Chapter 126
Chapter 126
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: Yaksha's Shadow
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‘Is that a first-year?’
The boy with thick eyebrows shuddered.
A fox beastkin who had assaulted the student council president’s office, no less.
She wasn’t some arrogant fool.
She possessed more than enough skill to target the president.
Of course, that was only when fully leveraging the Berserker trait of growing stronger the longer the fight dragged on…
But Yaksha’s son had beheaded her and ended it before she could complete her transformation.
—Bloom.
As Kang Jae-hyeok murmured the words, a red, transparent sword rose up.
The sight of it severing the woman’s neck and causing blood to bloom like a flower in full splendor was wondrous beyond words.
‘A shape-shifting weapon.’
Do Chan-seong guessed that Jae-hyeok’s red sword was a legendary-grade item.
But he didn’t pay it much mind.
All items in the world were inevitably influenced by their user’s capabilities.
What captivated and amazed the boy was solely Jae-hyeok’s skill.
‘Using the differences between a sword and a blade to defeat a stronger foe.’
Clever and bold.
‘He seems like someone who’s weathered a thousand battles.’
From the moment he lost his scabbard and his Quick Draw was sealed.
Jae-hyeok had endured the fox beastkin’s ferocious assault by exploiting the features of a single-edged blade.
The fox beastkin, gradually awakening her Berserker constitution and turning into a monster of superhuman strength.
Her blade carried monstrous power.
Meeting it head-on naively would have numbed his arms or snapped his wrists, forcing him to drop his weapon.
Yet Jae-hyeok had braced the flat of her blade with his palm and elbow, distributing the impact across the entire length of his sword.
Once he made her fully experience and grow conscious of the strengths inherent to a “blade,” he switched to a “sword” and struck her unguarded moment.
It was masterfully executed.
‘The fight itself feels so natural. Is that the power of a prestigious house?’
The tale of Jae-hyeok being confined to his mansion for eight years was well-known.
Even his level at enrollment had been low, so there was no way he’d accumulated sufficient combat experience.
Yet he had turned the tables like a hero from legend, delivering a tremendous shock to any third-party observer.
“You okay?”
The boy snapped out of it.
Jae-hyeok had approached without him noticing and was staring right at him.
The emotion in his eyes was probably concern.
The boy sighed.
“Have we met before or something?”
“Nope? First time seeing you.”
“Right…”
Yet here he was, scanning the boy’s wounds with a worried gaze.
Having gauged Jae-hyeok’s personality, the boy slowly nodded.
“Thanks to you, I’m fine.”
“That’s a relief.”
Only then did Jae-hyeok visibly relax as he rummaged through the fox beastkin’s corpse.
But the sword still gripped in her hand and the thin dress draped over her body were all ordinary common items.
‘Nothing worth taking.’
There was no reason to feel regret.
[Your level has increased by 4.]
[An astonishing achievement!]
[You have won a battle against a stronger opponent.]
[All stats increase by 2.]
After taming monsters to reach level 40.
The low-grade monsters hunted during training sessions hadn’t provided Jae-hyeok with sufficient experience.
He’d thought his level might stagnate for a while, but it jumped by four all at once.
‘And an achievement on top of that.’
At this rate, he’d soon have enough points to buy intel on Reinhardt.
As he grew expectant, the thick-eyebrowed boy handed him something.
“Here.”
A red necktie.
The one Jae-hyeok had tossed aside when he first arrived on the scene.
“I’m Moon Jong-pil, student council secretary. You saved my life, Kang Jae-hyeok. I’d like to properly repay you next time.”
“I’ll hold you to it. But where are Senior Jang Yeon-ju and No Jun-yeop?”
The first thing Jae-hyeok did upon reaching the student council president’s office was search for signs of Jang Yeon-ju and No Jun-yeop.
Fortunately, they weren’t here.
“They’re being protected in the detention cell on the 10th floor.”
“Detention cell?”
“It’s meant for locking up problem students, so the defenses are top-notch.”
“I see…?”
It somehow suited No Jun-yeop perfectly.
Jae-hyeok strode toward the collapsed staircase, but Moon Jong-pil stopped him.
“Wait. It could collapse.”
The fox beastkin’s mana explosion upon her appearance had wrecked the 13th floor’s framework.
Stepping on the stairs could bring the ceiling down, burying him alive.
“You stay here.”
Instead, Jae-hyeok leaped down the stairs.
With multiple beastkin having appeared, he couldn’t afford to twiddle his thumbs here.
For now, he wanted to confirm that Jang Yeon-ju and No Jun-yeop were safe.
“Good grief…”
Moon Jong-pil blankly watched Jae-hyeok’s figure vanish into the darkness.
A boy who threw himself into danger time and again to save his friends.
Moon Jong-pil was deeply moved by his sense of justice.
Perhaps House Kang, which had raised such a child, was actually a fine family after all?
He was starting to harbor such doubts.
***
“Kehek! Kehahaha!! Having a tough time, are we?”
Mu Dal burst into guffaws after vomiting a mouthful of blood.
While watching blood stream from Lee So-young’s nose and eyes.
Unlike Mu Dal, she bore no clear external wounds, but her breathing had grown ragged long ago.
“This is the price of overestimating your abilities. That undeserved title of Grandmaster must’ve made you lose sight of your place.”
Lee So-young had spread her mana across the entire student council building.
Her intent was to grasp in real-time exactly where, who, and what was happening, then coordinate the battlefield based on that information.
It was overreach.
Enduring Mu Dal’s relentless assault while overseeing the whole building was a burden even for her.
“That’s why brute-forcing it overloads your dantian and brain.”
Mu Dal sneered at Lee So-young as her limbs began to tremble.
Having suffered repeated setbacks against her Demon Beasts, he was badly injured, but beastkin’s greatest strength was recovery.
Compared to Lee So-young, who was now sustaining internal injuries, his condition was actually improving.
‘My greed went too far. Even going all-out against a villain from Korea’s golden age wouldn’t have been enough, yet I split my mana and nerves.’
Lee So-young readily admitted her misjudgment.
The reason she was called Grandmaster had nothing to do with martial prowess.
It was a nickname born from awe and praise for her achievements in creating various mana operation methods, elevating the overall level of the player world.
If her combat ability had been exceptional too, she wouldn’t still be stuck at A-rank.
Of course, Mu Dal was merely an A-rank player as well…
‘I took on self-imposed penalties, so it’s no wonder I couldn’t handle it.’
Her position as a professor had held her back.
Concerned for the students’ safety, she had kept tabs on their movements while staying ready to rush to their aid at any moment.
And this was the result.
Kwachak!
Mu Dal’s kick slammed into her abdomen, smashing her into the wall, and her mana finally grew unstable.
The mana she had spread throughout the student council building suddenly dispersed.
“Arrogant little punk. I was clashing with Yaksha long before you started chasing his shadow.”
Despite her youthful, teenage-girl appearance.
Mu Dal knew Lee So-young was quite old.
But Mu Dal was far older.
He was disguised as a bald boy right now, but…
‘Why are the others dragging their feet? We won’t get another chance to infiltrate Lion’s Castle like this.’
The secret to Mu Dal and his comrades perfectly disguising themselves as humans lay in the sacrifice of chameleon beastkin.
More precisely, they had been “forcibly” offered up by the white tiger beastkin.
“Tch.”
Even imagining what the white tiger beastkin would do if they failed their mission filled Mu Dal with dread.
He shook his head, forcibly regaining his composure, and unleashed a barrage of attacks on the weakened Lee So-young.
Cheonbyeon-ah.
His weapon, forged from the fang of a once-famous wolf beastkin, was still shifting forms.
It gave Lee So-young no time to adapt, mercilessly slashing her apart.
The problem was that Lee So-young was far more tenacious than expected.
Every time Cheonbyeon-ah slashed or stabbed her, she didn’t fall but extended her Demon Beasts to seize Mu Dal’s nape or ankles.
But that had its limits.
Her mana, hampered by internal injuries, had weakened.
The Demon Beasts’ power had diminished as well, allowing Mu Dal to shake them off with ease.
Pook!
Finally, Cheonbyeon-ah plunged deep into Lee So-young’s chest.
As she crumbled, unable to hold out any longer, Mu Dal—fed up—irritably swung his foot and shattered her jaw.
‘Finally over.’
The fact that his infiltration comrades still hadn’t joined was an unexpected variable, but it was fine.
All that remained was kidnapping the two brats hiding in the room at the end of the hall and escaping the school.
Using the escape route dug by the mole beastkin, they could slip away easily.
Wobble, wobble.
“…You’re late.”
Mu Dal growled, barely managing to walk with his ragdoll-like body that could collapse at any moment.
Step.
He sensed someone descending the stairs.
“Damn fox bitch, took you long enough to light the fuse?”
“Yeah. She was slow.”
“…!”
The fox beastkin who infiltrated via the rooftop was a powerhouse even Mu Dal acknowledged.
He hadn’t imagined she’d fall to mere students.
So when he sensed the presence descending the stairs, he naturally assumed it was her.
But what was this kid?
“If you’d been on the 13th floor, I might’ve lost.”
Step, step, step…
The boy who appeared in the hallway muttered as he assessed Mu Dal and So-young’s conditions.
His pitch-black eyes burned with intensity.
Pure black irises without a hint of brown were a rare type even in the East.
“Who… are you?”
Mu Dal reacted with extreme caution.
Locking eyes with the mysterious boy triggered an old memory on reflex.
A time when he’d been crushed like an insect by a man with emotionless eyes.
‘Yaksha…? Is that bastard somehow resembling Yaksha?’
Mu Dal deluded himself into thinking he was seeing things.
He questioned his own state, having lost too much blood fighting Lee So-young.
“A friend of the ones you’re after.”
If Jae-hyeok had been wearing his sword’s scabbard at his waist.
Mu Dal would have instinctively recalled House Kang’s Iaido and reacted.
But right now, by coincidence, Jae-hyeok had lost his scabbard.
The weapon in his hand wasn’t the jet-black blade symbolic of House Kang, but a red, transparent sword.
Thud!
Jae-hyeok pulled out [Heavy Moon] and jammed it into the wall.
A round blue shield.
He laid the red blade atop it.
Gripping Iyarugut in both hands, Jae-hyeok assumed a slanted high stance, causing the side of the blade to naturally align with the embedded shield.
“What…?”
What insane nonsense was this?
Mu Dal, baffled by the unprecedented sight, flinched.
Tskakak!
Sparks flew from the red blade.
It was friction from the blade rubbing against the shield.
In that moment.
A figure flashed in Mu Dal’s wide eyes.
A monster unleashing Quick Draw in all directions without restraint.
Yes, unbelievably, it resembled the act of “drawing a sword.”
By the time Mu Dal realized it.
Shpaaang—!
The red blade shot forward at blinding speed, embedding in his forehead.
“You…”
Mu Dal’s trembling gaze fixed on the boy’s face, now mere inches away.
Was this fresh, refined face truly Yaksha’s?
No way.
This one was just a bit more…
“Monster…”
Thud!
The ghost of the past fell.
Not to Lee So-young, who had shared his era however briefly, but to a boy born into an entirely new one.
Witnessing the scene faintly, Lee So-young intuited that Korea’s history, halted since Yaksha’s departure, was beginning to be rewritten.