Chapter 113
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 113
Chapter Title: Lucas (2)
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I put some distance between myself and the dazed students before speaking to Lee Seojun.
"As expected, the situation's gotten tricky."
—If you show up as the healer again this time, it'll look like perfect timing every single time, so you might draw suspicion.
"If I clean up those guys as the healer again, that'll be a problem too."
The student's body right now had all physical abilities sealed, but that wasn't the case for my other clones.
If I felt like it, I could sweep every last villain away as the healer—but the suspicion that would follow was a given.
—But wouldn't it be better to move a little faster? Reviving Lee Seongmin takes 5~6 hours, right?
"Corpses 5~6 hours old are doable. With a few conditions attached, anyway."
That said, if a bunch of 5~6-hour-old corpses piled up, I couldn't revive them one after another like before.
To bring them all back would take at least several days, so even I wanted to avoid it if at all possible.
—Ah. How about I reach out?
"You?"
—The guild system's chat function. I could contact Kang Ju-young and ask what's going on.
"That'd still look like perfect timing and invite suspicion, wouldn't it?"
—Wouldn't it be better than you popping up out of nowhere as a clone, Lee Seongmin?
As Lee Seojun responded, he suddenly fixated on empty air, as if spotting something.
—No need to agonize over it. Kang Ju-young just messaged me first.
"Kang Ju-young? Things must be more urgent than I thought. Pick up."
—Yes.
Lee Seojun immediately answered Kang Ju-young's call, and the two conversed.
I had no idea what they were discussing, but at least Lee Seojun's side of the conversation was audible.
—Yes. Huh? Is that for real?
The talk wrapped up after a brief 1~2 minutes.
Even afterward, though, Lee Seojun remained deep in thought with the most serious expression imaginable.
"What'd you two talk about to put that look on your face?"
—Well... the attacker this time is someone we never saw coming.
Lee Seojun explained about the unexpected figure, his face still grim.
—It's Lucas.
"Lucas?"
—The head of the Villain Alliance.
I had no clue who Lucas was.
Lee Seojun realized as much and quickly added that he was the Villain Alliance's leader.
"The Villain Alliance's leader? That's the final boss, isn't it?"
—Exactly. The problem is this final boss raided the Hero Officer Academy.
"What about Joo Tae-ho?"
—He seems to have already fallen. Not just him—the other instructors too.
In other words, right from the start, the final boss had jumped out and slaughtered Joo Tae-ho along with the Hero Officer Academy's instructors.
And with Joo Tae-ho down, Kang Ju-young and the instructors who'd just set off wouldn't amount to much.
"Lucas must be pretty damn strong."
—Strength's part of it, but the real issue is his innate ability.
"Innate ability? Speaking of which, what's his?"
—I don't know exactly. It's random.
Random?
—Remember when you first arrived in this world and spun the roulette, Lee Seongmin? The final boss's ability works the same way—it's randomly assigned.
"......"
I was speechless at the revelation that the final boss's power was randomly determined too—and then other villains sprang to mind.
"Hold on. The Geneva Cult and Doomsday Cultists too?"
—Yep. The cult's Pope has a random innate ability too. Luckily, the Doomsday Cultists' demon has a fixed one.
"What do you mean 'fixed because it's a demon'?"
—Simply put, demons don't have innate abilities.
Demons apparently lacked innate abilities.
Of course, arguing that its contract power counted as one wouldn't be wrong.
"Random's a pain, sure... but it won't matter."
I hadn't analyzed enemy abilities in detail before every fight up to now anyway.
I brushed it off as no big deal and asked about his chat with Kang Ju-young.
"Anyway, what'd Kang Ju-young say?"
—She wants the healer to contact her.
I nodded and promptly directed the healer to reach out to Kang Ju-young.
Kang Ju-young: [You've finally contacted me.]
The moment the healer made contact, Kang Ju-young spoke up in a faintly urgent tone.
"Yeah, what's going on this time?"
Kang Ju-young: [The Villain Alliance's leader has invaded. Joo Tae-ho and over ten instructors are dead—and being controlled.]
Controlled... even in death?
Hearing that from the student's body, I asked Lee Seojun about it.
Lee Seojun pieced it together instantly.
—[Corpse Domination]. Raises dead bodies like zombies and controls them.
"If they can wield their lifetime abilities, it'd be the ultimate power."
—Innate abilities work. But they lose their minds, and can't use skill stone-acquired powers, so combat strength plummets.
"Ah. Got it?"
Yeah, that made sense. If control was flawless, they'd have puppeted every Villain Alliance member with it already.
There was probably a limit on corpse numbers too, I figured—then switched back to the healer and spoke to Kang Ju-young.
"You're not seriously asking me to take out the Villain Alliance's leader, are you?"
Kang Ju-young: [I wouldn't wish that on you. But could you send the Archmage again this time?]
"Archmage... It hasn't even been days since your last request. Calling again would put me in an awkward spot."
Kang Ju-young: [To be frank now... the Villain Alliance leader's target seems to be you.]
Kang Ju-young claimed the Villain Alliance leader, Lucas, had come specifically for me.
That was info we'd gotten from Della in the separate house's basement anyway—nothing new.
'He must want my revival power... and his dead villains back.'
I mulled over what to do with Lucas, the Villain Alliance boss who'd stormed the Hero Officer Academy.
Killing him wouldn't be hard, but it'd mean one world-class crime syndicate collapsing right off the bat.
"......Yeah. Better to just kill him."
—You'll kill Lucas?
"Kill him, slap on some restrictions, then revive. Good to go."
With restrictions in place to make him obey my will, it'd work out roughly.
"Any other ideas?"
Another option here was doing exactly as the villain boss demanded.
Fighting him off was doable too, but far worse than outright killing him.
—No real alternatives. Planning to kill him and force a contract signature?
"Contract works, but I've got other methods too."
With that, I settled on killing Lucas—and pondered who to dispatch.
Kang Ju-young wanted the Archmage, but for one-on-one combat, the Destroyer outclassed him.
"Send the Destroyer."
I decided on the Destroyer and relayed as much to Kang Ju-young.
Kang Ju-young: [The Destroyer? You're sending him?]
"Don't like it? Then never mind."
Kang Ju-young: [......]
Of course, Kang Ju-young couldn't refuse.
With Joo Tae-ho gone, I was the only one left who could fix this mess.
'Though if the Hero Association or guild folks banded together, maybe.'
Lucas's [Corpse Domination] would rack up insane casualties regardless.
Skill stone powers might be off-limits, but raw physicality and innate abilities remained.
Kang Ju-young: [The Destroyer won't kill anyone else, right?]
"Doubt it."
Kang Ju-young: [I'll trust you on that. ......Please.]
Kang Ju-young double-checked before finally pleading.
That settled things. I reshaped one clone into the Destroyer and dispatched it to the Hero Officer Academy.
"Lee Seojun. Head to the Destroyer too."
—Yes.
I sent Lee Seojun along to the Destroyer next, then focused my attention there.
Flash—
I teleported near the Hero Officer Academy first, then launched off the ground.
Lee Seojun materialized beside me—the one puppeteering the Destroyer—and scanned the surroundings briefly.
—We'll be there any second now.
"Yeah."
No matter who the Villain Alliance's leader was, neither I nor Lee Seojun imagined defeat.
No matter how impressive the guy, I'd tangled with every manner of foe across fourteen worlds.
"By the way, who'd you lose to?"
—Me? Doomsday Cultists. The demon became the Demon King—that's how I failed.
"So you cleared up through the Villain Alliance."
—To be precise, I left them alone until I pinned down their hideout. Focused solely on containing the Geneva Cult.
I wondered if that was even feasible upon hearing Lee Seojun out.
Villain Alliance raids would've cropped up now and then as events—ignoring them meant letting them run wild.
—Ah. Of course I handled school attackers. Just didn't mess with their outside ops.
In other words, once he'd located the lair, he'd wiped them out.
'If even Lee Seojun steamrolled them, they're no threat.'
Not that I was downplaying his strength.
With his [Infinite Power] innate ability, his burst output might rival mine.
'Here we are.'
In the midst of our brief exchange, we'd arrived at the Hero Officer Academy. I dropped straight to the surface.
Boom!
The moment I landed, Kang Ju-young and the instructors a short distance away whipped their heads toward me in unison.
She'd ditched the stranded students on the island to return here—yet hadn't resolved a thing, just standing around dumbly.
"D-Destroy...er?"
Kang Ji-hoon, the hand-to-hand instructor, spotted me and stammered Destroyer in a quavering voice.
I ignored him, sweeping my gaze around for the Villain Alliance leader, Lucas.
"Where's Lucas?"
Kang Ju-young—who'd been forewarned of the Destroyer's arrival—stepped forward.
"Near the bamboo grove entrance. He snuck in, killed the instructors on the sly, and left a message demanding the healer."
"Cheeky bastard."
I replied in the Destroyer's characteristic growl, then inquired about the bamboo grove's position.
"Where's the bamboo grove?"
"I'll show you."
Some other instructor must've found Lucas's message, checked the grove, and reported to Kang Ju-young.
No need for the minutiae. After a long hike, I reached the bamboo grove—and spotted about ten people.
'Joo Tae-ho's here too.'
Joo Tae-ho and the others stared vacantly skyward, dead-eyed.
And amid them stood a man with ashen gray hair. Instinct screamed he was the Villain Alliance's leader.
"......I told you to bring the healer. Do my words amuse you?"
I ignored the villain boss Lucas and strode forward.
"I'll kill you."