Chapter 152

Chapter 152

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 152I knew the others would all come after me at once, but I hadn't expected them to swarm me from every direction like this.

“Take that guy's head and you'll rank near the top!”

“He's worth four thousand points!”Four thousand points?

While I was wondering about that, a translucent window appeared before my eyes.[You have now entered the Academy's Battle Royale! Your ranking will be determined according to the points you possess.]【Point System】「Survival Points」[1st Place - 20,000 Points][2nd Place - 8,000 Points][3rd Place - 4,000 Points]「Kill Points」[Defeat 1st Place - 8,000 Points][Defeat 2nd Place - 4,000 Points][Defeat 3rd Place - 2,000 Points]

“You're showing me this now?”

No wonder the waiting period had been so long. This... don't tell me the Limit Rule Ji Su-hyeon proposes in the third year was applied?‘The Battle Royale itself is already early, but I never thought even this would happen.’The reason I hadn't worried much even after hearing it was a battle royale was simple.

In the end, the strong still won comfortably.

It wasn't like a game where you started barehanded and had to loot weapons. Everyone simply began a random battle while already possessing their own specialties and Unique Armaments.

That was why, in the early Battle Royale, the rankings rarely changed very much.

And our battle-crazed homeroom instructor, who disliked that situation, was the one who proposed the Limit Rule.

A vicious design where higher-ranked people entered later, minimizing their advantages in terrain and time, while also excluding them from other people's parties as much as possible.

With this, there would be few places to hide, and even if you did hide, people would follow the visible marker and come hunting for the high scorers.

It was literally a rule designed solely around the question, ‘How can we make the high-ranking students easier to hunt so more fights break out?’

So normally, the higher your rank, the more overwhelmingly disadvantaged you were supposed to be... well, normally.[Bloodline Ability: Calione activates.]

Thanks to my Bloodline Ability, which grew stronger according to the number of enemies around me, my physical abilities and amount of aura instantly rose.

“Next time you come, it'll be better to come alone.”

Tommy naturally emerged from the Cube, its muzzle aimed toward the guys charging at me.

“Ciao.(Goodbye.)”

A furious barrage of aura bullets poured out.

“That's it!”

“Deploy shields!”

The charging students hurriedly deployed shields or crouched down to reduce the area they presented as targets.

If only one or two of them had come at me with shields raised, it certainly would've been difficult to break through.

But... seven people.

They'd really gathered a lot.

What a nice buff.

Crash──!

The bullets strengthened by my trait shattered the broadly deployed shields, betraying their expectations.

“He shouldn't have been able to break through shields...!”

“How long ago are you talking about?”

Maybe an active hero could manage it, but there was no way ordinary Academy first-years could block my Tommy anymore.──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──!

The students were swept away in an instant, like a broom sweeping across the floor.

Seeing them disappear the moment they took a critical hit, I thought I could tell who had been involved in creating this Battle Royale.

“This is Park Yoon-ho. That guy's work.”

There was only one person I could think of who could create game-like effects across such a massive field.‘Park Yoon-ho.’

An exam jointly created by those two, huh.

Wow...

Since the freshmen were a generation accustomed to games, creating the Battle Royale like this would let even first-timers adapt quickly.[pt +700]

“If they even made points and a return animation, just how serious were they about this?”

The bodies of the students shredded by the Chicago Typewriter became enveloped in blue light and disappeared, leaving only the words [100pt]

behind.

“If I stay here, it feels like more guys will just keep coming...”

A good idea suddenly came to mind, so I raised my head and looked toward the pillar of light.

“Choi Yeon should be around the National Assembly Building?”

Realizing that people would continue gathering to target both me and Choi Yeon at this rate, I decided to join up with her first.

If they were going to keep swarming us anyway, it would be more advantageous to cooperate, survive until the end, and settle things between ourselves afterward.

Apparently I wasn't the only one thinking that, because I could see the [☆★1st Place★☆] marker and pillar of light moving in my direction.‘Good. If we can just meet up like this──’Booooom───!!

The moment I felt a chill and raised my arm, an enormous impact struck it.

I planted as much strength as possible into my lower body, but my body was still pushed backward.

“You monster. You blocked that?”

I looked toward the direction where I heard someone clicking his tongue in disappointment.

A man aiming a bow at me with a vicious smile.

“I'll finish you as fast as possible. I still have to take down Choi Yeon after you.”

Jung Eui-hoon.

It was him.

“...

Now even flies are sticking to me.”

“What? Flies?”

His expression twisted at the word flies.

“I'll make you regret what you just said...”

Seeing him draw his bowstring again, I immediately kicked off the ground and charged straight toward him.

If he had remained hidden somewhere unseen, that would've been different, but dodging an attack this obvious wasn't particularly difficult.

“A bowman showing himself right in front of the enemy? Idiot.”

And just as I was about to swing a fist toward his head.

“This bow isn't for sniping...!”──Creeeeak!

An ominous feeling came from the bowstring as it was drawn with an unmistakably chilling sound.

Wait, that...!

Bang! A pure-white arrow came rushing toward me.[‘Aegis's Watch’ activates.][Successfully defended against the attack.]

Apparently judging it to be something I couldn't block myself, Aegis's Watch activated and stopped his attack.

“What?!”

He stared in shock, apparently never having imagined his attack would be blocked.

“So now that you're losing, you brought out your family's heirloom? Crazy bastard.”

I'd thought the sound and appearance seemed familiar.

It was a weapon I knew.[King Taejo's Horn Bow]

One of the top-tier bows obtainable in Korea, a weapon that Jung Eui-hoon's family had preserved for generations.

“I want to use one of my small favors right now. Give me that horn bow.”

“Like hell I will, you bastard!”

He retreated and drew the bowstring again, but unlike before, the arrow didn't glow and the bowstring didn't make that strange sound.

His right arm was trembling.

“Looks like you overdid it?”

“Shut up!”

Still proving himself a bowman, he darted among the buildings at tremendous speed while continuing to attack me.

Did he switch to hit-and-run tactics?

If he's going to do this, I've got methods too.

‘Billy the Kid's Shotgun’ emerged from the Cube.

No one's going to die inside here anyway.

“...

It's been a while since I went clay shooting.”

I can afford to get a little rough, right?

Dodging the arrows continuously flying toward me, I shouldered the shotgun and aimed at him.

The moment he turned his body each time to fire his bow was the best timing to hit him.

I slowly waited for the right moment, and the instant he fired an arrow.──Bang! Bang!

I fired two consecutive shots and hit him.

“Ghak!”

With a short scream, he plunged toward the ground.

At the same time, because I'd stayed still to shoulder and aim the gun, an arrow had lodged in my shoulder...

When I pulled it out, [Natural Healing(A)]

which had ranked up thanks to Fafnir's blood, activated and the wound slowly began closing.

“This seems like a pretty cheap trade.”

Looking toward where he'd fallen, I saw him staggering to his feet.

Since he hadn't been recalled, it seemed the distance had caused the pellets to spread and reduced the impact.

“Maybe it's better this way since I can finish him with my own hands.”

As I trudged toward him, he looked back, flinched in alarm, and drew his bow toward me.

But perhaps because he'd been hit by the shotgun, his hands trembled so badly that he couldn't even draw the string.

“Give up. Giving up makes things easier.”

I spoke while filling my right hand with murderous aura, and he slumped down in despair.

“...

You really are a fucking monster.”

“Then why did you come hunting me? Someone at your level could've easily made the top ten.”

As I raised my right hand, he lifted his middle finger toward me and smirked.

“Just kill me, bastard.”

“Idiot, trying to act cool. You're still going to die to a forehead flick.”

“Wait, a forehead flick? What do you mean──”

I cut him off and brought my fist down toward the top of his head.

“──The Bitter Taste of Fear.”

T-bagging is perfect for guys pretending to be cool.

“Ghehk!”

My fist struck him, and he let out a bizarre scream before being recalled.

“Loser eliminated.”

That felt pretty satisfying.

______________

[4300pt]

“Taking out small fry pays pretty well too.”

While walking along, dealing with Jung Eui-hoon after he'd used up all his trump cards and the small fry who kept targeting me, I'd managed to accumulate quite a lot of points before I knew it.

With this method, they could've earned a high score without specifically targeting the 1st- and 2nd-ranked students, but that's exactly why the guys who aimed for a single high-risk, high-return

jackpot were the first ones to get eliminated.

Maybe it was because gunshots kept coming from my direction, or perhaps rumors about me had already spread.

The small fry gradually stopped trying to find me.

In fact...──! / ──! / ──!

Even firing briefly into the air like this got a reaction.

-It's Han Eugene!

-Run!

-If that crazy bastard catches you, you're instantly out!

-Just run into the zone! Better than getting shot by that gun!...

This is fun.

I felt like a walking disaster.

As I walked down the street playing a beat only Koreans would recognize with Tommy, I spotted a familiar face.

“Marie?”

“W-who... eek? M-Mr. Eugene?!”

I had run into Marie, who was roaming the city while leading her army of cute dolls.

Was she the first familiar face I'd encountered in here?

“How is it? Gathered a lot of points?”

“Pardon? Y-yes. I think I've collected enough to place near the top.”

“Really?”

The dolls began forming a barrier between me and Marie, as though expecting me to attack at any moment.

“Right. Have you happened to run into any of the ‘Familia’ members?”

“Ah, maybe thirty minutes ago. Mr. Jin-woo looked completely exhausted for some reason, so I ambushed him...”

So Jin-woo is dead.

Poor bastard.

Apparently he'd recklessly hunted other students until he'd made too many enemies and gotten raided.

“Then I should avenge my friend.”

“E-eek! Couldn't you just leave...? No! I'll leave!”

At my words, Marie jumped in alarm and began backing away.

Tears welled in her enormous eyes.

I glanced around, checked the shrinking zone, then smiled at her.

“You know. Once we've run into each other, there's no helping it.”

Once the zone shrank, only the strong would survive anyway, and since I didn't know when I'd be attacked from multiple directions, it was better to reduce the competition as much as possible.

“I-if that's the case, I won't just sit here and let you beat me!”

“Sorry. You and I are an awful matchup.”──Booooom!

A sound like a cannon blast rang out and instantly swallowed Marie and her dolls.

If each individual unit had been strong, that would've been one thing.

Meaningless numbers only made me stronger.[4800pt]

“Oh. Marie was worth 500 points.”

As expected, a strong person was still strong.

“Then is it time for the main event?”

The moment I arrived in front of Hangang Park, where Choi Yeon was, an enormous burst of air struck my ears.──Bang! ──Bang bang!

“As expected, it's chaos.”

In the middle of the park.

I could see Choi Yeon smiling brightly as she deflected every attack coming from all directions with a single sword.

“Just die already!”

“How the hell is she blocking this?!”

Judging from the swordsmanship of the guys attacking Choi Yeon, they seemed fairly skilled.

“Ms. Choi Yeon, I'm sorry!”

Among them, I could also see Se-ah's familiar face...

Is she aiming for the top rank too?

“I'm used to it now.”

Choi Yeon's sword, which until now had only evaded and defended, gradually began counterattacking.

As her movements slowly accelerated, the others began being pushed backward.

“She can get even faster?!”

“...

Monster!”

Perhaps feeling fear toward Choi Yeon as she continued smiling, I could see them searching for a chance to retreat.

Well, it's not like Choi Yeon would just let them.

“Gap Slash.”

The instant they kicked off the ground to flee, Choi Yeon's sword cut broadly in a single

line.

An incredible swift sword that even my eyes could barely follow.

Two of them were instantly wrapped in blue light and disappeared, while Se-ah, who had been quietly watching, toppled flat onto her back.

“...

Ms. Choi Yeon is way too strong.”

“Yeah. That was really fun. See you later?”

“W-wait, make it painless── Ack!”

Even Se-ah was out.

Just as I was about to reveal myself now that the situation seemed mostly settled.────Rrrrrrrrrumble.

The ground began vibrating.

Choi Yeon, who had been catching her breath, also sensed something strange and turned around.

Then she tilted her head and aimed her sword toward the Hangang River.

She had confirmed an enemy was behind her.

At the same time.───Booooooom!

A pillar of water erupted from the Hangang River and came crashing straight toward Choi Yeon.

“Water-Cutting.”

But Choi Yeon bisected it instantly.

At the same time, the water exploded and scattered all around.

Drip. Drip.

Water droplets ran down the ends of her soaked blue hair.

No, before they could fall, they began gathering together again.

“...

Who?”

Choi Yeon spoke while aiming her sword behind her.

When I looked in the direction she was facing, I saw a man walking step by step across the surface of the water.

Slowly.

The man raised his head, looked at Choi Yeon, and spoke with a serious expression.

“──Choi Kang-hyun. The person who must defeat you and become the top-ranked student.”

Wow.

This is going to be fucking fun.