How a Villain Catches a Villain (1)

I tore through the maze of barriers Bone China had erected.

Damn, this is complicated.

Just as expected of the final quest in Hard Mode Chapter 1. It lived up to its reputation as a wall of tears.

And something feels off.

I'd sensed it ever since the first reevaluation. The difficulty was subtly different.

Bone China was a B-rank villain. But this raid was a mission assigned by his organization, which meant he would have been supplied with potions specially refined from Chaos-attribute magic stones — so-called Chaotic. And high-purity ones, at that.

"This way!"

Even so, the sheer number of barriers defied explanation. Roughly fifty or more of them. Just the ones I could see blanketed the entire training grounds. Impossible with Bone China's mana alone.

Did he take an even higher-purity Chaotic?

Chaos-attribute magic stones were extremely rare. For Bone China — essentially an early-game boss — to have his difficulty spiked this hard meant something else.

Don't tell me reality has surpassed the original's Hard Mode. That's absurd.

That fact mattered to both Aegis and me. I wasn't the only one after the secret An Yumin would eventually uncover — the secret of Theia Academy. Crimson Teeth and any number of other villain organizations would keep infiltrating.

I might have to revise the plan a little.

It meant both I and Aegis needed to get stronger than we were now. Whichever side died first would make things inconvenient.

I refocused.

I already knew the pattern by which the barriers formed their maze.

When the skeletal gargoyle motif appears, the exit is to the right.

In that instant, I shouted to Choi Hana, who was following close behind.

"Duck!"

Fwoosh—

Bone arrows erupted from the barrier. Choi Hana dodged them cleanly.

"Thanks to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you, I—"

"Save the thanks for later. Stick right behind me!"

"Yes, Mr. Lee Junwoo!"

Choi Hana was an Alchemist class. Her speed stat would be roughly on par with Song Sia's.

At least thirty-five, no lower.

Slower than a Warrior class, but still three times faster than an ordinary person. And my own speed stat was a mere ten. No matter how many traps the barriers spat out, as long as she stayed focused, there was no chance of her losing me.

Then—

KRAKAKAKAKOOM—

"It's dangerous! Don't approach Bone China!!!!"

Jeong Ungyeong's voice carried from beyond the barriers.

"Keh-keh-keh. Academy cadets, and you think you can take me on? Ah, right — I heard there's some hero cosplay club called Aegis or whatever."

A string of explosions and Bone China's voice rattled the shields. With so many barriers active, mercifully none of them had fully sealed the ceiling. Sound kept filtering through the gaps.

I stepped through one barrier's doorway only for another to spring up in its place.

"It's a complete dead end… At this rate, joining up with the High Class will—"

Choi Hana's face went pale. She wasn't wrong. Bone China's barrier maze completely stripped away any sense of direction.

"No. That way!"

It was a barrier pattern that didn't exist in the original, but I found the exit without difficulty.

Multiple mirrors materialized in the open air beyond the unsealed ceiling. Linked to me as the caster, those mirrors let me survey the barriers as a whole.

I can check the situation outside.

Confirming the exterior alone wouldn't reveal every path — but I still remembered the internal patterns. I broke through the barriers at speed and linked up with the High Class.

"Everyone, clear the way!!"

By then, Aegis's three members had already engaged Bone China in combat.

"Cadets have the Ark, so this fight should be stacked against me. But that system isn't perfect, is it? Keh-keh. I got in this easily, after all."

Bone China was completely at ease. Black madness filled his eyes — proof that the Chaotic was fully circulating through him. And around his neck hung a polyhedral pendant.

The Barrier Pendant. So he does have it!

Even from a distance, the thing looked rare enough that moonlight caught and scattered off its surface. That was unmistakably an item that would register as a mirror. Of course, in the original it had been nearly impossible to obtain. Capturing Bone China cleanly with only the current cadets was almost impossible — and the difficulty had only gone up.

Still. I have to get my hands on it.

Bone China pulled an urn from his belt — no, a cinerary jar — and scattered its contents around him.

"Go play with those greenhorn heroes!"

In that instant, a mass of skeletal monsters rose from the bone dust. Phase Two of the Bone China raid. Nearly twenty monsters summoned at once.

More than three times the original number.

And then Bone China's gaze swung toward Choi Hana and me.

"Hm? How did you break through the barriers over there?"

He looked like a fat East Asian mafioso, eyes bulging wide.

"I deliberately locked the lower-class ones in the barriers so they'd get more confused… But if you broke through this fast, don't tell me you smashed the barriers themselves?"

His face was full of genuine puzzlement.

"Even I, the caster, get confused by those patterns sometimes. Keh-keh. There's no way small fry like you navigated my maze on your own."

He was a villain who called himself a Barrier Artist — a man who treated even that labyrinthine maze as a work of art.

"Well, doesn't matter. You're not even High Class cadets. Keh-keh."

Shuuuuuuk—

A blood-red arrow streaked toward him.

"Hm?"

His pendant flared, and a blue barrier sprang into existence.

Taaang—

"Ah. Right — the daughter of Valhalla's Apostles is here too, isn't she. A vampire, was it? Still useless."

Song Sia had attacked him. He casually blocked it with the shield his pendant generated.

In the original, that skill even cracked the shield. And the power still isn't enough?

Song Sia had awakened the power of her True Blood just yesterday. If even that wasn't enough, then all three of Aegis working together might still struggle. Three straight days of training had already drained the cadets dry. Even those twenty undead soldiers felt like high-tier monsters.

Kakakakang—

"Eek. I-I'll cast a blessing, so please protect me!"

At least Ha Yeeun, the nun, was laying down buffs that worked well against undead — but even the relatively skilled High Class cadets were hard-pressed.

I have to intervene after all.

Obviously, if the original protagonist An Yumin died, it would be a disaster. And I absolutely could not let the pendant slip away. Even with the difficulty changed, I stayed cold and clear-headed.

With the cards I hold, I can take him somehow.

I leaned in and whispered into Choi Hana's ear.

"The High Class's strongest asset is An Yumin. If she draws his attention, there might be a single opening. When that happens, I'll charge in myself. The moment I give the signal, fire. No matter what."

"That's too dangero— no. I trust you, Mr. Lee Junwoo!"

Choi Hana nodded without a second word. With that settled, I severed the neck of a skeletal soldier charging toward me, then fixed my eyes on Bone China again.

We don't have much time.

The atmosphere among the High Class made that clear enough. Aside from Aegis's three and Jeong Ungyeong, everyone was panicking. No — they were afraid. No matter how much real combat experience they had, a Crimson Teeth-level villain was a first for them.

"Mr. Lee Junwoo?"

Right then, Choi Hana looked at me with a puzzled expression.

Damn. Did I fail to hide my face?

Fear was spreading through everyone here. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠myself was thoroughly exhausted from enduring today's training — and yet, without meaning to, I was smiling.

The buff effect of the title Unknown — the same one I'd used when I took down the villain Dark Snake. But this time was different.

Stats and skills have both been upgraded.

Which meant I could drive the blade in that much more cleanly.

Pajijijijik—

At last, An Yumin moved against Bone China. A blade of ice crashed into his shield. Their duel stretched on, and as I cut down the skeletal soldier in front of me, I finally caught the timing.

I shouted to Choi Hana.

"Alright — I'm counting on you!"

With those words, I broke into a sprint.

Jeong Ungyeong bit down hard on her lip.

The rest of the High Class ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was locked in combat with the skeletal soldiers, while all three members of Aegis had closed in on Bone China.

Slash—

An Yumin's sword grazed Bone China's body again.

"Ghk…"

Unlike his swaggering confidence moments earlier, Bone China was growing increasingly flustered.

I never expected An Yumin to fight this well.

Jeong Ungyeong had already trained alongside An Yumin as a party member through Hell Week. An Yumin was strong — befitting the freshman representative — but she had never been this strong. Not even as of today.

And yet now she was swinging her sword with a ferocity that bordered on madness. The ice-attribute mana she unleashed was staining the surroundings in frost.

Bone China reeled under that pressure.

What the hell happened? What could have changed in such a short time?

Just moments ago, An Yumin had been trapped with Lee Junwoo. Barely five minutes. But the An Yumin who emerged from that barrier had different eyes. The raw force of presence radiating from her had been enough to make Jeong Ungyeong instinctively step back.

And it wasn't just her eyes — her skill had changed too. The bitter cold pouring from that ice mana had forced Jeong Ungyeong to reflexively deploy a fire-aspected technique.

Having an ally get stronger isn't a bad thing, but…

The current An Yumin was beyond control. As the operator, that was not welcome news.

The bigger problem is—

Jeong Ungyeong's mind was a tangle. She simply could not figure out the method. A way to grow an Awakener that dramatically through five minutes of conversation. And yet Lee Junwoo had done it.

Lee Junwoo. What the hell are you?

She had been trapped in that barrier with him for those five minutes. The cause of this temporary surge in ability — the only reasonable conclusion was that it was Lee Junwoo.

Whatever the case, if it's Lee Junwoo, it wasn't a coincidence.

Jeong Ungyeong had reviewed every record of Aegis's activities. She already knew that Lee Junwoo was the core of their hero work.

I'm jealous. So jealous… If I could mentor someone to that degree… If the target were Song Sia, my success would be guaranteed!

But this was no time to be thinking about Lee Junwoo.

"N-no. I need to focus."

The situation had already shifted.

"Keh-keh. I was just playing around for a bit, and this bitch—!"

Bone China reclaimed every barrier at once. And as he did, the ominous color of the mana rising around him deepened in equal measure.

Is he insane?! He already absorbed Chaotic and he's still going berserk like this?

An Yumin had fought better than expected, so Bone China had gotten serious. And An Yumin, for all her improvement, was overpacing herself. Aegis's remaining two were already at the edge of mana exhaustion, barely able to handle the summoned monsters.

"I'll do you the special favor of putting a hole through that gut of yours."

Bone China concentrated the mana freed up by reclaiming his barriers. That black mana shaped itself into a long spear.

Jeong Ungyeong's eyes went wide. If An Yumin fell, every High Class cadet would be in immediate danger.

Damn it. I have to keep An Yumin alive somehow—

Jeong Ungyeong ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rapidly summoned her shikigami around Bone China, but—

Shiiiiiik—

Bone China's attack was far faster than expected. The image of An Yumin impaled on that spear flashed through Jeong Ungyeong's mind.

"No!!"

But in that very instant—

TAAANG—

A massive gunshot cracked through the air from every direction, and Bone China's attack went wide.

"Huh? How—?"

And simultaneously, a man was already hurtling toward him.

Lee Junwoo.

He swung his sword straight at Bone China.