The Academy Regressor is Obsessed

Spirit magician. A type of magician who forcibly revives and subjugates souls that have already died and crumbled. Unlike necromancers who deal with physical forms like corpses, it’s a mysterious miracle that uses the abstract concept of souls.

It’s a technique that can’t even be attempted without understanding souls and the talent to handle them. Although not a unique magic, it’s a heretical art with a level of danger and difficulty comparable to one.

Like necromancers who handle corpses and blood magicians who handle blood, the source of life, spirit magicians also needed to abandon some of their humanity to achieve greatness.

From the 7th rank where magic begins to gain uniqueness, they gradually start to abandon human ethics, and the 8th rank that reaches the realm of great magicians is equivalent to a state where humanity is completely lost.

The magician before them was like that. A great magician like Jervil and Ena. A monster who had long since lost human emotions. A high-level magician who acts only on their own judgment and reason.

“We need to run away.”

Warren muttered. The group didn’t turn to look at him, but they agreed with his words in silence.

From the start, it was an opponent they couldn’t win against. Great magicians are each treated as a major military force of a country. For these students who are still just academy students to talk about winning against such a magician? It was nonsense. Before courage, it was arrogance and recklessness.

At this moment, even talent didn’t matter much.

Asel gritted his teeth and racked his brain to overcome the current situation.

Resistance would only be a momentary reprieve. To survive, they first had to get out of this place.

But how?

The moment that question arose, countless souls that had sprouted behind her convulsed while shackled to her. They listed incomprehensible words, screamed, and drooled as if about to pounce at any moment.

It didn’t matter much whether they were excellent warriors or intelligent magicians in life. Their current forms were simply evil spirits living only to kill others.

However, their abilities were exactly the same as when they were alive. Even at a glance, there were high-level warriors and magicians everywhere. There were easily over several dozen talents that would be hard to see anywhere else.

Moreover, even these were just means to assist the spirit magician. The most dangerous thing in this place was the spirit magician herself who directly grasped and wielded souls.

Asel swallowed hard and stacked multiple layers of shields to protect his body. The spirit magician looked at this and smiled languidly.

“I believe you’re all done preparing. I think I’ve given you enough time.”
“……”
“Then let’s begin.”

She said, extending her hand forward.

That was the signal. The shackles binding the souls were released. They all began to rush in to crave the blood and flesh of the living. Magicians chanted magic, and warriors drew their weapons and accelerated their bodies.

“…!”

A speed so fast that even Asel’s expanded senses couldn’t catch it. But he could faintly perceive the paths of the swords they were swinging. Asel gritted his teeth and clapped his hands hard. From his hands, which should have made the sound of applause, a thunderous roar burst out instead.

Small sparks fly in the direction the sound spreads.

Soon, the sparks became dozens of lightning bolts that swept through everywhere the sound reached.

[Thunder Shatter Advance]

Kwaaaaang!!

High-level magic used to deal with armies or change terrain. Its power needed no explanation.

But most of the dead filling the cave were those who had rolled through battlefields in life. They couldn’t fully withstand the speed and destructive power characteristic of lightning magic, but they could deflect it to minimize damage.

Thanks to this, the dead circling around Asel had limbs torn off but didn’t return to being just souls.

From the start, they were beings that continuously regenerated unless their connection to the spirit magician was cut off. Partial loss of body parts was nothing to them.

“Shit!”

Asel heard Quill’s cursing. However, he had no time to look back at him. Asel inversely calculated and decomposed a fireball flying towards him, using it as a driving force for his own magic.

[Great Flame Rotation Pillar]

Whoosh!!

A huge pillar of flame rotates violently centered on Asel. Those who sensed the remnants of magical power hastily retreated, and the upper bodies of those who couldn’t were torn off as if melting.

It was meaningless damage. They soon regenerated their arms and thrust their swords through the flames towards Asel’s neck.

Asel instinctively inserted a shield into the sword’s path, but the shield shattered like glass without any resistance. The aura of the dead, close to master level, sliced through the shield like tofu and approached to cut off Asel’s neck.

Asel frowned hard and hastily tilted his head back. Thanks to this, he barely avoided having his head fly off, but about half of his left ear was cut off.

“Ugh…!”

Blood splattered across one side of his vision. Piercing through that blood, this time a spear flew in. He pulled out magical threads to tie the spear shaft and reversed its path. Simultaneously, an assassin with invisibility magic approached and stabbed a dagger into Asel’s back.

Experiencing intense pain for the first time since becoming a magician, it heated Asel’s head, and he coughed up blood while grabbing and bursting the assassin’s head with telekinesis magic. Then he smashed all the swords, spears, arrows, and magic flying towards him from all directions, using mass.

The attacks that had been raining down furiously stopped for a moment. Asel didn’t miss this moment of respite and spat out a lump that had risen up his throat along with blood.

“Ugh!”

Red organ fragments fell to the floor with a splat. It was because part of his organs had been sliced off when stabbed by the assassin’s dagger. He gritted his teeth and pulled out the dagger stuck in his back, throwing it to the floor.

Woong.

He wrapped his eyes with magical power. His vision, which had now entered the realm of mystery, captured the situation of his companions.

Quill’s ankle was twisted backward. Fortunately, no part of his body had been cut off, but there was a deep stab wound on his side. Whether hit by magic or not, there was a deep burn mark on his left forearm.

Warren was on the verge of death. His neck must have been deeply cut, as blood bubbled in his mouth with every breath. Thanks to his spirit sharing its life force, he wasn’t dead yet, but it was clear he would die in a few minutes.

Saya was fixed in place by a spear that had pierced her abdomen, unable to move. Blood continuously poured from her mouth, and although she was responding to the dead’s attacks with fox-fire, it was visibly clear that her life force was disappearing in real-time.

Thanks to the dead concentrating on Asel, the number of enemies they had to face wasn’t that many, but the difference in capabilities was still clear. There was no way they could hold out long against the dead with no experience and low levels.

In the end, only Asel was relatively intact. He glared at the spirit magician and wiped the blood from the corners of his mouth.

“…Bastard.”

Profanity spontaneously burst out as the situation became dangerous. The spirit magician heard his cursing and smiled comfortably.

“Beings close to death are divided into two types. Those who struggle to the end and those who accept death. You’re the former.”
“……”
“I like such beings. When made into the dead, their egos are strong so they’re hard to handle, but there’s a taste in subjugating them. What you’re facing now are those who couldn’t do that. In simple terms, they’re not even my elite soldiers. They’re just worms to be consumed and discarded at will.”
“Shut up.”
“But don’t worry. I have no intention of consuming you like that.”

She looked down at Asel with greedy eyes while splitting her mouth corners wide.

“The sight of you using all sorts of magic including lightning formulas. I’ve watched very impressively. You even show signs of opening magic eyes. Very good. I’ll specially make you my personal guard.”
“……”
“And I should show your appearance changed into the dead to your teacher, my younger sibling. It would be a truly delightful experience.”
“Younger sibling, you say?”

Words that couldn’t be easily ignored popped out. Asel’s head momentarily froze, and the spirit magician showed a warm expression.

“The chat ends here. And you’re not in a leisurely situation to ask me anything, are you?”

As she finished speaking, she lightly flicked her finger. Then one of the magicians lined up behind her manifested and fired magic without any sign. Asel ground his teeth and reversed the direction of the magic.

A strange situation where one is hit by the magic they manifested themselves. But the dead didn’t panic. Neither did the spirit magician.

She still looked down at Asel with a smiling face and crushed the incoming magic.

Asel took his gaze off her and sent a spearman rushing towards him flying with repulsive force.

Her words were right.

It was madness to focus on questions in a situation crossing the line of death. What mattered was safely escaping this place.

Asel forcibly swallowed another surge of blood and took out a jewel he had kept in his bosom.

A magical medium that had completed formula engraving through mismatched craftsmanship. Asel threw the jewel to the floor without hesitation. Then dozens of magic circles floated in the air, and he injected magical power only into the necessary ones to manifest them.

[Lightning Mist]
[Smoke Mist]
[Flame Banner Accumulation Fire]
[Lightning Flower Resonance]

Various types of magic activate simultaneously.

Lightning fills the space like mist.

Smoke rises to fill the cave, and a huge flame banner is planted on the floor, spewing fire.

Flowers made of lightning bloom everywhere, resonating with each other to form a lightning zone.

A spectacle of magic occupying space. Asel connected magical threads to the bodies of Warren and Quill, who were writhing in pain, leaving behind the dead who couldn’t easily approach. He lifted them into the air and ran towards Saya.

The two people tied to the threads collapsed as soon as their feet touched the ground. Quill, with one leg crushed and organs spilling from his side, couldn’t even stand properly, and Warren couldn’t do anything but gasp for breath.

Saya, groaning while pierced by a spear, was the same. She coughed up blood while looking at Asel, who had approached nearby, with trembling eyes.

“W-What do we do? Are we, cough, are we going to die here? I don’t want to… There’s still, still so much left to do… My family, my family is still…!”
“We’re not dying.”

Asel said this with a voice that was nearly dead.

Saya seemed to no longer hear his words, continuing to mutter monologues. Blood boiled with every word, and her white clothes were dyed red. She wasn’t in a very good state.

Everyone here was like that.

Asel forcibly widened his eyes, which kept blurring due to blood loss, and manifested magic. It was magic that somewhat stopped bleeding, but this alone wasn’t enough to avoid death. Even if bleeding was perfectly stopped, it couldn’t be a fundamental solution to survive.

Then deal with the spirit magician?

Nonsense. How could they kill a spirit magician who was clearly stronger than her elite soldiers, who hadn’t even appeared yet, in this situation?

The only way to survive was to escape. Naturally, it was impossible to break through the spirit magician and go out through the passage in the group’s current state. That would just be a means of suicide. It wasn’t even worth trying.

Then there was only one escape method left.

The teleportation formula Asel had seen directly. High-difficulty magic that moves to preset coordinates when certain conditions are met.

Just recalling it made the formula clear as a picture in his mind.

There was no leisure to improve it. Instead of mentally calculating the recalled formula, Asel directly drew and activated a magic circle by injecting a large amount of magical power. Then the magic circle glowed and began calculating the activation conditions of the formula.

It assessed the condition of those judged to be seriously injured. It confirmed four people in critical condition among them and sent an emergency alarm to the Academy’s medical department.

Simultaneously, the magic activated. Light emanated from the bodies of the companions who were on the verge of death, and they began moving towards the designated coordinates-

“How playful.”

Thwack!

Just before the magic activated, a magical arrow shot from somewhere aimed at Asel’s head. Asel layered shields in the arrow’s path and even overlapped both hands, but the arrow shattered all the shields and deeply embedded itself in his hands.

“Ugh…!”

Fortunately, his head wasn’t pierced, but due to the arrow’s recoil, Asel rolled out of the magic circle.

But the magic’s activation didn’t stop. He gritted his teeth and maintained the flow of magical power to manifest the teleportation formula. He moved his companions to the injured reception area from the time of the Academy entrance exam.

Because it was magic spread over a wide area rather than applied to individuals, the consumed magical power increased exponentially. Thanks to this, it was possible to use the unfamiliar teleportation magic accurately, but he who used the magic couldn’t move and remained in the cave.

A futile result. However, Asel didn’t panic. He pulled out the arrows embedded in both hands with telekinesis magic and spat out a gush of blood.

He had sustained deep damage to his already injured organs in the process of rolling.

A sensation as if life was instantly shortened. Asel bit his lips hard and took something out of his bosom with his blood-dripping hands. Before the spirit magician could identify what it was, she projected magical power to pin his body to the floor.

“Ugh!”

Asel’s face collided with the stone floor. The impact was enough to make his head spin for a moment. Under the pressure pressing down his body, he barely raised only his eyes to stare at the spirit magician’s face.

Displeasure was stickily contained on her face, which had been relaxed throughout.

“My oversight.”

She said as she rose.

“I didn’t know you could even use teleportation magic. From the moment I realized it, I tried to interfere with the magic, but it was flawless to an eerie degree. Thanks to that, I couldn’t do anything but push you out externally, let alone interfere. Nevertheless, the magic activated, and the rest except you safely escaped somewhere.”
“……”
“It’s truly an unpleasant experience. If I had known this would happen, I should have sent elite soldiers from the start or come out myself. My hobby of wanting to see the moment souls escape from beings on the verge of death tripped me up.”
“You’re still… ugh… talkative…”

It was difficult even to speak due to the pressure crushing his chest. Nevertheless, Asel sneered at her.

The white hair grasped in his right hand glimmered faintly.

“You were always like that… Jervil, that bastard, hah, he was also quite talkative…”
“You seem to know Jervil. Ah, right. Your reaction earlier was like that.”

Click, click.

The spirit magician said as she walked towards Asel. The dead who wanted to kill Asel drooled while opening a path for her.

“Come to think of it, I heard Jervil was interested in Ena’s disciple. It seems they’ve met somewhere. This is quite an interesting situation.”

She grinned as she grabbed Asel’s hair and lifted it. Their gazes clashed in midair.

“What reaction will he show when I return with your soul to that guy who wants to make you a corpse? Will that drug addict seriously get angry, or will he laugh it off trivially as usual? I’m curious. So curious.”
“…No intention… of playing along.”

Asel muttered in a blood-smelling voice as he hung his head low. The spirit magician mocked him.

“That’s for me to decide. Not you.”
“No.”

Asel raised only his eyes while keeping his head down and spat out:

“I make… the decision.”

At that moment, different magic burst out simultaneously from both his hands. A stealthy magical operation that even the spirit magician couldn’t notice. It couldn’t be a dagger to deal with her, but it was enough to steal her sight for a moment.

The bleeding caused by the arrows piercing through. He manipulated that blood to draw a magic circle and used two spells by scraping the remaining magical power to the bottom.

[Ascending Lightning]

Bzzzzzzt!!!

Lightning condensed in Asel’s left hand touching the floor, and burst out all at once, soaring upwards. The spirit magician clicked her tongue and stepped back, and Asel used the lightning’s recoil to distance himself from her.

In the process, he slammed his body into the wall, causing his vision to flicker for a moment, but even then, he didn’t stop activating the magic manifested in his right hand.

The teleportation formula that had sent his companions to safety. He tore apart all the complex principles contained within and instantly modified it into magic that only activates with a specific medium.

Simple and limited magic that moves to where magical power is contained in the medium. Asel chose as that medium the white hair he had been carrying to reply immediately when the messenger bird returned.

There was no need to ponder whose it was.

“…!”

The spirit magician, realizing the nature of the magic, crumpled her face and for the first time directly manifested magic herself. Souls gathered to form a sphere and fired as if to completely crush Asel.

If he stayed as is, his entire body would be crushed and he would die before the teleportation formula could activate. But instead of responding, Asel closed his eyes and forcibly shut off all his senses.

Already on the brink of death, his talent was reaching beyond death.

Imitating the dead wasn’t that difficult.

“…Ah.”

A world where all senses had disappeared. A world of death where neither the five senses nor the sense to feel magical power could be felt at all. Asel felt for some reason that there seemed to be a tree growing beyond that, and slowly opened his eyes. Simultaneously, all senses returned.

What he saw with his reopened eyes was the spirit magician who had lost an arm from being hit by her own magic in reverse, and a bracelet glowing on his right wrist. Asel grinned and said to the spirit magician who was staring at him with bewildered eyes:

“So this is how this magical tool works.”
“…You.”
“Thank you. I learned a lot thanks to you.”

He stared straight at her face, distorted like an evil spirit.

“See you next time. There’ll be quite a lot to talk about then.”

He didn’t hear a reply. As soon as the teleportation formula manifested in Asel’s right hand detected where the medium’s magical power was, it activated immediately.

His body instantly disappeared from the cave.

The spirit magician left behind alone laughed hollowly, not even thinking to stop the blood flowing like a waterfall.

“…Haha.”

Soon the hollow laughter turned into wild laughter.

“Ahahahaha!!!”

A contradictory laugh mixing anger, interest, and joy all at once. She stood there for quite a while longer, laughing madly. Then suddenly stopping her laughter, she quietly muttered:

“…Ena’s disciple.”

It was the moment that name was deeply engraved in her mind.