Restoration.
A sorcery similar in purpose to divine healing power. Literally, it's sorcery that heals by 'restoring' damaged parts of the human body.
It has the highest difficulty among sorceries. Restoration spell circles are several times more complex than other spell circles. Of course, for me, using restoration sorcery wasn't particularly difficult.
However, this is Florence. If I used restoration sorcery, the fact that I'm the Voodoo sect leader would be discovered.
[Why not use low-grade restoration? That way there would be almost no risk of getting caught.]
Of course, using low-grade restoration would significantly reduce the risk of being discovered.
However, the phrase "almost no possibility" conversely meant "there is some possibility."
Moreover, there's a teacher here. If it were just students, maybe, but with a teacher present, the possibility of being discovered doubles.
As long as there was even the slightest possibility of being discovered, I couldn't use restoration sorcery.
[So what are you going to do? How is someone who can't handle healing circles or blessing circles going to treat an injured dog?]
Legba spoke irritably as if getting annoyed.
It was a valid point. As I am now, I have no way to treat the injured dog.
I've never been able to handle healing circles until now. However, that doesn't guarantee I won't be able to handle healing circles now either.
So I began drawing a healing circle. It was my first time ever drawing a healing circle.
It went more smoothly than I thought. For a first attempt, a fairly neat healing circle was being drawn. The reward for not dozing off and listening carefully to classes, and studying in my spare time, was evident.
When I had drawn about 30% of the healing circle.
"I'm finished."
A clear voice tickled my ears. Kim Jin-seo had completed the treatment in less than 3 minutes after starting.
The injured dog that received her treatment was wagging its tail and expressing gratitude to Kim Jin-seo.
Kim Jin-seo had swept awards in martial arts and sacred combat competitions since childhood. Thanks to this, I had known early on that she had innate talent in physical skills.
But I didn't know she had talent in blessings as well as healing.
Indeed, God was unfair. Though not particularly surprising.
"Phew, finished!"
"Treatment complete."
"Teacher, I've finished the treatment."
That wasn't the end of it. Starting with Kim Jin-seo, other students were also succeeding in treatment one after another. Among them were naturally Jeong In-ah and Gu Jun-hyeok.
Meanwhile, I hadn't even drawn half of the healing circle yet.
At that moment, my hands suddenly began trembling. My heart beat wildly, and cold sweat formed on my forehead.
It was because my mind became impatient at the thought of falling behind.
"5 minutes remaining."
The teacher, who had been walking around among students who had finished treatment and grading them, said. Unfortunately, time wouldn't wait for me.
[You should have used restoration earlier. It's too late now.]
Legba scolded me. There were still five students who hadn't succeeded in treatment, including me.
All the students who had finished treatment were watching those five. There were too many eyes watching to use restoration now. If I was going to use restoration, I should have done it earlier.
Meaningless regret passed through my mind.
During this time, the healing circle was about 75% complete.
"1 minute remaining. Please start wrapping up."
Progress was slow and time was fast. 90% until completion.
"30 seconds. Failure to finish on time results in disqualification. Please hurry."
100%.
Finally, light flowed from the healing circle. I had somehow managed to complete the healing circle, but I couldn't say it was perfect. It was because I had trembled from nervousness midway through.
The healing light eventually enveloped the injured dog's body. Gradually, strength returned to the limping dog's leg.
Fortunately, the healing was successful. I wiped my face dry and was moved with emotion.
It was merely a low-grade healing circle, but that was enough.
"Finished."
"Yes, with that student as the last one, anyone after this is disqualified."
I announced success just before the 15 minutes were up, roughly at 14 minutes and 59 seconds.
That concluded the practical.
The teacher held the scoring sheet and walked around among the students examining the injured dogs' conditions.
After finishing all the grading, the teacher went to Kim Jin-seo.
"Everyone worked hard. Now, let's look at Kim Jin-seo's injured dog, who finished the practical first."
The teacher petted Kim Jin-seo's injured dog. The injured dog wagged its tail and panted.
"Naturally, the faster the healing, the better. It's best to complete healing before it develops into a major injury. However, the more impatient your mind becomes, the easier it is to miss details. No matter how quickly you heal, if you neglect small parts, it becomes meaningless."
The teacher laid the injured dog down. The injured dog twisted its body this way and that while lying on its back with its belly exposed. The teacher gently stroked the injured dog's belly.
"This child was burned while rescuing citizens from a fire scene. Burns on the legs, belly, and airways respectively. Legs and belly are visible areas so healing is easy, but burns in the airways aren't visible. Kim Jin-seo completed perfect healing of all such detailed parts. It's truly exemplary."
The teacher kept praising her. Hesitant applause leaked out from among the students. Soon the applause spread like waves. Students gave Kim Jin-seo unstinting acclaim.
Nevertheless, there was no change in Kim Jin-seo's expression.
A dry face without joy, elation, sense of achievement, or anything. She rather seemed to feel boredom.
"Oh right. There was a first place from the diagnostic evaluation in the Charity class, wasn't there? Who is it? I'm looking forward to it."
The teacher, who had been lavishing praise on Kim Jin-seo, looked for the diagnostic evaluation first place.
I had planned to just quietly wait for this situation to pass, but since several students who knew me were staring at me intently, I had no choice but to raise my hand.
"That's me..."
Having been late and barely managing to complete treatment just in time for the 15-minute mark, I felt somehow sorry for raising my hand.
"Ah, yes. That's right. Student Do Seon-woo? Let's look at Do Seon-woo's injured dog too."
The teacher examined my injured dog from various angles. Sometimes she nodded slightly, but more often she frowned as if dissatisfied.
I watched the whole process with an anxious heart as if sitting on a bed of nails.
"It's not bad. The dislocated parts attached fairly well, but there are several lacking areas. Did you perhaps use a low-grade healing circle?"
"Yes."
I answered weakly.
It was confirmation of the kill.
"The joint connections aren't complete, so there's a risk of dislocation again soon. This part is a bit disappointing. Anyway, good work. You don't need to be discouraged, so it's okay."
The teacher encouraged me with appropriate words. It wasn't particularly comforting. My mentality had already been shattered to pieces.
The teacher then moved toward Jeong In-ah to present the next exemplary case.
The teacher explained how wonderful and precise Jeong In-ah's healing was. However, it didn't reach my ears.
[Wait, that thing.]
Through my dazed mental state, Legba's voice leaked in.
[That's not a blessing circle. It's a pentagram!]
"Huh?"
I came to my senses when I heard the word pentagram from Legba's mouth.
I hurriedly looked around. As Legba said, someone in a corner of the livestock barn was drawing a magic circle.
It wasn't a blessing circle, healing circle, or even a spell circle.
A black magic circle.
The technique for using black magic. Since all black magic circles start by drawing a pentagon, the world called it a pentagram. And black magic is used by Satan worshippers.
In other words, that guy drawing the black magic circle in the corner was the Satan worshipper who had infiltrated Florence.
"Kyaaaaaahhh!!"
Before I could even open my mouth, screams flowed through the livestock barn. It was a distant scream as if heaven and earth were collapsing.
A military dog was biting and tearing at the arm of some nameless female student from the Patience class. The bright eyes of the military dog no longer held the same purity as before.
There were only blood-red pupils filled with madness and desire.
"Ugh, ughhhhh! Ahhhhh!"
"Save me. Teacher, please save me...!"
The screaming didn't end there. Military dogs that had become magical beasts through the black magic cast by the Satan worshipper began biting and tearing at students all at once.
The livestock barn, which had been quiet with occasional warm earthy scents, now held nothing but screams and the fishy smell of blood. Students with no actual combat experience were simply helpless before 200 magical beasts.
Everyone lost their composure before that distant chaos.
Except for three people.
"Stay calm. Gather together for now. I'll try to handle this somehow."
The first was Kim Jin-seo.
She calmed the panicked children and gathered them in one place. It faithfully followed the manual that to face magical beasts, you shouldn't scatter but gather together.
Kim Jin-seo gathered the children in one place as much as possible, then used various blessings including strength enhancement blessings to protect the children.
The second was me.
I first looked for Jeong In-ah and Gu Jun-hyeok. I planned to methodically deal with the magical beasts one by one together with those two. If we just stayed calm, it wasn't impossible.
However, Jeong In-ah had already lost her composure and fallen into panic. Fortunately, she had hidden herself well in an appropriate place, but it would be difficult to expect help from her.
But Gu Jun-hyeok was different. He was calmly analyzing the situation. His eyes were calm without a trace of wavering.
"Gu Jun-hyeok!"
I called Gu Jun-hyeok and asked for his help.
"Come over here. We need to face them one by one and reduce their numbers!"
Gu Jun-hyeok, who heard my words, looked at me with a sad face.
"Seon-woo. I'm sorry!"
Then he began running away like crazy.
It seemed he thought there was no chance of winning at all, so he'd rather run away and at least preserve his life. It could truly be called a rational and reasonable judgment.
Of course, that's from Gu Jun-hyeok's perspective, but from my view, Gu Jun-hyeok was just...
"Hey, you bastard!"
Nothing but a traitor.
No matter how much I cursed and shouted, Gu Jun-hyeok just kept running steadily without looking back.
I never knew that guy could run so fast. Just looking at him run away, he could have been a track athlete.
Thus, the third was Gu Jun-hyeok. He chose to run away based on rational judgment. Though I hate to admit it, Gu Jun-hyeok was the most composed among us.
[So cruel. Who on earth, and why would they do such a thing.]
I stood where I was and watched the situation.
Kim Jin-seo fought by smashing magical beasts' heads with punches and kicks. Since she had no weapons, her killing power was weak, and her stamina seemed to be reaching its limit.
Bae Seong-hyeon had his ear torn by a magical beast. The bleeding was too severe, and above all, the pain looked intense. He absolutely couldn't fight in that condition.
The healing practical teacher was looking for injured students to heal them, then had her ankle bitten and couldn't walk.
Not a single person was intact. On the other hand, there were still countless magical beasts. Roughly counting, there seemed to be about 180 of them.
The magical beasts roamed the livestock barn with thickened legs and tore at children's flesh with sharpened teeth. Dog barking and screams mixed together.
Tragedy.
It seemed like watching a tragedy filled with nothing but endless despair.
Gu Jun-hyeok had run away, and the rest had either panicked or were injured and unable to fight.
Only I remained. However, I don't have the power to face over a hundred magical beasts alone. If it had been someone else rather than me who was intact, there surely would have been a way.
But since it was me who was intact, there wasn't even a thread of hope.
All 200-odd students here would become food for the magical beasts and meet miserable deaths.
[Well.]
However, Legba muttered quietly as if he couldn't agree with my thoughts.
[I understand your feelings too. But don't lie to yourself.]
"...Ha."
Having my heart seen through by Legba, I just laughed with a helpless feeling.
Actually, there is a method. I just didn't want to use it.
If I used that method, I could save the 200-odd lives here.
And I would die. No, precisely, I might die. That's why I hesitated to save them. Because the risk was too great.
However, it's a risk worth taking. There's no law that says I'll 'definitely' die.
I opened my mouth amid the chaos and called a Loa.
"Granboa."
A Loa who governs plants, forests, and nature.
[Granboa answers the prophet's call.]
As her power activated, brilliant green light swirled around my five fingertips.
I spread my hand and placed it on the ground, listening to the sounds coming from beyond. Weeds and flowers flourishing in the livestock barn, tree roots, and countless other things were screaming.
I heard their voices with my power, and also conveyed my voice with power.
Crack, crackle!
As soon as I activated the power, the earth's axis twisted and cracks formed. Weeds and tree roots grew through the cracks and shot up high into the sky.
They swayed as if they had consciousness, then rushed toward the magical beasts.
Whoosh!
The magical beasts that had been drooling and rampaging were captured one by one by weeds and tree roots. No matter how much they struggled, they couldn't break free. They couldn't bite through them, and they couldn't tear them with claws. The magical beasts' meaningless resistance continued.
However, the plants that had rapidly grown through Granboa's power weren't soft enough to be cut by mere magical beast claws.
Soon the landscape of the livestock barn changed. The magical beasts were all struggling with their bodies bound by plants. Students just stared at those magical beasts with dumbfounded eyes.
It was still a tragedy,
But the difference was that there was hope.
Students began escaping one by one, taking advantage of the magical beasts having their feet bound.
"Cough!"
While restraining the magical beasts like this, my body had already reached its limit.
[You're going to die at this rate! Prophet, stop! Please stop! Stop! Stop the power!]
Granboa urgently tried to stop me. I didn't stop the power. I couldn't just stop because she told me to.
Even while my nose bled, bloody tears poured out, and I coughed up blood. I somehow restrained the magical beasts and bought time.
During this time, most students escaped the livestock barn and ran away. I continued the power while bleeding from all directions.
No one recognized my sacrifice. Everyone was too busy trying to save themselves.
But it wasn't something I did hoping someone would recognize it in the first place.
Even though it seemed like I might lose consciousness and collapse to death at any moment, it was enough that I could save them even by sacrificing my life force.
"Ah..."
Finally, when fewer than 40 people remained in the livestock barn.
Using power while vomiting blood was also reaching its limit. My consciousness kept fading and cutting off repeatedly. I could feel my body slowly tilting backward.
I had tried hard enough. I wanted to lie down and rest soon. I relaxed my strength and lay my body on the ground.
Thud.
However, my body didn't touch the ground.
"You worked hard."
Someone who caught my body said. It was a voice worn with fatigue.