Chapter 49
Chapter 49
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Penny
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Our President Might Get Murdered
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Our club president—is he seriously going to get murdered like this?"
The Archery Club members, realizing the gravity of the situation, gripped their bows and guns that they had set down.
Foreign National Treasure Candidate or whatever be damned—they decided they needed to subdue Loren first.
But they all froze in place like statues.
"What the hell did that bastard just say?"
For some reason, a boy was standing behind their unconscious president.
Kang Jae-hyeok.
A few students recognized who he was.
Which made them even more baffled.
Kang Jae-hyeok was a first-year freshman who had been only level 10 during re-evaluation.
He wasn't even a major club president, and he had no right to arrogantly declare he'd take over the Archery Club.
He shouldn't even be here in the first place.
"Is that guy insane?"
"Ignore him and secure the president first."
The Archery Club members decided to disregard Jae-hyeok and launched their assault.
Those hiding in the upper spectator seats and commentary booths fired their bows and guns, while those on the first floor scattered in various directions and charged forward.
"I was planning to punish all of you anyway."
Loren's body blurred as he was about to say something to Jae-hyeok.
Hundreds of bullets and arrows rained down.
No matter how sturdy his bone armor was, it wasn't invincible.
It was too much burden to take all the attacks from these special admits who had joined the Archery Club precisely because they possessed shooting-related skills.
Tskakakak!!
Loren's body glided across the flat ground like a skid.
Bone blades protruding from the soles of his boots were infused with mana, functioning like skates.
Insane speed.
Dodging the barrage in zigzags, his eyes within the helmet left golden trails as he soared into the air.
Chills ran down the Archery Club members' spines.
'A National Treasure Candidate...!'
Kwang!
Loren landed on one side of the spectator seats.
The direction from which an especially powerful arrow had come.
His sharp bone sword sliced through chairs, striking the chest of the archer hiding beyond.
There was no bloodshed.
Having regained his senses the moment he locked eyes with Jae-hyeok, he struck the target with the flat of the blade instead of the edge.
The damage was plenty strong.
Kukwangkwangkwangkwang!!
The archer's body flew over a hundred meters.
Every facility in his path shattered indiscriminately and floated in the air. Before their debris could even hit the ground, the archer slammed into the wall, convulsing before passing out.
Similar incidents happened one after another.
Every time Loren's figure slid forward, one Archery Club member was guaranteed to get smashed into a wall.
The lights hanging from the high ceiling of the massive shooting range shook precariously as if they might fall.
'Damn it, he's too fast!'
Did it make sense for the tide to turn against them when they outnumbered him one to many?
The Archery Club members, dumbfounded enough to stick out their tongues, began to seethe with anger.
In Lion's Castle, the gap between grades was enormous.
Even if he was a future National Treasure, getting toyed with by a first-year who didn't even attend major classes was something their pride couldn't tolerate.
"It'll be harder to dodge from now on."
Students majoring in mana studies infused mana into arrows and bullets.
It was an enhanced enchant using the mana operation method they'd learned directly from Professor Lee So-young.
Their arrows and bullets gained properties like acceleration, homing, and explosion.
The effects were pathetically weak compared to skills, but since they'd assigned attributes considering synergy with their individual skills, they produced excellent results.
Tukwangkwangkwangkwang!!
"...!"
For the first time, Loren's relentless charge faltered.
Irregularly curving arrows and suddenly exploding bullets forced him to take hit after hit.
Multicolored poison mists enveloped him.
Poison studies majors had added toxicity to their trap installation skills.
As his vision and all senses were disrupted, a new volley of sniper fire poured down on him.
'No wonder he survived between China and Japan.'
Loren's golden eyes gleamed as he pulled poison arrows from his chest and side.
As expected of Lion's Castle, a prestigious institution.
It wasn't hard to guess that its graduates were the ones upholding Korea.
'But still.'
He just needed to clean them all up at once.
Loren leaped high and clung upside down to the ceiling.
The bone blades on his boot soles had morphed into hooks, latching onto the metal frame overhead.
'What the hell is the principle behind those bones?'
As the students shot disbelieving looks at Loren, who wielded bones in every form imaginable—
[Bone Flower]
The shooting range was blanketed in a field of pure white flowers.
An optical illusion created by hundreds, thousands of hands blooming from the floor and walls.
The moment the Archery Club members were entranced by the beautiful, surreal sight, the battle ended.
Because everyone in the arena had been seized and restrained by bone hands.
A skill where sharp fingers normally tore and pierced targets to complete a field of red flowers.
But because Loren halted the deployment midway, the flower field remained white.
"This is the price for touching Do-jin. Remember your mistake clearly and reflect on it."
Kwadruk!
Screams erupted as the bone hands gripping the Archery Club members' wrists or ankles squeezed with crushing force.
The overwhelming might of a National Treasure Candidate.
Exactly 43 Archery Club members lost all will to fight and collapsed.
"Without summoning a single undead, and he does this much? His reputation is well-deserved."
"...?"
Loren, coldly overlooking the students writhing and groaning with broken limbs, doubted his ears.
A calm voice rang out, utterly mismatched to the situation.
Turning in surprise, he saw Jae-hyeok standing unscathed.
Fragments of white bones were scattered around the wall he leaned against.
"Whew, that startled me."
The girl beside Jae-hyeok wiped sweat from her brow and groaned.
Her name was Chae Da-hee, right?
He recognized her face since she was in the same Class A.
Despite her frightened, squirrel-like expression, she was the culprit who had sliced apart dozens of bone hands aimed at Jae-hyeok.
"...You failed to protect Do-jin, yet you survive thanks to your teammate's help."
Loren leaped lightly from the dozens-of-meters-high ceiling and glared at Jae-hyeok.
"In Europe, nobility means one who protects, not one who is protected. Is Korea different?"
His reproachful gaze was murderous.
He hadn't vented all his anger even after smashing the Archery Club.
Jae-hyeok responded indifferently.
"You just want to pick a fight, don't you?"
Loren himself knew better than anyone that he was being unreasonable.
Jae-hyeok shrugged, reminding him of that fact.
"If you're pissed, just throw down right here."
"P-Please calm down! All three of us came here for revenge for Senior Do-jin! We're on the same side!"
Chae Da-hee tried to mediate in horror, but it was pointless.
Crack, crackle!
Sounds of joints realigning echoed as Loren's bone armor reshaped.
Its originally bulky, full-plate-armor-like form, focused on defense, slimmed down into something sleek.
"It was just like this the first day we met."
Ching!
A monster's rib bone shot out from his wrist and into Loren's grasp.
The bone sword he'd used to beat down the Archery Club members.
It emitted a faint blue glow, scattering a chilling aura that sent shivers down spines.
"But this time, without Do-jin, you can't stop me."
"Looking forward to it."
A thick smile spread across Jae-hyeok's lips.
His heart pounded.
Among this year's freshmen, the top 14 rated highest.
And among them, the exchange student Loren was the only one comparable to Silla-kyeong at the top.
Jae-hyeok wasn't foolish enough to already calculate odds of victory against him.
But he was curious.
How far would his skills hold up against Austria's National Treasure Candidate?
He wanted to gauge it.
Whether he truly had the right to dream of being the strongest.
'I'll have one more story to tell Father during break.'
Brain dead.
Kang Jae-hyeok's father had essentially been given a death sentence.
But to Jae-hyeok, his father was still a living, breathing family member.
The boy always felt regret.
The stories he could tell his father were limited to how many times he'd swung his sword that day or how tasteless the porridge boiled by Butler Hwang was.
Locked in the mansion for eight years, he had no material for conversation.
And it was awkward to bring up news from the media.
It all connected back to negativity about House Kang.
Even drama villains were characters modeled after House Kang, showing how malicious the media was toward them.
But now things had changed.
Thanks to enrolling in Lion's Castle, stories worth telling his father were piling up day by day.
"You look enjoying yourself."
Jae-hyeok's reaction irked Loren.
Loren was also a ducal house scion.
Knowing the ducal houses' potential better than anyone, he wouldn't stand by if House Kang fell.
He assumed the bloodline skill Jae-hyeok had recently awakened must be tremendously powerful.
But Kang Jae-hyeok had only recently awakened.
The gap between them in skill proficiency and levels was like heaven and earth.
Yet Jae-hyeok was grinning as if predicting his own victory.
'A worthless fool. Staying close to him would bring no good...'
Loren's plan to thoroughly crush Jae-hyeok halted midway.
"You should enjoy trials you can't dodge. Don't regret it later—fight properly. If you swing your sword half-assed against me, you'll be in for a world of hurt."
"...Ha."
Daring to warn him so arrogantly?
As Loren scowled and moved to swing his sword demonstratively—
"What a total mess. If the seniors saw this, we'd all be dead meat."
An unfamiliar woman's voice came from behind.
"...!"
Jae-hyeok and Loren flinched in surprise.
They'd noticed the new arrival far too late, even though she was right next to them.
A tall beauty with long hair.
She glanced at No Jun-yeop, passed out in the corner, and stomped on his face.
"Figures this bastard caused trouble again."
Pang!
No Jun-yeop's body flew all the way to the entrance after a kick to his side.
She shook off her foot as if it'd gotten dirty, then finally turned her gaze to the boys.
"Still not over it? Then take that bastard, bury him in cement, sink him in the ocean—do whatever. I'm gonna be pretty busy cleaning this up before the supervisors catch wind."
Dozens of Archery Club members who'd followed her arrived laden with materials and tools.
Judging by how they ignored their groaning comrades with broken limbs, the Archery Club seemed divided into two major factions.
Loren snorted in disgust, his mood ruined in every way, and turned away, while Jae-hyeok stood still and said meaningfully,
"If you're burying him, do it in soil soaked with Do-jin's blood."
"...?"
Everyone's gazes followed Jae-hyeok's to the entrance.
No Jun-yeop, finally regaining consciousness, was slowly rising.
Jae-hyeok jerked his chin at him.
"Get ready and stand at the shooting line."
"You... what the hell are you?"
No Jun-yeop clutched his throbbing head and glared murderously at Jae-hyeok.
He vaguely recalled the moment before blacking out.
"Kang Jae-hyeok."
Answering as he approached the weapon rack, Jae-hyeok pulled out a single recurve bow and plucked the strings—twang twang twang.
"Baek Do-jin's team leader and comrade."
The way to conquer a club was simple.
Beat the club president.
But smashing them senseless like Loren did was meaningless.
You had to challenge and win fairly according to the club's 'rules' to subjugate the entire club.
But rules were always overwhelmingly favorable to the club that made them.
Challengers also paid a heavy price for failure.
Throughout Lion's Castle history, few had ever attempted to conquer a club.
"Grab a gun. Let's have a shooting match."