CH 39

Chapter 39 — Freshmen Hunt (9)

“Then, does this make a total of 600,000 points?”

<A few moments ago>

Ahn HoYeon had been roaming around the demi-plane by himself while attacking seniors.

Different from the others who created parties, he faced the seniors with only his own skills. The reason for it was simple.

‘I have to know how far my skills can take me ahead of time.’

To survive at Millaes Academy, it was important to have an objective view of oneself. 

How far would one’s skill take them, would they be able to win in fights, etc. One had to grasp these things so that even if problems occurred, they could quickly resolve them.

“Still, I managed to stay alive somehow. I just have to hold on for one more day.”

Of course, there were a few dangerous situations in the middle. But with his immense talent and keen senses, he was able to succeed in coming out the victor.

As a result, by the morning of the third day, he had earned 600,000 points, which was more than his estimated 500,000 points.

Even so, the name that caught Ahn HoYeon’s interest was ‘Min JaeHyun’.

“He really is something else. In a situation where his skills are limited, he managed to rank first as a Magician. And he even carried his teammates to the top rankings as well.”

Even as he said so, he couldn’t believe the results he was seeing.

The amount of points JaeHyun had earned until now in the Freshmen Hunt was more than 1,100,000 points. If it were someone else, he would have suspected a system error.

But as soon as he saw Min JaeHyun’s name on the ranking list, such a possibility was erased from his mind.

The way JaeHyun had taken care of the dozens of monsters that day was fresh in Ahn HoYeon’s mind.

Killing all the goblins pouring out with just one A-rank Active Skill, JaeHyun showed a meticulousness that did not allow for a single mistake.

He knew exactly how strong he was and didn’t neglect any sudden turn of events.

HoYeon couldn’t help but be surprised. A raider’s strength was not merely determined by their power and skills.

A meticulous mind that avoided carelessness—

without it, even the strongest of raiders could lose their life in a low-level dungeon.

On that front, JaeHyun gave off the feeling of a pro.

Ahn HoYeon bit his lip as he felt his competitiveness stir up.

‘I also only have one A-rank skill, and I’m still not very familiar with it.’

《 Martial Ascendance 》 was a skill that wrapped the user’s body with aura and allowed them to reach a higher peak in their swordsmanship proficiency.

It was the only A-rank skill Ahn HoYeon had, as well as his last resort. But even so, he could only use the skill for a mere 5 minutes.

On the other hand, JaeHyun was able to use 《 Lightning Chain 》 very skillfully that day. At only 17, he was able to use an A-rank skill like it came naturally to him.

Almost as if he had been using it for a very long time.

‘If my guess is correct, that guy is at least a C-rank. He could even be on the cusp of being a B-rank already.’

To be able to become a C-rank Raider as a cadet, and a freshman at that?

Truthfully, even if he told someone, they wouldn’t be able to believe him easily.

However, Ahn HoYeon truly believed that Min JaeHyun had reached that kind of a height.

With the overwhelming force he exhibited that day, as well as the relaxed attitude he had the whole time.

“Either way, he’s an exceptional guy. If I don’t want to lose, I have to work hard.”

HoYeon spoke with determination as he stood up in the shelter near the ‘Fairy’s Fountain’ he had been staying at for two days.

He had to leave now.

If he wanted to keep raising his score until the end, he had to diligently seize nametags from seniors.

“Hup…”

Right as HoYeon was about to leave—

一《???》 has infiltrated your mind.

“Huh?”

He was instantly overwhelmed by a sensation akin to his brain being scorched.

With the great pain that overcame him out of nowhere, Ahn HoYeon’s eyes rolled back as he started to let out groans of anguish…

followed by another message.

一 Your mind has been corrupted.

***

Shlink!

Twisting his body to dodge the slash aiming for his left arm, he facedforward.

The blue sword aura that was wrapped around Ahn HoYeon meant that he had 《 Martial Ascendance 》 activated, making him a level stronger than usual right now.

‘Damn. This is annoying.’

JaeHyun tilted his head to avoid the sword aiming for his neck, then stomped on the ground to put some distance between them.

The brainwashed Ahn HoYeon’s sword tenaciously came after JaeHyun.

With an excellent physique behind it, the attacks were powerful and swift.

It was quite difficult for a Magician like JaeHyun to keep on dodging.

Bzzzzzz!

However, JaeHyun didn’t back down. He parried HoYeon’s attacks with a chain of lightning as he waited for an opening.

When JaeHyun’s vigor showed no signs of waning even after the battle went on for some time, HoYeon became puzzled.

JaeHyun smirked slightly as he saw his expression.

‘Ahn HoYeon doesn’t have any real fighting experience outside of spars right now. It also seems like this is his first time fighting against an opponent with an A-rank skill. Things are in my favor.’

With no plans of letting HoYeon recover from his bewilderment, he quickly pushed mana into his legs.

一《Wind Boost》 has been activated.

‘I have to back him into a corner first.’

JaeHyun dashed forward and shortened the distance between him and his opponent at a speed even most senior Warrior cadets would not be able to follow.

However—

Crash!

Ahn HoYeon was more talented than JaeHyun had assumed.

The moment JaeHyun rushed over and entered his attack range, a sword had struck the ground, sending rocks straight at him.

JaeHyun looked forward while sweating.

‘He struck the ground with his sword to block my move. He has an innate battle sense. He really isn’t someone I can take it easy with, huh?’

JaeHyun bit his lips. He was clearly in a predicament right now.

Just a few moments ago, he was thinking that he could easily take care of the situation.

JaeHyun now had no choice but to admit that he’d been wrong.

‘It’s impossible to deal with him without wounding him.’

After coming to a quick decision, JaeHyun swiftly gathered his mana.

The mana was clearly different from what he had brought out a moment ago. The blue energy that instantly wrapped around JaeHyun’s body started to glare at Ahn HoYeon as if it wanted to swallow him whole.

Bzzzzzt!

The high-pitched sound of mana followed.

“Let’s do this properly now.”

Ahn HoYeon also strengthened the grip he had on his sword, and his mana turned a shade darker.

‘The goal is to finish this as quickly as possible. The most important thing is to break the 《 Indoctrinate 》 spell he’s under with the least amount of damage.’

And to do so, he had to activate his skill, 《 Lightning Chain 》.

The problem was that to use the spell, he had to get closer to HoYeon.

To reduce the damage as much as possible during all that would be harder than it seemed.

If he wasn’t careful, he could miss the chance altogether.

Ahn HoYeon rapidly started to emanate a blue sword aura.

Left arm, left leg, neck, and torso; the sword aura flew toward him, aiming for those parts one after the other like arrows.

However, JaeHyun blocked all of those attacks with a barrier without dodging.

The translucent bluish shield parried all the incoming attacks and created a small opening.

One so small that others might not have even been able to see it.

‘Now!’

But Jaehyun didn’t miss it and rushed to make good use of it.

Bzzz!

The lightning attack rushed forcefully toward HoYeon.

Ahn HoYeon, who’d been taking care of the mana that was reflected back by the barrier, could not block the fast attack.

JaeHyun made use of the small gap to dash toward HoYeon and bound him with a chain.

Swish!

Six chains wrapped around Ahn HoYeon’s body and stopped him from moving in an instant.

And then, JaeHyun followed up with a punch to his abdomen.

Pow!

Having been punched head-on, HoYeon flew back and hit the huge rock in the background.

“Keuheuk!”

Spitting out some blood on impact, HoYeon passed out on the spot. 

Looking at him, JaeHyun scratched his cheek with an awkward expression.

“I didn’t plan on using this much force… Well, you’re pretty sturdy though, so you’ll wake up soon enough.”

It seemed that Ahn HoYeon had somehow completely lost consciousness.

But that was what JaeHyun had been aiming for from the start.

‘The skill 《 Indoctrinate 》 loses its power on its victim momentarily when said victim loses consciousness.’

Now, he just had to put his hand on HoYeon’s head and break the spell on him.

However, JaeHyun decided to equip one more safety precaution beforehand.

He placed his hand on the ground and started to materialize his mana. A white light appeared on his fingers and spread out in a circle around him.

It was a skill he had used while fighting the Night Shade—

一 The Active Skill 《Flash Bomb》 has been activated.

Boooom!

A loud explosion rang out at the same time. His surroundings were blocked by the dust-filled air mixed with the white light.

And in that moment, the hidden cameras and drones recording in the demi-plane all stopped working.

JaeHyun smirked and then placed his hand on Ahn HoYeon’s head.

一 The Active Skill 《Universal Derivation》 has been activated.

一 Would you like to de-construct the mind-controlling spell 《Indoctrinate》?

***

As all the instructors were busy with their work, Gu Ja-In was still unable to take his eyes off the TV in the control room.

On the screen, Min JaeHyun was fighting against Ahn HoYeon, who he had put under his control a moment ago.

He propped his chin up as he watched with great interest.

‘Ahn HoYeon is considered a special talent with the potential to become an S-rank raider. He could easily win against most seniors even if three of them ganged up on him. So what is that?’

Gu Ja-In had forced them to fight to see how skilled the two were.

Ahn HoYeon, who the media exalted as someone who would become the next S-rank Raider—

—and Min JaeHyun, who appeared like a meteor out of nowhere and took first place in the Freshmen Hunt.

To him, testing how skilled the two were was very important.

“A Magician who fights in the frontlines like a Warrior. Hmmm….”

Watching JaeHyun’s actions, Gu Ja-In’s lips curled up in a covetous smile. Great excitement started to rush through him.

The instruction he had given to Ahn HoYeon a moment ago was simple.

Find and kill the bastard who ranks first in the Freshmen Hunt.

…However—

‘The results came out more easily than I expected. It made it less interesting.’

The Min JaeHyun shown on the screen had defeated Ahn HoYeon too easily.

In addition, he had lessened the amount of damage he delivered in a show of respect.

‘What on earth did he do to demonstrate such skills and moves as a freshman?’

The Magic aptitude score they derived from his profile was 97%.

At first, he didn’t truly believe it,

but now, seeing his abilities firsthand, he was left with no choice but to do so

“Interesting.”

Gu Ja-In found himself mumbling without meaning to.

The other instructors were also all thunderstruck. A few like Kim Seok-Gi and Kim JiYeon kept sneaking a glance at the screen even as they worked.

It was that shocking.

They had originally anticipated that if someone could get over 1,000,000 points in this year’s Freshmen Hunt, it would be Ahn HoYeon, or—with a lower probability—Cha YooWon.

They never expected it to be a Magician cadet appearing out of nowhere.

“Huh…”

Kim Seok-Gi exclaimed in shock.

If he remembered correctly, Min JaeHyun was that pansy-looking brat from before.

He was completely oblivious at the time of bus pick-up to the fact that there was such a monster on board.

‘What’s more, Chairman Gu Ja-In is showing interest in him personally…’

Kim Seok-Gi gulped. That was because it was very rare for Gu Ja-In to show interest in a cadet like this.

‘We can only observe for now.’

A calm silence fell in the room for a few moments.

As everyone quietly looked at JaeHyun who had defeated Ahn HoYeon—

Boooom!

With an explosion of unknown origin, the academy’s entire system—including the control room—crashed. And thus, the recording that was sent through the transmitting tower turned white.

Kim Seok-Gi eyed the employees gaping at the screen with bewildered expressions.

“Wh-What on earth is happening? Why did the screen blank out like this all of a sudden?”

“Oh… Th-That’s… It seems that a spell that blocks sight has been activated.

“What?!”

<At that moment>

Gu Ja-In’s expression fiercened, and he crushed the remote in his grasp.

“…《 Flash Bomb 》. So that’s how you’re going to do things, huh?”

Min JaeHyun had used a 《 Flash Bomb 》 to block everyone’s sight after he had fought with and defeated Ahn HoYeon.

The reason?

“Instructor Kim Seok-Gi. That cadet named Min JaeHyun. Bring him to my office right after the event is over.”

Kim Seok-Gi had understood what Gu Ja-In meant right away.

He asked as cold sweat flowed down his back.

“U-Understood. But… would it really be alright to decide so quickly…”

“Instructor Kim Seok-Gi.”

Goosebump instantly went up Kim Seok-Gi’s whole body as the chairman’s placid voice entered his ears.

Gu Ja-In continued without even turning to look at him.

“Why do you think Cadet Min JaeHyun blocked our sight when he had already won?”

“What? I…”

“He knows.”

Gu Ja-In stood from his seat.

His fierce gaze landed on Kim Seok-Gi.

“The way to increase his own worth.”

____