Hunter Academy's Battle God

Hunter Academy’s Battle God

Chapter 23

Their surroundings changed as soon as the two entered the portal. Shin YuSung calmly scanned the environment.

‘No monsters in this area.’

A black fog obscured their field of view. The red moon in the sky seemed to exist as a part of the dungeon. Graves were scattered over the landscape, peeking out of the ground. The gloomy atmosphere made Sumire subconsciously grab onto Shin YuSung’s sleeve.

“Uuu… W-where do you think the boss is?”

Beep!

Almost as if answering her question, the Pocket on her wrist began to display a hologram.

[You have entered the dungeon.]

[Name—Graveyard of Despair]

[Details—Undead monsters haunt this location. The Knight of Death and the Immortal are locked into a never-ending fight in a bid for power.]

The Pocket stored items, of course, but it also displayed information about dungeons with a hologram—so long as it was one that had been recorded by the Association.

“The Knight of Death and the Immortal…”

Sumire muttered the titles of the bosses. Then, Shin YuSung opened his mouth to speak.

“The rules of this competition say that you just need to defeat one boss. It’s fine to go back after doing so.”

It was an obvious rule to implement, considering that the more bosses a dungeon had, the worse one’s record in the competition would be if they had to defeat all of them. The dungeons that the Association had prepared for the competition each had their own numbers of bosses, but they were surprisingly well balanced with each other.

The more bosses there were in a dungeon, the higher likelihood someone had of meeting one. Fewer bosses meant that there were fewer factors, resulting in a safer and more predictable dungeon. 

But Shin YuSung was not satisfied with just that.

‘One boss isn’t enough.’

It was a rare opportunity for a student to face off against a rank 4 boss monster. There was a small chance of an artifact dropping after defeating a boss, and there were a lot of cases where someone managed to get a Skill after facing off against one and improving their proficiency with their Trait. Because of this, a boss was nothing but a stepping stone on Shin YuSung’s goal to get stronger.

‘… I’ll defeat both bosses.’

Of course, that was easier said than done.

Their clear record had to be in the top four for Shin YuSung to receive the Black Dragon’s Hide from the Association as a prize. Thus, Shin YuSung was thinking of doing twice the work of the others while also reaching that ranking.

“Sumire. Get ready,” Shin YuSung stated, looking into the shadowed depths of the forest.

“Okay!”

Sumire took a stance with a nervous expression on her face.

Clop. Clop.

The crude sound of hooves hitting the ground rang out from the forest. Even though the graveyard was bathed in the red glow of the moon, not a single thing could be seen of the inside of the forest.

Clop. Clop.

The sound of hooves began to get closer. A skeletal horse emerged from the forest, blue lights swaying in place of its eyes.

“Th-that’s…”

Sumire pointed at the skeletal horse—to be more exact, above it. A knight wearing armor was riding atop it.

“A death knight!” she yelled, surprised.

The skeletal horse shook its head once and began to charge at Sumire.

“D… ie.”

The strange voice of the death knight.

A bone-chilling sound emanated from its head, which was nothing but a skull.

The skeletal horse ran at an incredible speed across the stone floor. Shin YuSung stood facing the death knight, waiting for an opportunity.

“D… ie!”

The death knight swung its sword, momentum gathered in its blade.

The force of the blade, containing the power of the skeletal horse’s charge, was almost like a Skill in and of itself.

‘It’s slow.’

Shin YuSung twisted his body to the side to dodge the blade. Even the horse, charging at incredible speeds, seemed slow to him when he was concentrating.

‘There.’

Shin YuSung reached into a gap in the armor with his hand, grabbed the bones, and threw the knight onto the ground.

It was a reckless action to perform, considering the speed at which the skeletal horse was running. But Shin YuSung, who had been trained by the Fist King, had managed to actually do it.

Bam!

The death knight was sprawled onto the ground, and the skeletal knight had lost its owner. Shin YuSung could have crushed the monster’s bones but refrained from doing so.

“Sumire.”

“Got it!”

The undead were precious manpower so long as Sumire was at his side.

Flash!

[Call forth the Undead]

A purple light shone from Sumire’s hand. The death knight stopped moving, as if answering her call.

It was uncertain whose voice came from Sumire’s death knight, but it seemed like it was in a fairly high position among the undead.

“I will now serve you.”

The death knight got down on one knee.

Even the skeletal horse bowed its neck. Sumire watched all of this happen with a shocked expression.

“Sh-Shin YuSung-ssi! I did it!” she belatedly shouted with childlike glee.

The fact that her Skill worked against a death knight meant that, despite her Trait being F-rank, her proficiency with it was high; it also meant that she had a large pool of mana. 

Shin YuSung smiled at Sumire’s happy expression.

“Sumire. Ask it where the Dullahan is.”

“Right, right, right! Um, death knight-nim. Can you tell me where the Dullahan might be…”

The Dullahan.

A headless death knight with the strongest swordsmanship among its kind, it was one of the boss monsters residing in the graveyard.

But the boss of the death knight was not currently the Dullahan, but Sumire.

“…The Dullahan will soon appear from the mist forest.”

As the monster replied with the location of the boss, Shin YuSung began to relay the plan that had been created in advance to his partner.

“Sumire. Follow the plan.”

“Okay!”

Nodding, she took out a strand of Shin YuSung’s hair that she had carefully stored in her Pocket.

Sumire and Shin YuSung.

Their dungeon raid was going smoothly.

* * *

* * *

The branch manager of the Academy City branch of the Hunter Association, Mei Lin, carefully monitored the Graveyard of Despair with a drone camera.

She was quite a busy person, but she thought that the student that both Kang YuChan and the Fist King were keeping an eye on warranted at least this much of her time.

“…But they split up the party when there are only two people in it?”

Shin YuSung headed off in one direction, and Sumire built her troops through the skeleton that she had summoned with Shin YuSung’s hair and the death knight. They had decided to act separately when both bosses were strong enough that even their powers combined might not be enough to beat them.

This was behavior that she could at least understand from someone like Adela, who had chosen to be a one-man group, but Mei Lin had no idea why Shin YuSung and Sumire had decided to split up.

“Ah! Don’t tell me?”

Mei Lin called out to Ju HimChan, who was monitoring the Chinese team next to her.

“Excuse me, do you know how many bosses are in the Graveyard of Despair?”

Ju HimChan energetically replied to her question.

“Of course I do! The Graveyard has two! The Astella Ice Castle has one! And…”

“Stop. That’s enough, thank you. You said there were two, right?”

Mei Lin cut Ju HimChan off and went back to watching the monitor. This was something that no other student had succeeded in doing before.

‘So they definitely are…’

Mei Lin had figured out what Shin YuSung was thinking.

‘…But will it be possible? The teams participating this time are…’

Mei Lin shifted her gaze to the other monitors, a serious expression on her face. Her eyes landed on the monitor showing the exploits of the team from China.

* * * *

[The Moonlit Holy Land]

It was a beautiful dungeon where moonlight shone onto the green prairie, even during the day. 

Han SeolAh, a Korean who was a member of the Chinese team, threw a spear, she smirked.

“This is the 98th.”

Shunk!

The spear stabbed itself into the body of the moonlight wolf, a species whose fur reflected its namesake. The grass was dyed red in the blood of these wolves.

Vween!

Mana gathered in Han SeolAh’s hand and formed into the shape of a bow and arrow. It was the power of her Trait, [Weapon Materialization].

Whoosh! Snk!

“99.”

Han SeolAh managed to pierce through the moonlight wolf’s body again with the arrow. The last one was left to Liú Jùn.

Slash!

A perfect strike, one that could barely be followed with human eyes.

The body of the moonlight wolf split in half in front of Liú Jùn. Han SeolAh looked up at the moon in the sky.

“This is the 100th one. The guardian of the Holy Land will finally…”

The moon shining down on the prairie suddenly became covered by something. Like an eclipse, the moon lighting up the dungeon had disappeared. Han SeolAh continued to talk while looking at the darkening sky without a single hint of fear.

“The boss isn’t appearing. It’s just getting dark! Was the info from the Pocket wr—”

Shhk!

Han SeulAh heard a terrifying sound next to her ear. It was the sound of something sharp cutting through the air.

“Huh!?”

Surprised, she threw her body backward. But it was too late.

Slice!

The sharp claws of the beast tore into Han SeolAh’s arm, reducing it to a ragged mess.

“Argh! Kh…”

Only then did Han SeolAh back up, putting distance between her and the monster.

“Grrr, growl…”

Harsh breathing could be heard in front of her.

As light slowly shone back again on the land, the identity of the beast was revealed.

A werewolf.

A monster that looked like the combination of man and wolf. Han SeolAh gritted her teeth and gripped her bleeding arm.

“Ugh, m-my arm…”

Wounded on the arm she used for combat, Han SeolAh was more or less taken out of the fight.

Liú Jùn coldly looked down at Han SeolAh.

“…Move aside.”

Han SeolAh flinched at Liú Jùn’s frigid tone. He did not forgive anyone who got in his way—not even his teammates.

Han SeolAh shut her mouth and stepped back. As she did so, Liú Jùn faced the werewolf with his sword at the ready.

A monster with the freedom of movement of a human and the physical capabilities of an animal.

“Grrr… Roar!”

The drooling werewolf ran towards Liú Jùn. The boy’s body disappeared in an instant.

Slice!

The arms…

Slice!

The back…

Slice!

The legs…

A split-second.

The werewolf’s body was shredded under Liú Jùn’s sword. It was the power of the Trait, [Acceleration], said to be the best even among its fellow S-rank Traits. On top of that, he was a monster who had inherited the techniques of the Sword God.

Liú Jùn cut the werewolf into pieces in a show of the overwhelming gap in their skill.

The fur of the werewolf was one that hardened to be as tough as steel under the moonlight of the Holy Land, but all of that was meaningless.

Liú Jùn’s own speed was several times faster than the werewolf’s.

‘He really is a monster…’

This was what Han SeolAh thought while looking at Liú Jùn.

She found it hard to believe that there would be anyone who would be a match for Liú Jùn, even if one scoured through every academy on the planet.

“Grr, grrrr…”

The werewolf, arm cut off and blood flowing freely from it, took in a deep breath. Liú Jùn stared at the werewolf with emotionless eyes.

Snk!

Liú Jùn swung his sword, imbued with mana. The werewolf’s head fell onto the ground, and the moonlight shattered.

Vm.

Liú Jùn sheathed his blade and walked towards the portal.

Stomp, stomp. Stop. 

He stopped right next to Han SeolAh. He began to speak without even throwing a glance towards her.

“We’re going back.”

Frustrated with her own mistake, Han SeolAh nodded with a miserable expression on her face. 

The Sword God of Skyscraper Academy, Liú Jùn.

The Chinese team was first place in the rankings.

____

____