CHAPTER 127

On the staircase to the seventh floor.

“Let one live just in case.”

“Yes.”

The armed forces directly charged through the rubble and rebar on the stairs and arrived behind one of the two beastmen fighting with the Student Council members.

There was a scream.

By the time the other beastman turned around, his comrade had already died.

The beastman was stunned. After blowing up the third- and sixth floors, they had bent the rebar and layered the stones to make a barricade.

Yet they broke through so easily...

The gazes of the armed forces members turned to him.

“What type of beastman is bald?”

“Strange. He has no visible characteristics of a beastman. Except that he’s bald, he looks a hundred percent like a normal human.”

“Heheh. Doesn’t this mean Captain could also be a beastman?”

“......”

The remaining beastman clenched his teeth. The fox beastman should’ve arrived by now. He realized that things had gone terribly wrong.

I have to survive for now.

The bald beastman gave up on his mission and ran back toward the students, intending to grab some hostages and threaten a way out for himself.

However, the students of the Student Council weren’t so easy.

“What do you think you're doing? Did you forget: even the two of you couldn’t handle us.”

Ban Hee-Yeol unleashed a Wind Blade that staggered him, and the weapons and Skills of the other Student Council members washed over the beastman a moment later. Ban Hee-Yeol approached and finished off the beastman with a spin kick to his jaw. Turning around, he nodded politely to the armed forces members.

“Thank you. This ended without any major casualties thanks to your quick arrival.”

The beastmen had been aiming to kidnap Roh Jun-Yeop and Jang Yeon-Ju, so Ban Hee-Yeol could guess that the explosions were intended to delay the armed forces from reaching the higher floors. Despite this, they still managed to arrive on time. Ban Hee-Yeol was naturally thankful.

The members of the armed forces waved their hands.

“Since the Young Master is involved, we naturally have to work hard.”

Most of the armed forces were stationed in areas far away from the students. Unless they were security guards, they had little contact or relationship with the students. However, Ban Hee-Yeol was one of the few exceptions. Many of the armed forces members knew of his father and respected his family.

“There’s someone called Mudal on the tenth floor... ” Ban Hee-Yeol quickly explained Professor Lee So-Yeong’s situation on the tenth floor as well as the situation on the thirteenth floor.

“Mudal!”

“A Berserker beastman?”

The casual expressions of the armed forces members became serious. In particular, the name Mudal made the leader of the armed forces nervous. The leader had been a child when Mudal had been notorious across South Korea. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t afraid.

“We have to hurry.”

The armed forces and students hurried up the stairs. When they arrived on the tenth floor, they were stunned.

“Professor!”

The hallway was cracked and crumbling, and red and blue blood painted the walls. There were traces of fierce fighting everywhere.

Don’t tell me...

The armed forces and students picked their way through the rubble and headed toward the end of the corridor. The quiet atmosphere felt ominous.

Most of the blood spatter was red; they tried not to think of Lee So-Yeong’s defeat or... death. Everyone kept their mouths shut, afraid that voicing their worries would make them come true.

When they neared the end of the corridor, everyone let out a collective gasp. There, a pool of blood dyed the red carpet blue, looking as if a bucket of paint had been spilled.

At its center lay a bald boy.

“Is that Mudal? He looks younger than expected?”

“His face is completely different. I also don’t see Heavenly Transformation, so I don’t think it is him... ”

“It’s Mudal.”

“Ah, Professor!”

The expressions of the armed forces and students brightened. Lee So-Yeong had stepped out of the room at the end of the hallway, supported by Jang Yeon-Ju and Roh Jun-Yeop.

“The ghost of the past is no match for the Great Master! As expected of the professor! Ah, no, this isn’t the time—hurry and send reinforcements to the thirteenth floor!” The team leader said.

“The thirteenth floor has been cleared.” Announced a boy by the entrance to the stairway. The boy had thick eyebrows and eyes as large as a calf’s.

It was Mun Jong-Pil, the secretary of the Student Council.

“Did the president defeat the beastman? According to the beastmen, the Berserker who attacked the thirteenth floor is as strong as Mudal. As expected, the president is on another level.”

“It was a bluff.” Mun Jong-Pil shrugged. “She was an ordinary beastman. The president was absent, so I handled her on my own.”

“What?”

Ban Hee-Yeol frowned. The president was absent? “No wonder we received no order from above... I can’t believe the president left us at a time like this.”

The key to this operation was to keep Jang Yeon-Ju and Roh Jun-Yeop safe. They’d known the enemy could attack at any time. Yet their top force, who was supposed to protect and lead them, had actually left without saying anything?

This wasn’t an attitude that the president should show.

Ban Hee-Yeol had always admired the president from the bottom of his heart, so he especially felt betrayed and disappointed.

Suddenly, the window on the tenth floor shattered as a girl burst through, dressed in the customary white uniform reserved for only one student in the school.

She squatted on the windowsill and said with an annoyed expression, “Damn, I thought there was only one beastman.”

This girl was the Student Council president, Hae-Yul.

“Your legs, your leg! Can you close your legs?”

Didn’t she realize that she was wearing a skirt? Mun Jong-Pil hurried over and threw his uniform jacket over her lap.

Still squatting, the president, Hae-Yul, continued, “I got a call from Professor Wu saying that he’d found the beastman we were looking for, so I left to take care of it... Tsk.” The more she explained, the more annoyed she looked.

“You said Professor Wu called you?” Lee So-Yeong reacted quickly.

“Yeah, but he really did find a beastman. He was a mole type. He wore sunglasses, pretending to be a blind human, but he unfortunately ran into Professor Wu and was exposed.”

Hae-Yul smiled in assurance, and Lee So-Yeong nodded without comment.

“He seemed to be digging a cave in the basement of the Student Council building. Vice President, you should go and investigate.”

“Hmm. He must’ve been in charge of the beastmen’s escape route. Okay, I’ll go take a look.” After understanding the situation, Ban Hee-Yeol quickly shook off his disappointment and led the rest of the Student Council members downstairs.

Lee So-Yeong told the armed forces, “I’d like to take the corpses of the beastmen. I have something to investigate.”

“Understood. We’ll help you move them.”

“Forget it. You must be busy. You can go back.”

After sending the armed forces members away, Lee So-Yeong sank into her thoughts.

The Tactical Studies professor, Wu Gyo-Hwan—what did he know, and why did he report that mole beastman to the Student Council president?

Lee So-Yeong’s cooperation with the Student Council to search for beastmen had been carried out with utmost secrecy—after all, she had originally suspected that the beastman was among the teachers. So how could Professor Wu have known the Student Council was looking for a beastman? Was it really a fluke? Or had he reported the mole beastman in order to lure out the president?

Without the president, there should’ve been no one in the building who was the Berserker’s match. If Kang Jae-Hyeok hadn’t shown up... I would’ve been killed by Mudal, and the Berserker would have slaughtered the students.

A chill went down Lee So-Yeong’s spine. She felt some awe for Jae-Hyeok, who had arrived on time and helped her.

“This wound doesn’t look like Professor Lee’s doing?”

A voice suddenly brought Lee So-Yeong back to reality. Hae-Yul was crouching beside Mudal’s corpse and smiling meaningfully.

“Are you sure there wasn’t someone else?”

Mun Jong-Pil interrupted with an awkward smile, “That... President, I will explain it later.”

Hae-Yul was even more interested seeing Mun Jong-Pil’s strange expression. “Jong-Pil, does this mean you were also helped by this person? Then, what? Was there really a Berserker beastman who broke into my office?”

“Let’s... talk while moving.”

Personnel for cleaning the debris and investigators had just reached the tenth floor. Mun Jong-Pil didn’t want Jae-Hyeok’s name to reach their ears.

A first-year student defeating a Berserker beastman and Mudal was too shocking. Jae-Hyeok’s performance was on par with a National Treasure candidate. Mun Jong-Pil judged it would be trouble in many ways if he spoke carelessly about Jae-Hyeok.

In the first place, Lee So-Yeong seemed to have received help from Jae-Hyeok as well, and she was also keeping quiet. This was probably the result that Jae-Hyeok wanted.

“Who is this person? I’m so curious～”

Hae-Yul smiled happily.

***

“Hah...!”

After returning home, Jae-Hyeok’s expression brightened as he threw himself onto the bed.

The beastmen were wiped out without any casualties—Jang Yeon-Ju and Roh Jun-Yeop were unharmed, and Elder Song’s residence had also become safer.

Moreover, he had gained seven levels and two achievements.

And the achievement he’d received from killing Mudal was even a Miraculous achievement: it raised all stats by 5 and gave him 20,000 Community points.

The System must’ve recognized that Mudal was a villain with great notoriety in the past.

No matter how he thought about it, things had worked out well. Jae-Hyeok smiled with satisfaction and took out a black glove.

This was something Lee So-Yeong had given him after searching Mudal’s body.

[Heavenly Transformation]

[Rating: Legendary

An artifact made from the fangs of a legendary wolf beastman.

Normally, it takes the form of a glove, but claws can grow out from the fingers and thumb at will. The length and shape can be freely adjusted.

* Can’t be damaged.]

Once again, he obtained a legendary item. And it suited him well; he liked that Heavenly Transformation could change unpredictably, just like Iyarugt.s

The more flexible the weapon, the more confident Jae-Hyeok was in using it. It could play a pivotal role in a fight.

I can’t believe she willingly gave this to me.

It seemed Professor Lee was starting to open up to him... Jae-Hyeok smiled warmly as for the first time in a while, he drifted off into a sweet sleep.