ALL NOVEL chapter 30
30
[…Harmony rate with Gram has increased.]
[…Harmony rate with Gram has increased.]
[…Harmony rate with Gram has increased.]
[…Harmony rate with Gram has increased.]
[…Harmony rate with Gram has increased.]
[The synchronization rate with Gram has increased.]
[The synchronization rate with Gram has increased.]
[The synchronization rate with Gram has increased.]
[The synchronization rate with Gram has increased.]
Ring!
[The synchronization rate with Gram has exceeded 5.5%. Some of the Gift ‘Division’ has been unlocked.]
Following that, thud! With a sound, Gram’s whip extended to five strands.
Furthermore, the proficiency of various abilities such as ＜Stealth Block＞, ＜Ethereal Blade＞, ＜Steadfast Stance＞, and others had all significantly increased.
Training alone, it was like an experience bomb where you would have to train relentlessly for at least a year, living on mere food, to raise it, at least that’s what I thought.
“As expected, the finishing blow is the truth.”
I can’t help but feel again that this game was more about how well you complete quests and how smoothly you adapt, rather than just ‘effort’. Regardless, physical abilities still seemed hopeless.
Anyway.
“Amelia, can you let go of that now?”
Even though I told Amelia, who was still holding onto Junmyung’s shadowy remains(?), that she could let go, there was no response.
“Amelia?”
“······.”
“She fainted.”
Looking closely, Amelia was lying on the ground unconscious, still holding onto the shadow.
Well, just the fact that she didn’t let go even while unconscious showed that she had done her best as Amelia.
Considering how intense the battle was, the surrounding scenery was completely devastated.
The grove surrounding the dormitory was either burnt or broken, and the ground was deeply dented as if hit by meteors. All of this was the carnage created solely by Amelia. It was like shadow boxing against Junmyung’s illusion. It was staggering in its power for shadow boxing.
“That looks like it’s dead.”
On the other side, Emerson, who had fallen, wasn’t breathing. If he were from the Romano tribe, he would have been worth using, but seeing him dead seemed quite annoying.
Anyway, leaving Amelia lying on the ground like that was not an option, so I laid her against the dormitory wall.
However, Amelia’s body was as hot as a burning coal. Come to think of it, she was also breathing heavily.
It was too severe to attribute it solely to squeezing out magic power to its limits.
“Could this be······”
I furrowed my brows as something suddenly came to mind.
“Bloodstone?”
Bloodstone.
A magical stone that disrupts the flow of magic and engulfs the body in extreme heat.
It was an item favored by mages as it could incapacitate giants.
Considering the varied symptoms and processes of Amelia’s death, the possibility of bloodstone being used was more than enough. No, looking at the state alone, it was certain.
The fact that the body was heating up so much was indeed the biggest characteristic of bloodstone.
And if it was indeed bloodstone, I couldn’t just leave Amelia like that.
If not resolved quickly, there could be lingering effects, or worse, she might die.
“But I can’t take her to the infirmary right now······”
If it were the infirmary of Eternity, there would have been ways to treat bloodstone.
However, with the headquarters engulfed in terror right now, there was no way the infirmary would function properly.
“I should call Han Seyeon.”
“Why me?”
“To remove the poison of the Bloodstone…”
As I continued speaking, I turned my gaze. Han Seyeon was standing beside me, smiling.
“When did you arrive?”
“Just now. Can I really remove the poison?”
“Well, if you don’t know, you can absorb the energy of the Bloodstone.”
Mordo, the horse of darkness.
His characteristic was absorbing everything that came his way.
Naturally, digesting the energy of the Bloodstone was an easy task for him.
“Heh, that could work.”
Han Seyeon’s eyes sparkled as if amazed.
It was possible. She had only a few weeks left in her contract with Mordo.
She was still quite inexperienced in utilizing her abilities.
“Place your hand on Amelia and feel the magic. You’ll be able to distinguish it then.”
“Okay, got it.”
Following my instructions, Han Seyeon placed her hand on Amelia’s shoulder. Soon, darkness emerged and enveloped Amelia’s body.
As the darkness that had enveloped Amelia’s body returned to Han Seyeon, Amelia’s complexion noticeably brightened. Her tense breath calmed, and she fell asleep comfortably.
“So, this is how it’s done.”
Han Seyeon withdrew her hand from Amelia, nodding as if understanding. With the situation resolved, I leaned against the wall.
Having dealt with five Krutos scattered in the dormitory and faced the intimidating Gu Junmyeong upon arrival, I was quite exhausted as well.
[Escape Eternity Academy from the mine group terror!]
▶Main Building (0/1)
▶Sando-dong (1/1)
▶Outer Escape Gate (1/1)
“Now only the Main Building is left.”
There was no need for me to intervene at the Main Building since the instructors and external superhumans would handle it.
Moreover, there was ‘Cheon Woojin,’ who could be considered the protagonist of the Main Building episode.
After the terror incident, the instructors instructed the students to wait in the training ground, but merely waiting there wouldn’t make one a protagonist.
With a natural inclination towards justice, Cheon Woojin would leave the training ground and engage in activities in all directions.
Of course, there were various routes to Amelia’s death, and this terror episode was new to me as well, so I had no experience playing it.
However, I had a rough idea of how things would unfold.
“It was a story where Cheon Woojin leaves the training ground and heads towards the Main Building, gaining attention through his actions.”
If this were a game and Cheon Woojin was a player, he would rescue Amelia first, but here, Cheon Woojin was not a player.
With no quest window, he was unaware of Amelia being in danger. So, he would head straight to the Main Building, where his role was to stand out by hunting mines and contributing significantly.
Therefore, I would just sit back, relax, and let the quest end on its own.
But that didn’t mean I would just idly pass the time.
As I mentioned before, this game was more about how well you completed quests rather than ‘effort,’ so I wasn’t going to sit around doing nothing.
Although it wasn’t a grand tale of me making a significant impact at the Main Building…
“I’ll strike when the final blow is in sight while enjoying the show.”
And, the possibility of the final blow coming out was higher than expected.
The main target was someone similar to Gu Junmyeong. That’s why I couldn’t just sit still. Why would I let this great opportunity pass by just sitting here? If there’s an opportunity, you have to seize it.
As I organized my thoughts like that and got up from my seat, a belated question suddenly popped into my head.
“Wait, but is this okay?”
The sequence of events in the terror episode is the rescue of Amelia – the recapture of the main target.
This wasn’t a sequence that was just randomly put together.
Not only Cheon Woojin, but also ‘Amelia’ was involved in making a name for themselves in the main target.
Naturally, each person had their own role assigned. In this case, the role assigned to Amelia was…
“Detonate Crutes.”
The explosion at the main target was not caused by magic or explosives. The Crutes detonated themselves.
Though the number of self-detonating Crutes was small, they were dangerous individuals, and the only one capable of preventing this in advance was Amelia, who could use ‘Combination Magic’.
So, the sequence in the game after rescuing Amelia was the recapture of the main target.
“But that doesn’t mean we can take them away now.”
Amelia, leaning against the dormitory wall, was in a sorry state.
Her school uniform top was stained with blood, her skin was flushed red.
Even worse was what was inside.
The overheated mana circuit was unusable, and her energy was drained by Gu Junmyeong to the point of exhaustion. Taking her away would not only be unhelpful but also a burden.
“Things have really gotten tangled up like this.”
The reason Amelia ended up like that was because of Gu Junmyeong, and the reason Gu Junmyeong was able to act was that the ‘player’ who should have prevented it was late. That ‘player’ was naturally me.
And the reason I was late was that my specs were significantly inferior to Cheon Woojin, the player character in the game.
It was rather strange that Eun Haesol was breaking the quest designed based on ‘Cheon Woojin’.
Anyway, in the end, with Amelia becoming combat ineffective, there was a gap in the personnel needed to stop the self-detonating Crutes.
Only pure magic users could fully handle ‘Combination Magic’, which could stop the self-detonating Crutes, so even instructors or other superhumans could only mimic it to a certain extent.
“In the end, we have to win, but if we do, the damage will be too great.”
Even though I knew that, I wasn’t an unscrupulous person who would just stand by and watch.
So, it meant that instead of Amelia, we had to stop the self-detonating Crutes…
“Can that really be done?”
As I thought about it, a method that was close to ‘meddling’ came to mind.
I was doubtful if this would work, but… well, I had to trust the protagonist.
***
Eternity’s main target, the student square.
The student square, which should have been a language garden where students gathered to chat as usual, was now transformed into a battlefield between monsters and humans.
“Watch out for the lower abdomen! Aim for the lower abdomen!”
Dozens of Crutes appeared along with the main’s terror.
Their exterior was impervious to magic. An eerie regenerative power that healed instantly even if stabbed.
They were life forms that could be called the anti-thesis of superhumans without a doubt.
But this was Eternity.
The cradle of superhumans.
The Pillar of the World.
In the student square at the heart of the Academy, the Kruts collapsed without showing any particular dignity, once their weakness, the lower abdomen, was exposed to the giants, the Kruts were nothing more than simple pests.
The change came when some Kruts swelled up.
Boom!
A massive explosion. The blood and flesh of the burst Kruts swept through all directions. Giants within the explosion radius screamed and flew away.
“So, you’re here to stop that.”
Cheon Woojin’s expression turned serious. He gripped Gram’s dagger that I had given him.
As I left the dormitory and headed straight to the main building, I was fortunate to meet Cheon Woojin at the student square without delay.
Anyway.
“He’s handling it as if it’s nothing.”
Seeing Cheon Woojin holding Gram’s dagger, I clicked my tongue.
While some had to pay 500 SP for a conversation, make jokes to smooth things over, and then barely make a deal, this guy just passed without asking.
Well, Cheon Woojin was gifted with the ability to handle all kinds of situations like a protagonist.
“On top of that, he’s got good luck.”
Cheon Woojin was blessed by the “Curse of the Sword.” This means that even if you roughly stab, the sword will automatically find the optimal position.
Truly a deceptive ability when it comes to a sword.
That’s why when Cheon Woojin wielded Gram’s dagger, I didn’t know if my plan of ‘stabbing the mouth’ would work.
To stop the self-destructive Krut, you need to find and erase the magic that it’s about to explode before it goes out of control.
To do that, you have to insert the sword into the creature’s body to directly eliminate the magic. But it’s not as easy as it sounds.
Simply striking the surface will actually accelerate the magic explosion. You must insert the sword through the weakness in the lower abdomen, and even if successful, you must precisely target where the magic is manifested.
By doing so accurately, the anti-magic I infused into Gram’s dagger would erase the Krut’s self-destructive magic.
So, I thought that by combining Cheon Woojin’s “Curse of the Sword” gift with Icarus’s anti-magic, we could prevent the self-destructive Krut in advance. And surprisingly, my theory turned out to be correct.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Every time Cheon Woojin threw Gram’s dagger, it automatically found and inserted itself into the Krut’s magic about to explode, and my anti-magic cleanly erased it.
“This is really happening.”
Despite setting it up, I was dumbfounded by how easily it was achieved.
“Is this the protagonist’s buff? It’s seriously OP.”
My surprise was evident, and the reactions around me were explosive.
“Wow, this is amazing. How is he doing that?”
“He’s finding the Krut’s magic and precisely stabbing the dagger without a margin of error. Is it a detection-type gift?”
“Amazing…”
The outsiders couldn’t help but marvel at Cheon Woojin’s actions.
On the other hand, as the self-destructive Kruts were instantly neutralized, the terrorist Mine who attacked the main building, Jaor, took a step back in disbelief.
“This is unbelievable. How can he control magic explosion like that?”
As his belief crumbled, Jaor seemed to want to escape, looking around hesitantly.
However, he was soon surrounded by agents from the Eternity who had approached him and was led away. What happened next was obvious.
Cheon Woojin was hailed as a hero by the giants, while I quietly slipped away from the student square.
“Well, shall we go catch him?”
As I mentioned before, Jaor, who had terrorized the student square, was a Mine with abilities similar to Gu Junmyung. This guy also hid his ‘main body’ somewhere and acted in the front as a Mine.
So, show yourself confidently alone in the Student Square.
Anyway.
“You were here.”
Not far from the Student Square, near the wall. I smirked as I looked into the shade. There was a thicker darkness there than the shade. Magic was flowing from that darkness. It was such a faint magic that one couldn’t grasp it without seeing it firsthand.
– How did you know?
The startled darkness, Jaur, writhed.
“Too obvious. If you’re going to hide, shouldn’t you hide properly?”
Breathing at the wall of the Student Square. What a joke, it’s not like I’m controlling it right in front of me…
– Foolish. If you knew, you shouldn’t have come alone.
The darkness, taking on a human form, Jaur, enveloped me. I quietly accepted it. Soon, Jaur, which had been writhing around my body, stopped its movements abruptly. Then, a voice filled with astonishment followed.
“You, magic…”
“Why, did you think I had nothing to steal?”
“…”
I stabbed a blade of light towards the bewildered lad.
[Quest Clear: Save the Eternity Academy from the Mine’s Group Terror!]
▶Main Building (1/1)
▶Sando-dong (1/1)
▶Outer Escape Gate (1/1)
[A reward of 3000 SP is granted.]
…As the quest clear notification popped up, an experience bomb exploded just like during Gu Junmyeong’s time.