Demon (3)
Demon (3)
About a month after the midterm exams.
The revelation of the Black King unfolds. The professors mobilize all sorts of means to dispel this barrier. However, the most certain way to break barrier magic is to collapse the axis of the barrier. The protagonist and his party defeat Ash and Dust, destroy the barrier, and protect the peace of the Hero Academy.
Here, the story splits into three branches.
The first is the bad ending. It's the ending where you fail to win against the combined attack of Ash and Dust, and you lose.
The second is where Ash and Dust succeed in escaping. And Ash and Dust persistently harass the player, doing all sorts of annoying crap.
The third is defeating Ash and Dust and protecting the peace of the academy.
You could wait until the incident happens to solve it, but there's no need to put off what can be done now. Besides, the damage is immense if the incident actually occurs.
I put the ring in my pants pocket.
I took Yoon Chae-rin and left the auditorium. I racked my brain. There are a total of three orbs in the Academy. Depending on where the first orb is, the pattern changes into 7 different branches. The location of the second orb was the clubroom where Kang Hannam went earlier. The third location was the rooftop. If it were other things, I might have been confused, but these were locations I remembered.
Yoon Chae-rin and I moved quickly. It was a place with a sign that said Strong Man. It was a place packed with gym rats. I hadn't even entered yet, but I felt like I could smell the sweat.
"Is it here?"
"Yeah. This is it."
Bang!
Before I could even say anything, Yoon Chae-rin kicked the clubroom door open. Seriously, why not knock?
"W-what the!"
"Is it a Villain! Has a Villain invaded! Finally, the time has come to show off my muscles...!"
It hadn't even been a breath, yet muscular men with their upper bodies exposed were swarming from everywhere. There were about 10 of them. Seeing that sight made my stomach churn. It was a scene I was afraid might appear in my dreams.
"Y-Yoon Chae-rin? Why are you here!? D-don't tell me you came to take over this clubroom?"
Kang Hannam asked, trembling.
"No, we're here for a moment at the request of Professor Song Rahui. Sorry for interrupting your training, but excuse us for a moment."
Yoon Chae-rin strode forward confidently. At the mention of Professor Song Rahui's request, the kids quickly cleared the way. That was because if they got on Yoon Chae-rin's bad side, they could end up on the Professor's bad side.
"Excuse us."
I said with a friendly smile. I passed the disgusting sight of them bustling about and showing off their muscles, and headed to the right side of the clubroom. There was a flower pot in the second window. It had an unknown purple flower. Just like in the auditorium, I circulated the mana in my body. Purple lightning wrapped around my hand.
Jjeojeojeok.
After breaking the flower pot along with the shield, I grabbed the orb.
"What the...?"
There was one boy whose eyes had sharpened, feeling the power of the orb, perhaps because he had a related trait. I took a quick look at his traits, and sure enough, he had a related ability. However, his overall stat numbers were lower than mine. His strength was high, but his agility, stamina, and mana were lacking. He had good synergy with his trait, so his instantaneous output was excellent, but that was it.
"Alright, everyone, keep working out."
I parted ways with Kang Hannam and went up to the rooftop with Yoon Chae-rin. The sky was dyed in the twilight colors of the evening sunset. It was a quite atmospheric scene. I moved forward from the rooftop door, took seven steps to the right, then broke the flower pot and grabbed the black orb.
Kwajik.
I broke the two orbs. A necklace and an earring appeared. They were the Black Bat Necklace and the Black Scorpion Earring, respectively. I took the Ring of the Black Viper out of my pocket.
The three accessories were a set of accessories that were useful in the early game. The so-called Poison Resistance Set. With this equipment, it becomes much easier to deal with Ash, who specializes in poison.
"Looks like good stuff."
"It's just stuff that raises poison resistance. It's useless for you anyway."
"Hmm."
Yoon Chae-rin made a humming sound and looked at me with a strange expression.
"You know a lot about me?"
"You're one of the strongest people among the first years, so how could I not know?"
"There's no one among the first years who uses poison. And I've never been hit by poison."
"I'm just smart. I just inferred it."
At my shamelessness, Yoon Chae-rin made an incredulous expression and then chuckled.
"Then shall we talk about the Villain we have to deal with?"
"Yeah."
"The only people who would infiltrate the Hero Academy and install the revelation of the Black King here are Demon-humans."
"Because the only crazy bastards who perform human sacrifices are Demon-humans."
Yoon Chae-rin said, grinding her teeth.
"And if we limit it to beings who can infiltrate this place, the number drops quite a bit. Even if you search the whole world, there aren't even 100 of them. And the barrier set on the flower pots was..."
"It was the mana of a Demon-human."
"If we limit it to Demon-humans, the ones who are excellent at infiltration can be counted on one hand."
"..."
"Ash and Dust."
"I've heard those names before."
"They are Heroes of the Middle Assault. Although they are called Middle Assault, their combat power is several notches below the average Hero of the Middle Assault. But don't let your guard down."
"I don't let my guard down. Do you know about them?"
"Yeah. Ash is a specialist in poison. He has deep knowledge of all kinds of poisons, and he's also well-versed in medicine."
"An alchemist?"
"Yeah."
I nodded at her question. That was because there were beings known as poison masters. To use the easiest word to describe them, it would be the Sichuan Tang Clan. They were extremely tricky opponents who combined martial arts with poison.
"Next is Dust. Dust is very tricky to deal with."
I thought about Dust for a moment. A half-blood born between the Shadow Race and a human. He possesses the trait of ignoring most physical attacks, and the light-attribute attacks that are the weakness of the Shadow Race barely work on him due to his human blood. He inherited only the strengths of each race.
"Dust is a half-blood between the Shadow Race and a human."
"...No way."
"Yeah. He took only the strengths of each race. Most physical attacks don't work, and he's practically immune to light-attribute attacks. He can move through shadows, and he can also move to places where he has planted shadows in advance."
"Tsk."
Yoon Chae-rin clicked her tongue. She probably thinks he's a tricky opponent. He really is tricky. Because if he doesn't see a chance of winning, he tries to run away immediately.
"Then we should target that guy named Dust first, right?"
"Yeah. First is Dust. Second is also Dust. Dust's characteristics are easy to spot. Once he takes a hit, he reveals his body made of shadows."
"Ah, he's a real pain in the ass."
Yoon Chae-rin clicked her tongue, "Tsk."
"But we have to catch him."
We had to catch him. If those guys escape this time, they will do even more annoying things elsewhere. The combination of Dust's shadow movement ability and Ash's poison was that dangerous. If possible, it is right to catch and deal with them now.
"Then shall we call the others?"
I took out my phone. Eun Sua, Yoon Seung-ha, Han Jong-woo, Im Na-yeon. I invited everyone to the group chat and sent a message saying I had obtained evidence.
'And I need him too.'
And I sent a text to someone else.
It was insurance, just in case. This world is uncertain. There is no guarantee that everything will go my way like in a game. That's why insurance was essential.
About an hour later, everyone had gathered. I glanced around. Eun Sua, Im Na-yeon, Yoon Seung-ha, Yoon Chae-rin, Han Jong-woo. It was a reliable combination just to look at. Han Jong-woo takes on the main tank role, and Yoon Chae-rin doubles as a damage-dealer/tank. I, Im Na-yeon, and Yoon Seung-ha provide support, and Eun Sua delivers the finishing blow.
Once everyone was gathered, I explained it again.
"...So."
Eun Sua said with sparkling eyes.
"There are Demon-humans currently infiltrating the school, and those guys are trying to threaten the Academy by activating the revelation of the Black King?"
"What's the evidence?"
Han Jong-woo said with a stiff expression. I took out the 3 orbs I had broken. Orbs contaminated with demonic energy. Even though it had been a while since I broke them, they were still contaminated with demonic energy.
"...It's real."
"They engraved the concealment formula amazingly well. This kind of formula is hard to detect, but once it's detected, the remnants of the demonic energy remain for a long time."
Yoon Seung-ha said, looking at the orbs.
"Let's report it. This isn't something we can handle."
Im Na-yeon said with a rarely seen stiff expression. I nodded. But it was already too late.
"What are you kids doing here? It's almost time for the school to close."
A deep voice rang out. A green uniform and a broom in hand. A slightly annoyed expression. He was a janitor through and through. I said with a beaming smile.
"Ah, sorry. We were asked to do something by Professor Song Rahui."
"I see. How long will it take?"
The opponent checked his watch. It was a chance. I circulated the mana in my body. Lightning coursed through my body, wrapped in thunder. I stimulated each nerve with lightning. Time stretched out like taffy. The surrounding scenery moved slower than usual.
"We should be closing the doors soon..."
Kkureureung!
Before he could even finish his sentence, I ran at full speed and swung my sword. Purple lightning flashed and surged from the sword.
However, the opponent was also one of the Heroes of the Middle Assault. He quickly blocked it with his hand and wrapped himself in shadows. As soon as we exchanged one blow, I could feel it. He was still far from being a Middle Assault hero. If I fought him alone, I wouldn't last 5 minutes.
But I am not alone here.
"Take him down!"
Along with Yoon Chae-rin's words, a storm of mana rose from behind. Im Na-yeon approaching while raising sword energy. Han Jong-woo charging while wearing pure white armor. Yoon Seung-ha summoning spirits around him and keeping an eye on the enemy.
And.
Goooooo─.
The surrounding space began to fluctuate. At the tip of her slender arm, mana rose from her palm. Seven-colored, brilliant light began to weave together and turn into a sword. A sword that looked like it had been made by clumping together a rainbow. It was the Seven-colored Sword.
Purple-tinted black flames wrapped around Eun Sua. It was an additional effect of the Seven-colored Sword.
Beside her, I saw Yoon Chae-rin laughing fiercely. Black energy was rippling around her.
Kwang!
Han Jong-woo, wearing pure white armor, collided with Dust. A huge noise erupted, and Im Na-yeon rushed in between them.
Whoosh! As she swung her sword, wind pressure accompanied it, trying to cleave Dust. At that moment, Dust slid and entered the shadows. It was Dust's specialty.
Shadow Dive.
A skill with a 7-second cooldown. After hiding in his own shadow, he can pop out from any shadow within 10m. As soon as I saw it, the information popped into my head.
As soon as Dust disappeared, he rushed at Im Na-yeon like a lightning bolt. He swung purple lightning.
At the same time, Dust was rising from Im Na-yeon's shadow. And I could feel a sense of bewilderment as he looked at me.
The shadow stretched out like taffy. Dozens of thin threads twisted like a twist, then turned into a skewer shape and were trying to stab me.
I clicked my tongue lowly, struck down the skewer heading toward me, and stepped back.
Whoooooosh!
At that moment, I heard a sound as if the space itself was splitting. I saw a brilliant rainbow-colored sword. The Seven-colored Sword was swung toward Dust, cutting through space.
"What the hell!!"
Dust recoiled in shock at the power contained in the Seven-colored Sword. Eun Sua clicked her tongue lowly.
However, that was clearly a blunder.
Golden hair fluttered behind Dust. Black energy condensed and began to encroach on the surroundings.
Ung-ung─!
Black waves gathered in her palm. The space dyed in twilight was encroached upon by darkness. The waves gathered and gathered to become a black sphere.
Heavenly Demon Divine Art
Wheel of Annihilation
And.
Darkness poured down.