Chapter 590: Spirit Growth Promotion Ritual (1)

It was true that things had almost gone awry due to Mila’s delay, but Lennok had no intention of wasting time pointing that out.

Since Antares knew that Van and Evan were the same person, he knew there would be no issue with Evan’s safety.

Nevertheless, assigning mercenaries as escorts was purely because the ‘fact’ that someone was protecting Evan’s person was necessary.

It was more likely that the security arrangements had been loosened to accommodate Lennok’s schedule and movements.

For escorts to be provided only during Evan’s work hours at the university, one of the members would have to wait inside the school and adjust to Lennok’s schedule.

To hold them accountable for any security gaps occurring during that process felt too sudden for the current situation.

While it wasn’t something to simply overlook, Lennok also knew there was a reason not to press for answers or interrogate them about their mistakes.

In such cases, Lennok knew that money was a convenient solution.

‘Claiming damages from the Antares Mercenary Group later should suffice.’

Of course, there was a good chance that the compensation costs would be deducted from Mila’s wallet, but that was none of Lennok’s concern.

Completely oblivious to Lennok’s thoughts, Mila’s eyes narrowed as she looked at the two unconscious sorcerers, following his gaze.

“One of them is the Leopard mask I caught, but who’s this? He’s got a disgusting Monkey mask.”

“They are a sorcerer group called Ghost God Palace.”

Lennok stopped his thoughts and calmly replied to Mila’s question.

“They are the culprits who currently occupy Rebatenon university and instigated this terror attack.”

“I know these bastards were trying to take the kids here hostage. What’s their exact objective?”

“It seems we’ll have to find out the reason now.”

Priscilla, who had been listening to their conversation, asked incredulously.

“Wait, Sis, so you just caught them and beat them up without even knowing who they were?”

“Based on my personal experience, guys who wear weird masks are always suspicious idiots.”

Mila said confidently.

“Looks like things worked out pretty well thanks to me, anyway!”

…

Priscilla, who had been staring at Mila with a bewildered look, eventually let out a deep sigh.

“Right. Anyway, it’s good that we safely rescued Assistant Professor Cassia. You did well.”

“Th-that’s right. You really understand what’s important, after all!”

Mila, subtly glancing at Lennok, crept closer and quietly whispered.

“I thought catching this Leopard-masked bastard would pretty much make up for it, but I guess not…?”

“It’s just that several things happened all at once.”

Lennok replied with a smile, not batting an eye.

“Still, it’s fortunate that things worked out well.”

As long as they didn’t know how many Ghost God Palace sorcerers were scattered throughout the Elemental Studies Lecture Hall, they needed to quickly ascertain their numbers and neutralize them.

Lennok had mostly handled things alone due to concerns about Leopard’s attitude, external surveillance, and the students’ gazes.

Ultimately, things had gone well thanks to Mila’s help, so perhaps it was a good thing.

“With things like this, where on earth is the Dean…!”

“Given that communication with the outside is still cut off, it’s certain that there’s someone behind these sorcerers.”

Lennok calmly replied to Cassia’s words.

“The Dean is probably tied up by that mastermind, making it difficult for him to move officially. That’s why…”

[Bwooo!!]

Lennok lifted the goat-like furball spirit, which had been ceaselessly bleating at his feet, and spoke.

“He tried to send his spirit instead to alert us to the anomaly.”

“Oh, this cotton candy-like thing is a spirit?”

Mila eagerly took the Dean’s spirit from Lennok’s arms and squished it all over.

“Amazing. The texture is really great, too, isn’t it? Hey… so spirit sorcerers all carry one of these pets around, huh?”

[Abubu!!]

The spirit, squirming as if protesting Mila’s handling of its fur, leaped back onto Lennok’s shoulder.

Lennok continued, gently patting the spirit’s head.

“It includes the strange situation of the Dean and his spirit being separated, the meaning that the Dean himself cannot move, and the message that the essence of the current situation is related to spirits.”

“That is…”

“You mean the beast that this sorcerer used earlier was a type of spirit.”

“But I don’t think the Dean would have sent the spirit with such deep meaning in mind…”

…

Cassia’s reply, as if she didn’t quite trust the Dean’s foresight.

“The problem is, apart from dealing with the sorcerers in the Elemental Studies Lecture Hall, we haven’t properly uncovered the mastermind behind this incident yet.”

Lennok cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject.

“If we don’t decide here what their objective is, and how to deal with the students, we won’t be able to move forward.”

“Do you need someone to interrogate these sorcerers? I thought something else was troubling you.”

Mila grinned and began to draw up her mana.

“Take the kids and step out for a moment. I’ll make these beasts talk in five minutes.”

Mila’s method for making the sorcerers talk was simple.

She put Monkey and Leopard in separate classrooms, then coaxed and threatened them, comparing the information each possessed.

She claimed the one caught on the other side had spilled information, demanded cross-verification, and made them blurt out information first in a situation where they couldn’t trust each other.

The initial breakthrough began with information Lennok had extracted from other sorcerers.

The sorcerers, who had begun to suspect each other, couldn’t help but fall for the commonly used trick, even knowing what it was.

“A Spirit Growth Promotion Ritual?”

“…Yes.”

The sorcerer wearing the Monkey mask said in a weak voice, his limbs bound.

Perhaps he thought there was no longer any hope for them, now that Leopard had been captured.

Or perhaps he worried that the unseen Leopard had already spilled information and was getting off easy.

Monkey quickly chose his words, glancing at Mila.

“The spirits our sorcerers command are fundamentally similar to other spirits, yet their essence is bound by the system of sorcery itself.”

“Therefore, by offering high-grade catalysts or magical ingredients, spirits can be strengthened, and ultimately transformed into beings that transcend the limitations of spirits.”

“Beings that transcend the limitations of spirits…”

“It doesn’t merely end with gaining higher intellect and greater power. It inherently grants special powers not allowed to spirits…”

Monkey stopped speaking mid-sentence, raising his gaze to stare intently at the area around Lennok’s shoulder.

…

Davi, receiving that gaze, flicked his tongue annoyed and rubbed his forehead with his tail.

Lennok understood what Monkey was generally thinking, but he quickly changed the subject before Davi unnecessarily drew more attention.

“You’re saying that the ingredients used in that process were human beings.”

At Lennok’s words, Monkey closed his mouth with an indignant expression.

“Don’t you intend to answer more?”

Mila grinned and patted Monkey’s cheek.

“Then I’ll just hear it from that idiot wearing the Leopard mask next. But you know how you’ll die if your friend talks, right?”

At the sight of her standing up abruptly and leaving the classroom, Monkey’s mouth opened again.

“You preheat with ordinary humans, and then you offer mages.”

…

“Low-tier mages are offered sequentially, in stages, to elevate the spirit’s existence.”

Monkey continued in silence.

“The purity of mana is important. Large numbers of low-tier mages in good condition are needed. And the only environment in this city that can satisfy that is…”

“Rebatenon Magic University, you mean?”

Lennok said, shaking his head.

“That’s insane. The very fact that something like this is happening in the inner districts of Vulcan is preposterous.”

“Evan, you said there was a mastermind. Isn’t this happening because of them?”

“Even if the Central Council is behind this, taking on this level of risk is actually unrealistic.”

“Why?”

Mila asked, kicking Monkey to the classroom floor.

Thump!

“Many students at the magic university are from prestigious noble families or wealthy individuals. They must know that the aftermath of this incident will be anything but trivial, yet they condoned the Ghost God Palace’s plan to use students as offerings…”

Lennok nodded, watching the sorcerer’s wavering gaze.

“It’s difficult to explain unless someone among the council members intended to share the Ghost God Palace’s achievements, or went rogue to cover up a similar plan.”

“Kugh…! If you’re going to kill me, just do it already!”

Monkey said with a face that had given up all will to live.

“I told you everything I know. Even though you have no intention of letting me live…!”

From Monkey’s perspective, knowing that Pig and Elephant had died by Lennok’s hand, he wouldn’t have dreamed of surviving here.

However, despite that, the reason he willingly spilled information amidst the back-and-forth threats between Leopard and himself was to lessen his suffering, if only a little, on his way out.

It wasn’t that he succumbed to the physical pain to come.

He knew well that because Lennok was a spirit sorcerer like him, Lennok could inflict even greater pain and torment than others.

But Mila pressed her foot onto Monkey’s shoulder and shook her head.

“No, you haven’t said the important part yet.”

“What is it…!”

“The leader of the Ghost God Palace. Where are they now?”

Seeing Monkey speechless, Lennok channeled mana into Davi.

Crack!!

Lennok looked down at him, with the Cybernetic Spirit beginning to emit dazzling electricity again from its body, and asked.

“If they committed terrorism in District 34 and then infiltrated Rebatenon, their leader would have been with them. It makes no sense for a leader not to participate in an operation that gambles the organization’s fate.”

…

“If these are all the sorcerers targeting the Elemental Studies students, then their leader is probably targeting an entire other department that remained at the school. Where is it?”

“I-I can’t say…”

As Monkey spoke, his face gradually bloated, and then his flesh began to burst open as if bubbling.

“I, I… to become like this… with my spirit, just…!”

Pop!!

Monkey’s head exploded on the spot, scattering its contents all over the classroom.

Naturally, blood and other liquids splattered onto Lennok, who was standing in front of him, but Davi, who had already channeled mana, instantly incinerated it all, leaving no trace.

Mila wrinkled her nose sharply at the stench that filled the classroom.

“So, what now? Should I go do the same to that guy, Leopard?”

“It won’t be of much use.”

Lennok replied, walking past the bloodstains on the floor.

“To set up suicide triggers like this on high-tier superhumans, it often requires multiple individuals to agree on a single rule simultaneously. By now, perhaps…”

Thump!!

A dull thud of something collapsing echoed from the adjacent classroom where Leopard had been held.

It was obvious, without even needing to ask, that it was the impact sound of a headless corpse falling, just like this Monkey.

Mila pouted and shrugged her shoulders.

“So there was a reason you set the question about the Ghost God Palace leader for last. Did you expect this to happen from the beginning?”

“They are individuals so deranged that they would commit terrorism in Vulcan’s above-ground districts and even dare to take another step beyond that.”

Lennok sighed.

“It wouldn’t be strange even if all members of the organization shared such a radical secret oath.”

“Hmm.”

“Do you have another opinion?”

“No, it’s not that…”

Mila narrowed her eyes, resting her chin on her hand, and said.

“Somehow, the way you think is exactly like a certain mage I know.”

…

Davi, cradled in Lennok’s arms, gulped.

“Yes, and the electricity that spirit emits is also a bit similar. The mana patterns are completely different, but the terrifying speed feels similar, I guess.”

“If it’s a mage close to an Antares mercenary, they must be quite skilled.”

“Skilled? Well, needless to say… Huh? I feel like I’ve had a similar conversation before. Or not?”

“I don’t recall.”

At Lennok’s unblinking act of playing dumb, Mila tilted her head and then shook it.

“Well… I don’t think that guy would be working as an assistant professor at a school, so it’s just a similar feeling. This is a very, very high compliment.”

“I see.”

“Perhaps you could have achieved great success if you had pursued a career as a combat mage instead of a researcher.”

…

Should I call this good intuition?

“Anyway, I’ll take care of the scene here, so you go explain the situation to the others for now.”

“Understood.”

Lennok left Mila to roughly tidy up the corpses of the sorcerers who had worn the Monkey and Leopard masks and stepped out into the classroom corridor.

“A Spirit Growth Promotion Ritual, huh…”

[Master. I want to receive praise and worship from all organic beings, I don’t particularly desire offerings.]

“What?”

Lennok unconsciously asked back, then chuckled as he realized the meaning of Davi’s words.

This fox spirit was worried that Lennok might try to grow Davi through human sacrifice.

“Don’t worry about unnecessary things. Regardless of the efficiency of human sacrifice, I have no intention of making you do anything that would defile your spirituality.”

[Ahem, I wasn’t worried, just…]

Although he knew how absurdly efficient human sacrifice was from his contact with the Guido Cult, Lennok had no intention of ever resorting to such forbidden magic.

Separate from questions of individual morality and ethics, human sacrifice is a geas based on the mind imprint of depravity, offering fellow humans.

The moment one steps into it, it’s a fatal distortion, enough to twist the very direction of the answers Lennok himself has chosen.

While dealing with and contacting them might be unavoidable, Lennok should certainly avoid using such forbidden magic himself.

What Lennok was thinking about wasn’t human sacrifice.

“The Spirit Growth Promotion Ritual itself is a secret art passed down among sorcerers, and the Ghost God Palace is offering humans to increase the ritual’s efficiency.”

[That’s right…]

“Then, if the ritual itself is properly adjusted and handled, don’t you think it could aid your growth?”

[Huh?]

Lennok smiled, watching Davi’s tail stand straight up.

“As compensation for clearing out the Guido Cult’s Far East Branch, Grisha said we could freely use all the items on the island, remember?”

[Oh? Then…]

“Starting today, we might be able to try it until we’ve completely exhausted the assets of the cult’s Far East Branch.”

If it’s a ritual they’re willing to carry out by committing terrorism at Rebatenon Magic University, it’s proof that its effects and efficiency are certainly significant.

If such a ritual were applied directly to Davi, who shares some of Lennok’s talent, how high could the Cybernetic Spirit’s hierarchy be raised?

It was a rare opportunity that might allow him to grow a spirit’s hierarchy, not just his own.

He realized that not only could he stop the terrorism, but he could also gain new growth possibilities for spirit sorcery.

‘It’s been a while since his tail stopped at the fourth one.’

Until now, he had let Davi grow naturally, but if there was no change, it might be time for external stimulation or trial and error.

To attempt anything, he would first need to obtain the complete ritual circle for the Spirit Growth Promotion Ritual.

Having thought that far, Lennok immediately called Cassia and informed her of the facts he had learned from interrogating the sorcerers.

“So you mean they died trying to talk about the Ghost God Palace leader…”

“If the leader hadn’t infiltrated the university, there would have been no need to activate such a measure.”

Lennok nodded at Cassia’s thoughtful words.

“It seems certain that the Ghost God Palace leader is conducting another ritual inside the school.”

“Are you planning to stop them?”

Cassia said, looking back at the students.

“But if we move to stop this situation now, it will be difficult to protect the students. And waiting for outside help right now would be…”

The situation is too dire.

By now, other executives of the Ghost God Palace would have surely begun to realize that a large number of sorcerers dispatched to the Elemental Studies department had died.

If they simply stayed put and endured in the lecture hall, what might arrive wouldn’t be outside help, but rather more sorcerers from the Ghost God Palace.

“Then it’s simple.”

Lennok nodded.

“We can evacuate the students safely while simultaneously moving to find the Ghost God Palace leader.”

“…Huh?”

“Assistant Professor, what nonsense are you talking about?”

Cassia and Mila shook their heads in disbelief.

How could they, the people gathered here, simultaneously protect the students and resolve this crisis?

Two objectives that could only be achieved by moving in completely opposite directions, whether in purpose or means.

But Lennok was saying he had a way to handle both.

“Do you remember what means of transportation the Ghost God Palace sorcerers used when they entered Rebatenon Magic University?”