Chapter 541: Stronghold Part 1

Late at night.

The downtown area.

Hwang Dam-bi stood on the rooftop of a tall building, gazing off into the distance.

At the edge of her line of sight was one of the two temporary storage sites and the disciplinary committee members standing guard.

Mak Dae-wong who had been looking in the same direction curled his lips into a smirk.

“Even with all that security, that’s the best they can do? The disciplinary committee’s reputation isn’t what it used to be. We could wipe them out with ease.”

“…….”

Hwang Dam-bi didn’t agree with that remark, but she didn’t bother to refute it either.

Though they were temporarily on the same side, she didn’t like him personally. Unless it was necessary, she had no intention of making conversation.

The rebuttal came from somewhere else.

“I’ve told you over and over not to overestimate your own abilities.”

Mak Dae-wong scowled and turned his head toward the shadowed corner behind him.

He spoke to the figure standing there in the darkness.

“What’s wrong with being confident before a big job?”

“Too much confidence can be dangerous. You need to stay objective.”

“Are you trying to say our skills fall short of the disciplinary committee’s?”

“I’m saying don’t forget the true purpose.”

“…….”

The two men silently stared each other down for a while.

Then Mak Dae-wong let out a short laugh and backed off.

“……Of course I haven’t forgotten. That was just talk about wiping them out.”

“The disciplinary committee’s stronghold is more solid than you think. It wasn’t built in a day, and the idea of toppling it in one blow is pure arrogance.”

“Fair enough. I understand this operation is just the opening move.”

“Thanks to the thieves, a crack has formed. All we have to do is widen it.”

Only the Black Faction and the Archery Club had taken action so far, but no doubt the other clubs were watching closely.

Their goal, then, was to demonstrate the possibility.

What if just two clubs could unite and pull off a half-success?

Then what if three clubs joined forces? Or four?

The more the odds of success became visible, the more clubs would start to join in.

And then, even the disciplinary committee wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

They’d have no choice but to step down from their top position.

The Swordsmanship Club is more than qualified to take that vacant spot.

If that happened, the Black Faction which had led the charge and claimed the biggest achievements would gain tremendous influence.

The same would go for Mak Dae-wong himself.

He’d finally get the satisfaction of striking back at those he’d always found insufferable.

With that, Mak Dae-wong wiped the sly grin off his face and said,

“Let’s get started.”

“……”

Hwang Dam-bi responded with a slight nod of her chin, then laid down the guitar-case-like bag she had been carrying on her back.

When she opened the cover and began manipulating it here and there—

Clack.

A tower-like machine, entirely mechanical, rose taller than a person and unfolded like a fan.

It was a siege weapon. The ballista.

Hwang Dam-bi positioned herself at its center and began finely adjusting the angle, factoring in the distance to the target, elevation, wind speed and direction, and more.

At the same time, the other archers conjured arrows of magical energy and loaded them onto the string.

Due to the overlapping of various skills and traits, the arrows were as thick and long as actual pillars.

Once Hwang Dam-bi completed her final adjustments, she drew the bowstring…and released it.

Thung—!

Right after, she drew the string again and let go.

The other members coordinated perfectly, loading new magic arrows each time.

A relentless barrage followed.

Thung—! Thung—! Thung—! Thung—!

After pouring down arrows like a storm, Hwang Dam-bi suddenly stopped and began folding the ballista back up.

“We’re moving.”

***

Boom—! Boom-Booom—!

The bombardment rained down like a thunderstorm.

Some struck the temporary storage building; others landed on the disciplinary members stationed nearby.

Boom—!

Third-year Kang Dae-san had to constantly step and shift, half-raising his tower shield as he moved.

“This is absolutely chaotic.”

The ballista’s destructive power was far beyond what any single person could withstand.

Even as a third-year knight-class student, it would take considerable preparation and overlapping defense skills just to have a chance at enduring it.

But staying rooted in one spot defeated the whole purpose of standing guard. So he had no choice but to abandon blocking and focus on dodging like mad.

Who knows how long he’d danced an unwanted tap dance?

Eventually, the downpour of arrows stopped.

Only then did he check the temporary storage facility and found all the layered defense and alarm spells completely shattered.

Some of the disciplinary committee members hadn’t been able to dodge in time and suffered various injuries, some minor, some severe.

In a flat tone, Kang Dae-san remarked,

“They’ll be coming in soon.”

“Most likely.”

Another third-year member slung the Hell Axe over his shoulder as he responded.

And just as expected, the two of them turned their eyes in unison toward a certain spot.

There, a single girl stood.

She wore all-black combat robes with a face-covering mask, and a conical hat rested on her head. In her hand hung a long black sword.

Around her, similarly dressed swordsmen landed on either side.

Kang Dae-san and the Hell Axe student exchanged a few dry comments.

“They think we won’t recognize them just because of that getup?”

“Probably just trying to get into the mood for once.”

“Yeah, it’s not often they get a chance to wear their fancy clothes.”

Despite the taunting tone, the girl said nothing in return.

She simply raised the sword that had been hanging loosely at her side and pointed it straight at them.

Shhh—

With the sound of garments rustling, the black-clad swordsmen charged forward.

The disciplinary members had already regrouped into formation.

At the center, Kang Dae-san boldly slammed his tower shield into the ground.

Bang!

“Come.”

***

Thud… rumble rumble…

The sound of bombardment reached us from afar, and Dang Gyu-young and I exchanged glances.

“Looks like it’s started.”

“Mhmm, time to get moving.”

We were fully prepared and ready to go.

Each of us wore a communicator in one ear so that when Chae Da-bin, Oh Se-hoon, or any of the disciplinary members pinpointed the location of a ballista, they could immediately share it with us and we could regroup.

We also wore small, finger-sized totems around our necks.

They were [Totems of Disguise], meant to hide the fact that Inferno Fist and the Thieves’ Club were involved.

Boom-boom…

As we moved quickly, the sound of bombardment gradually died down.

It seemed they were relocating to minimize the risk of being detected.

I threw a light question to Dang Gyu-young.

“Where should we head?”

“Hmm… I’ve got a feeling it’s this way today.”

“Sounds good.”

Since Chae Da-bin was already on the move, it was only a matter of time before we found them.

If we were lucky enough to find them first, great. If not, that was fine too.

Dang Gyu-young grinned and asked,

“Isn’t Seo Ye-in good at this kind of thing? Like guessing and getting it right?”

“She’s practically psychic.”

“Should we have brought her?”

“I did think about it, but relying on her too much wouldn’t be a good habit.”

It’s something we can handle even without our lucky radar.

And to be honest, Seo Ye-in’s skills aren’t quite up to the level needed to contribute here.

This is a battlefield where second- and third-year disciplinary members, along with the swordsmanship and archery clubs, are running wild.

Rather than dragging her into it, I figured it was better to let her rest.

Dang Gyu-young nodded as if to say I had a point, then added,

“Oh! Speaking of which, she’s coming with us to the main house too.”

“And what prompted such a generous decision from you?”

“Hey, I’ve always been a big-hearted woman!”

“But you were really looking forward to just the two of us hanging out.”

“Honestly, yeah, I’m a little bummed.”

Dang Gyu-young’s tone turned a bit more serious.

“…But I get where she’s coming from. I mean, how much must she hate being apart from you to go that far?”

“……”

“And on the flip side, I think if I’d seriously asked her, she would’ve said yes. That’s why I’m bringing her along.”

I slowly nodded.

“I’m glad to see things are going well between you two.”

“We actually talk things out. Don’t just go throwing more people into the mix.”

“Should I just fill up a bus?”

“Kim Ho, you see this?”

Dang Gyu-young asked in a mock-gentle tone as she pretended to tug something hard from both sides in the air.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Your future cheeks.”

“So that’s what happens when you just throw people in at random?”

“That’s right, you little punk.”

Dang Gyu-young glared at me with narrowed eyes.

I met her gaze and tossed back a playful remark.

“Is there some kind of cut-off line?”

“Cut-off line? Hmm, never really thought about it.”

She paused for a moment, then pointed at the totems hanging from both our necks.

“Even with stuff like this disguising you, I have to be able to tell right away.”

“Not easy.”

“But I did it, didn’t I?”

“You did.”

The first time I borrowed the [Totem of Disguise] was when the Witch of Corruption was wreaking havoc in Dungeon Street, and Dang Gyu-young had seen through me at a glance and struck up a conversation.

She seemed to recall it now, puffing up with pride as she continued.

“You’ve gotta be at that level for me to really acknowledge you.”

“Didn’t Sho-sho noona recognize me too?”

“She didn’t figure it out at first!”

We were still exchanging banter as we moved along when I spotted a familiar head of light brown hair ahead.

Song Cheon-hye.

She looked a little out of place for tonight’s atmosphere. Probably because her role wasn’t all that important.

First-years, after all, don’t have the skills to be directly involved in combat, and it’s also tricky to assign them to the ballista search teams.

They usually get caught when they try to tail someone.

Seems like both Kwak Seung-jae and Oh Se-hoon are aware of that too.

Still, they couldn’t just leave a club member idle during such a critical time, so she was assigned to patrol various spots.

Just in case. Even for the smallest variable.

Anyway, do your best.

As I passed by, silently cheering her on, Song Cheon-hye’s eyes turned toward us.

She stared intently as if noticing something, then flinched and shouted in surprise.

“Hey! Wait a second!”

Of course, there was no reason to stop just because someone called out, so we kept moving and slipped away.

As we did, I asked Dang Gyu-young a question.

“Pretty sure she figured it out. In one go.”

“What do you mean, figured it out? She just called out because she was suspicious.”

But then, like a nail being driven in, the messages came flying.

[Song Cheon-hye: That was you just now, right?]

[Song Cheon-hye: I knew it was you.]

[Song Cheon-hye: What are you doing here?]

[Song Cheon-hye: (Suspicious hedgehog emoji)]

“…Did she pass the cut-off line?”

“Hey, hey! No way. This isn’t right. The totem must be broken. I’m taking this up with Oh Se-hoon.”

“What’s the president got to do with it? We borrowed it from above.”

“I’m telling you, this just makes no sense.”

“Haha, it’s not good to keep contradicting yourself like this. Choo-choo~ here comes the Kim Ho bus~”

“Silence! Can you not park that thing?!”

But the bickering didn’t last long.

As if on cue, we both went quiet, our expressions turning serious.

Near a building a short distance away, several human silhouettes came into view.

Dang Gyu-young lowered her voice and whispered.

“…That’s them, right?”

“Looks like it.”

“Should I call the others?”

She reached for the communicator, ready to contact the disciplinary committee at any moment.

I thought for a second, then said,

“They’ll probably move before we can regroup.”

“So what now?”

“Let’s hit them once.”

I raised a clenched fist, and Dang Gyu-young seemed to pick up on what I was planning.

We cloaked ourselves in shadow to enhance our stealth, then moved in on the dark silhouettes.

“!”

One of them sensed something was off and snapped their eyes open. But by then, a black-flaming fist was already flying.

Whooooooooooooooosh—!

A storm of flames surged toward the enemies.