The Obvious Villain's End
The obvious villain's ending. 'At this point, the only thing that would be summoned is Daepoltan.' If someone were planning terrorism, Daepoltan was the fastest and most efficient choice. It looked like they intended to summon a self-destructing mid-grade demonic beast and turn the surroundings into chaos. The problem was that Daepoltan was a mid-grade demonic beast. 'The difficulty level is completely different.' Summoning a low-grade demonic beast only required the summoner's will, black mana, and a magic circle. But from mid-grade onward, the difficulty spiked sharply. Especially when trying to summon Daepoltan, which boasted the highest efficiency among mid-grade beasts.
A mere first-year student couldn't casually pull it off just because they felt like committing terrorism. Daepoltan's explosion worked on the principle of physical expansion caused by the difference between demonic realm mana and Earth's mana. Therefore, when summoning it, one had to continuously inject mana into the magic circle and black mana until the entire body was fully manifested. In other words, only a skilled practitioner could succeed by preparing everything quickly and perfectly. 'But what if I mess with the magic circle? Then it'll all go to waste.'
The method was simple. Just throw Woongbak's head at the dormitory wall. Thud. The moment I lightly tossed Woongbak's head against the dormitory wall, mana flowed across the surface and briefly protected the entire building. The defensive magic cast on the dormitory was designed to block external mana, not the mana of students. That was why Kim Baeseong had been able to cause terrorism—his black mana still counted as a student's mana, so the defensive magic hadn't activated.
'But Woongbak is different.' Even in death, Woongbak's head emitted a tiny amount of violent natural mana. The instant I threw it at the dormitory wall, the defensive magic activated, even if only slightly, and naturally affected the magic circle drawn on the wall. The moment an inexperienced summoner trying to call forth a beast beyond their level was disturbed even a little, it was over. Unable to refine the mana or instantly repair the magic circle, Daepoltan would naturally disappear.
"...You commoner bastard!"
The moment Kim Baeseong saw my words and actions, he could no longer contain his rage and charged at me. The most ideal situation would have been for the professors to appear right at this timing and restrain him. Unfortunately, that was never going to happen. Fade highly valued a player's spirit of challenge and avoided helping from the start. In other words, the only one who could deal with the guy rushing at me right now was myself.
'Low-grade demonized human.' No matter how inexperienced, a demonized human was still a demonized human. Unlike when I'd caught him suffering from mana overload, this time I had to subdue him with pure physical strength. I immediately played my prepared card.
"United Will."
United Will
Temporarily adds stats proportional to the number of people in the group.
The conditions for United Will were having twenty or more people, receiving trust from over 90% of the group, and being recognized as the leader. The reason I'd gone through the trouble of lining up the kids at the training ground and sparring with them was exactly for this. By sparring and giving feedback, I made them unconsciously realize who stood above them. Showing an outstanding and distinctive side through sparring with the professor further solidified the perception of me as the leader. The sight of me receiving recognition from those I couldn't defeat, and the image of me leading everyone through sparring—these factors combined to satisfy the conditions for United Will.
'Good thing I sparred with each of them.' Because it wasn't just one or two people but everyone I'd sparred with, the stat increase this time was on a completely different level. It was enough to make me forget how I'd barely scraped by using the stats gained from leading twenty orphans in the Ant Cave. The overflowing power and the sense of speed, as if I could go anywhere right now, vividly painted themselves in my mind.
'This should be enough.' The moment Kim Baeseong closed the distance, he began circling around me. His rampaging black mana arbitrarily drew magic circles in the air and poured out incomplete demonic beasts. The beasts, unable to move properly as their bodies melted, approached me with wet, squelching sounds.
"Die!"
The moment the beasts he'd desperately summoned surrounded me from all sides and tried to pounce—
Shhhk.
As if it were a lie, the beasts were sliced apart. Like tofu cut by a kitchen knife, they split into several pieces, lost their shape, and collapsed to the floor. It was the result of the web strengthened by the will stat added through United Will and the title Spider.
"I can keep making them anyway, so it doesn't matter how many die!"
Indeed, being ranked 39th in the entire year meant his stamina and mana reserves far exceeded the basics. Normally, having your carefully prepared results wiped out in an instant would drain your fighting spirit, but he seemed far more emotionally ramped up than expected.
'I need to subdue him without injuring him too much.' The most important thing when dealing with demonized humans was capturing them alive without killing them. Demonized humans addicted to black mana tried to self-destruct at the moment of death to leave no traces. It was an instinctual result meant to avoid being tracked and to eliminate future troubles. Therefore, the chances of capturing them alive were higher if I erased as much killing intent as possible. Even though he was a low-grade demonized human, the fact that he'd become one inside the academy meant there had to be someone behind him.
'If I'd known this would happen, I should've taken the academy route more often.' I knew the purpose and structure of demonized humans and the principles of black mana, but I knew nothing about the internal affairs of the academy. The academy route, which I'd always neglected as a result of properly utilizing the trash character Lee Seokhyun, was now becoming an obstacle here. That was why I had to capture Kim Baeseong alive right now and extract information no matter what.
'I'll pressure him slowly.' Even if he had a lot of stamina, it wouldn't be more than mine after eating Woongbak's inner core. I very quickly and stealthily manipulated the web to slice apart the demonic beasts. Gradually, without haste, like herding prey, I slowly cornered Kim Baeseong.
"Ugh...!"
And finally, the moment Kim Baeseong couldn't withstand the rampage of power and groaned in pain, I didn't miss the opening. I manipulated the web and perfectly restrained his body. He hadn't expected to be bound just because his breathing faltered for a moment, so even at the instant it happened, Kim Baeseong couldn't grasp the situation.
"Huh...?"
"What do you mean 'huh...'? You can figure out the situation even while you're like this."
I made Kim Baeseong, who couldn't properly face reality, recognize the situation. 'He must've used up almost all his mana by now.' Becoming a demonized human did increase overall abilities and amplify mana, but that didn't mean it made one invincible. Especially for a first-year who hadn't trained enough yet, the limits were even clearer. It was good that he'd made many attempts driven by his rampaging emotions, but the problem was that none of them had any practicality. Now that Daepoltan had failed and all the improvised demonic beasts were dead, there was nothing left for Kim Baeseong to do.
"...This doesn't make sense. Who the hell are you to do this to me?"
Smack!
The guy tried to continue with the usual third-rate villain's complaints, his face filled with helplessness, but I'd had enough experience with that sort of thing. I immediately struck Kim Baeseong's chin precisely and knocked him unconscious. As expected of a throwaway villain who appeared in the very beginning of the main story, he was pathetically weak.
'Now I just need to report this.'
With that thought, I took out my phone to make the report, but at that moment—
Shiver!
A killing intent I couldn't handle wrapped around my entire body. 'I'm going to die.' Even though nothing had happened yet, the killing intent alone was powerful enough to make my life flash before my eyes. The only thing I could do was quickly get away from my current spot. Grateful that United Will's duration still remained, I moved my feet.
Bang!
As if it were a lie, someone appeared exactly where I'd been standing just moments ago.
"Ah, what? So it wasn't just one person."
Pat pat. A woman appeared, casually brushing off the dust stuck to her clothes as she walked over.
"I felt black mana and came over, but I didn't expect the situation to already be over. Did you do this?"
What I'd felt while playing as Lee Seokhyun was that there were really a lot of variables in this playthrough. 'Did something happen because I directly possessed him?' Sixth place, representative speech, Kerar's existence, and so on. A series of special situations that had never overlapped even after hundreds of restarts. 'I was planning to meet her anyway, but I didn't expect it to be like this.' I'd naturally assumed that Gainard and Lee Hwaryeong would be the ones to arrive here. But for that woman to appear instead.
"When an adult speaks, you should answer. Why are you just staring blankly like that? Did you do it?"
"Y-yes... Yes, ma'am."
Messy, unkempt black hair that reached down to her waist. Sun-tanned, healthy bronze skin and well-trained muscles. Even as a professor, she wore a short tank top and hot pants that weren't very neat. 'Akasa Ardel.' The genius of hand-to-hand combat said to be the most outstanding at Mirinae Academy. One of the essential existences for making Lee Seokhyun stronger. The moment she revealed herself.