wanted to savor it a little longer, but I had the feeling that letting it drag on any further would be bad.

"...I... offer..."

The voice that leaked out was so frail I couldn't believe it was mine. Weak breaths mixed in; I doubted the pronunciation even came out properly. But the system clearly accepted my will.

Suddenly something bubbled up from my shadow. All the magic stones and byproducts I had been stockpiling and neglecting. Among them were large quantities of scales from Kallion's lesser-dragon days.

Because they had burst straight out of the shadow I was lying in, or maybe because they were soaked in the pitch-black blood I had spilled, they looked exactly like real sacrifices.

On top of that, the magic stones Hive's shadow crows had recovered crumbled into motes of light and began to orbit around me—more precisely, around the Book of Summoning touching my hand.

The instant they were fully absorbed into the book, the worn pages transformed until they looked brand-new, and the previously plain cover took on an elegant appearance that could pass for a work of art.

Not overly gaudy—just the right amount of restrained beauty.

Around then the dulled sensations in my body returned enough that I could put some real strength into it. I immediately wrapped myself in mana for reinforcement and snapped my fingers.

Snap!

"Echidna."

A clear ringing sound, and I called the name of the one who would become my new power.

Gloop, gloop.

At the signal, the shadow beneath my feet undulated and expanded. The moment it reached roughly the size of a person it popped free as if detaching from me.

Fwoosh!

And from that spot a single girl burst forth as if leaping out of water.

She was a beautiful girl. Her physical age looked around seven at most. Hair that reached her lower back was a exquisite mix of white-gold and black, like black ink dropped onto pure white paper.

No—that wasn't the important part.

If I hadn't felt the connected channel, I would have assumed that woman had pulled another weird stunt. She looked that much like her.

Blink.

Inside the gently opened eyes sat not brilliantly shining golden pupils but pale pink ones with faint pigment. The girl who met my gaze smiled at me with pure, unfeigned happiness.

The color was different, but the mysterious allure that made you feel like you could fall into them remained unchanged.

"...!!"

Her mouth opened and closed as if trying to speak, but no language came. Yet the emotions flowing through the connected channel were many. Joy, wonder, excitement, happiness. All of them ultimately converged into affection.

In the end she couldn't hold those feelings back and threw herself at me. I caught her, but my weakened body couldn't support us. I toppled backward, yet she either didn't notice or didn't care and just nuzzled her head against my stomach.

It wasn't just the appearance—her actions were similar too. The only difference was the contents, and that alone made the feeling completely different. Maybe it was because pure joy was being transmitted directly instead of calculated acting.

"Echidna?"

"...!"

The girl nodded in response to my call, and I was certain. This girl was the familiar I had summoned. The moment that fact registered, my hand naturally moved toward the head of the girl stuck to my stomach like a remora.

Then I stopped. Habit had made me reach out to stroke her, but I wondered whether it was okay to treat a humanoid the same way I treated animal forms.

"...?"

Unable to understand my complicated feelings, she looked puzzled at my hand hovering awkwardly in midair, then opened her big, bright eyes wide and instead pushed her own head into my palm.

Seeing how happy she looked, I realized the earlier worry had been pointless and properly stroked her head. Then something caught against my fingers with a soft tap. At first I thought she was wearing an accessory, but when I felt carefully it was a hard little protrusion.

What is this?

It wasn't that hard, yet from the feel of it I didn't think it would break easily. Nestled among the thick hair, it gave off a gentle warmth.

Sliiiide.

While I was focusing on stroking her head to figure out what it was, she must have liked it a lot, because a slender black tail coiled around my hand. Wait—tail?

"What the hell is this."

The tip was shaped like a spade—the classic demon tail—and it connected under the robe Echidna was wearing. The loose robe covered most of her body so I couldn't see properly, but with this kind of contact I could tell whether I wanted to or not.

Despite the childlike appearance, her body was nothing like a child's. And more than anything, she was wearing absolutely nothing underneath. That sensation came through unfiltered.

A chilling shiver ran through me. I immediately used shadows to create clothes inside the robe and put them on her. Then I set Echidna down and turned a sharp look toward the source of the chill.

"...What are you doing?"

"That's what I want to ask. Would you mind releasing this already?"

Lee Se-rin wore a bright smile, but her eyes still weren't smiling. She was gripping a translucent membrane so hard it looked like she wanted to crush it right then and there. A barrier, I assumed. Same principle as when Kang So-seon had been pushed back before.

The problem was whether grabbing something like that with your bare hands even made sense. The barrier was screaming in real time inside her grip, looking downright pitiful.

She could have torn it apart easily, but she was deliberately waiting so it wouldn't burden me.

Part of me wanted to keep being stubborn, but I remembered her patience wasn't exactly vast, so I lifted the Book of Summoning and simply set it down in midair as if placing it on a table.

The barrier vanished along with the book. Realizing that, Lee Se-rin strode over and hugged me tightly the same way Echidna had.

"Let go."

"I don't want to."

"I said let go. You'll get blood on your clothes."

"...I don't care."

At my words she tightened her arms even more. The soft, mature flesh of a fully grown woman pressed against me without filter, but I had no time to notice. This wasn't a joke—the pressure was so strong I genuinely thought my waist might snap.

My expression must have looked pretty bad, and Echidna seemed terrified of Lee Se-rin herself; she flinched and put distance between them with a completely cowed face.

Lee Se-rin shot that look at Echidna with an expression so chilling it held none of her earlier emotion, then buried her face completely in my chest as if she didn't want me to see it.

"Stroke me too."

"No. And get off. I feel like I'm going to die right now."

"...Tsk. You're this firm even here. Really."

I hadn't heard her click her tongue in a while. After taking one deep breath in and out, she lifted her face; a perfectly crafted smile was already in place. Still high-quality. The subtle sense of déjà vu it produced just made the rejection hit harder.

"Then how about this."

Lee Se-rin changed positions, rose, then knelt on the ground and rested my head on her lap.

A sweet citrus scent drifted gently over me at the same time a soft yet springy sensation no pillow could ever reproduce pressed against the back of my head.

A classic lap pillow.

I wanted to resist, but not a scrap of strength remained in my body. I sent a "it's fine" through the link to Echidna, who was watching us from a short distance, and tears immediately welled up in her eyes.

She looked heartbroken at having her place stolen. She scampered over to Kallion as if trying to take my place and clung to him while sniffling. My field of view was then forcibly yanked upward.

Lee Se-rin's face filled my vision. Her white-gold hair fell like a curtain, creating a space that belonged only to the two of us.

"This is a date right now, so focus only on me—not some other woman. Understood?"

"That's my summon..."

"Pardon?"

"..."

I couldn't bring myself to look at the smile that was so confidently applying pressure, so I just closed my eyes with a sigh.

What a goddamn circus. Acting out this textbook jealousy only made me more tired.

We hadn't even been together an hour and it already felt like a whole day had passed. The moment my body recovered I would start leveling Echidna. I still needed to wander around and raise the dungeon progress rate; there was a lot left to do.

I want to rest already...

The more I wished for peace, the further my life drifted from the ideal. I really hated that. And it was all that god's fault.

Bastard. Fuck. Piece of shit.

I hurled one more curse at the god who had made me practice my daily three-insults routine yet again.

Hope a blind arrow finds him and he drops dead.