Why Did I Have to Enroll

Chapter 137:

Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 137

Lesson 28: The Flower Festival of Ruin - 4

When Yumina first mentioned the term “relic,” Ban Yu-won thought she was referring to an artifact. However, that wasn’t the case. It was actually a relic.

“What’s the difference?”

“An artifact refers to any object with magical abilities that have existed since ancient times. A relic is a subcategory of artifacts, enhanced by the deep thoughts of its user. You know how they say that objects used for a long time have a soul?”

Ban Yu-won paused at her words. The idea of objects having souls seemed to apply to most of the artifacts he possessed!

“Is it like when a powerful person dies, and their soul gets embedded in an object?”

“That can happen, but genuine heirlooms like that are rare. Most of the time, it’s just that a single person or multiple people use an object over a long period, and their thoughts naturally imbue it. Or, by some miraculous chance, an artifact might develop a consciousness.”

The concept of thoughts imbuing long-used objects was reminiscent of the Japanese folklore of Tsukumogami. Similarly, in Korea, there are tales of goblins being born from old brooms, pokers, and straw shoes. It seems that the imagination of ancient people was quite similar across cultures.

A relic that naturally gains a soul, rather than being born with one. Ban Yu-won found himself intrigued by these rare artifacts.

“Still, most relics aren’t that different from other artifacts. Of course, relics left by powerful individuals often have superior performance or unique abilities not found in other artifacts.”

“That’s impressive on its own. Is that why the orcs are causing such a ruckus?”

“If they just obtained a good artifact, the orcs wouldn’t have multiplied to this extent. Plus, you saw it too, right? They turned a monster wave into an orc wave.”

Ban Yu-won nodded in agreement. There was a reason Yumina had emphasized the term “relic.”

“Orcs are a race with a strong natural affinity for spiritual inspiration. You could say they’re easily possessed by spirits. They have a knack for deeply communicating with the thoughts embedded in objects and amplifying that power. They’re essentially the perfect race for handling relics.”

“Ah, so that’s why the professor was so shocked to see the orcs with a relic.”

The ability to read the memories of objects is known as psychometry. Orcs likely go a step further, converting the history accumulated by an object through contact with its thoughts into power.

There are a few novels and comics on Earth that deal with similar psychic abilities.

“Then you could call that spiritual power.”

“Exactly. That’s why orcs often excel as spirit summoners in dimensions connected to spirits.”

With their already formidable close combat abilities, adding spirit control made them a race that could be considered the strongest. It’s ironic that despite all these advantages, their inherent wildness led them to become corrupted monsters, hunted down as they are now.

“Wait a minute. I understand that an orc with a relic becomes incredibly powerful, but that doesn’t explain the current situation.”

“Orcs can enhance more than just the relic’s performance. Communicating with a relic also significantly impacts the orc’s own body and mind. In particular, their spiritual power is greatly amplified, allowing them to exert absolute control over others with lower spiritual power.”

Ban Yu-won recalled the sight of countless orcs moving like an army behind a massive orc wielding a giant sword, nodding in understanding.

A legion controlled by a single absolute ruler. From the moment he first saw it, it felt distinctly different from a typical monster wave, and indeed it was.

“To put it simply, it’s like becoming the Lord of the orcs.”

“That’s right, I’ll give you extra points for that!”

It’s a pity they’re not at the academy right now.

“The scale varies greatly depending on the relic’s performance, but what we saw earlier was at least a mid-grade item. The worst part is that the birth of the orc lord coincided with the monster wave. As we saw, the monster wave was transformed into an orc wave under the influence of the orc lord.”

A monster wave is an infectious wave that transforms everything with mana into monsters. However, the spiritual power of an orc greatly enhanced by a relic can also affect this infectious wave!

Thinking about it the other way around, does that mean the infectious wave is related to the power of the soul?

During the wave in Room 39, Celon mentioned that those with a high soul level or those who had already dedicated their souls, like Luciel, wouldn’t be affected by the infectious wave.

“The phenomenon where an orc lord with a relic transforms a monster wave into an orc legion is called an orc wave. The birth of a lord commanding a million orcs is rare enough to be in textbooks, so why did it happen in an F-grade dimension…?”

“At least it’s not happening in an E-grade or D-grade dimension.”

Having informed the kingdom of the severity of the situation, the group watched as the kingdom panicked and realized they couldn’t rely on them. They hovered in the air, thanks to Yumina’s magic, observing the greenish wave approaching the kingdom.

As Ban Yu-won listened to Yumina’s detailed explanation of the situation, he suddenly asked, “But professor, isn’t using your magic to observe the battlefield against the principles of special activities?”

“That’s a rather novel question, Ban Yu-won. The moment you encountered the orc wave, your first special activity was already over. Even if we brought all the other first-year students, they wouldn’t be able to handle this exception.”

With a few more strong individuals like Ortima or Ayre, it might not be the case. Ban Yu-won thought about it, then realized they were also beyond the scope of first-year students and kept quiet.

“Hmm. It’s a bit strange.”

Dokgo Yeon, who had been quietly observing the orc horde, tilted her head in confusion.

“With such an overwhelming number, why aren’t they surrounding the kingdom from all sides and charging in a straight line? Do they lack situational awareness? The orcs we encountered in the previous tower weren’t this foolish.”

“That’s probably because the orc lord was born not long ago. The cohesion of the legion isn’t strong enough to execute complex commands. That’s why the orc lord is leading the charge at the front, guiding them all.”

In fact, with a force that large, there’s no need for intricate tactics or strategies, Yumina added.

Frankly, if it weren’t for Rebellion, the orcs would have marched on and trampled the kingdom without any issues, turning the humans into orcs and advancing to the next country.

…What if another freshman had been assigned to this dimension instead of Rebellion? Without Professor Jung as a guide, they might have been swept away and killed by the orcs.

The thought sent chills down his spine.

“Hmmm.”

Dokgo Yeon, who had been closely watching the orc army, especially the lord, let out a low hum and narrowed her eyes. Then she suddenly muttered, “What if we dropped a mountain giant right in the middle of them?”

“What? Were you aiming for such an epic scenario…?!”

“If we repeat the process of throwing and retrieving, we could quickly reduce the number of orcs and create a gap between the lord and the soldiers.”

Ban Yu-won imagined a giant golem appearing here and there, crushing orcs. If it didn’t die in the process, it was a perfect plan.

The core of her plan seemed to be isolating the orc lord from the other orcs. She intended to disrupt the legion based on the notion that the lord’s control wasn’t yet firm.

“That’s actually plausible. A mass weapon that can be freely retrieved and thrown again. In such a vast environment, there’s nothing more reassuring.”

Considering the depth of the core concept held by the mountain giant, it would surely exceed a thousand. If it fell on Ban Yu-won’s head, he wouldn’t be safe, so how could the orcs be?

In fact, even if the legion was disrupted, just having a massive mountain rolling around the battlefield could probably deal with tens of thousands of orcs.

“But if we do this, I won’t be able to face the orc lord. Ban Yu-won, can you handle it?”

Dokgo Yeon looked at Ban Yu-won intently as she spoke. The fact that she addressed him instead of Light or Luciel made her intentions clear.

Ban Yu-won grinned and replied, “Sure, I was curious about that relic too. Let’s do it. I’ll lend you Eve. Eve will help you move freely in the sky.”

“Ssss!”

Though Eve seemed a bit displeased, feeling like she was helping others more than Ban Yu-won lately, she obediently transformed. Her form was none other than Lilith before she became a metal egg.

With a little help from Yumina’s power, they could execute the mountain giant throwing operation across the battlefield without Eve’s involvement, but since they were out for special activities, he wanted to resolve the situation without her help.

“Hmm… Alright. I’m counting on you, snake.”

?Vroom

Eve responded with a very disgruntled engine sound. Dokgo Yeon didn’t mind and climbed onto Eve, not sitting properly but with her legs gathered to one side. The demure posture seemed both uncharacteristic and fitting for her, making him chuckle.

“Tike, assist Dokgo Yeon.”

?Buzz

With Tike floating in the air, ready to provide support with projection magic, he felt a bit more at ease.

“Yu-won, are you sure about this?”

As Ban Yu-won and Dokgo Yeon exchanged words, and it seemed like Dokgo Yeon was really going to execute the plan on Eve, Yumina, breaking her usual demeanor, began to worry seriously about Ban Yu-won.

“As I said earlier, this orc wave far exceeds the level of an F-grade dimension. And that goes for the orc lord’s individual power too.”

“I know.”

Yumina probably wanted to say that the orc lord was stronger than him and hoped he wouldn’t do anything reckless.

“It’s fine. Actually, it’s better this way.”

But Ban Yu-won had already anticipated that. He believed that was why Dokgo Yeon had made such a suggestion to him.

‘She wants me to confront him with swordsmanship. She knows I’m anxious about not creating my swordsmanship, so she’s giving me a chance to be stimulated.’

Coincidentally, the relic the orc lord obtained was also a sword. A remarkable artifact that created a legion of a million orcs must have something to learn from, both in the thoughts it contained and the orc’s combat techniques.

‘Truly a great mentor…’

How could he not respect Dokgo Yeon, who, despite the orc lord being the most interesting opponent, chose to carry out the troublesome plan herself?

He saluted her in his heart as he watched her ride Eve into the sky, then turned to his companions and said, “Light, Luciel, would you mind holding off the other orcs so I can face the orc lord one-on-one?”

“…I’ll do it, but your expression is annoying.”

“I’m a bit jealous.”

Though Light and Luciel seemed somewhat dissatisfied, they nodded in agreement with his request. But what was there for Luciel to be jealous of just now?.

?Boom!

At that moment, a thunderous noise wiped all thoughts from their minds.

“Wow…”

“It’s unbelievable, even seeing it again. The fact that such a monster appeared in Room 39 and that Dokgo Yeon tamed it.”

“Amazing, a mass weapon.”

The sight of a massive mountain golem, hundreds of meters tall and wide, crashing into the center of the battlefield. The orc army, disturbed by the natural disaster, halted their charge and scattered, with at least thousands dying, as evidenced by the golden strings of text soaring into the sky before Ban Yu-won’s eyes!

“It’s like dropping a boulder on an ant colony… No, never mind.”

Though it would be challenging to recover all of that from such a distance without direct involvement, collecting even 10% of the concepts from a million orcs would be a huge gain.

“Shall we go too?”

Ban Yu-won watched Dokgo Yeon retrieve the mountain giant and take to the sky again, unfazed by the attacks flying in from all directions, then turned his gaze to Yumina. She sighed and nodded at him.

“Really, there’s no helping it… If I think it’s dangerous, I’ll intervene immediately, so don’t get mad, okay?”

“Professor, what exactly are you to Ban?”

“Well, maybe a sister?”

“Where’s your conscience… Whoa!”

As Yumina lightly waved her hand, Light, who had been trying to tackle her, was sent flying towards the ground, followed by the others in order. Their destination was the forefront of the orc army, right in front of the orc lord struggling to control the disrupted legion due to the mountain giant’s rampage.