Academy’s Weapon Replicator

Odyssey (5)

After saying that, Moretti trudged alone to the cabin.

I watched him for a moment, then turned my gaze to the forest he had fled from.

The black rain that shattered the forest Moretti had witnessed.

Of course, it’s my black sky.

Actually, the rain itself isn’t important. What I wanted to confirm was the ‘structure that blocks the moon and stars while letting the light in.’

‘It was an idea that came to mind after using it on Elysia last time.’

Elysia knew immediately when I covered the sky with my black sky. Naturally, she would. The surroundings became completely dark.

But if she realizes it that quickly, she won’t be able to come deep into the area covered by my black sky.

For the ‘black rain’ to be effective, the target must come deep enough inside.

In other words, they must not know that something is spread above them.

So, I thought of camouflage. To make them think the black sky is a cloud.

‘I have to lay the black sky thinly enough but stack it in several layers.’

To make it rain, the amount of black sky must be sufficient. So, if I solve it with just a thin layer, I can deceive them into thinking it’s a cloud, but I can’t make it rain.

So, I stacked the black sky in several layers, intentionally entangling each layer in a different direction to create fine gaps. You could call it an intertwined lattice pattern.

Thanks to that, Moretti couldn’t notice the black sky high in the sky, and the power and amount of black rain were sufficient.

‘I didn’t really intend to hit, so I made it approach from a reasonably far distance.’

That seemed to be quite effective.

Moretti looked like he had really seen the end of the world.

“……But.”

I took a deep breath in and out.

I pursed my lips as I looked at the forest in front of me.

“I’m sorry for the forest.”

The forest after the black rain was truly devastated.

* * *

The next morning.

Prondier entered the cabin.

As soon as Moretti saw him, he suddenly started trembling, and Kraken waved his hand with a peaceful face.

Prondier greeted them lightly and looked at Hagley.

And after a few words of conversation.

“……You b*stard.”

Hagley glared at Prondier with a look of anger.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’ve already told you my thoughts.”

Frondeer placed a bundle of papers on the table.

“From now on, I will teach you the ancient language, and we will complete it as a book.”

“So, what do you gain from doing that?”

Hagley shouted.

His suspicion towards Frondeer was soaring to the sky.

Frondeer closed his eyes for a moment.

As if thinking, organizing, and enduring.

When he opened his eyes again, Hagley’s expression towards Frondeer had changed.

Frondeer spoke.

“Let me ask you instead, what do you lose from this proposal?”

“……!”

“You’ve wanted to know the ancient language for so long. So what’s the problem with me teaching you?”

“You wouldn’t teach me the ancient language so willingly. Even at Obsidian last time,”

“Have you forgotten what you did there?”

Frondeer’s voice turned cold.

It wasn’t intentional.

It was only natural for him to be that way.

“You recklessly exposed the secret I was hiding. Because of that, my brother got hurt. There wasn’t even a great reason that I could accept. You just used my brother in your usual deceit. You tried to use me, so I made you my enemy. That’s all there is to it.”

“……Regardless, if what you say is true, we are still enemies. You have no reason to teach me the ancient language.”

“Yes. We are enemies.”

Frondeer placed his hand on the bundle of papers.

“So, are you not going to do it?”

“……!”

“I have no intention of telling an enemy the reasons for this plan. You think about it, judge it, and decide for yourself. Do you expect me to tell you the reasons for everything I do while you call me your enemy? Despite appearances, you are quite adept at whining.”

“You……!”

“Selena.”

Frondeer called Selena, and she immediately stepped into Frondeer’s shadow.

“Yes.”

“From now on, you will be this guy’s temporary teacher. Teach him everything without leaving anything out, unlike when we were at Mangot.”

“Understood.”

Hagley was staring blankly at Selena’s indifferent face.

Frondier spoke to Hagley again.

“If you want to quit, just say so anytime. You can say it right now if you want. It was something that would have been done eventually, even without you. I racked my brains trying to figure out how to use you, but this is the only value you have to me. If you don’t want to do it, that’s all there is to it. Whether you die outside the barrier or grow old and die in Obsidian, I don’t care.”

At those words, Hagley kept his mouth shut without answering this time. He alternated between looking at the paper on the table and Frondier.

“…Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Good.”

Frondier looked at Selena.

“Selena, I’m sorry to burden you with this tiring task. So if this guy decides to quit, don’t have any regrets and report it to me. I’ll pretend none of this ever happened.”

“Yes.”

Hearing Selena’s calm answer, Frondier walked towards the cabin door.

“Then start right away.”

“Where are you going, Frondier?”

“Just nearby.”

He said as he left.

“The beast training is still incomplete.”

Creak─

Clunk.

After Frondier left.

“Let’s begin.”

Selena immediately started teaching Hagley the ancient language. Kraken and Moretti didn’t pay much attention to the scene. Each for their own reasons.

Selena was extremely businesslike, and her lecture was unkind, without considering the student’s understanding.

Selena was merely regurgitating the knowledge she had learned from Frondier like a robot.

The only minimal consideration she showed was displaying the notes she had written down.

“Thus, since the phonetics of the ancient language are lost, it is important to read the patterns of large paragraphs. Fortunately, we can infer the writer’s age and gender from the endings of the letters and word choices, so we can narrow down the number of homonyms that increase several times due to the lack of phonetics.”

“……”

Of course, Hagley’s intelligence allowed him to understand most of Selena’s merciless lecture, which did not consider the student’s needs.

But he couldn’t concentrate.

Selena was right in front of his eyes.

Hagley had trained her as an assassin, the last member of Yeolgots.

Selena was now treating Hagley like a complete stranger, and Hagley still hadn’t decided how to accept that.

After a long while, Hagley slowly opened his mouth.

“……Selena, I have a question.”

“Is it related to this lecture?”

Selena asked without lifting her gaze from her notes.

Hagley replied.

“No.”

“You may ask whatever you want, but I can’t guarantee an answer.”

“What is all this about?”

“……”

Selena remained silent, her expression unchanged.

That was her answer.

Hagley continued, undeterred.

“You must know why that man suddenly started teaching me the ancient language, right? What is his scheme? What plan involves you being here?”

“I don’t know.”

“Selena, if I knew the real reason, I could provide proper help,”

“I think you misunderstood me.”

Selena finally lifted her head.

For the first time, her gaze met Hagley’s.

“I really don’t know.”

“……You don’t know what that man is thinking, yet you’re teaching me the ancient language without questioning anything? You showed no hesitation or confusion earlier. No matter how good your acting is,”

“I was neither confused nor hesitant.”

Selena spoke with clear eyes.

“I am simply following Lord Frondier’s orders. I need nothing more than that.”

“……”

Hagley was at a loss for words.

There was no trace of doubt in Selena’s expression.

Hagley couldn’t detect any sign of pretense or exaggeration in her words.

Even if it was an act, it was meaningless if even Hagley couldn’t see through it.

‘……What I wanted from Yelgot, from Selena……’

Hagley wanted an assassin who would faithfully carry out his orders.

He wanted an assassin who would not question his orders, but simply carry out the assigned tasks like a machine.

However, as Mangot collapsed, that dream also crumbled, and even before that, Selena never became what Hagley desired. Not just Selena, but all of Yeolgok were different from Hagley’s intentions.

Some were excessively afraid of Hagley, some could not distinguish between blind faith and recklessness, and some harbored resentment, growing their antipathy towards Hagley.

But the current Selena is different.

She does not need much explanation from Frondier.

She neither fears Frondier nor holds any resentment, and within those orders, she possesses her own clear subjectivity and judgment.

That very appearance is already like a blade stabbing Hagley’s heart.

‘…Cruel.’

The Selena that Hagley desired is right in front of his eyes.

In a form different from what he wanted.

As proof that all the methods he taught were wrong.

* * *

Inside the workshop.

A tremor resembling an earthquake strikes the walls, ceiling, and floor in succession.

It was the aura of Cora, who had become a white tiger.

Kraaa!!

It wasn’t difficult to turn Cora into a white tiger.

I just took out Gram and gave a slight sense of pressure that she couldn’t escape.

Gram was an object of fear for Cora, but when she couldn’t run away from that fear, she had no choice but to fight. It was a good trigger for turning into a white tiger.

Moreover, the environment must have had a significant impact.

I encouraged her to become a white tiger, and this workshop would never break, and there was no one around to get hurt, which must have worked positively.

Besides, I am someone who has controlled Cora once before.

Even if it might have had a good effect on Cora’s memory, it must have been reassuring in this situation.

But after clashing with Cora, who had become a white tiger, a few times,

I really thought this workshop might break.

When Cora became a white tiger, her power was truly dangerous.

‘Even Amper, who controlled Cora, was less experienced than now, but he was still the best swordsman of his time. Cora is the one he suppressed with all his might, even using Gram.’

I learned this while talking with Quinie, but Amper couldn’t use the superhuman technique of cutting distant enemies at that time, but his pure aura was stronger than now.

Well, he was in his early thirties back then, much younger than now, so it’s natural.

Amper of that time must have been the strongest in the empire. Of course, even now, there’s not much difference.

‘When Cora became the beast known as the White Tiger, she was strongly influenced by the logic of power. That’s why she gave up the idea of fighting Ampere and didn’t charge at him.’

It must be instinct. She instinctively felt that she could never win if she fought Ampere. Originally, all beasts only attack opponents they think they can handle. Just like how a lion always accompanies a pack when it attacks an elephant.

But when you face off like this, you feel it.

Even if you can’t win against Ampere, you would have inflicted wounds.

“Huh!”

Kaaang!!

The small sword and Cora’s fist collided. Every time the sword, wrapped in the mana of the Nine Worlds, clashed with Cora, it sparked black flames and scratched the floor and walls.

In the sparks flying, Cora’s gaze flashed, and he unleashed all the power emanating from his body wrapped in aura.

Kakang! Kakakakang!

I fired the weapons from the imperial armory several times, but with weapons of this level, I could no longer wound Cora.

‘I don’t intend to wound him anyway.’

The goal is for Cora to control the White Tiger. If I wound him while fighting, it would be meaningless.

But the problem is that Cora shows no sign of controlling the White Tiger.

It’s not that he’s deliberately not controlling it, but it seems to be a reaction from not having transformed into the White Tiger for a long time.

“Alright, up to here.”

However, there is something that works even on such a Cora.

It’s Gleipnir.

Shriik!

Kwaaak!

Cora, bound by the thread, resists with all his might but cannot break free.

It’s the item that bound Fenrir. No matter how much of a White Tiger he is, he can’t break it.

Moreover, Gleipnir is the closest thing to a real item that I possess.

Because the mana of my Nine Worlds itself is Gleipnir.

“I tried turning Cora into the White Tiger as a sort of head-on collision.”

I looked at the White Tiger, struggling and glaring at me as if to kill me, bound by the thread.

“…This won’t solve it.”