Chapter 15
Translator: uly
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Erhil (3)
The Korea Hero Academy maintains absolute control over its training fields using a network of high-tech drones and sensors crafted through magitech—the perfect fusion of magic and science.
However, no matter how meticulously they monitor the grounds, the academy’s territory is simply too vast to cover every square inch perfectly. Gaps in surveillance inevitably exist.
And hidden within one such gap in this grassland field, there lurked a monster far beyond what any student should be expected to handle.
‘In the original story, when the demons launch their invasion later on, they take control of this beast and use it as a vanguard for the assault.’
It’s better to catch it now while we have the chance.
With that strategic goal in mind, I led Erhil Merhen and Kim Ara toward the specific coordinates where the predator was currently nesting.
“Hmm, this hunting ground feels oddly barren of prey, doesn't it?” Erhil mused.
Swish—!
With a casual flick of her wrist, Erhil refined her mana into a razor-thin thread, piercing the heart of a small monster that had tried to ambush us and retrieving its corpse in one fluid motion.
Her smile deepened, but her eyes remained sharp.
Her comment about the absence of prey was her way of acknowledging that a top-tier predator must be lurking nearby, scaring everything else away.
“So, Seo-ha, what exactly are the traits of the 'big game' we're hunting today?”
“......I'm curious too,” Kim Ara added quietly.
“A snake,” I replied.
Both girls gave me a strange, skeptical look at my simple answer.
“Not your average snake, obviously,” I clarified.
If it were an ordinary beast, I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of bringing both the #3 ranker and a girl with the strength of a giant along.
“It's a snake currently on the very cusp of evolving into an Imoogi.”
“......Hmm.”
“Do you really think we can take down a proto-dragon like that?” Erhil asked, eyeing me dubiously.
“We can. Erhil, you’ll provide the overall support and crowd control. Ara, you’ll act as the tank and block its frontal assaults. I’ll step in to finish it in a single strike.”
“......”
Kim Ara gave me a long, searching look. Erhil’s gaze was equally peculiar.
It was clear they couldn't believe I planned to one-shot a creature nearing the level of an Imoogi. But since I hadn't lied to them yet, my words carried a strange weight of truth that they couldn't ignore.
“One strike on an Imoogi...... You’re talking pure nonsense. If it were anyone else saying that, I’d call it a blatant, arrogant lie,” Erhil noted.
“But I’m not anyone else, am I?”
A new, competitive glint appeared in both of their eyes. It was a look of pure excitement—they were finally about to witness the true extent of my power.
Well, I was definitely going to have to give it everything I had.
“And even if I fail my strike, you two are strong enough to ensure we all survive the retreat, right?” I added, looking at Erhil.
Her playful, smiling expression froze for a split second.
“Oh? Does that mean Seo-ha is willing to sacrifice himself to buy us time? That’s so touching, I might actually cry~.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I just know your limits better than you do.”
I wasn't worried about them in the slightest. If Erhil’s life were ever truly in danger, the Transcendent’s Soul slumbering within her would manifest to protect its host. The risk of her dying was functionally zero, even if she’d be exhausted afterward. As for Kim Ara, her origin force made her far too durable to be killed by a mere snake.
“Hold up.”
I halted the group abruptly. My eyes locked onto a patch of black scales clinging to the dry earth, each one about the size of a human palm.
—Black scales. They resemble a snake’s, but they possess a metallic sheen.
This was the specific clue provided in the game for tracking the beast. I activated my Appraisal skill.
【Shadow Snake's Scale (D-)】
A heavy scale shed by a snake that has successfully awakened shadow attributes. Highly versatile for alchemical use.
“No way...... Is this actually from our target? A Shadow Snake?”
“Yeah.”
“A Shadow Snake...?” Kim Ara asked, looking puzzled.
“They’re incredibly tricky,” Erhil explained in my stead, her tone turning serious. “Monsters with shadow attributes don't leave normal traces. They excel at lethal ambushes and can hide within their own shadows, making them a nightmare to track and fight.”
“And you said it’s on the cusp of becoming an Imoogi?” she asked, looking back at me.
“Yeah. It’s been accumulating karma. At this rate, it’ll evolve within the year.”
I knew that in the original second-year plot, the demons would use this evolved snake to cause massive casualties at the Tower of Trials. Normally, students would never be permitted to engage a threat of this magnitude. It would usually require a high-tier hero like Instructor Seo Woo-ju and a full tactical squad.
Main Quest Ch. 1.5: Shadow Snake Subjugation
Subjugate the hidden Shadow Snake before it can complete its evolution into an Imoogi.
🎁 Reward: 5,000P (Additional rewards based on performance and speed of completion).
The quest window appeared at the exact moment of our discovery. It felt too perfectly timed to be a coincidence, but I didn't care.
‘More points. Always a good thing.’
I chuckled lightly and led the group toward the snake’s concealed lair. With Kim Ara and Erhil Merhen by my side, I had the best possible force I could muster at this level. I had killed this boss over a thousand times in the game; I knew exactly how this was going to end.
Erhil narrowed her eyes as she watched the boy leading them into the dark ravines.
Lee Seo-ha was a complete enigma. He had taken first place in the exam, and the students who had teamed with him in the dungeon claimed he navigated the labyrinth as if he had built the place himself.
‘I still can’t see through him.’
Erhil peered at his back with her specialized 'eyes,' trying to read his mana flow.
But she saw nothing. It was like staring into a void.
—Erhil, staring at him like that is unwise, her mentor’s voice echoed within her mind.
—The boy is an utter anomaly. Even from this distance, I cannot discern his essence. Something fundamental is blocking my access to his information.
‘Even you can’t see him, Master?’ Erhil was genuinely shocked. The world knew her as a genius of illusions, but that was only because she was the host of the soul of Melani Merhen—a transcendent being from another realm. Her eyes were supposed to pierce all of creation.
“We’re here.”
Lee Seo-ha stopped in front of a small, inconspicuous crevice in the ground. He used the Black Heaven Demon Sword to prod the earth, expertly widening the hole until it was just large enough for a person to slip through.
“It’s like a natural dungeon structure. It widens out the deeper you go,” he explained calmly.
“Exactly. Now, follow me.”
Lee Seo-ha descended into the dark. Erhil conjured a mana barrier to keep the dirt from touching her pristine clothes and followed him down.
“Wait, let me help you down too, Ara.”
“Thanks,” Ara replied as they entered the subterranean cavern.
After walking for ten minutes through the expanding tunnel, a heavy, cold atmosphere gripped the air.
—Erhil, get ready! It’s incoming...!
“Everyone, battle ready. Now,” Lee Seo-ha commanded, before Erhil could even open her mouth.
Vmmm!
Kim Ara summoned her massive Giant’s Blade, while Erhil opened her glowing Book of Illusions. A chilling, high-pitched hiss echoed through the cavern.
—Shaaaaaaa!
“Kim Ara, slam the ground right there with everything you’ve got. Don't hold back. Full power.”
“Got it.”
“W-Wait a second! Shadow-attribute monsters possess high resistance to physical attacks! You need to use magic!” Erhil protested.
“It doesn't matter. Trust me.”
Lee Seo-ha dismissed her concern and gave Ara a sharp nod. She channeled her origin force—a power that invigorated her biology and fortified her muscles far beyond what mana could achieve.
Kim Ara swung her massive blade downward.
───────────────!!!!
The resulting shockwave was so powerful it seemed to crumple the very space within the tunnel.
—Kieeeek!
A massive, black serpentine form writhed in sudden agony from beneath the ground, forced into the open by the sheer force of the impact.
“Erhil, bind it now!”
“Fine, fine! Honestly!” Erhil grumbled, but her hands moved with perfect precision, weaving dozens of mana threads to ensnare the thrashing Shadow Snake.
Her eyes stayed locked on Lee Seo-ha. Against a beast of this level, he’d finally have to show his hand. What kind of power was he hiding? Rumors said he was a mage, but his presence said otherwise.
Suddenly, a black power began to emerge from Lee Seo-ha—a dark, oppressive energy that seemed to deny the very existence of everything around it.
‘What...... what is that power?’
—The Heavenly Demon! her mentor, Melani, screamed within her soul.
—How is this possible? A descendant of the Heavenly Demon? She was supposed to have died centuries ago without ever finding a worthy heir!
Ignoring their internal panic, Lee Seo-ha concentrated. He was still refining his control over the Reverse Heaven energy, but the newly acquired conceptual stat made the flow feel instinctive. He let go of his sword’s hilt and raised his open palm toward the bound snake.
Pitch-black qi coalesced in the center of his palm, spinning rapidly into a dense, perfect sphere that radiated a terrifying, void-like aura.
Lee Seo-ha leaped into the air toward the Shadow Snake's head.
Black Vigor
The black sphere struck the Shadow Snake with the weight of a collapsing star.