Boom!
Once again, a cannonball-like magic bullet struck the Bamboo Hat Elder.
This time, he was prepared and blocked it with his arm which was strengthened by energy, so there appeared to be no damage.
However, he couldn’t help but be pushed back by the impact.
“……!”
In the meantime, Kwak Seung-jae completed his spell.
He knew he would have lost his life if not for the sniper, and it was clear he was visibly shaken.
He flung open the wooden door and rushed inside.
“Grr……!”
The Bamboo Hat Elder gritted his teeth.
His eyes remained fixed on the wooden door.
If he could destroy the door connecting the two spaces, it would buy him time until Kwak Seung-jae who had crossed over created a new door.
His blood-red energy arms repeatedly sent out powerful blasts of energy waves.
Pa-pa-pa-pat!
Immediately, Dang Gyu-young knelt on one knee and touched the floor.
Shadows quickly spread from her and began to cover the ground in darkness. Suddenly, a large shadow wall rose up and collided with the energy wave.
“……!”
Bang!
A student council member with a shield filled the space where the shadow wall had vanished.
Bang!
The graduate with the ponytail took the place of the fallen student council member and extended her palms forward.
Bang—!
When the energy waves were blocked, the Bamboo Hat Elder tried to rush in and break the door himself, but another sniper shot made him hesitate.
He glared at those surrounding him and spat out his words.
“You damn bastards…!”
It’s over now.
Everyone had bought enough time for Kwak Seung-jae to call for reinforcements.
If he had properly connected the faculty office with this space, the teacher on duty would appear any moment now.
Sure enough, the half-open wooden door opened a bit more and a flash of light burst forth from it.
Then, as if by some unspoken agreement, everyone stopped in their tracks and lowered their gazes.
Dang Gyu-young, the shrewd-looking graduate, the ponytail graduate, the disciplinary committee members… and even the Bamboo Hat Elder.
At the end of their gaze, one of the Bamboo Hat Elder’s arms lay lifelessly on the ground.
Only then did he notice his empty shoulder and let out a scream.
“Arghhhh!!”
“Everyone, step back.”
At the low command, everyone distanced themselves from the Bamboo Hat Elder.
The wooden door opened wider and a man slowly stepped out.
The Bamboo Hat Elder’s face twitched incessantly when he confirmed the other party’s identity.
“The Human Butcher…!”
“It is me.”
The Human Butcher, Lee Soo-dok.
In his hand was a large cleaver-shaped sword.
With that sword, he had swiftly severed the Bamboo Hat Elder’s arm.
The Bamboo Hat Elder sneered and his face twisted in pain.
“A sneak attack from the famous Human Butcher. How disgraceful.”
“I don’t know what rumors you’ve heard, but I’m not the type to insist on a fair fight. And if there’s anything to blame, it should be your recklessness for crawling into enemy territory alone, rather than my ambush.”
Did you expect an honorable one-on-one duel after revealing yourself in the heart of Dungeon Island?
The Bamboo Hat Elder only gritted his teeth and was unable to respond.
Lee Soo-dok casually rested the large cleaver on his shoulder.
“I have many questions for you, so I won’t kill you. But it’s been a while since I’ve tasted the blood of a Blood Cultist.”
“……”
For a few seconds, the two men glared at each other.
Their figures seemed to blur simultaneously, and in the next instant, they clashed fiercely.
Boom!
Meanwhile, Dang Gyu-young struggled to climb to the rooftop and collapsed next to me.
“……”
Her body was covered in cuts and bruises, and blood continued to flow from her mouth and nose which meant she had suffered internal injuries.
I immediately took out a basic elixir from my inventory and opened the cap.
“Drink this.”
“……”
Dang Gyu-young who was too weak to lift her hand simply leaned forward.
I placed the elixir to her lips, and she gulped it down eagerly.
As the glass bottle emptied, Dang Gyu-young’s wounds healed rapidly and her expression gradually relaxed.
When her body was completely free of scratches, I removed the elixir and placed a candy in her mouth.
Dang Gyu-young mumbled with the candy in her mouth.
“Thanks. You’re generous, using the whole elixir.”
“When else would I use it if not now?”
She had risked her life to help me, so the elixir was not too precious to use.
Besides, it was given to me by Kim Gap-doo for this very purpose.
– I’m not giving this to you because I like you. Keep it with you, and use it if Dang Gyu-young ever gets into danger.
Toad senior, I’ve used it gratefully.
Dang Gyu-young drank the elixir and I poured the remaining drops onto my finger.
Because I had amplified the Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger to A-rank, my S-rank elemental resistance couldn’t completely nullify the penalty, leaving my index finger swollen and frostbitten.
However, when the elixir touched it, the swelling quickly subsided and my finger returned to normal.
When she saw this, Dang Gyu-young asked me.
“Did you use that just now? The Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger”
“I did, on that one.”
“He got noticeably weaker after that. I was able to hold on thanks to that.”
The cold infused with the Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger either completely drives out or incessantly torments the target until it’s entirely frozen.
Even the A-rank Blood Cult Elder had to allocate about half of his internal energy to fend off the cold.
From the opponent’s perspective, such a vicious suppression skill was rare.
At that moment, the death throes of “that one” echoed.
“Aaargh!”
Looking down, the battle seemed to be over.
The Bamboo Hat Elder lay sprawled over a pool of his own blood.
Even during the fierce battle, he had stubbornly kept the bamboo hat on. But now it had fallen off to reveal the disheveled blood-red hair that covered his face.
He had been mutilated to the point of barely clinging to life.
A faculty member is a faculty member after all.
Although the Blood Cult Elder was at a significant disadvantage, he was still a formidable opponent whom it took three graduates and three third-year students to barely hold off.
Yet Lee Soo-dok had single-handedly overpowered such a strong enemy in an instant. This only went to show the skill of a Dragon Slayer Academy faculty member.
Two more faculty members emerged through the wooden door.
They looked back and forth between Lee Soo-dok and the Blood Cult Elder with eyes wide with surprise.
“Oh? Teacher Lee, it’s already over?”
“It’s over.”
“Oh dear, sorry about that. We didn’t mean to leave everything to you. We’ll handle the cleanup.”
Lee Soo-dok nodded his head slightly as if to give a signal, and the faculty members began to skillfully manage the scene.
They ordered the disciplinary committee members gathered here to control the general students from approaching the scene and asked for help from the graduates who were wandering around.
Lee Soo-dok glanced at them briefly, showed no interest, then lifted his gaze upwards.
His fierce eyes turned towards us on the rooftop.
I couldn’t just stand there doing nothing when I met his gaze, so I quickly descended with Dang Gyu-young.
When we approached and bowed our heads, Lee Soo-dok turned with a smile and led the way to the wooden door.
“Follow me.”
“……”
We followed him into the faculty office.
All the faculty and staff on duty had gone to the downtown area, so we were the only ones there.
When the wooden door closed, it automatically vanished into the ground.
He walked to his seat, sat down, and then scrutinized us as he began to speak.
“Explain the circumstances from beginning to end in detail. There must not be a single lie.”
How did we end up engaging in a battle with the Blood Cult Elder?
Seeing that Lee Soo-dok’s gaze was fixed on me, it seemed he wanted to hear my explanation.
However, I couldn’t exactly say, “I changed the cipher and set a trap.”
So, as soon as I opened my mouth, I started to lie.
“I was wandering around with Senior Dang Gyu-young—”
“I said there must not be a single lie.”
Lee Soo-dok interrupted my words and warned me again.
Anyone else might have been intimidated and confessed everything under that piercing gaze, but I was not “anyone else” so I naturally deflected his gaze.
Shall I try one more time?
Perhaps it was because he knew Dang Gyu-young was the president of the thieves club that I got caught lying.
So this time, I mixed half-truths and half-lies.
Of course, I left out the part about the cipher.
“I was helping Senior Dang Gyu-young with the black market.”
“How were you helping?”
“By obstructing the disciplinary committee’s random checks and searches.”
“…”
“We were wandering around, and we saw someone wearing a bamboo hat, so we followed him.”
“You discovered him while wandering?”
“Yes, seeing a bamboo hat in the middle of the night was a bit odd.”
“…”
Lee Soo-dok stared intently at me.
I felt like he was trying to probe me in some way.
He soon averted his gaze from me and asked Dang Gyu-young.
“Is what Kim Ho said true?”
“Yes, it is.”
“You both keep lying. I warned you twice already.”
“…”
Dang Gyu-young sighed deeply as if she was resigned before she gave an answer mixed with half-truths, just like mine.
“It wasn’t something we saw while passing by, we saw it through a crystal ball.”
“…A crystal ball?”
In response to Lee Soo-dok’s question, Dang Gyu-young explained the existence of the control tower.
She said that the thieves club was using the vision of the crystal balls meant for security in the downtown area and exploiting it for the black market.
However, Lee Soo-dok didn’t take issue with that.
Right now, the violation of school rules wasn’t important; gathering any information about the Blood Cult was more important.
“You used your head well. Gather all the traces of that person recorded in the crystal ball and submit them. Then I’ll make an exception regarding the rule violation.”
“Understood, thank you.”
Dang Gyu-young bowed her head.
Lee Soo-dok then turned to me with another question.
“You followed the person wearing the bamboo hat because they seemed suspicious?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you report it?”
“As I mentioned, we were helping with black market activities, so we weren’t in a position to be forthright. Instead, we sought help from a senior graduate.”
Then, I explained that as soon as we confirmed it was a member of the Blood Cult, we used the signal flare meant for the disciplinary committee and the rest happened as you saw.
Lee Soo-dok seemed to think for a moment before slowly nodding his head.
“You may leave now.”
Lee Soo-dok had a skill.
[Truth or Lie (B)]
▷Determines the veracity of a response.
▷If a lie is detected, extracting the truth becomes easier.
▷Usable: (0/3 times)
▷Recharges every 3 days
When activated, it was a mental skill that determined if the other party was telling the truth or lying.
Despite the limitations of recharging every three days and a three-use cap, its effect was undeniable when it manifested.
It had significantly contributed to Lee Soo-dok’s investigations up until now.
However,
“I was wandering around with Senior Dang Gyu-young—”
[This is a ???]
When he used the skill on Kim Ho, a notification message full of question marks that indicated neither true nor false popped up.
Since this was the first time such a thing had happened, Lee Soo-dok couldn’t help but feel inwardly flustered.
What is this?
Of course, even though the skill failed, it wasn’t difficult for him to deduce that Kim Ho was lying.
There was the obvious fact that the black market was currently being held, so there was no way the president of the thieves’ club was merely strolling around the downtown area.
While listening to the continued explanation, he cast [Truth or Lie] again,
“You discovered him while wandering around?”
“Yes, seeing a bamboo hat in the middle of the night was a bit odd.”
[This is a ???]
Once again, a message full of question marks was displayed.
For a moment, Lee Soo-dok wondered if there was a problem with the skill.
So he asked Dang Gyu-young,
“Is what Kim Ho said true?”
“Yes.”
[This is a lie]
Judging by how he could immediately see through Dang Gyu-young’s lie, it seemed the skill didn’t work only on Kim Ho.
Lee Soo-dok pressed Dang Gyu-young and was able to find out that the thieves’ club was making use of the crystal balls in the downtown area.
After hearing the full details of the incident, he sent the two of them out of the faculty office.
Lee Soo-dok who was left alone in the office slowly went over everything again.
Although he grasped the overall picture, there were still suspicious parts here and there.
They discovered an Elder of the Blood Cult by chance?
Even if they had a much wider view with the crystal balls, would they have had the leisure to follow a suspicious-looking person in the midst of the busy black market?
It was clear they knew something more.
Another puzzling point was that the Elder of the Blood Cult was unexpectedly weak when he confronted him.
Even considering the combined skills of those present at the scene, they were far from capable of overpowering an A-rank fighter.
So why was he so weakened?
What increased Lee Soo-dok’s suspicion was what the Elder muttered to himself with his dying breath.
– If….only…! If it weren’t for…!
And his gaze momentarily shifted to the rooftop.
However, it seemed unlikely that he would hear the truth from Kim Ho’s mouth.
The skill didn’t work on him and he was only wasting precious charges. It probably wouldn’t work on him in the future either.
Seeing how he could lie without blinking an eye in front of him, he had nerves of steel.
Threatening him with a knife to his throat would likely yield the same result.
But I’ve got the end of the tail.
And until he uncovered what Kim Ho was hiding, Lee Soo-dok would keep a close watch on him.
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