Chapter 72

Chapter 72

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 72“Hello, little boy?”

Along with the sudden explosion, a sharp right arm swings toward my neck.

While my body is sent flying backward, I reflexively knock away her arm reaching for my neck, then aim [Al Capone's Tommy]

at her face and pull the trigger.

“What a rough greeting!”

Fire.

As a sound like falling rain erupts from Tommy, the body of the woman covering her face with both arms is pushed backward.

“Looks like you're pretty rough yourself...!”

Blanca, pushed backward by the barrage of bullets, glares at me and licks the arms she used to block the gunfire.

Despite being shot at point-blank range, there isn't a single visible wound on her arms.

She was notoriously tough even in the game, so it wasn't incomprehensible, but I hadn't expected to fail to inflict even a single wound.

“Even the guns fired by the guards in Niflheim didn't hurt this much. Just what the hell did you shower me with?”

Even while diligently licking her arm with her tongue, she looks at me with a sharp gaze as though it hurts like hell, and I tauntingly wave the gun in my hand.

At that, she frowns.

“...

There's no way a toy like that can work on me. Too bad, huh?”

“I originally planned to wipe you out with a surprise attack. I definitely killed my presence on the way here, so how did you notice I was there?”

Hearing my question, Blanca smiles as though amused and covers her mouth with one hand.

“Are you that curious? Answer my question and I'll tell you.”

“A question?”

She wants to trade questions and answers?

Interesting.

When I nod at her proposal, she claps her hands and smiles.

“I didn't think you'd agree this easily! Fine, then I'll ask first?”

Blanca smiles brightly as though she's having a great time.

“What group do you belong to?”...

She's digging into my identity right from the start.

Still, thanks to that, I learned something important.

“Judging by how you're asking about my affiliation first, it seems Ratte still hasn't opened her mouth.”

“Ah, her? She's surprisingly stubborn. I hope you'll answer a little more easily. Okay?”

I glance at Ratte behind her.

A woman slumped in a chair, tied up.

The clothes she wears are already so caked with blood and dust that it's difficult to recognize their original appearance.

For now, I suppose I'll answer.

“I belong to Familia.”

“...

Familia? Never heard of it.”

“Of course not. It's an organization that hasn't even existed for a month yet.”

After hearing my answer, Blanca leans her body forward and suddenly closes both eyes.

A moment later, her nose begins twitching.

“Doesn't smell like you're lying... Fine, I guess it's my turn to answer? You asked how I knew you were outside the door, right?”

Then she points at her nose.

“Smell. There was a scent outside that I'd never smelled before.”

She answers confidently with a grin.

“...

You smelled the aura.”

“Oh, good instincts. That's right. I can also tell whether someone is lying by their smell. So, want to keep going?”

At the sight of her speaking so confidently, I shake my head.

“No. I'll hear the rest after I subdue you.”

“Oh my? How tough.”

She stops licking her arm, slowly lowers her body, and begins opening and closing her fingers.

It was the preparatory stance for one of Blanca's charge attacks.

Her specialties were high mobility and strong defense.

Judging that I had no reason to use [Al Capone's Tommy]

, I put Tommy back into the Cube, clenched my fists, and looked at her.

“What? So the gun wasn't your main weapon?”

“Have a problem with that?”

“No. I like you better bare-handed.”

Lick.

The moment she licks her lips, her figure disappears from my sight.

“Then how about I start by ripping your mouth apart?”

In an instant, she reaches me and thrusts her claws toward my face.

“Predictable.”

The first strategy for fighting Blanca.

After certain motions, most of her charging attacks target the upper body.

And among them, the first attack prioritizes the face.

And this strategy I'd discovered through countless battles continued to shine even now that the game had become reality.

“Hm? What the──?!”

Baaang─!!

A bursting sound shakes the air.

As I weave to the left and swing my aura-wrapped right fist toward her hand, a tremendous shockwave erupts with a sound like a bomb exploding.

Blanca naturally lets herself be blown backward to disperse the impact, then lands with light footwork.

“...

What's going on here? It didn't feel like you were keeping up with my speed. Have we met somewhere before?”

“No. I just have a common-looking face.”

“No way. I'm not the type to forget the face of a handsome kid like you. If we haven't met before... did you perhaps investigate me separately?”

She smiles and shakes out the hand that collided with my fist.

Red blood drips steadily from that hand.

“Judging by your skill and equipment, you don't seem ordinary... just what kind of place is Familia?”

“But one thing is certain, isn't it?”

“Hm?”

“That you belong to the Villain Alliance.”

Blanca tilts her head as though asking what I'm talking about.

“That's all I need.”[【Trait: Hitman】 activates!][2. Hunter of Villains

- You are a Hitman highly accustomed to hunting villains. Villains will feel fear toward you, and it will become easier for you to hunt them.

The fear villains feel toward you increases by 1.5 times.

Aura utilization ability slightly increases against villains.]

Blanca.

She was a villain who enjoyed fighting in a dogfight style.

In other words, she enjoyed fighting dirty and tenaciously at close range.

Interestingly enough, I preferred that style too.

I spread [Bloodline: Calione]

throughout my entire body and stare at her.

Perhaps thanks to [Hunter of Villains], newly added to 【Trait: Hitman】, my aura moves far more smoothly than usual.

“...

Red aura? I thought so earlier too, but there's something familiar about that smell. You really belong to a group called Familia?”

“Didn't that proud nose of yours say I was telling the truth?”

“That's true, but you could belong to another organization at the same time, couldn't you? Just like that dying little rat over there...!”

Blanca, who had been looking at me, suddenly twists her body and charges toward the room where Ratte is.

It seems she intends to seize the advantage by using Ratte as a hostage.

To prevent things from going her way, I load aura into my foot and stomp the floor with all my strength.

With a crunch! the floor completely caves in.

The concrete floor collapses, sending both of us falling into the first-floor lobby.

“Hahaha! I only turned away for a second and you smashed the entire floor?”

Blanca's voice comes from within the thick cloud of dust covering the surroundings.

“Haven't you heard that leaving in the middle of a conversation is bad manners?”

The surroundings are filled with so much dust that I can't see anything.

On top of that, with the acrid smell of dirt from the collapsing building, she should no longer be able to track me by scent.

With this, I had effectively sealed one of her abilities.

I cautiously raise my fists while keeping watch around me.

“Manners? Aren't you expecting a little too much from me?”

Her voice comes from within the dust.

“I am... a villain!”

Along with her shout, I block the incoming kick with my forearm, then explode my aura outward in an instant and clear away the dust around us.

“Fiery, aren't you?”

“Hearing that from you only makes me feel worse.”

As expected of a named villain, even though I'd properly blocked the kick, my forearm was throbbing.

Blanca was famous even in the game as one of the villains with high attack power, but feeling it in reality made me wonder just what kind of monstrous strength this was.

I tried to grab her ankle and slam her into the ground, but Blanca retracted her leg and simultaneously lowered her body completely, aiming for my lower body.

But.

“Stay crushed.”

I gather aura into my fist and forcibly cram it inside.

A crackling sound comes from my fist as the aura gathered around it begins trembling violently.

It was the same technique that had completely torn apart the chest of ‘Elusive,’ amplifying the repulsive force of aura.

I had plenty of elixirs anyway.

It was a punch thrown with the intention of sacrificing my leg if necessary to finish her completely.

At that, she smiles as though amused.

“This should be fun!”

Immediately after those words, she raises both arms, and a cluster of pure white light begins enveloping her.

Like clothing made from animal hide, the white aura clings to her arms, legs.

And then her body, taking the shape of clothing.

At last, the two auras collide, and a tremendous impact engulfs the building.

A powerful wind begins sweeping through the surroundings.

Then two shapes fluttering atop her head and one pure white object near her back become visible.

The triangular white ears and the shape resembling a dog's tail were──

“...

So that's why you're Blanca.”

“Pretty beautiful, aren't I?”

She was Blanca in the literal sense.

(Blanca: Shining White)

It was her signature awakened technique, and the skill that had earned her the popularity of those suspiciously wealthy people.

A complete aura that formed a single shape and wrapped around her entire body.

Compared to me, who still struggled to give aura a definite form, her aura control was beyond imagination.

“Oh, and I just remembered something.”

Blanca pushes upward with both arms after blocking my fist, then kicks me squarely in the chest.

The impact is far beyond what I imagined.

My breath is knocked out of me as pain surges through my body, and I'm sent flying backward.

I crash into the wall back-first and force myself to endure the throbbing pain without taking my eyes off her.

Maestro's suit.

If it weren't for DisPater

, the impact might have knocked me unconscious.

Perhaps she found my appearance amusing.

Still smiling, Blanca slowly opens her mouth.

“Your scent. It's similar to that man's.”

“...

That man?”

“Vito Calione. That damned old bastard who threw me into Niflheim.”

She lowers both arms and one leg, then grins.

“...

You're Calione's son, aren't you?”

In the end, she'd noticed.

“Right, right. Now everything makes sense. An organization capable of putting that rat in Niflheim, an organization digging into the Villain Alliance, this level of skill despite your young age. If Calione, that old bastard, is involved in all of it, then everything fits.”

Now that things had come to this──

“Vito Calione's son, huh. I wonder how much your father would sacrifice for you?”

There was only one way.

“Ratte!”

I squeeze out my aura to the very limit and wrap my body in it.

Then, while shouting upward, I cover my head with my arms.

“Hm? What are you───”

At the same time, a deafening sound erupts along with a brilliant flash of light.

The booby traps whose positions I'd checked before going up to the second floor.

Flashbangs and explosives.

I protect my body with aura and squeeze my eyes shut in preparation for the tremendous roar and light, but there is nothing I can do about the deafening noise piercing my ears, the light penetrating my eyelids, and the recoil from the explosion.─────────!!

My body is slammed into the wall, and intense heat engulfs me.

A gamble I never would've even attempted under normal circumstances.

But in the end, all of it failed to pierce Maestro's masterpiece.

DisPater

held.

Everything went according to plan.

And if this was what it did to me, there was no need to look to know what condition she was in.

“Aaaaaagh──!! You damned Calione braaaaaat!!”

Leaving Blanca behind as she squeezes her eyes shut and wildly destroys the building with the claws formed from her aura, I immediately pull out a flare gun

and fire it toward the ceiling that collapsed from the explosion.

The flare fired from the gun meant only one thing.

‘Annihilate them.’

It was my final move, hidden away as a trump card.