I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 824 - Side Story 97: Chimera (5)

"Miss Veronica!"

Casey shouted. 

Veronica flew at tremendous speed and crashed into the wall. No matter how much of a knight she was, it would at least be a serious injury.

"I'm fine."

Veronica staggered as she got up. Around her abdomen, frozen ice fell off with a crackling sound.

In that split second, she had surrounded her body with ice to minimize the impact. Veronica stumbled involuntarily as she tried to take a step.

'Even though I blocked it properly, the impact is tremendous.'

A Master-level knight's body is far superior to that of a regular knight. Yet she felt dizzy and nauseous. This much power even without a direct hit. It meant the enemy's physical abilities were above her own.

Casey, Veronica, and Lexer simultaneously glared at the enemy.

The enemy was draped in clothing reminiscent of a pure white toga. The white toga was lavishly embroidered with golden thread.

His head was bald, and his skin was pale white. Blue tattoos covered his canvas-like skin. The tattoos contained some mystical meaning, drawn very systematically and intricately.

'A person? But how on earth?'

Casey was bewildered. Her intuition accurately grasped who that man was.

"A person from the era that created this ancient ruin is still alive?"

The man before their eyes was an ancient person not recorded in history. He was now looking down at the ice clinging to his ankle.

The cold had wrapped around his leg when he kicked Veronica. Even a decent knight would have their skin necrosed and cold penetrating to their bones.

However, the ancient person brushed off the ice far too easily. Beyond the crumbling ice, slightly necrosed skin was revealed.

But the tattoo carved on his ankle glowed, and the frostbitten skin instantly returned to its original form.

The ancient person's gaze turned toward Casey.

"Wait! We're not enemies!"

Casey reached out her hand and shouted, but the ancient person didn't listen. His form disappeared, and the space to Casey's left exploded.

Successive sonic boom shockwaves echoed through the corridor. If Casey hadn't pre-emptively wrapped herself in a water barrier, her body would have disappeared without leaving a trace.

"What kind of power is that...!"

Casey saw the water barrier sway precariously. That ancient person was trying to tear through the barrier she had wrapped herself in with the power of pure physical ability alone.

-Crack.

The ancient person strongly clenched the fist he had pulled back. The tattoo drawn along his forearm glowed. Tremendous mana gathered in his fist and swirled like a storm.

Casey beyond the water barrier felt her spine grow cold.

'What kind of mana amount is that?! It's no different from a spirit beast!'

It was a fearsome amount of mana, as if a human had become a spirit beast.

The fist thrust out. At unprecedented speed, a blue line was drawn horizontally. Without even touching the blue line, the corridor walls cracked, crumbled, and scattered like dust.

The structure couldn't withstand the sheer amount of energy the mana possessed.

-Pop!

The barrier Casey had wrapped herself in burst like a balloon. The mana extending from the fist swallowed Casey's body beyond it.

...?

However, the ancient person tilted his head. Because Casey's form, swallowed by mana, turned into water and scattered.

That's a fake. He realized this fact too late, and it was already too late.

"First of all."

Casey, who had somehow retreated to where Veronica was, pointed at the ancient person.

"Cool your head!"

Water was generated around the ancient person, creating a waterspout. The ancient person crossed both arms to protect his body. The whirlpool Casey created swallowed the ancient person and sent him flying outside at tremendous speed.

"Miss Veronica! Can you walk?" 

"Yes. I'm fine. Cough. That ancient person has a very sharp kick." 

"First, we need to get out of here quickly. As long as we don't know when more of those things might appear, it's dangerous to stay here." 

[No. That won't happen.]

Suddenly, Lexer spoke with conviction.

"Why not?"

[Can't you feel it? The other sleep chambers below aren't operating.]

Lexer's blue eyes surveyed the space where the ancient person had awakened.

[Probably, the ancient person who just awakened is the only survivor and successful case. The rest must have died over the years, unable to endure.]

"Well, that's at least fortunate news to hear."

She couldn't imagine what would happen if not just one but several such monsters awakened simultaneously.

[That doesn't mean we can be relieved. Even though there's only one creature that awakened...we can't gauge its power right now.] 

"Anyway, let's move quickly!"

Casey, Veronica, and Lexer escaped to the underground artificial garden. They thought he might ambush them as soon as they came out, but the ancient person was quieter than expected.

"Where on earth is he?"

"Over there!"

Veronica found the ancient person with her excellent eyesight. The ancient person stood in front of the artificial sun floating in the center of the garden.

Standing on empty air, he gazed at the artificial sun and then reached out his hand.

The artificial sun wasn't called a sun for nothing. Though it couldn't match the real thing, it had enough power to supply an endless heat source in this land for over hundreds of years.

If touched carelessly, there was a possibility that from the skin to the entire body would turn to ash in an instant.

But the ancient person was fine. Rather, the blue tattoos carved on his skin turned golden, supplying energy to his body.

"What is that?"

Casey was dumbfounded. Right now, that ancient person was absorbing the thermal energy of the artificial sun and converting it into his internal energy.

People consume energy they need in the form of food. But that ancient person had been sleeping for over hundreds of years, and what he was doing upon awakening was accepting energy instead of a meal.

"At this point, you can't even call him human."

When beasts evolve, they become spirit beasts. Based on such experiments, the ancient people speculated that humans could also evolve to match spirit beasts.

Evolving humans into higher beings. The result was the ancient person who had now awakened.

Spirit Human (靈人). That ancient person had transcended the framework of humanity and become a new destination.

No need to eat, physical abilities unimaginably strong, and even possessing mana comparable to an archmage.

The gaze of the Spirit Human, who had fully absorbed energy, turned toward Casey, Veronica, and Lexer.

[Damn it.]

Lexer bit his lip. Without a body now, he had no way to stop that Spirit Human.

That meant he had to leave the fighting to the two young ladies here. He knew Casey and Veronica were strong, but what abilities that Spirit Human possessed hadn't been fully revealed yet.

The Spirit Human's body dropped firmly to the ground.

-Boom!

From beyond the trees came a shockwave along with a cloud of dust rising.

"He's coming!"

Veronica re-gripped her sword and took the lead. Immediately after, the artificial forest split left and right. The sight of trees toppling to both sides like Moses' miracle was almost surreal.

It was purely the aftermath created by the Spirit Human crossing through the forest.

Veronica drew her aura to maximum. The aura containing chilling cold energy burst forth.

Veronica compressed that aura to the maximum. The aura was compressed to about 1cm thickness from the blade.

Toward the thrusting fist, Veronica stabbed her sword with full power. The timing was perfect. There was no carelessness. She was a Master-level knight. In a contest of strength against strength, she would never be pushed back.

That thought changed the moment she saw her sword tip shatter against the Spirit Human's fist.

'I can't avoid it.'

Veronica sensed her own death. Casey tried to protect her by wrapping a water barrier, but even her defense crumbled all too easily.

The moment the fist approaching right before her was about to crush her head.

The Spirit Human's movement stopped. The fist stopped right in front of Veronica's nose. It was as if time had stopped.

The shockwave released belatedly spread widely around. Lexer was flustered.

[What's with that guy? Why suddenly?]

Conversely, Casey curled the corner of her mouth into a smile.

"Ah, really. He only appears at moments like this. That man."

There was no particular reason the Spirit Human stopped his fist. He simply recognized a new, most dangerous presence in this place.

The Spirit Human, who withdrew his fist, turned around with an expressionless face. There stood a long-haired handsome man wearing a black frock coat.

A man to whom the expression "pitch black" literally suited. Just looking at his external appearance, he contrasted starkly with the Spirit Human.

Pale skin with pure white ancient clothing and golden tattoos wrapped around his body. Conversely, Rudger wore pitch black modern clothing and was surrounded by black shadows.

Hans, who arrived belatedly at the scene, was catching his breath when he froze upon seeing the Spirit Human.

"Crazy. Now I understand why I didn't want to come here."

The spirit beast genes dwelling in Hans's body had refused to enter the ruins because of the Spirit Human.

The beast's instinct detected predators like a ghost. Because it knew a superior being existed, its instinct had refused.

"Hans, step back. I'll deal with that." 

"Brother..."

"I won't take responsibility even if you get caught up in it."

As soon as those words ended, Hans quickly left the spot and joined where Casey was.

Now that the interference was completely gone, Rudger faced the Spirit Human and spoke.

"So, you're that successful creation. The result of evolving humanity one stage beyond. While being human, the product of evolution to covet the position of gods."

The Spirit Human didn't answer. He only gazed at Rudger with an inscrutable, bland stare.

Just when it seemed dialogue wouldn't work, the Spirit Human opened his mouth.

"Who are you?"

"Oho."

The corner of Rudger's eye lifted slightly.

"You can speak. I was wondering if I should ask in the ancient language instead." 

"I heard and analyzed your language system."

The Spirit Human's words were quite absurd. After hearing a few words exchanged, he analyzed that language system and mastered it instantly.

Beyond simply inferring from one, he perfectly reconstructed the insufficient void.

"A lot of time seems to have passed." 

"That dialogue works means you're thinking of resolving this through words?" 

"Me?"

The Spirit Human curled up the corner of his mouth. Since he originally had no expression, the sneer stood out much more.

"Why should I?"

Arrogance oozed from the Spirit Human's voice.

"I am the product of human evolution. A superior species to challenge the position of a new god. I'm completely different from old humanity like you." 

"Who exactly are you calling old humanity?"

Rudger thought the Spirit Human's words were quite contradictory. The most ancient human treating modern people as old humanity—could there be such irony?

"Don't worry. I will personally rule over you and lead you to a better path." 

"We're still in the monarchical era, but looking at how you talk, I can already see dictator qualities."

Rudger shook his head.

"You there, human. More than anything, I feel an ominous aura from you. Yes, I feel the power of a god. Don't tell me you...are you from the Holy Kingdom?"

The Spirit Human frowned as if he sensed something strange from Rudger. Rudger looked at the Spirit Human with an impressed gaze.

To think he would react so sensitively to divine energy.

"I've decided. I must kill you here."

The Spirit Human clenched his fist. His tattoos glowed intensely. Storm-like energy swirled around.

"It doesn't seem like persuasion through words will work."

Rudger took out his staff, knowing it would come to this. As could be guessed from that guy's arrogant attitude, coexistence seemed virtually impossible.

The future of a world ruled by the Spirit Human was drawn. That guy wasn't trying to escape the existing cage. He just wanted to become the master of a new cage.

"I will become the god who leads the new era." 

"A manufactured god, I suppose. No, since all sorts of things were mixed, you're no different from a chimera."

Rudger shot back coldly as he deployed his magic.