The Crusher (3)
Kim Joo-hyuk was a genius who'd taken first place to enter Valhalla, but Reric's gang had honestly been looking down on him.
The gap between first-years and second-years at Valhalla was enormous.
A difference in training?
Sure, that played a part.
A difference in skill?
Of course, that too. Valhalla put first-years through a ton of practical training from the get-go, and the top students even got thrown into real dungeons and labyrinths.
But truthfully, neither of those things truly separated first-years from second-years.
The slightly standout kids among the first-years, or those from families backed by Guardian Constellations, closed that gap between years in no time flat.
So what exactly divided first-years from second-years?
It was the contract with a constellation.
Every student at Valhalla had to enter the Constellation Room in their second semester of first year and form a contract with one of the constellations housed there.
Of course, those from families with Guardian Constellations didn't bother—they already had blessings that outstripped what a common B-rank constellation could offer. But most aspiring contractors treated this contract as a big deal.
A constellation's rank was basically the contractor's rank.
From the moment they signed that contract, students started prepping in earnest to become true contractors.
Contractors could draw on their constellation's power in exchange for mana.
In short, you weren't a real contractor until you had that contract.
And with Reric—the boss of a gang ranked 12th among second-years, solidly in the upper ranks—they'd trusted him and underestimated Kim Joo-hyuk.
Right up until Reric had smashed face-first into that tree and passed out moments ago.
The gang's eyes all snapped to Reric, pinned to the tree with his eyes rolled back, then swung back to Kim Joo-hyuk.
"……."
In the silence so eerie it raised goosebumps, all they could see was Kim Joo-hyuk gripping a pitch-black sword sheath that seemed to swallow the light whole.
Crack!
"Gahk!"
"Yellow Cut!"
Before anyone in the gang could react, he shot forward and smashed the jaw of the frontmost yellow-haired guy with the sheath.
The rest instinctively channeled their mana through their weapons, calling on their contracted constellations' power—but
Crack! Crack! Crack!
"Red Cut! Blue Cut! Black Cut!"
Before they could fully muster their mana, Kim Joo-hyuk closed in with unbelievable speed and bashed three more heads, halting them cold.
Seeing nearly half their massive gang drop in an instant, the second-years who were still conscious suddenly thought:
Fight? Or run?
Kim Joo-hyuk's movements didn't look all that impressive to them.
His travel speed was slow, his sheath swings sluggish.
But the bizarre part was how those slow moves and speeds were shattering the skulls of their fellow gang members one by one.
They couldn't wrap their heads around why their buddies were eating those attacks. The contradiction threw them into chaos.
And
Crack!
"Yellow No. 2 Cut!"
By the time the last one standing realized he should run, all his friends were already rolling on the ground.
"……."
No, at least he was still standing. The others looked dead.
Not one of them had twitched since eating that black sheath to the head.
"Th-this crazy bastard."
A curse slipped out unbidden as the guy staggered back.
But Kim Joo-hyuk just grinned, sheath in hand, and stepped toward him.
"Wait!!!"
Kim Joo-hyuk paused his swing at the shout.
"Why?"
"I-if you hit me, I'll report you to the faculty office!"
"What?"
At Kim Joo-hyuk's echo, the guy—who looked so sleazy you'd applaud just seeing him—started yapping like he had a motor in his mouth.
"Who do you think loses the most here? If I get hit and report you right after, you'll take a huge hit!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Hmph! Don't believe me? Valhalla cracks down hard on student violence. And you're top of your year with a bright future ahead. Think of the rumors if this gets out?"
"Sounds great~"
"Yeah! Sounds grea—what?"
"I said sounds great, you fucker!"
Crack!
"Kwehk!"
The guy crumpled to the dirt, right cheek smashed.
"Gwaaaah!"
He screamed from the pain before he knew it, but Kim Joo-hyuk just smiled wider.
"Aish, you fucking idiot. Why'd you open your trap?"
"Wh-what the!"
"Sigh. If you'd shut up and taken the clean knockout, it'd be over. You're hopeless."
"You…! Don't you know stuff like this at Valhalla can get you expelled in the worst case?!"
"How the hell should I know? It's been barely over a week since I enrolled."
"You'll regret this! You will!"
The guy shrieked like a banshee.
"Why'd you assholes jump me first and now bitch about getting hit?"
"We still got hit!"
"Oh, right? So no one saw shit here, you run to the faculty first and yap your mouth off, and you think you win?"
Shing—!
"W-wait!"
Terror flashed across the guy's face as Kim Joo-hyuk drew his sword without hesitation.
Slice—
Kim Joo-hyuk nicked his own arm shallowly and grinned.
"Now it's self-defense, right?"
Thud—!
"……."
"Put your hands down, yeah? Hands down, I said! Hit your hand and it'll shatter, dumbass~"
Crack!
"Gwaaaah! Mercy! Have mercy!"
"Hey, hands down! One more to the hand and it's broken for real? Just take a few to the face nice and easy?"
Crack!
Only after the guy threatening him rolled over with eyes flipped back did Kim Joo-hyuk head back to the dorms.
####
Find the Divine Weapon and Memories.
[Valhalla Constellation Room, Basement Level 3, Fifth Room on the Right] [Condition Satisfied]
[Valhalla Great Forest Eye, Madegaiya Rona's House] [Caution: Village Sword Required to Satisfy Condition]
[■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■■■]
[Is that okay?]
"What is?"
Back in the Valhalla dorms—a modest space around 200 square feet—Kim Joo-hyuk answered the voice echoing in his head.
[Those guys from earlier.]
"The assholes who picked a fight with me?"
[Yeah.]
"Since when do you care about people?"
Kim Joo-hyuk's tone dripped shock, but Barche shook his head—no, that wasn't it.
[Not worried about them. Just saying you shouldn't get expelled.]
Kim Joo-hyuk waved it off like no big deal.
"Don't sweat it. I won't."
[……Really?]
"Well, originally I planned to half-kill those fuckers right after hitting the Constellation Room qualifier and bounce…."
He trailed off, eyeing the alert floating before him.
Valhalla's Great Forest Eye….
If it was just detached from Valhalla, he might've ignored it. But with Valhalla prefixed, he'd looked it up.
"The survival spot they hit at the end of first-year semester…."
The Great Forest Eye was a labyrinth managed by Valhalla, used as the test site at the end of first semester to weed out dropouts.
"Guess I went easy on 'em."
[……That was going easy?]
"If not, their heads would've been smashed like yours by now."
[……Mine?]
"Plus, even if they stab me and make a scene, no biggie. My goal ain't proper school life—it's figuring out why I'm here."
[……I see.]
"That's why I brought you out, right?"
Honestly, Kim Joo-hyuk hadn't planned to grab the village sword at first.
It was a divine weapon he favored, sure—but the problem was what was inside it: Barche.
That alone sparked revulsion.
But he'd taken it anyway because the alert said the village sword was required for the second condition.
'Plus, leaving this guy loose would've been risky.'
Barche claimed he'd lost all power, couldn't even contract anymore—just a presence trapped in the relic. But a Barche was a Barche.
Extinction King Barche.
No matter how weakened, the fact remained: 300 years ago, this bastard dragged the Tower of Destruction to the surface and mutual-destructed with him.
'Any funny business, and I smash him flat.'
With that in mind, Kim Joo-hyuk spoke up.
"Hey, so that won't get us caught, right?"
[What?]
"You. It won't trigger anything, yeah?"
A bit belated, but to meet the condition, he'd snagged the village sword from the Constellation Room.
It was technically his, but right now, it was Valhalla's relic under their management.
In other words, he'd basically stolen one of Valhalla's prized relics.
[Don't worry. Didn't you see the identical duplicate I made?]
"That your power?"
[Yeah. All my strength's gone, but waking up in this sword, I could use 'Duplicate' and 'Storage'.]
True to his word, Barche duplicated the village sword perfectly, stored it in Kim Joo-hyuk's body, and they slipped out of the Constellation Room without tripping a single magic circle or alarm.
"Village sword never had those powers."
[Told you a few times already—I don't know why I got 'em either.]
Kim Joo-hyuk waved lazily like fine whatever and stood.
[Where you going?]
"To train."
Deep down, he wanted to sort today's info and chill. But his body was so pathetically weak, he couldn't afford a single day off.
'Plus, there's this rush.'
Back then, he'd trained desperately just to survive, barely sensing any gains. Now was different.
'Body was never properly trained to begin with, so even basic workouts boost abilities fast.'
His flesh hadn't seen real progress before, so even light training yielded solid gains.
The euphoria from that wasn't half bad.
So he changed into training gear and headed to the physical training room.
And.
"…Sorry, but I'm tapping out here."
Click.
"These fucking retarded bastards!"
Rockdil Ventrek hurled his smartphone aside as Reric's voice cut off.