The Conjurer of the Academy

Chapter 26

“Shin Seo-ha!”

Han Sang-don fainted, and the first to react was Han Yu-seong. As he hurriedly supported Han Sang-don, he shouted at Shin Seo-ha accusingly.

“How can you just hit a team member like that!”

“It wasn’t a fist, it was a kick.”

“Shin Seo-ha! You can’t treat a teammate this way!”

Shin Seo-ha snorted at Han Yu-seong, who was scolding her as if to berate her.

“A team?”

Shin Seo-ha’s disdainful gaze swept over Han Sang-don.

“That pig didn’t consider us a team, to begin with.”

“You could have persuaded him.”

“Bullshit.”

Han Yu-seong, who always wanted to take care of his teammates, and Shin Seo-ha, whose patience had reached its limit.

‘This was just like the original storyline.’

An immense sense of pressure.

Han Yu-seong and Shin Seo-ha always clashed due to their differing senses of justice.

Han Yu-seong disliked Shin Seo-ha’s violent tendencies, while Shin Seo-ha criticized Han Yu-seong as a hypocrite consumed by his hero complex.

I had thought they were the dream team, but when mixed, they formed the worst possible combination.

“Aah, fine. I get it.”

Amid their argument, Shin Seo-ha clapped her hands as if reciting a lesson.

“You’re worried that our team score will drop because of that pig, right?”

Shin Seo-ha, who had been looking around, spotted the surveillance camera attached to the cave wall and raised her voice.

“Hey, I hit this pig on my own, so don’t blame the others. If you’re going to dock points, just dock mine.”

Shin Seo-ha glared at Han Yu-seong with a furious expression.

“There, are you satisfied now?”

Han Yu-seong rubbed his forehead, clearly annoyed by Shin Seo-ha’s blatant sarcasm. Even the ever-good-natured Han Yu-seong couldn’t help but grimace.

Han Yu-seong gently propped Han Sang-don against the wall and faced Shin Seo-ha directly.

“Shin Seo-ha, you always try to solve everything with violence.”

“That’s because it’s the quickest way without unnecessary hassle. And don’t you know that the rod is the best medicine for a beast like him?”

Flames ignited at the ends of Shin Seo-ha’s fists. The way she subtly extended one hand resembled a boxing fighting stance.

“Why? If you’re so annoyed, how about we go at it with no rules this time?”

“Shin Seo-ha, you really—”

“Wait.”

Even I, who struggled to find a good moment to intervene, had to step in now. It wasn’t to stop them from fighting altogether

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The entire cave shook with a thunderous roar. The vibrations were so intense that some stalactites hanging from the ceiling fell to the ground.

‘What is this presence?’

A chill ran down my spine.

A massive presence seemed to press down on my body. A sudden intuition told me something was very wrong, and cold sweat formed on my forehead.

“Something’s here.”

It’s not an unfamiliar sensation.

I occasionally felt this kind of presence when encountering Baek-ah or Yomi. Yes, this is the overwhelming feeling you get when a massive spiritual presence is nearby.

[Above us!]

Sensing the enormous presence above, I lifted my head to the seemingly endless ceiling.

Creak, creak!

The first thing that caught my eye was the multi-colored aurora.

A massive, human-shaped crystal mass that covered the entire ceiling of the cave. Hanging upside down from the ceiling, it seemed to twist its head to look down as if it had eyes.

‘Crystal Giant.’

It’s a C+ rank monster, the progenitor of the crystal golems and the master of the crystal cave. It was also the boss we had to defeat in this mock subjugation.

“Boss?”

Shin Seo-ha frowned.

It was astonishing enough that the boss, who should be in the deepest part of the dungeon, appeared on its own, but that wasn’t the end of the surprise.

“Wait. That monster, something’s off.”

Even though Han Yu-seong had never seen a crystal giant before, his judgment was accurate. As he said, this was no ordinary crystal giant.

Creak

A misty, purple-hued smoke, like a shroud of fog, swirled around the crystal giant’s body.

For the two who couldn’t perceive spirits, it would be recognized simply as an overwhelming feeling or mist.

“C-Virus.”

But to me, who could observe spirits, a horrifying sight that I had not seen in the game was revealed.

It was the infection marks of the C-Virus that grotesquely distorted its host.

[It’s a curse! And not just any curse, it’s mixed with the energy of that darn Moon Rabbit!]

What surrounded the crystal giant wasn’t just mist.

-Save meeeeee

-Mooooom

-I’ll be home by seven today

It was distorted grudges.

These grudges were trapped within the crystal giant’s body, circling it but unable to escape.

“Everyone…”

While everyone remained stiff, I managed to speak with difficulty.

Everything seemed to follow a predetermined scenario.

The C-Virus—meaning, a cursed infected monster appearing as the boss—was not much different from the original plot.

‘But why now?’

Normally, they always stayed in the deepest part of the dungeon. They’ve never come out on their own before…

Anyway, our formation was broken, and the two core members of the party were in opposition. So, as the scout, there was only one judgment I could make at this moment.

“Run.”

As soon as I shouted, the three who were rigid bolted simultaneously.

Whoooosh—!

The crystal giant leaped down.

Its massive size, combined with its weight and added acceleration, produced a piercing sonic boom that lashed at our ears.

Kwaaang!!

The cave floor couldn’t withstand the weight and collapsed.

“Shin Seo-ha! Han Yu-seong!”

Shouting was futile.

We were all helplessly airborne, awaiting a free fall.

“Ahhhhh!”

With a scream, presumably from Han Sang-don, we plummeted into the endless abyss.

* * *

“Ugh, my head…”

When I came to my senses, everything around me was pure darkness. Seeing that my limbs could move perfectly, I was extremely relieved that I wasn’t trapped under the debris.

“Yomi, night vision.”

I called out to Yomi to restore my sight but received no response. I only realized a moment later that the familiar weight on my shoulder was absent.

“Yomi?”

As I groped around, my fingers touched something. Soft and squishy, I knew it was Yomi, but something was off.

“Are you hurt?”

Yomi’s spirit felt fainter than usual.

Curled up, Yomi’s posture was quite different from the confident, chest-puffed stance I was used to.

[How noisy. Do you think this great yokai would be hurt by a mere fall?]

“Tell me honestly what happened.”

[Nothing at all—]

[Yomi-sama used almost all of its yokai energy to protect you while you were unconscious.]

[Baek-ah, you rascal!]

[Eek…!]

As Yomi shouted, the Sain-gum tucked at my waist trembled.

‘Yomi protected me…’

My vision adjusted to the darkness, and the surroundings became clearer.

The debris was unnaturally scattered beside the spot I had been lying on. If those rocks had buried me, even with the protector, I wouldn’t have been unharmed.

“Thank you, Yomi.”

[Don’t get the wrong idea. Without you, I’d have no body to possess, which would be troublesome.]

The way Yomi answered indicated it wasn’t seriously hurt.

I placed Yomi on my shoulder and activated my Spirit Sight to survey the area. Despite looking around for a while, I found no other spirits apart from Yomi and Baek-ah.

“What about the others?”

Even with protectors, being caught in a collapse like this could be dangerous.

In the worst-case scenario, their protectors’ mana might be depleted, and they could be with the Crystal Giant.

[How would I know?]

Yomi answered curtly, yawning widely.

[Useless worry only scatters your spirit. They’re not dead, so stop worrying needlessly.]

Yomi’s spirit showed no signs of wavering. It meant Yomi truly believed in the survival of those two.

‘Yeah, they’ll be fine.’

Right now, I have no choice but to hope that those two are safe. Since the ground has collapsed, Choi Tae-min will soon sense the anomaly and send a rescue team.

[I’m… tired, so I’ll take a nap. Wake me up if something happens.]

As soon as Yomi finished speaking, I heard the sound of light snoring from my shoulder.

While I was unconscious, Yomi must have blocked all the falling debris, using up almost all of its spiritual energy.

‘But why did the Crystal Giant appear now?’

Perhaps due to the fall, my head throbbed painfully.

The deepest part of the dungeon. The monster that should be on the lowest level of the crystal cave has come all the way to the highest level on its own. While the flow might be slightly different, this is a deviation from the main scenario that is far too extreme.

‘Maybe Yomi has the answer.’

I was curious, but I had no intention of waking up Yomi just yet. I proceeded carefully through the winding paths, trying to avoid disturbing Yomi.

[I sense a presence of spiritual energy.]

Before I could see it, the status window reacted to something beyond the corner. My instincts led me to a place where…

[Watch out! Any further, and you’ll fall.]

A sheer cliff edge.

I thought I had fallen all the way to the bottom, but apparently not.

[The spirit is close by.]

Halfway down the cliff.

A cluster of white spirits floated in the air. Instinctively, I reached out to them, and they slowly approached me.

As the spirits drew close enough to touch, I could finally read their information.

[Spirit Information]

– Spirit: Crystal Golem

– Rank: D

– These are the spirits of the crystal golems that were subjugated.

– Spirits without self-awareness will pass on with just one release.

These were the spirits of the crystal golems we had defeated earlier.

‘Passing on with just one release means… they disappear.’

I gently wrapped my hand around the white souls that touched my palm, as if scooping up sand.

Whirrr—!

The Sain-gum at my waist began to resonate.

[The absorbed spirits have been stored in the Spirit Conjuration Space.]

Swoooosh!

The Sain-gum absorbed the floating spirits. Immediately after, the storage information in the Spirit Conjuration Space was updated.

[Spirit Conjuration Space]

– S-Rank: (0/0)

– A-Rank: (0/1)

– B-Rank: (1/3)

– C-Rank: (1/10)

– D-Rank: (7/30)

The previously empty D-Rank storage now had seven new spirits.

‘Let’s test it.’

It’s only natural to test a new spirit once obtained. I raised the Sain-gum and placed my hand along the blade as if to stroke it.

[Spirit Information]

– Spirit: Crystal Golem

– Temporarily transforms the material of objects it touches into crystals.

I raised my index and middle fingers while bending my thumb, forming the seal. The white soul that swam in my mind like a fish in a river.

Soon, that image took the shape of a crystal golem, growing more defined. The moment the image was fully formed…

Crackle

With the power of the words spoken, the spirit of the golem that I absorbed wrapped around the Sain-gum. Immediately, the blade’s surface became covered in rough minerals.

“Alright…”

I swung the crystal-coated Sain-gum with force toward a nearby rock.

Boom!

With a loud crack, the massive rock split open like a watermelon, leaving a large groove.

[D-Rank: (6/30)]

But the next moment, the minerals covering the blade scattered as spiritual energy, depleting one of the stored spirits in the Spirit Conjuration Space.

As I stared at the Sain-gum, a possibility dawned on me.

‘This might actually work.’

A new strategy had just come to mind.