Chapter 113

Chapter 113

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 113A spectacle of flares dyed the sky over Sector C red.

Realizing from the sight that something was happening outside, I asked Ratte before leaving the shopping mall.

“Did Alessia say where she was going?”

“What? Uh, no. She only said she'd look around nearby──”

At that moment.──Boom! ──Bang! Bang!

A series of explosions rang out.

“...

I think I know where she is without being told.”

For explosions this loud to be going off meant that Awakened were fighting.

“Parnello. Call in the personnel who aren't currently fighting and have them guard this place... then move with me. Ratte, do you have any means of communication?”

“N-no. Alessia took my phone...”

I immediately handed her the radio I had.

“Guard this place, and contact us if anything happens.”

“Understood!”

She might look frail because of her young face, but she too was one of the elites who had survived Niflheim.

She should be able to deal with most problems.

“Let's move.”

“Yes. Young Master.”

We immediately kicked off the ground and raced down the road.

The two of us left the supermarket in an instant and headed toward the nearest place where a flare had gone off.

Ratatatatata──The sound of gunfire grew louder the closer we got.

When we entered the building the sound was coming from, we saw organization members confronting a villain who appeared to be Awakened.

“You damn Calione bastards!”

The villain roared.

One of our Hitmen had tied him down while three others fired at him from all directions, forcing him around.

“Pour it on!”

“You... fucking bastards! Guh!!”

Judging by the villain sprawled on the floor, there had originally been two of them.

The more the remaining one moved, the smaller his range of movement visibly became.

This was Calione's anti-Awakened combat method.

It was a scene demonstrating how effective Calione's training for fighting Awakened truly was.

“The Young Master and Sir Parnello are here!”

“Finish him!”

The villain, pinned down by the hail of bullets, was gradually driven into a corner, until the dagger of the organization member at the front finally pierced his abdomen and ended it.

“What happened?”

“Yes. Young Master. While searching the building, we encountered villains guarding a strange-looking mushroom. As you can see, we killed two of them. There are no injuries on our side.”

Villains were standing guard?

That meant there might be villains in other places besides here as well.──Boom! ──Bang!

Another explosion rang out from somewhere else.

“...

I think I understand roughly what's happening.”

Why we'd lost contact with Alessia, and why explosions kept ringing out from outside.

“Parnello. I have a favor to ask.”

“Give the order.”

“It seems Alessia is wherever those explosions are coming from, so I should go there. In the meantime, could you lead the others and clear out the surrounding area?”

I judged that Parnello, who had better mobility and skill than me, would be more effective moving around and clearing the surrounding area.

He also seemed to consider the method reasonable and nodded.

“I'll do that. Signal me if anything happens.”

I nodded at Parnello's words, borrowed a spare radio from one of the organization members, and went outside.

Flares and gunfire were still erupting here and there like a battlefield.

And even among them, there was one place still producing tremendous explosions and flames as though showing itself off...

“She sure knows how to make a spectacle.”

It was the commercial district where Alessia and I had shared egg bread not long ago.

Alessia was there.

Once I'd decided on my destination, there was no reason to hesitate.

I reinforced my legs with aura, then kicked off the ground hard and started running.

Leaping over cars and the rubble of buildings blocking my path, I jumped onto the tallest nearby building and landed on its rooftop.

My field of vision expanded considerably.

After confirming I was heading in the right direction, I crossed several more buildings and finally reached the commercial district.

“...

This is serious.”

The sight of the commercial district below from atop the building was nothing short of horrific.

“Now I understand why he came instead of some other villain.”

At the plaza in the center of the commercial district.

Food courts and food that seemed to have been set out for a festival lay scattered around, along with colorful balloons.

Of course, all of them had been completely burned.

And in the middle of it, a battle was taking place...

“Hmm. You clearly look infected, so how are you still able to move that much, Lady?”

“Don't talk to me. You're disgusting, you perverted bastard.”

I could see Alessia covered in wounds at a glance, and a clown smiling at her.

Bloody Clown.

There was no doubt it was him.

“That's hurtful. All I did was give you presents.”

“...

You call throwing bombs like that a present, and that's why you got thrown into Niflheim.”

“Fiery presents! Aren't they wonderful! Why don't people understand my heart! Aaaaaah! So sad, so sad, so saaaaad—NOT! Because a clown is always happy!”

“...

Lunatic.”

“Ahahahaha!”

At the same time, Bloody Clown pulled a whole bunch of dog-shaped balloons from his pocket and threw them toward Alessia.

“I deliver happineeeess!”

“Damn... cough, cough!”

Alessia tried to flee from the dogs approaching her, but her expression twisted.

The dogs drew closer during that opening.

Alessia bit her lip and raised the dagger in her hand.

Bang! Bangbang! Bang!

Every balloon moving toward her exploded in an instant.

“Seriously, if you were sick, you should've said something. Did you really have to go on a night walk?”

“...

Young Master?”

I blew the smoke from the end of Tommy and approached Alessia.

“How's your body.”

“...

I'm fine.”

“You've got blood on your lips.”

“Really?”

At my words, Alessia hurriedly wiped around her mouth in surprise.

“I'm lying.”

“...

Joking in a situation like this. That's cruel. Cough, cough!”

Seeing her up close, I could tell her condition was worse than I'd thought.

Pale skin, bluish bruises on her legs and arms, and heavy dark circles under her eyes.

She really had been fighting him while sick.

Fortunately, I took out one of the spare gas masks I had and handed it to Alessia.

“Rest.”

“...

Is that all right?”

Alessia accepted the gas mask I offered and gave a weak smile.

“Yeah. Once I deal with that guy, I'll even give you some vacation time, so get plenty of rest.”

After reassuring her, I looked at Bloody Clown, who was chuckling beyond the slowly clearing smoke.

“What are you laughing about?”

“Isn't it obvious! Who hates a looove story! I love love stories, you know? Hahaha!!”

“...

You're still as unpleasant as ever.”

“Yes?”

“Just die.”

Without listening to anything else, I swung [Al Capone's Tommy]

toward him.──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──!

Bullets tore toward him with tremendous explosions.

Bloody Clown was a villain and an unmistakable enemy of Calione.

Thanks to that, 【Hitman】's ‘Hunter of Villains’ and 【Enforcer】 activated simultaneously, nearly doubling my stats.

In other words, each individual bullet flew with far more power than usual.

“What is this──!”

Perhaps because what I was holding was a gun, he wore a dismissive expression as he tried to block the attack. But when Tommy's trigger was pulled, he jumped in surprise and hurriedly spread his palm like he was performing mime.

The plaza echoed with sounds like artillery shells landing.

After firing for quite some time, I released my finger from the trigger, and the bastard remained standing, breathing heavily.

He looked at me, the corners of his mouth trembling upward.

“...

Mime.”

The defensive technique he obtained after escaping Niflheim, Mime.

It was one of his abilities, allowing him to create an imaginary wall by acting as though there were one in front of him.

“That was dangerous. Rea! lly danger─ous! A gun that fires cannon shells? What kind of dangerous weapon are you carrying!”

More importantly, Mime was an absurd ability that reduced ranged-attack damage by 70%. Although it had the weakness of only being able to block one direction, it was extremely troublesome for someone like me who could only attack from a single direction.

Seriously, was it still hard to take down named characters with guns? I really needed to upgrade this thing or something.

In the end, it meant I had no choice but to fight him in close quarters.

“What a pain.”

When I put the gun away and pulled on my gloves, Bloody Clown tilted his head at me as though confused.

“What is it? Are you giving up alreadyyy?”

“No. I'm going to play properly.”

“Hm?”

I kicked off the ground with feet reinforced by aura, and my body shot forward like a bullet.

“Mime!”

The bastard used Mime again to block my attack.

However.

Crack──!

A cracking sound came from empty air where there should have been nothing.

I leaned my face closer and showed him the smile he liked so much.

“Huh?”

“Your wall. Looks like it's collapsing?”

Immediately afterward, with a crash, my fist shattered straight through the Mime wall and continued toward his solar plexus.

“What the?!”

Boom! My fist buried itself in his abdomen, and the bastard's body bent into a C-shape before he tumbled backward and crashed miserably into the ground.

His body sprawled limply on the ground.

Looking at the sight, I let out a dry laugh and spoke to him.

“Come on, I know you're not dead. Get up.”

“...

You noticed?”

“Like you'd die from just that.”

At my words, he sprang upright with an exaggerated “Heave-ho!”

Maybe if he'd been completely defenseless. But an attack that had already had some of its impact absorbed by Mime wasn't enough to put him down in one blow.

So I had no choice but to aim for the next hit.

“Buuut you've been talking as though you've known me this whole time... Have we met before?”

Apparently my tone had been bothering him, because he asked while cracking and twisting his body.

Well, truthfully speaking, we'd met countless times, but this was our first meeting in this world.

So... this was probably the best way to put it.

“No. Instructor Ji Su-hyeon told me. About how insignificant you are.”

“...

Huh?”

The moment Ji Su-hyeon's name came up, the bastard's expression completely shattered.

“D-did you just say Ji─ Su-hyeon?”

“Yeah. Ji Su-hyeon, the one who went all the way to America to catch you and throw you in prison. And now she's my master.”

“...

What did that bitch say about me?”

“Why, curious?”

One of Bloody Clown's characteristics was that he acted playful and cool on the outside to make himself look difficult to deal with, but his personality was unexpectedly fiery.

Just bringing up an old enemy like this was enough to make him lose his temper.

“Then how about we trade questions?”

Seeing that his expression now held anger instead of the smiling eyes from before, I judged there was a good chance it would work and asked him.

“Go ahead.”

“Good. Then I'll ask first. Is there another villain here who's as dangerous as you, or around your level?”

The bastard nodded at my question.

Judging by Plague's personality and his attitude, it didn't seem like he was lying.

“Then it's my turn. Ji Su-hyeon. What the hell has that bitch been saying about me?”

“What, that's all you're curious about?”

“...

It's important to me.”

The fact that he wasn't even using his usual drawn-out way of speaking made it obvious he was boiling inside.

Well, answering that wasn't difficult.

Whenever the topic of villains came up, Ji Su-hyeon would occasionally talk about him.

Since this was a question-for-question exchange, should I tell him the truth?

I raised my middle finger toward the bastard, who was waiting for my answer with a determined expression, and said.

“She said you're fucking weak, dumbass.”

The truth, without a single bit of distortion.

No, seriously, that's exactly what she said.