The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All

her skillful gestures.

Then, new Esmeralda's alter ego flowed spontaneously from her body, as if it were splitting.

At some point, the room was filled with nearly ten of her alter ego.

 

“…This is fucked up?”

 

General Jang, who stepped out in front of the group as if he was protecting us, muttered in a small voice.

And about ten Esmeraldas each giggled and laughed at him, perhaps hearing his words.

 

The branch of the world tree that had been tying her down had long since been severed.

Still, I didn't panic.

 

‘Esmeralda’s ability can make up to ten alter ego.’

 

And now there were exactly ten.

Her ability to alter herself was also annoying, as the body could escape while passing the blow to the alter in an instant.

However, at the moment when the maximum critical point of ten people is reached, the main body would be unable to do the so-called 'shelling out' of pushing the impact onto the alter ego.

 

This meant that in order to give her a decent blow, one would have to create a state where she had created at least the maximum number of alter egos.

 

‘But, could her alter ego ability be considered overwhelming among abilities of the same type?’

 

The alter ego was no different from the main body, and if there was any damage to the main body, even that part would affect the alter ego. 

In addition, the physical abilities and magic wavelengths were the same as the main body, so only Esmeralda herself could know which one is the main body…
It must have been such a setting.

 

‘But I'm sorry, but I already know all of the destruction methods.'

 

There are many ways, but this was the easiest and most reliable way.

It was a way to mark the body from the beginning.

 

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‘The main body… Is it there?’

 

Henir's shadow that was scattered along with the branch of the World Tree.

It was attached to the body of the main body.

It has been a long time since I confirmed that Henir's Shadow's ability could be used separately.

 

'Then… … .'

 

With that in mind, I suddenly poured out the branches of the World Tree that had been scattered widely throughout the room towards the Esmeraldas in an instant.

 

“Oh, there you are.”

 

Esmeralda's alter egos escaped the lightly stretching branches of the World Tree.

Then some of the alter egos fiddled with their faces as if they were throbbing.

 

“Heup!”

 

Then, as soon as the lull was broken by my sudden action, General Jang stepped in between Esmeralda and began to rampage wildly.

Some of the alter egos were beaten to death, and some were holding out daggers in a seemingly bloody form.

 

“Hatt!”

 

Choi Hyun-Woo broke the cable tie with a shout and stormed in.

Then he hit Esmeralda, who was running towards me with a dagger, and she flew toward the desk.

In the midst of the mess, I took a step back towards Han Soo-Young, who was guarding the director.

 

‘As expected, am I still not good at using it in real life?’

 

Well, I certainly didn't have much time.

With that in mind, I spoke to Han Soo-Young.

 

“Don't you know of any attack magic that can accurately hit like a sniper?”

 

“What?”

 

“So, it's an attack that you can shoot and hit…
.”

 

“No, I'm not asking you to say it again.”

 

Han Soo-Young looked at me as if she didn't understand.

And I glanced at General Jang and Choi Hyun-Woo, who were fighting together at some point to prevent Esmeralda's alter egos from heading this way.

 

“No matter how many alter egos you deal with, it's meaningless, you have to aim for the main body.”

 

“Everyone knows that.
But who the main body is…….”

 

Han Soo-Young, who had been muttering like that, looked at me in shock and surprise.

 

“You, do you know which one is the main body?”

 

I nodded my head without saying a word.

 

“How on earth.…? No, it was like that from the beginning.….”

 

Han Soo-Young, who had been muttering like that, put on a determined expression on her face and, made a hand shape like a gun.

At her fingertips, I could feel that she was gathering magical powers that were unusual even for me, who was a stranger to magic.

 

It was then.

One of Esmeralda's alter egos, who had almost been half surrounded by General Jang and Choi Hyeon-Woo, and were engaged in a fistfight, suddenly leaped towards me.

 

“You’re naive!”

 

“Ugh!?”

 

The dagger she swung with all her might narrowly missed, but before I knew it, the part of my cheek started to heat up.

I thought I had dodged it, but the end seemed to have touched.

 

I stood reflexively covering the two as if to protect Han Soo-young and the director.

Seeing this, Esmeralda chuckled and spun her dagger, playing with it as if it were a toy, and glared at me with a fishy expression.

 

“I will make this especially painful for you.
So are you looking forward to it?” 

 

“Oh, that's totally fair.
You looked really in pain earlier, too.”

 

I looked at her with such a retort.

General Jang and Choi Hyeon-Woo, who noticed this, turned to join, but the alter egos and the main body blocked them.

Even in the midst of such a mess, Han Soo-Young was constantly gathering her magic at her fingertips, and the director was muttering in a small voice what he was thinking.

 

'The one who attacked me is an alter ego.'

 

Therefore, it is ambiguous to use the means of blocking it with Henir's Shadow.

First of all,  I hurriedly pulled out the branch of the World Tree, and Esmeralda twisted the corners of her eyes when she saw it.

 

“You cheeky little bastard… ”

 

With that murmur, she glared at me as if to strike me dead.

I was well aware that I couldn't keep up with her speed with my current abilities.

It was only a fluke that I was able to dodge the first attack.

However, I knew exactly where she would aim.

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‘When she's angry, she aims right between the eyes, it was famous.’

 

Especially in the case of Esmeralda, these detailed settings were mentioned a lot in the game, so I couldn't forget them even if I wanted to.

So I reflexively swung my arm around, plucking a branch from the World Tree to cover my forehead.

Esmeralda disappeared before I knew it, and I got a feeling from my arm.

 

“What… ?”

 

Her wrist was grabbed by a branch of the World Tree.

I quickly reached out and grabbed her wrist while she was still dazed.

And then…

 

“Ugh!”

 

I pulled out Nidhogg's fangs and inflicted a deep wound on her wrist.

She groaned in reflexive pain and jerked her arm away from me.

I watched her back away, discarding her dagger, and I picked up her dagger hanging from a branch as generously as I could.

 

“Memorization? This coward is really coming this way…
!”

 

The alter ego that was wounded by me could no longer speak.

It was because her abdomen was suddenly pierced by the sharp ice that jutted out from below.

 

And before she could scream, the thin ice that started from the part that pierced her covered her entire body in an instant.

It was only been about 2 seconds.

 

“You must have looked down on me because I'm old.”

 

With those words, the director let out a ragged breath.

Yeah, he was once one of the promising wizards.

While I was thinking like that, Han Soo-Young asked me like shouting.

 

“So, who should I shoot?”

 

“The one I marked.
I think it's a target for everyone to see.”

 

In my words, Han Soo-Young pointed her finger at the place where Esmeralda's alter egos were.

And she mumbled with a small smirk.

 

“It's really a target for everyone to see, isn't it?”

 

Along with the words, a magical arrow shot from her finger penetrated Esmeralda's body, with a black circle appearing on her face as if it were a target.

 

It immediately became an opening and the difference between victory and defeat.

 

* * *

 

Then it was a breeze.

 

The rescue of the director, the recovery of the stolen items,  and the arrest of the real culprit, the internationally wanted Esmeralda.

All three of these could be said to be distinct achievements.

 

And of course, I was named as a contributor to the association, along with Choi Hyun-Woo and Han Soo-Young.

The fact that there would almost certainly be prize money along with a certificate was an unexpected harvest.

 

No, to be exact, it was a disappointment.

So I asked if I could get only the prize money instead of the certificate, and the director nodded at my request, saying, 'Don't worry.'

 

In addition, as in the original story, the director wrote a letter of recommendation to the academy saying that he believed in the abilities of Choi Hyun-Woo and Han Soo-Young.

And he looked at me and he said.

 

‘Ji-Hyuk, I'd like to write one for you, too, but you're already scheduled to enter the Academy, so I can't do that.’

 

Instead, I bowed my head deeply when I heard  'I would be of help at any time, so don't hesitate to contact me if you had any difficulties.'

Of course, the director of the archive was someone who could help me in any way later.

 

‘In any case, I think I’ve done roughly everything I can do with this… .'

 

With that in mind, I picked up my phone.

There, the status window that only appeared on game consoles appeared.

 

‘I didn't expect the additional reward to be a function that allows viewing the same information as game consoles on the phones.’

 

I didn't expect it, but it was definitely a big harvest.

In many ways, I think a cell phone is much more convenient to carry.

 

‘But it's still a shame that I couldn't bring Esmeralda's dagger with me.'

 

The dagger I took from her alter ego disappeared when the main body lost consciousness.

And the dagger in her body was taken with her as evidence when she was handed over to the heroes, so there was no way I could steal it.

 

“I had no choice.”

 

I mumbled, placing the phone on the table.

The place where I had stitched my cheeks throbbed a bit, and my expression distorted slightly.

 

'The Academy at last.’

 

The first step to the original story, the entrance ceremony.

I could feel my heart pounding at the thought that the day would soon arrive.