The Academy Regressor is Obsessed

They didn’t specifically tell the villagers that they were leaving for subjugation right away. Following Warren’s opinion, they judged there was no need to inform those who felt somehow unpleasant about their schedule.

There was no possibility that they were colluding with the doppelganger, which was incapable of proper communication, but still, there was no harm in being cautious.

“This way.”

The compass pointed west. The group moved following the compass needle, raising their tension to be able to react anytime, anywhere.

-Kyaaaak!!

On the way, strangely shaped magical beasts suddenly poked their heads out.

A creature never seen before, with a head long like a caterpillar, but with an anus that looked like a human head. Even Asel, who had read quite a few magical beast encyclopedias in Weiheim, couldn’t grasp what kind of creature it was that pounced on the group. Asel reflexively drove an impact magic into the creature’s body.

Thud!

The creature’s body was vertically embedded into the ground. It flailed its elongated limbs to resist the pressing force, but that alone wasn’t enough to escape Asel’s magic. Asel drove a lightning formula into the head of the creature writhing like a worm, then closely observed the fallen corpse.

The answer came quickly. He muttered with his brows slightly furrowed:

“A creature created by synthesis formula. Human organs and head were transplanted into a regular magical beast. As a result, it couldn’t accommodate the intelligence of either side and became a monster with only appetite remaining.”
“…Why is something like that here?”

Warren spat out with a disgusted expression. Asel shook his head and straightened his bent back.

“We’ll have to find out. More importantly, we need to be careful.”
“……”
“The fact that something like this is here means that the doppelganger might also be in an ‘assembled’ state by someone’s synthesis formula. It might not be in the form we knew anymore.”

As Asel finished speaking, Warren swallowed hard. Tension also swirled on Saya’s face. Only Quill, who had hunted magical beasts a few times while working as a mercenary, was relatively calm. He put his arm around Asel’s shoulder and smiled refreshingly.

“I’m counting on you for backup.”
“…Sure.”

A statement mixing sincerity and jest, deliberately uttered to refresh the atmosphere. Asel chuckled and answered.

“……”

They continued moving after that. As they went deeper into the mountain, more and more magical beasts assembled by someone’s hand poked their heads out. Thanks to the group dealing with them promptly, there was no damage, but they became increasingly nervous at the fact that monsters targeting them were swarming around.

In this situation, needlessly opening their mouths would only lead to quarrels among group members. So they kept their mouths shut and moved forward, relying only on Saya’s voice guiding the compass direction. Asel stood at the very back and sent out an area-of-effect magic towards the gazes staring at him.

[Lightning Spear Destruction Swing]

A violent lightning bolt swings destruction.

The moment lightning bloomed from Asel’s fingertips, a flash of light raced through space, completely burning all the creatures crawling around the group. A belated sound echoed following the light of the lightning.

Kwaaaaang!!

An ear-splitting roar. But no one reacted to it. They glanced at Asel shaking off electricity from his fingertips, then immediately continued moving forward.

How much time passed like that? Suddenly, Saya stopped the group. She showed the compass to everyone and pointed with her hand at a cave pierced straight ahead.

“It’s there.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. The needle is pointing to that cave.”
“Let’s go right away.”

Quill gripped his spear shaft tightly with a fierce expression.

“Let’s quickly deal with it and get out of here. As the nerd said, this isn’t an ordinary mountain. I don’t want to stay long.”
“I sense about dozens of life responses inside.”

Asel said. The group’s gazes turned towards him. Asel received their looks with a calm expression while glaring at the cave.

His pupils glimmered with a blue light.

“Multiple responses similar to those we killed. One that feels like the doppelganger.”
“…Looks like this was their home. What do you think we should do? Should we directly charge in there, or draw them out?”

Warren asked Saya. Saya thought for a moment, then made a decision.

“Let’s go in. It would take too long to deal with them one by one by drawing them out. There’s no guarantee they’ll come out one by one in the first place. If they suddenly pour out all at once, it’ll be hard to identify the doppelganger among them.”
“……”
“And… I’d like to finish this before night falls, at least.”

As Saya said this, she vertically slit her pupils. A mysterious demonic power began to flow from her body.

Sorcery, a power granted only to an extremely small number among fox beastkin. She swished her tails, now increased to five, and lit up blue fox-fire.

Seeing this, Warren drew up magical power, and Quill exhaled deeply while wrapping aura around his spear shaft. Asel approached Saya’s side and closely observed one of her fox-fires.

“A flame that lowers the spatial perception ability of surrounding creatures and burns what it touches? It’s my first time seeing sorcery, but it’s more elaborate than I thought.”
“I’ve never seen someone like you before. Strangely, when you have to use magic like this, your way of speaking becomes stiff. Should I say overbearing? Anyway, you’re usually gentle, but at times like this, it flips to an amazing degree.”
“…Me?”
“Yes. Didn’t you know?”

He didn’t know. His speech becoming overbearing, is it a habit from living in the slums unconsciously manifesting? Or is there another reason?

It was difficult to know for now. He needlessly shifted his gaze towards the cave to change the subject.

“There are no intelligent life forms among the creatures inside. But the doppelganger seems to have a bit of intelligence. It seems to have lived for at least several decades.”
“That means it can’t imitate you. That’s a relief.”
“You never know. It’s better to be prepared.”

Asel said this while slowly loosening up his body. He pumped the magical core he had heated up long ago to flow magical power throughout his body, and walked towards the cave with big strides while turning his neck. The group formed a formation centered around him.

Crackle, crackle!!

Electricity sparks around his body. Magical power with transformed properties externally manifests and grips the air. Due to the overflowing magical power, his eyes glow, and lightning mixes with his exhaled breath. A sensation as if his entire body has become one lightning bolt while freely controlling the electrical signals throughout his body.

A lightning magician with their magical core fully activated becomes a strategic weapon in itself.

It wasn’t for nothing that Ena was active on numerous battlefields and received courtship. Even for Asel, it was the first time since the Fernan battle that he handled lightning-natured magical power with full power like this.

Not a bad sensation and feeling. It might seem excessive to kill just one doppelganger, but Asel was wary not of the doppelganger but of the owner of the synthesis formula that might be behind it.

‘A meticulous and elaborate formula that can’t be detected until getting close. Clearly a magician above my level.’

It’s not a matter of talent. A magician whose essence of years and experience built up as a magician is overwhelmingly higher. For some unknown reason, an apostate with the bad taste of combining magical beasts and humans while nesting in this mountain. Asel activated his magical power at full power from the start while being wary of such a person.

Anyway, there’s no meaninglessly consumed magical power with just this. Only shield magic protecting the body and mental barrier magic are maintained constantly.

The magical power consumed by these two magics is recovered just by breathing.

It’s the same now. Asel put his index and middle fingers together in a straight line and swung them widely horizontally.

[Annihilation Lightning]

Bzzzzzzt!!!

A lightning bolt follows where his fingertips move. As they entered the cave, the synthetic beings that revealed themselves were directly hit by lightning and turned to ashes. Synthetic beings that twisted their joints oddly to avoid the lightning were either pierced to death by Quill’s spear or crushed by Warren’s elemental formulas.

-Grrrrrr!
-Kieeeeeeek!!

Creatures that noticed the death of their comrades began to spring out from deep inside the cave. Warren made a hand seal while making eye contact with the largest among them. Simultaneously, his spirit began to emit light, and the earth resonated with his will.

[Sinkhole]

Rumble!!

With the manifestation of magic, the ground centered where the synthetic beings were running sank as if being carved out. The creatures that instantly lost their balance floundered, and Quill rushed through the gap.

A body and spear blade enhanced with aura. Practical sense honed while living as a mercenary. All of these come together to compose Quill’s spearmanship.

Thwack!

Every time his shoulder moved, the heads of synthetic beings flew into the sky. Blood and entrails were splattered, and he burst into hearty laughter, covered in unidentifiable bodily fluids. Asel watched this scene and extended his right hand, then bent his finger joints as if crushing something.

[Lightning Explosion]

Kwaaaaang!!

The lightning mixed in the air responded to Asel’s will. It exploded in the abdomens of the magical beasts that were still alive. Terrible screams were buried under the thunder and disappeared. The corpses that died in quite a hideous state were buried under the sinkhole.

Overwhelming massacre. However, no one felt any particular impression about this. Because everyone knew they didn’t come here to kill these synthetic beings in the first place.

The group swept away the synthetic beings that swarmed again while walking across the bridge connecting the center of the sinkhole Warren had created.

Then the synthetic beings no longer meaninglessly pounced but began to circle around the group as if choking them. It looked as if a leader had started directing them. Asel crushed the head of one creature with telekinesis magic while concentrating magical power in his vision.

Clairvoyance that had reached the level of enlarging or reducing space beyond the limits of eyesight. In his view, a being that looked like a young girl was caught giving some instructions to the synthetic beings.

As soon as he recognized this, Asel extended magical power threads at the speed of sound to tie them to a pillar near the girl, and also tied threads to the bodies of the rest of the group including himself to fix them in place.

“Hey, what’s thisㅡ”
“…!”

The group members who suddenly felt a sense of being restrained turned their heads with bewildered expressions. Asel looked at them and grinned.

“Hold your breath. We’re going right now.”
“What are you sayiiiing!!!!”

Before Quill’s words finished, Asel insanely shortened the length of his extended magical power threads. As a reaction, the bodies of the tied group members moved at high speed following the shrinking magical power threads.

Asel added wind resistance magic and telekinesis magic simultaneously to this. He doubled the movement speed.

“Kyaaaaa!”
“Shit, we’re gonna crash!!”
“Asel, Asel!”

Thanks to this, it took less than 3 seconds to reach where the girl was. Asel created a descending air current to gently place them on the ground before the group members could be crushed against the wall.

“Hey, you bastard!”

As soon as he landed on the ground, Quill shouted while rushing towards the girl.

“Tell us in advance when you’re going to do something like this!”
“I did.”

Asel chuckled and retorted like that, then snapped his fingers while staring at the girl who still hadn’t grasped the situation.

[Lightning Bow]

Bzzzzzzt!!

An arrow of lightning that bloomed behind Asel’s back accurately pierced the girl’s forehead.