I Realized It Was An Academy Game After 10 Years – Chapter 26

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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…Fucking bastard.

I gritted my teeth and forcibly lifted my body that was screaming in pain.

Ironically, Karina’s purification magic seemed to have benefited the hydra. By forcibly undoing the zombification, it seemed to have come to its senses.

“Yeah, is it too disappointing to end like this?”

I had considered this possibility, but to think it would play dead until I smashed seven of its heads, how sly and vicious.

I clicked my tongue and gasped for breath at the hydra’s scheme of waiting until its life was truly hanging by a thread before striking from behind. It was difficult to breathe. When I tried to take a step, a burning pain rushed from my chest.

Were my ribs broken?

I didn’t know how many were gone, but anyway, it was clear that the situation wasn’t very good.

I’m not a superhuman like Renny, so there’s no way I can fight properly with an injury of broken bones. If I want to fight, I need Karina’s help in this situation. My eyes frantically rolled around, searching for the pink-haired saint. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to find Karina.

Thankfully, reinforcing the armor paid off. It seemed she had avoided a fatal injury. Although it looked like a few ribs were broken.

I glanced at Karina and Renny, who were quite far away, and readjusted my grip on the shovel. My chest throbbed.

I don’t want to move. No matter how accustomed to pain, unless you’re a masochist, no one wants to move their body in pain. But I have to move.

Because I have to sever the life of my resurrected archenemy once and for all this time.

Fortunately, the situation wasn’t completely hopeless.

First, I have Karina who can heal me, and Renny who can fight alongside me. And the hydra’s physical condition wouldn’t be very good either. No matter how great its regenerative ability, it would be difficult to instantly restore its body to its original state.

Moreover, the hydra’s body is currently pierced by wooden stakes and bone hooks. With dozens of blades digging into its body, no matter how monstrous the hydra is, it can’t escape.

The hydra probably knows that too. That guy, the smartest monster on this island, couldn’t have failed to notice that problem. Nevertheless, the reason it jumped into this trap… was likely because it couldn’t control its body even if it regained consciousness.

Right now, it has regained control but is unable to move.

…We’re both caught off guard.

Me too.

That bastard too.

I endured the throbbing pain and repeated the motion of lifting and lowering my foot. Dirt dust scatters according to the hydra’s movements. The sound of explosions, torn flesh, and Renny’s shouting.

“Lady Karina! Stay back!”

Oh, fuck. It really hurts.

The ground trembles. It was due to the impact of the snake’s head being cut off by Renny’s swinging sword. I couldn’t help but click my tongue at the sight of the head that hadn’t fully regenerated falling.

Doing this will only increase the number of enemies.

Cutting off the heads is meaningless. Whether it regenerates from the head or the neck, it won’t be a big blow to the hydra.

“Karina! Come over here!”

“Johann!?”

From far away, I hear Karina’s bewildered voice. A voice that makes you unable to take your eyes off even in this urgent situation. I forcibly turned my gaze and looked at the fallen snake head. Fortunately, thanks to thoroughly messing up its brain, the head didn’t seem to be alive.

“Johann! Are you alright? Your body…”

“Use healing magic right now!”

“Yes, yes!”

With a startled expression, Karina reached out her hand to me. Soon, Karina’s hand turned golden. As the warm light, like the sunshine of a spring day, sparkled before my eyes, the pain that had been suffocating my chest diminished and completely subsided after a short while.

This is why saints are called saints. To instantly heal an injury severe enough to be called a serious wound with broken ribs. I gestured my gratitude to Karina with my eyes and turned my body to look up at the hydra fighting with Renny.

The heads frantically moving and trying to bite Renny to death were gradually regaining their form. The sight of the necks, cut off and squirming unnaturally, was truly grotesque.

“Karina. You hide.”

“…Okay!”

It’s great that she knows when to step in and when to back off. I briefly watched Karina’s back as she entered the forest in the distance and checked the condition of the trap.

Fortunately, the trap was still serving its role. But if given time, that hydra bastard would surely escape the trap.

I can’t let that happen.

“Renny! Buy time!”

“What?”

“I need time!”

“Got it! I can’t hold out for long, so if you have something to do, do it quickly!”

I immediately jumped onto the hydra’s smooth body. The slippery yet sturdy skin looked difficult to pierce with ordinary objects. Landing on the hydra’s skin, the first thing I found was the stakes piercing the hydra’s body.

Among them, the stake closest to where I was standing. I landed on a stake piercing roughly the middle of the body and activated a skill.

“Dismantle.”

The stake turns into numerous pieces of wood and falls to the ground. To avoid becoming a floating object on the hydra’s body as the stake vanishes, I quickly thrust my hand into the empty hole and dangled from it. Although it was regenerating quickly, the hole was large enough to sufficiently enter. I squeezed my body into it.

“I really end up doing all sorts of things.”

Where could this be? I took out a small lamp from my leather pouch and lit it. To think I would use an item I brought to light a fire and move at night so usefully like this. As the fire ignites the match made by mixing various materials and begins to burn the lamp’s wick along with the burnt smell, the dark space reveals itself before me.

Intestines?

Or stomach?

It’s definitely the space between internal organs.

I immediately started stabbing around with my shovel, searching for the spot I wanted.

It’s by no means an easy task.

The floor contracts and expands as if trying to grab my feet, and it shakes wildly like a ride. If I hadn’t stabbed the shovel into the internal organs to hold on, I might have been seriously injured or died, rendering the healing pointless.

Even now, I’m risking my life digging with the shovel.

Ah, here it is.

I look up above my head. A white object faintly visible among the pink-filled internal organs.

Of course, it’s bone.

The hydra’s bone.

Roughly the middle of the spine?

“You fucking bastard. Let’s see if you can endure this too.”

I thrust the shovel between the vertebrae.

The shovel, made of a material stronger than the hydra’s vertebrae, pierced between the vertebrae as I applied force. A liquid presumed to be bone marrow flows from the shovel blade that has penetrated halfway.

“Dismantle.”

I revert the armor I’m wearing back into materials. As the armor protecting my body disappears, I feel a stinging sensation I couldn’t feel before. Does this damn hydra’s bone marrow or mucus have an acidic property too?

If so, I don’t have much time.

I immediately gathered the bones that had fallen from the armor. Quite a large amount. Since they’re the bones of the bear leader, they should be sturdy enough to match the hydra’s bones.

Otherwise, I’ll die.

“Crafting.”

The bear’s bones gather to form a sharp spear. This should be enough to pierce through.

I pulled out the shovel and quickly thrust the spear made of bear bones into the gap.

Thanks to being sharper than the shovel, the spear made of bear bones penetrated deeply, more than half of it going in. As I slightly moved the spear, the sensation at the tip of the spear was soft, as if it had entered the space where the spinal cord would be.

For now, this much preparation is sufficient.

I grabbed the bone spear and activated a skill.

“Crafting.”

The spear made of bear bones transforms inside the spine. Normally, doing this would only shatter the material, but if it’s bear bones sturdier than the vertebrae… it should be enough…

Crack.

The vertebrae cracked. I swiftly thrust the shovel into the crack. Then, I twisted the shovel that had penetrated the crack to widen the fracture. The fracture that was trying to regenerate kept alternating between growing larger and shrinking.

Now it’s time for the exciting mining session.

I started frantically prying open the spine with the shovel.

Until the spine shattered and fell off.

My arm pulsed with pain as if it were going to fall off.

How long had I been digging at the fracture with the shovel?

The bones shattered and fell at my feet. The spine now had a hole in it. As I held the lamp closer, I could see a bundle of nerves.

Yes, that’s it.

The spinal cord.

My target was the spinal cord.

No matter how exceptional the regenerative ability, as long as it was a vertebrate, with the spinal cord damaged, it couldn’t control its body. I picked up a piece of the hydra’s bone, roughly the size of a skull, that had fallen to the ground and brought it to the vertebra. Then, I used a skill.

“Crafting.”

The hydra’s bone became a blade that pierced through its spinal cord. The bone, which penetrated the spinal cord, prevented all attempts at regeneration.

No matter how great your regenerative ability is, if your spinal cord is wrecked, you won’t be able to move.

Even if you attempt regeneration, it would be futile if your connection to your spinal cord was severed.

Because in the end, no matter how absurd your regenerative power is, you’re just a living being.

“Life is all about payback.”

So let’s pay you back three more times.

I’ve suffered for 10 years, so I have to repay you double.

I moved my steps towards a higher place.

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“Ha, it’s really tenacious.”

Renny spat the blood pooled in the corner of her mouth on the ground and glared at the hydra eagerly waiting for her opening. Her body was in pain from constantly fighting and not fully healed. But there was no time to rest.

Because the enemy targeting her before her eyes wouldn’t care about her circumstances.

A snake with a terrible regenerative ability.

The heads that had recovered even after their brains were messed up were truly troublesome. One of the most challenging enemies she had faced so far. Renny gripped her sword tightly with an anxious face.

‘At this rate, even the sword will break soon.’

Even a sword made of good material inevitably breaks with use. Renny gritted her teeth at the worsening situation. As Johann said, she had to hold out, but without a weapon…

That’s when it happened.

The hydra’s movements noticeably slowed down.

Following that, a cry filled with bewilderment was heard. The hydra’s upper body swayed and collapsed. The hydra rolled its eyes as if perplexed by the unexpected situation.

An unforeseen situation.

Renny instinctively sensed that this was an opportunity.

‘I don’t know what he did, but it’s a chance!’

The mad dog put strength into her toes and leaped. The target was the remaining heads. Even as Renny blatantly charged, the hydra showed little resistance.

She cuts off the hydra’s head that had fallen to the ground in one stroke. Thus, the fifth head left the hydra’s body.

Three heads remaining.

Renny retreated and observed the situation.

“…What did you do?”

What on earth did he do to make the hydra unable to control its body? One thing was certain: the hydra couldn’t move right now.

Renny seized the opportunity and pounced like a predator that had spotted a weak point.

Three.

Two.

One…

The hydra’s eyes were filled with fear.

Because it never expected such an outcome.

The hydra, which had intended to toy with its opponent on a meticulously arranged board, tried to twist its entire body as it realized its last neck was about to be severed, but it couldn’t move at all except for the part above its neck.

With its spinal cord severed and body paralyzed, the hydra had no choice but to accept its slowly approaching death.

There was no escape.

“It feels a bit anticlimactic…”

Renny looked down at the last head she had cut off. The neck that was cleanly severed and the brain messed up to the point it could no longer resurrect.

Just what did he do?

As Renny’s curiosity grew, a familiar voice came from behind.

“You held out well.”

“What, when did you come… Ugh. What is this smell?”

“There was a reason for that.”

Johann was in a state of being covered in the hydra’s blood, excrement, and gastric juice. Since he had taken off his armor, the liquids sticking to his body were making his skin sting, but Johann approached the snake with an expression of not minding it at all.

Johann looked at the king of the snakes that had threatened his life for 10 years with a strange expression.

To think the long years of fighting would end like this. Johann approached the head that had sent him flying. The final head that could no longer even resurrect. And then kicked the hydra’s nose a couple of times before stepping back.

Then he looked at the hydra with a complex expression.

To think the 10-year battle would come to an end like this.

Opening and closing his lips several times.

Johann bid his final farewell to the monster that had been his archenemy.

“Farewell.”

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