Chapter 54

Chapter 54

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 54This place, filled with explosions, screams, and people shouting, could truly be called a battlefield.

“Eat this, you bastard!”

“You eat plenty too.”

I shoved Tommy, capable of firing dozens of rounds per second, into the chest of the guy who had charged at me to stick an arrow into me.‘That bastard killed Hyun-jong!’‘Keep shooting! Keep shooting so he can't do anything else!’The ones who had spread out widely to surround me eventually found themselves scattered amidst the continuous explosions and flying containers.

Meanwhile, the freshmen they'd added just to fill out their numbers were gradually being eliminated.

The current situation was nothing short of a chaotic melee.

It seemed they were only now hurriedly regrouping their members, but including the guy just now, I'd already taken out two of them myself.

Considering the ones the others had dealt with, I figured at least six of them had probably been eliminated by now.

But perhaps because I was still the only one exposed, they hadn't stopped attacking me.

Arrows and daggers came flying from every direction.

I kept running hard between the containers to dodge them, but I couldn't keep running away like this forever.

More than anything, perhaps Young-je's mana was finally beginning to run low, because the frequency of the explosions was gradually decreasing.

He had been rapid-firing explosion-type magic, said to consume the most mana, for ten whole minutes since the spar began, so I was honestly just grateful he'd lasted this long.

“Die, you bastard!”

A Ranger appeared from above and threw something at me.

As I twisted my body to evade, green smoke rose with a pungent smell.

“He got hit by the poison!”

So that's what it was. Poison.

Looking more closely, I noticed they'd started wearing masks at some point.

I can't believe they even brought poison into an all-out war.

It really was fitting for the Ranger Club.[Trait: 【Thousand Poison Immunity】 activates.]

Well, it wasn't much use against me.

Still, the poison mist blocking my vision was annoying, so I kicked off the ground and leapt upward, revealing the guy who had thrown the poison pellet at me.

“Y-you should've been paralyzed just from smelling it!”

Even though I couldn't fully see his expression because of the mask, judging by his eyes, he seemed pretty shocked.

“It certainly tasted bitter.”

With those words, I descended toward him, grabbed his face in one hand, and slammed him into a container.

The back of his head struck the container with a bright CLAAANG──! that echoed across Incheon Port.

At the same time, the red aura rising from me grew even darker.

Looking around, I noticed the Rangers who had come to celebrate after hearing I'd been poisoned.

“What, surprised I'm perfectly fine?”

Seriously, if you're going to use poison, use something good enough to pierce 【Thousand Poison Immunity】.

Well, there was no way a mere Bronze Club like them could obtain poison of that caliber.

Just as I was about to sweep away the gathered enemies with Tommy in my left hand, I heard the sound of air being torn apart from behind.

The guys behind me had fired arrows to keep me from doing anything else.

If I stood still and pulled the trigger, I'd be hit by the arrows.

Just as I was about to duck to evade, I felt wind brush past my hair.

“Took you long enough.”

Instead of dodging, I smiled and pulled the trigger.

As though sweeping away piles of dead insects with a broom, I swept Tommy through the air, and most of them were sent flying or dove beneath the containers for cover.

There was no pain in my back.

Because the guy standing behind me had knocked away the arrows.

“Boss. Were you waiting for me?”

Jin-woo grinned with an irritating tone.

“How many did you take out?”

“Me? Four of the ones with white name tags like us.”

“...

Looks like you weren't just playing around.”

“Like I'd come all the way to an all-out war just to play.”

Of everyone who had trained over the past four days, Jin-woo had undergone the greatest change.‘I've decided to train under my old man.’Was it because the club's fate was riding on this match?

The guy who always stayed in the club room until the very end because he hated going home had suddenly told us that one day.

It was already common knowledge throughout the Academy that Jin-woo was the son of the head of the Vivald Family, so it didn't take long to understand what he meant.

It meant Jin-woo would be trained by his father, the head of the Vivald Family and Calione's legendary hitman, ‘Antonio Vivald.’

When I asked why he'd suddenly made that decision, Jin-woo had answered as though it were nothing.‘My ability is a bloodline ability I inherited from Dad. Feels like there's no real way to develop it further here. I also realized a lot while sparring with you last time, Boss... so I told the old man I wanted to get stronger, and surprisingly, he immediately said okay?’Only after hearing that could I roughly guess what had happened.

‘Antonio Vivald’ had realized who I was.

I figured he probably learned about me during the executive examination, but judging by Jin-woo's reaction, he apparently hadn't told Jin-woo anything about my true identity.

Maybe this was his way of showing respect toward me.

‘Or maybe he just wanted to make Jin-woo suffer.’

Anyway, after training his bloodline ability under ‘Antonio Vivald,’ Jin-woo showed growth beyond my expectations and had already become capable of serving not merely as an assassin, but as a complete frontline fighter.

“Boss. I'll handle your back, okay?”

“Just don't get knocked out by some stray arrow.”

“As if.”

Arrows began flying toward us from every direction.

But before they could reach us, they lost their force as though crashing into a wall and fell to the ground. The Rangers were flustered by the sight, and we didn't miss the opening, each charging toward the enemies in front of us.

“Everyone, draw your daggers!”

Was there at least one guy among them with a working brain?

At the shout of the one who realized arrows were useless, the others also drew daggers and prepared for close combat.

But if you thought about it normally.

There was no way we'd lose to archers in melee combat.

As I charged at one of them, I stored Tommy back inside the Cube and threw a punch at his face.

“Uwaagh!”

He raised his dagger to block my fist.

For an ordinary person, that should've split their fist in half, but unfortunately for him, I was a martial artist wearing artifact-grade gloves.

I crushed his face together with his dagger.

Just having no harassment coming from behind let me move this freely.

As expected, fighting multiple enemies alone really wasn't something worth doing.

I glanced behind me.

“You're the bastard I sparred against before, aren't you? Perfect.”

“You crazy bastard!”

“If you know I'm crazy, why'd you provoke me? Die!”...

No need to worry, then.

Now that he'd gained an ability capable of blocking most ranged attacks, he'd become a living disaster to the Rangers.

It seemed unlikely he'd end up in any real danger during this all-out war.

Ah.

“There are guys using poison pellets. If they throw anything, immediately create wind and blow the poison mist away first.”

“Huh? That stuff earlier was poison fog? Thanks.”

Jin-woo, who had been vigorously shaking an already-unconscious guy by the collar, nodded after hearing my warning.

“Die!”

At that moment, someone burst up from below and fired an arrow at me.

But perhaps because he'd already watched his companions get brutally crushed right in front of him.

I'd already pinpointed his position through the fear he was emitting, so I caught the arrow flying toward me, rotated my body, and immediately drove it into his chest.

“About eight left now?”

Just as I judged that with numbers that low, Young-je and Se-ah no longer needed to hide themselves.

“Seven. We just took another one out.”

Se-ah and Young-je emerged after opening a closed container.

“Positions?”

“One on top of that tower crane, two below, three waiting nearby, and the rest... they're all watching this place. As for Kwon Su-hyeop, he's probably...”

“On the tower crane?”

As she said that, Se-ah stretched out a hand toward the tower crane.

“...

Can you do it?”

I had a rough idea of what she was planning, so I asked carefully, but she clenched her hand with a confident expression.

“Of course. That's what I trained for, isn't it?”

And at the same time, an abnormality occurred.

Through the previous spar, Se-ah had realized she could hack the field and alter the terrain.

Although Ji Su-hyeon's mana had been added back then, simply learning that she could interfere with the field using spatial magic had been a huge gain, so she focused on recreating that sensation.

As a result.

“Got it.”──────!!!

The tower crane where he was standing was suddenly brought right before our eyes.‘Ground Shrink.’

Rather than hacking and mixing the field, Se-ah merely interfered with it, folding the terrain to shorten the distance with her original magic.

At the sight that seemed to twist reality itself, the Rangers watching us were filled with shock.

“Young-je, blow it up.”

“Today seriously... feels like I've become a terrorist.”

Young-je extended his fountain pen toward the tower crane and chanted.

“Brillante.(Brilliantly.)”

The head of the tower crane exploded, and a pitch-black silhouette burst out from within.

“You crazy bastards!”

At least he was still the president. He wrapped his body in mana and protected himself from the aftermath of the explosion before immediately firing an arrow at me.

“What kind of attack is that supposed to be against our president? Not happening.”

Jin-woo stepped directly in front of me and knocked the arrow away.

Meanwhile, after landing where his remaining members were, Kwon Su-hyeop glared at us and shouted.

“They've already exhausted tons of mana at the beginning, so they must be tired! We've been waiting from the start, so we have the advantage!”

Ah, don't tell me that's why they'd been hiding this whole time?

They sent the freshmen and weaker guys ahead to wear us down, then planned to finish us off themselves?

“Kuh...! Hahahaha! This is unbelievable. You really hid for that reason?”

I couldn't stop myself from laughing.

No, I couldn't hold it back.

If they'd really been conserving their strength for that reason, then they must be brimming with anticipation right now.

Thinking, ‘We can win!’

I released the [Bloodline Ability: 「Calione」]

that I had been suppressing.

A crimson aura instantly swallowed the surroundings.

“Sorry, but that's not going to happen.”

At the same time, the aura spread outward as though taking control of the surrounding space, slowly pooling and spreading like blood soaking into paper before suddenly beginning to converge.

“You weren't the only one conserving your strength.”

I'd been thinking about it for a long time.

What was the true nature of [Bloodline Ability: 「Calione」]

?

In the game, Vito Calione strengthened his equipment further by imbuing it with his aura.

The game described his ability like this.

Long ago, he stood alone against monsters overflowing from a dungeon.

All he possessed was a single rusted knuckle.

With nothing more than that, he protected his people, his Family.

It was said that Vito Calione's hands were stained red.

It was said that people believed it was the blood of monsters.

It was said that people believed it was Vito Calione's own blood.

And thus, that bloodstained red became the symbol of Calione.[Bloodline Ability: 「Calione」 activates.]

In this world, symbols mean power.

Just as objects once used by those who wrote history become artifacts.

Just as the stories of those who wrote history become myths.

Within me exists Vito Calione's history.

Vito Calione's blood.

Vito Calione's power.

Right now.

I was the symbol of Calione.[Bloodline Ability: 「Calione」 dominates 「Midas's Gloves」.]

The ability passed down through my blood inherits Father's myth.

The black gloves become drenched in crimson as though soaked in blood, eventually transforming into the shape of scarlet knuckles.(N)[Bloodline: Calione]

-Monsters weaker than the user have a high chance of becoming afraid.

-Abilities increase in proportion to the number of nearby enemies.

-Abilities increase in proportion to the duration of combat.-(N)

Dominates and strengthens the user's equipment and skills.

“...

Wh-what the hell is that? Just... what are you trying to do?!”

The guys who had been around Kwon Su-hyeop had long since fled in fear midway through.

The only one left was a single rookie whose legs had gone weak.

“Nothing.”

I was simply raising my fist to protect my Family.

It would be said that people called this Familia's victory...[All-out war ended. All-out war ended. Familia Club, Familia Club is victorious.]