NOVEL NEXT chapter 28
28
Saengdo-dong of Eternity. The corridor of Building 3 where the first-year students reside.
O Jinhyuk, Kim Hayoon, and Lee Sooncheol, three Saengdos, were helplessly shuffling their feet.
On their way back from the training ground to the dormitory, a Ma-su suddenly appeared.
It was a huge Ma-su with a bizarre appearance unfamiliar to them, even though they were Eternity’s Saengdos in name, despite being first-year students.
Having experience hunting Ma-su in the field dungeons, they tried to handle the Ma-su within their abilities.
But for some reason, their attacks, whether sword thrusts or magic spells, were ineffective against the Ma-su.
“Why is its hide so tough?!”
“No, even debuffs don’t work!”
As O Jinhyuk, who retreated while blocking the Ma-su’s foot, looked puzzled, Kim Hayoon, who was casting a debuff spell, raised her head. At that moment, Lee Sooncheol, who was staring at the Ma-su, pointed at its lower back with trembling hands.
“T-that…”
“Hmm?”
“Gasp!”
The expressions of the two who turned their heads along with Lee Sooncheol turned pale. The Ma-su’s back was squirming and swelling. Even the magical aura emanating from it was unsettling.
Krrr…
At the low-frequency vibration, Lee Sooncheol trembled.
“W-We need to call the instructor right away.”
As Lee Sooncheol hesitated to step back, he turned around. And he froze in shock.
“When did…”
Right behind him, a Saengdo whose arrival time was unknown was walking towards them.
All eyes turned in that direction.
“Lee Haesol?”
Recognizing that the approaching Saengdo was Lee Haesol, Kim Hayoon shouted as he didn’t stop walking.
“It’s dangerous, step back!”
However, despite the warning, Lee Haesol did not step back. He simply walked past them towards the Ma-su.
Swish!
A beam of blue magic flew above the Ma-su’s head. The Ma-su’s head followed the beam upwards.
And then.
Boom!
Without the beam even touching it, the Ma-su collapsed, shaking the ground.
***
‘Krout’ was a genetically modified Ma-su created by the mines to resist the superhumans. A mix of various things, a creature known as a chimera.
As the game progresses, Krout evolves, eventually leading to the emergence of Krout, even elite superhumans find it hard to guarantee victory in a one-on-one match. But for now?
“Its weaknesses are clear.”
Krout becoming stronger is a distant future event. The current Krout is nothing more than a byproduct of various miscellaneous life forms mixed together.
These creatures have a nucleus in their lower abdomen, equivalent to a human heart.
Of course, instinctively, they prioritize protecting the nucleus, so they lay their abdomen on the ground and do not reveal it.
That’s why if one found themselves in a situation where they didn’t know about the core in the lower abdomen, it was difficult to even detect it. And even if one managed to find out, it was equally challenging to break through the defenses the guy had put up.
However, I was able to tackle this more easily and simply than others.
For Krut, after his core, the next priority was ‘mana.’
Sure enough, when I shot an arrow imbued with Gram’s mana, the guy’s head involuntarily lifted upwards.
And at that moment, the arrow filled with mana penetrated the guy’s lower abdomen that caught his attention.
Crack!
The core shattered, and Krut, drained of vitality, collapsed to the ground.
“······Wow.”
“What? How did he catch it just now?”
Just like Krut, the three people who had their attention above didn’t see the arrow piercing downwards, so they widened their eyes in surprise.
“Lower abdomen.”
“Lower abdomen?”
“That’s his weakness.”
Of course, even if you knew, it would be difficult to hunt like me. It wasn’t a matter of strong or weak but a matter of efficiency.
“You guys should head back to the training ground.”
“Hyesol, what about you?”
“I’ll go in a bit deeper.”
In response to Oh Jin-hyuk’s question, I moved towards the dormitory as if indicating that I wouldn’t say more. My goal was to rescue Amelia somewhere inside. Then, with a ringing sound, the quest alert window refreshed.
[Rescue the Eternity Academy from the Mine’s group terror!]
▶ Main Building (0/1)
▶ Sangdo-dong (0/1)
▶ Outer Escape Gate (1/1)
‘Oh, they’ve already started.’
Looking up at the sky outside Sangdo-dong, I inwardly nodded.
In fact, there were a total of three locations where the Mines were positioned in this Eternity’s terror.
The Eternity’s main building.
1st-year Sangdo-dong.
The escape gate prepared by the Mines for when the job was done.
While the main building and Sangdo-dong were distinct places, finding the location of the gate was difficult.
As it was an escape route, the Mines, for their own safety, hid the gate very securely.
And searching for these escape routes, even for a magic specialist specializing in search magic, was a time-consuming task.
Moreover, the Mine in charge of the escape route in this incident was a guy who was skilled at concealing the gate’s magic.
If he was determined to hide the escape route, it would be challenging to find.
But precisely because of that, the first place to eliminate was the escape route.
If they were to kidnap Amelia and escape through the escape gate?
‘Things would completely spiral out of control then.’
It was a task where one couldn’t completely rule out the possibility of them kidnapping other students besides Amelia. Therefore, blocking the escape route first was beneficial in many ways.
Of course, blocking the escape gate beforehand was impossible according to the rules.
This was a problem that could only be solved by rescuing Amelia, calming down the commotion in the main building, and then seeking the help of a search magic specialist.
But there was no rule stating that the quest must be completed according to the textbook.
If I can’t solve a problem, I just call someone who can, and if it’s dangerous, I simply bring out a more dangerous move.
That’s why I sent Hahn Seyeon, the most reliable move to erase their escape route.
The result was just as expected.
***
“Indeed, easy.”
On the outskirts of Saengdodong, a secluded open space.
Krrr…
As if possessed by something, Hahn Seyeon smiled wryly at the sudden appearance of a demon.
Before coming here, she recalled the conversation she had with Yi Haesol at the training ground.
“If you search around the outskirts, you might find where the demons have hidden the escape gate. Find it and eliminate it.”
“Can I find it?”
“Enough. Crafty ones would have placed demons at the gate.”
“If that’s the case, it shouldn’t be difficult. Where is Haesol going?”
“Saengdodong.”
“Why Saengdodong?”
“There are matters to attend to.”
“Is it okay if I don’t go with you?”
“I’m enough on my own.”
…So Hahn Seyeon readily accepted Yi Haesol’s request.
After all, she was a demon contractor. Even though the demons were no longer restless due to her contract with Modo, it didn’t mean that her abilities as a demon contractor had vanished.
She could summon demons at will. That was the essence of being a demon contractor.
So, if demons were stationed at the gate, finding them was child’s play for her.
Sure enough, shortly after circling the outskirts, a “Kroot” appeared. Along with it, the demon guarding the gate also revealed itself.
“Huh, why did this one suddenly move? Oh, it’s because prey has arrived.”
As a demon contractor like Hahn Seyeon was an extremely rare occurrence worldwide, the demon never even dreamed that the demon was drawn to her energy.
He simply felt puzzled by the demon’s sudden movement, failing to properly grasp the seriousness of the situation, mistaking Hahn Seyeon for a lost wanderer in Saengdodong.
It didn’t take more than a minute to understand the severity of the situation, though.
Crunch!
The head of the Kroot, shrouded in darkness, was crushed. Following that, its remaining body disappeared in an instant, leaving the demon’s expression filled with astonishment.
“W-What is this… Kyaah!”
Momentarily shocked, as the darkness that had defeated the Kroot surged forth, the demon, who had tried to escape belatedly, stumbled and was swallowed by the darkness.
…A silence enveloped the empty open space as if nothing had happened. The traces of the Kroot and the demon vanished without a trace. It was as if nothing had occurred at all. Standing in the silent open space, Hahn Seyeon looked towards the direction of Saengdodong and murmured.
“Shall we go take a look.”
She was curious to see how Yi Haesol handled things. Somehow, just watching might be interesting. A faint smile appeared on Hahn Seyeon’s lips.
***
Meanwhile, Amelia, with a flushed face, leaned against the wall of the dormitory.
She looked at the man drawing unfamiliar magic circles on the ground with eyes full of fear.
“…Demon.”
The thick magic blowing in clearly conveyed the fact that the man was a demon.
He couldn’t tell what kind of magic circle he was drawing, but Amelia was sick of knowing fundamentally what the mines wanted.
It was ‘mana.’ The mines feed on the mana of giants to increase their own magic.
And among them, the ultimate feast was the ‘pure mana’ she possessed.
The purpose of that mine was to seize the pure mana she held.
Due to this unique mana, she had often been a target of the mines since she was young.
“Wait, I, I didn’t say anything like this.”
Beside the mine drawing the magic circle, Emerson was rolling his feet with a bewildered expression.
He had only been asked to deliver an item stupidly, unaware that Amelia would be used as a sacrifice.
Indeed, not many knew that she possessed pure mana. Emerson was excluded from those who knew.
Anyway, the important thing was to get out of the current situation.
“······Mana isn’t moving.”
Every time she tried to gather mana, it didn’t clump together in her body but kept dispersing.
Her head, plagued by a high fever, was dizzy, and her whole body was hot as if burned by fire.
Amelia could tell it was because of the red gem Emerson had shown her a while ago. It was probably a magical tool related to ‘poison.’
She had never expected Emerson to hand her such a dangerous item, so she let her guard down and got caught up in it. The only fortunate thing was that if mana was gathered for a long time, it would just disperse, not clump together, which was a relief.
However, with this level of mana output, she could only use magic of 1 to 2 circles.
That alone was impossible to deal a blow to the mine in front of her.
“But, this should be enough.”
When she left the safe haven of the Star’s Seat and entered the Eternity Academy, she had thoroughly anticipated that something like this might happen at least once.
Her abdomen was always inscribed with the family’s defensive spells to prepare for such emergency situations.
If she could activate it properly, it would be enough to buy time.
“Thankfully, there’s a chance.”
Emerson, with a blackened face, was unable to move in front of the mine.
The mine seemed to be concerned about such Emerson, with a slightly furrowed expression.
Of course, even if Emerson distracted the mine’s attention and the barrier unfolded successfully, the chances of her escaping were still low. However······
“Still, I have no choice but to try.”
Whether it works or not is not important. That’s something to consider when there are other alternatives.
The important thing is whether to act or not.
And Amelia made up her mind to ‘act.’
As Amelia watched the invisible nerve-racking between Emerson and the mine, her eyes momentarily flashed blue. The next moment, the defensive spell inscribed on her abdomen burst out white, illuminating the surroundings.