I Entered an Academy in a Ruined Game

Chapter 51 : Counterattack (1)

There is a phenomenon called Hysterical strength.

It refers to the display of superhuman power in extreme situations, such as when a child is trapped under a car or during a fire.

Though the exact principle remains unknown, it's said that with the massive secretion of adrenaline, endorphins, and lactic acid, one can exert several times their normal muscle strength and reaction speed.

In other words, this means the body has a limit in place to prevent itself from being destroyed by exerting strength beyond its own durability.

Therefore, it meant that such power was latent within the physical body.

'Coincidentally, Unlimited is precisely that kind of ability—one that can surpass such limits through one's own willpower.'

'Liberation' was a doping technique that removed those restrictions and poured out more than 100 percent of one's reserves.

No matter how transcendent Unlimited's recovery ability was, using Liberation once would cause enough damage to make movement difficult for at least several days, but.

It didn't matter.

What mattered was that through Liberation, I would gain muscle strength and reaction speed several times higher than normal.

Even I found it difficult to gauge how much my combat power would increase—with a reaction speed that could keep up with and exceed the field of vision provided by Eye Power, plus strength that would change the quality of my attacks.

Whack!

Lee Yong-ju's waist bent as his abdomen took my fist.

"Kuheck!"

His eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected power.

"You seem surprised."

When Lee Yong-ju raised his head at my voice, I was already positioned behind him.

"Hup!"

Boom!

The same spinning back kick that he had delivered to Lee Yu-jin now struck his side, and the Ma-in's sturdy body flew over ten meters and smashed into a wall.

"Damn it, what the, this is impossible!"

With his face full of confusion and shock from taking significant damage from just two hits, Lee Yong-ju struggled to rise, grabbing his knee.

I rushed at him without giving him time to rest and swung my sword down from above.

Clang!

The Ma-in's palms tore and bled as he hastily blocked with his flail.

"Crazy."

He muttered as if in disbelief, and.

Whack!

I kicked the flail handle upward, forcing him into a hands-up posture.

'It's open.'

I swung my sword widely at his now exposed abdomen.

Slash!

The hwando's blade cut through his thick muscles, creating a long gash in his side.

"Thick muscles."

Muscles that couldn't be deeply cut even with sword energy.

Indeed, Ma-in of this caliber could be called beings far removed from common sense.

'It lacks sharpness. If it were a sharpened real sword, I could have cut deeper.'

Just the troublesome quality of an extraordinarily powerful body.

The Ma-in Lee Yong-ju was not an opponent that even the current me could easily subdue without killing.

"You, insolent bastard!"

Enraged, Lee Yong-ju exploded the magical energy condensed within his body.

"I'll smash your head!"

Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!

As the flail, filled with tremendous mass and speed, was swung wildly, I easily evaded by retreating and creating distance.

Boom!

After avoiding the flail brought down in pursuit by stepping to the side, I stepped on its handle, pinning it to the ground.

"Eeek!"

While he struggled to lift the flail, I closed the distance and slashed his cheek, neck, and collarbone in succession with the tip of my sword, then planted a hammer-like fist on his nose.

"Kahak!"

Lee Yong-ju's face, with his nose twisted and contorted in pain, was quite a sight.

"Slow and dull. And ugly too."

"Shut up!"

He reacted particularly strongly to the last comment.

Whoosh!

Lee Yong-ju's punch, having abandoned his flail, created a wind pressure as it brushed past my ear.

'Crude.'

Though his strength and speed were certainly impressive, there was no way the current me would be hit by such an obvious attack thrown in excitement.

'Power is overflowing.'

I hadn't expected that having my body keep up with the field of vision provided by Eye Power would give such great pleasure.

'Feels like I can do anything.'

Crunch.

I gripped so strongly that bone-cracking sounds could be heard from inside my fist.

'Grip strength like a press machine.'

The fist thrown with that grip strength struck the Ma-in's solar plexus.

"Kheok!"

Then I struck his temple with the sword handle before widening the distance and bringing the sword down on his collarbone.

Crack!

Again, I couldn't cut through the bone covered in muscle, but since the collarbone is a weak bone, it must have hurt considerably.

A hammer-like fist in my left hand, a sword infused with sword energy in my right.

I attacked Lee Yong-ju as if toying with him, using superior speed while constantly changing distance and tactics.

And that provoked Lee Yong-ju's patience.

"Damn it!"

Unable to endure any longer, Lee Yong-ju slammed both fists into the ground.

Boom!

The ground was dented by what seemed more like a bombardment than a punch.

"Ah, this is irritating."

Lee Yong-ju sighed, mixing languidness and annoyance.

"I don't like becoming this form."

Crack, crackle.

His hypertrophied muscles forcibly pulled his skeleton apart.

Lee Yong-ju's body grew to over 3 meters, and veins, thickened as if doped, rose over his muscles.

"Grrrr."

Lee Yong-ju, who let out a groan as if in pain, smiled fiercely.

"Then let's continue."

❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀

"...Amazing."

Lee Yu-jin, watching Su-hyeon's fight, gaped in astonishment.

'To think he could push back a Ma-in we struggled so much against to this extent.'

She couldn't comprehend the power Su-hyeon possessed.

'What exactly is Su-hyeon? With that kind of strength, he's already...'

Her questions didn't last long.

"What, are you tired already!"

Su-hyeon, who had been facing the gigantic Lee Yong-ju's attacks, began to breathe heavily.

"Whew. Whew."

The sight of Su-hyeon gasping for breath like someone who had just completed a sprint at full power suggested that this power-up was probably temporary.

"Su-hyeon!"

As Lee Yu-jin drew her sword to join the fight, Su-hyeon approached her.

"Are you okay?"

"I can't hold out for long."

Su-hyeon spoke in a low voice, almost whispering.

"But with your help, I can win."

"My help?"

Lee Yu-jin's eyes wavered.

"But I..."

Su-hyeon cut off her words, turning his gaze.

"You said earlier that you're slow, right?"

"Yes."

"Wrong. You're not slow; you're cautious. Sometimes that caution might be excessive, but still."

"!"

"Lee Yu-jin, you're a genius. It's just that the virtues of your genius haven't manifested as quickly as others."

Su-hyeon could say this because he knew her future, but.

"Me? A genius?"

To Lee Yu-jin, it sounded like blind conviction, and.

"Yes, without a doubt."

"...!"

Therefore, it resonated with her even more strongly.

"I still don't understand well... but if you say so."

When she readjusted her grip on the sword with her rough, firm hands, the confusion and anxiety with which she had doubted herself no longer existed.

"I'll believe your words."

'What I can do now is...'

The opponent's skill, the opponent's changes, her own abilities, and the battle situation.

The speed of her thoughts, which began to accelerate as she considered all these factors, raced toward a single purpose.

"Protect me. I need Su-hyeon's back."

Though she didn't explain in detail, Su-hyeon easily understood her intention.

"Good idea."

The corners of Su-hyeon's mouth turned up.

'She found the right answer.'

Lee Yong-ju's balloon-like inflated body was actually in a state of enduring such overload.

In other words, unlike the sturdy exterior, the interior had become as fragile as a sunfish.

This meant that if Lee Yu-jin's penetration energy hit, it could easily break him down.

"Let's go!"

"Yes!"

Su-hyeon rushed in first, followed by Lee Yu-jin.

"I'll crush both of you!"

As the two spread out simultaneously, Lee Yong-ju's gaze followed Su-hyeon.

'He must think Yu-jin is easy and can be dealt with later.'

Su-hyeon had no intention of correcting that misconception now.

Whoosh!

A fierce strike that could crumple even steel like tofu came flying, but Su-hyeon's eyes stared precisely at its path.

'Dodge by pulling it to the closest margin possible.'

Whoosh!

Immediately after avoiding the attack, Su-hyeon drew blood by stabbing his chest like an awl, then circled to the side, drawing Lee Yong-ju's attention.

"You mosquito-like bastard!"

Dodge, deflect, and sometimes counter.

Each time he countered, Su-hyeon was pushed back, but his body, which had exploded its reserves through [Liberation], was almost offsetting the overwhelming output gap between the original physical body and mana.

'The current Lee Yong-ju is essentially like having an exoskeleton made of muscles.'

But to Su-hyeon's eyes, it seemed like he could see the inside of Lee Yong-ju's body, creaking and screaming.

And.

He could also see Lee Yu-jin clearly as she approached from behind the Ma-in, concealing her presence and swinging her sword down.

"Where!"

As if not to be caught by just that, Lee Yong-ju blocked the sword strike with his long handle, but coughed up black blood from the shock that shook his internal organs.

"Kheok!"

His overworked internal organs couldn't withstand Lee Yu-jin's penetration energy and had necrosed.

But to Lee Yong-ju, who couldn't know such circumstances, this was an incomprehensible situation.

"What the hell did you do, you bastards!"

"Are you asking because you think I'll answer?"

"Shit!"

With just one hit, his internal organs were shaken.

The grip strength that held his weapon so tightly it might break seemed to waver.

'Damn it!'

Unable to accept this fact, Lee Yong-ju applied so much force that the flail's handle creaked.

"Hyaap!"

An attack swung wildly, as if even holding his breath.

However, Lee Yu-jin, as if her task was done, engaged just once before retreating far away, and.

Whoosh! Whooosh!

Su-hyeon was cruelly avoiding all attacks with his nimble movements.

"Just take one hit, you bastard!"

Lee Yu-jin's attacks, which pierced the gap of that impatience, came in a form that had to be blocked with a weapon whether he liked it or not, and.

"Khuck!"

Each time weapons met, he trembled as if electrocuted and spat blood.

"You bastards, really!"

Unable to endure, the Ma-in changed his target to Lee Yu-jin, but.

"Back off!"

Each time, Su-hyeon created Mana Shields in the air to slow Lee Yong-ju's momentum, buying time for her to retreat.

"Fighting like shit!"

Finally, high praise came from Lee Yong-ju's mouth.

'We can win.'

Seeing the Ma-in, who had been nightmare-strong, spitting blood and going berserk against her coordination with Su-hyeon, Lee Yu-jin instinctively felt that the tide of battle had turned in their favor.

"Uaaaah!"

Just as Lee Yong-ju, who absolutely couldn't accept this, was about to prepare a big attack.

'Now!'

Clang!

Su-hyeon, holding the hwando with both hands, precisely cut the chain connecting the handle and the metal mass.

'Crazy!'

Just as Lee Yong-ju's eyes widened in shock.

"Now!"

Lee Yu-jin, not missing the opening, stabbed Lee Yong-ju's abdomen with all her might.

"Kuheck!"

Her sword energy, much sharper and more stably trained than Su-hyeon's, finally penetrated the Ma-in's muscles.

Like a potent poison, her mana dug into his body and destroyed Lee Yong-ju's internal organs.

"Weeeck!"

Lee Yong-ju, who vomited a full load of dead blood, finally knelt on his heavy knees.

Pssshhhhh!

His muscles began to shrink like air escaping from a balloon.

"...It's over."

Looking at the shrunken Lee Yong-ju, as if his previous appearance had been a lie, Su-hyeon deactivated [Liberation].

['Crusher' Lee Yong-ju has been repelled!]

[You have achieved an impossible feat!]

[Achievement points 800 awarded.]

'Quite generous points.'

Su-hyeon nodded.

Though the situation wasn't over yet.

Preventing the deaths of named characters like Lee Yu-jin and subduing the 'Crusher' could truly be called the best outcome.

"Oh Min-sun, please."

"Leave it to me."

Oh Min-sun manipulated the asphalt ground to bind the Ma-in's arms, legs, and neck, fixing him to the floor.

"...Heh, to be defeated by kids. What a pathetic sight I've become."

Lee Yong-ju, who had aged like an old man in just a moment, closed his eyes in resignation.

'Damn. I didn't expect to die like this.'

"Kuk!"

Meanwhile, Su-hyeon staggered as the aftermath of Liberation swept over his body, causing terrible muscle pain.

'I pushed myself quite hard.'

Consecutive fights with three Ma-in: Jang Su-il, Hong Byeong-gwon, and Lee Yong-ju.

Although he had barely taken any damage from the opponents' attacks, Su-hyeon's body had suffered destructive damage from within just by matching opponents with overwhelming spec differences.

'It's not time to collapse yet.'

Though pain is a signal of bodily destruction.

Nevertheless, the adrenaline pumped out by Su-hyeon's brain, placed in this urgent situation, was barely maintaining his body's performance capabilities.

'I can use a bit more.'

Su-hyeon gritted his teeth and deliberately straightened his posture.

Kim A-yun, Go Do-il, Jeremy McGarr, Oh Min-sun

Looking at the cadets who were exhausted, unconscious, or injured, Su-hyeon said:

"Hide here. The instructors and teachers will come soon."

"What about Su-hyeon?"

To Lee Yu-jin's question, Su-hyeon answered immediately:

"I have somewhere to go."

"Where exactly do you need to go? Are you even in any condition to fight right now?"

To Oh Min-sun's frustrated words, Su-hyeon shook his head.

"Class 3 is in danger. I need to help, even if it's just one more person."

At those words.

Lee Yu-jin, deliberately hiding her trembling hands behind her back, said:

"I want to go too."

"It's dangerous."

"If it's dangerous for me, it's dangerous for Su-hyeon too. Isn't that right?"

Moreover, Song Yu-ha, her roommate and friend, was in Class 3.

"...Alright."

Finally, Su-hyeon nodded at her words.

"Let me go too. My ability will be helpful."

Kim A-yun, the least injured among the group, also volunteered.

"...I guess there's no reason to stop you."

Su-hyeon reluctantly agreed.

'With this team, saving Class 3 shouldn't be difficult.'

But.

'Maybe there won't even be time for me to act.'

The prelude to the counterattack had already begun.