<888 – The Unqualified One (11)>
Why on earth do [animals] give birth to [undead animals]?
The students rescued on the Jigoku Pirate Ship all felt wronged in unison, lamenting why undead and animal species were classified as animals.
“An animal that’s undead is still undead; how can that be an animal? It’s just a skeleton with no internal organs!”
“Seriously, did we come all the way to Professor Weird’s front yard just to fight a defense battle over this animal nonsense…?”
“The little evil dragon class doesn’t go anywhere…”
Even though the students starting Season 2 of Death Zone Defense couldn’t stop grumbling, they didn’t stage a coup or strike on the ship.
While Oknodie’s brute strength was frightening, there were also reasons why the defense was manageable.
“If you’re going to suffer, then I’ll lend a small hand!”
Oknodie released its cherished power.
Four 7th-grade Guard Golems and one 8th-grade Battle Golem kicked things off.
Even this was almost on par with normal professor-level strength, but following the golems were reinforcement units fully armed with suspiciously powerful magical equipment.
[Undead Sergeant A, an Empire Hero with an Artificial Self]
[Undead B, an Empire Hero who lost their Ease]
[Undead C, an Empire Hero who lost their Ease]
The reinforcements were undead heroes temporarily returned from Masugaki.
Some of them had souls intertwined with the Blood Band’s executives, now employees at Oknodie’s BGM Production Studio, passionately playing in the
[Spirit Manipulation Technique]
By merging the演奏術 developed since the Blood Band days with Oknodie’s upgraded mana control, it became possible to dominate and manipulate close heroes.
Armored with ancient hero gear boasting effects stronger than the mobs, they unleashed even greater power against their fellow undead.
[Dark Mana Superiority Judgment Successful]
[Dark Mana Interference Judgment Successful]
[Dark Mana Domination Judgment Successful]
“Ah, if we openly use the undead as our allies, we’ll be suspected!”
The undead on the ship suddenly lined up next to the heroes, attacking the incoming kin, creating a strange scene, but the students deduced it when they saw the undead leap back down after blowing their kin to smithereens with the [Bone Explosion] spell.
“I guess those are seniors from Professor Sadako’s Research Lab.”
“Is there even a senior over there? I thought no one listened except for the little trio.”
“Still, since they’re professors, someone must have taken the lecture. They probably had a class before the little trio showed up.”
Ziang, a member of the little trio, felt a peculiar joy at being called short, spinning a shuriken between his fingers.
He interpreted it as a sign that shorter individuals had higher mana compression rates.
However, few used height to denote such strength, except for crazy efficiency fighters, and his peers weren’t that obsessive.
Regardless of the truth, hearing that made those who listened feel good, so it was all good.
Ziang was more curious about what his peers raised.
“Oknodie. Is there a senior in Professor Sadako’s lecture?”
“A little, but there are some who were unfortunately exposed to dark mana and are struggling with career choices!”
“…I know Professor Sadako’s lectures are not well-regarded, but is that how bad it is?”
That level of treatment seemed like vocational training or welfare lectures for unfortunate exposure victims.
“Anyway, we’ve summoned all the undead animals we could! Let’s go!”
“Aren’t we going to destroy the Death Zone?”
“The seniors here are strong enough to withstand it due to torment from Professor Weird! If we destroy the functional training area, it’ll make them mad!”
“Not everyone thinks like you Oknodie. Besides, other Death Zones are growing in strength and size too.”
Thanks to Ziang’s persuasion, the Death Zone in Professor Weird’s lab area was finally destroyed.
However, Oknodie still hadn’t collected enough animals to be satisfied.
He felt instinctively that to receive the final reward, he needed to gather a few more, slightly rarer animals.
“We’ve filled the quantity, now we just need to gather rare ones!”
“Where are the rare animals in our academy?”
“The Production Department prefers quantity, but the Magic Department favors rarity. It’s good for research and practical efficiency!”
Thus, the next destination became the Magic Department Lecture Building.
Ziang was a bit excited.
He casually sat on the bow of the ship where Oknodie was perched, swinging his legs back and forth.
The salty scent of the sea.
The sky dyed orange.
Buildings from the lecture hall reflected on the surface, combined with students vigorously waving their hands in greeting.
Even Oknodie’s pretty side profile, if he kept his mouth shut, made this moment feel like an everlasting memory.
“Ziang, look over there!”
“They’re waving.”
Ziang waved back.
Oknodie giggled beside him.
“That’s not a greeting, it’s a distress signal!”
“Why are they inside the building and asking for help?”
“Because the food inside is only available in the seniors’ club room or the professors’ research labs, and if you don’t join a club or become a lab assistant, they don’t share food!”
Ziang was touched by the ruthless nature of the seniors trying to rescue unpaid slaves amidst the confusion.
Honestly, that was too much.
“Ah, it’s Andersen!”
Oknodie pointed to something while looking at the Administrative Department lecture building across.
Following the tip of Oknodie’s finger, Ziang activated a spell for enhanced sight to check it out, and saw Seoguyeon was selling lifeboats, modeled after emergency boats from the new student dormitory, to nobles.
Even in this disaster, preparing transportation and selling it at a markup proved Seoguyeon’s relentless vitality.
Bwoooo-!
There were minor troubles too.
A giant turtle, looking like it spanned several hundred meters, blocked the ship’s path and shot a glance at the pirate ship, as if thinking, “Is this guy for real?”
As its massive jaws, lined with sharp teeth, opened wide, Ziang pondered whether to load a poison round or something else.
Bang!
Fortunately, there was no need to fire the cannon.
A senior from the fourth year, wielding a more formidable palm than any cannon, turned the turtle’s head in response.
Hiss. Didn’t I tell you not to bite people? Why do you have your eyes wide open? If you keep doing that, you might end up starving.
Grrr…
Ziang exhibited curiosity at the skill of threatening a turtle the size of a building like a pet.
“Who’s that senior?”
“The third strongest among the fourth years!”
“How about Senior Velvet?”
“Now, I think they’re second?”
“That glasses senior who’s constantly hunting?”
“Right now, they’re fourth!”
“Hmmm… is that so?”
So, this senior was weaker than Velvet but stronger than the glasses guy.
Ziang felt both curiosity and competitiveness.
As a greeting, he threw a gold coin like a magic spell.
Thud!
Ziang, hoping for a stunning catch followed by a toss back, was deeply disappointed.
The senior just sat there dumbly and got hit on the back of the head with a gold coin.
“Are you really a strong senior?”
“Probably? That senior’s using the [Synchronization Build]!”
“Synchronization Build?”
Ziang, hearing various builds that his peers tried to become stronger, had never heard of the Synchronization Build before.
“It’s a build that allows you to perfectly synchronize your summoned creature’s physical abilities with your own. The stronger the summoned creature, the higher the synchronization rate, making you stronger!”
“…With that giant turtle’s physique, couldn’t it crush a building with one hand?”
“Maybe?”
Ziang finally understood.
With such monstrous specs, you wouldn’t need to train in combat.
The weak either practiced receiving damage or defending; an overwhelming strong one would only feel a mosquito bite at worst.
There was a senior stronger than him, Velvet.
Ziang shuddered at the thought of Seoguyeon’s strength.
“Move aside!”
“Thanks, senior!”
Under the giant turtle, the cafeteria building stood, and the ingredients that had returned to life as undead right after the battle were immediately turning back into ingredients for the giant turtle, a fact Ziang and Oknodie pretended not to see.
Thus, they finally reached the Magic Department Lecture Building.
An eldritch being was flinging thousands of shattered pieces of the lecture hall building in every direction, and the cadets getting crushed by debris, covered in a great magical defense, were caught between the magical damage inflicted by the Strength Sorcerer Lich.
“Uhhh!! Are you really the undead magician lich who seeks the ultimate in magic? Stop throwing debris using force and fight with magic instead!”
“Strength puts my mind at ease. You all don’t merit the value of complicating my thoughts.”
“When’s the Knight Department reinforcement even coming?!”
The cadets, suffering through a massacre at the hands of magical debris, found one senior desperately maintaining altitude with flight magic amidst the chaos, who spotted the Jigoku pirate ship.
“Finally! Reinforcements have arrived?!”
“Uh… um… we’re just passing through… gonna keep passing through now!”
As Oknodie stated, Jigoku made a natural turn of the ship to retreat from the battlefield.
Boom!
Whoosh!
The Strength Sorcerer Lich threw debris to block the exit.
“A traveling buffet has arrived fully stocked with various foods; I can’t just let them go.”
“Ugh, I’m not collecting this to share! I was just going to pass through because they were an inefficient opponent, but if they’re causing trouble, I guess I’ll have to teach them a lesson!”
Sensing an unavoidable fight, Oknodie pulled out a small wand.
Ziang, who hadn’t easily seen Oknodie pull out “a weapon” since attaining a certain level of strength, tensed at the encounter with a formidable enemy.
“Oknodie, what’s that weird lich’s weakness?”
Knowing the weaknesses of all beings in the world, Oknodie easily informed him again.
“Insufficient mana!”
“How could the highest tier of undead magicians, the lich, be out of mana?”
“The maintenance costs for the body enhancement spell are high, so they don’t actually use much magic! It’s not as easy as you’d think?”
It didn’t look easy at all.
“How do you drain that mana? You said they only use the body enhancement spell.”
“You have to push them into a crisis that they can’t overcome with that physique so that maintaining the enhancement spell becomes impossible! Just as much as Professor Plato would do, I guess?”
“Is that really feasible…?”
