Chapter 930
Chapter 930
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 930
Chapter Title: Academy's Savior
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‘What if I fuse this clown mask with Stormbreaker?’
There was no reason to hesitate, so I put the idea to the test immediately.
The Fiendish Clown Mask seeped into the Stormbreaker, and the weapon's form began to shift under the influence. When the transformation finally settled, it had turned into a suit of armor covered in jagged, menacing spikes, topped with a helmet that mirrored the distorted features of the clown mask.
‘...I hate it.’
It looked ridiculous. It would probably be better to just wear the mask by itself than to walk around looking like a low-budget horror movie villain.
‘Wait, there’s another way... something only possible in this world.’
Spirit summoning.
I focused on the contract, summoning the spirit directly in front of me. Mana drained from my core in a steady stream, my vision flashed white, and a woman—barely 60cm tall with dark blue hair and a pristine white dress—materialized. On the outside, she looked like a delicate fairy straight out of a children's book.
Machina.
The machine spirit bound to my soul.
Machina rubbed her eyes and grumbled, her voice thick with sleep.
“What is this? Dragging me out at this ungodly hour... A lady needs her beauty sleep, you know. Hurry up and tell me what you want so I can go back to bed.”
“You’ve got a lot of nerve talking to your master like that.”
I reached out, grabbed her small head, and shook her back and forth.
“Aaaah! Lady! Sung Yu-jin’s bullying me again!! Save me!!”
“Mom isn’t here to save you, you brat.”
“Ah, cut it out!!”
Machina’s form flickered, her body turning into a small metallic sphere that slipped through my fingers. A second later, she reverted to her original form, looking thoroughly annoyed.
“You keep doing this? Just because we’re contracted doesn’t mean you can treat me like garbage.”
“I let you enjoy your freedom for a while, and suddenly you’ve lost all respect for your master. Do you want me to spend the rest of eternity keeping you in a can?”
She flinched, a visible shudder running through her tiny frame.
Our contract was heavily skewed in my favor. She had no choice but to obey my every command, no matter how much she complained.
“N-No! I was just joking! Canning me is way too much. You called me because you need me, right? I’ll help with anything! What do I have to do?”
“Machina. Take a look at me. What do you think?”
“Uh... Are you going to a cosplay convention?”
It was the reaction I expected.
“Machina. Possess this armor.”
“What? No way. I’m not going into some weird, spiked monstrosity like that.”
Machina crossed her arms and turned her head away with a huff.
“Do it.”
I lowered my voice, my tone carrying a clear threat. Her face twisted into a scowl, and she finally bowed her head in resignation.
“...Fine. If I have to. Seriously, how did I end up stuck with you...”
Machina continued to grumble as she dissolved into light and possessed the armor.
It was one of her primary abilities: possessing and mechanizing inanimate objects.
“Can you change the appearance?”
I could have, yes.
But designing a suit from scratch was a hassle, which is why I’d called her. Plus, I wanted to see what a true mechanical suit felt like.
Shrrrrk.
The armor enveloping my body shifted rapidly, the metal plates sliding and reshaping themselves. The bulky, spiked frame became sleek and aerodynamic, while the helmet morphed into the visage of a red demon. It looked significantly sharper than the previous getup—resembling a high-end transformation from a tokusatsu show.
“Not bad at all.”
I could guess why the helmet had taken that shape. It was likely the influence of the Fiendish Clown Mask fused with the Stormbreaker.
‘I can’t detach the mask anyway. It’s essential for hiding my identity.’
The Fiendish Clown Mask, enhanced by the Path to Glory, was specialized for concealment. Genetic scans would come back as errors when I wore it, and even specialized detection abilities couldn't pierce the veil. I’d already confirmed its effectiveness back in the [God’s Atlantis] world.
“I like it, so let's move on. Does it have any other functions?”
A tactical map materialized in my HUD, hovering in my field of view. It was also capable of connecting calls and surfing the internet. It was a true super suit—armor fused with a high-performance computer.
“Perfect.”
I used a spatial movement scroll to slip silently out of the academy.
???
Ji Seong-o, the boss of Ophid, narrowed his eyes as he scrolled through the messages on his phone.
It was a formal complaint.
The client who had commissioned the hit on Ryu Hana, the North Diamond heiress, was hurling insults at him for the recent failure. Seong-o felt his blood begin to boil, but he forced himself to stay calm. The man was a high-paying customer, and in this business, money always talked louder than pride.
“Boss? Another one?”
“Yeah. He’s demanding we finish the job on Hana immediately.”
“Why not just drop it? We failed once; we won't get another opening now. Maruhan Academy’s security is twice as tight as it was before.”
To target Ryu Hana again, they would have to start from scratch. It would take at least half a year of planning, if they were lucky.
“We can’t. I’m not passing up that kind of payout. Besides, he knows it’s impossible right now. He’s just using me to vent.”
“That’s what bugs me. Who the hell is this guy to talk to us like...”
“I don’t know what he does for a living, either. I have a few guesses, but it’s better if we don't know. We just take the money and do what we’re told—no strings attached.”
The subordinate gave a stiff nod and fell silent.
Ji Seong-o checked his schedule for the upcoming month. It was packed. The most urgent task was a kidnapping job; if they delayed any longer, the trail would go cold.
“Boss.”
Seong-o turned to his subordinate, who was pointing directly at the bank of CCTV monitors.
“We have an intruder.”
“An intruder? What is this, some kind of clown?”
Seong-o smirked at the screen.
A figure was standing in the hallway, wearing a suit that looked like it belonged in a kid's superhero show, topped with a menacing red demon helmet.
He suddenly remembered how old-school heroes used to wear flashy costumes.
“A hero?”
“I don't think so. He’s slaughtering the new recruits. He's way too brutal for a hero. I’ve never seen anyone like him before.”
“A rival villain, then.”
He brushed it off.
Unlike heroes, who tended to band together, villains fought each other constantly over money, pride, and territory. To them, everyone was a potential rival.
“He looks to be around C-rank, maybe higher. He’s good. Kang Heon—go handle him before he does any more damage. Try not to kill him yet. I want to know how he found this hideout.”
“Understood, Boss. I’ll take care of it.”
???
“Kill him!!”
Ophid’s grunts attacked the moment they saw me, pulling triggers and charging with knives drawn.
It was pathetic.
Bullets bounced harmlessly off my plating; knives snapped or dulled the moment they made contact.
‘At best, these guys are F- to E-rank bottom-feeders. They couldn't touch me in their wildest dreams.’
I thrust my hand forward, and the armor around my forearm shifted and morphed until it formed a heavy machine gun. I unleashed a hail of lead on the trash in front of me.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
They didn't even have time to scream before they were cut down. I didn't spare a single one; even when I had the chance to show mercy, I made sure to butcher them all.
“How dare you... cause such a ruckus on our turf...!”
A sleazy-looking man stepped into the hallway. He glared at me, grinding his teeth as he drew a rapier from his belt. I could see his muscles twitch and his mana pulse—unlike the small fry, this one actually had some power.
Machina displayed the enemy’s profile in the corner of my HUD.
Name: Oh Mando. D-rank villain. Bounty: 130 million won. Weapon: Rapier. Specialty: Short-range teleportation.
‘D-rank. Just more cannon fodder.’
I aimed the gun at Mando. His body flickered and vanished, reappearing directly in front of me in the blink of an eye.
“Betting everything on that flimsy armor, are we? You won't be able to block my blade. I’ll pierce your throat, rip out your organs, and sell them on the black market!”
His rapier lunged forward, targeting the gap in my neck plating with surgical precision. Normal armor would be vulnerable there, at the joints. But this was no ordinary suit; it was Stormbreaker, inhabited by a machine spirit. At most, he’d leave a scratch.
Clang!
The rapier bounced off my neck as if it had hit solid diamond.
“What kind of armor is— Gahk!”
Before he could teleport away again, I seized his head with my left hand and jammed the barrel of my gun directly into his open mouth.
“Guhk?!”
I pulled the trigger without a moment's hesitation. Bang-bang-bang. His head exploded from the inside out, blood and gray matter spraying across the walls. I tossed the corpse aside and continued deeper into the base.
‘Display the map first. And the CCTV feeds... scramble them as you see fit.’
A complex 3D map overlaid my vision. I paused for a second, trying to make sense of the cluttered data.
‘...Machina. Just show me where I am.’
‘This is still too cluttered. Simplify the interface.’
‘Do you want me to shake you again?’
‘A total wipeout. Kill every single person in this building.’
‘I don’t want any runners.’
She had a point. Even spirits had their limitations.
‘Fine. Where to next?’
‘I’m human too, you know.’
I headed to the room Machina indicated. I kicked the door open and found the target shivering in the dark.
“P-Please... spare me...!”
“No.”
Thwack!
A single punch was all it took to cave in his skull. I stepped back into the hallway, systematically hunting down every blue dot on my display.
‘This isn't mass murder. It's pest control.’
They were villains. I’d dropped over ten of them so far, yet there was no notification of a Karma drop. The reason was simple: the system didn't count killing monsters in human skin as a sin.
I stepped out into the third-floor hallway.
“Stop right there.”
A massive figure was walking toward me from the far end of the hall. He was a giant, standing 2.2 meters tall with muscles that looked carved from granite. He had a tattoo on his left cheek, a heavy square jaw, and was wearing a perfectly tailored suit. He looked like a man made of steel.
“I am Kang Heon of Ophid. Who are you? State your name and your affiliation.”
Machina instantly pulled up his file.
Name: Kang Heon. C-rank villain. Bounty: 1.6 billion won. Weapon: Knuckles. Specialty: Physical Enhancement.
“You can call me Red Light. I have no affiliation.”
“And what is your goal here?”
“To wipe Ophid off the map.”
“…A commission, then?”
“No. I’m just blowing off some steam.”
“I see. You're a lunatic. It’s time you learned that actions like these carry a heavy price.”
He slid a pair of spiked knuckles onto his fists and closed the distance with precise, calculated footwork. He was clearly a trained fighter.
‘Moment.’
Time slowed to a crawl. His fist moved toward my face—a deceptively light jab. But the red aura flickering around his knuckles told me it was meant to be a killing blow.
I leaned back just far enough to let the jab whistle past my nose, then channeled my demonic energy into my right fist for a savage uppercut. The blow connected perfectly with his jaw, the force lifting his massive body off the floor before he crashed back down.
Machina sounded panicked. Kang Heon lunged again with a second jab, his fist weighted down by both the gravity shift and his aura. He clearly thought a single hit would be enough to end me.
I caught the punch with my left hand. Even through the reinforced suit, the shockwave made my arm sting.
I unleashed a Dragon Fist directly into his sternum. A bolt of black energy tore through him, continuing upward until it punched a hole clean through the ceiling.
Thud.
Kang Heon dropped to his knees, gasping for air. He managed to raise one last shaking fist.
‘Moment.’
I sidestepped his slow, clumsy punch and delivered a snap-kick to his chin. His jaw shattered on impact, and the light finally left his eyes.