Chapter 123
Chapter 123
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 123
Chapter Title: Long Before Being Called a Grandmaster
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Long before she was called a Grandmaster.
Yi So-young had been treated as a once-in-a-generation genius.
Her ability to read and manipulate mana flows was so exceptional that it proved invaluable in Gate raids.
She had received invitations to join S-Rank parties less than a year after debuting as a Player—a phenomenon that could only be described as the Yi So-young syndrome.
That was right.
Yi So-young had been raiding high-grade Gates since childhood.
She had fought countless enemies alongside Korea's top Players, accumulating all sorts of experience.
She was a walking library.
Her mind brimmed with an immeasurable wealth of knowledge and information.
And yet.
‘Even for a beastman… is there really one that looks this human?’
The bald beastman before her eyes was unfamiliar even to Yi So-young.
Aside from his baldness, there wasn’t a single beastman trait to be found.
Five long claws?
Judging by the mana flow, those were artifacts.
They weren’t a physical feature of the beastman.
‘Doesn’t seem to have a tail either.’
She glanced.
Yi So-young eyed the bald beastman’s rear.
Even though the male school uniform pants clung tightly to the body, there was no bulge at the hips.
What stood out most irritatingly was that the blood the beastman had spilled was blue.
Given the blood color, it was highly likely a reptilian beastman.
That was the problem.
‘Reptilian beastmen, even if mixed with human blood, always have abnormally large eyes or long tongues…’
“Peeking at a young boy’s butt? Is that what a professor should be doing?”
The bald beastman blinked his round eyes as he asked.
His pretty face wore such an innocent expression that Yi So-young couldn’t help but feel a strange twinge of guilt.
The beastman scoffed.
“To show such a idiotic reaction even in a situation like this. Human morality is always so ridiculous.”
A beastman who didn’t flinch even after recognizing Grandmaster Yi So-young’s identity.
He had several things to rely on.
The first was…
Rumble rumble rumble!!
That he wasn’t alone.
“Keep your wits about you. Just like I got injured earlier from letting my guard down, the moment you do the same, your head will roll.”
The second was his skill.
Mudal.
A beastman bearing the name meaning “wise warrior.”
He was strong.
If he were merely someone an average A-Rank Player couldn’t handle, he never would have taken on the insane mission of infiltrating Lion’s Castle in the first place.
‘A Grandmaster is different from a regular A-Rank, but I’m no ordinary one either.’
Tssang!
Sudden explosions erupted throughout the student council building.
Mudal gave no quarter to Yi So-young as she tried to read the mana waves and pinpoint their locations.
He charged forward boldly, swinging his five blade-like claws with wild abandon.
‘Annoying.’
Beside Yi So-young was the injured student council boy.
Unable to take even a single step from her spot to protect the student, she endured Mudal’s ferocious assault.
With her focus divided, her mana detection naturally weakened.
“Acting all high and mighty, keep getting distracted, eh?”
Kik, kwaduk!
Mudal’s five claws, locked against Yi So-young’s mana shield, extended or shortened while spreading wide to the sides.
The pinnacle of shape-shifting artifact mastery.
Skakakak!!
Each swing of Mudal’s arms traced five different trajectories with their blades.
Attacks beyond the mana shield’s coverage range sliced into Yi So-young’s flesh one after another.
It felt as if she were being ganged up on by five swordsmen.
“Cheonbyeon-a…!”
Yi So-young sighed, realizing the true nature of the claws.
Cheonbyeon-a.
A weapon favored by a notorious beastman ten years ago.
“You’re ‘Mudal’? I heard Mudal died ten years ago?”
“Yaksha didn’t finish the job.”
“…No way that guy would?”
“Tell me about it. Back then, I almost forgot to play dead because I couldn’t believe it. But looking back now… I get it. Humans like you are all the same, aren’t you?”
“…….”
The Yaksha of ten years ago had indeed been different from his usual self.
He hadn’t shown it outwardly, but the grief of losing his wife must have been immense.
Yes.
Kang Jae-hyeok’s mother.
‘Even Yaksha was human after all.’
Yi So-young’s bitter expression sharpened her senses to a razor’s edge.
Mudal was a specter from the past.
A monster infamous even during Korea’s golden age of Players when Yaksha was active.
Though this was her first time facing him in person, Yi So-young was certain he was no easy opponent.
“Professor!”
Just then, student council students arrived on the tenth floor via the stairs.
Boys and girls swarming in, aiming their skills at Mudal.
It would have been a reassuring sight if the enemy were an ordinary beastman, but…
“Third floor, seventh floor, and thirteenth floor.”
Yi So-young planned to disperse the students.
“Those are the spots where the explosions just went off.”
She had accomplished it despite withstanding Mudal’s onslaught.
She had grasped where the explosions originated and what caused them.
“There are beastmen at each explosion site. The ones on the third and seventh floors are mages, and the one on the thirteenth used a roar-type skill, so it’s a warrior type. They’re weaker than this monster, so if you team up, you should have a solid chance of winning. Head there now and subdue them.”
She didn’t say gentle things like “it’s dangerous, so hide.”
Every student council member was an Awakener.
Had they not enrolled in school, they could have been active frontline Players right away.
“As you command.”
Ban Hui-yeol, who had been staring fixedly at Mudal while hiding half his face with a fan, replied obediently.
Student council wasn’t obligated to follow a regular professor’s orders.
But this wasn’t the time to be stubborn.
‘That thing’s a monster.’
His entire body trembled.
He was glad he’d worn the surcoat over his uniform.
At least his comrades wouldn’t notice his disgrace.
“Let’s go.”
“Where to?”
The moment Ban Hui-yeol signaled his comrades and turned his back.
Kwang!
Mudal stomped once and thrust his claws at Ban Hui-yeol.
Skakak!!
The light-green surcoat tore away.
If Yi So-young’s urgently extended mana hand hadn’t seized Mudal’s shoulder, Ban Hui-yeol’s body would have been reduced to mincemeat.
“Hurry!”
Yi So-young conjured three additional mana hands to attack Mudal while hurling the student council boy toward Ban Hui-yeol.
[Demon Beast]
This technique, symbolic of Yi So-young, wasn’t a skill.
It was simply pure 100% mana materialized using her original mana operation method.
The creator of martial arts (skills).
Yi So-young was undoubtedly a Grandmaster.
“Think these trifles can bind me?”
Kwangchang!
Mudal snapped or smashed the demon beasts coiling around his body.
Materialized mana was affected by physical force, and Mudal’s strength was beyond imagination.
An outstanding specimen even among the already powerful beastmen.
‘A creature that doesn’t exist on Earth, I suppose.’
Feeling cold sweat trickle down her spine, Yi So-young rummaged in her pocket.
At the end of the corridor.
The room where No Jun-yeop and Jang Yeon-ju were confined… no, where they were being protected.
With her back naturally to it, she slowly tore open the packaging of a choux cream she pulled from her pocket.
“If you dismiss the wonders of this new era you’ve never seen as mere parlor tricks just because you were active back then, that’s a problem. This choux cream? It’s pretty high-level stuff too.”
“New era? Ha! Think I don’t know what’s been going on just because I hid for ten years? Ever since Yaksha ended up like that, Korea’s Players have grown weaker by the day. You lot, bowing to foreigners for ‘peace’ and forgetting how to fight—you dare call this a new era?”
“…You sound just like some ancestor spirit.”
A villainous beastman lamenting Korea’s state.
“Are you actually worried about Korea’s future? Planning to turn over a new leaf right now?”
Yi So-young, having absorbed most of the world’s knowledge, had incredibly strong curiosity.
Especially an immense obsession with the unknown.
No matter who Mudal was, she wanted to capture him alive and run all sorts of experiments.
So she subtly attempted to persuade him, but…
“As if.”
Mudal attacked without a word.
Tskakakakak!!
His body twisted like a spring at will.
Mudal’s assaults were highly unpredictable.
Shortening then lengthening, surging from below then dropping from above, constantly flying in from blind spots.
Combined with the ever-changing transformations of Cheonbyeon-a—said to be made from an S-Rank wolf beastman’s claws—it was a nightmare for anyone facing him.
“Blink once, and your head’s gone.”
Mudal ramped up his momentum.
Seeing Yi So-young gradually pushed back as the claw slashes increased, he was convinced he had seized the advantage.
‘No need to stay tense after all.’
He had indeed been intimidated by the Grandmaster title.
But facing her directly, he thought modern ones were unqualified as expected.
Compared to the days when Yaksha rampaged madly, the overall quality of Players had declined.
‘Naturally.’
During Yaksha’s active years, foreign Players never stopped visiting Korea.
Those seeking to learn from Yaksha, challengers to his honor, or assassins after his life.
All sorts flocked in, turning the Korean Peninsula into a hellish stage for Mudal, who operated there.
Whenever he tried anything anywhere, powerhouses appeared to interfere.
‘Thanks to that, my own skills grew quickly.’
Yes, I’m a survivor of that hellish era.
No reason to fear the lowly scraps of this country barely clinging on since Yaksha fell into a vegetative state.
Kkachang!!
Mudal’s claws struck the wall once more.
Fragments of marble sliced like tofu floated between Mudal and Yi So-young.
Kwang!
Both reacted almost simultaneously.
Mudal punched to launch the marble shards like shells, while Yi So-young deployed two demon beasts to envelop them.
Umjjeol!
Mudal’s eyes widened.
His vision spun suddenly, his stomach churning.
“You bitch…!”
The demon beasts’ nature was different this time.
It infiltrated his body through his fist.
Not materialized, but mana itself at work.
“Told you it’s not a parlor trick.”
Ppaddeuduk!!
Yi So-young swept her hand through the air like a conductor, and Mudal’s arm—corroded by the demon beast—twisted with gruesome sounds.
“Kaaaaaaaack!!”
Mudal’s scream echoed down the corridor.
‘Will they be okay?’
Using the brief respite to catch her breath, Yi So-young’s gaze turned toward the stairs.
Who would have thought four beastmen had infiltrated Lion’s Castle.
When did I start holding the prejudice that beastmen had only one hideout?
A clear mistake on my part.
My arrogance put the students in danger…
‘…Calm down. The Martial Force will arrive soon, so the students will be fine.’
The commotion caused by the beastmen was excessive.
The explosions were so loud that the Martial Force must have grasped the situation immediately.
“Whew.”
Regaining her composure, Yi So-young deployed five more demon beasts.
Reminded of Kang Jae-hyeok’s slaves at the end of the corridor behind her.
‘If I can’t hold out here, it’s over in every way.’
Eyes bloodshot, facing the furious specter from the past.
Yi So-young launched her counterattack against Mudal.