The Academy Geniuses I Raised and Dressed-Chapter 199 : Latessi War (5):

“Look!”
Joji’s shout rang out.
All around us, portals tore open—and Horima, Yedom, and brainwashed Awakeners poured out.
The Yedom Latessi immediately began summoning wave after wave of monsters.
The horde was so massive that the entire front of our vision filled with them.
Not even in the Tower or the Arena—both defense-type dungeons—had I ever seen this many monsters at once.
“So this is what a full-scale war looks like,” Iris muttered, raising her greatsword.
“Lumina, come here for a second.”
“Uh… okay!”
Still tense, Lumina ran to my side.
I leaned close to her ear and whispered the plan.
“Please, Lumina.”
“…Got it.”
She nodded with all the seriousness she could muster.
“Then…”
I drew in a deep breath, then shouted at the top of my lungs.
“Everyone, listen!!”
All eyes turned to me.
“The enemy’s numbers are overwhelming! We retreat—now!”
“What!?”
“Huh!?”
Several students looked stunned.
“Follow me!”
I shouted again, louder, and broke into a run.
“Hey! Nam Yein, what the hell are you saying!?”
“You told me off earlier, and now you—!”
Meiling and Iris’s voices came from behind.
I glanced back. As expected, the others were following anyway, even if their faces were full of doubt.
And behind them, of course, the Latessi and their enslaved Awakeners gave chase.
Among them, Bird Hill—Homd of Happiness—soared overhead and landed in the air ahead of us.
Twin gray vortices swirled at his sides.
“Tch! Out of the way!”
Iris shouted and sprinted past me. With a mighty leap, she shot toward Homd like a human missile.
But Homd easily sidestepped her charge.
“Regular attacks won’t work on him! His movement speed and evasion are boosted by 150%, and he’s got a 30% chance absolute dodge on top of that!”
“Then say it sooner, damn it!!!”
Iris snarled as she crashed back down in an arc.
“Yein, if that’s the case, we can’t run. They’ll just keep coming.”
Toby moved to my side, his tone grim.
“Not to mention—they’re warping space at will. No matter how far we run, they’ll catch up.”
“I know.”
“What?”
“No choice then! We take out the small fry first! AoE dealers, get ready!”
“So why the hell did we run in the first place?”
Meiling grumbled, but her wand was already raised. A field of monochrome spread out as she cast Death Domain.
Mayu, Yoon Horim, and the other wide-area specialists unleashed their powers.
Infernos blazed, the ground froze, wide spellfields detonated.
The first to vanish under the storm were the monsters and Yedom Latessi—swept away like snow under a scorching wind.
Next were the brainwashed Awakeners. Hundreds rushed us, but fell before they could use even a single skill.
One by one, Horima burst out of their collapsing bodies—only to be obliterated instantly by the AoEs.
“What the hell? They’re like scarecrows.”
Meiling shot me a look of disbelief.
“Why’d you tell us to retreat, then?”
“Because of
her
.”
I pointed.
Claire Williams—host to Rajatu of Peace—stood bathed in radiant light, her body glowing brighter and brighter until she shone like a descending sun.
“Urgh…”
“Kh!”
Students groaned, collapsing under the weight of it.
I felt it too—the dizziness, the burning pain scorching every nerve, my MP ripped away to nothing.
Paralysis. Burn. Null.
Three status ailments at once.
All because of Rajatu.
The Blinding Light That Reverses.
Through Claire, Rajatu’s ability blanketed the field—randomly afflicting every enemy with three status effects, no conditions required.
And that wasn’t all.
“They’re… getting up!?”
Zen’s voice cracked with shock.
The Awakeners who had fallen moments ago were rising again—every wound gone.
“Yein! Is this because of that light!?”
Toby gritted out, straining.
“Yes.” I pulled potions from my sling.
“It inflicts three random debuffs on enemies… and fully restores HP and MP to allies within range.”
“Wh-what… that’s… broken…”
Meiling’s voice was muffled against the dirt—she couldn’t even move her face properly, probably paralyzed.
I sprinkled a potion over her.
“Now you see why I pulled us back? If Rajatu’s with the others, we can’t win.”
The reawakened fighters advanced, and the other Valro began moving closer.
Which meant—
“The first one we kill… has to be Rajatu.”
“Wha—”
“Oh.”
Meiling blinked dumbly. Toby’s eyes went wide in realization as he stared at Rajatu.
CRACK!!
“Gah!!”
The radiant sun winked out, cleaved by a streak of darkness.
Rajatu staggered, blood spraying. Another slash tore across his body, and he crumpled.
“!?”
He didn’t even manage a scream.
“Wait… what? Why’s he dropping so easily?”
Maria gawked.
From Claire’s body, Rajatu burst free—only to have his true form instantly cut again.
That was it.
Rajatu dissolved into particles of light.
The remaining Valro froze, faces grim.
“When did she… Lumina,” Iris murmured.
She was right. Lumina had finished him.
The Valro pulled back, putting distance between themselves and the unseen threat.
They might not see her, but they weren’t fools—they knew something dangerous was lurking.
“Everyone.”
I raised my voice again.
“Drink status-cleansing potions if you can move. If you can’t, someone else douse them. From here, we split into teams and pick them off one by one.”
The students fixed their gazes on me.
I pointed at each Valro in turn.
“Dao and Ucheon—take Bird Hill. Martial God and Magicka—Ha Mijin with the blue hair. Crystal and Gwangcheon—we’ll handle Mayor Cheon Jiwon and Nadia Hassan. Clear out the brainwashed as you fight. Go all out. That’s it.”
Lumina appeared at my side, silent and serious.
“Good work, Lumina.”
“Y-yeah…”
“Seo Yui, Meiling.”
I called, and the two stepped forward. Crystal Academy’s four also moved closer, as did the rest of the squads, forming around their assigned targets.
Cheon Jiwon and Nadia Hassan stood at the center of a mass of Awakeners, staring straight at us.
“Move out.”
At my word, we all charged our chosen foes.
High above, Homd flapped his wings, surveying the eight trainees beneath him.
They were carving through his minions with bombs, golems, fire, and arrows. The brainwashed Awakeners hadn’t even gotten close before being cut down.
‘Rajatu’s dead. No more recovery for soldiers or us. But with three gone, the survivors grow stronger still.’
Gray whirlwinds spun at his sides, growing into massive vortexes. He thrust his hand forward, and each birthed a giant arrow of ashen feathers.
The twin arrows hurtled down at the trainees.
“Rio! Poff!”
Tail shouted. The two stepped forward, shields raised.
Rio reinforced both their shields with his ability. Bella downed a defense potion, splashing them as well.
BOOOM!!
The arrows struck, detonating in a storm of feathers like a cherry blossom blizzard.
“!!”
Homd’s eyes widened.
The trainees stood unscathed. The tanks’ shields were battered, but still held.
“How—urk!?”
A violent impact slammed into his back.
As he plummeted, he glimpsed the culprit—a tiny flying golem, exploding in midair.
Yugeun’s suicide bomber construct.
“Poff!”
“On it!”
Tail barked, and Poff activated his ability.
Unfettered Step.
Normally, it granted immunity to mobility debuffs and boosted speed.
But clad in a certain armor, it had changed.
Homd tried to stabilize, to take flight again—
“!?”
But his body wouldn’t respond. It was as if crushing weights dragged him down.
“Got you.”
Poff grinned.
His chainmail glowed purple, spectral chains lashing from it to bind Homd.
The Legendary armor—Chains of Constraint.
With it, Poff lost his own mobility… but gained the power to force one target into absolute immobility.
The skill itself had even renamed—
Fettered Step.
“Go.”
“Right.”
“Mm.”
Tail, Joji, and Mayu lunged at the grounded enemy.
“Let’s move too!”
“Yeah!”
“Coming…!”
Rio, Maria, and Yugeun rushed after them.
“Kh!”
Homd struggled, conjuring another arrowstorm. Even bound, he could still attack.
But the trainees weren’t about to let him.
“Take this!”
Maria hurled a bomb—expanding midair into a massive sphere before detonating.
BOOM!!
The explosion engulfed him, empowered by her ability,
Bomb Specialist.
Tail’s arrow pierced his arm.
Mayu’s cursed ice sealed his mouth shut—silencing him.
Joji’s spear flared with fire, and Yugeun’s massive golem slammed its fists down.
Bound and gagged, Homd could neither move nor cast—only endure.
Until finally, he burst free of Bird Hill’s body.
“Urgh!!”
He shot upward, reaching desperately for a portal forming above.
“Not so fast.”
Tail raised his crossbow and fired.
FWIP!
“Ghh…”
The arrow struck Homd’s skull, cutting his flight short.
He plummeted—then disintegrated into motes of light.
“Nice shot!!”
Joji raised his hand with a triumphant shout.
Tail grinned and slapped it in a high-five.
“Tch. Pathetic.”
The Valro Latessi of Endurance, Woburn, muttered through Ha Mijin’s body.
“That’s what happens when you get complacent and take your time. You should unleash your full strength from the start—like me.”
A vast field of blue ice spread out around him.
Countless Awakeners were frozen up to their ankles, unable to move. Martial God and Magicka’s teams were statues of ice, completely immobilized.
Ha Mijin’s ability, twisted by Woburn’s influence, had become
The Cruelly Frozen Earth
.
Within its range, enemies suffered devastating frost damage while also being inflicted with Freeze every five seconds.
“I don’t underestimate your strength,” Woburn said, gazing at the helpless students.
“That’s why I’ll kill you all here, cutting danger off at the root. I have no intention of risking my life on a mere game.”
A massive ice axe materialized in his hand as he strode toward the frozen Martial God team. Without a word, he swung.
But in that instant—
“!?”
His body was suddenly wracked by a freezing cold.
‘What the—?’
The trainees were all encased in ice. None of them should’ve been able to attack.
And yet… a faint golden light flickered before his eyes.
‘Impossible.’
He stared, shocked. The bald boy trapped in the ice was glowing with golden light—and his eyes were locked onto Woburn.
Woburn leapt back in alarm, but the chill clung to him regardless.
“Hoo.”
Lee Yeonmun raised a hand, and the ice shattered like glass.
His original ability,
Solid Body
, merely enhanced defense and resistance. But the Legendary item he wore—
Diamond Sutra Robe
—had transformed it.
While active, he became immune to all status effects, and any damage taken, regardless of element, was reflected back at the attacker.
The frost devouring Woburn’s body was his own power turned against him.
Then another shock hit.
With a crash, the ice broke apart and a boy wearing knuckles leapt free. A dragon-shaped aura roared around him.
‘Fast!’
Woburn swung his axe at him.
But the boy—Cheongryong—twisted lightly aside, slipping into his guard and—
“Ghk!!”
—smashed a fist into his stomach.
‘Not the strongest blow… but dangerous.’
Fire, frost, and numbing paralysis all surged through Woburn’s body at once.
“Huff…”
Cheongryong steadied his breath, then hammered him with punch after punch.
Woburn tried to ward him off with his axe, but Cheongryong’s speed far outstripped his own.
CLANG!
‘Damn it!’
Driven back, Woburn’s aura faltered. The students escaped his range.
Freed from Frozen, Martial God and Magicka’s squads moved again like machines.
Magicka’s team, all except Nia, immediately began chanting spells. Ao, Yoo Yeon, and Yeonmun formed a shield wall to guard them against other Awakeners.
“Hm.”
After landing dozens of clean hits, Cheongryong finally stepped back. His time limit was nearly up.
But by then, Magicka’s incantations had reached completion.
Rune unleashed the first spell.
A colossal blade of lightning streaked toward Woburn faster than the eye could follow.
“Ugh!!”
It struck him squarely, paralysis locking his body in place.
The accumulated Shock stacks Cheongryong had built up detonated at last.
Then Zen’s fiery dragon engulfed him.
“Argh!?”
The searing flames nearly drove him unconscious. For an instant, he saw his body reduced to ash.
The accumulated Burn stacks erupted, amplifying the damage.
Unable to move, Woburn abandoned Ha Mijin’s body.
‘Retreat.’
He tore open a portal.
‘I’ll need to prepare. As things are, I can’t win. If Caymon dies, his power will flow to me…’
But just as he stepped forward—
“What!?”
His foot was frozen solid.
A field of ice—unlike his own—had formed beneath him.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Horim said with a smirk.
Woburn spun, horrified.
Two massive lightning blades were flying at him, with a fire dragon slithering behind.
“F***!!!”
That was his last word.
“…Ridiculous. That all six Valro should fall to mere trainees.”
I tilted my head back.
Caymon spoke through Cheon Jiwon’s mouth.
Before me towered a giant of blue mana. And embedded where a human’s heart should be was Cheon Jiwon’s body—Caymon possessing him.
Cheon Jiwon’s ability,
Giant’s Step
.
Twisted with Caymon’s power, it had become
The Giant’s Step Made Truth.
‘In the game, this was the ultimate boss fight—worthy of the main scenario’s finale…’
But I stared at the massive wounds carving through the giant’s limbs, the countless black spears bristling from its body.
All of them delivered by just two people—Iris and Meiling.
Seo Yui and Cho Inhu had held off the giant’s initial attacks, but still—the DPS duo had practically soloed the final boss. Not even the game had seen that.
Meanwhile, Lumina, Muimi, and Toby had taken down Nadia and the brainwashed Awakeners. The others, having finished their own fights, were converging here.
‘All thanks to Lumina cutting down Claire right at the start…’
She’d struck three times before being revealed. Normally, stealth broke on attack.
But the Legendary dagger in her hand—
Assassin’s Breath
—let her remain hidden even while striking.
The tradeoff was higher mana cost and shorter duration. But guaranteed crits and boosted crit damage made it her ultimate weapon.
“Strange… The humans I saw in fate were nothing but toys.”
The blue giant collapsed.
Caymon rose from Cheon Jiwon’s fallen body, slowly unwrapping the bandages over his eyes.
‘This wasn’t in the game.’
Tense, I prepared to order an attack—if this was a counter-phase.
The bandages dropped.
‘Those…’
Where eyes should be, glittering gems were embedded. Familiar gems.
“…I see now. Why you weren’t in the fate I foresaw. You were never part of this world’s weave… kuh!”
Caymon grinned grotesquely, stretching his lips into a hideous smile.
“And through you, I finally understand. Everything… is a toy. Toys, all of them.”
He cackled, a phlegm-filled, grating laugh.
“Rejoice. A world without us—play with it to your heart’s content.”
He spread his arms wide.
“Not interested.”
Iris flew forward, greatsword blazing, and cleaved his neck in one stroke.
“…”
His laughing head fell, dissolving into light particles.
But unease gripped me.
Why had Caymon smiled even at the end?
And I remembered the Legendary item’s description:
‘If those were really Caymon’s eyes… then what was embedded in his face just now? A metaphor? Or something else…’
I shook my head.
It didn’t matter. Caymon was dead. Everyone survived.
All that remained was the hidden boss dungeon unlocked after the main scenario’s end.
“Y-Yein!!!”
Lumina’s scream cut through my thoughts.
“Huh?”
“Nam Yein, your feet!!”
“Get away from there!”
Meiling shouted. Seo Yui sprinted toward me.
‘Feet?’
I looked down.
“!?”
A pitch-black portal yawned beneath me.
“Yein!!”
Lumina reached for me.
I tried to step aside—but in the next instant, the world shifted.
‘This place…’
Gray metal walls, ceiling, floor. Like a warehouse, yet… off.
‘No doors.’
There was no entrance. No exit. No windows.
“Eh!?”
“Huh?”
I jerked toward the voices.
“Hanye! Choi Yuri!?”
Somehow, the two of them were here.
“Brother!?”
“What the—did you drag us here?”
“No! A portal opened under my feet and dumped me here. What about you?”
“Same thing. Just like you.”
“Ugh, what the hell is this place.”
Yuri cursed—then a voice rang out.
[It was I who called you.]
That voice—I knew it well.
I turned.
A massive sphere hovered there.
(End of Chapter)