Acquired the Scam Rune in the Academy

Arena Terror (2)

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Henry, a C-grade warrior Holder, is different from ordinary C-grade Holders.

It starts with his ability scores.

As an offensive warrior type, he doesn’t have high durability, but his magic power is 46. His main stats, strength and speed, have already surpassed 50.

The same goes for runes.

The levels of the runes he mainly uses are all over 10, and the levels of auxiliary runes are similar or slightly lower.

This is the maximum potential that a C-grade offensive warrior Holder can achieve.

In effect, he possesses ability scores and rune utilization comparable to a B-grade Holder.

In other words, this meant that Henry was a C-grade Holder on the verge of promotion to B-grade.

‘Heh. I can take down a mage type in one strike.’

Moreover, in a one-on-one duel between warrior and mage types.

This is generally much more advantageous for the former.

The biggest reason for this is ‘time’.

The two types show a huge difference in combat preparation time.

While warrior-type Holders are ready for battle as soon as they draw out weapons like swords or spears, mages need to manifest, arrange, and apply their magic power before casting even a single spell.

Even when using the same magic power, warrior types who only need to ‘manifest’ it in their weapons have an overwhelmingly advantageous position in the time battle.

It’s not for nothing that in party compositions, warrior types take the vanguard and mage types take the rear.

‘Sometimes there are mages who defeat warrior types, but…’

It’s not that there’s no way at all.

They can compensate for their weaknesses through special runes like [High-Speed Chanting] or [Memorize], and battle mages who actively utilize [Magic Barrier] often show great strength in one-on-one duels.

But these are just exceptions.

There are far more mage-type Holders who don’t possess these runes, and even if they do, the warrior type still has the advantage.

‘I can definitely beat a B-grade.’

Moreover, the opponent is a B-grade mage type.

Although it’s a rank belonging to high-level Holders, it’s similar to Henry’s current abilities.

He deliberately didn’t promote to B-grade for this arena duel.

To make a big profit from reverse betting, in collusion with the event organizer.

It’s a major crime that would land him in jail if discovered, but it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t get caught.

-The match begins!

And with the announcer’s words, the match started.

Henry instantly drew his sword and rushed towards Caroline.

An explosive movement utilizing [Agility].

Here, he uses a rare rune called [Dweill Swordsmanship].

This is the combo mainly used by the offensive warrior-type Henry.

If the opposing mage hasn’t prepared a defensive spell in advance, it’s a rush attack that could deal a heavy blow.

‘You fool! It ends now…!!’

Henry was confident in his victory.

He couldn’t sense even a speck of magic power from the opposing mage.

She hadn’t deployed any defensive magic in preparation for the rush attack.

In this state, the duel would definitely be Henry’s victory.

“To death.”

From the opposing mage.

That is, until he heard that voice.

Swoosh-!

Kwahaa-!!

“Kuh, huk…?!”

Vines composed of black magic power instantly climb up the skin and pierce the heart.

Without time to use an evasion skill, without a chance to counterattack.

Henry was struck by the attack just like that.

He falls without being able to resist.

Soon, a fountain of blood bursts out.

“……”

It was instant death.

And then.

Silence fell over the arena that had been full of excitement.

The mage-type Holder.

No, Caroline, the mage disguised as a Holder…

Was looking around with glowing red eyes.

* * *

Ippotranslation

***

Silence descends upon the arena.

A participant has died.

And it happened just 5 seconds after the battle began.

Of course, accidents do happen in these types of sports, either due to participants’ mistakes or insufficient safety measures by the organizers.

Especially in fights between Holders with superhuman powers, the possibility can’t be ruled out.

But that doesn’t mean.

That ‘it’s okay to do so’.

No matter how dangerous elements a sport may contain, it’s never created on the premise that participants will die.

At least the mage named Caroline now in the arena proceeded with the battle completely ignoring such safety rules.

Kim Chae-eun, who was watching with me, seemed to understand this well and asked me with a surprised face.

“Jae-hyun, this…”

“You’re right. It’s not an accident.”

Caroline didn’t kill Henry by mistake, failing to control her power.

If that were the case, he couldn’t have died instantly like that.

She clearly attacked with the ‘intention to kill the opponent’.

And that power and ability…

Could not be considered at the level of a B-grade Holder.

-Well, ladies and gentlemen in the audience. Please wait a moment. After assessing the situation as much as possible, we will resume the game… Kuhk?!

The announcer, flustered by the sudden accident, grabs the microphone.

But before he could finish his words, he immediately died.

The mage Caroline inside the arena.

She had broken through the barrier and attacked the announcer on top of the tower.

As the announcer suddenly met his death, the silent arena instantly turned into chaos.

“Kya, kyaaak-!!”

“De, dead? Is he really dead?!”

“The barrier has been breached…!!”

The surroundings completely fall into panic.

Two people have died.

And not by accident, but by planned attacks.

The ordinary audience members, who rarely see people die, fell into a state of panic just from this fact.

But what shocked the Holder audience was something else.

“The magic barrier in one go…”

“What on earth is that black magic power?”

The five layers of [Magic Barrier] surrounding the arena were torn apart in an instant.

Those who work directly in the field know better than anyone how solid and strong magic barriers are, so they looked incredulous that as many as five layers of barriers were breached by just one spell.

And the black magic power emanating from Caroline.

The ominous magical energy slowly began to tinge various places, and before long, it filled the entire arena.

The Holders were flustered at seeing this unfamiliar magic power for the first time.

However, among them were Holders well-versed in international affairs and trends in the Holder world, who quickly noticed this.

“Ludenark! It’s the Ludenark school!”

“What? Ludenark?”

The ‘black magic power’ used by members of the Ludenark school.

It was used by the mage I encountered at the very entrance of <The Room of Deserters>, and in <The Abandoned Laboratory>, it was used by Aquilen, an executive of the school.

It was also the foundation of [Black Shield], the absolute defense skill of the Ludenark school.

It seemed that some Holders recognized this because a lot of information related to Ludenark had already spread in the international Holder community.

However, I shook my head.

‘No, it’s not simply Ludenark.’

That black magic power is indeed the unique magic of Ludenark manifested through the [Pact of Darkness].

But that doesn’t mean that this mage, Caroline, is from the Ludenark school.

Her bloodshot eyes glowing red.

The fangs slightly visible from afar.

The intense and familiar aura felt even outside the arena.

She was a certain ‘special race’ that I knew.

“Chae-eun. Can you buy us some time with defensive magic as much as possible?”

“Yes. I’ll try.”

Kim Chae-eun nods firmly at my request.

Her magic mainly focused on attacking opponents, but she wasn’t completely without defensive magic.

Kim Chae-eun draws up her magic power, preparing for the incoming attack.

She prioritizes protecting the arena audience while being wary of the barrier being breached again.

Watching her calm casting, I also drew up my magic power at the same time.

‘Call of the Contract.’

I [Summon] the contractor who was sleeping far away.

The target is Ripley.

The vampire countess who broke the formal framework of our contract by making a special promise with me during the recent promotion exam.

I needed her in this situation.

“You called earlier than I thought?”

Ripley, summoned to me, speaks immediately.

She’s looking at me with a slight smile.

It seemed the resentment from secretly using [Magic Sharing] in the battle with Hwang Seong-yeon had completely dissipated.

“Ripley, I need your help.”

However, she frowns at these words.

“You, it seems like you say that every time you call me.”

“Sorry. But this time it’s for real.”

I immediately point to the inside of the arena.

Caroline is preparing a new spell inside the arena.

But the amount of magic power is beyond imagination.

As if her purpose was indeed to carry out terrorism in the arena, she was preparing a massive area-of-effect spell aimed at the audience who hadn’t yet fully evacuated.

I ask Ripley, who has shifted her gaze following my gesture.

“That woman, she’s a vampire, right?”

Vampire.

The abilities and appearance Caroline showed in a short time were similar in many aspects to what I had seen from Ripley.

Of course, she seemed far inferior to Ripley in level, but in terms of form rather than content, they were similar.

And as if confirming that this guess was exactly right, Ripley nodded in affirmation.

“It’s Baroness Caroline. She was expelled from Beltaine.”

“Expelled?”

“Yes. Among our kind, there are fallen nobles or those who get expelled like that. I was curious what she was up to, but I didn’t expect her to become Ludenark’s dog like this.”

As expected, the opponent was indeed a vampire.

I thought she wasn’t ordinary since she pierced through the [Magic Barrier] with one spell, but it turns out she was even a vampire who had held a noble title.

And Ripley quickly grasped the situation.

She had caught on that Caroline was using Ludenark’s power through the [Pact of Darkness].

“But Do Jae-hyun. It’ll be difficult to get in there, you know?”

Ripley, who had been quietly observing the situation, speaks up.

“Why?”

“I could break the barrier if I spent some time, but I can’t break in at once like Baroness Caroline in there. That’s a special ability unique to Baroness Caroline.”

[Magic Barrier] cannot be breached by physical force alone.

One needs to deeply understand the magic structure and possess exceptional comprehension to break through it.

But Caroline’s breaking through the barrier and killing the announcer wasn’t simply a matter of such knowledge, it seems.

I thought summoning Ripley would solve the problem at once, but unfortunately, that was a miscalculation.

“What should we do? It seems I can’t be of help this time.”

She says this, but Ripley is smiling.

Does all of this come across as amusement to her?

She seemed to find my predicament entertaining.

“Can’t be helped. I’ll just have to break it myself.”

“…Didn’t you hear me earlier? I said even I would have difficulty breaking that barrier.”

I smile wryly at Ripley’s dumbfounded expression.

“It’s okay. There is a way.”

Of course, I can’t break the barrier as quickly as Caroline.

But about 10 seconds.

The time we can hold out if Kim Chae-eun and Ripley deploy defensive magic together.

That much time is enough.

‘Barrier Break. The day has finally come to use this.’

[Barrier Break], a derivative skill attached to the [Curse of Demons] rune.

It was such a minor type of skill that I wondered if there would ever be a day to use it, but a moment of need has arrived like this.

Indeed, there’s no harm in acquiring high-performance runes.

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