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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Although the atmosphere became strange for a moment, at my words that we would start the operation, everyone scattered in their designated directions.
Everyone wanted to leave this place as soon as possible, so they decided to overlook the minor happenings.
Like that, Lee Seo-yeon’s team went west, Arthur’s team went south, Noah’s team went north.
Park Ga-ram, Lim Da-hee, and I ran towards the east at a fast pace.
At this point, you might have felt something strange.
Although it was understandable for Lim Da-hee, how could Park Ga-ram, a mage, and I, with the lowest stamina, run so fast?
It was thanks to the buffs Noah had cast on us before everyone dispersed to start the operation.
The buffs he cast on us were ‘Increased Energy Recovery Rate’, ‘Increased Movement Speed’, ‘Increased Physical Strength’, and ‘Increased Mental Strength’, these four.
Noah said that since he learned sacred arts focused on combat, the strengthening sacred arts he learned were only this much.
However, contrary to his words, the buffs he cast on us were just right for the current situation, and as befitting of being called a ‘Saint’ at the Great Temple, the effects were very good.
“To, top student. We, we definitely re, received buffs, right? Bu, but why does it se, seem like she’s fa, faster than us?”
“…Lim Da-hee, she’s a physical-type superhuman. Different from us.”
“Ah, aha.”
As Park Ga-ram, who sometimes blurted out absurd things, said, Lim Da-hee was running a bit ahead of us.
Like how Park Ga-ram and I received buffs, Lim Da-hee, she also received the same buffs.
And since Lim Da-hee could amplify her speed with her electricity skill, even if I were a physical-type superhuman, I wouldn’t be able to catch up to her speed.
Since we were a team that had to work together now, she was running while matching our speed, otherwise, she would have already disappeared.
“Get lost─!”
– Kkieek?!
Kwang, kwaaang!
The monsters bounced off to the sides as if hit by a dump truck.
Not only were Noah’s buff effects very good, but now that Lim Da-hee became able to manifest the electricity skill moment by moment, she gained strong destructive power.
But… Even if she’s in female warrior mode, isn’t her personality changing too much?
Is she really the discouraged Lim Da-hee from when we first formed the team?
It really made my heart feel grand.
While I was thinking that, Lim Da-hee, who was working hard to open the path in front, called out to me loudly.
“Lee Yu-jin─! I think we’re nearly at the core! The magic energy is getting thicker, just as you said!”
Indeed.
As she said, I could feel the magic energy getting thicker.
No, not only could I feel it, but the unpleasant and uncomfortable energy unique to magic energy began to appear like fog.
“Ugh… It, it feels ba, bad…”
Park Ga-ram grimaced and made a gagging sound.
As the magic energy thickened, our mana began to reject it.
While I and Lim Da-hee, who had low mana amounts, could endure it, Park Ga-ram seemed to be having a hard time, perhaps because she had a large amount of mana as a mage.
So I advised Park Ga-ram to wrap her body with mana.
“…Phew, hah.”
Only after wrapping her body with mana as if coating it, Park Ga-ram let out a sigh of relief with a somewhat more comfortable face.
This method was also originally learned in theory after the training was over.
‘Still, there’s nothing as definite as actual combat.’
Theory is good too, but the way to quickly improve skills is only through actual combat.
I don’t know about the main character level kids and me, but when Park Ga-ram, Lim Da-hee, and the 10 nameless ones get out of here, they will become strong enough to change their rankings.
Thinking that, I looked around.
The surrounding scenery was not only hazy but pitch-dark.
It was proof that we had entered deep into the fog of magic energy.
And at the same time,
“Everyone, stop.”
It was also close to the core.
“…To, top student?”
“Lee Yu-jin, what’s wrong all of a sudden?”
At my instruction, Park Ga-ram and Lim Da-hee, who were running ahead, stopped their steps.
And I raised my hand to stop them from approaching with puzzled faces.
“Wait a moment.”
“…Uh, huh?”
“…What’s wrong?”
At my words telling them not to approach all of a sudden, the two looked at me with bewildered faces.
But regardless of whether they were bewildered or not, I took out two shock wave grenades from my inventory and threw one each to the two.
“Wh, why this?”
“…”
Park Ga-ram, who received the grenade, raised a question mark above her head.
On the other hand, Lim Da-hee seemed to have noticed something from my actions and stared at me with a stiff expression.
“Now, I’m going to give you a very easy question.”
“Qu, question?”
“…All of a sudden?”
Yeah, it would be bewildering.
Running hard to find the core and suddenly stopping and behaving strangely.
If I were them, I would think, ‘This guy, has he gone crazy?’
But this crazy behavior is my own confirmation procedure.
So I hope you follow along well.
I smiled and took out the ‘Holy Gun’ and lantern I had put in the holster on my tactical vest.
Then, extending my left hand holding the lantern forward, I said,
“This lantern uses mana to recharge, not batteries.”
“Is, is it go, good?”
“…So?”
Unlike Park Ga-ram who asked purely, Lim Da-hee looked at me bluntly as if asking what I wanted to say.
Looking at Lim Da-hee, I continued speaking.
“Items that use mana to recharge have one fatal flaw.”
“…”
Lim Da-hee’s gaze looking at me went from blunt to gradually having hostility.
But I didn’t mind and steadfastly continued speaking.
“But ordinary people know that fatal flaw like this.”
If you can’t recharge mana, you can’t use it.
“Yeah, that’s right too, but that’s not fatal. You can use it again if you recharge mana, so how is that a fatal flaw?”
“…Lee Yu-jin, do you know you’re being weird right now?”
Lim Da-hee threw the grenade on the ground and pointed her spear at me.
“Without thinking of finding the core as soon as possible, are you really Lee Yu-jin?”
“Th, that’s right. To, top student. Yo, you’re we, weird right now.”
Park Ga-ram also agreed with Lim Da-hee’s words and looked at me with a wary gaze.
At their reactions, I snickered and took a step forward.
Then,
Tick, tick.
The lantern that was fine a moment ago suddenly began to flicker.
“So the fatal flaw I want to talk about is,”
I took another step forward.
Tick tick tick.
The flickering speed of the lantern became very fast.
Pointing at the lantern that seemed like it would go out at any moment, I said,
“When a creature possessing magic energy is nearby, it tries to break down like this.”
“…”
Lim Da-hee’s mouth closed.
At the same time, her expression stiffened like a doll.
And she began to change her appearance gradually, and at some point, she turned into the appearance of a monster, a ghoul, that wasn’t visible before.
“…Hee, hieek!”
As Lim Da-hee, who was next to her, suddenly turned into a monster, Park Ga-ram screamed in surprise and hurriedly distanced herself.
Whether she did that or not, Lim Da-hee… or more precisely, the variant monster ‘Mimic Ghoul’ that had transformed into Lim Da-hee, just stared at me intently.
“Busted?”
To the ghoul that spoke while tearing its mouth wide, I answered with a snicker.
“Yeah, busted.”
Then I pulled the trigger of the gun.
Bang!
The bullet fired from the gun barrel rushed towards the spot I had targeted.
Ting!
The pin of the grenade that the Mimic Ghoul had dropped on the ground was pulled out.
And a shockwave followed.
Kwaaang!
– Kieeek…!
The Mimic Ghoul who was bounced off by the shock wave disappeared into the darkness.
Then, as if waiting, Park Ga-ram tried to approach me.
But I raised my hand again to stop her.
“…Wh, why?”
Park Ga-ram asked with a question in her voice.
To her, I answered by pulling the trigger.
Bang! Ting!
“Ah, no…, I, I’m no, not a mo, monster…”
“Yeah, you are a monster.”
Kwaaang!
– Kieek!
The Mimic Ghoul that had transformed into Park Ga-ram also got hit by the shock wave this time and disappeared into the darkness.
Tick tick…, tick.
“Now it’s working normally.”
The flickering of the lantern stopped.
I put the lantern back on my tactical vest, took out a flare from my inventory, and threw it upward with all my might.
And just before disappearing into the darkness,
“Let there be light.”
I pulled the trigger of the gun.
Bang!
…Piiiiing─!
The darkness disappeared with the intense light.
– Kieeeek!
– Kkiaaaak!
– Kraaak!
As the darkness disappeared and they were exposed to the light, the monsters, as if in pain, covered their eyes and let out sharp screams.
And among them, I found Park Ga-ram and Lim Da-hee, who were about to be pounced on by the Mimic Ghouls.
“…Uh, uh? To, top student and Li, Lim Da-hee are no, not them?”
“…Bo, both of them we, were mo, monsters?”
Park Ga-ram and Lim Da-hee were looking at the Mimic’s with dumbfounded expressions.
Park Ga-ram seemed to have never even thought that the ones who were with her were monsters.
Lim Da-hee seemed to have noticed to some extent, but she didn’t seem to have thought that both of them were monsters.
Seeing the two like that, I shouted with a snicker.
“Both of you, come here!”
“…Eek, to, top student!”
“…Lee Yu-jin!”
At my call, Park Ga-ram and Lim Da-hee passed through the monsters who still couldn’t come to their senses from the light of the flare and approached me.
“Ar, are you re, really the to, top student?”
“You two aren’t monsters, right?”
The two looked at me and each other with eyes filled with distrust, perhaps because they were tricked by the Mimic Ghoul.
I taught them a simple way to resolve that distrust.
It was to show the abilities they possessed.
Saying that, I took out a flare from my inventory again, threw it upward, and shot the gun.
Bang!
Piiiing─!
After showing the skill of hitting the flare with a gun that was shaking wildly due to the Trembling Hands, Park Ga-ram and Lim Da-hee finally recognized me as real.
And as I told them, they each showed their own abilities.
Park Ga-ram used magic.
Lim Da-hee used her electricity skill.
“…It, it’s really the to, top student and Li, Lim Da-hee.”
“…You’re also the real Park Ga-ram.”
Having confirmed that the gathered people were real, the two let out sighs of relief.
“But Lee Yu-jin. How did you know? That the strange-looking monster imitates appearances?”
To Lim Da-hee’s question, I made up an appropriate story.
I studied a lot theoretically.
The Mimic Ghoul is a variant monster that only exists near the core, and I saw this in the monster encyclopedia.
I saw in the rift book that the core of the apocalypse theme spews out magic energy to hide its appearance, and so on.
I told them by mixing truth and lies.
‘How can I say it’s because I’m a veteran who poured 30,000 hours into the game, so I knew?’
…It was not that I was too embarrassed to say it.
It was because they absolutely wouldn’t believe me, so I was not saying it.
“To, top student, is al, also smart.”
“…Is that so?”
While Park Ga-ram looked at me with admiration at the story I made up, Lim Da-hee… perhaps because she was quick-witted, seemed to have noticed that lies were mixed in my words.
But what are you going to do about it?
How are you going to know that I’m a veteran?
“…Anyway, I got it. Then that’s the core, right?”
Lim Da-hee pointed at something with the tip of her spear.
Following the tip of the spear with my gaze, among the monsters who couldn’t come to their senses from the flash of the flare, something that looked like a heart was pulsating violently and spewing out magic energy.
Yeah, that’s right.
That is indeed the core.
I nodded my head and affirmed.
“Are the cores all that grotesquely shaped?”
“No, only the apocalypse theme here is like that. The cores of other Other Worlds are shaped like magic stones.”
“…Is that so?”
Lim Da-hee frowned.
Not only was the core not prettily shaped like a magic stone, but seeing a core for the first time looking like that.
She felt very unpleasant.
Bzzt!
“…Let’s get out of here quickly.”
As Lim Da-hee said that while imbuing electricity on the spearhead,
“Th, that’s right. Le, let’s get ou, out of he, here qu, quickly.”
Park Ga-ram dramatically agreed and created a fireball in her hand.
To this, I put my pistol in the holster and gripped the rifle and grenade launcher in my hands.
And I answered by pouring out bullets and grenades.
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Piuuung…
Starting with a flare being shot from the south,
Sequentially, flares were shot up from the west and north.
And finally, in the east where I was,
Kwajik!
I had just torn the core to shreds.
“It feels refreshing.”
Seeing the corpses of monsters scattered around and the core that no longer spewed out magic energy, and Lim Da-hee and Park Ga-ram making refreshed expressions on top of that core, I took out a flare from my inventory.
And I immediately shot the flare upwards.
Bang!
With a single gunshot, the flare soared upward.
With this, all the sub-cores in the four directions of east, west, south, and north were destroyed.
Now the only thing left was the main core.
Once we broke that, we could return to the academy.
“…Phew, it’s tiring.”
Was this really the first day of academy life?
My heart felt really grand.
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