An Unbelievable Sight Unfolds Before My Eyes
The sound of my heartbeat thundered in my ears. Thump. Thump. It slammed against my ribs like a war drum, sending raw power surging through every vein in my body. My vision sharpened to a bloody haze as adrenaline flooded my system. The world seemed to slow down, as if time itself had been stretched thin.
Han Seonggil. With his Berserker Trait fully activated, he could feel his strength spiraling out of control, multiplying beyond anything he could contain. Overwhelming power. Blinding speed. The ideal he had chased for so long was finally within his grasp.
No one can beat me in this state. That was what he believed.
But that belief shattered in an instant.
Whoosh—!
Kwaaaaang—!
Han Seonggil had poured every ounce of his strength into a crushing downward strike. Yet Lee Hyunseung had stopped it cold.
With a gun…?
Even in his frenzied state, the sight defied all logic. That tiny pistol had not only blocked the blade in a split second—it was matching his power without giving an inch.
Grind—!
Han Seonggil shoved forward with all his might, trying to force the sword past the gun. He glared at Lee Hyunseung’s face. The other boy looked strained, veins bulging. That was only natural. Han Seonggil had been in his Berserker state for quite some time now.
Yet Han Seonggil’s own expression was far from triumphant.
“Goddamn it—!”
Crunch—!
He was a swordsman. A warrior whose physical prowess was legendary. An Epic-grade swordsman, no less. And now his Berserker Trait had pushed him even further. His raw physical ability should have been impossible to ignore, no matter who stood against him.
So what the hell was this sight in front of him?
“Why! Why won’t you move, you son of a bitch—! Why am I losing to a goddamn gunner?!”
Gunners were supposed to be physically inferior. Their specialty was keeping distance and slaughtering opponents from range. Everyone knew that in close quarters, gunners were pathetically weak against swordsmen or martial artists. That was common sense.
But right now, common sense was being shredded before his eyes.
Lee Hyunseung was clearly struggling, yet he refused to yield even a single step. And then he spoke, voice cold and mocking.
“I got nervous when you activated your Berserker Trait, but you’re still just half-baked. You’ve never properly used that trait before, have you?”
His guess was dead on. Han Seonggil possessed the Berserker Trait, but he had rarely ever used it in actual combat. He had always walked the elite path. Whenever trouble arose, it was resolved before anyone’s life was truly on the line. He had never been given a real chance to master the ability.
This bastard… he can’t control it at all.
No matter how vast the power, its true effectiveness depended entirely on control. Poor control could weaken it dramatically. That was exactly Han Seonggil’s case. He simply charged in a frenzy, trying to crush everything with brute force. There was zero technique involved.
His attack paths and patterns were wide open. Against someone with comparable strength, they were laughably easy to dismantle.
As expected of a Legendary-grade passive. Even a mere C-rank buff gives this much power. I’m actually holding my own against an Epic-grade swordsman.
[C] Gunblade Arts
Additional force is applied when attacking or defending directly with a firearm. The amount of force scales with your current class grade and level.
Even taking into account that Han Seonggil had lost his mind and couldn’t control his strength, blocking his attacks head-on should have been unimaginable. Yet Lee Hyunseung was doing it with surprising ease.
“Go ahead and get wrecked by a gunner, you pathetic bastard.”
Taht—!
Lee Hyunseung swung the pistol in a wide arc, forcing Han Seonggil back. At the same time, he stepped backward, securing distance. The gap that opened between them was roughly five meters—more than enough to aim and fire.
Lee Hyunseung raised his gun and took aim.
I need to cripple at least one spot for good. Just making him bleed will only make things worse.
The Berserker Trait didn’t significantly boost regenerative abilities. Therefore, targeting something like the Achilles tendon to restrict movement was the smart play. No matter how strong someone was, they couldn’t hit anything if they couldn’t move properly.
Bang—!
After a brief moment of aiming, Lee Hyunseung pulled the trigger.
Whoosh—!
The bullet buried itself into the top of Han Seonggil’s foot. He was wearing artifact-grade shoes, but the round punched straight through them.
Drip, drip.
Yet Han Seonggil didn’t scream. He only ground his teeth together viciously.
Looks like he can’t feel pain properly anymore. This just got annoying.
Because of the Berserker Trait, Han Seonggil had become extremely difficult to fight. Human fear usually stemmed from pain—the burning sensation when touching something hot, the sharp agony of being cut by a blade. That instinctive terror made people hesitate.
The same principle applied in combat. A solid hit that brought excruciating pain would restrict future movements out of fear of repeating that suffering. It was like having a permanent skill active, granting an overwhelming advantage.
But that fear of pain meant nothing to Han Seonggil. He could barely feel it at all.
Still, that doesn’t mean I have no options.
Just because he couldn’t feel pain didn’t mean his body was immune to damage. If the muscles and joints that allowed movement were destroyed, he would be immobilized regardless of how much pain he felt. That would equal a complete loss of combat ability.
Ta-da-da-dat—!
Even with a bullet lodged in his foot, Han Seonggil staggered forward, charging at Lee Hyunseung. But his mobility had dropped significantly.
Bang—!
When Lee Hyunseung fired again, Han Seonggil deflected the bullet with his sword.
Kaaaang—!
It wasn’t reaction speed. He had predicted the shot by watching the trigger pull and the angle of the muzzle.
What a monstrous bastard.
Among everyone Lee Hyunseung had met so far, this was easily the most insane talent. It didn’t look like Han Seonggil was thinking at all. Every movement seemed driven purely by instinct.
Right now he’s running on pure hardware. If he ever gets the software to match, he could be useful as an attack dog.
Even as he thought that, Lee Hyunseung continued analyzing every motion. Han Seonggil weaved left and right, then the instant Lee Hyunseung pulled the trigger, he drew his blade in a flash and deflected the bullet. Or rather, he redirected it.
He must have realized that taking a direct hit from a Legendary-grade gunner’s bullet would shatter his weapon. So he was using the bare minimum force to glance the shots aside.
In that case…
Lee Hyunseung gripped the pistol with both hands and opened fire in rapid succession.
Bang—!
Bang bang—!
Bang bang bang—!
The bullets flew at blinding speed. Han Seonggil desperately swung his sword to block them. But this time, the shots came at an astonishing velocity, striking from both above and below simultaneously.
Kang—!
Shuk—!
He deflected most of them, but one bullet punched cleanly through his right shoulder. The wounded shoulder hung limp and ragged. Yet Han Seonggil paid it no mind.
With both his right shoulder and the top of his right foot pierced, he charged forward like a zombie, body flailing wildly.
This time, Lee Hyunseung charged to meet him.
Jeong Eunseo, who had been watching, cried out in panic.
“N-no! You have to fight from a distance—!”
But Lee Hyunseung ignored her.
To make bastards like this submit, you can’t win half-heartedly. You have to crush them completely. Only then will they acknowledge defeat.
The two collided at point-blank range. Han Seonggil swung his sword in a massive diagonal arc from upper right to lower left with one hand.
Kang—!
Lee Hyunseung used the back of his pistol to deflect the blow effortlessly. Then he drove his foot straight into Han Seonggil’s solar plexus.
Thud—!
Cough—!
The kick landed perfectly on a vital point. Han Seonggil vomited blood. Lee Hyunseung didn’t waste the opening. He sprinted forward.
Ta-da-da-da-dat—!
Swoosh—!
Crash—!
Lee Hyunseung slammed into him, successfully pinning Han Seonggil to the ground. He immediately pressed the barrel of his gun against the boy’s shoulder and took aim.
“Surrender. Admit you’ve lost and I’ll let you go.”
“I… haven’t… lost yet…”
Bang—!
Lee Hyunseung fired again, piercing straight through Han Seonggil’s left shoulder as well.
Outside the F-class building at Broad Academy.
A barrier had been erected around the F-class area. It was the one Jeong Eunseo had put up earlier to prevent the commotion from leaking outside. In the heat of battle, they had forgotten to dispel it.
The instructors waiting to enter, led by Choi Yi-seul, wore grim expressions.
“Everyone… there is a person with the Berserker Trait inside. You must not kill him. I know it will be difficult, but please subdue him. However, if he tries to kill another student…”
Choi Yi-seul’s voice turned ice-cold.
“Summary execution will be considered.”
The instructors immediately burst into murmurs. But as veterans, they quickly began casting spells and activating their unique skills.
“There’s no time. We’re going in immediately.”
Whoong—!
When Choi Yi-seul activated her magic, the barrier surrounding F-class shattered.
Crash—!
The interior finally came into view. The floor was soaked with blood.
“Han Seonggil, cease your actions right—”
Choi Yi-seul, the group of instructors, and the countless students who had gathered after hearing the commotion all froze. Even Yoo Heeyeon, the A-class representative, was watching from afar.
What they saw was utterly unbelievable.
Han Seonggil, beaten into a bloody pulp and completely incapacitated, lay on the ground. Standing over him with a gun pointed at his head was Lee Hyunseung.
“Ah… you’re a bit late. The situation is already over.”