I got into school for nothing - 169
I got into school for nothing (169)
Lesson 34. Free Subjugation - 4
“Slothy, when the moment strikes, you must come at once.”
“A secret rendezvous? As soon as you mate with the first one—Ouch!”
At this rate, if no one kept their mouth shut, he had an ominous premonition that the news of his intimacy with Rucell would spread throughout the entire universe.
...No, surely it wasn't too late already?
“Remember this: I hit women equally.”
Even at this very moment, he could perceive the 'concepts' of countless insects crawling beneath the earth.
If there truly was a practitioner on the enemy side capable of controlling Forest Worms, then his sweating profusely and pulling out trees all afternoon was literally nothing more than a pointless effort.
‘However, replanting the trees right now would be a poor strategy.’
After culling all the insects, he would replant the trees before the beast-kin gathered.
That timing was crucial.
“All the insects? Is that possible?”
“Of course.”
Everything he had prepared before setting off for the special activity, was it not all in preparation for an emergency like this?
Ban Yuwon replied with a confident expression and then mounted Lilyth.
When he checked the sky one last time, he saw Dokgo Yeon abruptly summon a mountain giant from the sky, crushing a massive ship beneath it, and then skillfully unsummoning it.
—Right, what's the point of me worrying about her?
Meanwhile, Rucell clung closely to her mother, learning the Nine-tailed Fox's magic in real combat—vowing to lead this war to victory for her sake as well, Ban Yuwon launched Lilyth.
[Aren't you taking Gwangjo, Master? It'll be needed for the complete form.]
“Dokgo Yeon will need it. And it’s not time yet.”
—You're really keeping it hidden away.
“It's natural, since the enemy hasn't shown themselves yet.”
Talking with Lilyth and Cellon, he prepared for battle.
He took out all 25 Stormrain Swords and charged all of them with mana.
Since completing his Giwon Sword, he was able to freely manipulate the 25 rain streaks without needing to resonate with the Executioner's Longsword.
If he were to evolve his Hyunsingong as well, he would probably be able to display a might as if he were personally holding and wielding each of the 25 swords....
‘No, is that also coming soon?’
True to the foundational martial art that shaped the current Dokgo Yeon, it had taken a considerable amount of time—but Ban Yuwon had been feeling signs of change ever since he arrived on this planet.
‘It seems the path forward has been set.’
This was all thanks to Rucell....
Suddenly, a laugh escaped him.
Until now, due to the circumstances, he had pretended to be calm, but now that he was alone, he couldn't hide the emotions surging within him.
A mix of pride, a touch of weariness, self-admiration, satisfaction, happiness, anticipation, and affection for Rucell, and so on.
—Are you happy? Happy?
“Hmph, let's be a little childish, at least when it's just us.”
At Cellon's sudden, almost surprising, remark, Ban Yuwon replied with a serious expression, trying to wipe the smile from his lips, but failing.
Even though he knew an important battle awaited him, he simply couldn't....
—He managed to keep a straight face in front of his woman, but.... Men really can't help themselves, can they?
[It means you're being that honest in front of me.]
—That's true, in a cute way.
“You two, that’s enough.... Ouch, Eve?”
Just then, Eve bit Ban Yuwon's hand, a little painfully.
The concepts of the Forest Worms moving underground were growing intense, and she had noticed it first and informed him.
“Tsk, did they become more active because I made a path for them.... Go.”
The 25 rain streaks, launched simultaneously, plunged into the ground with a thud.
They burrowed into the soil like earthworms, snuffing out the lives of the Forest Worms at the end of their trajectories, and then, having retrieved only their concepts, they soared up once more.
Ban Yuwon filled a single hand drill entirely with the concept of 'Excavation', and having instantly achieved a depth of 100, smiled with satisfaction.
“Since it'll get harder to raise the deeper it goes, shall we aim for around a thousand?”
[I am absolutely never going to use that.]
“You're truly pitiful, not knowing the awesomeness of drills.”
Ban Yuwon soon passed through the forest and emerged into an open space.
Since this planet was nothing but forest, the 'open space' was just the empty area Ban Yuwon had created by pulling out a large number of trees earlier.
Now, a large number of Forest Worms had gathered there and were teeming.
“Enough to kill one's appetite....”
—There's definitely an insect mage somewhere. See? It's the spell of Gu-poison.
Gu-poison is a type of curse of Eastern origin where several venomous insects are placed inside a single jar and made to kill each other until only one survives.
However, Ban Yuwon found it quite unfamiliar that Cellon had said that.
—Did you forget that I possess the concept of 'Curse'? I understand all magic, regardless of its field.
“Come to think of it, you did.”
—It's good we came early. Once the Gu-poison is complete, there's no solution. Let's finish it quickly.
The moment Ban Yuwon nodded and picked up his staff, the Forest Worms teeming on the ground all simultaneously raised their heads and stared directly at Ban Yuwon.
Immediately after, a magic spell flew in from somewhere, hit Cellon's defensive barrier and bounced off.
—They're sniping from afar. They must have been afraid to confront us directly.
“Eve, could I ask you for some diversion?”
“Shishishit.”
Eve, who bit Ban Yuwon's hand once more, vanished as if melting into thin air.
During that time, the sniping continued, but Lilyth moved lightly and dodged it.
The one who resonated with Ban Yuwon and read all the surrounding concepts, as soon as it detected the flow of concepts, accepted Ban Yuwon's will and was performing quick evasive maneuvers.
“Still, it's not enough yet. It should be able to perfectly respond to all situations.”
—Self-reflection is good, but why don't we get rid of that first?
“What would be good?”
—Light magic would be good, and even better is Starlight Magic.
Considering the effect of light magic in suppressing monster waves, it was natural that the same principle would apply here.
However, Starlight Magic was merely a concept that Cellon had reawakened and regained, and Ban Yuwon couldn't wield it....
“I can't use Starlight Magic, is that alright?”
—Just inject light mana into me. I'll take care of the rest.
It was almost alarming how dependable Cellon was becoming these days.
Ban Yuwon didn't hesitate and injected light mana into the staff's crystal.
At the exact moment over half of his internal mana poured out, Cellon drew out all the light mana and shot it into the sky.
—Meteor Shower!
“The name is intuitive and good.”
As he replenished the drained mana through the operation of Hyunsingong, Ban Yuwon muttered.
But the effect of the magic was no joke.
Immediately after the light shot into the sky, the sky was dyed with brilliant light, as if a fireworks display was happening.
So brightly that anyone on this planet could see it.
—Starlight Magic is powerful in that it can create the power of stars itself, but it's also powerful in that it draws upon the power of other stars. It cannot be wielded without a deep understanding of the movement of stars and the light they produce.
“Indeed... It's a bit different from what I imagined.”
Before he knew it, the sniping had also stopped.
Were they surprised by the light that colored the sky, or was Eve effectively deterring them?
Either way, it no longer mattered.
The meteor shower was pouring down.
—Kku-eee-eee-eee-eee-eekk!
The lumps of light that filled the sky, as if pulling out strands of noodles, stretched down and pierced through the swarms of Forest Worms.
With each falling beam of light, the sacred energy contained within was released, and the abominably clinging and fusing insects shrieked in terror and disintegrated.
Soon, more and more beams of light appeared, and they merged into one, looking as if a pillar of light connecting heaven and earth had formed.
“That's incredible....”
—My soul's rank is now 800. If I can't even cast magic of this caliber, how could I be called a great archmage?
She replenished her own lacking mana from Ban Yuwon, and added her own 'rank' to what Ban Yuwon lacked, achieving a miracle that they couldn't have accomplished with their own strength, by borrowing it from the stars filling the sky.
—Let's enchant them before the magic effect disappears. I've used up all my mana, so it'll be hard to cast additional spells.
“Okay.”
Cellon and Ban Yuwon didn't resonate, but because they shared magical knowledge, he could understand her intentions without her needing to explain everything.
Ban Yuwon sent all 25 rain streaks into the pillar of light, and Cellon partially altered the magic to imbue the Stormrain Swords with starlight.
—It's not all finished. You know that, right?
“Of course.”
Almost simultaneously as the Starlight-enchanted Stormrain Swords shot out from within the pillar of light, the pillar completely lost its power and disintegrated.
Well over half of the Forest Worms had died, and half of the remainder were writhing, having lost most of their bodies, yet the still-surviving insects were steadily eating each other's bodies and growing larger.
“Not a chance!”
Ban Yuwon mercilessly retrieved the overflowing golden character strings from the ground, and simultaneously flew the Stormrain Swords to deliver the decisive blow to the still-living insects, conceptualizing their bodies and retrieving them as well before other insects could devour them.
The hand drill, which had become a dedicated core, contained the concept of excavation, whose depth ceaselessly increased, having already reached nearly 800.
One could tell just by that how many Forest Worms he had killed.
—This is starting to become too much to handle, isn't it?
[I'm not going to eat it, Master!]
It was natural that the objects capable of holding concepts of great depth were limited.
All of Ban Yuwon's artifacts balanced concepts that could substitute for soul, mana, and body, and could endure only because they underwent endless growth; a normal hand drill, however, could not possibly handle excavation.
“Alright, first, let's expand its capacity a bit....”
Concepts necessary for maintaining form, such as mana or tough shells, were being abundantly obtained from those worm-like creatures, along with excavation.
After embedding all the concepts that didn't need to be conserved into the hand drill, it finally regained stability.
—Kuaaaaaaaah!
A significantly larger Forest Worm surged up from the ground and targeted Ban Yuwon.
But when Ban Yuwon aimed the hand drill at it and activated it by stimulating it with mana, its head was torn off and its body burst apart, even before it was properly hit!
“How's that? Is excavation still 'not much' to you?”
—If you gather 800 concepts of anything, it's bound to be strong.
Even the Stormrain Swords, which he was developing in real-time, had a core concept of 'magic sword' with a depth of only around 300.
If you add the Executioner's Longsword, it might be even more remarkable that he had raised the depth of as many as 26 longswords to such an extent.
But now, it seemed as if all the Forest Worms on this planet had gathered in one place, so if he gathered all of them into one....
“Wait?”
—What's wrong?
“Then this is essentially Gu-poison, isn't it?”
—...Indeed.
Cellon, unable to withstand the weight of the increasingly gathering insects, surveyed the area that had completely caved in, and began to calculate.
—The Gu-poison spell hasn't been stopped yet. Good, let's seize it.
“Can you do it?”
—As I said earlier, I also have the concept of 'Curse'.
The plan was simple.
Into the hand drill, which had already absorbed most of the Forest Worm concepts, he would inject a fragment of Ban Yuwon's soul with soul flame and add resonance to it, allowing it to absorb concepts on its own.
Then, using Cellon's curse, he would focus the effect of the Gu-poison spell onto the drill.
Following this, if he inserted it into the swarm of Forest Worms.
“Oh, ooooh.”
—It's our collaborative magic.
Cellon said with a sense of pride.
The furiously rotating hand drill, and the Forest Worms charging in like moths to a flame, sacrificing their lives.
Much faster than Ban Yuwon could kill them by controlling the Stormrain Swords, their numbers were diminishing.
Despite being a grand ritual using all the insects on the planet, the outcome could be entirely devoured by Ban Yuwon, thus yielding a much better result than foolishly expending power to kill them!
“What—are you doing?”
And then, finally, they revealed themselves.
A group of individuals, their faces hidden by hoods, riding on a strange floating platform in the sky.
The practitioner who attempted to use Gu-poison was probably among them.
“Shishishit.”
“You worked hard, Eve.”
Eve, who had used her abilities, including illusions, to distract them and block their attacks, apologized for not being able to block them entirely, but he hadn't expected Eve to defeat them alone.
Rather, thanks to her buying him time, he had successfully obtained the Gu-poison, and for that, he was merely grateful.
“Is this the one Master spoke of?”
“This is ridiculous, how on earth did he interrupt the spell....”
“It's not too late yet, if we kill him and take it back.”
“Kill him!”
They uttered sinister words and charged at him, each individually.
If they were just ordinary grunts, he would finish them quickly, but it seemed Lyu Cheolmyeong had spent a lot of money, as all of them possessed a stronger aura than Ban Yuwon.
But he had no intention of losing.
Ban Yuwon snorted, and summoned his mechanical familiars.
And shouted.
“Lilyth, merge!”
[Yes, Master!]
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