Chapter 1400

< Chapter 1400 > 1400. The Savior of the Academy

A dark night.

I followed Haeseonmu as he walked ahead.

Normally, being outside the dormitory this late is a violation of school rules, but energetic students often casually ignore such trivialities.

‘Looks like we’re at some spirit-summoner’s place. This place is disgustingly eerie.’

We were on the outskirts of town.

True to Gangwon-do, nature was lush and dense. Streetlights were scarce. Haeseonmu was heading toward an abandoned house on top of a hill.

“Is it over there?”

“Yeah, that’s the place. It’s my first time coming here too… didn’t expect it to be so dark.”

Haeseonmu moved forward, illuminating the way with his smartphone.

‘This is different from the original story. As far as I know, the location in the original wasn’t an abandoned house…’

We arrived at the decrepit building.

Creeeak.

The door of the abandoned house opened.

Out came a man dressed entirely in black. His entire body, including his arms, legs, and hair, was covered in black clothing, revealing only his face—which resembled a gaunshi from some cartoon movie.

“Haeseonmu. You’ve brought someone else. Is this person also a customer?”

The spirit-summoner asked me in a monotone voice. His hollow pupils were unsettling.

“Do you have any good items?”

“I’ve got plenty of spirit charms for 30 million won.”

“I heard this guy bought one for 20 million.”

“The item has become popular, so the price went up. That’s how the market works. If you don’t have the money, get lost.”

“Are you really going to act like this?”

“Planning to report me to the Hero Association? I’m already prepared to leave. They won’t catch me.”

“Alright. My bad. Do you have anything else?”

“There are a few things, but I doubt someone who can’t even afford a spirit charm would buy anything else. Now scram.”

Reluctantly, I pulled out the bag I had brought and showed its contents to the spirit-summoner. It was filled with 50,000 won bills.

“I’ve brought 2 billion won, so how about showing me something? You can’t openly sell these items to others anyway.”

“…2 billion. Cash, huh? Looks like you’ve got the funds. Come in.”

The man entered the house. Without hesitation, I followed him, while Haeseonmu nervously trailed behind.

As soon as we crossed the threshold, an odd smell hit us. It was somewhat familiar.

‘The smell of decaying corpses.’

It was unclear whether they were human or animal remains. One thing was certain: somewhere in this old house, a corpse was rotting.

‘That spirit-summoner isn’t saying anything. Is he trying to flaunt how dangerous he is?’

It worked. Haeseonmu’s face had turned pitch black with fear.

Creeeak.

The spirit-summoner opened another rickety door.

“This is it.”

At the same moment, his mana began to stir. In an instant—


The surrounding space was dominated. A smile crept onto the face of the previously expressionless spirit mage.

Something pale and indistinct appeared on his shoulder.

“Cursed(A)! All stats decreased by 20%.”

An unseen force gripped and pulled at my body, an unpleasant sensation.

“Ughhh! Gah! Ughhh! M-, My body… ughh!”

Haeseonmu knelt on the ground, mouth open, focusing on breathing. The curse seemed to make even that difficult.

“Do you have curse resistance? You look around the same age as him… quite impressive.”

“What is this supposed to mean? Is this how you treat guests?”

“Guest? You’re no guest. I haven’t acknowledged you as such.”

“You don’t seem interested in money.”

“Stupid fool… if I kill you, 200 million will be mine. With an extra 200 million… I could finally quit this tiresome life and live normally…”

His goal was money.

Kinda underwhelming. If it had been for human experimentation or something, it would’ve been more exciting.

I offered him the money bag.

“I can’t let you live. If I let you go here, you’ll just run to the association to report me… I hate being chased.”

“This is too much. I’m begging for mercy here.”

The spirit mage narrowed his eyes, looking at me like I was incomprehensible.

“The tone and voice of someone begging for their life doesn’t match. Are you seriously joking with me right now?”

“Took you long enough to notice? Stupid bastard.”

I pushed off the ground and charged at him. Crackling lightning wrapped around my fist aimed for his chest.

Bang!

My fist was blocked by a barrier. I put more force into it, shattering the barrier. But he’d already created distance, evading my punch.

“To think you could break my barrier so easily… you’re not half bad.”

“Now that I know roughly how hard to hit you, there won’t be a next time.”

I lifted my leg to move toward him. It wouldn’t rise. Something was holding my leg. Looking down, I saw several rotten hands rising from the floor, tightly gripping my calf.

Crack.

I triggered a bit of lightning, blue bolts burning away the decayed hands.

I turned my gaze back to him. The pale something on his shoulder was entering his chest.

I realized he was using necromancy. The decayed hands were merely a delay tactic for his necromancy.

“Do you know what the greatest advantage of necromancy is?”

“I’m somewhat familiar since I’m a spirit magician… it’s about controlling ghosts, right?”

“Hmph, correct. While controlling ghosts is one advantage of necromancers… the true power of necromancy is… being able to become anything through the power of ghosts. You could become a legendary swordsman from another era, or a forgotten wizard…”

His body began swelling. Muscle. At least tripled in size. The suddenly enlarged muscles looked monstrous.

“So necromancy can create muscle monsters too, huh? Not particularly enviable though.”

“Hmph. These muscles belonged to Volpre. I’ve taken Volpre’s soul into my body… becoming Volpre himself.”

“Who the hell is Volpre?”

“You don’t know Volpre?! The genius boxer who made a name in Australia 200 years ago?! You ignorant fool!”

“Screw that. How the hell would I know if it’s Volpre or Waterfreak? Sounds like some no-name guy to me…”

“You insolent bastard! Daring to insult my ancestor?! I’ll capture your soul, torture it, then erase it completely!”

His speech suddenly became crude and slurred. Seemed like a side effect of the necromancy.

Looking through spirit vision, I understood the problem.

‘The soul fused into the body has taken more control over the physical form.’

Simply put, the necromancer…


The couldn’t fully control the ghost.

The muscle-bound necromancer approached me. His muscles were so ridiculous they inspired disgust, but his gait was that of a martial artist.

“Instant.”

[Using Instant (刹那). Remaining stacks: 6]

Before things got annoying, I moved first. Closing in on him instantly, I summoned my Flame Lotus Blade from thin air, grabbing the hilt and slashing downward. The necromancer’s left arm was severed before he could even raise his fist.

“AHHHHH!”

Despite his agonizing scream, his body reacted like a master of combat. Twisting his body, he powered up his leg and launched a sidekick.

‘This is hard to dodge. Getting hit would hurt, and I don’t want that. Instant.’

[Using Instant (刹那). Remaining stacks: 5]

My body sped up momentarily, dodging the kick while swinging my sword. Slash! I cut off his leg. Losing balance, his body fell.

[Using Instant (刹那). Remaining stacks: 4]

Before he completely hit the ground, I swung my Flame Lotus Blade again. His remaining arm and leg were severed.

“Grrr…grr…”

The limbless necromancer stared at me with eyes full of fear. The soul that had been bound within him escaped and disappeared. The monstrous muscles also vanished.

“Is the game over?”

“Kill me…”

“Just answer my questions properly, and I’ll give you a quick death.”

“…”

He looked up at me. After staring into my eyes for a few seconds, he nodded as if giving up.

“I’ve seen guys like you before… I know it’s best to cooperate. Ask your questions. I’ll answer everything…”

“Cooperative attitude! Very pleasing! I promise you’ll die cleanly.”

“First question. Why are you here?”

“…It’s because the area near the Academy is heavily guarded. No matter how bold someone is, they have to tread carefully around the Academy. If anyone messes with the Academy… both the Association and the nation will intervene aggressively.”

“My guess is you’re running away from somewhere. Where are you from?”

“China.”

“From Gui Luo Gou?”

“You seem to know about Gui Luo Gou. Yes, I fled from there.”

“Why?”

“Gui Luo Gou has started to change. It’s not the same place it used to be… I didn’t want to be treated as expendable by those bastards. Actually, even if I die, it won’t really be dying. Those Gui Luo Gou bastards… they capture ghosts and enslave them.”

“Hmm. Not much more than I expected.”

Poke!

I plunged the sword into his heart and stood up.

“Huhk!”

Hae Seon-Moo gasped. I quietly stared at him. Whatever Hae Seon-Moo was thinking, he trembled and crawled on the floor.

“Hae Seon-Moo.”

“S, save me! I won’t tell anyone what I saw here!”

“What are you talking about? Report this to the Association. Don’t mention any specific details, just say you stumbled upon this place by accident. And don’t talk about the deal.”

“T, that much I know. Since I initiated the deal first…”

“Ah, report to your homeroom teacher before the Association. You might get help that way.”

Seeing Hae Seon-Moo pull out his smartphone, I glanced around the room. There were quite a few bizarre items, but I didn’t even glance at the useless ones. There was only one thing I wanted.

‘Found it.’

A shabby cloak hanging on the wall.

I carefully extended my hand toward the cloak.

“Ghost Cloak

Rank: S

Hides appearance and presence.”

An incredible S-rank item!

For an S-rank item, its ability seemed overly simple, but that also meant its power was extraordinary.

‘With this, I can breeze through a few special dungeons like eating snacks.’

I was extremely satisfied.