NOVEL NEXT Chapter 910
<910 – Dark Shadow vs Dark Shadow(19)>
Jiang felt a chill.
Not just a little, but a lot, like a student who smiles slyly at “Today’s class is canceled” but frowns at “We’re having a replacement lecture this weekend”!
When the academic authority crumbles, the professor might shout, “What’s the point of attending such lectures?” or “Criminals, come forth!” while trying to get their evaluations back…
The lecture evaluations at the Gift Academy were a sort of metric to measure a professor’s ability by how thoroughly they could subdue the students’ minds and souls, making them beg to survive in the next semester.
Even the harmless torture that occasionally appears in Oknodie, if it drops in combat power, would be called “This pathetic Titosso!” But Oknodie was a Titosso with combat power.
While the fool who causes trouble ends up suffering the most, self-destructing, Oknodie inflicts severe damage on those around them.
“But still, I can’t blame them.”
Oknodie, who buys time by taking on the brutal curses inflicted by the God of Death at the frontlines.
Jiang was the one hiding in Oknodie’s shadow, witnessing that chilling barrage of curses up close.
“No one asked for this. There was no need to do this. Yet the reason Oknodie stands against the God of Death is…”
The progenitor of the Hiuqmag clan.
The pinnacle of the Empire.
A true guardian and the strongest human who has lived for centuries.
Seonhwang.
To carry on the legacy of his adoptive father, once called Seonhwang Papa.
“The God of Death is a stepping stone to take down the Principal. It’s astonishing that the plan to kill the Principal involves drawing him in, but they’ve hit the Principal’s interest who thinks as long as it’s fun, it’s all good.”
At this point, Oknodie had already staked his life once.
He staked his life again in a tear-jerking incident where his soul left his body and returned.
Jiang couldn’t possibly say “I can’t do this” in front of such heroic struggles.
“Let’s get going.”
“Let’s show the greatness of the undead.”
“Guhuhuh. Watch us clearly and be envious. The spell of skeletal transformation and your coffin are always ready!”
Confidently stepping out, the Skeleton Instructors made expressions like, “Hmm, this is a bit much,” but then they were engulfed in various curses, their bones shattering.
The instructors, resigned to a guaranteed 20 weeks of complex fractures and coffin recovery, rattled their jaws, only to be struck by lighting and fell silent.
Even the mighty instructors couldn’t fend off the curses alone, thanks to protective curses from the Foundation and the weekly event, as well as being subjected to the curse-resistant training from the Man’s Representative.
“Jiang, throw this into the God of Death’s dual domain!”
“…Alright. I’m prepared for death.”
“It’s fine, you won’t die! Just the sheer existence of it is effective!”
What Oknodie handed over was a branch imbued with summoning magic; it served as a summoning medium.
Like a wealthy person going far away, casually giving their local contact info to ensure they weren’t forgotten, Oknodie would enchant trees and plants of the Demon Realm and merely take their fruits before vanishing. A pitiful tree offered its contact means as if calling out to Oknodie.
Jiang realized something even more pitiful.
To be used as a summoning medium, it shouldn’t be just any useless cut branch, but rather a freshly snapped branch fully brimming with mana.
It needed to be such a precious branch filled with that much mana, or it wouldn’t be suitable as a summoning medium.
“According to Professor Weird’s lecture, dark sorcerers or demons corrupt tree spirits into demon trees, and they break branches to contaminate the forests and lands…”
Not that Jiang wanted to know, but he’d learned it without wanting to during Professor Weird’s class on Nature Mana.
Talking about the demon class to a disaster child whose only solution was causing sudden deaths whenever they encountered a king of the Demon Army would just cause him to clench his chest in anxiety.
“Don’t go directly into the dual domain. You’ll definitely die!”
Jiang held the branch tightly.
Even cowardly Titosso faced death recklessly, and even fought to the point of becoming a true ghost because of it.
He couldn’t maintain his dignity unless he survived through the crisis.
“Surely they won’t just leave me unrevived just because the weekly event ended.”
…They really wouldn’t, right?
Jiang forcibly dismissed the fearful thought.
[Invisibility Cloak]
He had a magical tool he received before coming here.
The enhanced invisibility cloak collected and strengthened from the secret room of the academy at the beginning of the semester.
Ordinary invisibility can fool the naked eye, but it can’t mask the waves of mana detection.
But Oknodie had shown countless times how he could “mimic” those waves to dodge them.
The reinforced invisibility cloak, capable of analyzing and forming the
“While it’d become large enough to conceal Hestia if sewn together, it could also reduce down enough to only barely cover Titosso.”
If the two heard about today’s achievements, they’d be happy about it being used well.
“Dual domain. The density of mana is completely different.”
The mana was so excessively concentrated that myriad curses would simultaneously impose countless effects as if they never truly materialized.
Anyone outside the dual domain who caught a single curse would die instantly upon entering.
It’s frustratingly clear that the God of Death’s curse was too potent.
Despite being a capable assassin with relative curse resistance, he was not as resilient as Oknodie.
“My hands stained with blood call forth curses of that caliber, and the resistances I’ve built for survival exist.”
Those who harbor grudges receive curses.
Few receive curses as much as an assassin who takes lives.
Powerful figures that thrive on the blood of others.
Billionaires who use the blood-stained money to amass wealth.
Among those, who even eats the blood of various elite criminals is none other than Jiang, a disciple of the continent’s top bandits, the Life Thief Rung.
“It’s not just thanks to Professor Sadako or Oknodie. The path of evil without embarrassment for my Mentor, the profession of evil assassination protects me.”
Human curses can be countered.
But curses from gods are burdensome.
Infiltrating the dual domain is one thing, yet sneaking into the area outside is no easy task.
But he made it in.
Now he would trust Oknodie’s preparations.
Whooooosh!
As Jiang finished placing the final piece of spellwork carved into the branch, the summoning magic circle was completed.
The ominous branch sank into the earth, transforming like a thick black swamp, and then it rose up as a gigantic tree monster casting a shadow over the ground.
It was a creature familiar to her.
The tree that brings silence.
The tree that brings curses.
“□□?”
Sadako’s pet cursed tree, Poppy.
A greedy curse collector that should not roam the world.
While those who didn’t attend Professor Sadako’s lecture might perceive it that way, Jiang’s perception was a little different.
-I brought way too many materials for the lecture… Is the triple curse still unripe…? If past the expiration date, it’ll scatter so I should throw it to Poppy…
-Did Oknodie just scream? Jiang or Titosso would die if they received that… It’s too dangerous for the kids; I should give it to Poppy…
-What if the instructor who went out to gather materials for lectures brought back a good curse…? If not needed, just give Poppy one…
Like a regional specialty, Professor Sadako’s instructors would gather curses from all around the continent and dump the leftover curses into Poppy’s feeding pot!
Now that he thought about it, he also remembered when Oknodie wanted to demonstrate his curse resistance, he cast one of the curses he knew on Poppy, who then twisted in pain and ran away.
Poppy, who suffered under the abuses of both the professor and disciple, had grown into something formidable capable of withstanding divine curses, far beyond her earlier semester appearance.
[Chapter 4: Unique Death, Silent Forest]
[Chapter Boss – Cursed Tree Poppy]
A death-field type chapter boss that creates mass slaughterers if not quickly attacked, Poppy.
Seeing Poppy expanding her territory of curses, Jiang felt a sense of pride.
“When vacation comes, I should grab a curse to give to Poppy on my way back.”
The cursed tree began to devour curses while summoning bizarre evil spirits, growing rapidly within the dual domain of the God of Death.
Watching this sight, Jiang couldn’t help but doubt if perhaps both Professor Sadako and Oknodie had anticipated this moment for a long time.
Mutual destruction.
Natural enemies.
The cursed tree Poppy, once bullied like a punching bag by the evil professor and students, began to harness a spirit that threatened the soul of the God of Death.
Guhuhuhuhuh.
Poppy blossomed with the fruit of curses on rapidly growing branches, displaying an enormous presence comparable to the tainted Black World Tree once managed by the Director.
Unrefined specters’ rage would unfold as divine punishment through the god, yet with Poppy’s intrusion as a spectral entity, it transformed into a new form of curse.
[God’s Arrogance: The god, who had enjoyed the plundering of souls for long, failed to realize that the souls he had ravaged opened their eyes to his weakness.]
[Effect: Each time divine punishment is unleashed, [Justice] stacks accumulate. Attacks from the righteous deal fixed damage equal to ten times the final damage per stack.]
[Evil God’s Hand: Judgements without a measure of good or evil stained the hands of the god. Those who faced wrongful deaths from incorrect judgement shall taint the god’s soul.]
[Effect: Each time an attack is made toward the living, the number of souls caused by the intervention of the God of Death decays.]
The anger of the souls dragged into hell by the God of Death became the weapons to kill the god for the injustices faced at the end of their lives.
Even Jiang could see it.
The slowly rotting and decaying soul of the God of Death.
No longer could the God of Death take the “first move.”
Unless he desired his own annihilation.
All he could do was retaliate.
And utilize his minions for indirect attacks.
Swoosh!
Along with a chilling cold wind, even Poppy began to suffer as strong beings began to cross the forest and exit the dual domain.
Each one possessed the level of strength akin to the Three Great Evils of any era, the faintly painted souls that had lost their sanity—mighty beings.
The high ranks chosen by the God of Death, [Shinigamis], marched out wielding their sickles.
‘This is a pinch.’
Twelve Shinigamis were heading toward Professor Sadako, while five were headed for Oknodie.
More Shinigamis were tearing through Poppy’s forest in the dual domain than the ones heading toward Jiang.
He could hear Oknodie’s distant call to retreat, but Jiang severed even the connection to the shadows.
[Concentrate][Throw][Explosion]
A Shinigami hit by an explosive dart turned its head, formed of billowing black smoke, and glared at Jiang.
“Poppy is the mascot of our classroom. Don’t go messing with someone else’s mascot.”
She had pride too.
She could handle at least one.
…Until she died.
“Come at me. Your opponent is me.”
The battle against the God of Death begins.
Phase 2: The Shinigami Assault has commenced.