Chapter 112
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 112
Chapter Title: Lucas (1)
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“Won’t you sit down?”
“...”
Joo Tae-ho hesitated as he looked at Lucas, who spoke so calmly.
If he swung his sword or used his innate ability right now, attacking the guy would be a piece of cake.
‘But.’
Even if he attacked, there was no guarantee he could capture him.
Especially when he considered the things this guy had done all over the world.
“Talk or a deal... Come to think of it, I am curious. How the hell did you get in here?”
“I just walked in. Easier than the Villain Holding Facility.”
Joo Tae-ho let out a small groan at the mention of the Villain Holding Facility.
Among the incidents Lucas had caused, the Villain Holding Facility was infamous enough for the whole world to know about.
He had single-handedly stormed the facilities—several in each country—massacring every hero and guard inside.
“You say it like it’s something to brag about.”
On top of that, Lucas had freed every villain imprisoned there and absorbed them into his own forces.
After repeating these raids on Villain Holding Facilities around the world several times, the Villain Alliance had become a world-class crime organization.
“No reason to brag about doing what’s obvious. Anyway, I want my comrades back—the ones who attacked the Hero Officer Academy.”
With that, Lucas got straight to the point.
Joo Tae-ho responded with a troubled expression, as this was more or less what he’d expected.
“That’s not happening. All the villains who attacked this place are in the afterlife now.”
“The healer brought them back, right? I’ve heard about that healer who can resurrect people. That’s why we attacked in the first place.”
“Looks like info’s leaking everywhere. But I don’t even know if the healer revived them or not.”
Joo Tae-ho slowly prepared for battle while continuing.
“The healer took all their bodies anyway.”
“So where’s the healer?”
“No idea.”
In short, it meant Lucas couldn’t get what he wanted.
With negotiations broken off, it wouldn’t be strange if he lunged right then.
That’s why Joo Tae-ho had gotten ready to fight, but Lucas just sat there calmly.
“...”
At that moment, Lucas stared at Joo Tae-ho for a while before grasping the truth.
“The healer’s at some villa.”
“...!?”
Joo Tae-ho’s mind flashed to his innate ability at Lucas’s instant deduction.
“No way... an innate ability?”
“[False Analysis]. It analyzes every lie the opponent tells and reveals the truth.”
“What a ridiculous innate ability.”
Of course, Joo Tae-ho didn’t think [False Analysis] was Lucas’s only one.
He guessed the guy had at least three, just like him, and hesitated over whether to attack now.
“If you hand over my comrades and the healer, I promise the Villain Alliance won’t come to Korea anymore.”
The Villain Alliance was numerous and active all over the world.
Korea wasn’t an exception, but Lucas promised they wouldn’t come here.
“You’re talking nonsense. Hand over the healer? You think I’d accept that crap?”
If the healer went to the Villain Alliance?
The world would plunge into even greater chaos than now.
Villains could kill and rampage all they wanted—they’d just come back to life.
“What if you don’t?”
Lucas was asking if Joo Tae-ho had any choice besides refusal.
Joo Tae-ho easily read between the lines and swung his sword, unleashing an invisible blade at the same time.
Whoosh—
“...!?”
But the moment Joo Tae-ho swung, Lucas’s body vanished from the wooden floor where he’d been sitting.
“Is that your answer?”
‘Behind me!’
Joo Tae-ho quickly pinpointed Lucas’s position and attacked with [Invisible Blade].
Yet Lucas’s body vanished once more, reappearing right in front of him.
“Guess we’ll go with plan B.”
Slash—
Joo Tae-ho sensed Lucas’s position, but realized too late that his own throat had been slit first.
Even for Joo Tae-ho, there was no innate ability or skill to survive unscathed with a severed neck.
“Guh... ack...”
As consciousness rapidly faded, Joo Tae-ho stared at Lucas and the violet shortsword in his hand.
And with that final gaze, Joo Tae-ho collapsed without landing a single blow on the Villain Alliance’s leader, Lucas.
Thud—
“...”
Lucas looked down at the fallen Joo Tae-ho, then pulled a potion from his pocket.
He sprinkled it on the sliced throat to regenerate the wound, then activated another innate ability.
“Rise.”
Shh—
With that, the dead Joo Tae-ho staggered to his feet like a mindless puppet.
This was [Corpse Control], following the [False Analysis] he’d revealed to Joo Tae-ho moments ago.
“I’ll need more corpses.”
This was Lucas’s plan B.
He intended to turn Joo Tae-ho and the other heroes here into corpses to negotiate directly with the healer.
“Ten should do it.”
The downside was that it took time, so he wasn’t thrilled, but the healer was worth it.
Resigned, Lucas decided to stick around a few more days and turned his gaze toward the academy grounds.
[19th: Lee Seongmin (367 points)]
‘Maybe I’ll call it here.’
After the score battle began, I’d eliminated six people on the first day, then four more the next.
Climbing to 19th place, I figured it wouldn’t be bad to relax for the remaining time.
-Lee Seongmin’s score makes sense, but Cheon Seo-yun’s is ridiculously overwhelming.
By the way, Lee Seojun—who’d watched the healer’s activities from the villa—got dragged back to the island by me.
I didn’t like how he kept quietly spectating instead of playing his assistant role.
“Cheon Seo-yun’s score is high, yeah.”
Anyway, as Lee Seojun said, Cheon Seo-yun had held 1st place from day one right up to now.
[1st: Cheon Seo-yun (904 points)]
She must’ve taken out 30 or 40 cadets, right?
With 300 students total, that’s over 10% eliminated by one person.
-It’s weird, though. When I did the uninhabited island survival, Cheon Seo-yun’s score wasn’t this high.
“...”
It was probably because I’d told her to aim for a top-20 spot for a private room.
Back then, without Lee Seojun around, I had no idea why she was racking up points like this.
Beep beep beep—
“Hm?”
-An alarm. We’ve still got two days left on the island.
Lee Seojun tilted his head, not knowing what this alarm meant either.
Whatever it was, I just checked the message on my watch.
[Uninhabited Island Survival Terminated as of Now. Return to the Signal Magic Location.]
“Uninhabited island survival’s over?”
I read the message and looked at Lee Seojun.
Giving him a look that said, Is this normal? he shook his head.
-No. Mine ended normally. Something must’ve happened.
“Don’t tell me villains attacked again.”
-Not impossible. It’d be a huge failure for the Villain Alliance.
“If they did, their forces would be even stronger this time.”
-Yeah. If that’s it, even the instructors here might have to head back to the academy.
If all the instructors on the island returned to the school, ending the survival early made sense.
“Still, if they keep attacking like this nonstop, it’s a problem...”
With villains raiding on such short intervals, the academy might have to shut down.
Lee Seojun nodded in agreement, pondering before speaking.
-Hm. Probably because the Hero Officer Academy’s forces are weak. The Villain Alliance sees it as an easy target.
“The last ones got wiped out.”
-There was only one S-Rank, Lorella. The Alliance has 20 S-Ranks. Two or three would be plenty.
Lee Seojun claimed two or three S-Ranks were enough for the Hero Officer Academy.
Come to think of it, Della had screamed to be released to avoid a massacre.
-But this’ll be their last raid. They’ll have to fight the Geneva Cult after this.
“That’s some consolation.”
If they survived this attack, the Villain Alliance wouldn’t show up for a while.
Bonus: no Geneva Cult either, so just the Doomsday Cultists to worry about.
-Ah. There’s the signal magic over there.
Sure enough, a tall pillar of light rose in the distance.
Seemed like we were to gather there, so I started walking.
Step step—
After walking a while, I spotted other cadets heading toward the pillar here and there.
“What’s going on? We’ve still got two days.”
“Who cares? Glad it’s over. Cheon Seo-yun turned it from survival to horror.”
“Ah... yeah. If she spotted you, at least one had to sacrifice for anyone to survive.”
I wondered just what she’d done while listening to them chatter about Cheon Seo-yun.
From the talk, it sounded like she chased down any cadet she saw until they were out.
‘But fighting head-on? She’s too strong for that.’
Cadets probably had no choice but to run from her.
From their view, she must’ve been scarier than any monster.
-We’re here.
After a long trek, we reached the pillar.
About a dozen instructors stood there with grim expressions.
-Looks like an attack from their faces.
Right as Lee Seojun noted their expressions, Instructor Kang Ju-young scanned the area and spoke first.
“About 30 or 40 gathered. As the watch message said, uninhabited island survival is over. To be precise, something happened at the Hero Officer Academy.”
“Something?”
A cadet asked what, but Kang Ju-young didn’t answer.
“So the instructors, including me, have to return to the academy. But it might be dangerous for you all, so we’re leaving you here.”
“...Pardon?”
The cadets looked shocked, as if they’d misheard, but Kang Ju-young ignored them and said what she wanted.
“Pass it on to any latecomers. We’ll be back in two days at latest.”
With that, she left via Instructor Cha Serin’s portal magic.
Of course, with all instructors gone—including Kang Ju-young—the cadets were left alone.
“...”
“...”
A brief silence fell before someone spoke.
“...We didn’t just get abandoned, right?”
No one there could answer.