Chapter 125: Cancellation

Have you ever witnessed a confrontation between giant monsters up close?

Thinking of “G0dzilla vs. King K0ng” or the battle between Ultraman and Zetton, Ian realized those films made a massive historical error.

The battles between colossal beings wouldn’t end with just a few buildings collapsing and some playful grappling.

A true clash between such monstrous entities would yield transcendental destruction.

“─Ah, ah, ah! Aah!”

The Mountain Keeper swung its massive arms, tearing apart the stems spewed by the plant demon. 

The demon cried out in agony, as though its arm had been severed.

At the same time, blood-like tears streamed from the demon’s eyes. Its upper body resembled a gigantic beauty, and for some reason, Ian felt a strange flutter in his chest as he looked at it.

‘It’s the demon’s trick…’

It created a human-like form to stir sympathy in the Summoner. Emotions from the Summoner were transmitted back to the summon. If the Summoner sympathized with the demon, they too would be affected.

It wasn’t as though the academy cadets were just sipping tea behind the walls, blind to the demon’s appearance.

“Mountain Keeper!”

But unfortunately for the demons, it was Catherine on the battlefield—Catherine, who made her name mastering that very Mountain Keeper.

Famous for piling up mountains of demon corpses, she became the Academy’s principal while still in her twenties. A prodigy in demon hunting.

“Mountain—Smasher!”

She had no mercy. She had only one thought:

‘The only good demon is a dead demon.’

”’

The Mountain Keeper’s fist shot forward at a speed beyond physical limits. When it struck, she was torn from the earth and flung into the air.

“─Ahhhh!”

Clara screamed as unbearable pain consumed her. She cried out to the principal.

‘It’s me! Principal? Why? Why—why won’t you stop?!’

“─Why oh oh oh oh!!”

But the principal gave the Mountain Keeper a ruthless command, as if Clara’s cries never reached her ears. 

Clara felt her body ripping apart and writhed in agony.

‘I hate this. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die like this.’

That overwhelming fear awakened the latent power within her.

Whoosh—!

Boom!

Clara’s stems pierced the Mountain Keeper’s body, planting millions of seeds within. Within moments, countless flowers bloomed all over its colossal frame.

No one, not even giants towering tens of meters tall, can move with flowers rooted through their body. Drained of energy, the Mountain Keeper collapsed. 

Clara extended her stems and took root on her fallen summon.

“─Ah, ah, ah! Ah ah ah!”

‘So good—!’

A horrifying pleasure overtook her. Language failed her, replaced by incoherent sounds.

“—Ewh, heh, he, he, heee!”

Guided by her unstable emotions, Clara’s stems began to destroy the Academy at random. 

The cadets hiding nearby—too terrified to flee—were being killed one after another.

Eventually, both cadets and instructors who had initially avoided confronting her summoned their own summons and began to fight back.

“―Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Agony. 

Her whole body felt like it was burning. Dozens of stems—extensions of herself—were severed.

But all that pain only brought her joy. She was happy. Her brain sang with pleasure.

“Hey, quick! Stop her already!”

“Are you trying to burn the whole Academy down?!”

At that moment, a voice—one she knew intimately—called to her from a distance. Her eyes darted around, searching for its source.

Ian. 

‘Ian Clark.’

Her friend. Her brother. Her family. Her pride.

He was chatting with a red-haired woman, paying her no attention. 

Ignoring her.

‘You’re ignoring me—after all we were…’

She couldn’t accept it.

The voice she’d last heard echoed in her mind again. ‘How?’ it whispered.

‘Make them all see you.’

Ah, yes. That’s right. ‘Make them see me.’ No… not all of them. Just Ian.

‘Only Ian needs to see me.’

“—Ian! Iaan!”

“Do you know them? Were they someone you knew?” someone asked.

“No way,” Ian replied.

Clara froze.

‘Why are you pretending not to know me? Ian—it’s me. Your childhood friend. Your instructor. Your first love.’

Of course. He wouldn’t recognize her. Not in this monstrous form—this hideous plant.

Plop.

She, once a plant, now shed that form like a husk. She rose like a butterfly.

And at that moment, she felt it—an overwhelming energy surging through her, unlike anything she’d known before.

‘Ah… with this power—I…’

“I─aaan!”

After transforming into a butterfly, she shot down toward Ian like a bee. 

At the same time, Ian gave an order to Syrah, who was standing next to him.

“Now.”

“Grant!”

Intense magical power surged from the witch in the conical hat standing before Ian. 

Clara, having evolved and gained immense power, possessed such overwhelming mana that even she was forced to pause for a moment.

And in the next instant, a powerful beam of light erupted from the ground.

‘Eh──!!’

Overwhelmed by blinding pain, light, and noise—so intense she couldn’t even scream—she was blasted out of the stratosphere.

Darkness surrounded her. Though the atmosphere remained stiflingly warm, Clara instinctively sensed the danger and dove back downward.

She tried to—

“Hi?”

The witch she had seen earlier suddenly appeared before her eyes. Empress, who had teleported there, greeted her warmly and waved.

Then—bright beams of light exploded across the sky.

***

While the Mountain Keeper was locked in battle with the demon that had suddenly appeared, it wasn’t as though Ian was standing around helplessly.

‘I knew it—the Mountain Keeper can’t win alone.’

It was a judgment based on experience. No matter how massive a summon might be, a boss-level monster couldn’t be taken down by a 4-star summon alone.

Especially not by the summons of this world who hadn’t even leveled up. 

Ian immediately rushed off with Syrah and Dinua to meet Stella.

Fortunately, each of them summoned their own beasts to help—clearing collapsed buildings, cutting through overgrowth, and rescuing cadets.

“Stella! Syrah!”

“Ian? Why are you—?”

“Noah!?”

“She fainted. Evacuate her now.”

At that, Ian sighed. If he had Noah with her 5-star summon, he could finally catch his breath—but there was no use lamenting. If you don’t have teeth, you chew with your gums.

“Then get ready.”

“Ready?” Stella asked.

“Ready to fight.”

He pointed at the demon. Stella followed his finger and frowned at the creature battling the Mountain Keeper.

Leaving aside the issue of ‘how’ they were supposed to fight it, she wondered if there was any need. The principal seemed to be holding her own.

But if Ian said it was necessary, that meant there was a hidden power they hadn’t accounted for. Without further hesitation, Stella—who had just finished burning away debris to free more cadets—headed with Syrah to a vantage point where they could clearly see the demon.

“Mountain Smasher!”

At that moment, the Mountain Keeper landed an uppercut, sending the demon flying. Stella saw that and thought they might not be needed after all.

But she was wrong.

Moments later, the demon rose and pierced straight through the Mountain Keeper, subduing it effortlessly.

“No, what the hell is that…?”

There was no time for disbelief. Realizing it was their turn now, Stella turned to Syrah.

“Hey, use that—quickly!”

“No, ‘you’ use yours!”

“What? That’s a plant! You have Ifrit!”

“The academy is made mostly of wood. Are you planning to burn the whole place down?”

“—Ian! Iaan!”

Perhaps having heard them, the demon let out a furious cry and glared in their direction. Syrah turned to Cadet Ian and asked gently,

“Do you know them? Were they someone you knew?”

“No way…”

A demon suddenly appearing in the academy—it had to be one of the cadets. At least, everyone Ian knew was accounted for.

“I─aaan!”

“…They’re coming.”

“There’s no time for all of us to act. It’s your turn this time,” Stella said, stepping back.

Ian nodded and summoned Empress.

A moment later, the witch in the conical hat appeared, raised her wand, and looked toward the demon.

“Um, you summoned me to stop ‘that’? Summoner, are you an idiot?”

Even with her immense presence and magical power, Empress—a 4-star summon—could not handle the demon alone.

“Syrah.”

“Yes.”

“Now.”

“Grant!”

At that moment, the Blue Bird’s special move activated and transferred its level-up buff to Empress. Feeling the surge of magical energy coursing through her body, Empress gripped her wand.

“…Cancel that remark.”

Empress retracted her earlier comment and immediately launched a massive magic cannon at the demon. The charging demon was blasted far beyond the range of the naked eye.

As the demon disappeared into the distance, Empress vanished as well, saying she would return shortly.

“Well… what now?”

“What do you think?”

When Syrah asked, Ian simply pointed to the wreckage of the academy.

“We save people.”

Without delay, they all rushed off, joining the others to rescue the cadets who had yet to escape.