Chapter 52: Reviving the Dead
After leaving the library, Miss Camille led Leo and Nina to a large building about twenty minutes away.
“This is… The teacher’s training center?” Nina recognized the building when she saw it.
The teachers in the academy also had their own Training Center. In fact, the teacher’s training center was several times more sturdy than the student’s training center for obvious reasons.
If a teacher trained in the student’s training center, that building would not last a day, hence why they had their own place.
“Nobody comes here at this time, and I can access this place whenever I want. The rooms are also enhanced with magic so any mana disruption we cause will not leak outside.” Miss Camille explained.
“I see… This is definitely much better than my basement…” Nina mumbled.
They entered the building through the backdoor with Miss Camille’s key.
Once they were in one of the training rooms, Miss Camille locked the door and said to them, “Alright, you can start now.”
Nina Wraith nodded with a serious expression on her face.
She proceeded to take out several glass jars that were filled with red liquid.
Leo swallowed nervously after seeing the jars, and he asked in a dazed voice, “Please tell me that is not what I think it is…”
Nina responded in a calm voice as she opened the jaw, “It’s blood. My blood.”
There were seven glass jars there, and each of them contained about a gallon of blood. Leo couldn’t imagine how long it took her to collect this much blood, much less how she did it.
Once she opened all of the jars, Nina proceeded to take out a large brush before dipping it in the blood. Then she started drawing a massive magic circle on the floor.
‘That’s going to be a pain in the ass to clean…’ Leo felt a strong urge to facepalm himself after seeing Nina’s actions.
“Is this really going to work?” He asked Miss Camille, who was guarding the door.
“Magic spells can be activated as long as there is a magic circle. The only question is whether you have enough mana and the magic affinity to do so.”
“Even if the magic circle is made out of blood?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Yes. Although the blood isn’t necessary for resurrection magic, it will give us a greater chance of success because she’s blood-related to the person she’s trying to resurrect.”
“Do you still think she has no chance?” He then asked.
She nodded and said, “There’s zero chance that this will work. I mean, you might be able to half-resurrect her mother, but true resurrection isn’t possible, especially with the amount of mana you’re using. That’s why I said this will never work.”
And she continued, “She’s only wasting her time, effort, and resources by doing this. However, I am not going to stop her. I had already warned her, but she refused to listen. Furthermore, this might be the only way for her to accept the fact that it’s impossible to resurrect her mother.”
“I see…” Leo mumbled.
If Nina witnessed for herself that the resurrection had failed, she might finally give up trying to resurrect her mother.
About ten minutes later, Nina finished drawing the magic circle that filled up half of the room.
“I am finished. Miss Camille, can you double check to make sure there’s nothing wrong with the magic circle?” Nina asked her.
Miss Camille didn’t say anything and walked to the magic circle.
“What do you think about the situation, Lilith?” He asked her in a low voice.
Lilith, who was staring at the magic circle, said in a nonchalant voice, “Miss Camille is right. She won’t be able to resurrect her mother like this, and it’s not because of your lack of mana— I mean, that is also a reason, but it’s not the main reason.”
“What’s the main reason?” He asked.
“I will tell you after all of this ends,” she said with a mysterious smile on her face.
“Seriously? Why can’t you tell me now? What if I get hurt while doing this? If I die, you won’t have anyone to talk to.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. I have faith in you.” Lilith flew away to look at the magic circle right after saying that.
Sometime later, Miss Camille said, “The magic circle is right. Now we just need your mother’s corpse…”
“I have her right here.” Nina said as she retrieved a coffin from her Spatial Ring before placing the coffin right in the center of the magic circle.
“Leo, we’re ready to resurrect my mother now!” She said to him.
Leo rubbed his eyes and took several deep breaths before approaching the bloody magic circle.
When he got close enough to the magic circle, he noticed the dried up corpse inside the coffin that was in a really bad condition, sending chills all over his body.
‘My god… This feels like something straight out of a horror movie!’ He cried inwardly.
“Here you go, Leo.” Nina approached him and handed him the Mana Crystal.
“Let me know when you’re ready.”
Leo turned to look at Miss Camille, who said, “Before you begin, let me say something.”
“Nina, if your mother becomes a zombie— a monster, then I will have no choice but to destroy her. If you stop me, I will kill you as well. Do you understand?”
After a moment of silence, Nina nodded with a serious expression on her face, “I understand.”
Miss Camille turned to look at Leo next and said, “Even though I said that I will destroy her, you’re going to be the one who’s actually going to do it.”
“What?! Why me?!” He exclaimed.
“Because you agreed to help her.”
“B-But that’s because of…”
“I know, and I don’t care. It won’t change the fact that you’re helping her. Consider this part of your training.”
Seeing the stubborn look on her face, Leo gave up on trying to convince her.
‘She’s right… I may have been forced to do this by the Magic System, but the Magic System is part of me now, and as its owner, I have to bear some responsibility.’
Just like a pet and its owner, the owner will have to bear their pet’s responsibility even if they did something that was against the owner’s wishes.
Sometime later, Leo spoke with a resolute expression on his face, “Alright, I am ready.”
Nina nodded and said, “Place your hands on the crystal and activate the magic circle.”
He raised an eyebrow and asked, “How do I activate a magic circle that I didn’t create?”
“You’ll have to stand in the magic circle and release your mana. Make sure you don’t step on the magic circle because even the slightest mistake could ruin the whole thing.”
“Seriously…?” Leo looked at the magic circle and the corpse in the middle of it.
After taking a deep breath, he started walking into the magic circle while making sure he didn’t accidentally step on the blood on the floor.
Once he was in the center of the magic circle and standing right beside the coffin with the corpse, Leo closed his eyes and began releasing his mana.
“Good luck, Leo.” Lilith said as she hovered above him.
The magic circle started reacting the moment it sensed Leo’s mana, quickly absorbing his mana.
Unbeknownst to Leo, the blood on the floor started to levitate off the floor and floated around him and the coffin.
Nina swallowed nervously as she watched, her heart throbbing like crazy.
‘Mother… Please… I want to see you again…’ She tightly balled her hands into fists and gritted her teeth.
Meanwhile, Leo could feel his mana quickly being absorbed, running out of mana within half a minute, but thanks to the Mana Crystal, he was able to keep on feeding the magic circle with mana.
A few more minutes later, once the Mana Crystal was on the verge of running out of mana, the magic circle suddenly shone with light.
“Leo! Get out of the magic circle! It’s going to activate!” Miss Camille shouted at him.
Leo immediately opened his eyes and rushed out of the magic circle.
Once he was out of the magic circle, Leo watched as the blood flew towards the coffin, almost as though it was being absorbed by the corpse inside.
The room was completely silent as everyone there waited for the results.
A moment later, Leo suddenly felt a wave of bloodlust sweep the room— the same kind of bloodlust he felt when encountering monsters but much worse.
His heart began throbbing loudly, almost as though he’d just finished running a marathon, and his back was soaked in cold sweat.
Suddenly, just like a horror movie, a pale hand came out of the coffin, grabbing the side of the box.
“M-Mother!” Tears flowed from Nina’s eyes when she saw this, but when she tried to rush to the coffin, Miss Camille stepped in front of her and blocked her path.
And without saying anything to Nina, she spoke in a cold voice, “Leo, kill it.”
“What?” Leo raised his eyebrows, but before he could ask any questions, the corpse in the coffin suddenly jumped out and pounced at him.
“What the fuck?!” He cursed out loud as he subconsciously jumped backward.
Once he landed several meters away, he looked at the thing that just tried to attack him.
“Holy shit…” He muttered in a dazed voice as his gaze landed on the ‘human’ that stood in the location that he’d just retreated from. However, besides having the figure of a human, the rest of this entity looked anything but human with holes all over its body, not to mention the color of its skin that resembled rotten meat.