Chapter 62
Chapter 62
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Unforeseen Demon Assault
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Even a quick glance revealed several items that didn't look ordinary at all.
I had no idea if these items would be useful to me, but since Jaun had stolen them, there was a high chance they held some special value.
"There's a lot here."
I wanted to check each one to see what they were, but the appointed time was drawing near.
I decided to just confirm the details on a few items for now.
"What's this?"
Amid the curious objects was a piece of paper illustrated with a snake.
［Demon Beast Summon Scroll (A)］
Classification: Summon Scroll
Description: Summons a demon beast from hell.
［Usage Effect］
►Summon
Summons a powerful hell serpent loyal to you.
*Duration: 3 minutes
*Cooldown: 10 days
Durability: D
"Oh ho."
Looking at the effect, it was an item that could summon something.
I'd seen a similar item in the original story before, so I had a feel for how to use it.
The downside was the 10-day reuse cooldown.
It was quite regrettable, but I didn't think I'd have a situation where I'd need to use it that frequently within 10 days, so I let it slide.
I carefully stored the items away in my subspace.
[You have achieved the 'Phantom Thief' accomplishment.]
[You have obtained 3,000 points as a reward.]
...They have accomplishments for everything, huh.
Time passed, and the barriers and seals on the golden box regenerated.
At this rate, even they wouldn't know the box's contents were gone.
"Whew."
Time to head out.
I slowly retraced my steps back the way I'd come. At the end of the corridor, I dispelled the barrier and stepped out from the grandfather clock.
It was 9:30 by the clock.
There were still about 30 minutes left until the fake theft incident was set to begin.
"...Theft, huh."
If things followed the original story, nothing dangerous should happen to Lee Seojun because of this incident. Still, just in case, it might be good to stick near him.
With the story's progression changing like this, who knew when some unpredictable event might pop up.
That's when it happened, as I was walking down the mansion's corridor.
Flash!
A blindingly bright light burst from outside the window.
Soon, a powerful surge of mana followed, and then a massive mana explosion erupted.
KABOOM!
The windows shattered with a crash. I ducked down to shield myself from the shower of glass shards.
"What the hell?!"
Caught off guard by the sudden situation, I peered out the window.
No way Jaun's self-staged act was starting already?
But the power of that mana explosion just now far exceeded my expectations.
It was too intense to pass off as Jaun's self-staged ploy just to gauge Lee Seojun's abilities.
It felt more like a magic spell laced with killing intent...
'No way it's not Jaun's doing?'
Feeling uneasy, I gazed through the broken window.
In the distance, I spotted Lee Seojun's figure, wounded. Behind him was Lee Hyunjoo, knocked unconscious by the mana explosion's shockwave.
I thought she might be dead, but seeing her body twitch faintly, she seemed to have survived.
It looked like Lee Seojun had blocked the attack meant for Lee Hyunjoo.
I turned my gaze to the tall man standing in front of Lee Seojun.
Black, ominous mana. And a face that looked familiar.
"...Seongjin?"
It was Seongjin. The S-Rank Demon and the king's loyal servant. I remembered his face clearly from the news before my regression.
"...Why the hell is he here?"
Seongjin wasn't supposed to appear in this incident.
Other factions did get involved in this event, but they weren't demons.
All sorts of questions flooded my mind, but I snapped out of it—this wasn't the time.
I leaped out through the window.
Swoosh.
At that moment, a powerful wave of mana erupted from Seongjin's body.
Dangerous. Lee Seojun couldn't handle Seongjin right now.
Just as I rushed forward to help Lee Seojun, someone blocked my path. Black mana was pouring from his body, just like Seongjin's.
"Where do you think you're going? Your opponent's me."
I looked at the guy. From the mana he was emanating, he felt pretty strong. At least B-Grade.
And with his eyes slightly tinged black, he seemed close to going berserk.
"What the hell are you? Why are demons attacking us?"
I asked him the question burning in my mind.
No matter how I thought about it, it didn't make sense.
Demons usually didn't operate in groups. They only moved when they had solid grounds to do so.
What reason could demons have to act? And for a top-tier demon like Seongjin to show up, no less.
The story was messed up beyond belief.
The demon smirked at my question and drew the sword from his waist.
"I'll tell you right before I cut your throat."
A sharp blade aura emitting black light formed on the demon's sword.
Soon, his sword split into ten blades that floated in the air, spinning at high speed.
There are weapons that sometimes activate special effects when infused with mana like that.
Those kinds of weapons were tricky to deal with because you couldn't predict how they'd attack.
Of course, they heavily depended on the user's skill and proficiency, so not just anyone could wield them easily. Unfortunately, the guy in front of me seemed highly proficient with it.
Swoosh!
The ten spinning blades gleamed sharply as they flew toward me.
Whoosh!
I immediately enhanced my body and dodged the attack. But it didn't end there. Another blade came flying from a different direction right away.
"Urk!"
The attacks kept coming. With ten blades assaulting from all angles, dodging them all wasn't easy.
"Tch!"
If I could just drink a mana elixir, maybe I'd have some options, but the bastard didn't give me any breathing room.
Dodging forever like this wouldn't cut it.
In a situation like this, I needed to target the main body.
While evading his attacks, I conjured a small magic orb above my hand. In the split second I dodged a blade, I launched the orb at him.
Pew!
BOOM!
"Argh!"
The magic struck his head squarely, exploding.
It wasn't a powerful orb since I'd rationed my mana, so it didn't kill him.
But it created a small opening. The floating blades slowed just a bit.
I seized the chance and swiftly opened my subspace, pulling out the 'Demon Beast Summon Scroll' I'd gotten from Jaun's secret vault.
I unfurled the paper and infused it with mana. The paper rapidly absorbed the mana, and a massive black serpent burst out from within.
— Hiss!
The serpent lunged at him with terrifying speed.
"Wh-what the hell is that?!"
The demon panicked and redirected the blades at the serpent. But the serpent dodged fluidly with its flexible body and clamped down on the demon's neck with a crunch.
"Gaaah!"
The demon screamed and tried to pry it off. But the serpent coiled around his body and squeezed hard.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The ten floating blades slashed relentlessly at the serpent. But they bounced off its tough hide without piercing.
"...Oh."
I watched blankly. The item's effect was way better than expected.
I hadn't anticipated such a massive serpent.
Duration was only 3 minutes.
It was too short for sustained combat, so I'd planned to use it just to draw attention, but the performance was beyond expectations.
"Jackpot."
The serpent relentlessly tore at his neck until the 3 minutes were up, then its body scattered like dust.
The dust floated lightly in the wind before getting sucked back into the paper in my hand.
"Grk..."
The demon writhed, blood gushing from his nearly severed neck.
It was mangled enough to make your eyes water, yet he was still alive.
Demon vitality, I guess.
I stepped closer to him. Then, I gathered as much mana as possible above my hand and formed a magic orb.
"Urgh..."
The demon glared at me. I met his gaze and asked.
"Answer me. Why are you attacking us?"
"...Heh, heh heh."
Instead of answering, the demon chuckled. It was his way of refusing.
I gritted my teeth.
I needed to know why the demons were attacking to prepare for the altered future, but this left me in the dark.
"Answer me now!"
"Heh heh... You think I'll tell you?"
KABOOM!
At that moment, another massive roar echoed from Lee Seojun's direction.
I whipped my head around to look.
Lee Seojun was swinging a brilliantly glowing sword, barely blocking Seongjin's attacks.
I didn't know the demons' exact goal, but with Seongjin fixated on Lee Seojun, it seemed he was their target.
"Tsk."
Where the hell were Jaun's guys and what were they doing?
If it were them, they wouldn't just watch Lee Seojun in crisis.
"Tch."
No time for that.
BOOM—!
I blasted the demon's head with magic and dashed back toward Lee Seojun.
Massive booms kept ringing out from elsewhere.
Fighting was breaking out in other areas too. But I had no spare attention for that.
I had to help Lee Seojun in his pinch.
As I raced toward him, I sensed killing intent from somewhere.
At the same time, a beam of brilliant light energy shot down from the sky, slamming into the ground in front of me and exploding.
"Urk!"
A new demon appeared before me.
Of course it wouldn't be that easy.
"I saw that fight just now. You used some unusual technique. What was that serpent? An item?"
The new demon addressed me curiously. But with Lee Seojun in danger, I had no time for chit-chat.
Before he could attack, I pulled a mana elixir from my subspace and downed it in one gulp.
The weird taste that never gets familiar, no matter how many times.
I wiped my mouth and tossed the vial to the ground.
"What did you just drink?"
My sudden action puzzled the demon.
Wizards usually carry mana suited to their level.
Forcing more mana didn't necessarily mean better spellcasting, so he clearly had no clue what potion I'd taken.
"Whew."
Feeling the mana elixir's effect, I gathered all my mana above my hand.
A brightly shining compressed magic orb floated up.
The demon's face twisted in shock upon seeing it.
"...You brat. How can you cast that kind of magic at your age?"
No time to answer. To help Lee Seojun, I needed to drop this guy fast.
I launched the magic straight at the demon's head.
KABOOM—!
The orb hit dead-on, causing a powerful explosion.
Black smoke rose, and the demon collapsed with his head gone.
"Whew..."
Seriously, no end in sight.
"Haaaah!"
Then, a familiar woman's voice shouted from afar.
I turned to see Choi Seoyun battling a demon, wielding a massive ice spear.
True to her rank as 1st Year's top student, she was overwhelming the demon.
Fortunately, her opponent didn't seem that strong.
At that momentum, she could probably seize victory without my help.
I looked toward Seongjin fighting Lee Seojun.
Lee Seojun was barely hanging on with razor-thin dodges against Seongjin's assaults.
Seongjin was way beyond what I could handle.
I needed to think of the most effective way to support Lee Seojun at my level.
One method came to mind.
I opened the point shop and bought the 'Advanced Mana Concealment' potion.
It cost a whopping 20,000 points, but it was unavoidable to save Lee Seojun.
I chugged the potion and activated Heart of Great Nature.
The mana elixir and Heart of Great Nature's recovery overlapped, sending a torrent of powerful mana surging through my body.
I gathered that mana above my hand.
A silver-tinged magic orb began forming there.
"Urgh!"
Lee Seojun clutched one arm in pain.
He was struggling to block the attacks, but he'd hit his limit. The gap between him and his opponent was too vast.
Instinctively, Lee Seojun sensed it.
The demon before him was among the strongest five he'd ever faced.
"To think you'd hold out this long against me. The rumors were true."
The demon, Seongjin, gazed at Lee Seojun with genuine admiration.
He hadn't used killing blows just to confirm Lee Seojun's anti-demon power with his own eyes, but his raw talent was unbelievably outstanding.
"...Urgh!"
Seongjin strode toward Lee Seojun. Stronger light-attribute mana poured from Lee Seojun's sword than before.
Light-attribute mana was potent against demons.
A normal demon would tense up at the intense light mana from Lee Seojun's sword, but not S-Rank Seongjin.
"Hraaah!"
Lee Seojun kicked off and charged at Seongjin.