I Entered an Academy in a Ruined Game

Chapter 193 : Recovery Unit (3)

"Execution! No, annihilation! Annihilation! I'll create rivers with your blood!"

With Kwak Hyeok-jung's cry, dozens of massive iron chains simultaneously struck and bound the squad members.

"Kuuugh!"

"Aaaagh!"

Crunch.

The squad members cried out in pain as the chains tightened, squeezing their muscles and threatening to break their bones.

"Damn it! Rookie!"

"Yes!"

Su-hyeon and Jo Sujin's slashes cut through the chains.

"Everyone fall back! Don't approach carelessly!"

Jo Sujin shouted.

"Only those who can attack from long range should remain!"

No sooner had she finished speaking.

Whoosh!

Flickering sulfur fire rushed toward the squad members.

'Damn it!'

Hwang Ji-su drew out her remaining mana to create an ice wall, but it wasn't enough.

Hiss!

Just before being engulfed by the sulfur fire that invaded the ice wall, creating steam as thick as fog.

Whoosh!

Thanks to the wind raised by Jo Sujin and the intervention of some 3rd Unit members, the squad members were able to retreat in time.

"Whew, I almost became barbecued pork."

The 1st Unit members, who had calmed their nerves, looked at Jo Sujin with concerned eyes.

"Senior Squad Leader! Will you be alright?"

"You're the ones who aren't looking good! Fall back and stand by!"

Although they had successfully dealt with most of the Recovery Unit.

Most of the squad members who had to directly face the intense offensive from the Recovery Unit and Kwak Hyeok-jung had suffered injuries of varying degrees, greatly diminishing their combat ability.

'Damn, how much mana does he have to still be rampaging like that?'

Hwang Ji-su bit her lip as she tried to gather cold air directly to freeze Kwak Hyeok-jung, but.

'It's not working after all!'

The air, heated by the radiant heat from the sulfur fire, made even that difficult.

'Terrible heat. How is he enduring in there?'

It was so powerful that the heat could be felt even from a distance.

Hwang Ji-su worried that her flesh might cook even from afar, as if she were standing in front of a forest fire.

Hiss!

Eventually, the sulfur fire melted the steel reinforcement bars as it fluctuated.

Rumble!

The buildings that had been standing around Kwak Hyeok-jung began to collapse.

"Hahaha."

The magical energy surrounding the maniacally laughing Kwak Hyeok-jung took on a distinct form and flickered ominously.

'Literally a disaster, calamity, catastrophe.'

Hwang Ji-su bit her lip.

At this moment, the power of Kwak Hyeok-jung, who was burning all his potential, had arguably surpassed the S-rank threshold, or at least was pounding on it.

In the face of this overwhelming power that was difficult to resist.

"Calm down."

Su-hyeon's arm wrapped around Hwang Ji-su's shoulder.

"...!"

That touch stopped Hwang Ji-su's thoughts.

"If you're overwhelmed, it's all over."

"...Right."

His voice helped strengthen her will that had almost weakened.

"Are you okay?"

Not 'Are you alright?' or 'Don't push yourself.'

Hwang Ji-su smiled, understanding Su-hyeon's meaning—that he was confident she wouldn't crumble at something like this.

"Of course."

At this point, Hwang Ji-su's noble pride wouldn't allow her to even consider retreat or hesitation.

"Let's go."

"Wait."

Su-hyeon grabbed Hwang Ji-su's arm.

"What?"

Pale complexion.

Mana that was on the verge of depletion.

Muscles that were cramping.

Seeing her condition, Su-hyeon undid his bracelet.

"...?"

A bracelet identical to Kwon Seung-yeon's.

Something that had been bothering her, though she hadn't dared to ask about it.

"Think of it as a backup battery. If you wear this, you should be able to recover your mana to some extent."

Hwang Ji-su, looking at Su-hyeon's profile as he directly fastened the bracelet for her, laughed with a "Ha."

"You're quite the provider."

"Just doing what I can."

"I won't refuse."

Hwang Ji-su's heart beat a little faster at the strange emotion, the peculiar sensation.

'How annoying. He is good-looking.'

Hwang Ji-su snickered at herself for having such thoughts so calmly in this situation.

"Hey, you made me lose all my tension."

"That's good."

"Hmph."

The cold air that Hwang Ji-su enveloped Su-hyeon with.

"With this, you should be able to move to some extent even in the middle of that sulfur fire."

"Thank you."

"Ride this."

Growl.

An ice wolf that appeared in midair offered its back to Su-hyeon.

"An ice wolf rider. Quite cool, isn't it?"

Su-hyeon smiled.

"Let's go then!"

Su-hyeon rushed forward.

'Mana is filling up. With this, I can do it.'

Though smaller than usual, an ice dragon created with excellent completion flew ahead of Su-hyeon.

HISS!

The ice dragon heroically burned up after throwing itself through the barrier of sulfur fire.

'Keep going!'

Hwang Ji-su created ice lances on the ground and a shower of ice spikes in the sky, opening a path for Su-hyeon's advance.

"Hehe, look at those little ones."

Jo Sujin smiled as she watched.

"Has the academy curriculum improved these days? Not just one, but two of them flying around like that."

"Senior Squad Leader Jo!"

Squad Leader Park approached her.

"I'll cover you!"

"Squad Leader Park! Can you handle it?"

"If I don't do it, who will?"

"Kuh. You're so reliable."

The powerful mana buster shot by Park Eunsung cut through the sulfur fire, opening a path.

"Let's go too!"

Jo Sujin, who had summoned the power of sylph and undine, creating a barrier of wind and water to protect herself, flew along that path.

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"...That place is hell."

Squad Leader Park Eunsung, who had been watching Jo Sujin and Su-hyeon fighting a Ma-in with destructive power amidst high-temperature sulfur fire that even collapsed concrete buildings, while protecting themselves with their comrades' cover, shifted his gaze to Hwang Ji-su.

'Our rookie, that one is quite good too.'

Ice manipulators themselves aren't extremely rare.

But awakened ones who show that level of output, application, and operational sense are truly hard to find.

But more than anything.

'Jeong Su-hyeon, was it? Although all the rumors about him were monstrous, so I had some expectations.'

What is this combat power all about?

In the end, even Deputy Squad Leader Kim Taesung couldn't handle the Ma-in alone, and even in his more berserk state.

To have the skill to maintain a joint attack alongside Jo Sujin?

'It's like seeing our captain in his younger days.'

Smack!

Su-hyeon dodged Kwak Hyeok-jung's blade and planted a left straight into his face, then jumped into the sky to avoid a spike that shot up from behind him the next moment.

'Damn. It feels like my body's being cooked.'

The human body develops abnormalities even with slight increases in temperature, and here they were fighting with maximum physical abilities in heat that makes saunas seem trivial.

Su-hyeon, who was barely enduring the damage that would have incapacitated an ordinary human long ago with the characteristic of "Unlimited," saw Jo Sujin flying backward after blocking Kwak Hyeok-jung's blade.

'Jo Sujin doesn't have much stamina left either.'

In this situation, Jo Sujin was the main attacker, and he was just supporting.

Despite the protection barrier of Undine, exchanging blows with the current Kwak Hyeok-jung in such high-temperature battlefield inevitably depleted their stamina in real-time.

However.

'Just a little more.'

The tide of battle was turning in favor of the two who had endured five hellish minutes.

"Huff, kuuuk!"

After sending Jo Sujin flying, Kwak Hyeok-jung clutched his heart, unable to land a follow-up attack, his face filled with pain.

'Now!'

Su-hyeon, who had been waiting for this moment, activated "Liberation" by drawing out his last remaining strength.

Thump!

As Su-hyeon stomped the ground.

Ching!

Jo Sujin, who instinctively understood Su-hyeon's intention, launched a slash to draw Kwak Hyeok-jung's attention.

A gap of barely 0.5 seconds in time.

But that gap was enough.

Stab!

Su-hyeon's Moonless Sword successfully cut through Kwak Hyeok-jung's muscles and pierced his heart through the gaps in his ribs.

"You bastard!"

Smack!

Kwak Hyeok-jung kicked Su-hyeon away and pulled out the Moonless Sword embedded in his chest, tossing it aside.

"You think you can kill me with this... Kuhak!"

Spitting blood violently, Kwak Hyeok-jung fell to his knees.

'...Damn it.'

His body, unable to withstand the berserk state, was collapsing.

'Is this the end?'

Looking down at his palm that had begun to crack, Kwak Hyeok-jung's expression showed a self-deprecating, bitter smile instead of a cold sneer.

'Only now am I coming to my senses a bit. How did I end up like this?'

[Kwak Hyeok-jung. Retreat.]

Kwak Hyeok-jung sneered at Hwang Won-jae's voice in his mind.

'Unfortunately, it's too late.'

[Don't you want to stain yourself with more blood? Do you intend to end here like this?]

'Yes. That might not be so bad.'

Kwak Hyeok-jung answered.

'But there's no more time. I know my body best. No, it's obvious to anyone.'

[If you retreat now, you can be revived. Are you choosing death yourself?]

'How absurd. If that was the case, you should have told me to retreat earlier.'

[...I believed in you. I thought if you drew out all your potential, you could defeat them.]

'Yes. You believed, and I failed to live up to your faith once again. How many times is this now? So let me go now. I'll just disappear as a failure.'

[.....]

Hwang Won-jae, sensing the change in Kwak Hyeok-jung's tone, remained silent for a moment before asking.

[Has your sanity returned?]

'Yes.'

Kwak Hyeok-jung looked at Su-hyeon and Jo Sujin, who were watching him from a distance while maintaining their positions, and smiled.

The remnants of sanity from his human days, like residue left after his brain was burned white by the erupting demonic nature.

That sanity was speaking to his long-time comrade.

'Hwang Won-jae. You now have comrades much stronger than me. I've followed your and "His" will for a long time. Can you respect my wishes just for this final path?'

[...Kwak Hyeok-jung. We were long-time comrades.]

Hwang Won-jae spoke after a silence.

'Yes. We were.'

[That you were the arms and legs while I was the head was just a role based on our abilities. I've always thought that we were all essentially equal.]

'I appreciate those words, even if they're empty.'

[You think they're empty?]

Kwak Hyeok-jung gave a short laugh.

'Alright. I'll take just those words with me.'

[Wait, Kwak...!]

Deliberately ignoring the voice in his head, Kwak Hyeok-jung strangled himself and said.

"You won't even get my corpse."

Whoosh!

Kwak Hyeok-jung's body began to melt as he poured sulfur fire on himself.

"Hehehe, it's hot! Is this the temperature of hell?"

"The Executioner" Kwak Hyeok-jung.

The final target of his murder was himself.

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"He's gone."

Hwang Won-jae answered with his eyes closed as Song Yeonhui sat down beside him.

"Yes. He's gone."

"So even a man like you has emotions."

"Isn't that only natural?"

Hwang Won-jae said.

"The executives are in an uproar. They're saying we need to kill all of them—Jeong Su-hyeon, Jo Sujin, and even Hwang Yong-jae, Hwang Ji-su's father."

Hwang Won-jae exhaled a long breath at Song Yeonhui's voice, which sounded amused as she chuckled.

"Yes. I'll sort out that matter later."

"Well, whatever happens is fine with me. But Hajun has a lot of complaints about you too? He didn't expect that you wouldn't take any measures until that guy died, despite all that talk about comrades and executives."

"......"

Song Yeonhui, who knew Hwang Won-jae's dilemma, rose from her seat as if she had said enough.

"Well, that child doesn't know the detailed circumstances. I'll put in a good word for you."

"Thank you."

"If you're grateful, I'll add it to your debt."

"No, I'll pass on that."

"Such a cold-hearted man."

After Song Yeonhui left.

In the silence that returned, Hwang Won-jae was just sunk in a long silence.

'...Kwak Hyeok-jung.'

Even Ma-in who have fallen by failing to overcome their demonic nature still retain human emotions.

Just as anger toward one's own flesh and blood can drive them, the death of a comrade linked by long relationships also weighed heavily on his heart.

'He was a foolish man. Compared to his comrades, he wasn't particularly strong, wasn't particularly capable, and sometimes even ruined things when caught up in his own madness.'

They weren't especially close; he was just a comrade who had spent a long time together serving "His" will.

But.

Today, he had an opportunity to save Kwak Hyeok-jung but took no action.

It was because "His" permission had not come down.

'What does my master want?'

Hwang Won-jae thought.

'His will is clear. He doesn't want Jeong Su-hyeon to die now.'

Why?

What is He seeing?

"......"

Of course, he had only one option.

'Whatever my master desires, I will serve it, no matter what it is.'

However.

'Jeong Su-hyeon. When the time comes that I must kill you, it will be I who tear out your heart.'

Hwang Won-jae's killing intent quietly flared up.