Chapter 34: The Popular Seed? (4)
It hadn't been long since the two noticed Seed's 'Account'.
His abnormally fast growth and the fact that he often spent time alone.
Because of this, Hammond had been keeping an eye on Seed.
Seed showed signs similar to the 'owners of Ego Weapons' he had seen in his youth.
Then, the 'Mana Burn' incident that got him expelled from the academy was the start of it all.
Hammond proposed a deal to Iris.
The man who had lost his job would get hired by the Cloudsinger family, while Iris, who had shown no noticeable growth, would obtain Seed's magic artifact.
After causing the incident, if Hammond, the prime culprit, had just hidden, that would have been the end of it...
But one slip of his tongue caused things to go awry from the very start.
'Don't do anything stupid and just steal the magic artifact! Right now!'
Iris's eyes silently lashed out in reprimand.
Whether he felt her burning gaze or not, Hammond stroked the lamp at his waist.
Since his identity was already exposed, there was no need to maintain his disguise.
Fwoosh...
Soon, blue smoke billowed, and his original form returned.
His protruding belly and completely bald crown glistened with dew-like beads of sweat.
"Since it's come to this, it can't be helped! Hand over the magic artifact obediently!"
"So you caused all this commotion just for my magic artifact?"
"T-that's right! You proved that artifact's performance yourself, didn't you? So hand it over while I'm asking nicely. That's the only way I'll let the two of them go!"
'It's not like they can use it even if they steal it...'
Seed recalled the time it had been taken by Elena.
Even if they took the Account, not only would they be unable to use it, but it would return to its owner anyway.
Thwack!
"How dare you ignore me!"
"Kyah! Urgh...!"
Hammond grabbed at the hair within reach and yanked it.
He had snatched it thinking it was Leia's, but it was Iris's hair.
The accomplice, whose hair had been grabbed for no reason, glared at Hammond with irritation-filled eyes.
"Ahem... Anyway, listen to me! I said hand it over obediently!"
Seed sighed as he looked at the two girls taken as hostages.
What kind of childish hostage play was this?
In fact, Iris had volunteered to be a hostage in order to remove herself from any list of suspects.
She also intended to keep an eye on the unreliable man herself, but it was still a cause for concern.
"Just let the two of them go. If you leave now, I won't tell the academy."
"What?"
Looking at the clumsy man who had been sloppy since the chase began, Seed wielded his magic circle.
Hammond's eyes flipped at the blatantly dismissive remark from a student.
To think a mere student would ignore a 'former' teacher like him!
Such an unimaginable occurrence back at the academy made his nostrils flare.
But because he had prepared for this day, the man smirked.
It would have been a waste of preparations to simply end it with transformation magic.
"Yes, good... I didn't think you'd listen easily either. It would have been a shame to end it like this!"
Hammond gripped the lamp hanging at his waist.
An old lamp made of brass.
As he stroked it like a cat, the lamp spewed dark blue smoke.
Fwoosh...
Smoke wriggling like bath foam flowed down to the ground.
Normally, smoke would rise into the air, but this sank like a heavy liquid.
Soon, the gradually accumulating form transformed into a giant nearly 3 meters tall.
"Did you call for me, my master?"
The completed giant bowed its head toward Hammond.
Its posture was polite, like a servant serving its master.
"M-master? Yes! I am your master! Then dispose of that wretch!"
Following Hammond's command, the blue giant's gaze turned.
Seed's expression changed upon seeing the giant glaring with red eyes.
The plan to threaten hostages to steal the magic artifact had long since vanished.
The humiliated man began his battle with the student.
"Thunder Strike!"
Boom!
A flash of lightning pierced through the giant.
But the pierced area bubbled and gathered like boiling foam.
"Big Sis, what is that? Is it a special creature? Or magic?"
[A being called a Djinn. It is a powerful magical creature that lies on the border between demon and spirit. We recommend caution.]
'1,390,973...'
As the Account had said, a large number floated above the creature's head.
Mana nearing the 4th Circle.
It wasn't comparable to the crystal orb he had faced a week ago, but if Hammond joined in as well, things would get quite dangerous.
However, Hammond, with his arms crossed, showed no intention of joining in.
Whoosh, boom!
"Urgh!"
The giant's fist flew in without giving him time to think.
As he ducked, splinters of shattered wood flew past overhead.
The giant, having snapped the thick tree, prepared its next attack, and Seed swallowed hard as he watched a massive tree break in two.
"Master's enemy. Annihilating."
Red eyes blazed amid the broken fragments and dust.
Looking at the massive frame and bulging muscles, Seed recalled a familiar figure.
'Haah, that guy really looks like Brother Diallo.'
Seed smirked and unfolded his Magic Sword.
Mana rising from the tips of his palms flared up, connecting to his shoulders.
Seed's 'basic battle stance,' which simultaneously performed defense and attack.
Even after the battle began, Hammond was busy watching with a sneer.
He seemed to believe the giant he had summoned as a minion would take care of everything.
"Yes! Kill that wretch! Right now!"
[1,390,203]
[1,390,203]
'Hmm?'
But something strange entered the boy's eyes.
Weren't the mana of the giant and the mana behind the giant identical?
Moreover, every time the giant moved, both mana reserves were depleted rapidly at the same time.
'Hmm.'
At that moment, Seed realized.
That the giant moved using Hammond's mana.
It wasn't an especially independent entity but a creature relying on its master.
Even more, the massive amount of mana decreasing every moment indicated that this thing had 'terrible fuel efficiency.'
Truly like a 'mana-eating hippo.'
'Good. So that number above that guy's head is all its life force, right?'
Having grasped the way to defeat it, Seed licked his lips.
The giant was gnawing away at its master's mana, and the master didn't even realize his mana was disappearing.
If he took the giant down, Hammond's mana would hit rock bottom as well.
Shhk!
"Hup!"
Counterattacks began as he sliced the approaching arm.
Seed leapt over the creature's fist and stabbed its nape.
Then, as he cut along its spine in a smooth curve, thick smoke spewed out from the wound.
Pshhh!
[1,380,289]
'Nice.'
The boy's smile spread at the quickly depleting mana.
As expected, this creature was a weakness that sapped Hammond's mana.
Shhk, thud!
Seed dodged the flying fist and gouged out the giant's shoulder joint.
The deeply caved hole spewed blue smoke, and the dangling arm fell off when he slashed it once more.
For Seed, who had even dodged the swordsmanship of the former knight Rowark, fists of this level were nothing serious.
"Puahaha! That giant is invincible! You can't defeat it with your skills!"
Just as Hammond said, the giant's wounds and lost body parts recovered.
But Seed, having identified the giant's true nature, remained calm.
If Hammond knew that all the smoke leaking from the giant was his own mana, he would probably faint.
Thud!
'A million!'
The giant's thick forearm fell off.
At the same time, his mana was chopped away in a massive chunk.
"Thunder Strike!"
Boom!
Seed's flashing lightning pierced the giant's abdomen.
As it recovered like a cumulus cloud, the Account's admonishment came through.
[Large magic is unnecessary. As it is now, the Magic Sword is most effective.]
"Got it!"
Seed slid under the giant's widely spread groin.
He had tried the magic as an experiment, and as expected, the Magic Sword seemed to be the best.
Indeed, in this situation, there was no better magic than the Magic Sword, which could chop away tens of thousands with a mere twenty coins.
"Dodging this way and that, but one hit and you're finished! Keep it up!"
Hammond shouted, cheering on the giant.
Thick sweat trickled down through the sparse patches on his balding crown.
Before anyone knew it, both Leia's and Iris's gazes were fixed on the dazzlingly moving boy.
The boy facing the blue giant by the starlight-shimmering lakeshore.
The mana flowing over his arms intertwined, creating a scene like a work of art.
Shhk!
'Eight hundred thousand.'
Whenever the slow fist loomed, the boy's sword moved.
To Hammond's eyes, it looked like it was recovering instantly, but the truth was different.
All of this was blood-like money... no, 'blood-like mana.'
Shhk, slash!
'Six hundred thousand!'
Seed dodged the giant's fist and severed its thigh.
Thick smoke seeped from the thigh, as thick as a cyclist's.
Soon, the boy, having gotten behind the staggering creature, struck its neck.
Thud!
'550,000!'
Along with the head flying into the sky, 50,000 mana vanished.
The owner would probably feel sick if he saw these numbers directly, and Seed couldn't help but laugh at having to watch this splendid scene alone.
Just as the investigation of the giant was completed, the Account opened its mouth.
It was honey-sweet news, especially since he was getting tired of the repetitive fighting.
[The entity is determined to be a
"A Jann?"
At the Account's kind explanation, his gaze shifted.
The giant's body had slowed so much that he could afford to look away.
[A Jann is a Djinn that parasitizes its host, gnawing on their mana. It stimulates the host's delusions and acts as if it is something substantial, but it is hollow.]
"You're the opposite of Big Sis! She might seem like she's nothing, but she's all substance!"
Shhk!
'200,000!'
The boy's attack continued, hacking away massive chunks of flesh.
The feeling of severing flesh at the tip of the sword was indescribably satisfying.
Perhaps the boy was feeling a strange satisfaction from the game-like numbers disappearing with every attack.
"Haaah... why can't you suppress him!"
Hammond was growing anxious at the battle that had already lasted five minutes.
When he wiped sweat with trembling hands, an inexplicable dizziness washed over him.
He thought he wasn't doing anything, but it was only natural since he was pouring his mana into that extreme paragon of inefficiency.
'100,000!'
Boom!
Finally, tremendous smoke spewed from the gaping throat of the broken giant.
Its throat spewed an enormous amount of steam, like a rice cooker with finished rice.
When the gaping wounds didn't even recover, Hammond and Iris turned pale.
By the time they realized the severity of the situation and prepared magic, it was already too late.
Smack!
"Puhugh!"
A heavy iron fist hammered into Hammond's abdomen.
His jiggling belly fat swayed at the end of the tightly clenched fist.
'Tch!'
As the lackluster fight ended, the accomplice Iris dropped her head.
Seed opened his mouth toward the fallen man.
"The giant in this lamp. It's a Djinn called a Jann."
"Puheuk... a Jann? Wh-what is that...?"
"A mirage that pretends to be something while sucking your mana dry, useless in reality. Just like the teacher who parasitized the academy, right?"
Two months' worth of resentment was conveyed in a calm tone.
Even though he had bought it at the market, it was a tool he had spent all his remaining money on, so hearing that it only sucked his mana instead of helping made his face stiffen.
"N-no, how... What do you mean...!"
"Magic artifacts choose masters suitable for them, after all."
[15...]
[19...]
[27...]
Hammond's bottomed-out mana slowly recovered.
But no matter how quickly it recovered, he would need several hours to threaten Seed.
Moreover, even if he resisted, he had no confidence he could beat the boy.
From the very beginning, it was uncertain whether Hammond could have won even if he had gone all out.
"Ugh... h-help..."
'What of it, pig.'
Even at the eyes begging for help, Iris was cold.
From the start, she had decided to cut ties if things went wrong, so there was no way she would help.
"Krr... urgh...!"
Hammond trembled, unable to do anything.
His forehead pressed to the floor and his trembling fist seemed to show his devastated state of mind.
A man who had lost his job, kidnapped students, and even tried to kill them.
His ending was decided thus.
- To be continued in Chapter 35 -