Chapter 1141

〈 Chapter 1141 〉 1141. The Academy’s Savior

“Mocha.”

Fzzzzt.

The upper-level Spirit Mocha appeared before me, spreading her wings.

A massive amount of mana surged out instantly as Mocha materialized.

“Gruuuk.”

Mocha spread her wings. Dozens of lightning bolts flashed from the shimmering wings and shot toward the skeleton.

The skeleton staggered from the lightning strike. Holes formed all over its body. But only for a moment – curses gathered around the skeleton again, regenerating the damaged parts.

I frowned.

‘Even with Mocha’s firepower, we couldn’t kill it instantly… but damn, this overwhelming curse is the real problem.’

“Yu-jin. We need to find and destroy the medium of the curse.”

Shin Nari spoke. I immediately understood what she meant – we needed to locate Kim Jeo hiding somewhere in the academy.

“Do you know where that guy is, Senior?”

“I don’t know… but Auntie might have an idea.”

That was quite possible. Compared to living beings like me or Shin Nari, a malevolent spirit would be more sensitive to curses.

The regenerated skeleton wasn’t ordinary anymore. It opened its mouth wide and unleashed curses. Mocha stepped forward and blocked the wave of curses coming at us.

“Gruuuk…”

She couldn’t hold on much longer. Mocha’s transmitted message reached me. The curses Mocha had released touched my skin, making it dry and flaky.

‘There’s no sharp solution even if I summon Makina… There’s nothing left to do but THAT.’

I turned my head quickly and looked at Shin Nari and Calles. Shin Nari was enduring the curses better than Mocha, while Calles behind her was frowning. With his contract with the upper-level dark Spirit severed, Calles didn’t have a good matchup against this skeleton.

“Nari Senior. Can you hold it off for just a few seconds? Five will do.”

“I can manage.”

“Please.”

Shin Nari released the curses accumulated in the string I gave her. For a moment, the curses overwhelmed the skeleton’s curses and counterattacked, but soon started being pushed back. After all, the skeleton’s curses were almost as infinite as the sea.

“Mocha. It’s time for Spirit Possession after a long while.”

“Gruk!”

Mocha flew over and merged into my body. My body began to change. My hair and skin turned pure white, and thunderous electric wings sprouted from my back. Though it was an alien sensation, I knew instinctively what I had to do.

I kicked off the ground and leaped, flapping my thunder wings to accelerate. The skeleton extended its white hand toward me. I kicked its large hand, scattering it into pieces around me. Dodging the other swinging hand, I closed in.

Gyaak. I clenched my fist tightly. Pazzzzzzt. Current gathered around my fist. I slammed my fist into the skeleton’s head.

Like shattered glass falling to the ground, the skeleton broke apart. Curses gathered again, trying to regenerate the skeleton. I kept punching toward the curses.

Fzzzzt, Fzzzzt!

The current generated from my fist burned away the curses. The seemingly endless curses, vast like the ocean, seemed to give up on the skeleton and vanished without a trace.

I landed and canceled the Spirit Possession. Spirit Possession was great, but it drained stamina…


“Consumption is way too high…

“…So you’ve possessed a spirit. I’ve never heard of spirit magic like this. Is it a secret technique of the Jinreung Sung family?”

“Yeah. If possible, please keep it a secret.”

“Of course. I’m not stupid enough to go around bragging about my student’s skills.”

A sidelong glance.

She looked at Shin Narie. She seemed uninterested in whether I merged with a spirit or not.

“Sempai, do you see anything?”

“…As the curse escaped from this space… Auntie got swept up in it.”

Now that I think about it, I can’t see the evil spirit that was always clinging to Narie. Using my Spirit Eye, I examined the flow of curses leaving this place. I can see it. The problem is, there isn’t just one or two flows.

“Sempai, can you tell where the evil spirit is going?”

“Yeah… I feel Auntie’s presence. This never happened before… Now I can deeply sense her connection…”

The evil spirit that was always attached to Narie. It doesn’t make sense that it would suddenly be swept away by the curse.

“It might have moved to the source of the curse. Sempai, please guide me to where the evil spirit is.”

“Hmm.”

Without hesitation, Narie dashed down the right corridor and burst through the external door at the end.

“W-What is this?!”

“…”

Kales gasped in shock. I narrowed my eyes and looked around.

The sky was stained red, and black hands were planted in the ground like flowers. The hands wriggled, struggling to grab something.

“The Academy’s barrier has been altered by the curse…? This is absurd. The Academy’s barrier is one of the best in South Korea…! Even if the curse runs rampant, it’s impossible for the barrier to become corrupted like this… Could someone else…?”

“Teacher Kales, what’s done is done. We’ll investigate the cause later… Right now, we should catch up with Senior Narie first.”

“A-Ah? Na-Ri! You need to come with us!”

Narie, who had been leading the charge, slowed her pace. Kales and I followed her while keeping an eye on our surroundings. As Kales said, everything seems distorted due to the corrupted barrier.

We could see teachers fighting tree monsters a little further away. I deliberately made some noise, but the teachers didn’t notice us. Kales also failed to recognize them.

‘It must be the distortion caused by the corrupted barrier. I can see them because of my Spirit Eye.’

There’s no need to help the teachers.

They’re Academy instructors. While their specialties vary, their combat strength is at least B-Rank Hero level or higher.

Narie’s legs kept running without stopping. Anxiety and restlessness showed on her usually emotionless and calm face. She’s worried she might lose the evil spirit. That ominous thought is making Narie anxious. After all, the evil spirit is part of her family.

Narie arrived at the garbage dump. It was unusually large. Trash was scattered everywhere. The stench was overwhelming. Upon closer inspection, there were even monster corpses.

This garbage dump doubles as an incineration site.

Once a month, under the guise of practice, Magic Department students use magic to burn the trash. They look forward to Incineration Day. Why? Because burning trash with magic relieves stress. It’s legal arson, legal destruction.

“Something feels… creepy.”

Kales spoke. It wasn’t just his imagination. This garbage dump is filled with lingering curses. The accumulated curses are overflowing and spreading throughout the entire Academy. In other words, this is the source of the curse.

“Kim Jeo… That guy was hiding in the garbage dump. Hiding in a place like this… He sure has good taste.”

“What? Kim Jeo is hiding here? Where is he?”

“While I don’t know the exact location yet… It’s certain that he’s here. Think about it. There’s no better hiding spot than this, right?”

“That’s true. There’s no manager for the garbage dump, and nobody comes here except on incineration day. Even if someone does come, they’d have a hard time finding you if you’re buried in the trash…”

Kales nodded in agreement.

Narie looked up into the air. The evil spirit hovered uncertainly…”


The thing flew over and clung to Shin Naru’s back. My gaze and Shin Naru’s locked onto a single spot the evil spirit was pointing at.

I channeled mana while stepping into my stance. Trash soared into the neutral void, flying everywhere. Once the debris cleared, Kim Jeo, who had been lying on the ground hiding, came into view.

It was clear at a glance that Kim Jeo wasn’t in good shape. His seaweed-like hair was brittle, his body thin like a scarecrow, and red blotches covered any exposed skin. Strange objects surrounded him—cast-iron pots.

“Let’s kill him.”

There was no reason to hesitate. Kim Jeo was already wanted as a criminal. Even if I killed him, I wouldn’t bear any responsibility.

Zzzt.

I grabbed the lightning I summoned in front of me and hurled it toward Kim Jeo. However, the bolt didn’t reach him. A pitch-black curse repelled the lightning.

Kim Jeo opened his eyes. His pupils flickered with an orange glow. Then he started moving his limbs, slowly getting up. It was an unnatural movement, far from human.

“Kim Jeo is dead… but… still alive.”

Shin Naru said.

I roughly understood what her contradictory words meant. He’d become something akin to an evil spirit through the curse. In a world where souls exist, this wasn’t strange.

Kim Jeo stood up.

Caw caw caw.

Dozens of crows perched on the sagging fence around the dump, cawing loudly.

The flow of the curse reversed. The curses emanating from Kim Jeo now gathered back toward him.

“Sung… Yoojin…!!”

Kim Jeo’s raspy voice called out my name.

In the world of sorcery, names are special. They supposedly prove existence or something like that.

“Sung Yoojin!!!”

His voice carried a curse attached to it. I was the target of the curse.

Fit.

A wound appeared on the back of my hand. Blood splattered onto the ground drop by drop. The wound widened further due to the curse.

I shook off the curse with mana and spoke.

“Professor Calles, Naru-senpai, can you help me a bit?”

“To call for backup… the situation is pretty bad. Ahh, we were too hasty.”

“Yeah. What should I do?”

“Senpai, can you possess spirits? Without forcing them, I mean. We don’t want you losing control.”

“I can. Now… I trust Auntie.”

“In that case, things might improve.”

Kim Jeo’s body began to swell. His muscles writhed uncontrollably, his legs burst and regenerated repeatedly, and his internal organs kept spilling out of his torso.

“Sung Yoojin…! I’ll kill you…!”

Kim Jeo, now over 3 meters tall, reached out his hands toward the trash. Monster corpses, food scraps, and other waste clung to his body, forming armor.

“Auntie.”

The evil spirit possessed Shin Naru. Her silver hair turned black, her skin reddened, and her previously lifeless eyes sparkled like gemstones.

Shin Naru smiled faintly and revealed malice toward Kim Jeo, licking her lips.

“Moca.”

Moca merged with my body. With the successful summoning of the Spirit, I unfurled my thunder wings and ascended into Heaven.

Bone wings erupted from Kim Jeo’s back. With one flap, he too rose into the sky.

“You dare to fly alongside me, huh?”

I moved my thunder wings. Thunder roared, and dozens of feather-shaped bolts of lightning shot toward Kim Jeo. Unaccustomed to flying, Kim Jeo couldn’t evade the feathers and had to take them head-on. A heavy scream echoed as his body plummeted back down to the trash heap.

Shin Naru lunged at Kim Jeo. Her claws tore through his flesh and entrails.

“Hah, hahaha, hah!”

Shin Naru laughed. Kim Jeo tried to push her away with overwhelming curses, but her cursed iron body and the power of the evil spirit allowed her to absorb the curses instead. Using the absorbed curses to strengthen her claws, she attacked again.

Absorbing curses to enhance attacks—it was simple but deadly to Kim Jeo.