Chapter 135

Chapter 135

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 135What continued for three minutes was nothing short of overwhelming violence.

I pulled the trigger and smashed apart the small golems, and for the golems that wouldn't break even with Tommy, I shattered them with my fists.

If it seemed a little difficult even with my fists, I used the shotgun, and if even the shotgun wasn't enough, I pounded them once more with fists filled with aura.

In the process, I didn't suffer any injuries from them.

The name of the monster attacking this place right now was the ‘Basalt Golem.’

A type of monster that lived in volcanic terrain, characterized by its pitch-black body and heavy attacks, but...‘Basalt Golems are slow! You just have to be careful of each individual hit. And that's not all. Most of their attacks are downward smashes, with the occasional swing. What does that mean!’“They're the kind where you can read their next attack from even the slightest movement.”

Thanks to the movements Kwak Chun-sik had forcibly drilled into me in preparation for facing various monsters, my motions linked together extremely smoothly.

On top of that, when I got behind them and attacked in the method I'd become thoroughly familiar with through battles in the game, they broke apart helplessly.

By the time I changed to my third magazine, the situation around me had been completely cleaned up.

“About two minutes and thirty seconds?”

If I were the real Saber Cloud from the game, it would've taken twenty seconds, but I still had a long way to go.

“Uh... uh...”

When I put Tommy away and turned around, I saw people staring at me with blank expressions.

Fortunately, no one seemed seriously injured.

I spotted the only priest among them wearing a cross around his neck, approached him, and held out my hand.

“I'm Saber Cloud. A Hitman dispatched by Calione.”

“Ah, a Calione Hitman... ah, yes. I've heard about you.”

Though flustered, the priest took my hand and smiled.

Apparently confirming that the area had been secured, the ship lowered its gangway and began unloading the cargo one piece at a time.

“Do monsters normally gather like this every time the ship arrives?”

Even if it was for the children's schooling and daily necessities, if they had to endure attacks like this every time, it had to be burdensome for the cathedral.

I wondered if it was really necessary to take that kind of risk.

But the priest shook his head at my question.

“This is actually better than usual. When Shukharbangs or villains show up, it gets even more violent.”

“Ah.”

This was better than usual?

“You looked like you were struggling quite a bit just now. Then how do you normally deal with it?”

“We fight until we're about to die.”

“...

Pardon?”

“Since we can use holy magic, we're not that afraid of being injured. We fight until the enemies fall.”...

Don't tell me that light from earlier was holy magic too?

So these people automatically healed, meaning they just charged in like berserkers regardless of injuries?

That's...

“Efficient.”

“Yes. Efficient.”

It was truly a method only possible because they had an abundance of people capable of using holy magic.

“May I ask why you're so serious about sending the children to school despite all this?”

At my question, the priest closed his eyes and thought about something.

A short while later, he opened his eyes and smiled brightly as he answered.

“I don't think that's something I can answer. For now, let's head to the cathedral. If it's the bishop, he should be able to answer your question. Ah, it looks like all the cargo has been loaded as well. Shall we go together?”...

Right.

That person could certainly explain it.

“Yes. Then let's depart.”

To meet Jeju Island's hidden monster.

______________

“Father Marco! Everything's loaded!”

“Ah, good work. Father Johann.”

Just as he said, far in the distance, Father Johann waved his hand to signal that all the cargo had finished being loaded.

One large bus, one 2.5-ton truck, and one van.

Those three vehicles could be considered the caravan we'd drive to the cathedral.

As expected, since there were Awakened among the personnel, loading the cargo had been finished in an instant.

For now, I followed behind the priest and walked toward the vehicles forming the caravan.

“Mister, you're really super strong!”

“The sister told us! She said when you went boom! they all went crash! and fell down!”

“Mister, do you get stronger if you pray too?”

“If Mister and the bishop fought, who would win?”

I'd merely approached the vehicles, yet the children stuck their heads out the windows and began shouting noisily.

“Everyone! I told you not to stick your heads out the windows!”

“““Okaaay~!”””

Of course, Sister Maria stopped them in an instant.

All three vehicles prepared by the cathedral had been modified for defense.

At the very top of the bus was a kind of turret where one person could stand guard, and defensive spells were engraved on both sides in preparation for attacks.

The other vehicles were the same.

“Should I ride the bus as well?”

When I asked Johann, who was still outside preparing to depart, he nodded.

“Yes. Public safety has been getting worse lately, so something like what happened earlier might happen again.”

“That makes sense.”

“Since we're recycling old equipment, we're really feeling how inadequate our defenses have become lately. If you help us, Mr. Cloud, it'll put my mind at ease.”

That counted as inadequate defenses?

As expected of a demonic realm...

“Then do I only need to prepare for attacks?”

“Yes, and if I may ask one more favor...”

He hesitated for a moment before continuing with a serious expression.

“If something happens, please protect the children. You don't need to worry about us. Just the children.”

“Only the children?”

“Yes. At least the children.”

Seeing him speak with such a serious expression, I answered with a light smile.

“Let's get moving without worrying.”

I nodded, boarded the bus, and sat in the middle where I could immediately climb to the roof if anything happened.

“Ah, you're here.”

Sister Maria happened to be sitting beside me.

I'd wondered why the children sitting behind me were so quiet.

Apparently Sister Maria was doing a fine job as their suppressor.

“I was really surprised just now. I never imagined you'd sweep away that many golems in an instant. Are all Calione Hitmen as strong as you?”

Apparently she'd seen my battle while moving the cargo too, because she asked with sparkling eyes.

“Ah, the others? Yes. Not everyone is like me, but there are people stronger than me.”

“...

As expected! The outside world is a frightening place.”

“Sister Maria, have you never been outside either?”

“Pardon? Ahaha...”

At my question, she scratched her head with an awkward laugh.

“Yeees... actually, I grew up at Halla Cathedral in the Jeju Diocese too. That's why I care even more about the children.”

“Ahh. I see.”

“So honestly, I do get curious sometimes. About what the outside world is like. But... I can't leave my place just because of that, can I? As you saw earlier, the children are always exposed to danger.”

Saying that, she lightly made the sign of the cross over her chest.

As I quietly listened to her, I suddenly felt weight pressing against the backrest of my seat.

“Sister Maria, we'll protect you!”

“Sister Maria! Don't worry!”

“We're going to become strong like the bishop too!”

They'd been listening from behind.

At the children's reactions, she burst out laughing.

“Yes. You're all very reliable. But... you shouldn't lean against the guest's seat while he's resting, okay?”

“Eek! S-sorry, Sister Maria!”

“I didn't do it!”

“Jacob did it!”

The bus became noisy again with the children's laughter and voices.

It was an atmosphere that made it impossible to imagine these were people who had been fighting just a short while ago.

I suppose this was everyday life for them too.

“How long does it take to reach the cathedral by car?”

“Ah, not long by car. About thirty minutes?”

“That's fairly close.”

“Yes. Once we get near the cathedral, we don't have to worry about attacks anymore, so you can assume we're almost never attacked during transport. The dangerous part is always at the harbor───”

-A group presumed to be Raiders spotted on the hillside!

At that moment, a priest's voice came from the roof of the bus.

I quickly moved to the opposite side and looked out the window, confirming that crudely shaped vehicles that looked like they'd been assembled from scrap metal were following us over the dry hill.‘Raiders.’

One of the major factions on Jeju Island.

They were an armed group made up of Awakened, essentially a gang of robbers.

Well, put another way, they were trash who couldn't even make it into the Villain Alliance.

“I'll head up for a moment.”

After saying that to Maria, who was calming the children as they crouched down, I climbed onto the roof of the bus and got a better look at them.

“Kiyahoooooo!!”

“We're here again today!”

“Rob them all!”

Four vehicles and six motorcycles.

About sixteen people total.

Then I spotted one of them aiming an RPG while riding a motorcycle.

“One shot to start!”

The decision was instantaneous.

I immediately jumped off the bus and charged toward him.

“There's an idiot right here!”

The bastard fired the RPG at me while I was airborne.

It didn't seem to be an ordinary warhead, because I could feel mana from its tip.

Getting hit directly would probably hurt quite a bit.

“The Old Man said it. The bastards around here have so many mana stones they shove them into every kind of weapon.”

And that most of them use explosive weapons that deal damage even if you block them.

Of course, I already knew that, but the technique he'd taught me was something I'd never seen even in the game, a technique containing his personal experience.

I stretched out my foot toward the incoming projectile.

“You idiot! Blow up and die!”

The bastards burst out laughing when they saw that, and just before it touched me.

“Backflow.”

I instantly wrapped aura around the top of my foot, caught the warhead as though cradling a ball between my instep and ankle, and drew a large circle.

It was a movement reminiscent of perfect trapping.

With ordinary aura, it would've exploded the moment it touched, but thanks to the unique control of the Aura Style, I softened the aura and wrapped it around the warhead, preventing it from exploding.

Then I used the technique I'd newly learned.

A technique that completely reversed the flow of a projectile.

It was originally a technique I'd learned to defend against tangerines thrown by ghost tangerine trees... but a technique was all about how you used it, wasn't it?

Since it worked on any projectile, it was extremely versatile.‘The Old Man mainly uses his hands... but kicks definitely look cooler.’By wrapping it in red aura and spinning like a roundhouse kick to maximize centrifugal force, adding my aura increased its destructive power even further.

“You crazy──!!”

The bastard raised both arms toward the warhead flying back at him, but there was no way he could avoid a warhead that had gained another burst of propulsion after passing through my foot.

Boooooom!!

With the explosion, the motorcycle he was riding and the junk car running beside him were helplessly launched into the air before crashing into the ground and tumbling.

I curled my body and rolled across the ground, then used that momentum to spring forward and grabbed a Raider passing nearby.

“Uegh?!”

“Borrowing this for a bit.”

I threw him aside, stole his motorcycle, twisted the throttle, and charged hard toward the other bastards chasing the bus.

Come to think of it, isn't this my first time riding a motorcycle in this world?

But my body moved as though it remembered, handling it extremely smoothly.

“Fuck that bastard up!”

One of the men riding in a scrap-metal jeep aimed a gun at me and shouted.

He kept pulling the trigger, but because one hand was gripping the support bar, he couldn't properly control the recoil.

Bullets with nothing but raw power behind them.

Of course, something like that couldn't catch me.

Screeeeeech!

I immediately twisted the handlebars left and right, weaving through the wavelike rain of bullets.

Ratatatatatat!

I could faintly hear the sound of the bullets grazing past me and grinding against an innocent boulder behind.

“Aaaaaagh! What are you doing, you idiots! You think bullets grow out of the ground?! You can't even properly handle one bastard!?”

“Ghk!”

The furious roar of the guy who seemed to be their leader came as a bonus.

While they were focused on me like that, the distance between them and us had already widened considerably.

“Mr. Cloud! Get close to the bus!”

Following Johann's urgent shout as he opened the window, I pulled the motorcycle right up alongside the bus.

“Chase them! If we steal those bastards' stuff, we can live easy for a week!”

“Do you know how much we could get just by selling those brats?! Chase them now!”

Perhaps enraged by seeing so many of their comrades taken down right in front of them, the bastards kept following us without even looking around.

A tense situation where it seemed like we needed some kind of countermeasure immediately.

But.

“Idiots. They don't even know where they've set foot.”

The moment I muttered that.─Thud!

“Eh...!”

One of the jeeps following us exploded in an instant after something dropped from the sky onto it.

The Raiders looked back in confusion at what they'd already passed.─Thud! ─Thud! ─Thud! ─Thud!

The disaster had already begun.

“H-hiiik! D-don't tell me!”

The panicked bastard looked around, then spotted the sunken marks scattered here and there and hurriedly turned his motorcycle around.

“S-sorry! We'll go back right now, so please──”

But that was nothing more than a futile hope that could never come true.─Thud!

And just like that, the last Raider fell silent, while only the engine noises of motorcycles and cars continued to echo.

It took about ten seconds for the remaining Raiders to disappear.

I couldn't help but click my tongue at the absurd sight I'd witnessed directly in front of me.

A clean finish.

“Seeing it in person, it's really ridiculous. This is Jeju Island's──”

“Mr. Cloud, watch out!”

“Hm?”

At that moment, along with Sister Maria's urgent shout, I felt an enormous force above my head.

A massive light was falling toward me from overhead...

Huh?