Chapter 98
Chapter 98
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: Iaido Unleashed
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"Eh?"
The people preparing camp looked toward the distant sky.
The horizon where sky met earth was being engulfed in pitch-black smoke.
"What's that? Did a fire break out?"
"Probably some students got into a fight."
"What nonsense. What kind of lunatics would burn down an entire forest just to fight?"
"Kids these days are scary. It's plenty believable."
"Cut the crap and let's go check it out."
"Eh? Why~? Leave that stuff to the security team."
Pearl Island spawned dozens of elite monsters and boss monsters.
The Assault Team's main duty was raiding the ones that respawned every twelve hours at minimum.
In other words, they were insanely busy.
They had to patrol an island the size of Gangwon Province all day long.
The veteran scolded his grumbling comrades who wanted to rest.
"Have you forgotten how that Death Knight that popped up out of nowhere a few days ago stole the Troll Lord from us? We need to scout and respond to any potential variables ahead of time."
"Fine, fine, got it. Ugh, can't even eat a meal in peace."
Raid Squad 2.
They were indifferent to the academy or the students' safety.
The Martial Force handled Lion's Castle's security, and besides, they belonged to the Association, not the Baekya Foundation.
***
It was completely over.
The team leaders had fled, and Manager Gu was down.
"Ah, aaah..."
Song Se-yeong raised his trembling hand.
He aimed it at Manager Gu's face—mashed beyond recognition at the bridge of the nose and cheekbones—to stop the orc swinging the iron mace.
Sizzle.
But his mana had hit rock bottom.
The spell failed to manifest and scattered harmlessly into the air.
"N-No..."
Even if they weren't particularly close.
Watching someone he'd met every weekend for months get murdered right in front of him was terrifying and horrifying.
On top of that, it would make the freshman's sacrifice meaningless.
Song Se-yeong recalled Jae-hyeok's back as he stood alone facing the ogre and charged forward with a shout.
Can't use mana?
Then just use his perfectly fine limbs.
He wanted to save Manager Gu. Only if they all survived unscathed could he feel a little less guilty when laying flowers at Jae-hyeok's funeral.
"Se, Se-yeong...!"
"Damn it!"
The staff chased after Song Se-yeong.
Did they feel any better?
Kang Jae-hyeok and Manager Gu.
They had witnessed heroes sacrificing themselves for others twice in a row.
Of course they wanted to help Manager Gu too.
No hope?
They knew that.
But abandoning Manager Gu didn't guarantee they'd escape safely either.
Better to take at least one more orc with them to the afterlife to vent their resentment.
"Uoooooooh!!"
Kyahaha!!
The battlefield echoed with the desperate shouts of the resolved humans and the mocking laughter of the orcs.
Thud.
Then, someone's footsteps rang out there.
It was eerie.
Though not loud, the echo pierced clearly into their ears.
Boom!!
An explosion followed immediately.
Only then did the gazes of humans and orcs—burning with murderous intent toward each other—turn in the same direction.
"I knew there were a lot of ugly people."
If not for the expression, he could be mistaken for a statue.
A boy with sharp, harmonious features scanned the crowd with an expression impossible to tell if it was a smile or a frown.
"But lately, I'm learning there are a lot of beautiful people too."
Kang Jae-hyeok.
The boy they'd thought dead had returned.
Completely unscathed, at that.
"H-How...?"
The people felt like they'd seen a ghost.
But Jae-hyeok was unmistakably alive.
Vitality overflowed from the motion as he shook orc brains and blood from his hand.
"You've worked hard."
Pop!
Jae-hyeok pulled a glass vial from his pocket, uncorked it, and a sweet, fragrant aroma filled the battlefield.
The top-grade potion Jo Seong-hyeon had gifted him.
Now only one bottle left, and he poured it over Manager Gu's body without hesitation.
No different from when he'd used it on Park Ju-bong.
Sizzle...
Even potion addiction symptoms couldn't fully suppress the top-grade potion's restorative power.
Manager Gu's wounds began healing slowly, drawing sighs from the onlookers.
Grrr!
The orcs glared at Jae-hyeok as if they wanted to devour him.
They held back only because of their superior's command.
The orc mages calmed their subordinates and began casting spells in sequence.
Enchant, Haste, Strength, and so on.
The orcs' momentum surged with the buffs.
Grraa...
As the wrinkled fingers of the orc mages pointed at Jae-hyeok in unison, Song Se-yeong and the mana-depleted staff felt their hearts sink.
Jae-hyeok, however, remained nonchalant.
He extended his hand with a bored expression.
Squeak?
One orc panicked.
The spear it had thrust with all its might was caught in the human's hand and wouldn't budge.
**Name: Kang Jae-hyeok**
**Level: 40**
**Mana: 1,730/1,730**
**Strength: 173 Vitality: 173 Agility: 134 Mana: 173 Insight: 134**
**Skills: [Noble Knightly Virtue], [King's Roar], [Empty]**
These were Jae-hyeok's pure specs, updated after slaying the ogre.
Now, his stats alone didn't lag far behind mid-tier A-rank players.
The result of repeated effort and proof.
Kwaaaaang!!
The spear Jae-hyeok snatched and hurled skewered and killed five or six orcs.
A surprised orc warrior's reflexively swung scimitar was sliced in two by iaido, and as Jae-hyeok sheathed and twisted his scabbard, it smashed the incoming iron mace from the side.
Gurk!
The orc that had swung the mace took it to the face instead and collapsed with a dying scream.
Thanks to that, the positions of the two orcs behind it were exposed, becoming Jae-hyeok's next targets.
Crunch!!
Jae-hyeok stomped hard on the orcs' heads to leap forward, closing in rapidly on one orc mage.
The orc mage cackled.
As if it had been waiting for the puny human charging head-on, it fired a fireball.
"You have to dodge that...!"
Song Se-yeong shouted urgently, knowing the fireball's nature.
Jae-hyeok knew too.
He deliberately let the orc grabbing for him seize his ankle and swung his leg with full force.
Boom!!
The orc, clutching Jae-hyeok's ankle, floated up and took the fireball hit in his place.
Splash-!
A flash sliced through the exploding, lingering flames, cleaving the orc mage's face in half.
Gruk...?
The reaction of prey facing Kang Family Iaido's speed for the first time was always the same.
Shock.
Puhahaha!!
The orc mage's eyes bulged as it died screaming.
Magic-type monsters' low vitality couldn't withstand Jae-hyeok's attack power.
'I can fight them like regular humans.'
Jae-hyeok relaxed his body, discarding the ogre-fighting instincts.
Thud.
His footsteps grew even lighter.
And much faster.
Grk grk!
Graaak!!
The orc warriors tried forming ranks with their minions, but it was pointless.
Jae-hyeok, tempered by swamp training where he leaped off classmates' backs and heads like stepping stones—not play, training—rendered encirclement meaningless.
He bounded off orc bodies and their stabbing weapons, targeting the orc mages.
Kaaaaah!!
Only four remained, venting their rage wildly.
They stopped buffing useless minions and spammed fireballs.
Keeek!!
Only orcs kept dying.
Jae-hyeok deliberately overlapped his path with enemies, wielding their fireballs like his own weapons.
"Wha...? Uh, uh huh?"
Song Se-yeong and the staff gawked like carp.
To them, Jae-hyeok looked like he was literally flying.
They were awestruck by the sight of him blasting several orcs with each move.
"Can orc mages use illusion magic?"
"N-No, I don't think so?"
"Then that means it's real...?"
A single student toying with the orc legion that had crushed three B-rank players...!
"It's true. The rumor that Jae-hyeok awakened a House Kang bloodline skill!"
"Just one bloodline skill makes him that strong?"
"Not just any—it's the bloodline skill that made House Kang a ducal house. Must have special traits, even if we don't know details."
"...No."
Amid the excited mana-depleted staff, Song Se-yeong muttered.
"That boy's eyes never turned gold even once."
Craack!
Just then, the last orc mage's head hit the ground.
The legion's collapse.
The remaining orc warriors grabbed survivors and fled in a straight line.
"Manager!"
The mana-depleted staff didn't bother chasing the orcs.
Prioritizing recovery of Manager Gu and the wounded.
"Jae-hyeok, we truly th—huh?"
Relieved after checking Manager Gu's significant recovery, they turned to thank Jae-hyeok and were baffled.
"Huh, where'd he go?"
"N-No way he got captured by the orcs?"
"The orcs were the ones running from Jae-hyeok..."
"...Then did he chase after them?"
Orc corpses had low value.
They didn't drop good loot either.
Chasing risked ambushes and losses for nothing.
But why bother...?
A chill ran down the puzzled group's spines.
"No way... he's backtracking the taming monster's summoner?"
Just now.
They'd witnessed Jae-hyeok's prowess clearly.
But the orc legion's master was undoubtedly an A-rank or higher monster.
No way the one taming orc mages and ogres was ordinary.
"I'll chase after him!"
"Wait."
Someone stopped Song Se-yeong rushing to follow Jae-hyeok.
It was Manager Gu.
Fully conscious now, he rasped painfully in a gravelly voice.
"Chasing sloppily... will just tip them off. Don't interfere with that boy...."
He'd heard unconsciously.
Jae-hyeok's voice and his feats.
No telling how relieved he'd been.
"...Understood."
Convinced, Song Se-yeong nodded obediently.
Afterward, the group split in two.
Half went searching for Jo Seong-hyeon, the other half collected loot dropped by the orcs. For Jae-hyeok, who would surely return.