Chapter 94

Chapter 94

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 94Boom! Boom boom! Boom boom boom boom!

Every time one of the stone fragments struck his body, a tremendous explosion rang out and clouds of dust rose.

“Khah! Khahahahaha! I'll make breathing holes all over your body!”

The little brat had dared to mock and look down on him and tried to interfere with the Alliance's plan.

And by some twist of fate, the bastard was also a disciple of Kwak Chun-sik, the man who had locked him away in Niflheim.

“Even the great Kwak Chun-sik had to concentrate his aura and barely defend against this attack. You think a little brat like you can withstand it?!”

When even the faint silhouette of the brat began to be swallowed by the dust and he could no longer make him out, the Miner stopped swinging his pickaxe and looked into the cloud of dirt.

The brat's figure gradually became visible through the thinning dust.

Judging by how he was standing in the same posture as when the first attack struck, it seemed he'd died instantly in that position.

“Now that I've taken care of the nuisance, I can finally go help upstairs...”

“...

This is a bit much.”

“Hm?”

The brat's voice came from behind, where it should have been impossible to hear it.

Had dirt gotten into his ears while he was swinging?

He dug into his ear with his pinky finger.

“I didn't expect the Academy uniform to get torn apart...”

Even so, the brat's voice continued to be heard.

With a bad feeling, he stared carefully into the dust and confirmed that the silhouette that had been standing motionless until now was trudging toward him.

“...

You endured my Shotgun Swing?”

His attack, which even Kwak Chun-sik had only managed to stop by devoting himself entirely to defense?

“Shotgun Swing? With a technique that has such a tacky name, no wonder you're in this state.”

The brat slowly walked forward, emerging from the dust.

“You. Wh-what the hell is that appearance...”

The brat's clothes had definitely been an Academy uniform before taking the attack.

But at some point, he had changed into a black Western-style suit that looked as though darkness itself had been woven into thread, and he brushed off his clothes while looking at the Miner.

“...

Don't expect to die peacefully. Worm.”

______________

Shotgun Swing.

In the game, it was the technique that announced the beginning of Phase 2 when fighting the Miner.

Its short startup motion, terrain-destruction property that overturned the ground, and absurdly high damage could instantly reduce an unguarded player to rags.

However, there was one thing I had overlooked.

In the game, reaching Phase 2 required reducing more than half of his health... but this was reality.

I'd forgotten that if the bastard got angry enough, he could use that technique whenever he wanted.

And as a result...

“Ha, how long has it even been since I enrolled, and you've already ruined my uniform like this?”

The uniform I'd originally been wearing was torn to pieces, and my body, damaged by the impact, kept throbbing... constantly.

Fortunately, before coming up to the 10th floor, I'd prepared for battle by wearing [DisPater]

underneath my Academy uniform, cutting most of the impact in half.

Old man Kwak Chun-sik was an aura supremacist, so he'd probably taken it with his bare body, but for me, it was an attack that would've been difficult to endure without relying on equipment.

Even so, the Academy uniform had basic defensive spells engraved into it, so I'd thought it would be enough.

I never expected it to be shattered this badly...

“...

You endured that. Are you really an Academy freshman?”

Apparently he'd never imagined I would actually survive that attack, because he stared at me with eyes widened to their limit and asked.

“You saw the name tag on the uniform you tore apart and you're still asking? Ha. This isn't something I should have to use against the likes of you. You've made things troublesome.”

To me, DisPater was practically a combat uniform used during my work as a Calione Hitman and member of the Enforcement Division.

That was why I'd tried to avoid using it at the Academy whenever possible... but now that things had come to this, I had no choice but to fight like this.

“No, wait. This is actually only natural, isn't it?”

If you wanted to be precise, Calione was also preparing for war against the villains, so this could be considered organization work too.

After convincing myself of that, I clenched my fist and glared at him.

Not as Han Eugene, an Academy freshman.

But as Eugene Han Calione, a Hitman of Calione.

“Phase 2 is starting, so you'd better stay sharp.”

“What?”

“If you stand there spacing out like that, you'll die.”

At the same time, I pulled Tommy from the Cube and sprayed bullets toward him.

“A gun...?!”

The moment he saw the gun in my hand, he raised the ground and created a shield.

The rock from the dungeon floor, no ordinary stone, remained perfectly intact as though Tommy's bullets were nothing.

“You think a toy like that can even scratch me!”

“Of course.”

Using the shield he'd raised himself to block his vision, I drove my fist straight into it.

“Huh?”

Cracks erupted from where my fist struck and spread outward like an explosion, exposing the Miner hiding behind it.

“Got you.”

I pulled the trigger toward him once again, but he instead lowered his head, deflected the bullets with his safety helmet, and charged toward me.

“A toy like that can't even pierce my safety helmet!”

It was certainly a reaction worthy of a veteran villain.

But.

“Then how about this?”

“What?”

How dare he close the distance against a martial artist.

I swung my right hand straight into his head.

Baaaaang───!!!

“Khaaaagh──!!”

The blow, little more than a hard flick to the forehead, drove him headfirst into the ground.

As I raised my foot, intending to stomp on him in that state, he rolled sideways to avoid the stomp, then swung his pickaxe at me.

“Get skewered on this pickaxe and diiiiiie!!”

The pickaxe swung toward my side.

I quickly stretched out my arm and caught the pickaxe bare-handed, stopping the attack, and the Miner began chuckling.

“You stupid bastard! You actually grabbed it? You think you're the first idiot who thought grabbing the pickaxe like that would work?”

Then the head of the pickaxe in my hand began turning purple.

“Melt away and disappear with the curse, you damn bastard!!...

Huh?”

The Miner's mouth fell open when he saw me still standing there perfectly fine despite the pickaxe turning purple.

“H-how?”

“What I'm wearing isn't ordinary clothing either.”

The pickaxe he carried was an item called [Pickaxe of the Aoji Mine]

, a cursed relic of sorts that would curse and drain the strength of anyone unqualified who touched it carelessly.

But his pickaxe wasn't the only special thing.[DisPater]

One of its additional effects, the Unicorn Horn Buttons, had taken effect.[Unicorn Horn Buttons: Buttons carved from the horn of a unicorn. They protect the wearer from demonic

forces and allow interference with spiritual entities. They always keep the clothing clean.]

“Khaaaagh!!”

Perhaps enraged that his trump card had been blocked, this time he pulled something from the pocket of his work clothes and threw it at me...

This is.

“Dynamite?”

Seeing the dynamite appear right in front of my face, I lifted the lower hem of DisPater and covered my head.

Boooooom!!

A massive explosion erupted and pushed my body backward.

I took no damage, but the impact forced me to release the pickaxe I'd been holding.

I waved the black smoke away with my palm and looked toward where he'd originally been standing, but...

“...

He hid again.”

Only a gaping hole remained where he'd been.

“He's weak as hell, but catching him is annoy──.”

The moment I stepped forward with my right foot, the ground suddenly gave way beneath it and my body tilted.

Looking down, I saw that the ground where I'd been about to step had caved in.

I quickly rolled forward into a breakfall, then released aura into the ground to search for his location.

“...

Hm?”

For some reason, unlike before, I couldn't properly determine where he was.

The only thing I could sense was mana coming from the ground that had been ordinary until moments ago.

“Don't tell me he buried mana stones underground to hide his position from detection?”

For him, that was surprisingly clever.

Or maybe because he'd fallen for it once in the past, he'd prepared this countermeasure separately?

“Wahahahaha! Go on, try finding me like that bastard did!”

At the same time his voice came from behind me, a powerful impact struck my back.

“Kgh!”

I kicked backward, but there was nothing there except an empty hole.

Keeping my guard up, I watched the holes around me and waited for him to emerge.

“This spot's open!”

The pickaxe of the Miner, who broke through a new hole, struck the top of my foot this time.

“Ugh!”

He only stuck his hand out to attack before disappearing again, and I felt anger rising inside me.

So you're going to attack me in this petty manner, huh?

“What a disgustingly annoying pattern...!”

Enraged by his fighting style that resembled whack-a-mole, I attacked the hole he'd disappeared into and collapsed it.

It was the most commonly used pattern against the Miner, limiting the places he could move.

However.

“You idiot!”

Then he suddenly burst from the wall and attacked.

I narrowly avoided the attack and tried to counter, but he'd already disappeared again.

“Fine. If you're going to fight that dirty, I'll have no choice but to use the latest strategy too.”

Saying that, I stood in the center of the 10th-floor cavern.

A cavern filled with nothing but holes.

Normally, increasing the number of hiding places would only broaden his options, but...

“Even in the game, the standard strategy for your section was always to crush you with overwhelming force.”

Of course, I could defeat him by catching the timing and counterattacking... but who would choose that route when there was an easier way?

When such a simple and effective method existed.

I concentrated all the aura I'd kept gathered only in my fists until now into my right leg.

Then I took a single step.

But it wasn't an ordinary stomp.

It was a step containing forcibly compressed aura and recoil that could explode at any moment.

“The best defense is offense. Now, if you keep hiding underground, I'll overturn the entire ground for you.”

Crack── Craaaaack────!

Centered on the place where my foot landed, cracks began spreading like a spiderweb.

A stomp intended to shatter the entire floor.

Although its range fell short of what I'd expected.

“Y-you crazy bastard!”

Apparently, it was still wide enough to force out the Miner, who had been following underground in order to attack me again.

“You came out again?”

This time I didn't miss the opening.

I grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up so he couldn't return underground.

“Kghh! Let go! I said let go, brat!”

He dangled in the air and struggled.

“I am the Miner! A villain known as the ruler of the underground! I'm not someone who gets caught by the likes of you!”

Apparently he had an absurd amount of pride in his villain name, because even while struggling, he prepared to counterattack with the pickaxe in his hand.

“Then go back to the ground.”

To stop him from doing anything else, I slammed him straight into the floor, then stomped down on his abdomen with all my strength.

“Kagh!”

The hit had definitely landed properly, because the Miner trembled all over and breathed heavily.

Even then, he continued glaring at me with sharp eyes.

“Kgh... h-how dare someone like you! Y-you think you can catch the Miner? Kgh.”

Come to think of it, the Miner was this kind of bastard.

A man with tremendous pride in himself.

Watching him resist while even swinging his arms gave me an amusing idea.

What would happen if I broke that pride?

“I'll tell you something interesting. You seem to think you're some amazing bastard who fought old man Kwak Chun-sik on equal terms... but you'd better wake up from that dream.”

“What the hell are you...!”

He glared at me as though asking what nonsense I was talking about.

“Why would old man Kwak Chun-sik remember someone who gets caught by a freshman like this?”

“You... bastard...!”

Those words finally seemed to snap the last thread of his reason.

His body trembled as he barely forced himself upright, using the pickaxe like a cane.

“I'll... I'll kill you...!”

Holding the pickaxe in his hand, he used neither his ability nor anything else and simply charged at me in pure rage.

To me, he was easy prey.

I lightly avoided his swinging pickaxe, then grabbed his arm.

“I'd like to play with you longer, but I'm busy too.”

Then I placed my palm against the inside of his elbow and used leverage to bend it straight back.

“Try again next time.”──Crack.