Even at that very moment, the glowing hammers continued to multiply.
Perhaps deciding they couldn’t afford to give him any more time, one of the Black Faction swordsmen struck first.
He lunged forward at a fierce speed, thrusting his sword.
The others immediately reacted and followed up.
Slaaash!
Just as I was about to be slashed and pierced all over—
Oh Se-hoon’s figure suddenly vanished, then reappeared midair and dropped straight down.
Baaaang!
One of the swordsmen was crushed beneath him, and the resulting shockwave threw everyone off balance.
The moment he landed, Oh Se-hoon rushed at his next target and knocked his head.
He hurled a hammer and knocked down another one.
Then he gathered light into his empty hand to form a broad shield, which he swung to meet an incoming sword strike.
Thud—!
Unable to withstand the rebound, the swordsman staggered backward.
The shield of light floated after him, sticking close.
Then, in a blinding flash, it exploded.
Booom!
It was like a wolf leaping into a flock of sheep.
Most of them were second or third-years and should have been mid-to-high tier in duel battle combat, yet none could handle Oh Se-hoon. They fell one by one.
His specs were already impressive, but it was his skill in handling and control of abilities and traits that went far beyond student level.
Reaching A-rank is only a matter of time. Maybe even S-rank isn’t out of reach.
Thinking that, I leaned subtly to the side.
Whoosh!
Mak Dae-wong’s greatsword barely missed me.
Keeping my movement steady, I casually repeated the question I’d asked earlier.
“Feeling confident now?”
“You bastard…!”
Just a moment ago, he had been full of confidence, relying on their numerical advantage. But now, he was suddenly forced into a one-on-one fight.
It was because the rest of his group had broken off to deal with Oh Se-hoon.
Even so, Mak Dae-wong continued his aggressive assault.
“You think I can’t take down someone like you?”
“Well, I just can’t picture myself getting caught.”
“Then let me paint you a picture!”
Revving up his momentum, he launched a flurry of slashes with his greatsword.
He moved so fast it created the illusion of multiple copies of himself.
It was an impressive technique worthy of a top second-year student. But to my eyes, it didn’t amount to much.
Maybe it looked even worse because I’d just seen Oh Se-hoon in action.
Nothing more to see here.
I slipped into the gap between his storm of attacks, and with my index finger frozen solid, I pointed directly at Mak Dae-wong.
A cold streak of energy shot forward.
[Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger]
[Chain Explosion]
Boom-boom!
A series of blue explosions erupted, and Mak Dae-wong was instantly covered in ice.
The cold seeped into his meridians, drastically slowing his movements.
Only then, as if realizing something, his eyes widened.
“That technique… No way, you’re—”
I passed right by him without answering.
There was no reason to respond, and helping Dang Gyu-young took priority over trading words.
Slash slash slash!
She was holding her own against a joint attack from three Black Faction swordsmen.
It wasn’t extremely dangerous, but since she couldn’t use her main shadow-type skills, she was having trouble gaining the upper hand.
To tip the balance, I aimed a finger at one of them and fired another finger technique.
Despite the sudden ambush, the Black Faction swordsman skillfully adjusted his blade to block it.
But his attempt at defense was in vain as the ice exploded on contact.
Boom!
The freezing energy spread rapidly, slowing his movements. And in the next moment, Ham-Qyu’s hammer smashed down on his head.
Crack!
What had been an even fight at three against one quickly tilted once it became two-on-two.
We took down the remaining two in quick succession, using similar tactics.
Dang Gyu-young casually tossed her glowing hammer aside.
“The feel’s not too bad, but I still think the bat suits me better.”
“That makes sense.”
I nodded and turned my gaze back toward Oh Se-hoon. He was also wrapping things up.
Thud!
A swordsman went flying after taking a hit from a glowing shield, and one of the nearby hammers followed up, slamming down for the finishing blow.
The rest were sprawled out all over, twitching and groaning like discarded trash.
Among them, a second-year Black Faction member lay flat on his back, muttering,
“So this is how it ends… I thought we were thoroughly prepared, but I guess we were no match for the Disciplinary Committee’s stronghold.”
At that, Oh Se-hoon gave a small smile and raised one arm.
His sleeve had been torn, probably from a sword strike.
“You fought well. I’d appreciate it if you used those skills for something better from now on.”
“……”
The Black Faction student didn’t respond to that.
Instead, he slowly turned his head to look at me.
“…Inferno Fist. We’ll meet again.”
“Anytime.”
I replied nonchalantly.
We’ve clashed more than once already. Of course we’ll see each other again next year.
Just then, reports from other Disciplinary Committee members came through the communicator.
– Ballista Number One has been dealt with. We’re bringing them all in.
– Temporary storage site has been secured. Please open the gate.
We’d heard they were struggling against a strong opponent from the Black Faction, but with the ballista support cut off, it seems they finally managed to subdue them.
All that remained were Hwang Dam-bi and the archery club members, blankly looking down at us from the rooftop of the building.
They must have witnessed everything we’d just been informed of with their own eyes.
Even so, perhaps out of pride, they still had their ballistas aimed at us.
A slightly awkward smile appeared on Oh Se-hoon’s lips.
“Well, if you insist on taking this to the end…”
Then, as he raised one hand, the hammers that had been floating in the air suddenly shot upward and merged into one.
The night sky lit up like midday for a brief moment,
Fwoosh!
What formed was a hammer the size of a house.
If it dropped, the building would probably collapse instantly.
“……”
Hwang Dam-bi and the club members quietly put their ballistas away.
***
The next day.
News of the fourth infiltration attempt on the temporary storage site spread throughout Dragon Slayer Academy.
A crushing victory for the Disciplinary Committee.
Not a single person made it into the storage site, and not even a minor prohibited item was stolen.
Thanks to that, they were able to recover much of the reputation they had lost from previous failures.
The Black Faction and the archery club, on the other hand, were in the opposite situation.
Since they were large groups with plenty of skilled members, many had expected them to achieve something.
But with every single one of them getting caught, those expectations ended in disappointment.
They’d completely lost face.
“The penalties are probably no joke.”
Dang Gyu-young spoke as we walked side by side.
The Disciplinary Committee had kept the details under wraps, but with her experience as a thieves club president, she could make some guesses.
“Penalty points and disciplinary actions are a given. On top of that, they’ll have to pay for everything….damages, injuries, item usage. The club itself will probably get hit with penalties too.”
“The swordsmanship club must be feeling pretty wronged.”
They were all going to suffer because one faction had acted on its own.
Dang Gyu-young shrugged.
“They’re not completely innocent either, though. They couldn’t keep their members in check. But then again, would those guys even listen if someone tried?”
“My kids don’t listen worth a damn either.”
As someone who was also in a position of leading a group, it seemed she could relate.
“Sho-sho noona is having a rough time all the way to the end.”
“Mhmm, she’s probably breathing fire right about now. Might even be doing a sword dance.”
For some reason, the image of an enraged raccoon hopping up and down came to mind.
One thing was certain: from now on, the Black Faction’s influence within the swordsmanship club would be significantly reduced.
With final exams included, things would probably stay quiet for a while.
As we kept walking while continuing to badmouth the Black Faction, we soon arrived at our meeting spot with the Disciplinary Committee.
When we went inside, Kwak Seung-jae and Oh Se-hoon who had been waiting each spoke up.
“You’ve arrived.”
“I’ll say it again. Good work.”
In a friendlier atmosphere than usual, Oh Se-hoon took out a black booklet and showed it to us.
“So, time to wrap up the deal, right?”
“Sure.”
Dang Gyu-young nodded without hesitation.
The Disciplinary Committee was to provide the necromancer grimoire, while our side would hand over the method for bypassing the ban wave.
If the operation had failed, we would have disclosed it as part of taking responsibility, but since it had succeeded perfectly, the deal was back on.
“…….”
Dang Gyu-young exchanged a final glance with me, and we nodded at the same time.
Then she placed a green box onto the table with a thud.
It was the [Cube of Life] we’d gotten back from Hwang Dam-bi after the loan period ended.
“This is it.”
“……!”
Apparently having not expected the item at all, Kwak Seung-jae’s impassive expression twitched.
Oh Se-hoon’s half-lidded eyes curved in a sly way as well, but he quickly composed himself and spoke.
“I’ll check it.”
“Do as you like.”
At Oh Se-hoon’s signal, Kwak Seung-jae pulled out a handheld device that looked like a barcode scanner.
It was an item that served a similar role to the ban wave, reacting with a red light if a prohibited item was detected.
He soon placed the necromancer grimoire into the Cube of Life and activated the device, but—
Wooong—
There was no reaction at all.
When he took out the grimoire and activated it, a red glow finally appeared, meaning the device itself was functioning perfectly fine.
The verification continued.
They alternated between inserting various prohibited items and even tried putting several in at once.
Woooom—
The conclusion was that, one way or another, as long as the item was placed inside the cube, the device simply wouldn’t react.
Oh Se-hoon stroked his chin with interest.
“Looks like the ban wave gets blocked by life-aspected energy.”
“Something like that.”
“This feels like something that should be reported up the higher-ups. Mind if we borrow it?”
“Talk to the owner about it.”
Dang Gyu-young added that we’d borrowed it ourselves in the first place.
Kwak Seung-jae asked to confirm.
“First-year Park Na-ri, correct?”
“Yeah, that’s her.”
“I’ll try contacting her.”
Whether the loan period could be extended, however, was rather uncertain.
It wasn’t an item that was easily lent out to begin with, and several days had already passed since it was borrowed.
The villa’s owners Bum and Chammy were probably already furious. Could they really handle provoking even more anger?
Not our problem.
The deal was strictly about providing the “method”.
How the Disciplinary Committee coordinated with the Mother Nature Club, how they would handle the Cube of Life going forward, and how they would modify the ban wave were all matters for the committee and the academic administration to figure out.
Oh Se-hoon seemed to be thinking along the same lines as he handed the necromancer grimoire back to us.
“Thanks. We’ll take care of the rest.”
“Mhmm, make good use of it.”
Dang Gyu-young replied, clearly satisfied.
That seemed to wrap up our business for now, but Kwak Seung-jae looked at me as if he still had something to say.
“I’m curious….how did you figure out the connection between the cube and the ban wave?”
“It was pure coincidence.”
It had been a hidden piece discovered that way in the first place.
Still, it didn’t seem to be a sufficient explanation.
“You were also the one who completed the Cube of Life first, weren’t you? You matched the 10×10×10 blueprint that was thought to be impossible. Did you know everything from the start?”
“It was just random knowledge.”
“I’m not sure whether information of that caliber should be dismissed as mere random knowledge… but this makes things even clearer.”
As Kwak Seung-jae’s expression stiffened noticeably, the atmosphere in the room grew heavier.
In that state, he opened his mouth as if making a declaration.
“The reason I arranged this meeting today wasn’t only to wrap up the deal, but also because there was something I absolutely needed to say.”
“……”
He looked straight at me and spoke.
“Kim Ho, join the Disciplinary Committee.”
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