Chapter 95
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: Preparation (4)
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"......"
Lydia immediately reported the scene she'd witnessed to everyone.
"The Destroyer vanished from here. Just like the one who attacked the abandoned church."
"The Destroyer vanished like that guy?"
"Yeah. He disappeared in an instant without any warning, so tracking him is impossible."
Della fell into thought upon hearing Lydia's words before speaking up.
"Isn't it jumping the gun to assume the Destroyer is that guy or at least connected to him?"
"It's highly likely. It's more realistic that he learned a disguise skill than that two people both have that kind of spatial teleportation."
They'd found a clue in a completely unexpected place, but that was as far as it went.
Just like at the abandoned church, the Destroyer had vanished in a flash, making him impossible to track.
"Wait, what are you talking about? You're saying the Destroyer is that bastard who disguised himself as me?"
Jake, having overheard Della and Lydia's conversation, demanded if the Destroyer was that guy.
Della scowled at Jake, who was making a fuss even in this serious moment, and replied.
"It's just a possibility. And if the Destroyer is that guy, then what?"
"What do you mean, 'then what'? If I see him, I'll......"
Jake trailed off as he noticed the gazes of his gathered comrades turning toward him.
Della stood with her arms crossed, waiting to hear what he'd say next.
"If I see him, then what? You gonna go beat the Destroyer to a pulp?"
Just moments ago, Lydia had said the Destroyer had crushed an S-Rank hero in two or three minutes.
The four of them charging at the Destroyer on sight would be tantamount to suicide.
"What if we assassinate him on the sly?"
"Assassinate the Destroyer who survived your special mana bomb? Good luck with that. I'll cheer you on."
Jake was left speechless at that, but he didn't give up.
"Or we could bring him into our alliance and then trap and kill him."
"That has potential. Though it'd halve the Villain Alliance the moment it fails."
It might even be turning an enemy more terrifying than the Geneva Cult.
In any case, it required encountering the Destroyer first, so Della brushed off Jake's words.
"More importantly, we're back to square one. We can't find the Destroyer."
When Della steered the conversation back to what they should do next, Jake answered again.
"What else? We grab the resurrection guy and go. No way he vanished with spatial teleportation too."
"That might be our best bet. War is all but certain anyway."
Della imagined the impending war with the Geneva Cult and decided to bring along a healer at least.
With a healer to revive the dead, they could minimize casualties—arguably more important than the Destroyer himself.
"Let's find that guy too. Lydia, can you manage?"
"Yeah. I saw him leave with Kang Ju-young earlier. Figuring out their destination won't be hard."
Lydia nodded, but Jake looked puzzled as he repeated Kang Ju-young's name.
"Kang Ju-young? Who's that again?"
"The S-Rank hero from the files before we came here. How many are there that you can't remember?"
"I only know Joo Tae-ho. You've gotta be a Dragon Slayer to stick in my mind."
For reference, Joo Tae-ho was famous worldwide as the Dragon Slayer.
"Kang Ju-young moved in the same team as that Joo Tae-ho. She even played a part in taking down the dragon."
"Got it. So if he went with Kang Ju-young, probably to the Hero Officer Academy?"
Lydia nodded at the question.
"Likely. From what I saw with Memory Observation, she asked him to heal Joo Tae-ho."
"Sneaking in would be tough if he's at the Hero Officer Academy."
The academy truly had tight security, making infiltration far from easy.
But the healer might finish his business there and leave, so Della put off worrying for now.
"Let's check it out first. If he leaves the Hero Officer Academy, tailing him will be simple enough."
With that, Della began tracking the healer's trail.
As expected, they confirmed he entered the Hero Officer Academy, but the problem came after.
"......Looks like he's still inside the Hero Officer Academy. No sign of him coming out."
Lydia used Memory Observation to confirm the healer hadn't exited and declared he was at the academy.
"That's a problem."
Della responded to Lydia's words with concern, pondering their next move.
The academy's security was among the best in the world, naturally.
It protected the cadets who would shape the future, along with artifacts like the Dragon Heart, thanks to Joo Tae-ho's connections and national backing.
"No way in except the front gate. And even that's got dozens of surveillance cameras."
Jake, eyeing them as if it were no big deal, shared his thoughts.
"What's the problem? Round up the underlings in this country and have them attack."
"Use the chaos to keep tracking?"
"Exactly. Once we're inside, finding the guy is easy."
As Jake said, using fellow Villain Alliance members made infiltrating the school a breeze.
Sure, guards at the gate might cause a commotion, but kill them quick and it was done.
"And once we reach him, just poison him with your special brew, Della."
On top of that, Della could produce various poisons with her innate ability.
Among them was one that inflicted unimaginable agony without the antidote within a set period.
"I get what you're saying. But pulling that off your way means a lot of prep......"
Suddenly gathering people to assault the Hero Officer Academy? They'd call them insane.
To make the attack seem plausible, some preparation was needed, so Della decided to request support.
"Let's call Lorella."
"Lorella? The Monster Queen? Why her?"
"We need her to make the attack happen at all. And without Lorella, the underlings won't move properly."
"......"
Jake had no retort to Della's counter.
"But can we even pull it off? She's not the type to come running just because we call."
"That's why we request support. Tell her we're kidnapping someone who can revive the dead—she'll agree."
Della replied and decided to postpone infiltrating the Hero Officer Academy until preparations were complete.
-Huh? You told Kang Ju-young about someone named Mountain Keeper?
I recounted what happened with Kang Ju-young to Lee Seojun.
Roughly explaining the story with Nasa Ha and Jeon Il-seop, then mentioning there was a person called Mountain Keeper.
"No choice. She gifted me the mana amplifier, but I couldn't say a healer made it."
-Oh, right. Come to think of it, the healer has a ton of abilities.
Lee Seojun seemed to recall the healer's feats so far and nodded in understanding.
-Healing, resurrection, contracts, sub-space, private villa, limit breakthroughs...... Yeah, claiming crafting ability on top would be a stretch.
"That's why I brought up Mountain Keeper."
-But why Mountain Keeper? Blacksmith would work fine.
"Blacksmith is too common."
Lee Seojun gave a strange look after hearing my answer.
-First the Grand Sorcerer, now this. You don't like generic names, huh?
"It's not dislike—it's to avoid confusion."
If I'd introduced a Grand Wizard instead of Grand Sorcerer, it could've caused misunderstandings.
I explained I avoided common names for that reason, and Lee Seojun nodded again.
-Anyway, mentioning Mountain Keeper means you're planning to change appearances?
"Less about appearance—you need to know what was discussed too."
-Got it. Since we're on the topic, let's make a Mountain Keeper character.
"......I've noticed this before, but you're really into the disguise thing?"
From the healer to the Destroyer and Grand Sorcerer.
Lee Seojun was oddly enthusiastic about changing appearances.
-It's fun. I used to spend hours on character creation in other games.
In short, customizing looks was his hobby.
Couldn't argue with a hobby, so I nodded silently and soon summoned the clone from the mountains here.
Pop—
It was the clone switched from Destroyer form to a natural human look.
"So how do you plan to tweak this Mountain Keeper guy?"
This Mountain Keeper might appear before others too.
I agreed to changing the look and asked how, and he pondered seriously.
-Best to set a backstory first. It makes the character clearer.
"......Backstory?"
I wondered for a moment if Lee Seojun was talking nonsense.
-Plus, with a backstory, you can pin down the personality easier too, Mr. Lee Seong-min.
As Lee Seojun said, a backstory would make setting personality via the [Acting] card ability simpler.
But did we really need that? Still, respecting his hobby, I let it slide.
"So? What's the backstory?"
-Mountain Keeper, so about 20 years ago, he lost his wife and child. Distrustful type who can't rely on the Hero Association or heroes.
"......"
One thing I'd noticed before: this guy never made normal characters.
For some reason, every one had to have some flaw to satisfy him.
'What kind of life has he lived to be like this?'
Anyway, regardless of my thoughts, Mountain Keeper's look and build only needed slight adjustments.
Not much change from before, but tweaking the eyes and face turned him into a dignified 50-60-year-old man.
'Kinda like a once-successful office worker who's aged into ruin.'
Despite the slightly shrunken frame from age, his eyes were fierce and sharp.
With a solitude that shunned the world, it suited the name Mountain Keeper decently.
-How's that?
"Looks good."
I honestly said it was fine and sent Mountain Keeper back to his original spot.
Having properly crafted the look for once, I thought it might not be bad to reveal him sometime.