The Overpowered Cult Leader at the Academy Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Preparation (3)

I had plenty of ti. Thanks to my suspension, I had no classes. I used that ti to prepare for the mission.

The standard-issue combat uniform and tactical vest given to students. I slung a portable backpack over my shoulder and waited for the Vice-Commander. I lay down on a bench and enjoyed a comfortable rest.

I considered wearing the priest’s robe that boosted Faith Status, but gave up on the idea. I judged the practicality of the combat uniform to be more important.

“Davide?”

At the familiar voice, I stood up. Vice-Commander Sheila was lightly equipped. She wore a combat uniform reserved for Imperial use, a hip pouch, and carried a staff—nothing more.

I gave her a polite bow, and she greeted warmly. Even Winter, who had been sticking close to lately, still found difficult to approach. But for so reason, the black-haired woman before treated with ease.

“Shall we go then?”

“Yes.”

“It’ll take about two hours on foot. You saw the map, right?”

Traveling with her was fairly comfortable. Winter, for all her company, had a way of getting on my nerves—leaving quietly exhausted. Bereninche was in a league of her own. But the Vice-Commander was different. We walked endlessly for an hour. There was no conversation between us, but no awkwardness either.

“Shall we take a break?”

“Sure.”

Noticing the sweat dripping down my face, the Vice-Commander made the suggestion. She herself still looked completely dry. I sat down on a flat rock nearby and drank the water I had brought.

“Let’s rest for just five minutes. Make yourself comfortable.”

“Then, I won’t hold back.”

In the shade under a tree, with a cool breeze blowing, I felt like lying down right then and there. Noticing my hesitation, the Vice-Commander encouraged . After a mont of indecision, I lay back.

The cool touch of the stone drew a natural sigh of relief from . I heard the Vice-Commander chuckle, but I didn’t mind.

The difficulty of the Mana Stone Spiders wasn’t particularly high. The repulsion caused by their appearance and their overwhelming numbers were their only threats.

“Vice-Commander?”

“Yes?”

“What should we do with the by-products?”

I could sense the five-minute break coming to an end. I raised my upper body and called out to the Vice-Commander. Tilting her head slightly, she sank into thought.

“Our side is focused on destruction, so we don’t care about the by-products.”

“Then, would it be alright if I kept them?”

“Gladly.”

Thankfully, the Vice-Commander readily agreed. After hearing her response, I got to my feet. My sweat had dried—ti to move.

Two hours through a dense forest was a tough ordeal. Davide’s low stats certainly didn’t help. When we finally spotted the targeted cave, we took a mont to gather ourselves.

“Normally, we’d plan the operation and lead it step by step, but this isn’t one of those missions, is it?”

The Vice-Commander caught her breath and began to speak. It was a briefing to officially start the mission.

“I’d like to use this to better assess your skills, Davide, so I’ll leave everything to you. I’ll only intervene with minimal force. That okay?”

“Of course. What exactly is our goal? Kill all the Mana Stone Spiders inside?”

“Whatever works. The final objective is to destroy the nest.”

The Mana Stone Spider nest was quite lucrative in the early stages. The by-products held little value, but the experience gained was exceptional. Unfortunately, it was wasted on now, since I had no level system.

“What’s your plan?”

“Head-on assault, of course.”

The Vice-Commander asked as we stood at the entrance of the cave. I remained still, recalling the dungeon’s layout. It was fairly complex. The cave stretched roughly 40 ters in length—about twice that if you accounted for all the twists and turns.

Once I had a rough grasp of the structure, I started walking. The Vice-Commander followed with a light step.

“Oh.”

A soft exclamation ca from her. The first Mana Stone Spider we encountered was easy. It was quite large—about the size of an adult man’s lower body. The mont it ca into view, I hurled a stone I had prepared.

After many sleepless nights stacking effects, the stones had beco pseudo-grenades. Two uses of the Thunder Horn Mark. I had prepared about 30 shuriken that way. As for the stones, 20 in total.

Just those filled up my entire backpack. The effect was outstanding. Caught in a double lightning explosion, the spider convulsed. All I had to do was drive a shovel into its brow while it was paralyzed.

“There are a lot of eggs.”

“It’s the spawning season.”

Whenever we stumbled across a hatchery, the Vice-Commander took the lead. Her ice magic was remarkable. With just a wave of her hand, a room of considerable size froze solid.

We pressed forward like that for a while. After dealing with 42 Mana Stone Spiders and 3 hatcheries, we finally found a large chamber.

Unlike the others, one especially large Mana Stone Spider stood out. I was relieved not to see any webs.

Their behavior resembled ants more than spiders. They moved in groups, and only the queen laid the eggs.

“I’ll finish this quickly.”

Swift and clean. I pulled a number of shuriken from my backpack—eight shuriken and three stones. After using overlapping effects in the middle of battle, I had about 35% of my energy left.

I hurled the shuriken and stones in a wide scatter. Once they were spread evenly, I activated the Mark. Spiders caught in the ensuing storm of lightning crackled violently.

“There it is again.”

The Vice-Commander, watching from behind, let out a faint murmur of admiration as she looked at the Lightning Spike of Anaye pulled from the scripture. A sword made of lightning, about four ters long.

Lightning was already a rare attribute, but the sword before us was even rarer. The streaks of electricity, almost divine in appearance, poured down upon the paralyzed spiders.

Dozens of monsters fell in a single sweep. The Vice-Commander, who had probably seen far more dramatic scenes than this, looked oddly dazed.

‘It’s definitely not quite like last ti.’

It was a Lightning Spike of Anaye similar to the one I had used against the Guardian. But it didn’t carry the sa overwhelming presence. It seed to have better synergy with water and ice attributes.

“Is that enough?”

“More than enough.”

A briefly satisfied smile crossed her face. I approached the charred remains. I had said I’d collect the by-products, but I hadn’t actually packed any. The eyes of the Mana Stone Spiders could be used as alchemy ingredients, but they were hardly worth the trouble.

The by-product from the boss monster was at least worth taking, so I decided to collect it. I pulled eight eyes from the pitch-black, charred corpse. Nothing else looked useful.

“Ah! Goodness, what am I doing!”

As I shook off my sticky hands and turned around, the Vice-Commander suddenly sprang into action. She pulled an ergency kit from her hip pouch and handed it to . I accepted it on instinct, puzzled.

“Is your right side okay? I think you got hit there. You handled the mission so easily I completely forgot.”

“Huh? Oh… you're right.”

When I looked at my side, there really was a small wound. A minor slash—just a light scratch. My clothes were slightly torn, and blood was gently seeping through.

Not feeling pain had its benefits. Especially for my ntal health. Even serious wounds only left a dull sensation. Smaller injuries like this were easy to overlook. I usually didn’t bother since they healed quickly anyway.

With the Vice-Commander’s help, I disinfected the wound. She cut an adhesive bandage to the appropriate size. After wiping away the blood with a sterilized cloth and applying the bandage, the ergency treatnt was done.

“Hmm?”

Just as she kindly tidied everything up, the Vice-Commander suddenly froze. I wondered what was wrong. She looked slightly flustered as she examined the blood-stained cloth.

That’s when I widened my eyes in realization. I had forgotten, since there were no visible symptoms. But even like this, my blood was a dangerously potent drug.

“Ah—!”

I quickly snatched the cloth away. The startled Vice-Commander stared at with wide eyes. She hadn’t consud it, but I couldn’t take any chances.

“Are you okay?”

“Pardon?”

“Do you feel… any arousal? Sudden emotional spikes?”

“Sorry?”

“Any strange sensations in your body?”

“Davide, hold on a mont.”

My questions left her looking troubled.

“It’s not that. It’s just… when I touched the cloth, the mana flowing through my fingers suddenly vanished.”

I furrowed my brows. It seed the blood in my body wasn’t just ordinary blood. Ancient Magic, which distorts the mind like alcohol, also possessed other properties.

Blood imbued with Ancient Magic had a specific effect on modern mana. From what she said, I suppose it could be called mana suppression.

I hadn’t paid it much attention before. But now, it seed worth investigating my blood further.

“Were you worried about ?”

“Huh? Oh, yes. Well… you looked a little dazed.”

In a situation that might’ve looked odd, we both chose our words carefully. A faint smile spread across the Vice-Commander’s face.

***

“You’re back?”

“Yeah.”

“Want to make you sothing warm?”

“No, I’ll fix sothing myself.”

I reported the mission results to the academy and received the reward. After the Vice-Commander left with a word of approval, I headed straight to the chapel.

Thanks to so donated furniture, the chapel now looked decently furnished. The still, tranquil atmosphere blended well with the furniture.

Winter, who had been studying with her glasses on, greeted warmly. She offered to make sothing, but I waved it off. The mont I finished a task, a wave of fatigue crashed in.

“Hm.”

As soon as I laid down on the sofa, I felt a sharp gaze. When I turned my head slightly, I locked eyes with her vacant stare. I nonchalantly summoned the scripture.

“Goddess. May your first servant rest here for a while?”

“……”

“She says yes.”

Winter pulled out the Silent Bell and gave it a little wave. A passive-aggressive attempt to turn into a good boy. I shrugged and tossed her the scripture.

Only after catching it did she finally look away. The sofa had been placed under the only window, where the sunlight poured in best.

A perfect spot where the sun didn’t hit my face directly. With sunlight draped over like a blanket, drowsiness soon crept in.

“You washed up, right?”

“Of course. Oh, I put 20 out of the 30 knuckles into the account. Use it whenever you need.”

“Yep. Thank you.”

As I always said, Winter was competent. At first, I thought she was only good at religious stuff. That was true—but her versatility was remarkable.

She could do everything required for religious activities, and she did them well. She managed the account, and her bookkeeping was absurdly ticulous.

“You did the mission under the Order’s na, right?”

“Yeah. You kept stressing that.”

“You have to build up the track record step by step.”

Thanks to that, I had more ti to invest in myself.

“How about you?”

“? Oh—skills?”

Winter seed to be enjoying life lately. She had recently started learning divine magic, sothing she couldn't before due to a lack of Divine Power.

Starting with the skill Silent Bell of Anaye, which Anaye had personally taught her, she was slowly growing stronger.

Divine Power flickered in Winter’s hand, forming an arrow. It was Holy Light, a basic offensive divine magic spell.

“I’m learning things one by one. Every day’s fun, thanks to the Goddess.”

“That so.”

If she was happy, that was enough. Winter now spent six days a week with a smile on her face.

“How’s basic hunting class?”

“……It’s fine. Probably.”

“Probably?”

Sothing was off in her voice, so I looked over—and saw Winter studying while crying quietly. Were those tears?

In the end, Bereninche made Winter her partner. What that little devil was thinking, folks like us would never know.

All I could do was cheer her on and teach her how to avoid upsetting Bereninche.

“This week, I learned how to dissect a goblin.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“And I learned which part of the human body you should attack first.”

“Uh… right…”

What the hell are they teaching her? I let out a small sigh. I just hoped she wouldn’t end up influenced by Bereninche too much. Still, it wasn’t entirely bad.

She used to be terribly timid, but even after just one day of class, the change was noticeable. She cried even more now, sure—but at least she didn’t tremble while doing things anymore.

It was a little heartwarming to see her beco more confident, but there was sothing strange about her quietly crying while getting everything done. It reminded of crocodile tears.

“Are you okay with being suspended, senior? I an, school’s important and all…”

“It’s fine. A year’ll fly by.”

Winter asked with concern. But I already knew the suspension would be lifted soon, so I didn’t think much of it. What mattered now was the upcoming Episode 1 and the exploration of the Sea Temple.

“What’s happening next week again? Isn’t that class kinda intense?”

“……Yeah. They said we’re doing field practice.”

Basic hunting class was extrely dangerous. A credit crusher for first-years, packed with fieldwork. It made sense for the combat division, but the other departnts struggled.

I even heard that a midterm exam once involved spending two days camping in the mountains. I was worried, but since Winter was Bereninche’s partner, she’d be taken care of.

“Oh, right. I almost forgot. Miss Bereninche said she won’t be coming to the Academy next week.”

“Huh?”

“Do you know why?”

I stared blankly. This… I hadn’t expected.