Chapter 111
Chapter 111
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 111
Chapter Title: When Link Awakened
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When she had awakened her first skill, .
The crown prince of Reinhardt, a man called ‘Lord,’ had been watching Hae-rin intently.
Reinhardt? Crown prince?
They were all utterly foreign concepts to Hae-rin.
She had a vague fear of them, sensing they referred to a world beyond the Gates.
But in the process of understanding Link, wielding it, and feeling the energy’s form throughout her body.
The girl cast off her fear and instead found calm.
Sword Dance, which depicted bonds connecting fates and the memories built together with those bonds.
Link was a beautiful and gentle skill.
She became convinced that whoever created this Sword Dance must surely be a benevolent being.
Lord.
She even found herself wanting to meet him someday, even if he might be a monster rather than human.
On the other hand, her father despised Link.
He made no effort to understand the value contained within the Sword Dance.
The heir to the Guardian Park House had to be ‘one who grips the shield and stands firm like a mountain.’
That had been the case since their ancestors, so he believed his daughter should be no different.
He couldn’t accept his daughter swinging a sword in frivolous dances and criticized her for it.
Hae-rin didn’t resist such a father.
She respected the father she loved and admired.
The fact that Jeong Jae-uk, whom she had trusted and followed like an uncle, had made her forget how to resist played a big role too.
But now, at this point.
“What is this….”
Hae-rin had defied her father’s will.
She had broken the chains forged by Jeong Jae-uk and acted on her own resolve.
Chae Da-hee and the Archery Club members.
She couldn’t ignore those who had been hurt because of her, so she chose to resist.
As she recalled the hand Jae-hyeok had extended to her.
Respect, worry, fear toward her father.
She judged that helping the people before her eyes was more important than all of that combined.
The ancestors must have gripped their shields and stood firm like mountains to help someone, after all.
Even if she wielded a sword and danced, as long as she inherited and practiced the spirit of guardianship, she could stand tall before her father—that was the conclusion she had reached.
***
“He’s not coming.”
“What if something really happened?”
The club members who had gone out to scout suspicious new construction sites dotting the area suddenly went silent, with no word.
The Archery Club, having just experienced No Jun-yeop’s kidnapping a few days prior, couldn’t sit idly by.
They immediately halted training, grabbed their weapons, and left the range.
No Jun-yeop took the lead.
“What X-like bastards are messing with us again? Do we look easy? Why do we look easy, you X!”
Everyone wore an expression like they’d burst with rage if they didn’t half-kill someone.
It didn’t feel like worry for the missing members so much as No Jun-yeop unable to tolerate being looked down on.
But the Archery Club members remembered.
The No Jun-yeop of just recently, who had been indifferent no matter how the club was treated or what the members did.
He had truly changed a great deal.
Even a third party could see it at a glance.
“Unexpected. I didn’t think you’d step up so aggressively, No Jun-yeop.”
“……!”
No Jun-yeop’s group froze mid-stride as they crossed the grounds.
Dozens of students had set up camp around the range.
Every one of them exuded a menacing aura.
They weren’t friendly visitors with good intentions.
Especially the boy at their center stood out.
A boy with black hair grown long enough to brush his hips, slicked back.
His tough bronze skin and sharp eyes evoked a wild stallion. His name was Gu Sukjeong.
A very familiar face to the Archery Club members.
No—anyone in Korea would be hard-pressed not to know him.
Because he was the top student in his second-year A-Class?
Because he was the grandson of an elder in the Guardian Guild?
Both were trivial.
The reason he was famous nationwide was his class, <Crusher>.
Known to derive from the Turkish Ducal House’s bloodline skill.
The whole country had buzzed when word spread that a crowd-control brawler specialist with multiple area-of-effect abilities had emerged in Korea.
“…Gu Sukjeong, you X bastard. Why are you targeting the Archery Club this time?”
The Archery Club, isolated due to the overnight explosion of construction sites.
Uninvited guests encountered the moment they set out to find their missing members.
Naturally, they suspected these intruders.
Gu Sukjeong shrugged as No Jun-yeop growled.
“Overinflated ego. I don’t waste interest on worthless things.”
“If you’re not after the Archery Club, then why the X are you all gathered here?”
“We got intel that our target’s been hanging around close to you guys.”
“…Target? You mean Kang Jae-hyeok?”
No Jun-yeop’s face hardened.
Lately, he had developed a clear fondness for Kang Jae-hyeok.
He could feel himself growing stronger every day under the lightning torture.
Without exaggeration, from his perspective, Jae-hyeok was a great benefactor.
Thanks to meeting Jae-hyeok, he’d grown as a person, escaped crisis, and improved his skills.
If Jae-hyeok were older, he’d happily call him big brother or master without hesitation.
“And if I am?”
Gu Sukjeong readily admitted the target was Kang Jae-hyeok.
Leaning casually against the monument detailing the club’s history, he scratched his ear.
As if to say, what could trash like you do about it?
An attitude that clearly looked down on No Jun-yeop.
“Then you’re gonna get your ass beat real good by me?”
No Jun-yeop barely lifted the corners of his mouth, trembling with fury.
No more questions.
He instantly drew his purple revolver and fired.
Ta-ta-ta-tang!!
“Argh! The monument!”
“Our club’s history is goneeee!!”
The Archery Club members screamed.
Dozens of bullets, curving in flight yet losing no speed, turned the monument into Swiss cheese.
Gu Sukjeong, who had been lounging on it, was gone.
“Sh*t…!”
No Jun-yeop’s gaze chased to his side.
He hadn’t missed Gu Sukjeong’s approach, rivaling the bullets’ speed.
But seeing and reacting were entirely different matters.
Creeeeeenng!!
The ground where No Jun-yeop stood shattered.
Gu Sukjeong had stomped his instep and unleashed [Earth Quake] right there.
With his lower body swallowed by the crumbling earth, unable to move, No Jun-yeop’s head got lightly tapped by Gu Sukjeong.
“Know your place. Just because we’re both in A-Class doesn’t make us equals.”
“Damn it, shut up!”
No Jun-yeop thrashed to free himself from the ground.
But Gu Sukjeong pressed down on his crown, stopping him.
“Archery Club, huh. I heard your preservation ranking’s gone up lately, but seems like you’ve lost any sense of proportion. Guess I’ll have to educate you.”
By now, every Archery Club member had their guns and arrows trained on Gu Sukjeong.
From his perspective, it was an unforgivable attitude.
“Pathetic weaklings.”
Thud-qua-qua-qua-qua-qua-qua-boom!
Gu Sukjeong’s thigh swelled, and the ground split in a straight line.
Like claw marks from a massive beast.
It was the trail of Gu Sukjeong’s charge, too fast to follow with the eye.
Splut!
“Krack!”
Crunch!
“Aaaargh!!”
Every time Gu Sukjeong appeared and vanished, two or three club members dropped.
Armed with various charging skills, he moved like a living bullet.
Based on insane speed, he closed and widened distances at will, making counterattacks hard for the club members.
‘Damn it all!’
First-year national treasure candidate Loren.
The powerlessness they felt then, toyed with by that monster alone, darkened their faces.
Some members, enraged by Gu Sukjeong’s vile tactic of using comrades as shields, fired wildly.
“Argh! You bastards!”
“Stomp ‘em!”
Gu Sukjeong’s injured underlings, hit by stray bullets, joined the fray.
Scattering in all directions, they picked off the already crumbling Archery Club formation one by one.
They overlooked one fact.
The Archery Club’s true core was No Jun-yeop.
While the members drew aggro, he had swapped his gun for a bow and begun gathering mana.
[Radiant Arrow]
A mana arrow swelling like a star, scattering brilliant light.
The massive construct stunned everyone present.
Gu Sukjeong’s gang and even the club members wore expressions like they’d seen the impossible.
“You… what’s that power?”
“The power that’ll make me the next Bow Saint, you X bastard.”
The boy who lived with the catchphrase of becoming the Bow Saint.
His dream wasn’t pie in the sky.
His talent was genuine, at least.
But the vessel wasn’t complete yet.
“Urk…!”
As the light swelled, No Jun-yeop’s limbs shook violently.
He couldn’t bear the mana’s weight.
He couldn’t control the power either.
The deployed skill was already draining his mana to the limit.
“Haha!”
Spotting his precarious stance, Gu Sukjeong laughed loudly, regaining his leisure.
“Pathetic, wielding a power you can’t handle!”
Kwaaaaaang!!
[Rolling Crusher]
Gu Sukjeong’s spinning, leaping body shot forward at light speed.
His ultimate.
Several times faster and more threatening than before.
‘Am I gonna die?’
No Jun-yeop’s heart sank, still unable to finish Radiant Arrow, growing anxious.
He imagined his body shredding apart the moment the drill-like Gu Sukjeong touched him.
Thankfully, no such horror occurred.
Kwaaaaaang!!
A boy suddenly appeared, blocking Gu Sukjeong’s spinning form with a greatsword.
A red-haired boy.
The mad dog, Baek Do-jin.
Famous among second-years as a bottom-feeder,
‘He was faster than me?’
Even Gu Sukjeong, with his arsenal of powerful charges, had trouble perceiving the speed of his battlefield entry.
“How… you trash?”
“This is how it’s supposed to be.”
Pure Step.
Indisputably the strongest charge.
Baek Do-jin was destined to stand at the pinnacle of this domain.