The Heretic of Cleric Academy-Chapter 98

The rules for the suddenly arranged bet were as follows:

Ha Su-yeong would use sorcery freely on Do Seon-woo for 20 seconds. If she could steal Do Seon-woo’s consciousness within that time, it would be Ha Su-yeong’s victory. If she couldn’t, it would be Do Seon-woo’s victory.

Ha Su-yeong suppressed her laughter. This was because the rules of the bet were too favorable to her, and because she found Do Seon-woo’s foolishness in accepting such an absurd bet without any consideration amusing.

Hissss...

Soon, mist began flowing from her spell circle. The mist moved quickly toward Do Seon-woo, carried by the wind.

"See? I told you it wouldn’t work."

However, it didn’t work. The mist only circled around Do Seon-woo but couldn’t touch him. As if there was a thin barrier surrounding him.

"You, what...!"

It seemed he had used the Loa’s power to create wind to block the mist. She wanted to protest, but thinking about it, it wasn’t exactly against the rules.

If one wouldn’t work, she could use two sorceries simultaneously.

If she attacked from both sides at once, there wouldn’t even be time to block the mist with wind. Thinking this, Ha Su-yeong drew the next spell circle.

Hissss...

Two spell circles drawn in an instant simultaneously released mist.

The mist shot head-on was blocked by the wind Do Seon-woo created.

However, the mist shot from his blind spot to the side was still intact. At that moment, Ha Su-yeong had a premonition of victory.

"I won-!"

"20 seconds up."

Do Seon-woo’s cold voice cut off Ha Su-yeong’s joyful shout.

Crack!

At the same time, the two spell circles she had drawn twisted grotesquely. When Do Seon-woo made a gesture of clenching his fist in the air, the spell circles completely crumpled. They looked like crumpled balls of paper.

Fssss...

The deformed spell circles lost their color and disappeared as ash. Ha Su-yeong stared blankly at the ash flying away on the wind.

"My turn, right? Count 20 seconds."

Without time to collect herself, Do Seon-woo began drawing a spell circle.

"What? I’m not done yet-"

Swish.

A strand of mist extending from his spell circle instantly wrapped around her neck.

"Not done... yet..."

Ha Su-yeong couldn’t even finish her words before losing consciousness.

* * *

"Not... done..."

The unconscious Ha Su-yeong tossed and turned while talking in her sleep. People with strong sorcery resistance often couldn’t completely lose consciousness from fainting sorcery and would mutter in their sleep. Ha Su-yeong had very strong sorcery resistance.

I took off the black cardigan I was wearing and covered her with it. Then I stared blankly at her.

Various thoughts came to mind.

[Are you planning to let her live?]

Then, Legba’s voice suddenly came.

I let out a hollow laugh.

"Should I kill her then?"

[No, that’s not what I’m talking about.]

Legba sighed and continued.

[If you’re planning to let her live, I want to ask whether it’s based on calculation or guilt.]

"Do I absolutely have to choose one of the two?"

[If you had to choose only one, which would you choose?]

If I had to choose only one?

"Calculation."

I answered without hesitation.

[I see.]

Legba nodded in understanding. His tone seemed satisfied and gentle.

Ha Su-yeong handled sorcery well. The saying that her sorcery skills alone matched the 2nd cult leader was indeed just a rumor, but it was true that she handled sorcery well.

Because of the characteristic of ’sorcery that works on animals,’ her sorcery held even higher value. This was why I had taken interest in her.

In other words, she had considerable talent in sorcery, and at the same time, her sorcery was special.

She was still lacking in many areas now, but if she met a good teacher and received proper instruction, Ha Su-yeong’s sorcery skills would improve noticeably.

If taught well, there was potential for her to become an important force for Voodoo.

"Ah, my head, ow..."

Soon the sorcery affecting Ha Su-yeong lost its effect. She slowly got up from her position while pressing her temples with a deeply furrowed expression.

Then she suddenly opened her eyes wide as if remembering something.

"...It’s not over yet!"

She glared at me with sleepy eyes while emitting Voodoo magic power.

Crack!

However, it couldn’t even become a spell circle before turning to ash and disappearing.

"What, what did you do?"

Ha Su-yeong looked at the ash flying away in the wind with a bewildered expression and asked.

"Dismantling. And the bet ended earlier."

"It ended?"

"Yeah. I won and you lost."

When I drove the point home, Ha Su-yeong tilted her head as if puzzled.

"I lost...?"

It seemed her memory was returning late, as Ha Su-yeong’s expression quickly darkened. The confident appearance of her boldly deploying spell circles had long since vanished.

I had guessed as much, but it seemed she had considerable confidence in sorcery. However, confidence tends to quickly turn into despair once broken.

As excessive as her confidence had been, the despair after being broken would be equally great.

"Right. I lost..."

Ha Su-yeong muttered to herself while keeping her gaze on the floor. She was currently in a state where she couldn’t collect herself due to the overwhelming despair.

"Winning and losing isn’t what’s important."

I offered her consolation that wasn’t quite consolation. Ha Su-yeong suddenly raised her head and looked at me with slightly unfocused eyes.

I continued speaking.

"Did you learn sorcery by yourself?"

"A little from dad. No, it was mostly self-taught..."

I thought so. Ha Pan-seok wasn’t skilled enough to teach sorcery to others.

"For self-taught, this level is..."

I trailed off here. Ha Su-yeong was looking at me with trembling eyes. She was waiting for the words to follow.

"Your talent is tremendous."

"...Really?"

"Yeah. The executives weren’t calling you a genius for nothing."

I said it quietly as if talking to myself. Even so, Ha Su-yeong would have heard my words clearly.

Right now she was in a state where she had no choice but to listen carefully to my words. I had made it so.

"If you had learned properly, I might have lost?"

"Really? Really?"

"Yeah. With this level of talent, your learning speed would be incredibly fast too..."

I nodded slightly as if meaningfully. Light finally returned to Ha Su-yeong’s face, which had been shrouded in darkness.

Right after experiencing despair, humans inevitably become psychologically vulnerable. Despair brings emptiness, and emptiness leaves a huge void in the heart. I filled the empty space in Ha Su-yeong’s heart with new deficiency.

You have talent, but you couldn’t make it bloom. You have talent, but the environment was bad. You have talent, but, you have talent, but...

When you hear the words ’you have talent,’ you unconsciously start to suspect that perhaps failure isn’t your fault but the environment’s fault.

Such suspicion eventually turns into resentment. Resentment toward the environment that couldn’t support your talent. Resentment eventually becomes deficiency.

"I learned sorcery from the previous cult leader. There are a few things that would help you if you heard them."

I can fill such deficiency of yours.

If you trust me, you will be able to brilliantly bloom your own talent.

So trust me. Then you will be able to achieve what you desire...

This was the underlying meaning of the words I offered her.

"You have to highlight the deficiency and immediately suggest fulfillment. But what you must remember is that the other person must have the initiative. When they think they have the initiative, gaps actually appear in their heart. We just need to scratch those gaps."

This is a method for captivating the hearts of people who have inherently weak psychology or have become psychologically vulnerable due to circumstances. I learned it from Father.

"What will you do?"

I asked while staring into her eyes. The gaze looking up at me was trembling finely.

"What, what do you mean what will I do."

"There are a few sorcery tips that the previous cult leader taught me. Do you want to hear them?"

"Of course I’d like to hear them."

"Say it clearly. Will you listen or not?"

Ha Su-yeong pretended to think. It was just pretense. Her heart was already decided.

"...Tell me. What is it?"

She answered curtly.

I need Ha Su-yeong. Precisely, I need her sorcery that works on animals too.

However, her sorcery level is too low right now.

Ha Su-yeong would only be useful when she became skilled enough to use the sorcery I ’want’ at the time I ’want’ it.

For that purpose, I planned to position myself as her teacher.

While raising Ha Su-yeong’s sorcery skills to a level I could be satisfied with, I would simultaneously plant the suggestion that ’sorcery skills cannot be improved without me’ so that she couldn’t escape from my grasp...

[That’s quite a villainous idea.]

Legba clicked his tongue and said. I lightly ignored it and looked at Ha Su-yeong.

"First, let’s point out the problems. Your spell circles are too simple."

"I can make them not simple too."

Ha Su-yeong quickly answered as if her pride was hurt.

"Really? Try it."

She drew a spell circle. It seemed she put considerable effort into it, as the strokes were much more complexly connected than before.

However, simply drawing complex strokes doesn’t make a spell circle complex.

Crack!

I mercilessly dismantled and destroyed her spell circle.

"Hey! You, what are you trying to do from earlier...!"

"Simply drawing many strokes doesn’t make it complex."

"What, then how do you do it? Can you do it? You can’t. You’re just a cult leader who’s all talk."

Ha Su-yeong poured out criticism like rapid fire.

A cult leader who’s all talk...

If nothing else, those words bothered me a bit. Maybe it was because they were somewhat accurate.

It seemed I needed to establish discipline before teaching sorcery.

"Do you have the mind to learn?"

When I asked sharply, Ha Su-yeong flinched in surprise and rolled her eyes as if frightened.

"I definitely have the mind to learn..."

"But you talk like that?"

"No, what I meant was..."

Ha Su-yeong rolled her eyes here and there, not knowing what to do. She looked clearly flustered.

"What did we agree on if you lost the bet?"

"...To obediently listen to what you say."

"Then you should obediently listen to what I say. If you keep having this attitude, I’ll lose the desire to teach too."

I smiled and gave a gentle but firm warning in a low tone.

Even if I taught sorcery so that Ha Su-yeong could finally play her role in the future, it would be meaningless if she didn’t listen to me and kept trying to rebel.

What I need is a loyal dog that follows its master well. Not a mad dog that bites its master at any time.

"...I understand, sorry."

Ha Su-yeong finally apologized. I nodded and slowly drew a spell circle.

The reason I deliberately drew it slowly was naturally to show Ha Su-yeong.

"See, if you draw it this way, it becomes much more complex, right?"

"What’s different from mine?"

"Shall I draw it again if you don’t understand?"

Just as I was about to dismantle the spell circle I had drawn, Ha Su-yeong grabbed my wrist.

Then she kept her gaze fixed on the spell circle and slowly shook her head.

"Wait, wait a moment."

"Okay."

Ha Su-yeong seemed hurt in her pride and stared at the spell circle for a long time with a stiff expression. Looking at her expression, it seemed she didn’t understand it well.

After staring at the spell circle without moving for several minutes, Ha Su-yeong finally nodded as if she understood something and opened her mouth.

"It is a bit different."

"Right. Exactly where is it different?"

"Here and here."

The places she pointed to with her finger were circles on both sides of the spell circle’s core. The two parts where I had added strokes.

"Right. Then why do you think I only touched these places?"

"...Because these are important parts?"

"That’s right. You really are smart."

Even though it was casual praise, Ha Su-yeong’s eyes sparkled with joy.

I removed the strokes from the two parts she had pointed to. The spell circle’s deep purple color became slightly lighter.

"What would change if I modify this part like this?"

"I’m not sure."

"Shall I give you a hint?"

"A hint? Are you looking down on me now?"

"If you don’t need it, never mind."

She withdrew her sharp gaze from me and fixed it on the spell circle.

Her eyes were extraordinary. Her gaze was fixed on the spell circle without moving an inch. It was tremendous concentration.

"Give me... a hint."

Still, she eventually seemed unable to figure it out, as Ha Su-yeong reluctantly asked for a hint.

Seeing her look up at me with pitiful eyes, I suddenly felt mischievous.

"Say ’please.’"

"Am I crazy?"

"Really? Then I’ll dismantle the spell circle."

"Wait, wait. I didn’t say to dismantle it, hey!"

Ha Su-yeong shouted while stopping my hand approaching the spell circle. It was a very urgent movement.

"Saying ’hey’ to the cult leader..."

"...Please. Now give me a hint."

"Please? Please what."

"...Please give me a hint. Give me a hint!"

It was a satisfactory answer. I nodded and opened my mouth.

"Fainting sorcery is sorcery that makes the target faint for a while."

"I know that too. Calling that a hint now..."

"How many minutes exactly is that ’while’?"

Ha Su-yeong stared at my face quietly as if trying to understand the meaning of the hint I gave.

Her face, which had been crumpled as she couldn’t easily grasp the meaning, finally brightened. It was an expression of enlightenment.

"You can control the fainting time."

"Right. The essence of fainting sorcery is blowing confusion into the target’s consciousness. That’s the principle by which you make the target faint."

I pointed to the two circles next to the spell circle’s core with my finger.

"If you add strokes to these two circles, you can manipulate the intensity and persistence of the confusion. Then controlling the fainting time becomes possible too."

"But then, wouldn’t it be unconditionally good to maximize both intensity and persistence?"

"No. Intensity and persistence have a negative correlation, so if you increase intensity, persistence weakens, and if you increase persistence, intensity weakens. Balancing them is most important."

If you raise the intensity too high, the persistence becomes correspondingly low, so the target will wake up from fainting before long.

Conversely, if you raise the persistence too high, the intensity becomes low, so there’s a risk the target won’t faint in the first place.

Appropriately controlling intensity and persistence according to one’s capabilities is the key to fainting sorcery.

"Do you understand what I’m saying?"

After finishing my explanation, I asked Ha Su-yeong. She had a puzzled expression as if she hadn’t understood anything from beginning to end.

"I understood."

"You understood?"

"...What’s negative correlation?"

Ha Su-yeong asked reluctantly. It seemed she understood the content but didn’t know the terminology.

"Inverse relationship. When one side goes up, the other side goes down."

"Ah. Why didn’t you just say that from the beginning?"

Ha Su-yeong nodded as if satisfied.

Anyway, it was fortunate if she understood. I continued the explanation.

"And if you use this part well, you can do fusion... Ah. Do you know what fusion spell circles are?"

"You keep looking down on me. I can draw them too."

"Really? Want to try drawing one?"

Ha Su-yeong drew two spell circles in the air.

They were illusion sorceries, specifically fainting and nightmare sorcery.

The two spell circles soon merged through her hands. Ominous, dark mist rose gracefully from the merged spell circle.

Crack, crackle...

I immediately intervened and completely destroyed both spell circles she had created.

"Huh?"

Ha Su-yeong made a questioning sound while staring blankly at her spell circles turning to ash and disappearing.

"...Ah!"

Ha Su-yeong, who belatedly grasped the situation, glared at me with sharp eyes and opened her mouth.

"Hey! If you were going to dismantle them anyway, why did you tell me to draw them!"

"Calling me ’hey’ again?"

"...Why did you tell me to draw them?"

When I showed slight anger, Ha Su-yeong hastily corrected her tone.

"First, what you deployed wasn’t fusion sorcery. You just crudely mashed two sorceries together."

"Then what is fusion sorcery?"

She asked curtly. I drew two spell circles in the air and then fused them.

"This is fusion sorcery."

"What, how is this different from what I did?"

"Your words got shorter."

"How is it different?"

Mashing spell circles together and fusing them were strictly different concepts. However, explaining it in words was a bit ambiguous.

"...I’ll use snow as an analogy."

"Snow?"

"What you did was mashing two snowballs together to make one big snowball. This only makes it bigger, but nothing actually changes."

"Then what’s fusion?"

"Stacking two snowballs to make a snowman. In other words, the meaning changes."

I had kindly explained using an analogy, but Ha Su-yeong still seemed to understand nothing. It seemed better to show her directly while explaining.

I drew 2 each of fainting and intoxication spell circles, floating a total of 4 spell circles in the air.

Then I mashed one fainting and one intoxication spell circle together.

"This is just mashing, not fusion. What would happen to someone who inhaled the mist from this?"

"They’d be intoxicated by intoxication sorcery while fainted. Sir."

"Right. You understand well."

Next, I ’fused’ the fainting and intoxication spell circles. I had deployed a fusion spell circle combining fainting and intoxication.

"This is fusion. What do you think would happen to someone who inhaled the mist from this?"

"What’s different? Both result in fainting and intoxication, it’s the same."

"It’s different. The core of fainting is ’confusion’ as I mentioned earlier. The core of intoxication is ’addiction’ and ’pleasure.’"

Ha Su-yeong looked at me as if wondering what I was getting at. She still didn’t seem to understand completely.

"...If you fuse the ’confusion’ of fainting with the ’addiction’ of intoxication, the target becomes ’addicted’ to ’confusion.’ This is fusion."

"Ah."

"If you mash sorceries, the effects of two sorceries happen simultaneously. If you fuse them, the characteristics of two sorceries combine to create new sorcery."

The same principle can be applied to memory destruction sorcery.

If you fuse the ’oblivion’ that is the core of memory destruction with the ’addiction’ of intoxication, the target becomes ’addicted’ to ’oblivion.’ If you fuse the ’fear’ of nightmares with the ’pleasure’ of intoxication, the target feels ’pleasure’ from ’fear.’

Memory destruction, nightmares, intoxication.

If these three sorceries are appropriately fused, they become the basic form of ’zombification’ sorcery.

If Ha Su-yeong could use zombification sorcery, it would be possible to zombify Satan worshippers’ demonic beasts and neutralize them.

"Do you understand?"

She nodded.

"Then try it."

Ha Su-yeong drew two spell circles in the air without complaint.

Then she mashed those two spell circles together. As expected, it was just mashing, not fusion.

I dismantled her spell circles.

"This isn’t fusion."

"Then what am I supposed to do!"

Ha Su-yeong got angry. I stared into her eyes.

"I’m a bit disappointed. I thought you understood."

Her face darkened.

Ha Su-yeong probably studied sorcery to avoid disappointing her father who encouraged her to become cult leader. Her particularly sensitive reaction to the word ’disappointment’ was probably because of that. That’s why I deliberately used the word disappointment. To stimulate her competitive spirit and to clearly imprint the hierarchical relationship.

"I did understand. I can do it if I try again."

"Okay. Then let’s try again. You should be able to do it."

Ha Su-yeong drew spell circles again and mashed them. As expected, it was just mashing, not a fusion spell circle.

I dismantled and destroyed it.

She didn’t give up and tried again.

"See, it worked, right?"

She asked confidently. I dismantled and destroyed it.

The next spell circle was drawn.

"Did I succeed this time?"

Dismantled and destroyed.

"I think this one really succeeded-"

Crack.

Destroyed.

I repeated dismantling her spell circles many times like this. Spell circles that had turned to dust were floating in the forest darkness.

I couldn’t even guess how much time had passed.

Ha Su-yeong felt all the energy drain from her body. Supporting her body that was about to melt limply, she drew the next spell circle.

And fused it. No, it might have been just mashing, not fusion.

Ha Su-yeong couldn’t judge that. Judging was always Do Seon-woo’s role.

"...Hmm."

Do Seon-woo, looking at the spell circle, made an indecipherable sound. Ha Su-yeong anxiously studied Do Seon-woo’s expression.

However, she couldn’t read his expression at all. That made her even more anxious.

Do Seon-woo, who had been silently staring at the spell circle with his head tilted, finally smiled meaningfully and opened his mouth.

"What number attempt is this?"

"...Twenty-eight. Times."

"Twenty-eight times."

Do Seon-woo nodded while repeating her words.

Suddenly anxiety washed over her.

Somehow it seemed like this would be another failure. If she failed this time too, it would mean 28 consecutive failures.

Do Seon-woo would casually dismantle the spell circle, and I would stare blankly at the spell circle turning to ash while preparing for the 29th attempt...

And face the 29th failure... prepare for the 30th attempt...

A gloomy future was unfolding in her mind.

"What do you think the problem is?"

Do Seon-woo asked, pointing to the deployed spell circle.

Ha Su-yeong felt her heart sink. She cautiously studied Do Seon-woo’s mood and barely managed to open her mouth.

"...This time too, it seems like it’s just mashed together, not fused."

"Then what would be the right way to do it?"

"Try again... I think trying again would be right..."

"Really?"

Crack!

Do Seon-woo mercilessly dismantled the spell circle.

Ha Su-yeong stared blankly at her disappearing spell circle and prepared for the next attempt.

If you’re going to dismantle it anyway, why ask? Crazy psychopath bastard...

Ha Su-yeong cursed Do Seon-woo thoroughly in her mind.

"Ha Su-yeong."

Then Do Seon-woo called her name. Ha Su-yeong broke out in cold sweat and cautiously looked up at him.

"Why, why?"

Her heart was beating like crazy.

Could it be that I accidentally spoke out loud while cursing in my mind earlier? Or did he use mind-reading to read my thoughts?

No, that can’t be. He’s just trying to scare me for no reason. Do Seon-woo is a crazy person who enjoys seeing others frightened...

Ha Su-yeong continuously badmouthed him in her mind while trying to calm her increasingly anxious heart.

"Oh, by the way, that last one was a proper fusion spell circle."

Then Do Seon-woo smiled while looking down at her and said. Ha Su-yeong looked at him with a bewildered expression.

"...What? Then it was a success, wasn’t it a success?"

"Right. It was a success."

"Then why did you dismantle it..."

"Because you said with your own mouth that you’d do it again."

Do Seon-woo said as if it was nothing.

I really want to kill him...

Ha Su-yeong felt murderous impulses.

However, she had no way to kill him.

Sorcery didn’t work on the cult leader. No, actually, I don’t really know if it works or not. It’s because he dismantles spell circles before sorcery can even activate.

It wasn’t that sorcery didn’t work, but that casting sorcery itself was impossible in front of Do Seon-woo.

Should I knock him out with fainting sorcery when Do Seon-woo lets his guard down...

She soon gave up. If she tried something unnecessary and failed, there would be no greater disaster. She feared the retaliation that would come.

"...This time it’s a success, right?"

Ha Su-yeong composed herself and continued with the 30th attempt. This time, even to her own eyes, it seemed like a fairly decent fusion spell circle had been completed.

Do Seon-woo again tilted his head while looking at Ha Su-yeong’s spell circle with an expressionless face.

"What do you think?"

"I think it’s a success."

Ha Su-yeong spoke confidently, thinking it was better than nothing.

"Right. It’s a success. Well done."

Finally, Do Seon-woo nodded and smiled while speaking.

Ha Su-yeong tried to hide her jumping joy. However, even trying to hide it, it wouldn’t be hidden. The corners of her mouth kept rising.

"Your learning speed is fast."

"Of course. Who do you think I am?"

"Right, you definitely have talent. You really are a genius."

You have talent!

It was praise she had constantly heard from her father Ha Pan-seok and other executives. However, hearing it from Do Seon-woo felt much better than hearing it from the executives.

"Just a little more and you’ll be set. Since you learn quickly, there’s reward in teaching too."

Do Seon-woo continued the praise. His voice, which had been cold until now, had changed to a warm and gentle tone as if it had never been otherwise.

However, there was no time to be immersed in joy. It was because of a thought that suddenly crossed her mind.

What if I activate sorcery now?

The spell circle she had deployed was a fusion spell circle combining fainting and nightmares.

Do Seon-woo happened to be distracted. If she activated sorcery now, before Do Seon-woo could react, he would faint.

Her deliberation wasn’t long.

Hissss...

She immediately activated the sorcery. From the spell circle, thick mist tinged with deep purple rose gracefully toward Do Seon-woo.

Do Seon-woo inhaled that mist. Directly too.

"..."

Do Seon-woo’s eyes became hazy.

Success!

I succeeded in making that arrogant Do Seon-woo, who only dismantled my spell circles with a haughty expression, faint with sorcery.

Now what should I do? Should I hit his head with a rock rolling on the ground to kill him? No, I don’t have that courage. Let’s tie up his hands and feet tightly and abandon him in the mountain. That would be better.

Ha Su-yeong’s expression, which had been immersed in joy while imagining pleasant thoughts, hardened right after.

"Sometimes I see."

Do Seon-woo, who she thought had fainted, was standing perfectly fine in front of her.

The warm gaze and tone from when he gave praise had somehow cooled to coldness.

Do Seon-woo was looking at her with such cold eyes while approaching her with big strides.

"Even when you treat them well, there are people who try to climb up. Strangely..."

Strength left Ha Su-yeong’s legs.