Magic Academy Mayhem: A Class Full of Maniacs - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Chilling.

Cynthia felt that, compared to terror, this word better described her current state of mind.

Between the eyeballs and white bones, there were actually sheet after sheet of things that looked like human skin…

But their features were twisted, like the creations described in demonic literature-so ugly they inspired fear.

Thunder crashed again and again. Cynthia raised her hand and used her twin blades to hack apart the white bones clamped tightly around her ankle.

She had meant to retreat to a clean patch of open ground, only to discover that these unsightly, ghastly things had already spread all around them.

To be precise, these things had a collective name-Face-Eating Flower.

They were a type of demonic plant with an extremely powerful reproductive ability. As long as one of them had killed a human before, they could use their species’ unique bloodline ability to replicate a human aura and conceal both their own demonic energy and that of their nearby companions.

Because of that, newly awakened mages often died to ambushes by these disgusting things.

“That’s revolting,” Richter said, his face full of disgust. “Looks like this thing’s afraid of fire.”

Cynthia lit a match, used Magic Element to keep the rain away from it, and tossed it to the ground.

But ordinary flames had no effect on these ghastly things whatsoever.

Cynthia tried to condense a magical fireball, but it failed halfway through.

At this moment, Cynthia truly experienced just how stifling it felt to have her magic sealed.

If fright or especially oppressive emotions could improve mental strength, then Cynthia had no choice but to admit that Griffin’s plan had worked a little.

The light brought by the lightning flickered in and out, and the five of them were forced back toward the forest.

Cynthia glanced at the forest only a few steps away. The ground inside was even wetter, but there were no Face-Eating Flower there.

The appearance of these Face-Eating Flower seemed more like they were forcing them into this forest-a forest that had felt wrong from the very beginning…

Suddenly, white bones gradually broke through the soil. Eyeballs also bounced and waved about.

As if some seal had been lifted, they surged toward the group in a raging tide.

The sky was pitch-black. Following the guidance of aura, Vernel looked toward Cynthia beside her, the one acting as captain.

She asked, “Want to gamble? Maybe the situation in the forest will be better than out here. Of course, it could also be worse.”

The stench of rotting corpses drew closer and closer. Cynthia had no room to worry about anything else. “Go.”

She took the lead and entered the forest. The other four followed closely behind her.
Branches wove together into an airtight net. The sky was already dark night, and beneath the cover of leaves and branches, not even the flash of lightning from the thunderstorm could penetrate.

Cynthia relied entirely on that sliver of Magic Element she could still mobilize to sense her surroundings. Only because of it could she continue moving normally when her vision was practically no different from blindness.

But in the end, they were still affected. Whether it was her or the other four, their speed was clearly nowhere near as fast as when they had been chased by Magical Beasts during the day.

After running for nearly half an hour, the corpse stench emitted by the mucus the Face-Eating Flower sprayed gradually faded away.

Vernel spoke first. “We can stop. The distance Face-Eating Flower can move is limited. They probably can’t catch up.”

“Okay.” Cynthia answered and stopped there.

Just then, the Light Screen lit up for the first time in what felt like ages.

All five of them looked over in unison.

Griffin:

The Light Screen went dark.

Looking at those absurd lines of text, Eli was so angry he laughed. “What does he think we are, some kind of adventurer players?”

“Maybe he does.” Richter spread his hands. “If our luck gets any worse, we’ll be stuck here for the next week. (ノ#-_-)ノ”

Cynthia did have the feeling that she had accidentally wandered into a game dungeon.

But what could they do? They could not force their way out of the academy’s secret realm. They could only follow the instructions.

Fortunately, the seal on their magic had indeed been lifted. Cynthia summoned magical flames.

The gloomy forest instantly brightened.

Darkness magnified people’s fear. Once their vision cleared, everything around them no longer seemed quite so frightening.

At least judging by appearances, this was just an ordinary forest with slightly dim lighting.

Sangmo, who had hardly spoken this entire time, suddenly said, “…Captain, there’s a Ghost behind you.”

Cynthia did not believe in Ghost or spirits, but in this world, things like souls and Ghost were very real.

Rather than look back, the first thing she instinctively did was put distance between herself and where she had been standing.

Then she spun around abruptly and looked at the spot where she had just been.

It was empty. Aside from trees, there was only grass.

Cynthia did not think Sangmo was the type to make such a joke.

Compared to Vengeful Spirit and demons, Ghost had relatively low lethality. They generally controlled the minds of intruders and caused them to lose their way.

She glanced sideways at Sangmo and guessed, “You can see intangible entities like Ghost?”

Sangmo nodded slightly. “My Sequence’s exclusive ability is Nightmare Vision Eye.”

Nightmare Vision Eye-the exclusive Sequence ability of Spirit Sequence 618.

It could see through all false Illusion Realm, as well as half-soul entities in forms such as intangible souls and demons.

However, while the Sequence records currently available on the continent recorded the Sequence abilities of most Sequences, there were no records for Divine Sequence 1 to 20, nor for Spirit Sequence 615 and onward.

As for the reason… In the words of this continent, the former was because they were too lofty and were therefore classified information, while the latter was because they were too trash to be worth recording…

Seeing everyone looking at him, Sangmo silently tugged down his hood to cover half his face, then explained in the simplest terms he could.

After praising him, Cynthia asked, “Then is the Ghost still here now?”

“Yes.” Sangmo pointed at her shoulder. “It’s lying on your shoulder now. White. Around First Order.”

Cynthia: “…”

In this world, low-level Ghost were not very lethal, but the Ghost that surfaced in Cynthia’s mind were all the gaping, bloody-mouthed kind from horror movies. Goosebumps still rose all over her body.

Just as Cynthia wanted to summon light element and force the Ghost to leave, a chill suddenly spread through her body.

This meant… the Ghost was trying to invade her mind and use that to control her consciousness.

“…”

Cynthia narrowed her eyes and silently recited an exorcism spell. Very soon, golden light bloomed, and from beside her shoulder came the smell of something burnt, along with a wail that sounded almost like a hallucination.

Listening to that scream and thinking of Ghost characteristics, Cynthia suddenly formed an absurd idea.

The third lesson was to raise the threshold of mental strength.

…If she actively allowed a Ghost to possess her, and used the Ghost to train her control over her own mental strength, would that produce a multiplied effect?