Chapter 109
I tightly shut my eyes at the cruel scene unfolding before me.
Instructor Kang Jae-seok was kneeling on the ground, a half-shattered sword planted into the earth.
The Demon looked down at Instructor Kang Jae-seok as if the sight itself was deeply unpleasant.
A crimson scar had settled across the Demon’s chest.
It was a scar Instructor Kang Jae-seok had created at the cost of one of his arms.
However, to a Demon possessing immortal regenerative power, it was no more than a speck of dust.
Through the battle with Instructor Kang Jae-seok, I had been able to grasp the authority the Demon possessed.
The authority this Demon wielded was the Authority of Severance, which cut through everything.
Before that authority, even the body of Instructor Kang Jae-seok—once called an impregnable fortress—could not endure.
The Demon’s gaze turned toward me.
“Truly an unpleasant day. Not only did some thief steal the Power of Restoration, but I even suffered an injury from mere insects.”
Wait… what did he just say?
For a moment, I doubted my own ears.
He couldn’t recover?
And the reason was that he lacked the Power of Restoration?
A memory flashed through my mind.
I had obtained the Power of Restoration because I used the Heart of the Demon once at the museum.
Could it be that because of that incident, he had revived without his core ability of regeneration?
Indeed, no matter how closely I looked at the Demon’s body, there were no signs of recovery.
Perhaps displeased by that fact, the Demon twisted his expression as he looked at Kang Jae-seok.
“I’ll start by killing the one who dared to wound my body.”
A powerful force began to condense in his hand.
He was preparing to deliver the final blow to Instructor Kang Jae-seok.
No…!
I had finally found hope—I couldn’t lose Kang Jae-seok, the strongest dealer.
At that moment, the Asura Divine Art surged forth, breaking through the Demon’s authority that filled my body and shaking off his oppression.
It worked!
At the same time, Infernal Flames that erupted surged toward him like a tidal wave.
The Demon’s expression stiffened at the sight.
He swung the hand that had been aimed at Instructor Kang Jae-seok and cleaved through the Infernal Flames.
But that wasn’t the end of the attacks.
As a gigantic magic circle began to form in the sky, dozens of swords charged down from above amid the sound of the air exploding.
It was the arrival of Instructor Mabel and the Sword Empress.
Instructor Mabel appeared with a teleport and headed straight toward Instructor Kang Jae-seok.
Her face hardened when she saw his empty arm.
“Quickly, treatment—!”
Kang Jae-seok shook his head at Instructor Mabel, who tried to support him and retreat.
“More importantly, we need to deal with the Demon. He’s too powerful for just the two of us to handle separately.”
Understanding Kang Jae-seok’s resolve to fight even at the cost of his life, Instructor Mabel nodded.
Soon, the recovery magic and buff spells she deployed wrapped around Instructor Kang Jae-seok.
Gasping for breath, he used his sword as a cane and stood up.
At that moment, a cold voice echoed from the empty air.
The Sword Empress, wearing a more serious expression than ever, was looking at me.
“Get out of here. Now.”
Those short words carried many meanings within them.
Grinding my teeth, I nodded.
There was no place for me in that battle.
Then, with a resounding clang, the swords that had been pouring down like torrential rain were all knocked away at once.
“You insectsss!”
The momentum that burst out like a storm made my body shrink back on its own.
Even so, the three instructors stood resolutely before him and endured.
A sense of self-loathing surged within me for being unable to do anything at this very moment.
I was still far too weak.
Facing an enemy I had to confront, I froze, unable to do anything, and that made me feel utterly miserable.
Soon, the instructors and the Demon collided.
Instructor Kang Jae-seok received the Demon’s attacks head-on with his ruined body, while countless swords imbued with the Sword Empress’s sword aura swept through like a storm.
Kwa-ga-gang! Ku-gung! Ku-ga-ga!
Their battle truly looked like a scene torn straight out of myth.
“Kraaaaaah!”
More and more wounds began to appear on the Demon’s body.
A Demon without the Power of Restoration was no longer an incomprehensible existence.
He was merely a boss monster that was a bit sturdier and stronger, one that simply took more time to defeat.
Numerous magic circles drawn in the sky bound the Demon’s limbs.
Not missing that opening, the Sword Empress controlled countless swords while drawing her beloved sword, Mirinae, taking command of their movements.
A hundred swords scattered the Demon’s vision, and Instructor Kang Jae-seok did not miss the gap, pouring out his sword aura.
Chwaak!
With a cold sound of flesh tearing, a massive scar was carved into the Demon’s back.
The more that happened, the more the enraged Demon began to wildly unleash his power.
“Die! All of you!”
As he wrapped his body with his wings and flapped them, an authority too difficult to perceive with the naked eye spread out in all directions like a net.
The Demon’s authority, spread like a web, began slicing apart everything along its path.
Danger…!
I hurriedly tried to move, but it turned out to be needless worry.
Blue magic circles engraved themselves onto the instructors’ bodies, and in an instant, they vanished.
Mass Teleport.
Instructor Mabel’s magic evacuated the instructors outside the attack’s range, then summoned them once more near the Demon.
To chant and deploy large-scale spatial movement magic this quickly and use it strategically—
I could only marvel in admiration.
Seeing this, the Demon’s face contorted.
At that moment, my eyes met the Demon’s.
Don’t tell me that bastard—?
At the same time, a powerful oppression pouring out from him bound my movements.
Was he planning to take me hostage?
With a bang, his form appeared right in front of me in an instant.
It was a petty method unbefitting the name Demon.
But I had already broken through his oppression once before.
It won’t work anymore!
The Asura Divine Art began to push back the Demon’s authority restraining my body.
At the same time, the boiling Infernal Flames wrapped around my arm, condensing into intense energy.
Asura Divine Art (修羅神功)
Asura Descent (修羅降神)
I couldn’t interfere with the instructors’ battle when I already had nothing useful to do.
I swung my hand, dyed red like heated iron, toward the bastard.
Pu-hwaaaak!
With a violent explosion, the condensed power burst forth, forming a massive pillar of fire.
“Kraaaaaah!”
It was an authority that carried, however faintly, the power of destruction.
After taking that head-on without the Power of Restoration, it had to sting quite a bit.
And the instructors did not miss that opening.
A gigantic magic circle, incomparable to anything before, covered the sky.
Above it, a hundred swords began to form a massive current as if they were a single blade, and in Instructor Kang Jae-seok’s hand was a colossal sword formed through the condensation of sword aura.
The first to attack was Instructor Kang Jae-seok.
With the condensed sword aura, an energy like a gigantic club slammed down on the Demon.
Over that, Instructor Mabel’s highest-tier flame-type magic, Prominence, unleashed at full power, was layered on top, and finally, a massive greatsword formed from the resonance of a hundred swords descended, wrapped in sword aura.
Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!
The enormous explosion not only threw my vision into chaos but my body couldn’t withstand it either.
I hastily drew up my authority and created a shield to block the aftermath of the explosion.
Nothing could be seen through the thick smoke.
Then, the Sword Empress combined several swords and spun them like a fan, pushing away the dense smoke that blanketed the area, and soon the figures of the instructors and the Demon came into view.
The Demon’s body was disintegrating.
He glared at the instructors and spoke.
“I will remember you… When I return again, you will never know peace…!”
Hearing that, the Sword Empress scoffed.
“By the time you revive, we’ll already be old and dead.”
With those words, the Sword Empress drove her beloved sword, Mirinae, into the Demon’s face.
With a dry cracking sound, the Demon’s disintegrating body turned to ash and vanished.
Compared to his overwhelming first appearance, it was a rather disappointing exit.
Thinking that everything was finally over, my legs gave out and I collapsed to the ground.
…It really was sheer luck.
Who would have thought that the butterfly effect of me stealing the authority of the heart at the Academy would come back like this?
If not for that, we would probably still be fighting against a Demon that recovered endlessly.
And the end of that…
Just imagining that dreadful conclusion sent a shiver through my body.
At that moment, multiple voices began to come through the name tag.
They were the voices of my companions who had finally arrived at the Academy.
[Hey? What happened at the Academy?]
[Seongwoo, can you hear me? You’re safe, right?]
[What kind of shameless thing is it to say what you want and then cut contact?]
My ears hurt from all the communications flooding in at once.
“One at a time. My ears hurt.”
[Everyone who went to capture Berid’s subordinates has arrived. We’re heading to where you are now. And you’re going to have to explain properly what happened.]
“Uh, it might be a bit inconvenient for you to come here.”
I looked at the instructors surrounding me as if to encircle me.
They were staring at me with a rather frightening presence.
I dispelled the shield in my hand and spoke lightly.
“If I ask you to pretend you didn’t see anything, will you let it slide?”
They answered with action instead of words.
Magic circles formed in midair and bound my limbs.
“Well, damn.”
To be honest, I had thought it would turn out like this ever since I saw the Devil Knight within Instructor Kang Jae-seok.
Of course, I hadn’t expected to be subdued this forcefully.
Still, after all we’d been through together, wasn’t this a bit too harsh?
At that moment, the Sword Empress’s blade was pointed at my neck.
“I had quite high expectations for you, but you were a Demon after all. I’ll deal with you before your friends arrive. That seems like the best courtesy I can offer.”
“Even if it was brief, we fought together. Isn’t that a bit too cold?”
I knew how Demons were treated in the game, but experiencing it firsthand left a bad taste in my mouth.
Instructor Kang Jae-seok, Instructor Mabel, even the Sword Empress—we had all built our own connections, yet the moment it was revealed that I was a Demon, they pointed their blades at me.
My mouth tasted bitter.
Really, I hadn’t expected to exit the Academy like this.
This was all because of that damn Berid.
Then the Sword Empress asked,
“Any last words?”
“Do you happen to have a cigarette? Even if I’m leaving, one last smoke should be fine, right?”
“You’re awfully relaxed for someone about to die.”
Of course I was relaxed.
Because I knew I wasn’t going to die here.
In the game, whenever someone tried to kill Yoo Seongwoo or expose him as a Demon, the leaders of Pandemonium always showed up and whisked him away.
This time was probably no different.
With a Demon being summoned, not only the Academy but even the outside was in an uproar.
There was no way Pandemonium didn’t know about the current situation.
So I was buying time.
The Sword Empress asked the other two instructors if they had any cigarettes.
Instructor Kang Jae-seok, holding the Heart of the Demon with his one remaining hand, shook his head.
He looked utterly exhausted.
Then Instructor Mabel, who had been looking at me with a cold expression, cautiously took something out of her pocket.
What emerged from her pocket was none other than a thick cigar.
Instructor Mabel’s face reddened for no reason as she hastily made excuses.
“Th-this is something the School Nurse gave me, and it felt like a waste to throw it away…”
Last time I checked, the School Nurse smoked the cheapest convenience store cigarettes.
It was an obvious lie, but I accepted it and put it in my mouth.
The Sword Empress cut off the tip, and I lit it with Infernal Flames.
With thick smoke, a pungent tobacco smell spread through the air.
Was it because of that smoke?
Or because everyone had expended too much stamina in the previous battle?
I didn’t see another bastard targeting the Heart of the Demon.
Puhk.
With a cold sound of flesh tearing, a hole was punched through Instructor Kang Jae-seok’s chest.
And another hand snatched away the Heart of the Demon that had been in his grasp.
In an instant, everyone’s gaze turned that way, and I roared out the name of the bastard as my rage exploded.
“Beriiiiid!”