The Academy Is My Hell Chapter 86

Chapter 86

“So that is the variant we will have to face from now on...”

Tania answered in a low voice.

The appearance from when she was alive remained more strongly than with other zombies.

Frizzy blonde hair and pointed ear tips.

I thought she would be beautiful if only the traces of decay were removed from her face.

Elf.

An existence I had only known through books was right before my eyes.

“The senior was right, she is an elf.”

“Yeah.”

“It is my first ti seeing one.”

“Do not be moved. Whether it is an elf or a dwarf, a zombie is just a zombie.”

Joshua spoke flatly.

“That is true.”

It did not matter who she had been.

If one beca a zombie, you either hunted it or avoided it.

“What you have to do from now on is simple. Just make sure the illusions she creates do not get close to .”

“Are Tania and Serena not short on mana?”

“Find weapons. It does not matter if it is a dagger, a club, or throwing stones. Abandon the idea that a mage has to face enemies only with magic. The conditions for facing an enemy are different every ti.”

Zombies did not jump in while considering the survivor's situation.

It was not just them.

Plunderers also attacked while looking for openings.

To survive, it was necessary to beco familiar with new types of combat.

“Fortunately, the illusions she calls forth do not affect the physical body in reality.”

“But the sense of touch is real...”

Adela frowned.

She had been bitten by the illusion of Calvin.

Even if she was not infected, the sensation at that ti was no lie.

“Yeah, it is dangerous if you get hit too much. Avoid vital spots. You have to assu that if your throat is cut, you will die.”

“We will have to be careful.”

Joshua shifted his gaze toward Luna.

“You have to help the older sisters. You are the strongest when it cos to close quarters combat.”

“I understand.”

She nodded and returned to her original form.

“Grrr.”

The zombie, which had been motionless, growled upon seeing Luna's appearance.

It slowly stood up from its spot.

“Adela.”

“Huh?”

“I am going to hunt the variant now. You give instructions to the kids in the anti.”

“Are you telling to take command?”

“Yeah.”

“……Alright.”

Joshua moved away from the group.

He did not leave any advice.

She was confused whether that was trust or an intention to test her.

She shifted her gaze to the remaining companions.

“Are you guys not dissatisfied?”

Tania tilted her head.

“Why is that?”

“It is much more reassuring to listen to Joshua's orders than mine.”

“Well, that is true.”

Tania answered directly without mincing words.

Her heart felt a bit stung.

She knew she could not escape Joshua's shadow.

“But the senior is not always by our side. I know we need soone to take his place at tis like that. I want you to take that role, sister.”

[I trust you too, Adela.]

The two of them told her.

She was released from the tension that had been weighing down her body.

Joshua had entrusted this to her.

As his subordinate, she had a duty to live up to his expectations.

After taking a light deep breath, she examined the battle situation.

The variant did not move from the island.

Instead of her, illusions walked out from beneath the water's surface.

“They are rcenaries.”

She grasped the identity of the enemies by looking at their attire and weapons.

It was different from the illusions earlier.

It was not an intention to stimulate trauma.

They were illusions suitable for combat.

“You guys, what weapons have you got?”

“We have only got staffs.”

[I have got a staff and a dagger.]

She checked the weapons of her allies.

Every one of them was a short ranged item.

A thod of attacking all at once is dangerous.

Except for Luna, their ability to handle weapons was also clumsy.

“I will make a wall with ice.”

There was a lack of terrain features to hide behind.

If they were lacking, she just had to create them.

Compared to the other two, she had leeway with her mana.

After concentrating mana at her fingertips, she made ice pillars shoot up from the ground.

“Luna, draw them toward this side slowly while fighting them.”

She nodded and ran forward.

A large front paw struck the side of a rcenary.

She examined the rcenary's reaction.

Even though he held a shield, he could not block it and his waist snapped just like that.

“They are not perfect illusions.”

The illusions were not in a perfect state.

They had only got numbers.

The skill of each one was ordinary.

“If it is that much, we can do it too. Each of you pick a pillar and hide your body behind it. Then, attack through the reflections on the ice.”

They nodded and stepped forward.

She put it into practice imdiately as well.

Not far away, Luna was holding out against the illusions.

Luna was strong, but there were too many of them.

It was too much for her alone.

Gripping the staff she held, she focused on the enemies moving toward Luna.

One of them approached this side.

Whack!

Leaning her body back slightly, she struck the nape of the approaching illusion.

The bastard staggered from the impact.

However, perhaps because she lacked strength, it stood up in an instant.

The rcenary changed direction and rushed toward her.

Her posture broke and her back hit the ground.

“Ugh.”

The rcenary tried to stab her chest with the dagger he held.

She barely succeeded in blocking it with her staff.

However, the tip of the blade was still pointed toward her.

Cold sweat flowed.

Joshua had said it.

That even if a knife is stuck in your chest, there would be no problem with the physical body in reality.

However, she felt the pain while trapped in the hallucination.

‘I have to solve this myself.’

She barely swallowed the voice for help that had risen to her throat.

She should not do that.

If Luna rushed over here, the two people on the opposite side would be isolated.

She did not want to show an unsightly appearance.

If it were Joshua, he would have certainly done it this way.

“Get off!”

She succeeded in shaking off the rcenary by squeezing out every bit of strength.

Her breath rose to her chin.

However, there was no ti to rest.

Aiming for his head with the staff, she struck down like crazy.

The skull gradually beca caved in.

At so point, the opponent's reaction beca lukewarm.

“Huff, huff.”

Only then did she have the leeway to look around the situation.

She turned her eyes.

Everyone was doing well.

No one had been taken down.

Feeling a sense of relief, she suppressed the tears that were about to flow involuntarily.

Suddenly, she felt respect for Joshua.

He had led them amidst this kind of pressure.

“I have to strike down even one more, even one more.”

She had to make sure not even one of the illusions here reached him.

That was the mission Joshua had entrusted to her.

The fight began on one side of the lake.

I should not waste the ti my companions created for .

I put my feet into the water path.

The water was not deep.

The water surface stayed at knee height and rippled.

“……You.”

The variant's gaze turned toward .

She spoke with a voice like from when she was alive, albeit clumsily.

“……If your mind is intact, get out of here.”

She advised while suppressing the zombie's instinct as much as possible.

I did not accept it.

There was no option for to turn back.

“……If you get any closer than that, I will not be able to stop myself.”

Saliva flowed from her mouth.

The control over her body was snatched away by instinct.

She returned to the inherent form of a zombie.

Her attack started from there.

Variant Cloren.

She was a mage type zombie who had been a master of hallucination magic as an elf.

Suddenly, the water I was soaking in the lake began to get hot.

From lukewarm water to hot water.

From hot water to boiling water.

Next, I felt as if I had fallen into lava.

“…….”

It was a terrible pain.

Even while knowing it was a hallucination, it was so painful I could not bear it.

[Patience] and [Strong Heart] held out desperately.

I even took a Pill of Purity, but even with that, it was not easy.

“……Whew.”

I concentrated mana on my finger.

The ring on my middle finger.

I recalled the spell formula for using the [Ring of ntal Derangent].

This ring could cast a strong suggestion on a nearby opponent to hypnotize them.

I gauged the distance from the variant.

It was too far from here.

However, I was not disappointed.

I had planned how to use this ring from the beginning.

“There is no need to only cast brainwashing on others.”

There was a target.

It was myself.

I overlaid new magic on the hallucination she had cast.

This water is not hot.

I neutralized the magic the opponent had cast by eroding my own mind.

“Gah!”

I felt the variant becoming flustered.

She must have been the first to encounter soone who countered her specialty in this way.

It was my own strategy that I had not revealed to anyone.

The bastard changed the hallucination anew.

I saw so wriggling shadows beneath the water's surface.

They were crocodiles.

While thinking they did not suit the place, I felt a chill as the bastard opened its jaws.

I quickly corrected the situation.

I imagined them without teeth.

“Guuuh?”

The crocodiles fumbled about.

I had heard of toothless tigers, but I had never heard of toothless crocodiles.

They could not attack and just blinked their mouths.

Now was the chance.

I started running straight toward the variant.

I saw the variant with a frozen expression in the distance.

I had to get close before she changed the illusion yet again.

Splash!

My feet passed through the water path of the lake and succeeded in reaching the land.

“Grrr.”

The variant changed the illusion once more.

Plant stalks shot up from the ground and bound .

The thorns embedded in the stalks dug into my skin.

Once again, I endured the pain with the power of [Patience] and [Strong Heart].

This ti, I did not block the pain with the ring.

“This distance should be enough.”

Because I would use the last bit on the variant, not myself.

The distance had narrowed sufficiently.

The hypnosis I cast on the variant was a mory from when she was alive.

The mory of when she visited this place with Count Norton, who had requested the commission.

It would not work on an ordinary zombie.

However, the story changes if it is a variant.

Since they were those who had at least a portion of their mories from life remaining, they could not help but be obsessed with it.

“……Count.”

Sothing other than a groan ca out of the variant's mouth.

A montary gap was given.

I stripped away the thorny stalks that were binding with strength.

My clothes were in tatters and my skin was torn, with blood flowing down.

I endured it.

The pain from the wounds was montary.

There was no other chance but now to hunt her.

I will not die.

In the past, and in the future.

I will struggle to live.

“Ha!”

I strengthened my power through [Strength Enhancent] and focused my nerves on the dagger I gripped.

I thrust it into the variant's nape.

I did not stop there. I gripped the handle with both hands and pulled with all my might.

The head was separated from the body.

The thing that fell to the ground rolled and sucked into the water of the lake.

Crack!

The illusions she had created cracked and crumbled.

The fog surrounding the area disappeared and the lake returned to its original form.

“……Phew.”

The wounds created while fighting her returned to normal.

It was as clean as if the pain from a mont ago had been a lie.

I looked forward.

There was a zombie before my eyes.

One that did not move a single finger even with a human prey right in front of its nose.

A zombie that had t its ntal death.

When I pushed it lightly with my foot, she fell over without being able to resist.

It was over.

Now was the ti to check if my companions were safe.

“They are well and alive.”

I found my companions sitting near the lake.

Fortunately.

It seed everyone had returned safely without anyone dying.

Thud.

My knees hit the ground.

The fatigue from fighting in the ntal world arrived late.

I wanted to close my eyes just like this, but it was not over yet.

I recalled the contents of the commission.

Bury the defeated zombie on that spot.

He had said to use what was in the bundle.

I took out the shovel brought from the farm through the sub-space backpack.

“……It would have been convenient if a knight unit were here at a ti like this.”

Suddenly, I missed Leonard and the boys.

If I coaxed them with a few words, they would have made a pit in no ti.

What are they doing right now?

Thinking of them.

I only felt resentful toward this cursed body.

“It is hard for to understand, but...”

Thud!

I untied the bundle Gunter had given .

Inside were forget--nots.

There was one difference between reality and what this lake had created as an illusion.

There was no flower bed in reality.

The current season is spring, as winter ended.

However, forget--nots blood in sumr.

The difference in seasons made the land here barren.

I planted the forget--nots on the spot where I had buried her.

“It might be an important matter for soone.”

I judged zombies based on three main criteria.

First, the benefit gained when hunting them.

Second, whether I knew the thod to hunt them.

Third, how to deal with them if they could not be hunted.

Every one of them was nothing but perspectives related to survival.

I have no interest in the circumstances of zombies.

However,

It could not be said that everyone's view of zombies was the sa as mine.

Therefore, I could also accept the mission commissioned by the Count as one perspective.

The flower language contained in forget--nots is 'True Love'.

He had seed to have been unable to forget her even after she beca a monster.

[You have completed the commission for Eria Lake. You obtain 80 coins.]

[You have succeeded in hunting Variant Cloren. You obtain 80 coins.]

[The God of Compassion is moved by the story of the Count and Cloren. You obtain an additional 40 coins.]

[Currently held coins: 320]